2018 ended with not so good ending, the U.S. government was partially shut-down due to a stalemate between Congress and the White House over funding for a wall along the southern border for stopping illegal immigrants and drug and human trafficking. The U.S.-China trade war although temporarily halted for 90 days but its uncertainty and the arresting of a Chinese high-tech company executive by Canada at the request of the U.S. have caused stock markets in the U.S. and worldwide tumbling. The concern of the Chinese economy degrading as well as its impact on the U.S. and world economy is casting a cloud over financial markets worrying recession. 

Coming 2019 New Year, though the above problems are still hanging, but a string of exciting news happening in the first week of the New Year is uplifting. This is the news report of a space exploration. First, on the New Year’s Day, the NASA asteroid-sampling probe (OSIRIS-REx, Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) was reported circling its space-rock target, 1640 foot wide near-Earth asteroid Bennu at 2:43 P.M (EST) on Dec. 31, setting a new record for the smallest body ever orbited by a spacecraft at a smallest orbit, one mile above the rock. Then it followed by executing the orbit-insertion maneuver perfectly, a project planned for years. Since OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu since Dec. 3, a detailed physical measurement and mapping had begun before the insertion signaling that maneuvering around a small body with no gravity is a very challenging task. 

The OSIRIS-REx mission ($800 million) was launched in September 2016. Its main goal is to help researchers better understand the solar system's early days, and to shed light on the role that carbon-rich asteroids such as Bennu may have played in helping life get started on Earth by delivering water and organic molecules. Much of this information will come from analyses of Bennu material here on Earth with planned harvesting a sizeable sample of asteroid dirt and gravel in mid-2020 parachuting back in the Utah desert in September 2023. The mission should increase scientists' understanding of the resource potential of Bennu-like asteroids and help fine-tune the trajectories researchers had drawn up for potentially dangerous space rocks. This space program is obviously a significant research hopefully contributing to mankind’s knowledge and potential use of space resources.

On Jan. 1, 2019, a NASA spacecraft, New Horizon, was reported to have flown by, in the first hour of 2019, over a space object (named Ultima Thule located in an icy Kuiper Belt) farther than any spacecraft has done before, about four billion miles from Earth (one billion miles from Pluto). The scientists cheered upon receiving the signal, which took so long to reach them. The full scope of observations made by New Horizons will take nearly two years to beam back to Earth. The spacecraft provided the first close-up images of Pluto about 3 1/2 years ago when it traveled past the dwarf planet. The objects in this region so far from the Sun are believed to be frozen in time, relics left over from the formation of the solar system. The space objects like Ultima are believed to be the building blocks of planets, thus its study can lead to the understanding of the formation of planets. The surface features of this small world could provide a window to see the composition of the subsurface of Ultima. By counting the number and impactors that have hit Ultima, the number of small objects in the outer solar system may be estimated.

On January 3rd, 2019, another exciting space news brought cheers all over the world as photos of Chang’e 4 lander and rover Yutu2 and their successful soft landing (Jan. 2nd) on the far side of the Moon were reported on televisions and newspapers. China was a late comer in space exploration; she was excluded from the space club by the West. This turned out to be a blessing, since it motivated many Chinese scientists and engineers to dedicate all their brains, energies and lives to space research. Besides China’s rapid advances in transport and satellite technologies, China has launched the Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2 orbiters in 2007 and 2010, respectively, and pulled off a near-side Moon landing with the Chang’e 3 mission in December 2013. Chang'e 4 was originally designed as a backup to Chang'e 3, so they share hardware similarity. China has also launched an eight day around the moon return capsule mission in October 2014, a mission known as Chang'e 5T1. as a test run for the Chang'e 5 sample-return effort, likely to be launched this year. China also has ambitions for crewed lunar missions, but its human-spaceflight program is focused more on Earth orbit in the short term such as launching a space station up and running by her own effort in the early 2020s.

On Jan. 3rd, the rover rolled onto the gray dirt floor of the 115-mile-wide (186 kilometers) Von Kármán Crater, creeping down twin ramps from a previous position atop the stationary lander. Yutu 2, named after a rabbit in the Chinese legendary mythology, and its lander companion will conduct the first in-depth science investigations on the far side of the Moon. The pair carries four science instruments to characterize the surface and near subsurface of the Von Kármán crater which lies within an even larger impact feature, the 1,550-mile-wide (2,500 km) South Pole-Aitken Basin. In addition, the lander also carries a biological experiment: a small tin containing silkworm eggs and the seeds of several plant species, including potatoes. Mission team members aim to study how these organisms may grow and develop in the low-gravity lunar environment.

