Chinascope – Page 328

The Pandemic Exposed the U.S. Broadband Issues

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that around one-third of the U.S. farmers don’t have broadband Internet at home. The stay-home requirements now in place for most of the Americans exposed the difficulties on internet performance issues for a large number of people. According FCC 2019 data, the United States still has around 21 million people who have no broadband connections. Some experts expressed the belief that the actual number may even be double that figure. Before the pandemic, a lot of people lacking broadband could work around the problem by visiting a friend’s home, local libraries, or fast food restaurants. Now having to stay home without broadband is causing kids to miss online teaching, patients are losing touch with their doctors, and business owners are having trouble connecting with customers. It appears the broadband problem in the U.S. is now becoming a life or death choice. An immediate and fundamental challenge right now is that no one truly knows who doesn’t have broadband.

Source: Sina, April 13, 2020
https://finance.sina.com/gb/economy/economy_global/cankaoxiaoxi/2020-04-13/doc-ifzvhyfh6200585.shtml

Briefings | | April 21, 2020 | Information/Technology

NTDTV: Vice Minister of National Security Office is Probed for Disciplinary Violation

The official website of the National Commission for Discipline Inspection issued an announcement on April 19, saying that Sun Lijun, a member of the party committee and deputy minister of the National Security Office, was “suspected of serious violation of discipline and law” and is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervision investigation by the National Commission for Discipline Inspection. Sun has held the position since 2013. The National Security Office is under the ministry of Public Security. Since 1999, it has quickly expanded and consists of large number of secrete policy who are responsible for crackdown on rights activists movements, dissidents and religious members. In February this year, Sun was sent to Wuhan to “supervise” local public security work.

According to public information, Sun Lijun is 51 years old and was born in Qingdao, Shandong. He studied public health and urban management at the State University of New South Wales, Australia. During his tenure as the deputy minister of National Security Office, Sun Lijun also served as the deputy director of the notorious “610 Office”, the extra-legal police task force responsible for carrying out the mission of eliminating Falun Gong. Sun Lijun was reported to have worked as the deputy director of the General Office of the Ministry of Public Security in the past and was the secretary for Meng Jianzhu who was the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee.

According to NTDTV, as COVID-19 broke out in Wuhan and spread rapidly around the world, Western countries have strongly criticized Chinese authorities for covering up the truth of the epidemic at the beginning of the virus outbreak, the timing to probe the deputy minister of Public Security who holds master’s degree in public health is puzzling.

Source: NTDTV (New Tang Dynasty Television), April 19, 2020
https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2020/04/19/a102826758.html

Briefings | | April 20, 2020 | Government/Politics

RFA: Beijing Escalates Control over Tibet; Tibetan Tourist Guides must Pass Political Ideology Tests

The Chinese authorities continue to escalate their control over the Tibet region. Recently, it became mandatory for all Tibetan tour guides to pass a “political ideology exam” in order to obtain a tour guide qualification certificate. In addition, in sensitive areas such as Biru County, the authorities have also taken control measures against Han tourists.

According to Radio Free Asia, in Tibet, whether the applicant for the tour guide task is Tibetan or Han, he must take the training course first and then pass the “Tibet Ideology and Politics” exam. The specific exam content includes the “Four Prospects of Marxism” and the “Fundamental Characteristics of the Dalai Group.” It consists of subjects such as “Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times” and “The Party’s National and Religious policy.” In sensitive regions where there have been self-immolation protests in the past, Han tourists are under strict control. They must file tourist application requests, specify the duration of their stay, and agree that they will strictly follow the tour guidelines. Han tourists are only allowed to tour in designated regions and they are not allowed to purchase religious publications sold by the locals. In addition, the authorities have also forced the temples in Tibet to hang the portraits of the party leaders in the lobby and they have demanded that the nuns and monks express their “appreciation to the party” and their “opposition to the Dalai Lama” in front of the tour groups.

Source: Radio Free Asia, April 17, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/dz-04172020125536.html

Briefings | | April 20, 2020 | Social Stability

Sina: Two Conglomerate Giants Face Financial Crisis

Recently two conglomerate giants the HNA Group and the Founders Group found themselves to be in a deep financial crisis. On April 14, during a creditor’s meeting, the HNA Group’s request for a one-year debt extension was turned down. On February 29, the heavily indebted HNA announced that it has entered into the takeover process and is working with a task team that the Hainan Provincial Government formed during the transition. Meanwhile the Founders Group announced that it will be unable to meet its debit payment and has entered into a bankruptcy procedure. It is currently working with the bank, the department of Education, and other financial institutions on the restructuring process.

