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Hua Chunying and Zhao Lijian, the spokespeople for China’s Foreign Ministry said on their Twitter accounts that China had sent its donations of medical supplies to Italy and the Italian people were so grateful to China that some even played China’s National Anthem.

The Italian media Linkiesta published an article titled, “Enough. Thank you!” The article said that what the Chinese officials tweeted was fake news. China did send supplies to Italy, but those were not China’s donation to Italy. Rather they were what Italy bought from China after its Foreign Minister had a discussion with China’s Foreign Minister (because China had face masks and protective clothing for its own use).

The article asked the Italian government to respond to the fake news.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Propaganda and Lies: Chinese Bots Flooded Twitter to Spread That U.S. Is the Origin of the Coronavirus
• Propaganda and Lies: People’s Daily Commentary: “Must Resist the Poison of Stigmatization”
• Propaganda and Lies: Geng Shuang, A Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Said U.S. “Stigmatizes” China
• Propaganda and Lies: Pompeo Called Yang Jiechi
• Propaganda and Lies: China’s Propaganda Machine Spread Zhao Lijian’s Accusation of the U.S.

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Ren Zhiqiang, a princeling and a real estate tycoon who is known for having the guts to challenge the regime, wrote a lengthy article to criticize Xi Jinping for his mistakes in handling the coronavirus at the beginning and for his later actions, with a focus on ensuring his own authority, calling Xi “A clown who stripped naked and insisted on continuing to be an emperor.” (see Chinascope posting: Public Opinion: Ren Zhiqiang’s Article: “A Clown Who Stripped Naked and Insisted on Continuing to Be an Emperor”)

His article was opposite of the main theme of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) propaganda machine. The communist regime is working to portray Mr. Xi as a hero who is leading the country to victory in a “people’s war” against the virus.

It has been reported that Ren has disappeared.

The CCP disciplined Ren before. In 2016, Ren came under scrutiny after writing on his microblog that China’s news media should serve the people, not the party, contradicting one of Mr. Xi’s high-profile pronouncements. The party moved quickly to censure him, saying he had “lost his party spirit.” But he continued to speak out on other topics, such as China’s strict policies to limit the population in big cities.

Ren was a close friend to Wang Qishan and could have been protected by Wang in 2016.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Public Opinion: Ren Zhiqiang’s Article: “A Clown Who Stripped Naked and Insisted on Continuing to Be an Emperor”
• Stability Control: Facial Recognition Under Face Mask
• Stability Control: Hubei Party Propaganda Department Had 1,600 People Monitor Internet Postings
• Stability Control: Four Internet Police Officers Had to Work around the Clock for Seven Days
• Stability Control: High-Tech Companies Seek Funds for Stability Control During Epidemic

Sources:
1. South China Morning Post, March 15, 2020
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3075256/chinese-tycoon-ren-zhiqiang-goes-missing-after-criticising
2. New York Times, March 14, 2020

On February 23, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held a teleconference with 170,000 CCP cadres and military officials. Xi gave a key speech on handling the coronavirus.

Afterward, an article, said to be written by Ren Zhiqiang, a princeling and a real estate tycoon who is known for having the guts to challenge the regime, was circulated among Chinese. It criticized Xi Jinping for his mistakes in handling the coronavirus at the beginning and his later actions in which he had a focus on ensuring his own authority, calling Xi “A clown who stripped naked and insisted on continuing to be an emperor.”

The South China Morning Post said that it had verified that Ren wrote this article.

The article, though it was long, made many good points and is worth reading. The highlights are:

1. Part I of Xi’s speech was about the epidemic prevention and controlling the work; it praised Xi for directing and arranging the work himself. The article questioned why the government hid the information and organized a public gathering in January.
2. Part II of Xi’s speech was on the focus of current work, which was “to resolutely stop any malicious, attacking opinions.” The article commented that in a modern country, where the public is considered the most important, not everyone has to share the same fate with the ruling party or the ruling party’s top leader. A democratic system can choose whom to have as its captain or fire the captain and his subordinates.
3. Part III of Xi’s speech was on the balance between epidemic control and resuming production. The article said credit should be given to the civil organizations and private companies who made a lot of sacrifices to contribute to the country. What the government did was to make up for its previous mistakes; while the private sectors’ contribution was to protect people’s interests and not to be damaged by the government’s mistakes. They were two different things. The CCP leader should not attribute that to his own credit.
4. Part IV of Xi’s speech was to strengthen the CCP leadership. The article said this was to make the officials stay loyal to the top leader. When a country goes back to the “party leads everything” but the party is not responsible for its mistakes, the epidemic that should not occur occurred.
5. Overall, the article commented that the speech used all sorts of lies to cover his mistakes and to cover the fact that he didn’t wear clothes. It showed the fear in Xi’s heart and his ambition to maintain his superior position.

