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As the novel coronavirus pandemic has continued spreading around the world, not only have the politicians and scholars around the world started holding the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) accountable for causing the worldwide disaster, but Chinese have also started challenging the CCP.

The BBC commented that it was the CCP’s bureaucratic system that made China suffer as much as it did. Officials in China are only responsible to higher-ups but not to the people. Many people in China thought that it was the “inaction” of the officials that resulted in the missed time in responding to the virus.

Radio France International and the Epoch Times reported that on March 13, Hu Xuemei, a law professor at Shanghai East China Normal University submitted ten requests on the National Health Commission’s website asking for information to be released to the public. There were reports that in early and mid-January, healthcare practitioners and researchers had reported to the government about the SARS-linked virus and its ability to transmit from person to person. This included reports to the National Health Commission and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but the government didn’t take any serious action against the epidemic until January 20.

Hu’s requests were:

1. The media reported that, on January 12, that Hong Kong University confirmed the first “person-to-person” transmittal case and informed Shenzhen, Guangdong, and the National CDC on the same day. Is it true? Can you please release information?
2. The media reported that, on January 15, China’s CDC activated a Level 1 emergency response to the Wuhan epidemic. Is it true? Please release information.
3. The Media reported that, from January 3 to February 3, China’s CDC provided the U.S. Wuhan epidemic information 30 times. Is that true? Please release the information.
4. The Media reported that, on January 5, the Public Health Clinical Center affiliated with Fudan University identified the entire genome of Wuhan Pneumonia and found that it is 89.11 percent homologous to SARS coronavirus; they recommended to the National Health Commission, “take appropriate preventive measures in public places.” Is that true? Please release information.
5. The Media reported that on, January 6, China’s CDC activated a Level 2 emergency response to the Wuhan epidemic. Is it true? Please release the justification for the Level 2 response.
6. On January 8, when National Health Commission sent its second expert group to Wuhan, did they investigate the 59 confirmed cases that the Wuhan Health Commission published on January 5? Did they verify (the information) for each and every patient if they were infected from the Huanan Seafood market? Please release the second expert group’s report.
7. The Media reported that National Health Commission’s first expert group arrived at Wuhan on December 31, 2019 and stayed there for four days. Is that true? Did they investigate the 27 confirmed cases that Wuhan Health Commission published on December 31, 2019? Did they verify for each and every patient, if they were infected from the Huanan Seafood market? Please release the first expert group’s report.
8. Please release the following information: the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia infection count and cases that Wuhan reported on or before January 24; after which period did Wuhan stopped reporting data? Did the National Health Commission or the CDC send any person to inquire or investigate the reason for stopping the reporting of data? If so, what was Wuhan’s response to the inquiry?
9. Please release the justification for issuing Wang Guangfa the honorary title “Advanced Individual.” (Wang was a medical doctor in the second expert group to Wuhan; he stated that there was no “person-to-person” transmission.)
10. Please release the official document “National Plan on Surveillance, Investigation, and Management of the Unknown-Caused Pneumonia Program.” Is that regulation still in effect?

Hu said that China’s Government Information Openness Rule stated that she should receive a response in twenty days. As of April 4, 21 days after the requests were made, there has been no report that Beijing has provided a response.

Related posting on Chinascope:

• Accountability: US Law Makers and Netherlands Official Held the CCP Accountable

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In the early stages, when the outbreak was only in China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mobilized many companies to buy up the medical supplies from around the world. As the result, other countries had very few supplies left when the pandemic outbreak expanded. China imported at least 2 billion face masks and 25.4 million items of protective clothing from all over the world.

#1: According to China’s Customs report, from January 24 to February 2, China imported a total of 94,000 batches of epidemic prevention and control materials, of total of 240 million pieces with a net worth of 810 million yuan (US $114 million). Among them, protective equipment accounted for 74.9 percent, with 230 million pieces and 610 million yuan. It included 220 million face masks, 2.5 million pieces of protective clothing, and 279,000 pairs of goggles.

