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Reuters Chinese: Global Commercial Aviation Industry on High Alert

Reuters Chinese Edition recently reported that the global airlines are all on high alert regarding the developing Wuhan Pneumonia situation. They are assessing the potential impact on the aviation business. According to the statistics that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) published, at the SARS peak time in April of 2003, Asian business declined by 45 percent. At that time, Cathay Pacific reduced their flights by 40 percent, and so did Singapore Airlines, JAL and ANA. The airline industry depends more on Chinese passengers now than it did in 2003. According to Moody’s, today in Australia, 15 percent of the country’s total international visitors are from China. The same number was 3 percent in 2003. Based on the data that the Civil Aviation Administration of China provided, there were 6.8 million Chinese who took international flights in 2003. The same number was 63.7 million in 2018. Since the local authorities closed down the city, multiple airlines have cancelled their flights out of Wuhan.

Source: Reuters Chinese, January 23, 2020
https://cn.reuters.com/article/global-airliners-wuhan-coronavirus-impac-idCNKBS1ZM13R

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Social Stability

People’s Daily: Chinese Customs Announced Official Plan to Control International Virus Spread

People’s Daily reported on January 25, the first day of the Chinese New Year, that Chinese Customs published an official announcement jointly with the Chinese National Health Council that the 2019-nCoV virus (the Wuhan Pneumonia) is now officially included in the scope of the Chinese Frontier Health and Quarantine Law, which requires all people crossing the Chinese border in either direction actively to declare to customs the nature of their related health status. They will be required to fill out an official form. The announcement also called for cooperation with customs on activities like measuring their temperature. Transportation vehicle owners are responsible for providing patients proper protection tools and for reporting to customs. Travelers are also advised to wash their hands often, to wear masks and to avoid contact with patients. Travelers with symptoms are required to seek medical treatment immediately and to provide their travel history. Customs may adjust rules over time. This new regulation takes effect on January 24th and will be in effect for three months.

Source: People’s Daily, January 25, 2020
http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0125/c1001-31562440.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China Is Chasing Wuhan “Fugitives” across the Country

A few million people from Wuhan, which was the epicenter of the new coronavirus, had left the city before the lockdown on January 23. As a result, recently, many cities in China have started a wave of searching for people from Wuhan to quarantine them, regardless of whether they have symptoms. The fear is that the virus can have an incubation period of up to 14 days and the host can be contagious during that period.

In the eyes of the people in other cities, all people from Wuhan are criminals. They can only prove their innocence and regain their freedom after going through a 14-day quarantine that the destination government forcibly imposes on them.

Epoch Times collected several videos and pictures from the Internet showing how the local governments, throughout the nation, have been capturing the Wuhan “fugitives.”

  • One video showed that police and medical staff members were putting people from Wuhan into a car. A man jumped out of the car and shouted that he was just fine. The police then locked his neck from the back in order to control him.
  • Another video showed that a man from Wuhan stayed at a hotel. Despite the fact that he had been very cooperative with the authorities in taking many tests, the owner accused him of “lacking public morality” because his staying there scared other guests. The man was furious, “How can you say all people from Wuhan have no public morality?”
  • A photo showed an emergency notice posted at a gas station. It stated, “According to the city government’s notice, each gas station must implement the following protection and control measures: 1. Any car with a Wuhan license plate is not allowed to fill up with gas.”

Source: Epoch Times, January 26, 2019
https://hk.epochtimes.com/news/2020-01-26/7012343

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

A Young man in Wuhan Created a Video Appealing for International Help

A  young man from Wuhan, who was locked down in the city which has suffered from the outbreak of the new coronavirus, posted a video on YouTube. He said that it took quite an effort for him to get beyond China’s Internet blockade in order to post it, but he could no longer be silent and had to speak out.

The following are some highlights of his talking points in the video:

“Gas stations are closed to cars and public transportation has stopped. If your family member has high blood pressure or has a heart attack and needs to go to the hospital, how can he get there? Calls to the emergency number 120 (equivalent to 114 or 911 in the U.S.) do not go through at all.”

“If you suspect that you caught pneumonia and want to go to hospital for a test, how can you get there? The hospitals are fully packed. Doctors will just tell you to wait in line, but no one will come to take care of you even if you stay in line for several hours. Maybe you were fine before you got there, but waiting in line there might get you infected.”

“On January 22, I saw many people were on the street the day before the city was locked down, and most of them weren’t wearing a mask (because the government didn’t advise people to do so). What are the Mayor and the Party Secretary doing? Didn’t they know the information already? Why didn’t they require everyone to wear a mask to protect themselves?”

“The medical system is in chaos. My friends at the hospitals told me that the treatment for patients was just to give them some anti-inflammatory or hormone injection and then let them wait for death. Many patients who had the suspected infection were told to go home, since the hospital did not have a test-kit to test them. Isn’t this government or medical institution asking the infectious source to go out into the community to infect others?”

“Wuhan is like hell now.”

“We, the people in our 20’s and 30’s, understand very clearly about China (and the communist party), but we don’t have the capability (to change it). We don’t have a channel to voice our opinions. We are just flesh and we cannot fight steel, bullets, and tanks.”

“Not everyone in China has been brainwashed. We want to live our lives under democracy and freedom. We want to access YouTube and Twitter directly, without using an anti-blockade software, but we just don’t have that. What can we do?”

“At this moment, we, the Wuhan people urgently need help from the international society.  We ourselves are helpless…”

Source: Radio France International, January 26, 2020
http://www.rfi.fr/cn/中国/20200126-视频武汉青年冒死求救-痛骂中共领导人青海作秀

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

Does Wuhan Need Donations of Medical Supplies?