Ren’s article has been deleted from most of the Chinese websites, it is still available on the New Highland Vision site.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Public Opinion: Netizens Relay-Posted “The Person Who Handed out Whistles” Article
• Public Opinion: Refusing to Remain Silent Any Longer, a Wuhan Youngman Decided to Speak for the Died
• Public Opinion: People Creatively Protested Government’s “Be Grateful” Education
• Leadership: The CCP Was Forced to Reverse the “Be Grateful to the CCP” Education
• Public Opinion: People Unsatisfied for Government Giving Dr. Li Wenliang an “Advanced Individual” Title

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To defuse its accountability, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has tried to blame the United States for sending the coronavirus to China. On March 12, Zhao Lijian, Spokesman & Deputy Director General of the Information Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accused the United States of being the origin of the novel coronavirus, stating, “It might be the US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent!”

The National Pulse reported on March 16, that since then Chinese bots had flocked to Twitter to spread the accusation.

“In the past few days especially, brand new ‘bot’ – like accounts following zero people, and being followed back by no one, have flooded Twitter threads attacking the United States of America, President Trump, and many of those who believe the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) should have to answer tough questions about the COVID-19 coronavirus.

“The accounts appear to be flocking to defend Chinese Communist Party state actors such as Lijian Zhao – China’s “Information Department” Deputy Director General, and Lin Songtian, China’s Ambassador to South Africa.

“Thousands of new accounts – many the same as those attacking the President and the United States – were created in March 2020 and have taken to ‘liking’ and ‘retweeting’ CCP propagandists such as Zhao and Songtian, including on stories such as: ‘COVID-19: Further Evidence that the Virus Originated in the US.’

“The accounts have not been suspended and/or limited by Twitter, and neither CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, nor the rest of the political or media establishments in the Western world have commented upon the surge in social media agitprop pushed by the CCP.

One can’t help but wonder if this would be the same if Russia were behind the disinformation campaign.”

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Propaganda and Lies: People’s Daily Commentary: “Must Resist the Poison of Stigmatization”
• Propaganda and Lies: Geng Shuang, A Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Said U.S. “Stigmatizes” China
• Propaganda and Lies: Pompeo Called Yang Jiechi
• Propaganda and Lies: China’s Propaganda Machine Spread Zhao Lijian’s Accusation of the U.S.
• Propaganda and Lies: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Said Virus Was From the US

Source: The National Pulse, March 16, 2020

Chinese Bots Flood Twitter to Spread Anti-Trump Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories

To defuse its accountability, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tried to blame the United States for sending the coronavirus to China. The U.S. government responded strongly against its accusation. President Trump, some members of  Congress, and some U.S. government officials started to call the virus the “Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan virus” to remind people that Beijing was liable for the coronavirus disaster.

On March 20, People’s Daily published a commentary with the title “Must Resist the Poison of Stigmatization.” The article was published under the name Zhong Sheng (钟声), homophonic for “China’s Voice,” used for expressing the Chinese Communist Party’s official position.

The article said, “Some politicians in the United States have the wrong heart and deliberately linked the novel coronavirus to China. They arrogantly referred to the current epidemic as the ‘Wuhan Pneumonia’ and the ‘Chinese virus,’ and stigmatized China. Such extremely immoral and extremely irresponsible words and deeds not only do not help prevent and control the epidemic in their own country, but also seriously hinder the unity and cooperation of the world to fight the epidemic. China is strongly indignant about this, resolutely opposes it, and urges the U.S. to correct its mistakes immediately and stop the groundless blame against China.”

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Propaganda and Lies: Geng Shuang, A Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Said U.S. “Stigmatizes” China
• Propaganda and Lies: Pompeo Called Yang Jiechi
• Propaganda and Lies: China’s Propaganda Machine Spread Zhao Lijian’s Accusation of the U.S.
• Propaganda and Lies: An Indecent Imported Infected Case to China
• Propaganda and Lies: President Trump Responded to China’s Accusation
• Propaganda and Lies: U.S. Responded to China’s Accusation
• Propaganda and Lies: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Said Virus Was From the US

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To defuse its accountability, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has tried to blame the United States for sending the coronavirus to China. The U.S. government responded strongly against its accusation. President Trump, some congress members, and some U.S. government officials have since been calling the virus the “Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan virus” to remind people that Beijing was liable for the coronavirus disaster

At a press conference on March 17, Geng Shuang, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in answer to questions, made the following comments about the United States.

