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Propaganda: The Non-Existent Swiss Biologist Who Said China’s Lab Did Not Leak the Virus

In early August, Many of China’s state media, including Xinhua, People’s Daily, China News Agency, and Global Times, quoted Facebook about a Biologist named Wilson Edwards from Switzerland who stated that it is extremely unlikely that China’s lab leaked the COVID-19 virus. He worried that the World Health Organization lacks an independent scientific judgment and has become a political tool of the U.S. government.

However, on August 10, Switzerland’s Embassy in China issued an official statement that this was fake news. The statement said that Switzerland does not have a citizen whose name is Wilson Edwards, that no academic article was ever published by an author with that name, and that his Facebook account was created on July 24, 2021, with only one posting and three friends. This indicates that this account was not created for a social networking purpose.

Source: Liberty Times, August 11, 2021
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3634411

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Pandemic: COVID-19 Is Spreading in China (August 11, 2021, Update)

The COVID-19 virus keeps spreading in China. During the latest round of the outbreak, a total of 17 provinces have reported COVID-19 cases. Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has hidden the real information, the actual number of those infected is unknown.

On August 9, Yangzhou City, Jiangzu Province reported 48 cases, with a cumulative total of 394 cases. Jiangsu Province sent 653 medical doctors and nurses and 2,260 COVID testers from other cities to Yangzhou. On August 11, Sun Chunlan, the Vice Premier of China, visited Yangzhou to check on the COVID-19 outbreak.

Zhengzhou City, Henan Province which just suffered a severe flood due to the government releasing water from a dam without informing people, also reported COVID-19 cases.

The CCP has been using an extreme lockdown method to create “zero” cases. Zhang Wenhong, the lead medical expert on the COVID-19 virus in Shanghai, recently suggested that more and more people feel the pandemic will not end soon. Therefore the world should learn to live with the virus. However, Gao Qiang, formerly of the Minister of Health, criticized this viewpoint.

Sources:
1. China.com.cn, August 11, 2021
http://news.china.com.cn/2021-08/11/content_77685454.htm
2. China’s State Council Website, August 11, 2021
http://www.gov.cn/guowuyuan/2021-08/11/content_5630831.htm
3. VOA, August 11, 2021
https://www.voachinese.com/a/China-weighs-whether-to-abandon-zero-tolerance-approach-on-Covid-20210810/5997594.html

Related postings on Chinascope:

Pandemic: COVID-19 Delta Variant Is Spreading in China Since July

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LTN: China Announced the Suspension of Issuing Ordinary Passports

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that China is restricting the border entry and exit of Chinese nationals in the name of controlling the spread of COVID-19. The Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council of China held a press conference. Liu Haitao, Director of Border Inspection and Management of the Chinese National Immigration Administration, announced that, to be strict in preventing the importation of the epidemic, China will tightly restrict the flow of people across borders for non-emergency and non-essential purposes. Travel documents, such as ordinary passports, will not be issued until further notice. Liu blamed these restrictions on a “very obvious” epidemic rebound overseas. Liu also announced detailed policies governing the human flow at international airports, sea ports and land entry points. Land entries still allow cargo transportation. Chinese passports include Diplomatic Passports, Service Passports, Ordinary Passports and SAR (Special Administrative Regions) Passports.

Source: LTN, August 4, 2021
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3627324

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Pandemic: COVID-19 Delta Variant Has Been Spreading in China Since July

The COVID-19 Delta variant has spread to many provinces across China. On August 3, China reported 96 cases of infection in 15 provinces. The Chinese Communist Party is known for hiding the actual infection status, so the actual number might be much higher.

As for the origin of this wave of COVID, it started in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province in July. Zhangjiajie, a tourist city in Hunan Province became a center for its spread, as over 2,000 people attended an in-door performance there. Zhangjiajie didn’t call it a “lockdown,” but it is not allowing people to leave the city. Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province detained a patient who didn’t report his travel to Nanjing. It also offered money to encourage citizens to report people who have COVID. Wuhan City, Hubei Province announced that it would test all of its 13.5 million residents. Beijing reported six cases officially, but other information indicated that 15 community neighborhoods in 11 districts had confirmed cases. China also cancelled all sports competition.

Sources:
1. China government site, August 4, 2021
http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2021-08/04/content_5629348.htm
2. Epoch Times, August 3, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/8/3/n13136774.htm

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Waves of Emigration One Year after Implementation of Hong Kong’s National Security Law

A year after the implementation of the Hong Kong’s National Security Law, the region has faced waves of departures of Hong Kong residents. In the first five months of this year, the Hong Kong police received 15,707 applications for a “Certificate of No Criminal Record,” a necessary document for many Western countries’ immigration processing. Ming Pao cited the Education Bureau statistics that, as of October of last year, primary and secondary schools lost about 15,400 students within a year.