On January 23, 2020, Wuhan announced a “lockdown” of the city because of the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic. On the same day, eight major hospitals in Wuhan requested the public donation of face masks and other medical materials. The government also issued a donation request, but stated that it would not accept donations from overseas.

The government donation request was issued in the No. 4 Announcement of the recently established Wuhan Novel Coronavirus Prevention and Control Command Center. The announcement stated, “Temporarily do not accept materials not related to epidemic prevention and control, or donations from overseas.”

Sing Tao Daily reported that despite Wuhan’s refusal of overseas help, many Chinese lived overseas and were still donating money and materials and trying to find channels to ship the medical materials to Wuhan.

Radio Free Asia reported that a Chinese netizen commented on the Internet, “The group of doctors is usually the most obedient. Normally, if hospitals run out of materials, they go to the supervising government office or other hospitals for help. If they need to go to the public for donations, the government will handle the request and then distribute the received goods among the hospitals. This time Wuhan hospitals made the announcement on their own. That is, uniformly, a slap in the face for the Wuhan government. It showed that the medical community in Wuhan was totally sad, disappointed, and desperate (because of what the government did), and could no longer tolerate it.”

Radio Free Asia also commented on the Wuhan government’s not accepting overseas donations. It said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not want to lose face. Claiming itself to be “leading the world” and handing out tens of billions of dollars every time it visited Africa, Xi Jinping and the CCP do not want to make themselves look bad by asking for help from other countries.

Sources:
1. People’s Daily, January 23, 2020
http://hb.people.com.cn/n2/2020/0123/c194063-33742060.html
2. Sing Tao Daily, January 24, 2020
https://www.singtao.ca/4056092/2020-01-24/post-武漢告急 全球華人募集防護品/
3. Radio Free Asia, January 24, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/zhuanlan/yehuazhongnanhai/gx-01242020143338.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

Xinhua: Xi Jinping Set National Strategy to Combat Wuhan Pneumonia

Xinhua reported on January 25th, the first day of the Chinese New Year, that Chinese President Xi Jinping held a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee. The Chinese top leadership meeting focused on fighting the Wuhan Pneumonia epidemic. The meeting officially formed the Epidemic Central Leadership Working Group, directly reporting to the Standing Committee. The Working Group is dispatching guiding groups to key provinces where outbreaks occur to strengthen “frontline combat.” The meeting requires the nation to listen to the central command, enhance the coordination of a number of activities, ensure the distribution of medical and other supplies, protect the medical personnel, stabilize the domestic market, and strengthen the guidance of public opinion. The State Council was tasked with the coordination of the operational work across the nation. The meeting also established the principles for the central management of patients, the central management of medical experts, the central coordination of resources and supplies, as well as centralized rescue and treatment. Under these principles, the plan is to appoint or set up central hospitals and medical camps nationwide dedicated to this disease, to coordinate and combine both military and civilian medical supplies, to establish treatment procedures with both Western and Chinese traditional practices, and to prepare enough financial support for the needs. The meeting also required increasing the monitoring network for early signs and early reports; sanitizing key public places like food markets, transportation hubs and means; and developing new medicines. The meeting emphasized the importance of controlling public opinion and communication. As part of the plan, China is also willing to cooperate with international organizations like WHO (the World Health Organization) and the authorities of other nations and regions to contain the disease.

Source: Xinhua, January 25, 2020
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/leaders/2020-01/25/c_1125502052.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

RFA: Muslims in Xinjiang Are Forced to Drink Alcohol

The Islam doctrine prohibits Muslims from smoking and drinking. However, as part of their efforts to get them to leave the Islam religion, some local governments in the Yili region of Xinjiang have tried to make the Muslims smoke and drink.

The communist authorities target people who do not drink and beat them or arrest them. However, when they see a Muslim drink, they also provide encouragement. Because of the government’s position of supporting drinking, the police will let those who drive under the influence of alcohol go without any punishment.

“In their eyes, whoever drinks is a good person.” Serkjan, the founder of a human rights organization in Kazakhstan said, “People who do not drink or smoke are those who have religious beliefs and must be arrested. The police do not dare to arrest those who are drunk, even if they are creating trouble.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 17, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-01172020104835.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Social Stability

Wuhan Police Silenced People Who Warned about the Wuhan Coronavirus

During the early stages of the spread of the coronavirus in Wuhan City of China, the police stopped people from mentioning it on the Internet.

The Wuhan Police official Micro Blog account published a notice on January 1, 2020:

“Recently, some medical institutes in our city have received several pneumonia cases. The municipal National Health and Family Planning Commission issued a public statement. However, some netizens, without verifying the information, posted and forwarded false information on the Internet and caused an adverse social impact. The police organization, after investigation, has summoned eight persons who violated the law (in posting the information) and dealt with them according to the law.

“The police reminded (everyone), that the Internet is not a territory free from the law. Those who post information and discussion on the Internet must obey the relevant laws and regulations. The police will investigate and punish, with no tolerance, any illegal actions of fabricating and spreading rumors and disturbing the social order. We hope that all netizens obey the relevant laws and regulations; do not create rumors, believe in rumors, or spread rumors; and build a harmonious, clean cyberspace.”

{Editor’s Note: It is a norm in China for the Communist regime to silence voices that do not echo the party’s “main melody” or voices exposing information that the party does not want people to know.}

The first coronavirus case was reported in Wuhan on December 8, 2019. However, China made the issue “low key” until January 20, 2020, when it started to spread to several other countries, including Thailand, Japan, Korea, and the U.S.

Source: Phoenix Media, January 1, 2020
https://news.ifeng.com/c/7sstzV13dEx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability