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Hiding Information: Expert Group Members Thought Hubei Officials Hid Information

[Editor’s Note: As people have been trying to find out who is responsible for the government not taking any action to prevent or contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan until January 20, though the SARS-like pneumonia cases had already been reported to the local government and the central government in late December and early January, the Hubei and Wuhan local governments and the Central government have been trying to clear their own names and to hold the other party accountable.]

Recently, Caixin reported two members of the National Health Commission’s high-level expert groups were sent to Wuhan spoke and indicated that Wuhan officials had hidden information during their visits.

The first expert remained anonymous and was a member of the second expert group. He said that they were particularly concerned if any medical staff had been infected because a “Yes” answer would mean the virus could transmit from person to person and could be highly contagious.

They asked about it at every hospital they visited and always got “No” as the answer. They suspected the result and asked hospitals to tell the truth.

A local Health Commission official countered back, “Do you think that I am lying to you?”

The expert said, “Based on the true situation (that we now know), he was lying.”

Caixin’s article was deleted. United Daily News, a media based in Taiwan covered Caixin’s report.

The second expert was Yuan Guoyong, a Professor at the Department of Microbiology, the University of Hong Kong. As a member of the third high-level expert group, he went to Wuhan from January 17 to January 19. He said in an interview with a Caixin reporter:

“I want to give a true account. The places that we visited in Wuhan were probably the ‘demo units.’ Whatever we asked, they gave an answer as if they had already prepared the answer. Zhong Nanshan kept asking ‘Are there more cases?’ ‘Are there truly just these many cases that you told us about?’

“They said that they were conducting testing to confirm cases. However, the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not receive testing kits until January 16.

“Under our questions, they said that there seemed to be a case in which a patient infected 14 medical staff members, but they said those medical personnel had not been confirmed to have the coronavirus infection yet.

“They are the people from the Wuhan Health Commission, Wuhan CDC, Wuhan local hospitals, and Hubei Provincial Health Commission.

“They kept emphasizing that the testing kits were just given to Wuhan and without the testing kits they could not have confirmed the cases.”

1. Excerpt in Chinese:

財經雜誌微信公眾號「財經E法」2月26日發布一則第二批專家組成員的專訪。這位不願具名的專家指出，他們當時掌握兩起家庭聚集性病例，但未能排除是因「共同暴露」所造成。而醫護人員和病人通常沒有密切接觸，因此只要醫護人員遭感染，一定是「人傳人」，而且病毒傳染性非常強。

所以，這位專家表示，專家組特別關心是否有醫護人員被傳染，每到一間醫院就問，但答案都是否定。他表示，當時專家組也懷疑這個說法，要對方如實報告，而當地衛健委的官員當場反問：「你們是不是覺得我瞞報啊？」

專家表示，當時收到的指示是「屬地管理，地方為主」，救治工作還是由湖北和武漢的專家組負責，國家衛健委的專家組只是協助。

而據媒體後來披露，當時已經有武漢的醫護人員遭感染，住院救治。這名專家說：「從現在的真實情況看來，他（官員）在說謊。」

這兩篇報導指出中國官方在防疫上存在延誤和隱匿，而報導在刊登不久後，也已陸續遭到刪除。

Source: United Daily News, February 29, 2020
https://udn.com/news/story/120936/4379889

2. Image of Caixin Report:

Source: Caixin, March 8, 2020
http://china.caixin.com/2020-03-08/101525508.html

Hot Topics | | March 11, 2020 | Social Stability

Leadership: The CCP Was Forced to Reverse the “Be Grateful to the CCP” Education Campaign

On March 5, the Wuhan Party Secretary, Wang Zhonglin, ordered people to conduct a “be grateful” education campaign to lead the Wuhan people to “be grateful to Xi Jinping and be grateful to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”

Chinese netizens gave it an overwhelmingly negative response.

As a result, the CCP was forced to change its position. It removed the “be grateful to the CCP” article and officials in Hubei and Wuhan thanked the people instead.

