Keeping an eye on Communist, Totalitarian China, and its influence both globally, and we as Canadians. I have come to the opinion that we are rarely privy to truth regarding the real goal, the agenda of China, it's ambitions for Canada [including special focus on the UK, US & Australia]. No more can we trust the legacy media as there appears to be increasing censorship applied to the topic of communist China. I ask why. Here is what I find.
'We're sitting ducks':Jacqui Lambie warns of 'threat' of China's interference
Jacqui Lambie has declared Australia is a "sitting duck" to Chinese foreign interference, saying our economy and democracy is exposed.
UPDATED
Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie has taken aim at the major political parties over Chinese foreign interference warning China is “actively trying to reshape our democracy”.
She made the impassioned speech on Tuesday night in response to calls to establish an inquiry into Australia’s relationship with China, led by Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick.
The senator accused the major parties of lacking the “courage” to confront growing concerns around foreign interference infiltrating Australia's politics.
“Honestly where’s your courage? What are you scared of?” she told the Senate.
“This is not some wacky conspiracy theory. This is happening.”
Senator Jacqui Lambie in Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra.
AAP
She said both sides of politics needed to “take a good hard look at themselves” and make sure they’re acting in the national interest.
“This is an existential threat to our society, and Australians are scared,” she said.
“They’re scared that our country is being bought up. They’re scared that their democracy may no longer represent them.”
The motion to establish an inquiry does not have the backing of the Coalition or Labor, meaning it failed to receive the support needed to go ahead.
Senator Lambie made clear her concerns were not directed at the “Australian-Chinese community” - but cited a series of recent concerning reports.
Fears have been raised over an unprecedented threat of foreign interference in Australia including security agencies investigating an alleged plot to plant a Chinese spy in Australia’s Parliament.
Senator Lambie expressed her alarm over a lack of security checks aimed at addressing such concerns.
“There are no security checks. There's little to stop it from happening. It's absolutely beyond shocking. We're sitting ducks here,” she said.
Former ASIO boss Duncan Lewis has warned of a “take over” of Australia’s political system through “insidious” foreign interference operations.
Senator Lambie also cited investigations into a Chinese billionaire donor Huang Xiangmo handing an Aldi bag full of $100,000 in cash to the New South Wales Labor Party.
“They’re not just trying to influence politicians with money; they’re trying to get elected to sit in this chamber,” she said.
“Where they can buy or get seats in the Australian parliament, they’re coming.”
She said major political parties have failed to manage Australia’s economic dependence with its major trading partner.
“We're selling off Australian values for a quick buck,” she said.
“A third of Australian exports are China-bound. We ship out more than $120 billion in iron ore and coal exports to China and our universities—shame on them!—rake in over $32 billion from international students.
"Let's get the ball rolling on this. Until we do, we're leaving our economy and our democracy exposed."
China Found a Massive Alien Outpost and Mining Facility Operating On The Moon
Dec 28 2019
Have you ever asked yourself why man has never landed on the Moon again after the Apollo mission?
According to Michael Salla, there is a military-alien complex on the surface of our satellite. Moreover, it is likely that an authoritarian extraterrestrial regime is operating on the Moon.
In order to support these affirmations, the Chinese have made public an image of something that resembles an artificial construction.
The image seems to shed some light on the many mysteries and secrets that the government is keeping in secret from us.
On the other hand, this may explain why China was so eager to go to the Moon and has invested so much in massive radio telescopes.
There is a plan schemed by the world’s leader in order to exploit the surface of the Moon searching for minerals and many other natural resources. At the same time, this plan might have been part of an agreement between our leaders and some extraterrestrial races.
Nevertheless, greed is a common feature in humans, so it is just a matter of time until someone will be completely excluded from this agreement or alliance.
Have a look at the following video for more information and please don’t forget to share your opinions with us.
More than a third of millennials polled approve of communism
Biggest threat to world peace? 27% named President Trump, 22% said Kim Jong-Un, and 15% tapped Vladimir Putin
Published: Nov 2, 2019
Getty
Is even communism making a comeback?