#2: According to China’s Customs report, from January 24 to February 29, China imported 2.46 billion pieces of epidemic prevention and control materials, with a net worth of 8.21 billion yuan (US $1.16 billion). The protective equipment included a count of 2.4 billion pieces, including 2 billion face masks and 25.4 million protective clothing.

#3: The CCP mobilized many Chinese companies to perform these global purchases. On January 31, Xinhua reported that Fosun International, Alibaba, Suning and many other companies have opened up overseas channels for global procurement.

It also stated that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it will do its utmost to promote the resumption of production, while encouraging enterprises to expand international procurement to meet domestic demand.

#4: China Poly Group, the state-owned enterprises for internal sales of arms and defense products, was also involved. It used its connections to coordinate the shipping of medical supplies to China. Poly International Development Limited mobilized its employees to conduct procurement globally. Several hundred employees, in seven cities in three countries including Australia, worked on sourcing supplies.

#5: The Sidney Morning Herald reported that Greenland Group, a Shanghai government owned company, whose focus in Sydney and Melbourne was real estate business, totally stopped its business and instructed all of its employees on “sourcing bulk supplies of surgical masks, thermometers, antibacterial wipes, hand sanitizers, gloves, and Panadol” to ship to China. According to a company newsletter, the Greenland Group sourced 3 million protective masks, 700,000 hazmat suits and 500,000 pairs of protective gloves from “Australia, Canada, Turkey and other countries.”

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Medical Supplies: Fake Products from China Impacted Many Countries
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• “World Leader”: Spain Found 70% Error Rate of China’s Coronavirus Testing Kits
• “World Leader”: The Coronanivus Testing Kits Czeck Republic Bought from China Have 80% Error Rate

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China reported that, on March 16, its first recombinant coronavirus vaccine (adenovirus vector) was approved for clinical trial. Volunteers, organized in 3 groups with 36 people in each group, were given injections. They were under observation for 14 days.

The Institute of Biological Engineering, the Academy of Military Medical Sciences of the Academy of Military Sciences, and CanSino Biologics, Inc (CanSinoBIO), a biopharmaceutical company, developed the vaccine. Major General Chen Wei, China’s chief biochemical weapon defense expert and an Academician at China’s Engineering Academy, led the development.

However, on the Internet, people pointed out that it would have taken at least 5 months to develop the recombinant coronavirus vaccine that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had gotten approved. The U.S. has also developed a vaccine in a short period, but it was based on a different technology (mRNA technology), which could take about 40 days to do. The traditional recombinant vaccine could provide a permanent cure but the mRNA vaccine is like a flu shot that needs to be done every year.

Thus, people questioned when the CCP started its vaccine development so it could complete the five months of efforts by March.

Below is the timeline of vaccine development efforts of Chen Wei’s team, according to reports by Economic Daily, New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), HK01, Liberty Times, Wang Hao’s Facebook Posting (quoted by the Liberty Times).

On January 26, Chen Wei went to Wuhan to take over the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, China’s first Biocontainment Level 4 (BL4) lab (Chinese call it a P4 lab). (NTDTV – based on a report from China’s state media)

On January 28, the Academy of Military Medical Sciences started developing the vaccine. (NTDTV – based on report by China’s state media)

On February 26, Chen’s team developed and manufactured the recombinant coronavirus vaccine. Pictures on the Internet showed the vaccine bottle. The label said, “manufactured on February 26, 2020; expires on February 25, 2022; and manufactured by the Academy of Military Medical Sciences of the Academy of Military Sciences and CanSinoBIO.” (NTDTV and HK01)

On March 3, Chen Wei and six other party members took the vaccine injection for a “first-time human body safety test.” Sun Chunlan, China’s Vice Premier, went to the site to congratulate them. (NTDTV – based on a report by China’s state media)

On March 16, China started a human clinical trial. (Economic Daily)

Some people questioned whether the CCP actually started the vaccine work back in September, 2019 (Liberty Times quoted Wang Hao’s Facebook posting and also another Twitter account which made the same point). They said two things are suspicious:

1. On September 18, 2019, China held a “Novel Coronavirus Emergency Response” Exercise in Wuhan.
2. CanSinoBIO’s stock price had a strange performance in November and December of last year. The stock has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since March 2019, but it was very attractive initially. In October 2019, after Wuhan’s “Novel Coronavirus” exercise, its stock started to rise; there were a large volume of purchases in mid-November; and the stocks’ price doubled in December; though there was not much news about the stock at that time.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Virus Origin: Zhang Wenhong Disagreed That Coronavirus Originated Outside China
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• Virus Origin: Chinese Researchers Said That Wuhan Seafood Market Is Not the Origin
• Virus Origin: Henan Province Issued an Order to Safely Manage Laboratory Animals

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As the novel coronavirus pandemic kept spreading over the world, politicians and scholars started holding the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) accountable for causing the worldwide disaster.

#1: National Review reported that, on March 24, Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) introduced a bicameral resolution to condemn the CCP for its initial handling of the coronavirus outbreak, and called for an international investigation to determine how the cover-up hastened the emergence of a global pandemic.

Hawley, who first called for an investigation into the CCP’s accountability, said in a press release, “Since day one, the Chinese Communist Party intentionally lied to the world about the origin of this pandemic. The CCP was aware of the reality of the virus as early as December but ordered laboratories to destroy samples and forced doctors to keep silent.”

“There is no doubt that China’s unconscionable decision to orchestrate an elaborate cover-up of the wide-ranging and deadly implications of the coronavirus led to the death of thousands of people, including hundreds of Americans and climbing.” Stefanik added, “This Resolution calls for China to provide compensation for the harm, loss, and destruction their arrogance brought upon the rest of the world. Simply put China must, and will, be held accountable.”

The bill calls on the international community to “quantify the harm caused” by China’s actions and to “design a mechanism for delivering compensation” from the CCP to those affected.

#2: On March 22, Jaap van Dissel, Director of the Infectious Disease Control Center of the RIVM, the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, admitted in an interview that the key reason for European countries to become the hardest hit of the pandemic at that time was because they believed the information from the CCP and the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Yes, this information might be wrong,” he states. “At first, we completely rely on information from China. China said the chance for this virus to spread in its country is very slim. The WHO also gave an estimation on the most likely scenario and said the risk of (the virus) spreading seems to be very small. We in the Netherlands and other European countries, such as Germany and France, adopted the same position, which was the WHO’s position at that time.”

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Reuters reported that, at present, Chinese diplomats are changing to a hawk style diplomacy.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently commented, in response to a Reuter’s request, that Chinese diplomats from all age groups are determined to “resolutely safeguard” national sovereignty and security.

Reuters said that the shift came after Xi Jinping gave a handwritten message to diplomats last year, calling on them to show more “fighting spirit” in the face of international challenges, such as deteriorating relations with the United States. State Council member and Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave the same message to officials attending the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the ministry’s founding.

Radio Free Asia commented that, in the past, China needed more favors from the West, so it made many compromises. Now, however, it has money, so not only does it no longer need to yield, but it can also influence Western politicians, businessmen, and scholars. After the group of practical, rational members retires, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is likely to be taken over by a group of “fighting wolfs.” If the West does not organize an effective counterattack, Beijing’s aggressive diplomacy will continue.

A commentator told Radio Free Asia that Beijing felt the present time presents a good opportunity for it to challenge the West, since China is getting over the coronavirus epidemic, while the Western countries are falling down. Also, Beijing wants to stir up strong nationalism to help itself get over the lack of morals in society, the economic crisis, and social problems resulting from the pandemic.

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• Diplomacy: Pompeo “Loots a Burning House”
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The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been conducting a “mask diplomacy.” It is making itself a world leader by supplying “friendly” countries with medical supplies. However, the poor quality of the products and sometimes even the fake products that China has provided to the world has caused its attempt to backfire.

On March 27, Fahrettin Koca, Turkey’s Health Minister said that China’s testing kits were only 30 to 35 percent accurate; Turkey could not put the kits in use.

