Chinascope – Page 346

Hiding Information: Expert Group Members Thought Hubei Officials Hid Information

[Editor’s Note: As people have been trying to find out who is responsible for the government not taking any action to prevent or contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan until January 20, though the SARS-like pneumonia cases had already been reported to the local government and the central government in late December and early January, the Hubei and Wuhan local governments and the Central government have been trying to clear their own names and to hold the other party accountable.]

Recently, Caixin reported two members of the National Health Commission’s high-level expert groups were sent to Wuhan spoke and indicated that Wuhan officials had hidden information during their visits.

The first expert remained anonymous and was a member of the second expert group. He said that they were particularly concerned if any medical staff had been infected because a “Yes” answer would mean the virus could transmit from person to person and could be highly contagious.

They asked about it at every hospital they visited and always got “No” as the answer. They suspected the result and asked hospitals to tell the truth.

A local Health Commission official countered back, “Do you think that I am lying to you?”

The expert said, “Based on the true situation (that we now know), he was lying.”

Caixin’s article was deleted. United Daily News, a media based in Taiwan covered Caixin’s report.

The second expert was Yuan Guoyong, a Professor at the Department of Microbiology, the University of Hong Kong. As a member of the third high-level expert group, he went to Wuhan from January 17 to January 19. He said in an interview with a Caixin reporter:

“I want to give a true account. The places that we visited in Wuhan were probably the ‘demo units.’ Whatever we asked, they gave an answer as if they had already prepared the answer. Zhong Nanshan kept asking ‘Are there more cases?’ ‘Are there truly just these many cases that you told us about?’

“They said that they were conducting testing to confirm cases. However, the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not receive testing kits until January 16.

“Under our questions, they said that there seemed to be a case in which a patient infected 14 medical staff members, but they said those medical personnel had not been confirmed to have the coronavirus infection yet.

“They are the people from the Wuhan Health Commission, Wuhan CDC, Wuhan local hospitals, and Hubei Provincial Health Commission.

“They kept emphasizing that the testing kits were just given to Wuhan and without the testing kits they could not have confirmed the cases.”

1. Excerpt in Chinese:

財經雜誌微信公眾號「財經E法」2月26日發布一則第二批專家組成員的專訪。這位不願具名的專家指出，他們當時掌握兩起家庭聚集性病例，但未能排除是因「共同暴露」所造成。而醫護人員和病人通常沒有密切接觸，因此只要醫護人員遭感染，一定是「人傳人」，而且病毒傳染性非常強。

所以，這位專家表示，專家組特別關心是否有醫護人員被傳染，每到一間醫院就問，但答案都是否定。他表示，當時專家組也懷疑這個說法，要對方如實報告，而當地衛健委的官員當場反問：「你們是不是覺得我瞞報啊？」

專家表示，當時收到的指示是「屬地管理，地方為主」，救治工作還是由湖北和武漢的專家組負責，國家衛健委的專家組只是協助。

而據媒體後來披露，當時已經有武漢的醫護人員遭感染，住院救治。這名專家說：「從現在的真實情況看來，他（官員）在說謊。」

這兩篇報導指出中國官方在防疫上存在延誤和隱匿，而報導在刊登不久後，也已陸續遭到刪除。

Source: United Daily News, February 29, 2020
https://udn.com/news/story/120936/4379889

2. Image of Caixin Report:

Source: Caixin, March 8, 2020
http://china.caixin.com/2020-03-08/101525508.html

Hot Topics | | March 11, 2020 | Social Stability

Leadership: The CCP Was Forced to Reverse the “Be Grateful to the CCP” Education Campaign

On March 5, the Wuhan Party Secretary, Wang Zhonglin, ordered people to conduct a “be grateful” education campaign to lead the Wuhan people to “be grateful to Xi Jinping and be grateful to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”

Chinese netizens gave it an overwhelmingly negative response.

As a result, the CCP was forced to change its position. It removed the “be grateful to the CCP” article and officials in Hubei and Wuhan thanked the people instead.