Somewhere, Bernie Sanders is smiling.
A new survey released by the Washington, D.C., nonprofit Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation reflects that, if the younger generation gets out and votes in 2020, those running for office on the far left have reason to be hopeful.
‘The historical amnesia about the dangers of communism and socialism is on full display in this year’s report.’
According to YouGov, which conducted the poll, capitalism, amid a widening divide between the haves and have-nots, has plunged in popularity from a year ago, with one out of every two millennials — ages 23 to 38 — supporting it.
Meanwhile, 36% of millennials polled say that they approve of communism, which is up significantly from 28% in 2018.
Socialism, a dirty word to the president and many of his supporters, has shown a decrease in favorability in all age groups except the Silent Generation (age 74+) and millennials, of which 70% say they’d be likely to vote for a socialist candidate.
Marion Smith, executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, says he’s troubled by the findings of the poll.
“The historical amnesia about the dangers of communism and socialism is on full display in this year’s report,” Smith said in a statement on Monday. “When we don’t educate our youngest generations about the historical truth of 100 million victims murdered at the hands of communist regimes over the past century, we shouldn’t be surprised at their willingness to embrace Marxist ideas.”
Other nuggets from the report include that 22% of millennials believe “society would be better if all private property was abolished,” and that 45% of Generation Z members and millennials believe that “all higher education should be free.”
As for the biggest threat to world peace, 27% across every generation pointed a finger at President Trump, while 22% named North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un and 15% picked Russia’s Vladimir Putin. China was surprisingly acceptable.
China Braces For December D-Day: The "Unprecedented" Default Of A Massive State-Owned Enterprise
Something is seriously starting to break in China's financial system.
Three days after we described the self-destructive doom loop that is tearing apart China's smaller banks, where a second bank run took place in just two weeks - an unprecedented event for a country where until earlier this year not a single bank was allowed to fail publicly and has now had no less than five bank high profile nationalizations/bailouts/runs so far this year - the Chinese bond market is bracing itself for an unprecedented shock: a major, Fortune 500 Chinese commodity trader is poised to become the biggest and highest profile state-owned enterprise to default in the dollar bond market in over two decades.
In what Bloomberg dubbed the latest sign that Beijing is more willing to allow failures in the politically sensitive SOE sector - either that, or China is simply no longer able to control the spillovers from its cracking $40 trillion financial system - commodity trader Tewoo Group - the largest state-owned enterprise in China's Tianjin province - has offered an "unprecedented" debt restructuring plan that entails deep losses for investors or a swap for new bonds with significantly lower returns.
Tewoo Group is a SOE conglomerate, owned by the local government and operates in a number of industries including infrastructure, logistics, mining, autos and ports, according to its website. It also operates in multiples countries including the U.S., Germany, Japan and Singapore. The company ranked 132 in 2018’s Fortune Global 500 list, higher than many other Chinese conglomerates including service carrier China Telecommunications and financial titan Citic Group. Even more notable are the company's financials: it had an annual revenue of $66.6 billion, profits of about $122 million, assets worth $38.3 billion, and more than 17,000 employees as of 2017, according to Fortune’s website.
The state-owned company is neither publicly listed nor rated by the top three international ratings companies, although it does have publicly traded bonds whose performance in recent months has been nothing short of terrifying for anyone who thought purchasing a company explicitly backed by Beijing can never fail.
As one can deduce from the above chart, the first time Tewoo Group’s financial difficulties emerged was in April when it sought debt extension from its lenders on its offshore, dollar bonds and sold copper below market rates amid a cash crunch. At that time, Fitch Ratings - the only rating agency to appraise the company's credit standing - slashed the company’s credit score first from BBB to BBB- on April 18, and then by a whopping six notches, from BBB - to B- on April 29, to reflect its weak liquidity and higher-than-expected leverage.
According to Bloomberg the company has proposed an exchange/tender offer on the three dollar bonds due to mature over the next three years, as well as a perpetual note. What makes what would otherwise be a mundane exchange offer in the US, is that this is the first ever distressed plan of its kind from a state-owned Chinese firm.
