Good morning, everyone.
My name is Carter Burwell, and I serve as Counselor to the Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the United States Department of the Treasury.
I am sorry to be giving these remarks remotely, and that we all could not be together in person.
But in this unusual time of virtual events and social distancing, it is nice to see so many people gathered together who are interested in the Treasury Department’s work.
I want to thank The Washington Institute, and especially Matt Levitt, for inviting me to speak and for the kind introduction.
For years, The Washington Institute has put out tremendous work on various threats posed by illicit actors.
Last week, the United Kingdom (UK) moved forward with its first inoculations of the approved Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The United States (US) approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Friday, 11 December, and will begin inoculations this coming week. The European Union (EU) continues to stress safety over speed in its vaccine approval process and has yet to follow suit.
The UK sealed the deal on a number of Free Trade Agreements, while talks with the EU continue without any significant breakthroughs. Meanwhile, the UK and EU are also preparing for a possible hard exit scenario.
This past week, Poland and Hungary reached a compromise with the EU on the custom union’s Budget and Recovery Fund, which will allow funds to flow at the start of the new year. The 116th US Congress, meanwhile, continues negotiations over a new COVID relief package, amid other priorities before adjourning.
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Last week, the United Kingdom (UK) moved forward with its first inoculations of the approved Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The United States (US) approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Friday, 11 December, and will begin inoculations this coming week. The European Union (EU) continues to stress safety over speed in its vaccine approval process and has yet to follow suit.
The UK sealed the deal on a number of Free Trade Agreements, while talks with the EU continue without any significant breakthroughs. Meanwhile, the UK and EU are also preparing for a possible hard exit scenario.
This past week, Poland and Hungary reached a compromise with the EU on the custom union’s Budget and Recovery Fund, which will allow funds to flow at the start of the new year. The 116th US Congress, meanwhile, continues negotiations over a new COVID relief package, amid other priorities before adjourning.
Why the US bit back at China’s ‘Broken Tooth’
Sun Online Desk
13th December, 2020 05:57:40
Less than a decade ago, Wan Kuok Koi, alias “Broken Tooth”, was incarcerated in a purpose-built top-security detention facility in Macau on charges of involvement in an illegal organization.
Today, he freely runs an apparently highly profitable business empire across Hong Kong, Cambodia, Malaysia, Palau and Myanmar, including the mysterious and controversial Shwe Kokko new city being built in a remote area on the Moei river bordering Thailand.
But those fortunes could soon come crashing down, at least if the US government has its way. On December 9, the US Treasury Department designated Chinese national Wan as “a leader of the 14K Triad, one of the largest Chinese organized crime organizations in the world.”
2020/12/12 14:30 U.S. expanding sanctions list of Chinese human rights violators U.S. expanding sanctions list of Chinese human rights violators (AP photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) The U.S. Department of the Treasury placed sanctions on two Chinese individuals for Human Rights Day on Thursday (Dec.10), bringing the number of Chinese the U.S. has sanctioned since the beginning of December to 16. The latest list includes Wan Kuok-koi (尹國駒), the leader of a Macau-based criminal organization, who is accused of graft, and Huang Yuanxiong (黄元雄), the Xiamen police chief accused of contributing to persecution and violence against Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Wan Kuok-koi