Over one hundred politicians, scholars, and human rights advocates around the world signed an open letter to the world, appealing to people around the world to join the courageous and conscientious Chinese citizens including Xu Zhangrun, Ai Fen, Li Wenliang, and Ren Zhiqiang to advocate for an open and free China, and not to support the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as some people have done “for decades.”

The letter stated,

“The current global crisis has been caused by the regime that so many of you have been tolerating or supporting for decades.

On 2 April 2020, a group of one hundred Chinese establishment scholars wrote an open letter decrying the “many critical voices politicizing the COVID-19 pandemic.” They stated that “(at) this stage of the pandemic, the exact source and origin of COVID-19 remain undetermined, but these questions are unimportant and finger pointing is demeaning and hurtful to everyone.” They also argued against what they alleged is the politicizing of the epidemic.

The open letter exemplifies what the independent intellectual Professor Xu Zhangrun has called the “ridiculous ‘Red Culture’ and the nauseating adulation that the system heaps on itself via shameless pro-Party hacks who chirrup hosannas at every turn.”

Professor Xu—now under house arrest—has called on his compatriots to stop their uncritical support for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and instead to “rage against this injustice; let your lives burn with a flame of decency; break through the stultifying darkness and welcome the dawn.”

While the exact source and spread of the virus are not clear, yet the question of origin is highly important, for the people of China and for all humankind: only by understanding how this global disaster could emerge can we prevent it from happening again.

The roots of the pandemic are in a cover-up by CCP authorities in Wuhan, Hubei province. Under the influence of the CCP the World Health Organization first downplayed the pandemic. Taiwanese health officials also allege that it ignored their alerts in late December about human-to-human transmission. Under pressure from the CCP, democratic Taiwan—which has coped with the pandemic in exemplary fashion—is excluded from the WHO.

We should never forget that China’s Chernobyl moment was a self-inflicted wound. The CCP silenced Chinese doctors who wanted to warn other health professionals during the early stage of the outbreak: Dr. Ai Fen can no longer appear in public after accepting a domestic media interview; her colleague Dr. Li Wenliang died while fighting the virus in Wuhan. On his deathbed Dr. Li famously said that “a healthy society shouldn’t have only one voice.”

…

The global pandemic forces us all to confront an inconvenient truth: by politicizing all aspects of life including people’s health, continued autocratic one-party rule in the People’s Republic of China has endangered everyone. Rather than trusting the CCP’s intentions and accepting establishment academics’ uncritical approval of the party-state’s policies, we should pay greater attention to the voices of what can be termed ‘unofficial’ China. These independent-minded academics, doctors, entrepreneurs, citizen journalists, public interest lawyers and young students no longer accept the CCP’s rule by fear. Neither should you.

As an international group of public figures, security policy analysts and China watchers we stand in solidarity with courageous and conscientious Chinese citizens including Xu Zhangrun, Ai Fen, Li Wenliang, Ren Zhiqiang, Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin, Li Zehua, Xu Zhiyong, and Zhang Wenbin, just to name a few of the real heroes and martyrs who risk their life and liberty for a free and open China. Their individual voices are already forming a chorus. They demand nothing less than a critical evaluation of the impact of CCP policies on the lives of Chinese citizens and citizens around the world. We urge you to join them.

Signed, in alphabetical order: …”

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• World Against CCP: BILD Editor-in-Chief Response to Xi Jinping
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• World Against CCP: Call The Coronavirus “CCP Virus”
• World Against CCP: Nigel Farage: Time to “Rethink the West’s Relationship with China”
• World Against CCP: Italian Officials Said CCP Lied

Source: Citizen Power Initiatives for China, April 16, 2020

Open letter: The Communist Party’s rule by fear endangers Chinese citizens – and the world

On April 20, China identified Chaoyang District, Beijing as a “High Risk” region for the coronavirus pandemic, the only “High Risk” area in China.

Epoch Times obtained an official document from the Chaoyang District government, titled “Summary Report of the Management of Four Types of People,” dated April 19. The document showed that on April 19, 3,357 people in the district were under isolation or close watch.

Beijing has been quarantining and testing “four types” of people, including confirmed patients, suspected patients, people who had close contact with infected patients, and asymptomatic carriers.

