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Xinhua: US Owes China an Apology and the World Owes China a Thank You

On March 4, Xinhua, the official state-run press agency of the People’s Republic of China, {which is, therefore the voice of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)} published a commentary stating that the U.S. should apologize to China and the world should thank China.

The article said that, as the novel coronavirus epidemic continues developing in the U.S., President Trump has changed his position to praise China. In a press conference, when asked whether the U.S. government would adopt some measures similar to those that China did, if the U.S. epidemic gets worse, Trump responded that he would adopt some Of China’s measures. He stated that China has achieved substantial progress.

The article said that it was obvious that Trump made these statements from his heart. While China’s coronavirus containment has made considerable progress, the U.S. is facing an outbreak.

People should know, when Wuhan had the coronavirus outbreak, the Trump administration was the first to announce that it would remove its citizens from Wuhan, which led many other countries to follow, putting China at an awkward position.

Not only that, the U.S. also restricted Chinese and people from other countries that entered China from coming to the U.S. This led the world to isolate China, which had a great impact on China’s economy.

Now, if China takes revenge on the U.S., besides restricting Americans from coming to China, China can also impose strategic control over remedial products and prohibit their sale to the U.S. That would place the U.S. in big trouble. Most of the face masks and medicines in the U.S. are manufactured in China.

Also, Dr. Zhong Nanshan said that though the novel coronavirus broke out in China, its origin may not have been in China. Therefore, China has no reason to apologize (to the world).

“Now we can righteously demand, the U.S. owes China an apology and the world owes China a thank you!” Continue reading →

Hot Topics | | March 6, 2020 | Social Stability

Leadership: Conflicting Messages Between National Health Commission and Hubei Province

On March 2, the spokesperson of the National Health Commission said at a press conference, “The rapid escalation of the Wuhan epidemic is under control. In addition to Wuhan, the regional outbreak in other places in Hubei Province is also under control.”

On March 3, the Hubei Provincial government held a press conference on the status of the control of the province’s epidemic. Yang Yunyan, the Deputy Hubei Governor, said, “The situation of the epidemic in Hubei is still very severe. In the whole province, over 20,000 patients are still in the hospital and 6,000 patients are in a severe or critical condition. The risk of a large infection is still not under fundamental control.”

[Editor’s Note: Another political controversy was that, on February 28, Ma Xiaowei, Director of National Health Commission, praised Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang despite the fact that Zhou had openly challenged the Chinese Communist Party Central Leadership by stating that, until January 20, he was not “authorized” to release information to the pubic and take action. Zhou also claimed that he made the decision to lock down Wuhan, while Xi Jinping was also said to be the person who made that decision. (See Chinascope posting: Leadership: A Political Controversy: Head of National Health Commission Praised Wuhan Mayor)

Ying Yong, Xi’s loyalist and the newly appointed Hubei Provincial Party Secretary, is in charge of Hubei’s epidemic control.]

Leadership: A Political Controversy: Head of National Health Commission Praised Wuhan Mayor

After Beijing replaced the Hubei Provincial Party Secretary and Wuhan Municipal Party Secretary for ineffective control of the coronavirus in Wuhan and Hubei, the media rarely mentioned the Wuhan Mayor, Zhou Xianwang.

However, HK01, a media in Hong Kong, reported that, on February 28 at a press conference, Ma Xiaowei, a member of the Central government’s Supervision Group at Hubei and Director of the National Health Commission, called Zhou Xianwang out and praised him for “directing work on the front line, mobilizing people in person, and organizing (hospital) construction work around the clock.” One of Zhou’s achievements was building 16 modular hospitals with 13,000 beds that host 12,000 patients.

New Tang Dynasty (NTDTV), a New York based independent Chinese language Television media, pointed out that this news was special because, in the past, Zhou Xianwang openly challenged the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) central leadership, which is very rarely seen in China’s political system.

In an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) on January 27, 2020, Zhou said that, until January 20, he had not been “authorized” to release information to the public or to take action. (See Chinascope posting: Leadership: Wuhan Mayor Not “Authorized” to Release Epidemic Information to the Public Before)

Then on February 11, 2020, Changjiang Daily, the official newspaper under the Wuhan Communist Party Committee, published an article to defend Zhou as he was not authorized to take action. (See Chinascope posting: Leadership: Wuhan Municipal Website Defended Its Mayor)

In his CCTV interview, Zhou also stated that he made the decision to lock down Wuhan. However, on February 20, Ding Xiangyang, the Deputy Chief Secretary of the State Council and a member of the Central government’s Supervision Group at Hubei, stated that it was Xi Jinping who ordered the Wuhan lockdown. (See Chinascope posting: Leadership: Ding Xiangyang: Xi Jinping Ordered Wuhan Lockdown)

Therefore, the praise of Zhou Xianwang may have a number of political messages behind it.

The Director of the Central government’s Supervision Group at Hubei is Vice Premier Sun Chunlan. The Deputy Director is Chen Yixin, Party Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee Political and Legal Affairs Committee, who is said to be a Xi Jinping loyalist.

Leadership: “The General Secretary Came to My Home”

The China Media Project, according to the description on its website, is a Hong Kong based independent research, fellowship and exchange program in partnership with the Journalism & Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong.

The China Media Project published a lengthy analysis of a special propaganda series that People’s Daily has been running called “The General Secretary Came to My Home” (总书记来过我的家). It has been in the newspaper as a front page story. This series, with its feel-good reminiscences has been extolling Xi Jinping as a man of the people.

The first article in this series appeared on January 5. There were five front pages that the series dominated up until January 20, the day that marked a key turning point in the epidemic. On that day, Xi Jinping made his first major statement on China’s response, which confirmed the outbreak of the coronavirus and asked governments to take action.

It then published another 12 articles, each on a different day, between January 31 and February 18. Each article in the series is very similar in style, with its tone triumphant and pleasant at turns, conveying a fulsome sense of happiness and gain, treating Xi Jinping’s every step as a miracle.

The analysis commented that, from a purely design standpoint, the series is unappealing. Every installment is designed in exactly the same way, with the series title against an orange banner, a bold vertical headline, and a gold-shaded box at the top including an inspirational quote from Xi. The series is pushed so intensely and regularly that it seems it can only fatigue the reader. The more serious problem is, however, that the series has little newsworthiness at all – at a time when everyone knows there is plenty to report, plenty to talk about, plenty to decide and to act upon.

It then asked, “Do the editors not understand that these choices will actually have an adverse impact on the image of the CCP and the image of Xi Jinping?”

[Editor’s Note: There is a Chinese term “witty sarcasm” (高级黑), meaning that someone uses praise or other seemed-to-be-supportive methods to actually ridicule another person. The overly boring praise of Xi Jinping may bring bad a public opinion to Xi. Also, to keep saying, “The General Secretary Came to My Home” may lead people to realize that Xi has not visited the epicenter of Wuhan or Hubei since the coronavirus outbreak in China.]

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