Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Huawei?

The U.S. Treasury Department issued an administrative subpoena, undisclosed until reviewed (paywall) by the New York Times on April 26, to Chinese cellular technology giant Huawei in December last year. The Times notes that although the subpoena by itself does not indicate suspected criminality, “the widening inquiry puts Huawei in an awkward position at a moment when sanctions have taken on new import.” Perhaps, the paper said, “Huawei…[is] suspected of violating American embargoes that broadly restrict the export of American goods to countries like Iran and Syria.” The Treasury Department subpoena is the second one for Huawei from the U.S. government in 2016, as its Department of Commerce also looked into (paywall) Huawei’s connections with Iran and North Korea last summer.

• Chinese president warns Politburo to be on guard against financial risks / SCMP
  A statement from a meeting between President Xi Jinping and the powerful 25-member Politburo took the rare step of mentioning “financial risk” twice, underscoring the government’s “risk aversion agenda ahead of a major [political] reshuffle later this year.”
• China’s new generation of war correspondents hit the front line / The Guardian
  “Beijing’s state-run press expands its global footprint as part of an ambitious media offensive designed to project the country’s voice across the world.”
• China ranked 5th from the bottom again on this year’s World Press Freedom Index / Shanghaiist
  Reporters Without Borders, the organization that publishes the index of 180 countries, called China “the world’s leading prison for citizen journalists.”
• Southeast Asian leaders to avoid direct China criticism / Yahoo News
• China ready to mediate between Myanmar, Bangladesh over Rohingya row / Reuters
• China’s Communist Party has a new role model for its members, and he’s an imperial bureaucrat / Quartz
• Hong Kong police detain pro-independence lawmakers after China protest / SCMP