Epoch Times reported that an official document, said to be the minutes of a State Council Information Office meeting, has circulated on the Internet. The minutes, dated March 7, stated that Changjiang Daily’s report on Wang Zhonglin’s “be grateful” education campaign has resulted in an enormous public response. The public opinion on this issue has been as heated as the public responses on the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, the whistle blower doctor. “After communicating with Hubei Provincial and the Wuhan Municipal leaders, and obtaining the CCP Central’s approval, (we ask) that: Changjiang Daily (newspaper under Wuhan Party Committee), the Wuhan Announcement (the official WeChat account of the Wuhan Internet Information Office), and Wuhan Television should remove the articles from their original sites. Other media should not fIllow or comment on this issue! Whether it is for domestic propaganda or international propaganda, whether it is from the Central government or from local government, whether it is online or off line, everyone should follow the directions (from the top) and cannot do things based on their own will.”

Radio France International reported that, in an attempt to soothe the public antagonism, Wang Zhonglin said on March 8, when visiting a neighborhood community in Wuhan, “Wuhan is a heroic city. The Wuhan people are heroic people.”

Ying Yong, the Hubei Provincial Party Secretary also said on March 8, “Wuhan is a heroic city. The Wuhan people are heroic people.” “I am expressing my sincere gratitude to the Wuhan People, the Hubei People.”

RFA: Xi’s One Belt One Road Initiative Faces Major Issues

Radio Free Asia (RFA) Chinese Edition recently reported that, the symbolic China-Pakistan Corridor, which is a key piece of the One Belt One Road initiative, is now facing serious challenges. The problems lie in the Port Gwadar Project, which is a US$62 billion undertaking. Gwadar is the ending point of the China-Pakistan Corridor, which is located in Southwest Pakistan. The project planned to construct the port facilities, roads, railways, oil pipes, tens of factories and Pakistan’s largest airport. However, seven years after the project’s initiation, the airport construction hasn’t even started and the investment money has been late for three years and still counting. The industrial park south of the airport shows no sign of starting. The port now has only three berths and the only visitor to the port was the Pakistan Navy. The planned weekly cargo ships from Karachi are nowhere to be seen. Some experts think that the true objective of building the port was to establish a Chinese naval base named Jiwani. According to public records, the main challenge to the China-Pakistan Corridor is money. So far, the initiative has only completed less than one third of the project, costing US$19 billion. Pakistan has not been able to continue the construction work due to lacking further funding.

Source: RFA Chinese, March 4, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/pakistan-belt-03042020052407.html

Briefings | | March 10, 2020 | Geo-Strategic Trend

The Government Is Taking over the HNA Group

The HNA Group, is a rapidly expanding airline and conglomerate in China. After the high-profile mysterious death of its Chairman, Wang Jian, in France in last year, the Hainan Provincial government has been leading its restructure.

The HNA Group announced on February 29 that its high liquidity risk that started at the end of 2017 continued and worsened in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus. Therefore, it requested to form the “Hainan Provincial Government HNA Joint Working Group” to coordinate and address the risk. The Hainan Provincial government has led the working group.

Key personnel in the joint work group are all from government offices or state-owned enterprises:

Director Gu Gang, Chairman of Hainan Development Holding Co., Ltd, which is directly owned by the Hainan Provincial government
Executive Deputy Director Ren Qinghua, Director of Management Committee of the Hainan Yangpu Economic Development Zone
Deputy Director Li Shuangchen, Deputy Director of the Central and South China Regional Administration, Civil Aviation Administration
Deputy Director Cheng Gong, Deputy Director of the Credit Management Bureau, China Development Bank.

The HNA Group also re-elected its seven-member board. Gu Gang and Ren Qinghua joined the board. While HNA Co-founder Chen Feng remained as the Chairman, Gu Gang became the Executive Chairman and Ren Qinghua became the joint-company CEO.

HNA Group Co., Ltd. is a Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. Founded in 2000, it is involved in numerous industries including aviation, real estate, financial services, tourism, logistics, and more.

People have been sayings that the HNA Group is connected with Wang Qishan.

Source: Stock Times, February 29, 2020
http://news.stcn.com/2020/0229/15693694.shtml

Briefings | | March 9, 2020 | Economy/Resources Government/Politics

The Communist Regime Started Enforcing Stringent Restrictions on Online Contents

On March 1, 2020, China started to implement officially the “Regulations on the Ecological Governance of Internet Information Content” (“Regulation”) that the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued on December 15, 2019. The Regulation has 8 chapters and 42 articles.

Radio France International published an article commenting that the Regulation was intended to monitor closely and fundamentally eliminate information detrimental to the authorities. It tried to control the information creation and publishing chain, including “creation, copying, and publishing.” It also bound the Information producer, the network information service platform, and the information consumer together to make them mutually monitor each other.