The lander features the Landing Camera, the Terrain Camera, the Low Frequency Spectrometer, and the Lunar Lander Neutrons and Dosimetry (provided by Germany). The rover has the Panoramic Camera, the Lunar Penetrating Radar, the Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, and the Advanced Small Analyzer for Neutrals (contributed by Sweden). The lander and Yutu 2 cannot beam their data home to Earth directly from the far side of the Moon which was the reason it avoided human exploration thus far. So in May, 2018, China had launched a relay satellite called Queqiao (a name also taken from the legendary mythology), stationed at a gravitationally stable point beyond the Moon. From its vantage point, Queqiao can keep Yutu 2, the lander and Earth all in sight at the same time. Chang'e 4 is a robotic lunar exploration. The data flow through Queqiao will likely be extensive. China's Chang'e 4 team should be congratulated for the successful landing on the far side of the Moon, a first for humanity and an impressive accomplishment.

The above NASA space explorations are aiming at finding information about how the solar universe had begun and planets had been developed. China’s lunar observations on the Moon’s far side are aiming at finding why the lunar near and far sides are so different. The experimentations to be performed there will yield valuable information about how plants such as silkworms and potatoes may ever grow on the Moon. It is obvious that collaboration and sharing information between the U.S. and China will yield more progress on space science and applications. For example, Chengdu City in China is seriously exploring the possibility of launching a geostationary satellite with a mirror array to reflect solar light to the city in the night time to eliminate all city street lights. Such an idea would never arise if there were no satellite and space technology. Let’s hope the New Year’s exciting news will steer the two great nations and other partners to work together for the common good of mankind, rather than pursuing mutually damaging competition such as trade wars and technology sanctions.
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Ifay Chang. Ph.D. Producer/Host, Community Education - Scrammble Game Show, Weekly TV Columnist, www.us-chinaforum.org . Trustee, Somers Central School District.

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Debt would be a bad thing if it could not be managed properly. In modern economic theory, capital is the necessary fuel for keeping the economy churning and debt or loan is the necessary oil for lubricating the economic engine. Managing debt is a challenge on either a personal or a national level. The traditional philosophy particularly in the Orient preaches debt-free and savings, whereas in the modern world, the developed or developing countries have been accustomed to a credit system encouraging borrowing thus making debt management a vital skill, on both personal and national levels. Personal debt is often expressed in absolute dollars whereas national (Government) debt tends to be expressed in terms of percentage of national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the U.S. (105.4%), China (47.6%), and Africa (9.95-125.3% for its 51 countries). The top ten in-debt nations are Japan (253%), Greece, Lebanon, Italy, Portugal, Cape Verde, Congo, Singapore, Bhutan, and the U.S. (105.4%), in terms of percentages of GDP. The economic health of a nation is judged on its ability of managing debt and assets to guarantee payback of debt in time.
 
The American debt (105.4% of GDP-$19,391B, 2017) is equivalent to $20.438 trillion dollars. However, the U.S. is the wealthiest country valued at $93.560T, about 4.5 times of her debt. By straight math, the national debt of the U.S. is less than 22% of her assets, far below a bankruptcy level. The population of the U.S. is 324.5 million (2017). Thus every American shares $62,991 national debt. It is this figure that worries the American citizens and the international debt market. From debt management point of view, it is illogical to expect each American citizen to bear and pay off $63K, so the government must manage it by selling the Treasury bills to extend the loans or getting the cash to pay off maturing debt and refinancing new debt. So long as the debt is not reaching close to the National assets; this refinancing scheme of pushing debt down the road is a workable scheme. Of course, this scheme requires other nations or individuals or corporations to buy the Treasury bills to support refinancing. Most trading partners of the U.S. with a trade surplus hold US Treasury bills, T-bonds or notes. China used to hold over three trillion dollars of Treasury securities one time, now maintaining at 1.2 trillion (6/2018, Japan now holds about 1 trillion).
 
