Chinascope – Page 340

Propaganda and Lies: Overseas Chinese Fell for the Propaganda That China’s Epidemic Was Over

To portray itself as the world leader in fighting the novel coronavirus, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been reporting extremely low infection cases or even zero counts in many provinces for many days. Thus many Chinese overseas, thought that China’s epidemic was over and returned to China to seek a “safe haven” as other parts of the world are reporting high infections.

However, after landing in China, they soon realized that things were much different from what they thought. The “motherland” did not want them.

Media reported China’s airports were packed with Chinese returning “home.” They were all tested. If they tested clean they were put under 14 days of quarantine. Some people complained about the forced-quarantines and the violation of human rights. It was a concept that overseas Chinese had, but people in the mainland had already yielded to the CCP’s rule

Some complained about the living conditions of the quarantine, which ranged from no pure water to drink and no water to take a shower or wash clothes, to the room not being cleaned from the previous quarantine use and the windows and doors being locked from the outside (thus, people quarantined inside could not get out).

Some also complained that they were forced to pay high quarantine fees to the hotels.

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Hot Topics | | March 24, 2020 | Social Stability

Propaganda and Lies: The Truth about the Video “An American Spread Virus in Wuhan Subway”

To defuse its accountability, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tried to blame the United States for sending the coronavirus to China. One of its accusations was that U.S. soldiers brought it to China during the Military World Games in Wuhan in October 2019.

Since March 16, a video of an American spreading the virus on the Wuhan subway train during the Military World Games has widely spread on Weibo and WeChat, the two most popular Chinese social media platforms. In the video, a foreigner pulled out his face mask, licked his fingers, and then wiped his hands on the handles of the subway cart. The video displayed the Chinese subtitle “During the Military World Games, Americans were spreading the virus. Please watch it. The U.S. is so awful!” Many Chinese netizens criticized the United States out of anger after watching the video.

The rumor creator also said, “The U.S. delegation, after the Military World Games was over, went to visit shopping centers, supermarkets, and trains. What if they were to spread the virus?”

The video was originally posted by account “Souf” on Twitter on March 10. According to a report by a British media, the scene happened in Brussels. The Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company said, “This man was drunk and had been arrested by the police and the staff from our security department. The train cart was disinfected and taken out of service.”

The Chinese characters in the video were added by Weibo account Miaoxiangbuyi, whose holder was certified to be Xu Xibiao, working for the Kaili City government, Guizhou Province. Xu’s job was to monitor and exercise Internet control.

The website of Chinese Information at Phoenix published the news and then summarized the CCP’s method of creating the rumor as: starting with netizens’ “bold speculation” that U.S. biochemical soldiers set the virus in Wuhan, following with a media rumor of a “maybe” accusation, then an official rumor “it might be the U.S. soldiers who brought the virus to Wuhan,” and finally sealing the case with an official/private mixed rumor (a government staff member sent an individual posting) of the video, “U.S. soldiers deliberately spread the virus during the Military World Games.”

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Hot Topics | | March 23, 2020 | Social Stability

China Economy: Offshore RMB Fell Nearly 900 Points

China Economy recently reported that, on March 19, Chinese currency RMB fell 865 base points, against the US Dollar, in offshore trading. At the same time, the RMB fell 938 base points onshore. This is the first time since October 2019 that the Chinese RMB fell below 7.16 Yuan for one US Dollar. The U.S. Dollar has seen strong growth recently, with high demand across the globe. It is becoming the core asset for managing risks because of its nature of being fully exchangeable with full global circulation. Experts expressed their belief that the significant decline of the Chinese RMB is typical for a market full of volatility. At the same time, China is facing high pressure on interest rate reduction. Some investment organizations pointed out that the Chinese currency is looking at further devaluation in the near term and in the foreseeable future. Offshore RMB (CNH) is RMB that circulates outside Mainland China. CNH settlements are typically done in Hong Kong, Singapore, London and Luxembourg.