What is just as striking is that the Tewoo Group - with its $66 billion in revenues and $38 billion in assets - is likely to default on its $300 million dollar bond due Dec. 16, a Bloomberg source said, unless the exchange is consummated. This means that the company's bondholders have just a few weeks to decide between either taking as much as 64% in losses or accepting delayed repayment with sharply reduced coupons on $1.25 billion of dollar bonds, something which the rating agencies will describe as an event of default.
A de facto default by Tewoo would be considered a “landmark case,” said Cindy Huang, an analyst at S&P Global Ratings. Central government support for SOEs is likely to be selective in the future, while local government aid will be limited by the slowing economy and weaker fiscal position, she said.
The "distressed exchange offer" comes after Tewoo Group said last week it would be unable to pay interest on a $500 million bond, prompting Industrial & Commercial Bank of China to transfer $7.875 million to bondholders on its behalf. ICBC provided a standby letter of credit on the note - a pledge to repay if the borrower can’t. However, the firm’s remaining $1.6 billion of dollar bonds lack such protection.
Worse, Tewoo Group is already in effective default after some of its units previously missed local debt payments - in July, Tianjin Hopetone missed a coupon payment on its 1.21 billion yuan note sending the company's dollar bonds tumbling below 50 cents on the dollar, while Tianjin Haoying Industry & Trade missed a loan interest payment due in June. Also in July, rating agency Fitch - which somehow missed all of this when it was rating the company investment grade - withdrew its rating on Tewoo Group due to insufficient information to maintain the ratings. It last rated the issuer at B-.
And as furious bondholders scramble to demand an explanation how a state-owned enterprise can default, Beijing is already bracing for the inevitable next steps: earlier this month, Tianjin State-owned Capital Investment and Management, an entity wholly-owned by the Tianjin municipal government, was appointed to manage the company’s offshore debt. For now, the entity has no plan to hold controlling stakes in Tewoo Group, although that will likely change as soon as the company's financial situation fails to improve. Meanwhile, Tewoo Group said it plans to take a series of debt management measures, by which we assume it means it will restructure its debt.
The fact that a state owned enterprise such as Tewoo has just days before it defaults, in either a prepack or "freefall" form, suggests that Beijing will no longer bail out troubled SOEs, let alone private firms, perhaps due to the strains imposed by the economy which is slowing the most in three decades. It also raises concerns over Tianjin, where it’s based, following a series of rating downgrades and financing difficulties suffered by some of the city’s state-run firms. The metropolis near Beijing also has the highest ratio of local government financing vehicle bonds to GDP in China.
In short, if there a glitch with Tewoo's default, the Chinese dominoes could start really falling.
Since the first SOE bond default emerged in China’s domestic market four years ago, 22 such firms have failed to make good on a combined 48.4 billion yuan ($6.9 billion) onshore bonds as of the end of October, according to Guosheng Securities. However, as Bloomberg adds, despite periodic scares such as late repayment, Chinese SOEs have yet to suffer any high-profile default in the dollar bond market since the collapse of Guangdong International Trust and Investment Corp. in 1998.
Tewoo would be precisely that high-profile default.
* * *
There were early signs of Tewoo Group’s debt crisis. The bankruptcy of Bohai Steel Group in 2018 triggered systemic risk in Tianjin’s financial market. The incident involved a large number of local companies and financial institutions, which recorded huge amounts of bad debt. Financial institutions became more conservative in their lending standards, and this resulted in liquidity issues for a number of Tianjin enterprises.
At the same time, Beijing’s deleveraging and capacity reduction reforms made it difficult for a traditionally highly-leveraged company like Tewoo to raise financing. The default in May 2018 by Hsin Chong Group Holdings Limited, a company controlled by Tewoo, showed further signs of financial problems at Tewoo Group.
While normally such a critical company as Tewoo would be quietly bailed out by either Beijing or the local province, investors told Bloomberg that the company's excessive debt levels will limit Tianjin authorities’ ability to lend support to the city’s troubled firms, prompting them to shun the latter’s debt. In July, Tianjin Binhai New Area Construction & Investment Group postponed plans to sell a three-year dollar bond offering amid such concern.
