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Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

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Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

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Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

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The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.

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Hangzhou’s Covid-19 Statistics Have Drawn Suspicion

How serious is the current epidemic in China? It is hard to determine the truth. Take Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang province, for example. Local hospitals have recently seen an exponential increase in Covid-19 fever patients. As many as 90 percent have tested positive. However, the Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission said on December 17 that only 43 cases were confirmed in Hangzhou.

The Qianjiang Evening News, a popular metropolitan newspaper in Hangzhou, reported that the fever clinic at one campus of Zhejiang Hospital saw more than 600 patients on December 16.

In addition, fever clinics at hospitals affiliated with the Zhejiang University School of Medicine reported a single-day attendance of more than 1,000 people.

The newspaper quoted doctors from several hospitals in Hangzhou who said that 90 percent of the patients in local fever clinics had tested positive.

Hangzhou has a residential population of more than 12 million. The Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission reported on Saturday December 17 that the province’s medical institutions reported only 52 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, of which Hangzhou accounted for 43 cases.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 17, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/4-12172022120644.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Tried to Pacify Iran’s Anger

Xi Jinping recently visited Saudi Arabia and attended the 2022 China-Arab States Summit hosted in Saudi’s capital city Riyadh. China signed a joint summit statement declaring its support for the United Arab Emirates “to reach a peaceful solution to the issue of the three islands; Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa” under international law. The UAE and the Iranese have been disputing these three islands in the Strait of Hormuz for decades, where Iran grabbed them after the British Royal Navy stopped patrolling them in 1971.

Iran expressed fury for the betrayal by China which had supported it for long time. Iran called in China’s Ambassador to express its grievance. In the meantime, many Iranian media have complained about China.

On December 10, the Arman Daily, an Iranian newspaper published an article titled, “Taiwan Independence: A Legal Right” on its front page. The article stated that Beijing would have to accept Taiwan’s independence despite attempts to suppress the country by force.

To calm down Tehran, on December 13, Beijing sent Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua (胡春華) to meet Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Xinhua News reported that Hu told Iranian officials that China “will not waver in its determination to develop their comprehensive strategic partnership” and that “China firmly supports Iran in opposing external interference and safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity.”

Source: Epoch Times, Dec 14, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/12/14/n13884833.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Revealed: China Has Police Stations in at Least 53 Other Countries

Safeguard Defenders, a non-profit organization focusing on human rights, published a revised version of its investigation report on China’s police stations overseas. The revised numbers show that China has established at least 102 police “service centers” in 53 countries outside of China. Beijing uses these police stations to carry out suppression activities over China’s own citizens in foreign countries. However, these operations are illegal and violate the state sovereignty of the hosting countries.

Italy has 11 of China’s police stations, the largest number among all countries. Canada has five. The U.S. has at least four, two in New York, and one in Los Angles. There is also one at an unknown location.

The governments of the Netherlands and Ireland  have demanded that China close these illegal operations in their countries.

Source:
1. Epoch Times, December 9, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/12/9/n13881186.htm
2. Turkish Radio and Television Agency, December 6, 2022
https://www.trt.net.tr/chinese/hua-ren-shi-jie/2022/12/06/wai-mei-cheng-zhong-guo-zai-hai-wai-she-yu-100suo-jing-cha-zhan-1915367

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

Taiwan’s Media and Its Society Ranked Number One in Influence by China

Taiwan Democracy Lab recently announced its “China Index.  It ranked China’s influence on 82 countries or regions in nine categories including academia, domestic politics, the economy, foreign policy, law enforcement, media, military, society, and technology. Among the overall ranking, the top five countries are Pakistan, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, Peru and South Africa (tied).

Taiwan ranked number one in two categories: media and society, and number 11 in the overall ranking. Germany ranked the top among all European countries.

Source: Epoch Times, December 9, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/12/9/n13881687.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Political Commentator: Insider Information on Xi’s Decisions

Yuan Hongbing, a Chinese scholar and political commentator who lives in Australia, recently shared with the Epoch Times some information he obtained from a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) insider.

On terminating the “zero-COVID” policy, the upcoming Premier Li Qiang  a Chinese politician and a senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party, serving as the second-ranking member of the 20th CCP Politburo Standing Committee, behind CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, informed Xi Jinping that the World Health Organization (WHO) is likely to announce COVID as a general epidemic, no longer a severe pandemic. If China continues the “zeroing out” and lockdown policy, it will become a joke of the international society. So Li Qiang wants China to forgo the zero-COVID policy before WHO’s announcement. Another reason is that China’s economy has gravely deteriorated and local governments are facing bankruptcy.