On March 28, Maria Rosario Vergeire, the Philippine’s Deputy Health Minister stated at a news conference that some China-made coronavirus testing kits were only 40 percent accurate. The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines announced the next day that, after verification, China’s testing kits did not have a quality problem. Vergeire said that it was another Chinese brand, which a private foundation had donated, that had quality problems.

Malaysian officials said that, to avoid falling into the same trap as Spain (bought Chinese medical supplies but found out later that they couldn’t be used due to severe quality problems), they would not order from China.

Global News reported that Chinese-made “N95” respiratory masks, which were a counterfeit copy of the Valpro Ranger brand, were advertised on the Midas Safety country websites in China, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, as well as on the Valpro Safety website in the United Arab Emirates. Midas Safety said the masks were mistakenly placed on the websites by a web administrator and subsequently removed from the websites after they were informed about it being a fake product.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• “World Leader”: Netherlands Found China’s Face Masks Defected
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• “World Leader”: The Coronanivus Testing Kits Czeck Republic Bought from China Have 80% Error Rate

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From March 29 to April 1, Xi Jinping visited Zhejiang Province, his home base before he rose to power. From 2002 to 2007, before he became the Shanghai Party Chief and then moved to the CCP Central Committee, Xi was the Zhejiang Provincial Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Secretary. Many Zhejiang officials were later promoted and they were called the “Zhejiang New Army” (之江新军) for Xi.

Xinhua gave a lengthy report about Xi’s visit with many pictures to describe his trip and the places he visited. In the later part of the report, it outlined the directions that Xi gave on the future work. It can be summarized in two areas:

1. Pandemic prevention and control – stress is to be placed against external imported cases: “China faces a significant increase in the risk of pandemic imports from overseas. (We) must firmly adhere to externally defending against imported infections and internally defend against infection recurrence. … In particular, we must increase the management of asymptomatic infections. …  We must take strict preventative measures against overseas pandemic imports as the top priority of current and long-term pandemic prevention and control, strengthen the relevance and effectiveness of prevention and control measures, and build a solid line of defense against the risks of overseas pandemic imports.
2. The economy – stress taking the opportunity to develop the economy: “Crises and opportunities exist together. Overcoming the crises will present opportunities to us. The global wide spread of the coronavirus has severely impacted international economic and trade activities. (We) should, under the precondition of taking care of pandemic prevention, orderly and effectively speed up the resuming of production and business. … (We) should seize the opportunities of digitization, accelerate the construction of new infrastructure such as 5G networks and data centers, and step up the deployment of strategic emerging industries and future industries such as the digital economy, life health, and new materials, strengthen new growth points and form new momentum for development.”

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• Leadership: Li Keqiang Warned the Coronavirus Risk in China and Asked to Manage the Asymptomatic Carriers
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After Li Keqiang instructed on March 30 that the asymptomatic carriers (those carriers who show no symptoms) be monitored and inspected, China’s State Council announced that it will publish the number of asymptomatic carriers daily.

The National Health Commission reported that, by March 30, there were 1,541 asymptomatic carriers under medical observation in China. The total number of infection cases under treatment was 2,161.

As of 10:49 a.m. on April 3, 2020, the officially released asymptomatic carriers count on QQ’s website was 1,027.

Earlier, the South China Morning Post reported that there were more than 43,000 people in China who had tested positive for the coronavirus by the end of February but who had no immediate symptoms. They were placed in quarantine and monitored but were not included in the official tally of confirmed cases, which stood at about 80,000 at the time.

Oriental Daily also reported that Zhang Wenhong, the head of Shanghai Pneumonia Medical Treatment Expert Group, said that among the over 100 imported infection cases in Shanghai, there were more and more asymptomatic carriers. The coronavirus can survive in human bodies for more than three weeks and can present a great spreading risk.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Leadership: Li Keqiang Warned the Coronavirus Risk in China and Asked to Manage the Asymptomatic Carriers
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• Infection Count: China Does Not Count Patients Who Became Negative But Then Positive Again
• Infection Count: Hubei Was Unlocked, But Beijing Does not Want Anyone from Hubei to Come
• Infection Count: 60 Percent Hidden Infection Cases in Wuhan Are Not Reported

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