Loans or debts always carry interest, the more debt a nation owes, the more interest its government must pay each year. This interest burden is eating a big chunk of the U.S. budget or tax revenue. For fiscal year 2016, the interest payment was about $271B, 6.8% of total federal expenditure (474.5B for 2017). The debt interest payment has risen up 27% over the past decade, luckily at a low interest rate. As of June 2017, about 28% of the American debt (19.39T) is owed to Social Security (~$5.45B). Generally an internal (inter-government) debt is not as serious as foreign debt; however, the Social Security Program is a ‘pay benefits as you collect taxes’ program with surplus put in a trust fund and invested in Treasury securities. Starting 2018, Social Security payouts will begin to draw its trust fund reserve, which means, its earned interest is no longer sufficient to pay for all the benefits. The Social Security trust fund may be depleted by 2034 (sixteen years away), thus it faces two issues, one, the government must implement a tax scheme to build up its reserve to avoid bankruptcy and two, its investment in Treasury securities must be secure. Understanding the above debt discussion, we realize that the U.S. is not healthy financially. If no one buys the U.S. Treasury bills, the U.S. government and its Social Security Program will be in trouble. The trade war U.S. initiated may temporarily add cash to the Treasury but it won’t solve the American debt problem unless fundamental fiscal policy, industrial revitalization and life-style moderation are introduced to reduce the heavy American debt.
 
China’s debt according to IMF is at 47.6% of her GDP ($12015B 2017), $5719B, much less than the US debt. However, many economists caution that China’s total debt is much more than the ‘government debt’ indicated. Some claim China’s debt size is over 300% of her GDP due to her stimulus measures after the recent global financial crisis and her loose credit practice fueling her economic growth. This dire warning has been quieted down simply because the Chinese Central Bank has taken measures to stabilize credit market and keep her economy humming at a healthy 6-7% growth rate. The Chinese debt mountain is protected behind ‘Great Wall’ avoiding foreign capital manipulation. Western economists do acknowledge that China is able to avert financial/debt crisis but insisting her debt problem remaining a serious burden to her economy.
 
China has stepped up on the world stage becoming a significant creditor nation, lending money to other nations to fund their infrastructure and economic development, recently through her Belt Road Initiative (BRI). Some economists regard the above Chinese loans as a problem, citing examples: lending Venezuela $60B and Argentina tens of billions, both country facing economic problems. Argentina has applied to the IMF for a bailout. They also cite China loans being of questionable value, for example, China built a high-speed railroad line in Kenya currently operating at 20% of break-even level. Similarly, China has built a high-speed railroad in Laos and a new port for Sri Lanka with generous low interest loan terms (for Laos) and a 99-year port lease as payback(with Sri Lanka). Some economists regard these loans as problematic and compare them to the bad experience of Latin American debt crisis in the 1980’s. However, we must point out that although the debt structures are similar, China’s loans are based on a very different motive, a true win-win and long-term mutual-benefit basis. It is true China needs money to deleverage credits for her local banks to dissolve Chinese corporation debts, but China’s government foreign debt is low. It is true that a rise in borrowing or credits without significant economic gains potentially will crush the Chinese corporations but they seem to perform well.
 
This may be why that the U.S. launches a ‘trade-plus’ war against China, intended to disrupt the current ‘red manufacturing chain’ (will hurt Chinese corporations but also US corporations), to sabotage China’s BRI (will impact world economy) and to stop China’s 2025 Manufacture Plan (may backfire to accelerating it) hoping ultimately crushing Chinese corporations and their industrial base. Whether the US ‘trade-plus’ strategy will hurt China badly or not is hard to predict but the trade tariff does not solve the U.S. own debt problem in the long run. Some economists even predict that the collapse of China’s economy would be a big blow to corporate America. China’s debt problem is very different from the US debt problem. China seems to be able to manage her debt problem and regulate her credit structure if no external intervention. Hence, China is carefully handling the strategic issues triggered by the U.S. ‘trade-plus’ war, such as industry upgrade, the role of RMB as a global currency, etc.
 