On the in-flight regarding Jiang’s death: Zeng Qinghong wrote the eulogy that gave high praise to Jiang. Jiang’s family asked Xi to read it and threatened that they would hold a private funeral instead of the state funeral if Xi did not agree to their terms. Xi’s supporter Li Shulei, head of the CCP Propaganda Department, suggested to Xi to meet their demand for now since Jiang is dead. In the meantime Xi could get ready to cleanse Jiang’s remaining power including both officials and businessmen. The target time to take them on is after March next year, after the National Congress meeting and Xi’s people take over the state power.

Source: Epoch Times, December 13, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/12/13/n13883837.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

COVID Is on a Rampage in China

China recently loosened its COVID control policy after people took to the streets to protest the extreme, inhumane lockdown measures. As a result, COVID has  spread widely throughout the country.

On December 13, the authorities reported only 7,451 infection cases for the entire nation, which the public just did not accept as a number they could trust.

A video posted by a Beijing resident showed that an entire subway station, which used to be fully packed, had only three people in it, including the recorder himself.

Many doctors, nurses, and other medical staff are infected. They are asked to continue work if they can. Work units informed their employees to stay at home and not go to hospitals as hospitals had already “run beyond their full capacity.”

Radio Free Asia quoted an Internet posting that the author called 911 but was told that there were already 4,000 people ahead of him in the queue. Its reporter called Beijing’s hotline 120. The operator told him there were already 40 people waiting for an ambulance, and suggested the caller go to the hospital himself, so he would not be putting a wrong hope on an ambulance.

Funeral homes worked at full speed to cremate bodies. A Beijing resident posted on social media that after his father passed away, he could not find a funeral home to take in his father’s body. A doctor posted on social media that there was a five to seven day wait for cremation and his hospital did not have an empty morgue any longer. Radio Free Asia reported that four elderly people died in the Emergence Room of the Beijing University Hospital. Other patients stayed and waited with the corpse in the same room.

In addition to the present danger to the elderly, this COVID is also claiming young lives. Three children, at the ages of 13, 8, and 2, respectively, died after they had a high temperature.

Source: Epoch Times, December 13, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/12/13/n13884197.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Social Stability

Number of First Marriages in China Falls Below 12 Million, a 37-year low

According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the number of first marriages in 2021 was 11.578 million, down 708,000 from the previous year. This is the first time in many years that the number of first marriages in China has fallen below 12 million, a new low since 1985.

There are many reasons contributing to the continuous decline in the number of first marriages, including the decline in the number of those of a marriageable age, the postponement of the age of a first marriage, economic pressure, and changes in the views toward marriage. In recent years, the average age of a first marriage among young people in China has been significantly postponed to 28.67 years, an increase of 3.78 years from the average age of the first marriage in 2010 (24.89 years).

An official of China’s National Health Commission said that the vast majority of the young population grow up and work in cities and towns, have more years of education, and face more competitive pressure for employment, all of which make the phenomenon of delayed marriage and childbearing very prominent.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), December 2, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202212020195.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China-built Rail Project in Indonesia Faces Criticism

The 142-km high-speed rail connecting Indonesia’s capital Jakarta with another large city Bandung, part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, has faced numerous accusations from Indonesians during the project’s closing stage.

In August of this year, KCIC, the consortium building the railway, requested the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation  to extend the concession period from 50 to 80 years. The company’s president, Dwiyana Slamet Riyadi, explained on December 8 before the Fifth Committee of the Indonesian Parliament, which is in charge of transportation and public works, that there had been a significant change in the project’s business environment.

However Lasarus, S.Sos., an Indonesian Parliament member and chair of the Committee, is skeptical about the extension of the concession rights, according to detik.com, an Indonesia news website. He pointed out that many people complained about the project, arguing that since the business environment is not good, no more public expenditures should be used on it.

The news was picked up by major media in Indonesia that day and drew widespread criticism. Muhammad Said Didu, a former senior government official, posted on his personal Twitter account that KCIC had deceived Indonesians in five aspects. China claimed that it was cheaper than Japan’s high-speed rail construction proposal, that the project was feasible, that it did not require government guarantees, that it did not tie up public coffers, and that the operating rights were extended from the 50-year requirement to 80 years. The post received thousands of retweets and likes.

According to Chinese official media, construction of the railway officially began in January 2016 and was set to be completed in the second half of 2019, with the concession running for a total of 50 years from May 2019, with a total cost of US$5.135 billion negotiated between China and Indonesia. However, Detik.com noted that the total investment for the project was later renegotiated to US$6 billion. On top of that, the Indonesian Financial Supervisory Authority (BPKP) assessed that the construction cost exceeded the budget by US$1.49 billion, while the Chinese side admitted to only US$980 million, a disagreement of up to US$500 million.

An Australian engineer told Radio Free Asia, “There is a widespread issue of underbidding in China’s construction contracts in Asian, African and Latin American countries, as well as in Australia’s iron ore projects, followed by constant requests for more money during the operations. This has often resulted in debt traps, as in the case of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, which has put a big financial burden on the country.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 12, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/fy-12122022130743.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend