Barry O’Farrell AO, Australia’s High Commissioner to India and Ambassador-designate to Bhutan, tweeted “Thank you Sun Weidong. I would hope then you follow the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award which is final and binding under international law, and also generally refrain from actions that unilaterally alter the status quo. China’s aggression in Ladakh, real estate claims in Bhutan show its intentions, says Mike Pompeo”

China warns India against ‘forced decoupling’ of their economies

• China warned on Thursday that a “forced decoupling” of its economy with India, following a Himalayan border clash last month that left 20 Indian soldiers dead, would hurt both countries.
• The Chinese ambassador said China was not a strategic threat to India and that the “general structure that we can’t live without each other remains unchanged”.
• The statement came after New Delhi’s recent moves to ban or sideline Chinese business interests in one of the world’s biggest markets, even as the border remains tense with many more troops on the ground than usual.
• “China advocates win-win cooperation and opposes a zero-sum game,” Ambassador Sun Weidong wrote on Twitter. “Our economies are highly complementary, interwoven and interdependent. Forced decoupling is against the trend and will only lead to a ‘lose-lose’ outcome.“
• Indian officials say Chinese troops have intruded on to its side in the remote western region, while China says it has not breached the disputed border and has asked India to restrain its frontline troops.
• India’s MEA said in an online briefing that a troop’s disengagement process as agreed by the two sides had yet to be completed, and that another round of commander-level talks would be held soon.
• “We expect that the Chinese side will sincerely work with us for complete disengagement and de-escalation and full restoration of peace and tranquility in the border areas at the earliest,” spokesman Anurag Srivastava said.
• Analysts say the worst fighting between the giant countries in decades is likely to push India closer to the United States, both strategically and in trade. China and India fought a brief border war in 1962 and China is a close ally of India’s long-time foe, Pakistan.

China recently staked claim over the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan at the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council and opposed funding to the project

• China’s recent aggression in India’s eastern Ladakh and claims for the real estate in Bhutan are indicative of its intentions, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said, asserting that Beijing under President Xi Jinping is testing the world to see if anyone is going to stand up to its threats and bullying.
• Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a bitter standoff in several areas along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh since May 5.
• The situation deteriorated last month following the Galwan Valley clashes in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed.
• China recently staked claim over the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan at the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council and opposed funding to the project.
• Pompeo, during a Congressional hearing on Thurs, told the members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the actions are entirely consistent with what they have been signaling to the world for decades you might even argue since 1989, but certainly since General Secretary Xi came to power.
• The Secretary of State said China has the desire to expand its power and reach.
• “They talk about bringing socialism with Chinese characteristics to the world.
• Claims that they have now made for real estate in Bhutan, the incursion that took place in India, these are indicative of Chinese intentions, and they are testing, they are probing the world to see if we are going to stand up to their threats and their bullying, Pompeo said.
• I am more confident than I was even a year ago that the world is prepared to do that. There’s a lot more work to do, and we need to be serious about it, said the top American diplomat.
• In his testimony, Pompeo told lawmakers that India has banned 106 Chinese applications that threatened its citizens’ privacy and security.
• “Our diplomatic efforts are working and momentum is building to mitigate the threats that the Chinese Communist Party presents.
• All 10 ASEAN nations have insisted that the South China Sea disputes be settled on the basis of international law, including UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).
• Japan led the G-7’s condemnation of China’s national security law targeting Hong Kong, he said.
• The European Union condemned the law too and also declared China a systemic rival to us, he said. At the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Secretary General Stoltenberg has called to make China a greater part of that alliance’s focus.
• We led a multilateral effort to ensure that the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization elected a director from a country that cared about intellectual property.
• “Our QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) – the US, Australia, India, and Japan — has been reinvigorated.
• We’ve worked hard at this. Our diplomats have done wonderful work. I’m very proud of the progress we are making. In addition to these multilateral efforts, Department of Justice is cracking down on Chinese intellectual property threats,” he said.
• The US has sanctioned Chinese leaders for their treatment of Uyghur minorities in Xinjiang province, imposed export controls on companies that supported, and warned US businesses against using slave labor in their supply chains, he said.
• The US has terminated special treatment agreements with Hong Kong in response to the Communist Party of China’s actions to deny freedom to the people of Hong Kong, he said.
• We closed our consulate in Houston because it was a den of spies, Pompeo added.

Chinese-backed hackers targeted Covid-19 vaccine firm Moderna

• Chinese government-linked hackers targeted biotech company Moderna Inc, a leading US-based coronavirus vaccine research developer, earlier this year in a bid to steal valuable data, according to a US security official tracking Chinese hacking activity.
• Last week, the US Justice Department made public an indictment of two Chinese nationals accused of spying on the United States, including three unnamed US-based targets involved in medical research to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The indictment states the Chinese hackers “conducted reconnaissance” against the computer network of a Massachusetts biotech firm known to be working on a coronavirus vaccine in Jan.
• Moderna, which is based in Massachusetts and announced its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in Jan, confirmed to Reuters that the company had been in contact with the FBI and was made aware of the suspected “information reconnaissance activities” by the hacking group mentioned in last week’s indictment.
• Reconnaissance activities can include a wide range of actions, including probing public websites for vulnerabilities to scouting out important accounts after entering a network, cybersecurity experts say.
• “Moderna remains highly vigilant to potential cybersecurity threats, maintaining an internal team, external support services and good working relationships with outside authorities to continuously assess threats and protect our valuable information,” spokesman Ray Jordan said, declining to provide further detail.
• The US security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not provide further details. The FBI and the US Department of Health and Human Services declined to disclose the identities of companies targeted by Chinese hackers.
• Moderna’s vaccine candidate is one of the earliest and biggest bets by the Trump administration to fight the pandemic.
• The federal government is supporting development of the company’s vaccine with nearly half a billion dollars and helping Moderna launch a clinical trial of up to 30,000 people beginning this month.
• China is also racing to develop a vaccine, bringing together its state, military and private sectors to combat a disease that has killed over 660,000 people worldwide.
• A July 7 indictment released last week alleges that the two Chinese hackers, Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, conducted a decade-long hacking spree that most recently included the targeting of COVID-19 medical research groups.
• Prosecutors said Li and Dong acted as contractors for China’s Ministry of State Security, a state intelligence agency.
• Messages left with several accounts registered under Li’s digital alias, oro0lxy, were not returned. Contact details for Dong were not available.
• The Chinese Embassy in Washington referred Reuters to recent Chinese Foreign Ministry comments that said: “China has long been a major victim of cyber thefts and attacks” and its officials “firmly oppose and fight” such activities.
• The Chinese government has consistently denied any role in hacking incidents across the globe. The embassy spokesperson did not address specific questions sent via email.
• The two other unnamed medical research companies mentioned in the Justice Department indictment are described as biotech companies based in California and Maryland.
• Prosecutors said the hackers “searched for vulnerabilities” and “conducted reconnaissance” against them.
• The court filing describes the California firm as working on antiviral drug research and suggested the Maryland Company had publicly announced efforts to develop a vaccine in Jan.
• Two companies that could match those descriptions: Gilead Sciences Inc and Novavax Inc.
• Gilead spokesperson Chris Ridley said the firm does not comment on cybersecurity matters. Novavax would not comment on specific cyber security activities but said: “Our cyber security team has been alerted to the alleged foreign threats identified in the news.”
• A security consultant familiar with multiple hacking investigations involving premier biotech firms over the last year said Chinese hacking groups believed to be broadly associated with China’s Ministry of State security are one of the primary forces targeting COVID-19 research, globally.
• This matches the description of the indicted hackers, as MSS contractors.

Britain’s Xinjiang move “seriously poisoned” China-UK relations: Chines ambassador

• Chinese Ambassador to Britain on Thursday slammed the British interference in China’s internal affairs by raising the so-called “human rights issue” in Xinjiang, saying it has “seriously poisoned” the atmosphere of China-UK relationship.
• In an online press conference, Liu Xiaoming, the ambassador, said the China-UK relationship has recently run into a series of difficulties and faced a grave situation.
• “The UK side should take full responsibility for the current difficulties in (the) China-UK relationship,” he said.
• “China has never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, including the UK, and we ask the same from other countries,” Liu said.
• On Xinjiang, the senior diplomat said Britain has disregarded the facts and confused right and wrong.