On April 19, the Beijing Coronavirus Epidemic Prevention and Control Leading Group issued a new work plan to conduct a nucleic acid test on eight types of people and have them pay for the testing expenses:

1. Patients, including confirmed patients, suspected patients, recovered patients who came back to the hospital for a recheck, and people who had a close contact with them.
2. People with a fever.
3. People who needed to be hospitalized.
4. People who entered Beijing from abroad.
5. People coming to Beijing from Wuhan who were about to end the quarantine.
6. Staff members of central party organs and the central government who returned from Wuhan.
7. People who came to Beijing from other part of China and stayed at hotels.
8. The graduating high school and middle school students and their teachers, who come to Beijing from other part of China.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Hiding Information: Heilongjiang Province Is Preparing for Anthrax Epidemic
• Hiding Information: Inner Mongolia Health Commission Trained People in January
• Hiding Information: Document Showed the CCP Hid Info for the Critical Six Days in Virus Containment

Continue reading →

The Epoch Times obtained internal documents from the Harbin Municipal Health Committee titled, “The Notice on the Prevention and Control of Anthrax in the Whole Province,” dated on April 10. The document was issued to the district and county health committees in the city.

According to the “Notice,” Heilongjiang Province is about to enter the high season for anthrax outbreaks. Anthrax is an infectious disease common to humans and animals; and it will create social fear once it occurs, given the current Pneumonia situation. The “Notice” also asked media to communicate the “harmfulness and preventability of anthrax” and “do a good job in guiding and monitoring public opinion.”

So far, the Chinese media, which are under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, have not disclosed the potential anthrax information to the general public.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Hiding Information: Inner Mongolia Health Commission Trained People in January
• Hiding Information: Document Showed the CCP Hid Info for the Critical Six Days in Virus Containment
• Hiding Information: Wuhan Central Hospital Did Not Allow Staffs to Talk About Coronavirus
• Hiding Information: Wuhan Newspaper Said Doctor Reported Infection Cases in December and Authorities Took Actions Immediately
• Hiding Information: Expert Group Members Suggest Hubei Officials Hiding Information

Continue reading →

More governments and people in the United States have filed lawsuits against the communist regime in China for their liability in concealing the information about the coronavirus and causing a worldwide pandemic.

#1: The Mississippi State Government:

Mississippi State sued the Chinese government for concealing the origin and the initial spread of the coronavirus, thus putting millions of Americans at risk and causing economic chaos. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said what the communist regime did was “very malicious” and it was “a very dangerous cover-up.”

Mississippi is the second state in the U.S., after Missouri, to have initiated a legal approach to hold China accountable. (Fox News)

#2: Las Vegas Lawyers:

On April 20, Las Vegas attorneys, led by Robert T. Eglet, filed a class action lawsuit in the Nevada District Court seeking unspecified damages from China for the harm it has caused to small businesses in the United States. Eglet said the lawsuit is against the Chinese government and not the Chinese people or American Chinese, as they are also victims.

Five small businesses are named as plaintiffs, including a Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) services company, a company that wholesales flowers, and Bella Vita LLC, a company that runs a restaurant in Las Vegas.

The lawsuit is against the People’s Republic of China, the country’s National Health Commission, the Ministry of Emergency Management, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and also the province of Hubei and the city of Wuhan. (KLAS-TV)

#3: A Florida Law Firm:

The Berman Law Group, a law firm based in Boca Raton, Florida, filed a lawsuit in a federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on behalf of a group of front-line healthcare workers, against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), charging it with mishandling the coronavirus outbreak and with blocking the export of gloves, goggles, and other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and selling them at a substantial mark-up while people across the globe are getting sick and dying from COVID-19.

The plaintiffs include a New York doctor, a New Jersey surgical technologist, a West Virginia nurse, and a doctor and a nurse working in Florida. The law firm claims that this suit could cover nearly 4 million US healthcare workers. (New York Post)

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Justice: People from Several Countries Sued China for Coronavirus Damage
• Justice: Chinese Citizen Sued Hubei Government
• Justice: India Sued China for 20 Trillion Dollar
• Justice: U.S. Lawyers, Chinese Lawyers, and Turkey Student Asked China for Compensation
• Justice: U.S. Law Firm Sued Beijing over Its Role in Coronavirus Pandemic

1. Source: Fox News, April 25, 2020
https://www.foxnews.com/media/lynn-fitch-mississippi-attorney-general-china-coronavirus-lawsuit

2. Source: KLAS-TV, March 24, 2020

Class action lawsuit filed in Las Vegas blames China for COVID-19 outbreak

3. Source: New York Post, April 8, 2020
https://nypost.com/2020/04/08/healthcare-workers-suing-china-for-hoarding-ppe/

At an interview with the Larry O’Connor Show on April 23, Secretary of State Pompeo said that China may have known about the coronavirus “maybe as early as November, but certainly by mid-December.”

QUESTION: It’s been well documented that the State Department very early on, the first week of January, started putting out alerts, precautions about this mysterious virus in this Wuhan region of China. How soon were there official requests to the Government of China for information about this virus or perhaps a sample of the virus so that we could do research?