Q: U.S. President Trump called the novel coronavirus a “Chinese virus.” What is China’s comment?

A: “Recently, some U.S. politicians linked the novel coronavirus to China. This stigmatizes China. We are strongly indignant about it and firmly object to it. … We urge the United States to fix its mistakes immediately and stop the groundless blaming against China immediately.”

Q: On March 16, Peter Navarro, Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy at the White House said that the White House is preparing a Presidential executive order to move the medical supply chain back to the U.S. from China and to reduce the U.S. dependency on other countries. Do you have any comments?”

A: “The establishment and development of the global supply chain is the result of market rule companies’ choice. (People) should not use any excuse or approach to attempt to cut the global industry chain and supply chain manually, or even to promote ‘moving back’ and ‘decoupling.’ It is neither realistic nor sensible.”

Geng also stated that China has provided or is providing medical materials to a few dozen countries and regions, including Pakistan, Laos, Thailand, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and the Africa Union, that have an urgent need for them.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Propaganda and Lies: Pompeo Called Yang Jiechi
• Propaganda and Lies: China’s Propaganda Machine Spread Zhao Lijian’s Accusation of the U.S.
• Propaganda and Lies: An Indecent Imported Infected Case to China
• Propaganda and Lies: President Trump Responded to China’s Accusation
• Propaganda and Lies: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Said Virus Was From the US

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The “Lianghui,” or the “Two Conferences,” is a common Mandarin Chinese abbreviation for the national or local People’s Congress and the national or local committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. It’s a rubber stamp process to show that representatives of the people in the country or in a local region review and approve of the work of the central or local government and make decisions about the personnel in the committees of the People’s Congress and the People’s Political Consultative Conference.

The national level of the “Lianghui” was scheduled to be held in Beijing in early March, but due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, Beijing suspended it.

Lianhe Zaobao, a newspaper in Singapore, reported that, according to insider information, Beijing is temporarily planning to hold the two conferences at end of April or early May. It mentioned that Reuters reported that the date has not been yet been set but that the number of people attending might be reduced and people outside of Beijing attending the conference will go through quarantine.

Lianhe Zaobao commented that it may be a key indicator if the two conferences can take place in two months. It will mean that the China’s leaders are thinking that everything is getting back to normal.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Leadership: China Postponed “Lianghui” (“The Two Conferences”)
• Leadership – Xi Jinping’s Fake Wuhan Show
• Leadership: Political Signs of Xi Jinping’s Visiting to Wuhan
• Leadership: The CCP Was Forced to Reverse the “Be Grateful to the CCP” Education
• Leadership: Wuhan Party Chief Asked Wuhan People to Be Grateful to Xi Jinping and the CCP

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Global Times, a publication under the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) mouthpiece People’s Daily, tweeted on March 17:

“#Breaking: Recombinant #COVID19 vaccine developed by the team led by top PLA epidemiologist Chen Wei was approved to launch clinical trials in#China on Monday”

Science Net reported on March 17, that Wang Junzhi, a member of the China Engineering Academy, said at a State Council press conference that China’s vaccine research team has started recruiting volunteers for testing.

“This is an institution which has made fast progress in the development of a vaccine, submitted a clinical trial application to the State Drug Administration and started reviewing the clinical trial plan and recruiting volunteers.” “We are among the leading tier of the countries in novel coronavirus vaccine R&D work and will not be slower than foreign countries.”

Wang said that China picked eight teams to focus on five technical areas when launching the vaccine development work. Most of the teams will complete a pre-trial study in April and gradually start clinical trials afterward. Some team(s) are even faster.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• “World Leader”: Experts: China’s Epidemic Control Model Cannot Be Adopted by Other Countries
• “World Leader”: Taiwan Sets an Example for the World
• “World Leader”: Beijing Released a Documentary “The Lockdown: One Month in Wuhan”
• “World Leader”: Beijing Is Thinking Creating a Beijing-led World Health Organization to Replace WHO
• “World Leader”: Commentary by Minister of Foreign Affairs

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