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After Beijing Accused US over Evacuation, Two Foreigners Died from nCoV

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters on Monday February 10 that two foreign citizens died from the coronavirus.

During last week’s routine press briefings, Hua Chunying, foreign ministry spokeswoman, accused the United States of “unceasingly manufacturing and spreading panic” by pulling its nationals out of China and restricting travel while not providing “any substantial assistance to China.”

In making public her negative assessment of the US position and its decisions as “setting a very bad example,” the spokeswoman did not appear to attach any weight to favorable comments that US officials made previously about China’s containing the coronavirus. On the other hand, Chinese state-run media had taken these favorable comments from foreign leaders as serious evidence to convince the Chinese people that the government is doing a superb job.

Publicly airing such unfriendly views toward the Trump administration also undercut what Xi Jingping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, had previously boasted, namely that China and the US have successfully managed their differences. Xi made the observation in a letter to President Donald Trump, which Vice Premier Li He read out loud at the January 15 ceremony for the signing the phase one trade deal between the two countries.

Hua stated that, since January 3, 2020, China had provided 30 briefings on the novel coronavirus devleopments in China to US health officials .

There was an outcry over Chinese social media that the Chinese people were kept in the dark until January 20, 2002. Worse, January 3 turned out to be the day when China Central Television (CCTV), China’s state-run television station, broadcast nationally, how eight people in Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, were reprimanded because the police had stopped all public discussion of the coronavirus cases thathad started to appear. Dr Li Wenliang, who died on the night of February 6 was among the eight people that CCTV humiliated.

On the other hand, some Chinese noted that the US could very well have been misled in those 30 briefings that Hua mentioned, just as the Chinese people were. Continue reading →

Hot Topics | | February 10, 2020 | Social Stability US-China Relations

CCP Loyalist Warns Chinese Students in Germany Not to Commemorate Wuhan Physician

Students in Berlin, Germany were gathering at Brandenburg Gate on February 9, 2020, to commemorate Dr. Li Wenliang, a physician in Wuhan, China who passed away two days earlier. Over a month ago, Li broke the news that a new type of coronavirus had infected patients, but the police then penalized him. On January 3, China Central Television (CCTV), Beijing’s state-run television, broadcast the news that the Wuhan police had reprimanded Li. He was among eight people who alerted others about the virus on social media.

One student, loyal to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), issued a warning to other Chinese students who might attend the gathering. The person cried out, “Ab-so-lute-ly NO participation! This is a critical moment, everyone must exercise caution. Some murky forces are trying to make the most out of [the death of] Dr. Li. I have verified that the organizers have an anti-China background. Please spread the word. Don’t let those with ulterior motives take advantage of this occasion. To commemorate Li Wenliang is only an excuse. To make bloody gains out of the doctor’s death is what they want.”

It is apparent that this person (making this statement) has resources at his disposal to enable him to gather information about or keep dossiers on the event’s organizers.

Meanwhile, within China, given the outpouring of public grief and anger, People’s Daily, the CCP official newspaper, took the opposite approach of actively facilitating favorable actions taken regarding Dr. Li. The People’s Daily commentator cheered when a special team was dispatched to Wuhan to investigate any wrongs that was carried out against Dr. Li. Continue reading →

Hot Topics | | February 10, 2020 | Social Stability

Taiwan: Controversy about the First Evacuation Flight – February 3

After initially rejecting Taiwan’s request to evacuate its citizens who were trapped in Wuhan, China, Beijing sent a charter flight on February 3, 2020, to take 247 people from Wuhan to Taiwan. However, this first flight was full of controversies. [Editor’s note: A Chinascope briefing with a commentary on why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initially rejected the Taiwan evacuation request is worth reading, as its predictions exhibited a high similarity to what had actually happened.]

The following are the controversies.

Beijing, viewing Taiwan as part of its own territory, did not recognize the event as “Taiwan evacuating its citizens.” Instead, it just called the flight an “extra flight during the Chinese New Year.” It did not let Taiwan send a plane either, but used one from the mainland’s Eastern Airlines.

The original evacuation list had 244 people, but the actual flight carried 247. Upon arrival at Taipei, one of the three additional people, was tested and was confirmed to have been infected with the novel coronavirus,

Taiwan authorities did not receive the list of people until the people were about to board the plane, which left them little room to verify who the people were and to confirm the urgency for their return compared to that of other people. To have a better control of the situation, Taiwan authorities postponed the next flight.

When they negotiated with Beijing, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council stressed a general principle on deciding on people riding on the first fight: Give priority to those who are on a short-term visit and lack a regular facility and means to live (e.g. hotels have to provide food or other services), those who have a chronic disease, and children, elderly, and those with weak immune capabilities. It also asked to exclude those who have been confirmed to have the coronavirus infection. Beijing agreed. However, the result was quite different. Among the first 247 evacuated people, there was not only a confirmed infected patient, but also a few dozen people who did not have Taiwan citizenship (many of them were the spouses or children of Taiwan citizens). However, many people who had a higher priority based on the stated terms weren’t able get on the plane.

The Kuomintang played a big role in making the evacuation happen, since Beijing rejected the Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council’s initial request. The Kuomintang set up a seven-member group as a third-party channel to communicate with Beijing. The group talked to the Chinese Communist Party on a “party to party” basis and was able to establish the path for the evacuation.

A Kuomintang Central Committee member Xu Zhengwen collected the names of Taiwan citizens in Wuhan and worked on the first evacuation list. He criticized the Taiwan government, under the Democratic Progressive Party President, for putting people’s lives in jeopardy by postponing the next flight. However, many people blamed him for giving seats out as favors and ignoring the people who were in greater need. There were also questions about him holding many political titles from mainland China. One title, for example, was from the China Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification, an organization under the CCP’s United Front Department that aimed to reunify Taiwan and China.

The Kuomintang issued a news statement that its seven-people group was not involved in deciding the name list of the first flight, and that any of its party members whose words or actions interfered in the epidemic prevention would receive party discipline.

Continue reading →

Hot Topics | | February 9, 2020 | Social Stability

Taiwan: Commentary – Why Beijing Does Not Allow Taiwan to Evacuate Its Citizens

As many countries have withdrawn their citizens from Wuhan, Taiwan also wanted to evacuate its 300 citizens who are currently trapped in Wuhan. However, Beijing wouldn’t give the evacuation a green light but instead claimed that it will provide “special care” for them in Wuhan.

An Epoch Times article commented that there could be three possible reasons for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to do this:

To keep the Taiwan people as political hostages in revenge for its defeat in the Taiwan Presidential election. The CCP supported the Kuomintang candidate, Han Kuo-yu, whose relationship with the CCP was much closer than that of President Tsai Ing-wen.
To keep them long enough to make some of them catch the virus or even die. That could create a big backlash against Tsai’s government in Taiwan.
To give their “red agents” an opportunity to gain political capital. These agents could come out as the heroic mediators who broker a deal between the two sides and bring the Taiwan people back.

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Taiwan: Commentary – Why Beijing Does Not Allow Taiwan to Evacuate Its Citizens

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