China's 1947 South China Sea map versus older British Colonial maps suggests centuries of disinterest by whosoever was in charge in China

by Ganesh Sahathevan


A  basic rule of international law with regards disputed borders is this: former colonies retain the territory gained by their colonial masters.


China's claim to the South China Sea is based on this 1947 dashed line map:

On the other hand, a simple search of the Net will reveal that the British in particular went about the business of mapping trade routes traversing much of the South China Sea and The Strait of Malacca more than a century before the Chinese formulated their dashed line map.

These are but a few examples. Enlargements can be obtained by clicking on the link provided and navigating the maps "on-site":

China Sea, Horburgh J,1806(?)

           Published according to Act of Parliament by James Horsburgh 1st Jan y. 1806, 1815

Published   accenting   to   Act   of   Parliament   by   James   Horsburgh1st.   Jany   1806.  

Published   accenting   to   Act   of   Parliament   by   James   Horsburgh1st.   Jany   1806.  

The above illustrate how the Government Of The United Kingdom had since at least the early 1800s charted the China Sea, established trade routes, and as we know from history, dispatched ships of His Majesty's Navy to police the area. Subsequently, at independence in 1957 ,and then in 1963, these territories were assumed by Malaysia and Singapore pursuant to the principle of
uti possidetis juris. China's 1947 dashed line map comes very late in the day of modern history, and does seem more like an admission by the Chinese Government that for centuries  the China Sea was never considered part of China.

END 

ASIC's James Shipton professes to understand the complex geophysics of climate change, but still has difficulty understanding the simple 1MDB-Goldman Sachs-AMBank-ANZ link.

by Ganesh Sahathevan

PHOTO: ASIC's new chair, James Shipton 
(Supplied: Harvard University)


While Goldman Sachs is in talks with the US government to settle 1MDB scandal for about $2 billion, ASIC Chairman James Shipton maintains his silence despite being identified by this writer and others as a person likely to have been involved in that scandal(see stories below). He has also maintained his silence with regards any investigation into ANZ's part in the 1MDB matter.

Instead he has declared that he will pursue Australian companies to ensure that they properly manage and  disclose "climate change" risks. 

It is hard to see how Shipton and ASIC might comprehend something as complex as climate change and the risks that flow from it, given his seeming incomprehension of the relatively simple 1MDB paper trail.
END


SEE ALSO

Asic boss James Shipton faces questions over former Goldman Sachs role and 1MDB scandal

Martin Farrer

Wed 20 Feb 2019 18.02 AEDT

 This article is more than 9 months old

Australia’s top corporate regulator worked at bank when it handled bond deals that raised $6.5bn for Malaysian fund

Australia’s top corporate regulator is facing questions in parliament about his role at the investment bank Goldman Sachs when it became embroiled in the world’s biggest financial scandal – the disappearance of billions of dollars from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.

James Shipton, the head of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, was Goldman Sachs’ head of regulation in south-east Asia when the bank handled a series of bond offerings to raise $6.5bn for 1MDB.

But much of the money disappeared and the 1MDB fund went bust, triggering money laundering investigations in at least five other countries and finally bringing down the Malaysian government.


1MDB: The inside story of the world’s biggest financial scandal

Read more

The US department of justice has alleged that more than $4.5bn was stolen from 1MDB by top officials of the fund and their associates between 2009 and 2014, with many of the ill-gotten gains spent in the US on property, works of art and even the making of the Leonardo diCaprio film The Wolf of Wall Street.

Malaysia is suing Goldman Sachs for $7.5bn for its role in allegedly helping the misappropriation of the money, $681m of which ended up in a bank account of the now-deposed Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak. The former Goldman Sachs partner who was in charge of the bond deals, Tim Leissner, has admitted defrauding the Malaysian people.
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Although based in Hong Kong, Shipton was the investment bank’s head of government and regulatory affairs in Asia Pacific between 2009 and 2013.

His senior position at Goldman at the time has been thrown into sharp relief by the fallout from the royal commission into Australia’s financial services industry. As the head of Asic he has been tasked with ensuring that Australia’s banks abide by the laws governing financial services and that there is no return to the rampant misconduct that led to the Hayne inquiry.