Africa has over 50 nations, their national debt ranges from 9.95% to 125.3% of their GDPs. The larger economy tend to have larger debt, for instance, South Africa and Egypt, which have a debt of 52.7% (0f GDP), $47.9B (2017) and 103%, $94B respectively. Most other countries are developing nations with smaller economy (< $100B) and smaller debt (<< $100B). Some African countries are among the world’s poorest nations, like Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo, needing capital investments for economic development but sometimes unable to repay their debt. If the country produces oil or other mineral resources, the debt refinancing may be sustainable; otherwise, it may have to get relief from IMF. The above discussed loans made by China to African countries certainly carry financial risk; however, it is a worthwhile risk since a developed Africa will elevate the world economy. The infrastructure investment in Africa may not yield an immediate return but the agricultural and energy investment do give back return quickly. China’s investment in Africa sometimes being criticized as projects robbing Africa’s natural resources or causing corruption in governments and businesses or falling into China’s debt trap, but judging from the recent 3rd Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC, 9-3-2018 in Beijing) attended by 53 African States, the African countries not only welcome China’s investment in Africa but also enthusiastically anticipate closer China-Africa ties in support of China’s BRI program. Many news reports on China’s restructuring and extension of loans in Africa do suggest that China is not backing off from her Africa policy despite of some Chinese economists worrying whether China will be a sucker in Africa getting no return for her investments.
 
                            
 

Save Sabrina! Demand Justice for Sabrina! Where were the American liberal democratic ladies when Sabrina was arrested and needed their support? Who is Sabrina? Sorry, our mainstream media seem to pick their political position (bias) and down play certain reporting. You might not know Sabrina, but you should know her story (Google Wikipedia) and defend her if you ever cared about human rights, woman’s dignity and American justice system. In the following, Dr. Wordman will tell Sabrina’s story, a movie-script like story to urge the world to stand behind her.

Sabrina (Ms. Meng Wanzhou) is the CFO of Huawei Corporation, daughter of the founder Ren Zhenfei and his first wife Meng Jun who divorced Ren and married again. Wanzhou adopted her mother’s name at age of 16 (born 2-13-1972 in Chengdu). Wanzhou got out of college in 1992 and started her first job at China Construction Bank then joined Huawei next year as a secretary, some said that she started working at the telephone switch board. In 1997, she went for graduate studies at HuaZhong University of Science and Technology clearly feeling the need of technical training for getting ahead in Huawei. She returned to Huawei in 1998 working for the accounting department, then growing with the company, rising through the ranks in the finance area from head of international accounting, CFO of Huawei Hong Kong, Director of Accounting Management Department, then becoming the CFO of Huawei.

Huawei, founded in 1987, is a very unique company not only in China but in the world. The founder believes in sharing profits with every worker but demands loyalty and hard work. The company stocks belong mostly to workers, a collective company in their own description. Founder Ren owns only 1.4% of the company and humbly holds the CEO position. Huawei’s current Chairman of the Board since March 2018 is Liang Hua, an engineer, the previous COB is a woman, Ms Sun Yafang (born 1955), who had a technical bachelor degree from the University of Electronic Sciences and Technology of China (UESTC 1982) and served in the Chinese army. She worked for Huawei since 1989 and became the Chairwoman in 1999 in ten years. Wanzhou is one of her four appointed Vice Chairmen in Huawei’s top executive list. Huawei probably can be considered as one of the world’s best companies for women employee.

Sabrina was traveling from Hong Kong to South America for conference and was arrested on December 1, 2018, in Vancouver while in transit by the Canadian government, based on a U.S. extradition request which was revealed later being issued on August 22, 2018 by the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York. Sabrina was treated crudely like a criminal and put in jail while not giving specific charges. Later, some organic news reports stated that she was charged with defrauding multiple international institutions concerning money for Huawei but actually for Skycom, a Hong Kong Company controlled by Huawei. Skycom was charged with selling equipments to Iran violating the Iran sanction, based on a 2013 Reuters report. Sabrina was finally granted her release with a bail of CAN$10million on 12-11-2018 with conditions that she will accept electronic surveillance and pay for the guard services preventing her from leaving Vancouver.

As Huawei’s CFO, Sabrina probably signs thousands if not more check transactions for Huawei and its subsidiaries in a month. Picking arrest over serving a legal notice for clarification and employing extradition involving Canada can only demonstrate that the U.S. district court has an extremely long arm in handling prosecution without concrete evidence and with no regard to individual rights, multinational corporation’s dignity and value of international diplomacy. Sabrina’s release was denied when China made serious protests through diplomatic channels to the U.S. and Canada. The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau claimed that his government was aware of the extradition request but did not get involved. (Making an arrest is not involvement?) The PM obviously does not remember those righteous speeches made in Canadian Parliament demanding human rights and justice in foreign lands.