And a secondary question to that: Are those requests made directly to the Chinese Government or through the World Health Organization?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Those are great requests. Let me try and – really, three questions. They’re all important.

First, as soon as we came to have a concern about this, you’ll recall that the first cases of this were known by the Chinese Government in – maybe as early as November, but certainly by mid-December, and they were slow to identify this for anyone in the world, including the World Health Organization.

Once the United States came to understand what was potentially taking place there, we immediately turned both to the World Health Organization and to the Chinese Government directly, not just through the State Department but through our health and technical experts as well, and asked for access, for understanding, for transparency.

Frankly, Larry, we are still trying to get an actual sample of the virus. They have given us the breakdown of it.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Hiding Information: Inner Mongolia Health Commission Trained People in January
• Hiding Information: Document Showed the CCP Hid Info for the Critical Six Days in Virus Containment
• Hiding Information: Wuhan Central Hospital Did Not Allow Staffs to Talk About Coronavirus
• Hiding Information: Wuhan Newspaper Said Doctor Reported Infection Cases in December and Authorities Took Actions Immediately
• Hiding Information: Expert Group Members Suggest Hubei Officials Hiding Information

Source: State Department website, April 23, 2020
https://www.state.gov/secretary-michael-r-pompeo-with-larry-oconnor-of-the-larry-oconnor-show/

As the novel coronavirus pandemic spread out globally, more and more people around the world have filed lawsuits against China for concealing the coronavirus information and causing the worldwide pandemic that has claimed many lives and hurt the economy badly.

#1: United States:

On April 21, the Missouri state government sued the Chinese government, saying that China’s response to the outbreak that originated in the city of Wuhan brought devastating economic losses to the state. It also accused the Chinese government of making the pandemic worse by “hoarding” masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE). It said that Missouri and its residents suffered possibly tens of billions of dollars in economic damages and seeks cash compensation.  (Reuters)

#2: Italy:

On April 21, the Oneurope non-profit organization launched a class action suit against China over COVID-19, claiming that China failed to react promptly according to obligations laid down by the World Health Organization (WHO). (Global Times)

#3: Italy:

The De La Poste hotel, a popular hotel in the Italian Alps, filed with a court in Belluno, which is in the same region, suing China’s Health Ministry for damages. The hotel sits in the town of Cortina d’Ampezzo, in the northern Italian region of Veneto, which was badly hit by the coronavirus. The hotel was heavily booked in March for the Ski World Cup Finals scheduled from March 18 to March 22, but then on March 12, the hotel was forced to close and stop all services when Italy went into lockdown. (The Mirror)

#4: India:

On April 14, Mumbai-based lawyer Ashish Sohani filed a petition in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands, suing Xi Jinping and four other officials for criminal negligence, willful suppression of information, and “treason against humanity.” It demands a total of $2.5 trillion compensation for the loss of lives and economic damage to the Indian government and the people of India. (Live Mint)

#5: Egypt:

Egyptian lawyer Mohamed Talaat filed a lawsuit via the Chinese embassy in Cairo, calling on China to pay $10 trillion due to the damages caused by the coronavirus in Egypt. Talaat based his claim on U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments that the virus originated in China and also media sources, which he did not name, that said China had produced the virus as a biological weapon. (Arab News)

#6: Israel:

On April 19, the Israeli Non-Government Organization (NG) Shurat HaDin announces that it plans to file a class action lawsuit against China in the coming days over its alleged negligence in treating and containing the coronavirus. The lawsuit was submitted in the US due to the fact that “most other countries are afraid of the implications of China’s economic might.” (Jerusalem Post)

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Justice: Chinese Citizen Sued Hubei Government
• Justice: India Sued China for 20 Trillion Dollar
• Justice: U.K. Researcher: G7 Countries Can Sue China for 4 Trillion Dollars
• Justice: U.S. Lawyers, Chinese Lawyers, and Turkey Student Asked China for Compensation
• Justice: U.S. Law Firm Sued Beijing over Its Role in Coronavirus Pandemic

1. Source: Reuters, April 21, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-lawsuit/in-a-first-missouri-sues-china-over-coronavirus-economic-losses-idUSKCN2232US

2. Source: Global Times, April 24, 2020
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1186609.shtml

3. Source: The Mirror, April 22, 2020
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/coronavirus-hit-hotel-italy-ski-21905905

4. Source: Live Mint, April 22, 2020
https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/why-this-mumbai-lawyer-sued-china-for-2-3tn-over-the-coronavirus-outbreak-11587527832779.html

5. Source: Arab News, April 7, 2020
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1654456/middle-east

6. Source: Jerusalem Post, April 19, 2020
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israel-us-law-firms-sue-china-for-trillions-of-dollars-over-coronavirus-625128