When contacted by the Guardian, Asic’s senior executive leader for corporate affairs, Matthew Abbott, said Shipton had nothing to do with the 1MDB transactions. His role at Goldman Sachs was about “regulatory policy, that is, dealing with international, regional and domestic policy that affected the bank. In this role he was not involved in transactions, nor was he responsible for the firm’s regulatory compliance,” Abbott said.

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But the Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson will question the Asic boss over what he knew about the mammoth bond dealings that netted Goldman nearly $600m in fees when Shipton appears at Senate estimates on Wednesday evening.

“Rightly or wrongly, this issue may come to reflect on Mr Shipton who now has the mammoth task of restoring trust in our corporate regulator, so it’s important to get this out in the open,” Whish-Wilson said.

“Mr Shipton should take the chance at estimates today to address any potential involvement in 1MDB, get this on public record, and answer questions about any potential reflections on or implications for his position.

“Following the revelations of the royal commission, Mr Shipton has a very big task ahead of him. I hope he takes the chance to clear up any concerns.”

A leading American banking analyst said Goldman Sachs’ compliance system had failed and that the bank had not explained why its internal processes had gone so badly wrong.

Dick Bove, of New York-based Odeon Capital, said the matter went to the “highest level” of Goldman’s executive structure.

“Goldman Sachs says it was lied to by the people putting the deal together. But the problem is that [the compliance team] weren’t doing their job properly and people lost all this money. If one deal went through, fine. But a second and then a third … that is the problem. Why weren’t they asking what happened to the money from the first deal? What was the return? Who was involved?

“Therefore due diligence is deeply flawed. If I was on the federal investigating team – and I’ve been told they’ve been in Goldman Sachs for two years – I would be asking: ‘Why did you not know what was going on and what happened to the money?’”

Whish-Wilson was also expected to raise questions about another Australian connection to the 1MDB scandal. Malaysian investigators have unearthed new details about irregularities with a bond sale carried out in 2009 for a precursor of 1MDB by a Malaysian bank called Am Bank, which is 24% owned by the Australian bank ANZ.

According to a recent report by Bloomberg, the 2009 bond sale arranged for TIA involved bonds being sold at a large discount to insiders which were then quickly resold – some of them on the same day – at a large profit.

Low Taek Jho, the fugitive Malaysian financier believed to be behind the 1MDB scam, was also allegedly the mastermind of the TIA scheme and reportedly profited from it to the tune of $126m.

Sarawak Report, the campaigning group that first exposed the 1MDB scandal, says Am Bank was involved in the bond sale “every bit of the way” and therefore ANZ has a case to answer about why the alleged corrupt dealing went ahead.

Clare Rewcastle Brown, of the Sarawak Report, said: “It makes [ANZ’s] position every bit as awkward as that of Goldman Sachs, which performed a similar role during the later bond issues by 1MDB leading to investigations by the FBI leading to criminal charges from Malaysia as well.”

It renewed calls for an investigaton by Asic into Am Bank’s involvement.

ANZ declined to comment.

Malaysia has filed criminal charges against Leissner and another former Goldman employee, Roger Ng Chong Hwa, will be extradited to the US to face charges of helping misappropriate $2.7bn, bribing officials and giving false statements when helping to issue bonds.

They are being charged alongside the former 1MDB employee Jasmine Loo Ai Swan and Low – also known as Jho Low – who is believed to be in hiding in China.

A map of Singapore and surrounding areas in Arabic c.1900 : Evidence of Muslim dominion even after the Anglo-Dutch Treaty 1909?

by Ganesh Sahathevan


An interesting map of Singapore and surrounding areas in Arabic, produced in 1909, well into the era of British Colonial rule. While most maps of Singapore are in English (evidencing in part British dominion) the existence of this map could possibly suggest that Singapore and surrounding areas were considered, despite British colonial rule, part of the Muslim world, and subject to the dominion of some caliph, in this case the Ottoman ruler of the time.

A 1909 Turkish map of the Singapore Strait and island of Singapore, combined with a map of Borneo(click to enlarge or go to link to enlarge image)

Note from Geographicus Antique Maps:

All titles and descriptive text are in Ottoman Turkish.On the Singapore Straits portion of the map, the city of Singapore itself is marked in red hachure. The map of Borneo is oriented to the west, and its colonial division between the English and the Dutch -which would materially affect the political boundaries of post-colonial Borneo- is indicated with colour.

END 

“perhaps the only accredited degree program in Australia that counts agitating for a foreign power towards its qualifications": Why the Law Soc Australia & NSW LPAB's business with Zhu Minshen is a matter of national security

by Ganesh Sahathevan



NSW Libs received donations of $44,275 from TOP Education Grosup 

just before after TOP was granted the "first & only" licenset issued a private

 company to award law degrees: AG Speakman and his LPAB refuse to disclose

 all details in the LPAB Annual Reports.

The progressive Left leaning Sydney Morning Herald reported in August this year:

Chinese international students now dominate campus politics at the University of Sydney, which has long been a breeding ground for political luminaries including Gough Whitlam, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.

Today, the presidencies of the student representative council (SRC) and the Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association (SUPRA) are both held by candidates from Chinese international student blocs as are about half of the elected positions on student union boards

As recently as 2015, international students were scarcely involved in campus politics but that changed in 2016 with the election of Yifan "Koko" Kong, the first Chinese international student to win a seat on the student union board.

That ended the lock domestic students aligned with Labor, the Liberals and the Greens have held on campus for decades.
In blunt terms a bastion of whiteness has fallen swiftly. The fall can be attributed to a Vice Chancellor who was determined to see his university become more "diverse". 

Meanwhile, the Law Council Australia and the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board, which is chaired by the Chief Justice Of NSW, Tom Bathurst, made history by authorising a private company to grant law degrees; that company happens to be listed in Hong Kong and has strong links to the Communist Party Of China.As reported by this writer: 


Zhu Minshen's new Chinese website says the Law Council of Australia "officially approved" Top Education Institute's application to issue law degrees

Zhu's teaching methods are unique. In his 2018 book "Silent Invasion" Professor Clive Hamilton reports that Top Education Group's Zhu Minshen organised students , including students from his Top Education Institute to protest against Tibetans at the 2008 Olympic Torch rally, which counted towards the Top students’ assessment.As he puts it, Zhu’s Top Institution is “perhaps the only accredited degree program in Australia that counts agitating for a foreign power towards its qualifications.”

Zhu's law school will soon be producing LLB graduates who will qualify for admission to practise law in NSW and in Australia. As members of the various law societies they can, like the Chinese students at Sydney University gather sufficient support to control the leadership of those societies. 

The conduct of the Law Council Australia and the NSW LPAB in the matter of Zhu Minshen has obvious national security implications that require immediate investigation. The recent introduction of foreign interference laws makes that requirement mandatory, if the objectives of those laws are to be achieved. 


END

SEE

Chinese students dominate the cradle of Australian politics
By Nick Bonyhady
August 12, 2019 — 12.00am
AAA
Chinese international students now dominate campus politics at the University of Sydney, which has long been a breeding ground for political luminaries including Gough Whitlam, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.
Today, the presidencies of the student representative council (SRC) and the Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association (SUPRA) are both held by candidates from Chinese international student blocs as are about half of the elected positions on student union boards.

Amid concerns about Chinese government influence in Australia and ongoing protests in Hong Kong, As recently as 2015, international students were scarcely involved in campus politics but that changed in 2016 with the election of Yifan "Koko" Kong, the first Chinese international student to win a seat on the student union board.

That ended the lock domestic students aligned with Labor, the Liberals and the Greens have held on campus for decades.
And it mirrors broader trends at Sydney University, where international student numbers have more than doubled since 2012. Those students, a majority of whom are Chinese, constitute about a third of the student population and pay tens of millions of dollars a year to the university on which it increasingly depends on.
The largest international student faction on campus is Panda, which is more conservative. It prioritises delivering services to students, wants cheaper transport for international students and generally mistrusts activism. Advance, its more progressive opponent, is more activist, with members decrying racism, opposing the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation and fighting for abortion access.
Such is the rancour between factions on campus, including Advance and Panda as well as domestic student groups, that the August SRC council meeting was cancelled because council staff deemed the level of hostility between all sides "unsafe", according to student newspaper Honi Soit.
Michael Rees, a former student union president, said there was a positive side to the division because it showed international students' diversity.
"There is this view that international Chinese students are a homogenous political community and it’s just so so wrong," Mr Rees said.
And a university spokeswoman said it was pleased to see international students getting involved.
"We have a strong history of political debate, activism and advocacy in our student body, and it’s encouraging to see this tradition extending to our international students to ensure our representative bodies are as diverse as our student population," the spokeswoman said.
SRC president Jacky He, a Panda leader who is from China but has permanent residency in Australia, said disagreements between his group and the more progressive Advance bloc were like clashes between different Labor factions.Mr He's chief antagonist is Decheng Sun, honorary secretary of the student union and an Advance leader. When Panda aligned itself with a Liberal faction on campus, Mr Sun said he "couldn't accept it because it was not my ideology."