Epoch Times reported that an official document, said to be the minutes of a State Council Information Office meeting, has circulated on the Internet. The minutes, dated March 7, stated that Changjiang Daily’s report on Wang Zhonglin’s “be grateful” education campaign has resulted in an enormous public response. The public opinion on this issue has been as heated as the public responses on the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, the whistle blower doctor. “After communicating with Hubei Provincial and the Wuhan Municipal leaders, and obtaining the CCP Central’s approval, (we ask) that: Changjiang Daily (newspaper under Wuhan Party Committee), the Wuhan Announcement (the official WeChat account of the Wuhan Internet Information Office), and Wuhan Television should remove the articles from their original sites. Other media should not fIllow or comment on this issue! Whether it is for domestic propaganda or international propaganda, whether it is from the Central government or from local government, whether it is online or off line, everyone should follow the directions (from the top) and cannot do things based on their own will.”

Radio France International reported that, in an attempt to soothe the public antagonism, Wang Zhonglin said on March 8, when visiting a neighborhood community in Wuhan, “Wuhan is a heroic city. The Wuhan people are heroic people.”

Ying Yong, the Hubei Provincial Party Secretary also said on March 8, “Wuhan is a heroic city. The Wuhan people are heroic people.” “I am expressing my sincere gratitude to the Wuhan People, the Hubei People.”

The Government Is Taking over the HNA Group

The HNA Group, is a rapidly expanding airline and conglomerate in China. After the high-profile mysterious death of its Chairman, Wang Jian, in France in last year, the Hainan Provincial government has been leading its restructure.

The HNA Group announced on February 29 that its high liquidity risk that started at the end of 2017 continued and worsened in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus. Therefore, it requested to form the “Hainan Provincial Government HNA Joint Working Group” to coordinate and address the risk. The Hainan Provincial government has led the working group.

Key personnel in the joint work group are all from government offices or state-owned enterprises:

Director Gu Gang, Chairman of Hainan Development Holding Co., Ltd, which is directly owned by the Hainan Provincial government
Executive Deputy Director Ren Qinghua, Director of Management Committee of the Hainan Yangpu Economic Development Zone
Deputy Director Li Shuangchen, Deputy Director of the Central and South China Regional Administration, Civil Aviation Administration
Deputy Director Cheng Gong, Deputy Director of the Credit Management Bureau, China Development Bank.

The HNA Group also re-elected its seven-member board. Gu Gang and Ren Qinghua joined the board. While HNA Co-founder Chen Feng remained as the Chairman, Gu Gang became the Executive Chairman and Ren Qinghua became the joint-company CEO.

HNA Group Co., Ltd. is a Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. Founded in 2000, it is involved in numerous industries including aviation, real estate, financial services, tourism, logistics, and more.

People have been sayings that the HNA Group is connected with Wang Qishan.

Source: Stock Times, February 29, 2020
http://news.stcn.com/2020/0229/15693694.shtml

Briefings | | March 9, 2020 | Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Economy: China’s Exports in January and February Dropped 17 Percent

Because of the Impact of the novel coronavirus, China’s exports in the first two months of this year dropped dramatically. According to the data that the General Administrations of Customs released on March 7, China’s exports in those two months were US $292 billion, a decrease of 17.2 percent from the level a year ago. Imports were US $299.5 billion, a decrease of 4 percent. China had a trade deficit of US $7 billion, the first trade deficit since April 2018. A year ago, China had US $41.5 billion trade surplus.

“World Leadership”: Beijing Is Thinking of Creating a Beijing-led World Health Organization to Replace WHO

Axios, an American news website founded by former Politico staffers, obtained a survey from a Chinese state supported think tank asking about the possibility of establishing a China-led world health organization to replace the World Health Organization (WHO).

Axios obtained a message from an employee of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Economics & Technology Research Institute (CNPC ETRI) to the Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership (SIGNAL), an Israeli nonprofit dedicated to strengthening Israeli-China ties.

