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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.”

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Hot Topics | | March 9, 2020 | Social Stability

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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Hot Topics | | March 9, 2020 | Social Stability

“World Leader”: Commentary by Minister of Foreign Affairs

In the past, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) promoted the concept of “Community of Mankind’s Shared Future,” also translated as “Community of Mankind’s Destiny” (人类命运共同体). As the coronavirus spread through the world, Wan Yi, China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, published a commentary on People’s Daily, linking the efforts to stop the epidemic to building the “Community of Mankind’s Shared Future,” and portrayed China as the leader of that effort.

The following are highlights from Wan’s Commentary:

Part I

Actively conduct epidemic control diplomacy and seek international support…

Comprehensively promote international cooperation to serve the domestic epidemic control need…

Strive to apply diplomacy to serve the Chinese people and safeguard Chinese citizens’ rights…

Proactively carry out a publicity campaign in foreign countries and tell the China story well: We fully used the press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and new media to speak on international stage… (We) held several epidemic control information sharing conferences with foreign embassies in China. Our diplomatic envoys and agencies overseas took over 400 interviews with main-stream television and radio stations, published 300 signed articles, held 500 briefings and speeches, and published 20,000 postings on overseas main social media.

Part II

China has played a major role in stopping the global spread of the epidemic…

China has obtained trust in handling the global challenge. China has paid high attention to cooperation with the international health communities, provided epidemic information promptly, shared the virus’ genome, collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO) and neighboring or related countries, and invited international experts to work with us.

China has set up a standard for global public health governance. In the prevention and control of the epidemic, China’s power, efficiency, and speed have received praise and the advantage of the China’s system has been fully demonstrated.

Part III

Actively conduct international and regional cooperation: We will expand bi-lateral and multi-lateral cooperation on epidemic control; promptly share epidemic information, control measures, and research results; and improve the joint development efforts on treatment medicine and a vaccine. We will also provide aid in our capacity to countries and regions that the virus has spread to, to play the role of a responsible great power.

Be deeply involved in global public health governance: This epidemic reveals the weakness of the global public health governance. We will support the United Nations and WHO to play the core role in handling public health emergencies and improve global public health governance. We will push for major international projects in the health area to actively build the “silk road on health.”

Join forces (with others) to respond to unconventional security challenge: China will actively develop its shared, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable new security view; improve the dialog and communication in the unconventional security area; improve mutual understanding and trust; promote international cooperation; and continuously expand the connotation and practice of the “Community of Mankind’s Shared Future.”

Public Opinion: People Unsatisfied That Government Gave Dr. Li Wenliang an “Advanced Individual” Title

After Dr. Li Wenliang, one of the eight people (all physicians in Wuhan) who warned the public about the novel coronavirus, passed away on February 6, 2020, the public was in deep mourning. Beijing sent a group to Wuhan to investigate his case.

On March 5, the National Health Commission awarded him, posthumously, along with over 500 other people, the title of “Advanced Individual for Epidemic Prevention and Control.”

However, since it has been a month, people are questioning why the authorities have not completed and published their investigation showing the result of Dr. Li’s case. After Dr. Li informed others about the SARS-like pneumonia, Dr. Li was mistreated and received warnings from both his hospital and the Public Security Bureau .

People are waiting for the government’s official apology to Dr. Li. However, a dissident pointed out that the government would never do that as, “The Public Security organ is the core of (the regime’s) stability maintenance. If people pushed for accountability, they would never apologize but would just brush it off. … It was the (government’s) ineffective control that caused this disaster. How could it blame itself?”

Wang Guangfa, a doctor from the No 1 Hospital of Beijing University who also died after the Coronavirus infection, was one of the awardees. Wang, a member of the first National Health Commission’s expert group sent to Wuhan in early January, told the public that the virus was “controllable” and “could not be transmitted from person to person.” [Editor’s Note: There were reports that, by then, person-to-person infections had become known and were reported to the National Health Commission, so Wang might have made that statement out of the Communist Party’s need for “stability maintenance.”]

People are saying that Wang owes a lot to the Wuhan people, including those thousands of souls that have left this world.

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Hot Topics | | March 9, 2020 | Social Stability

Hiding Information: Residents Shouted “Fake” When Sun Chunlan Visited a Residential Neighborhood

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China, it has been rare to see high-rank officials visiting people. Sun Chunlan, Vice Premier and the head the Central Government’s Supervisory Group to Hubei Province, visited a residential neighborhood on March 5, but she was greeted with the residents’ shouts of “Fake.”

According to a video that a local resident provided, when Sun and other officials entered the gate, the apartment residents, who had been forced to stay at home for several weeks, shouted things such as, “Fake, Fake, Everything is Fake.” “The vegetables that the public can buy are too expensive!” “Formalism!”

In the discussion at a WeChat group of the residents, one person concluded, “When Vice Premier Sun Chunlan and Wuhan Municipal Party Secretary Wang Zhonglin came to our building, the property management office didn’t allow us to go downstairs (to meet them). They arranged fake volunteers to deliver vegetables and meat to us.” (Editor’s Note: In Wuhan, people are forced to stay in their apartments and not allowed to go out. The government arranges for people to deliver food to them.)

Another posting said, “The Vice Premier and Wuhan municipal leaders left in the middle of their visit (to our community).”

The official media reported that, afterwards Sun scolded the local officials saying, “Do not hide the problems.” Global Times admitted that online postings regarding the visit were basically true. The Wuhan government then sent people to go to each apartment to gather the resident’s feedback.

People have been commenting, “This is a different kind of human rights appeal under the epidemic.” “We told the emperor to his face that he wasn’t wearing new clothes.” “So glad to shout out the truth!”

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Hot Topics | | March 7, 2020 | Social Stability

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

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