On the question of democracy in Hong Kong that has rocked other campuses, leading to physical clashes at the University of Queensland and the intimidation of at least one pro-democracy protester via threats to his family in China, both Mr Sun and Mr He are cagey.
Mr He said he could not "express any opinion on any of these things" and could not say how other Panda supporters would think about the issue while Mr Sun said he would "encourage representatives from my faction to vote upon their conscience. People have arguments on both sides, so it's complex."
Other Chinese students take a different approach.
Weihong Liang, who served two terms as SUPRA president until resigning in July when he graduated to take a job in China, is a member of the Chinese Communist Party. He said being a party member was common in China and did not mean he was a representative of the government.
"It does not mean all party members are leaders of the communist party, it just means [they are a] party member," Mr Liang said.
Nick Bonyhady
Nick is a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald. 

"You know how Labor left and Labor right can't really stand each other. They're still all Labor but you can't figure out why they can't stand each other?" Mr He said. "Sometimes it's like this."Chinese student leaders at the University of Sydney are divided over issues of how progressive or conservative their peers should be in Australia. 

SEE ALSO

TEQSA's Nicholas Saunders granted Zhu Minshen's Top Group self accreditation rights despite Zhu granting academic credits for defying an AFP directive

Australia's decision to allow a Communist Party China linked school to produce lawyers who can practise in Australian courts is a world first: Scrutiny of senior judicial officers under Australia's foreign interference rules unavoidable, as would be scrutiny by agencies in the US,UK

The Australian National Institute of Management and Commerce attributes Macao's economic success to love of China,love of Macao, and "confidence" in "one country, two systems"-Looking forward to the CJ NSW ,President of the Law Council Australia welcoming Zhu approved lawyers at The Venetian

by Ganesh Sahathevan

                                                           Venetian Macao

                                                      @VenetianMacao

As reported by Xinhua:

People in Macao have always cherished their love for China and Macao, and their sense of identity as Chinese nationals and their confidence in "one country, two systems" have been the underlining factors in the great development and the constant improvement in the living standard in Macao, said Dr. Minshen Zhu, principal of the Australian National Institute of Management and Commerce.




To be read with:
Liberal donor Zhu Minshen's Top Group business college has become the "Australian National Institute Of Management And Commerce "


Zhu Minshen's links to China's United Front add to national security and legal concerns but Zhu remains part of Australia's legal establishment : Law Council Australia & judicial bodies silence embarrassing, damages reputation of Australian lawyers in this region


Zhu Minshen's law school approvals involved the NSW Supreme Court administration but Chief Justice Bathurst and AG Speakman ultimately responsible- approvals & renewals granted despite Dastiyari scandal, Zhu's defiance of AFP directives

Zhu Minshen's new Chinese website says the Law Council of Australia "officially approved" Top Education Institute's application to issue law degrees


END


Overseas Chinese communities praise successful implementation of "one country, two systems" in Macao

Source: Xinhua| 2019-12-21 21:46:22|Editor: mingmei

BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Overseas Chinese communities have spoken highly of the successful implementation of the "one country, two systems" policy in Macao two decades after its return to China.

They made the comments when talking about Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at a gathering in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland on Friday.

Steven Wong, chairman of the Peaceful Reunification of China Association of New Zealand, said that over the last 20 years since Macao's return, the "one country, two systems," "Macao people governing Macao" and a high degree of autonomy have been fully implemented.

Over the last two decades since Macao's return, the rapid development of the Chinese mainland has provided important support for Macao, Wong said, adding that the joint construction of the Belt and Road and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has provided a broader platform for Macao's development.

