The risks of the dossier and the hegemonic aims of the Beijing regime
Obviously, the story, reported in Italy by Il Foglio and several important foreign newspapers such as the Telegraph and the Sunday Times , of the dossiers accumulated by Zhenhua Data , a Chinese computer company in Shenzhen that has close relations with the government of Beijing.
In short, we have learned that the Dragon analysts spy on and control millions of people and institutions around the world, accumulating an impressive amount of information that can be used both to promote the image of the Asian giant abroad and – a very plausible hypothesis. – to carry out disinformation operations.
The People's Republic has now become a great global power and, as such, carries out systematic espionage actions against foreign countries. So far no wonder. The opposite would be strange, since espionage has served as a support for the foreign policy of governments since ancient times.
Nor is it surprising that Italy is one of the nations most "observed" by Chinese analysts. That can only be the case, given the intense trade we have with China and Beijing's interest in having "friends" within a European Union that is gradually tightening up its positions towards it.
Therefore, the presence of dossiers on politicians, entrepreneurs and exponents of the economic world in general is obvious. It was also extended to family members. For example, the Chinese have an almost complete picture of Berlusconi's family, which extends to wives, friends, children, etc. And the same goes for Renzi and others. The presence of dossiers on senior Vatican prelates is also significant.
Also understandable is the dossier relating to the prominent personalities of our port authorities. The Chinese project of the “New Silk Road” has in fact one of its essential cornerstones in the ports. Beijing already controls the Greek port of Piraeus, and adding some Italian "pearls" such as Genoa and Trieste would be a big hit from their point of view.
The careful and precise monitoring of characters belonging to the mafia and criminal world is less obvious. As well as that of politicians involved in corruption cases, some of which are still awaiting trial. The suspicion, more than plausible, is that Beijing intends to use information on this world for political purposes, perhaps through an exchange of mutual favors.
Therefore, the request for in-depth investigations addressed to the government and Copasir , so that they clarify – as far as possible – the extent and possible danger of the dossier implemented by Beijing is completely legitimate.
And here, of course, there are significant political obstacles. Everyone knows that the Grillina component of the Italian government boasts very close and friendly relations with Beijing.
Grillo's "informal" meetings with the Chinese ambassador in Rome have aroused heated controversy, as well as the substantial silence of our foreign minister Di Maio about the Hong Kong revolt and, in general, the question of respect for human rights and of those of ethnic minorities in the People's Republic.
The Democratic Party has different positions on these issues, never expressed, however, with great vigor. Now it seems that even the second ruling party, taking its cue from the aforementioned dossiers, intends to insist on greater transparency on the Italian side.
There are those who have tried to belittle the revelations by claiming that the news gathered by the Chinese is open source , and therefore can be inferred from public domain sources such as, for example, Western social networks . But this explanation is not satisfactory, since the database containing the news is sometimes encrypted and equipped with codes that are not easy to interpret.
The problem is far from easy to solve, as can be inferred also by evaluating the moves of our European partners (also spied on), who have reacted with great prudence. On the one hand, there is the need not to compromise too much economic and commercial relations with Beijing, also taking into account the enormous amount of Chinese investments in Italy and Europe.
On the other hand, it is obvious that Italy and the EU must begin to distance themselves from a regime that in recent years has unhesitatingly accentuated its authoritarian and repressive features. We therefore expect to see how Rome will move in the near future.
Rather – and not a little – the increasingly frequent references that Xi Jinping and his leadership make to a "national renaissance" are worrying. They certainly refer to the long period in which an imperial China in full decline was prey to the divisions between European colonial powers and Japan.
Historically, the fact must be acknowledged. But great care must be taken so that the People's Republic does not in turn become a power that is left free to exercise hegemonic aims over the rest of the world, and in particular over the South China Sea and Europe.
And then it is necessary to reiterate that European acquiescence towards Beijing's aims on Taiwan is completely counterproductive. The current US administration has reversed the trend by sending its representatives to Taipei and arousing the ire of Xi, who has immediately sent fighters to violate the airspace of the island that firmly wants to maintain its independence.
This situation cannot last long, and sooner or later it will be necessary to challenge with concrete facts the Chinese claim to consider Taiwan as one of its "province". The Trump administration has done so without point being intimidated by Beijing.
The post The risks of the dossieraggio and the hegemonic aims of the Beijing regime appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/i-rischi-del-dossieraggio-e-delle-mire-egemoniche-del-regime-di-pechino/ on Mon, 21 Sep 2020 03:46:00 +0000.