Tewoo’s debt issues that had surfaced from its current crisis may be only the tip of the iceberg. Tianjin’s economic growth has slowed down sharply since the beginning of 2016. GDP growth dropped to 1.9% in the first quarter of 2018. Even as it started to rebound thereafter, the outlook is still pessimistic, with GDP growth in 2018 less than 4%, which ranked last in the country according to iFast.
On the other hand, according to a 2016 report released by ratings agency Moody’s, state-owned enterprises in Tianjin recorded an aggregate liability-to-fiscal revenue ratio of more than 600%, which was the highest in the country.
At the same time, as shown in Tianjin municipal government’s most recent three-year revenue and debt data, Tianjin government’s fiscal revenue has declined significantly since 2017. Fiscal revenue fell by close to RMB40 billion in 2017, while government borrowings rose rapidly. By the end of 2018, debt owed by the Tianjin government was almost double its fiscal revenue.
The bankruptcy of Bohai Steel, a Tianjin SOE, in 2018 may also be a sign that the Tianjin government has lost control over the local debt crisis. Other than Bohai Steel and Tewoo, there have been a number of state-owned companies in Tianjin that are fighting to stave off insolvencies, such as Tianjin Real Estate Group Co. Limited, which owes RMB200 billion in debt. From the above observations, we think that in the event of a default by Tewoo, the company is likely to go into bankruptcy reorganization in a similar way as Bohai Steel, which has brought in capital from the private sector for its corporate restructuring. But for bondholders, recovery of their investments may be difficult, and potential loss heavy.
So with Tianjin unlikely to step up, in the aftermath of Tewoo’s proposed debt restructuring, which will indicate that Beijing will no longer bail out even SOEs, investors’ skepticism about state support for such state-linked firms will collapse, and a default could have wider implications on how investors assess and price their bonds in the future, said Judy Kwok-Cheung, director of fixed-income research at Bank of Singapore.
"Investors would be going back to basics in assessing credit risk in that the company’s stand-alone ability to repay is the first line of defense when it comes to non-repayment risk," said Kwok-Cheung.
In short, "investors" would be reacquainted with a thing called "fundamentals." The horror, the horror.
* * *
It gets worse: should Tewoo's default spread to provincial-backed debt, an already ugly situation could quickly turn catastrophic as Tianjin has the highest debt burden among megacities and provinces in China according to S&P. Earlier this year, Fitch cut ratings on several government-related entities from the city, which is reliant on heavy industry and commodities trading. As a result of having the highest debt, Tianjin also has to slowest growth - Tianjin’s local economy grew by 3.6% last year, the slowest in China; at the end of last year, Tianjin’s government had 407.9 billion yuan worth of debt outstanding, or about 22% of the size of its economy, said the Chinese credit risk assessor.
And just in case the upcoming Tewoo D-Day isn't troubling enough, Moody's said that it expected the number of Chinese defaults to continue to rise in 2020 as economic growth sputters and the government attempts to rein in support to indebted companies. Specifically, Moody's expects 40-50 new defaults in 2020, up from 35 this year, according to Ivan Chung, head of greater China credit research and analysis at Moody’s.
“The regulators’ intention is to reduce moral hazard” while at the same time ensuring any defaults “won’t undermine socioeconomic stability or trigger systemic risks,” Chung said on Wednesday, who added that whereas state support may be available for companies engaged in social welfare projects, for those that are more commercial in nature, "government support may not be so forthcoming," he said.
Which is the worst possible news for Tweoo's bondholders.
So what happens next?
Tewoo's bondholders must quickly decide whether to accept the exchange/tender proposal by December 9 and 10 respectively, with the settlement date due on or around December 17. Since an event of default is now assured, the next big question is what will bondholders of China's other SOE's - those who bought bonds on the assumption that China will always bail them out - do next? A flurry of aggressively selling may be just the catalyst that cracks the market if it emerges in the extremely liquid days just before Christmas.