A parent told Voice of America that the contents of elementary school textbooks carry ideologies from mainland China, focusing on China’s achievements without mentioning any issues such as the “2008 Chinese milk scandal.” She and her husband no longer wanted their son to receive one-way and untrue information about China.

“Hong Kong is not a good place for study, because the academic freedom is now gone,” said 16-year-old Michael, a leader of the local student organization.

As for the “age gap” in Hong Kong’s population after a large number of primary and secondary school students born and raised in Hong Kong emigrated to foreign countries, Michael estimates that they will soon be replaced by the influx of new immigrants of mainland Chinese at a rate of 150 per day. Hong Kong will gradually become one of China’s ordinary Chinese cities.

Source: Voice of America, July 31, 2021
https://www.voachinese.com/a/hong-kong-schools-suffering-student-exodus-due-to-emigration-under-nsl-20210731/5986115.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

BBC Chinese: China’s Taishan Nuclear Power Plant Shut Down for Inspection

The BBC Chinese Edition recently reported that the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) announced on July 30 that “a small amount of fuel damage” occurred in Unit One of the Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Plant. The company decided to shut down the unit for inspection to identify the cause of the fuel damage and to replace the damaged parts. The Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Plant has the largest single-unit nuclear capacity in the world. In mid-June, the outside world questioned the safety of the plant. US media revealed that Framatome, the French supplier of the Taishan Plant,  asked the US Department of Energy for help, describing the Taishan Plant as facing “an imminent radiological threat.” At that time, CGN called the reports “rumor” and “hype” of the Western media. CGN’s latest announcement now says some small fuel damage does exist, but it was within the allowable range of the specifications. Framatome was once a subsidiary of Areva and was resold to EDF (Électricité de France) in 2009. In 2015, the French regulatory authorities found quality problems in Areva components. That brought the construction of three nuclear power plants in China, France, and Finland to a halt. The China Taishan Plant resumed construction later, but the plants in France and Finland remain delayed.

Source: BBC Chinese, July 31, 2021
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-58037951

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology Social Stability

Potential Loopholes in Health Code Management in Nanjing

The city of Nanjing in eastern China has virtually been sealed off and residents advised to stay indoors after 31 new Covid-19 cases were reported on Tuesday, pushing the total number of coronavirus infections up to a claimed total of 112 in the ongoing outbreak. The Local government has used a color-based health code systems to control people’s movements and curb the spread of the coronavirus.

People with yellow health code are required to be isolated for 14 days and do three Covid-19 tests within a week. If the test results are negative, the health code will be switched to a green color and restrictive measures will be lifted.

On July 24, a pregnant woman accidentally discovered that her health code had turned yellow for no apparent reason. As a result, she was unable to have a maternity checkup or visit a doctor. The topic was then widely discussed on social media platforms.

Many people in Nanjing expressed on social media that they had never approached the vicinity of Nanjing Lukou International Airport, where the outbreak occurred, but their health codes changed from green to yellow overnight. The codes of students at Southeast University in downtown Nanjing also turned yellow, although many of them had not stepped outside the campus for quite some time. At the same time, some people reported that within a few days, their health code changed from green to yellow and then from yellow to green.

In addition to the unexplained color changes, the personnel management of those with the yellow code also has problems. Many yellow-coded personnel said they were not notified of isolation or Covid-19 testing.

Source: Central News Agency, July 28, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202107280247.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

FoxConn’s Largest Plant in China Impacted by Zhengzhou Flood

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that, after the major flood in the city of Zhengzhou (Henan Province), the situation at the Foxconn plants in Zhengzhou were seriously challenging. Zhengzhou has Foxconn’s largest industrial park in China and it is the world’s largest production base for Apple mobile phones. Foxconn Group has three plants in Zhengzhou, namely the Airport Plant, the Economic Development Zone Plant, and the Zhongmu Plant. The Zhongmu Plant, which is the closest to Zhengzhou City, was the most impacted. Starting July 20, the plant’s operations were suspended and some workers were trapped in the staff dormitory where the first floor was under water. The water supply and electricity were cut off, and people hadn’t eaten for nearly two days. On July 22, workers were rescued and transported to a safe location by forklift. The Economic Development Zone Plant was also shut down for one day. By the end of July 22, some workers had still not been accounted for. No one at the local company office or the local government office answered the calls from reporters.

Source: NetEase, July 22, 2021
https://www.163.com/dy/article/GFGTGVTD0519D3BI.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Social Stability US-China Relations