The Chinese employee asked how SIGNAL would view a new health organization that China would lead. “According to our analysis, the situation of coronavirus around the world is urgent, therefore, we consider that perhaps the world needs a leadership country/organization coordinating all the countries affected in fighting against the coronavirus, just like the leadership role of the U.S. in W.H.O,” wrote the think tank employee.

Carice Witte, the founder and executive director of SIGNAL, told Axios the idea of a Beijing-led WHO alternative is “very interesting in the context of China’s aim to reshape global governance, including setting up parallel institutions.”

CNPC ETRI is a think tank affiliated with CNPC, a big state-owned enterprise. The president of CNPC ETRI reports to the Chinese leadership.

Axios pointed out that “Beijing is seeking to turn the coronavirus, initially a disaster for China’s public image, into an opportunity to advance its global leadership and bolster its soft power abroad.”

Radio Free Asia reported the comments of Zhang Lifan, a Chinese affairs commentator, who believed the think tank’s survey revealed what the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) leaders want to do. They are trying to portray a perpetrator as a world savior. “They link the (coronavirus) epidemic to the CCP’s previous global strategy ‘Community of Mankind’s Shared Future’ (人类命运共同体). They want to use this concept to kidnap the whole world; use the coronavirus to kidnap the world and then let China, as the originator of the coronavirus, kidnap (save) the world.”

Leadership: Background of the Two Hubei Officials Who Were Removed from their Positions

After the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan City and the rest of Hubei Province, Xi Jinping removed Jiang Chaoliang from the Hubei Provincial Party Secretary position and Ma Guoqiang from the Wuhan Party Secretary position, and had Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong and Ji’nan Party Secretary Wang Zhonglin in Shandong Province take over.

The following is the background of the two officials who were dismissed:

Jiang Chaoliang (蒋超良):

Born in 1957. After he graduated from the Hunan Institute of Finance and Economics, he worked at the Agriculture Bank of China.
In 1996, Dai Xianglong, then President of the People’s Bank of China (China’s Central Bank), identified Jiang as a person with great potential and promoted him from the Agriculture Bank to the People’s Bank.
In 1997, Wang Qishan went to Guangdong to help with the financial crisis that the Asia Financial Crisis had caused. Jiang was a member of Wang’s rescue team. Wang and his team successfully completed their mission.
In 2002, Jiang was appointed as the Deputy Governor of Hubei, leaving the banking system.
In 2004, Jiang was appointed the Chairman of the Bank of Communications and conducted the bank’s shareholding reform.
In 2008, Jiang was appointed to lead China Development Bank’s shareholding reform.
In 2014, Jiang was appointed Jilin Provincial Deputy Party Secretary, Deputy Governor, Acting Governor, and later Governor.
In 2016, Jiang was appointed as the Hubei Provincial Party Secretary.

Throughout Jiang’s career, two major powers promoted him. One was Dai Xianglong, the former President of the People’s Bank of China who was later taken down during Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. The second was Wang Qishan.

Ma Guoqiang (马国强):

Born in 1963. Starting in 1995, Ma worked at the Baoshan Steel Group (now called the Baowu Steel Group). He was the Deputy General Manager of the Baoshan Steel Group, Deputy General Manager, and later General Manager of Baoshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd (or Baosteel), a subsidiary of the Baoshan Steel Group.
In 2013, Ma was appointed to be the General Manager of Wuhan Steel Group. He became the Chairman and Party Secretary of the Wuhan Steel Group in 2015.
In 2016, Ma successfully merged Wuhan Steel Group with Baoshan Steel Group into Baowu Steel Group. Ma became the Chairman and Party Secretary of the merged company.
In 2018, Ma was appointed as Hubei Provincial Deputy Party Secretary and Wuhan Party Secretary.

Baoshan Steel Group, based in Shanghai, has long been in part of the faction of Jiang Zemin, former head of the CCP.

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