According to Sina, both companies were expanding rapidly in recent years through a large numbers of mergers and acquisitions, using capital operations to inflate their assets. The source of the funds was that they were incurring debts from the banks and from strategic investors. The risk to this model was that, as soon as it received the profit from the subsequent investment, it was unable to cover the interest from its previous debt and the company faced a cash flow risk. In 2018, the HNA group started to have cash flow and liquidity issues. Despite the fact that it sold more than 300 billion of its assets in 2018, it was still unable to improve its capital structure. {Editor’s note: According to sources from overseas media, HNA’s expansion could also be partially related to unspecified private cash investments that top party officials in China made in order to transfer their assets overseas.}

Source: Sina, April 15, 2020
https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/s/2020-04-15/doc-iircuyvh7999067.shtml

Briefings | | April 19, 2020 | Economy/Resources

Infection Count: Coronavirus Is Spreading in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province

It is hard to get true coronavirus infection information from China as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hides it from the public. Recently, news media in China reported that the epidemic situation may have gotten out of control in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province.

#1: Harbin had an infection case when a Chinese student returned from the U.S. on March 19. She was doing self-quarantine at home first and during that time she transmitted the virus to a neighbor. The neighbor passed it to her boyfriend and her mother; her mother passed it to her boyfriend. When having meal with another family, both her mother and her boyfriend passed it to them. Mr. Chen, 87, of that family went to Harbin No 2 Hospital and later the No 1 Hospital Affiliated to Harbin Medical University to treat some non-coronavirus diseases, which further infected 26 people in both hospitals.

The infection also spread to another province. On April 16, a woman in Fushun City, Liaoning Province was confirmed as having the infection. It was traced back to her having contact with people in the No 1 Hospital Affiliated with Harbin Medical University. Later she had dinner with her mother and several relatives, which might have led to the spread to other people.

As of April 18, the Heilongjiang Health Commission reported 32 infection cases and 19 asymptomatic cases, related to this chain of transmissions.

Harbin issued a public notice to look for all people who had stayed in, were released from, transferred from, accompanied patients at, visited patients at, or went into those two hospitals – from April 2 to April 6 at the Harbin No 2 Hospital and from April 6 to April 9 at the Department of Respiratory Medicine (12th floor), No 1 Hospital Affiliated to Harbin Medical University.

The official website of the Heilongjiang Provincial CCP Commission for Discipline Inspection posted a notice to reprimand 18 officials including Harbin Deputy Mayor Chen Yuanfei and Harbin Health Commission Director Ding Fengshu, for poorly handling the epidemic containment work. They were given either party warnings or administrative reprimands. (Central News Agency)

#2: By April 11, Harbin had traced the infection to 456 people who had close contact with infected patients. The city imposed a lockdown and applied disinfection to the residential neighborhood of the people infected.

The government also postponed the school reopening date for the graduating middle school students (they need to prepare for the upcoming high school entrance exam), which was planned for April 17. (QQ)

#3: Genhe City, Inner Mongolia closed its transportation with Heilongjiang Province. The Genhe Novel Coronavirus Epidemic Prevention and Control Command Center issued its 39th Notice, stating to control all its checkpoints with Heilongjiang strictly, including train stations and bus terminals, completely close the traffic, persuade any people trying to enter Genhe from Heilongjiang to go back, and also stop any people from Genhe from entering Heilongjiang in order to ensure that “not a single car is missed and not a single person is missed.”

The notice also called for a thorough check at each community at Genhe, to identify anyone who had traveled to Heilongjiang, especially Harbin, in the past 14 days. Each community must arrange and manage a 14-day self-quarantine for people who travelled to Heilongjiang on or after April 5. (Central News Agency)

Connected to the CCP: Australian MP Quit NSW Upper House Position after Speaking for the CCP

As the coronavirus outbreak continued spreading globally and many countries questioned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its handling of the pandemic and its bid for global leadership, an Australian Member of Parliament (MP) became a casualty for supporting the CCP.