Source: China Economy, March 19, 2020
http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202003/19/t20200319_34527615.shtml

Briefings | | March 23, 2020 | Economy/Resources

DW Chinese: No, Autocracy Is not Better for Handling Crises

Deutsche Welle Chinese Edition recently published a commentary on China’s propaganda about how well autocracy performed in a crisis compared to democracy. The commentary started with China’s media describing Xi Jinping showing up in Wuhan as a heroic scene. Unfortunately, this was immediately followed by mountains of work to shut off massive online criticism. The Chinese communists have been trying to sell the world fairy tales. One of them was that the government never made any mistakes in the battle against the coronavirus. Yet the Chinese leadership was initially caught by surprise and their first response was clearly a cover up all the way through December. Later in January the biggest news was that the whistle-blower Chinese doctor was detained and died thereafter. Now the Chinese leadership is working tirelessly on another fairy tale, which is to broadcast to the world that the coronavirus was not sourced in China. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson went even further, by accusing the U.S. Military of bringing the virus to China. People mostly laughed at this idea, but the effort of China offloading responsibilities sounded a serious alarm. The biggest fairy tale so far is claiming the autocratic system is more “successful” than democratic systems. This is a big lie. All one has to do is to look at Taiwan, where highly efficient and swift responses effectively controlled the spread of the virus in the island. This is especially remarkable when Taiwan achieved this with zero help from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Source: DW Chinese, March 15, 2020
https://bit.ly/2Qx89Nu

Briefings | | March 23, 2020 | Government/Politics

Leadership: The Wide Spread of a WeChat Posting Calling for Politburo Meeting to Remove Xi Jinping

A WeChat posting calling for an “Emergency Enlarged Meeting of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Politburo” was spreading widely in China. The meeting is to “discuss whether Xi Jinping is suitable to continue to be the President of the country, the CCP’s General Secretary, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission.”

The article listed many topics to discuss, which all challenge the current administration’s policies:

As China has recently made enemies with many countries, should it return to Deng Xiaoping’s policy of “maintaining a low profile”?
Is the CCP higher or is the law higher? Can the ruling party be above the Constitution?
Should private companies be the main economic force in China or the state-owned enterprises?
Should citizen’s rights be sacrificed for the government’s stability maintenance?
Can the private sector run media?
Should the judicial system be independent (from the CCP)?
Can citizens criticize the government?
Is there a need to let the public monitor the government?
Should the CCP and state power be separated?
Should officials report their assets?
Is it important to reunify Taiwan under China or to keep regional peace?
Is Hong Kong’s prosperity more important or the central government’s authority (over Hong Kong) more important?
Can Hong Kong have its own local elections?

The article suggested the formation a three-person group with Li Keqiang, Wang Yang, and Wang Qishan to organize the meeting.

Some media used the screenshot of a repost of the article by Chen Ping, the founder of Sun TV who lives in Hong Kong. Chen said that he just received the article and felt it rational and thus reposted it. He did not know who wrote it.

Chen also said that the article reflected many people’s thoughts. “Now eventually it needs a (solution to fix the current policy) and it cannot always be this way. It is not good for China if the current policies continue.”

Chen is a princeling. Media have also linked this article to another criticizing-Xi article by Ren Zhiqiang, another princeling (see Chinascope posting: Public Opinion: Ren Zhiqiang’s Article: “A Clown Who Stripped Naked and Insisted on Continuing to Be an Emperor”).

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Hot Topics | | March 23, 2020 | Social Stability

“World Leader”: Global Times Called Sweden “Irresponsible” for “Surrendering to the Coronavirus”

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been trying to portray itself as the world leader in directing the global battle against the novel coronavirus. Recently the Global Times, a media under the CCP’s mouthpiece People’s Daily, published an article that criticized Sweden for being irresponsible in controlling the virus.

The article said that, on March 12, Sweden decided not to test patients with mild symptoms or suspected patients for the coronavirus infection since it is impossible to stop the spread of the virus in Sweden anyway. Instead, the government will focus its limited resources on medical staff and hospitalized patients who have a higher risk or have a severe condition.

The Global Times’ article called Sweden, “the first European country that surrendered to the coronavirus. Its latest policy is highly irresponsible, whether to protect the health of the Swedish people or coordinate the global battle against the pandemic.”

“Sweden’s action is to be an ostrich (to bury its head in the sand as if nothing has happened).”

“Carrying out this decision will severely violate humanity’s principles. It is shocking to see it happen in a developed European country that advertises “democracy” and ‘human rights.’”

“The international community, especially the European Union should vigorously condemn Sweden’s surrendering to the virus.”

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Hot Topics | | March 23, 2020 | Social Stability

Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

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

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

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

China Economy: Offshore RMB Fell Nearly 900 Points

DW Chinese: No, Autocracy Is not Better for Handling Crises

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