White House staff claimed that Trump was not aware of Ms Meng’s arrest happening during his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (12/3-4/2018 at G20 in Argentina) National Security Advisor John Bolton acknowledged advance knowledge of the arrest but chose not to inform President Trump. (How secure the U.S. would be if our NSA could unilaterally decide to hide a US-China matter from the President while he is meeting with the Chinese leader?) Trump however said later he would intervene in Ms Meng’s case if it would help get a good deal in the trade war negotiation. (What an honest President not bothering to hide behind hypocrisy!) The Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo also courageously stated that “foreign policy must be taken into consideration in this (Ms Meng’s) case, the mission is American First”. (Pompeo’s remarks draw some criticisms but the sad fact is that CIA tactics seem to be dominating our foreign affairs, even justice matter.) At the end, China made two consequential arrests of two Canadians (one former diplomat and think tank worker, Michael Kovrig, and one business consultant, Michael Spavor) on suspicion of threatening the national security of China; these arrests might have resulted in Ms Meng’s release on bail.

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huáwéi) is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong, South China. Huawei sells its products and services in more than 170 countries, serving 45 of the 50 largest telecom operators since 2011. Huawei overtook Ericsson in 2012 as the largest telecom-equipment manufacturer in the world and overtook Apple in 2018 as the world second-largest manufacturer of smart-phones, behind Samsung Electronics. Huawei ranks 72nd on the list of the Fortune Global 500. Huawei had over 170,000 employees as of September 2017, about 76,000 of them engaged in R&D on lavishly designed and furnished campuses (some like palaces) distributed as 21 R&D institutes in 16 countries. As of 2017 the company invested US$13.8 billion in R&D, up from US$5 billion in 2013, recently planning to increase its basic research portion from 10 to 20-30%. No wonder Huawei is now the leader in the fifth generation (5G) communication, Internet and smart-phones. The U.S. is advised by the military not to trust Huawei’s communication equipment (likelihood of crippling U.S. military communication capabilities during war), hence the U.S. government has issued orders banning US government buying any Huawei equipment and not permitting Huawei to sell its phones in the U.S., presumably protecting Apple. 
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Huawei’s success is obviously a threat to many corporations such as South Korea’s Samsung, the U.S. Apple and many EU and Indian corporations. However, the U.S. is the only country to use national security as the reason to blockade and crush Huawei products. The U.S. rallies Japan, Australia and any ally would join to boycott Huawei products. Huawei is definitely feeling the giant ‘protectionism’ claw scratching its back. So far, France and Germany have stayed with Huawei citing no evidence showing Huawei’s products are unsafe. In fact, testing of telecommunication equipments has a long and reliable history since the days that every country uses the equipments from the U.S. (ATT, GTE, Motorola, and the like), France (Ericsson) and Germany (Siemens). Huawei’s equipments must have been thoroughly tested by the U.S. military. Any evidence of backdoor would have been widely publicized unless there is none or they are being used by the U.S. Military relying on foreign parts 100% is a concern in the event of war, however, using high-priced parts made by US military contractors is equally vulnerable. 

Sabrina’s case brought the world’s attention to 5G and exposed the ‘long arm’ practice of prosecution tramping human rights and the ugly government tactics in global commerce and squash competition in the name of national security. The coming of 5G over 4G means 20G over 100M in download speed and 100Mhz over 20Mhz in communication bandwidth thus lifting current video, e-Commerce and virtual reality to higher level applications such as auto-driving car with faster and sharper GPS, telemedicine bringing surgical hospital to everywhere, and intelligent cities with artificial reality and intelligence making human lives more comfortable. A folksy appreciation of 5G would be downloading a two-hour movie in two seconds or watching the Super Bowl at a ring seat in your home. Sabrina’s case revealed so many facts for thoughts but Ms Meng did not deserve harsh treatment or many sleepless nights in jail. We must speak out for Sabrina. Where were you when she needed your support? It is never too late to demand Justice for Sabrina!
 

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