New South Wales (NSW) Member of Parliament (MP) Shaoquett Moselmane of the Labor Party has resigned as Assistant President of the Legislative Council, after coming under fire for repeatedly praising China’s response to the coronavirus crisis, including extolling Xi Jinping’s “unswerving leadership.”

Moselmane lauded President Xi in a post on his personal website, where he stated that a nation needed “tough, unswerving leadership, focused on the mammoth task ahead” in order to contain the virus’ spread. “For the People’s Republic of China, President Xi stepped up and provided that leadership. He mustered the resources of the nation and together with the great people of China – fought it and contained it,” Moselmane wrote.

In a separate opinion piece for the East China Normal University, published in February, Moselmane praised the “serious attention and timely and effective countermeasures” taken by the Chinese authorities. He also claimed “the obsolete scum of ‘white Australia’, in conjunction with ‘some mainstream media,’ were fueling anti-Chinese sentiments.”

Moselmane gave a speech at a restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown earlier this year, where he declared the “Chinese government should be commended for the immediate action it took.”

Moselmane caused controversy in 2018 when he declared: “The only way for China to reach its potential is for China to force a change to the rules and create a new world order.”

In 2019, he was in the spotlight again after his political staffer, John Zhang, was reported for having completed a CCP propaganda training course in Beijing in 2013.

Labor Party leader Jodi McKay has described his comments as “appalling,” and said he would “never be in the shadow cabinet” but ruled out expelling him from the party.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, April 7, 2020
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/labor-mp-quits-his-position-in-nsw-upper-house-20200407-p54hr3.html

Hot Topics | | April 18, 2020 | Social Stability

Diplomacy: More Details about Africans Being Targeted in Guangzhou

The Guangzhou government has targeted Africans living there during the coronavirus containment, which led many African countries’ to protest. Here are more details about the incidents.

#1: A Nigerian’s refusing medical checkup and biting a nurse. On April 1, Okonkwonwoye Chika Patrick, male, 47, a Nigerian citizen, was confirmed to have the coronavirus infection and was isolated at the Guangzhou No 8 Hospital. He ignored Nurse Wang’s request for blood test and tried to walk out of the isolation room. Wang tried to stop him, but he pushed her to the ground and bit her face. The Guangzhou police came to investigate the case. (Caijing)

#2: Local people started discriminating against Africans. The biting nurse incident stirred up a wave of anti-African sentiment among Chinese. There was a rumor that “300,000 blacks in Guangzhou were causing the second epidemic outbreak” which was spreading. Five out of the eight confirmed infection cases in the Yuexiu District (nicknamed “Little Africa”), in Guangzhou were Nigerian. Local police ordered bars and restaurants not to serve Africans. The Local government also imposed forced-testing and forced-quarantine on people who had contacts with Africans. Some Africans were driven out of their homes and could not find a place to stay as every place was closed to them. (Epoch Times)

#3: A McDonald’s restaurant in Guangzhou posted a notice: “We’ve been informed that from now on black people are not allowed to enter the restaurant. For the sake of your health consciously notify the local police for medical isolation. Please understand the inconvenience caused.” McDonald China admitted the incident and later offered an apology. (Oriental Daily)

#4: In addition to protests coming from Nigeria and the Africa Union, Ghana summoned the Chinese Ambassador. In a public statement Ghana’s Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchway condemned the “inhuman encounters suffered by Africans in Guangzhou.” She expressed “disappointment” to the Chinese government and asked China to take immediate action to solve this problem.

The Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that there was an irresponsible phenomenon against foreigners in Guangzhou. Many Guangzhou business owners targeted African citizens especially.

The Sierra Leone Embassy in Beijing also issued a statement to “expresses strong concern and condemnation for the disturbing and humiliating experience of our citizens.” It said that 14 citizens of the country had been put under 14 days of forced-quarantine. (Zhihu)

#5: A Twitter message said that the Guangzhou Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau issued “The Implementation Plan on Providing Basic Livelihood Services to Foreigners with Financial Stress during the Health Service Management Period.” The plan is said to provide a subsidy of 5,600 yuan (US $790) to every foreigner who has financial stress. (Twitter)

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The Pandemic Exposed the U.S. Broadband Issues

NTDTV: Vice Minister of National Security Office is Probed for Disciplinary Violation

Sina: Two Conglomerate Giants Face Financial Crisis

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