The great achievements in the 20 years after Macao rejoined the motherland have proven that "one country, two systems" is both feasible and heart-winning, said Liang Guanjun, president of the United Chinese Association of Eastern U.S. Inc.

Liang said he expects that Macao would stand as a continuance in the success story of the "one country, two systems" policy.

People in Macao have always cherished their love for China and Macao, and their sense of identity as Chinese nationals and their confidence in "one country, two systems" have been the underlining factors in the great development and the constant improvement in the living standard in Macao, said Dr. Minshen Zhu, principal of the Australian National Institute of Management and Commerce.

Angel Hsu vs Lee Hsien Loong on the matter of climate change- Singapore's year of flirting dangerously with the climate change fad crashes into reality

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Rationalise this:Having spent billions on the Jurong Rock Cavern Oil Storage facility, it is hard to see how Singapore is going to participate in any way in anything that is going to harm the global trade in oil, gas and derivates.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong  in a speech at the opening of Exxon Mobil’s new facility in Singapore in 2015: 

“The energy and chemicals industry is a major carbon emitter worldwide. It is the nature of the industry....We must reduce our emissions, both of greenhouse gases as well as other more local pollutants..... “But at the same time, I want to assure all the energy and petrochemicals companies here that the Singapore government stands fully behind them and will continue to help them to succeed.”

Angel Hsu , Assistant Professor of Social Sciences (Environmental Studies) at Yale-NUS College commentary published on the Channel News Asia website:

We can continue to reject plastic straws, but to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and future-proof its economy, Singapore must adopt a strategy to shift its reliance on the petroleum and refinery industry.

Associate Professor Hsu's commentary comes at the end of a year in which Singapore media has had much to say about climate change. Much of the reporting and commentary seems to have avoided the not so small matter of Singapore's proposed climate change policies on its USD 80 Billion oil and gas sector (see story below).

Regardless, Professor Hsu has said it, CNA has published it, and finally the flirtation with climate change has crashed into the reality of business and livelihoods.

This writer looks forward to more excitement in the coming weeks, months and year.

END 

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Singapore's oil and gas sector is worth USD 80 Billion, but it's actively pursuing "climate change" strategies-Is anyone in its ruthlessly pragmatic administration thinking of the costs, to the industry and other related parts of the Singapore economy?

by Ganesh Sahathevan





Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivers a speech during the Climate Action Summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Sept 23, 2019.PHOTO: PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE


Singapore's ruthlessly  pragmatic PAP Government has jumped on the climate change bandwagon.
Speaking at the UN PM Lee Hsien Loong declared that Singapore will do its full part to mitigate climate change.Speaking at the 2019 National Day Rally Lee declared that climate change was one of the 

'gravest challenges facing mankind'.

"Doing its full part" will mean curbing the oil and gas sector which in 2019 is estimated to be worth USD 80 Billion (see table below)

The oil industry makes up 5 per cent of Singapore's GDP, with Singapore being one of the top three export refining centres in the world. In 2007 it exported 68.1 million tonnes of oil. The oil industry has led to the promotion of the chemical industry as well as oil and gas equipment manufacturing.^[80] Singapore has 70 per cent of the world market for both jack-up rigs and for the conversion of Floating Production Storage Offloading units. It has 20 per cent of the world market for ship repair, and in 2008 the marine and offshore industry employed almost 70,000 workers.^[81]

The sector provides cash for the financial services industry, so the impact of doing its "full part" would be in excess of what has been described above.

Clearly, the loss of luxury homes in Sentosa Cove at some point in the future is not the only cost that Singaporeans need to be concerned about:

Source: Climate Central

The immediate costs of jumping on the climate change bandwagon are likely to cause greater damage.

END

Singapore - Oil and Gas

This is a best prospect industry sector for this country. Includes a market overview and trade data.

---

Last Published: 6/13/2019

Overview

	2016	2017	2018	2019 (estimated)
Total Market Size	72,149	77,126	81,984	80,000
Local Production	43,938	57,362	51,734	50,000
Exports	52,483	62,954	56,629	55,000
Imports	60,827	82,719	86,879	85,000
Import from U.S.	1,809	2,758	3,834	3,300
Exchange Rate: 1USD	1.38	1.38	1.35	1.35

$US millions (total market size = (total local production + imports) - exports)
Data Sources: Singapore Government Trade Statistics