The strict regulation encouraged online information producers to produce, copy, and distribute contents that promote Xi Jinping Thoughts, publicize the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) s policies, promote socialist values, and help increase the international influence of CCP culture. To a certain extent, it tried to make the content producers undertake the work of promoting the CCP’s policies and propaganda.

Information inconsistent with the party’s guidelines and policies will be controlled, removed, and even “sanctioned according to the law.” For example, Article Six states: Producers of network content may not create, copy, or publish illegal information containing content that “endangers national security, leaks state secrets, subverts state power, undermines national unity,” “damages national honor and interests,’ “vilifies heroes,” or “spreads rumors.”

[Editor’s note: The Regulation was possibly a response to Xi Jinping’s instructions given on September 16, 2019, during National Cyber Security Awareness Week. Xi emphasized the importance of security and control and called for enhancing people’s happiness and security in cyberspace.]

Sources:
1. CAC website, September 16, 2019
http://www.cac.gov.cn/2019-09/16/c_1570162524717095.htm
2. CAC website, December 20, 2019
http://www.cac.gov.cn/2019-12/20/c_1578375159509309.htm
3. Radio France International, March 1, 2020
http://www.rfi.fr/cn/中国/20200301-中国最严厉网络审查标准出台-明天只剩下好消息了

Briefings | | March 9, 2020 | Social Stability

Washington Passed the Taipei Act

Global Times recently published a commentary on the Taipei Act that just passed the House of Representatives in Washington, D. C. The commentary described the new bill as “brutal interference in China’s internal affairs.” According to James Francis Moriarty, Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, the move was to double the effort to help Taiwan step up on the world stage. Apparently, the U.S. is once again ignoring the “One China” principle it committed to. However, Taiwan is just a strategic chess piece for the U.S., and the Taipei Act is not a binding resolution. The language used in the bill is largely on the side of “should” rather than “shall.” Only hours after the House passage of the new bill, Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen went immediately to meet James Moriarty in order to thank him. Maybe, as a political gambler, she still has hope for the independence “vision” for Taiwan,.

Right after the Taipei Act passed the House, Radio France International (RFI) Chinese Edition reported on the fact that the bill went through with a sweeping 415 to zero voting result. The bill supported Taiwan to participate in more international organizations as observers. It also asked the Executive branch to punish those countries that took steps to significantly hurt Taiwan’s security and prosperity. As an example of the unfair treatment Taiwan received, Taiwan was excluded from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which caused a negative impact globally. The U.S. Senate already passed its version of the Taipei Act last year.

Sources:
(1) Global Times, March 6, 2020
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/9CaKrnKpKEK

(2) RFI Chinese, March 5, 2020
https://bit.ly/38CTjuV

Briefings | | March 9, 2020 | US-China Relations

Economy: China’s Exports in January and February Dropped 17 Percent

Because of the Impact of the novel coronavirus, China’s exports in the first two months of this year dropped dramatically. According to the data that the General Administrations of Customs released on March 7, China’s exports in those two months were US $292 billion, a decrease of 17.2 percent from the level a year ago. Imports were US $299.5 billion, a decrease of 4 percent. China had a trade deficit of US $7 billion, the first trade deficit since April 2018. A year ago, China had US $41.5 billion trade surplus.

“World Leadership”: Beijing Is Thinking of Creating a Beijing-led World Health Organization to Replace WHO

Axios, an American news website founded by former Politico staffers, obtained a survey from a Chinese state supported think tank asking about the possibility of establishing a China-led world health organization to replace the World Health Organization (WHO).

Axios obtained a message from an employee of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Economics & Technology Research Institute (CNPC ETRI) to the Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership (SIGNAL), an Israeli nonprofit dedicated to strengthening Israeli-China ties.

The Chinese employee asked how SIGNAL would view a new health organization that China would lead. “According to our analysis, the situation of coronavirus around the world is urgent, therefore, we consider that perhaps the world needs a leadership country/organization coordinating all the countries affected in fighting against the coronavirus, just like the leadership role of the U.S. in W.H.O,” wrote the think tank employee.

Carice Witte, the founder and executive director of SIGNAL, told Axios the idea of a Beijing-led WHO alternative is “very interesting in the context of China’s aim to reshape global governance, including setting up parallel institutions.”

CNPC ETRI is a think tank affiliated with CNPC, a big state-owned enterprise. The president of CNPC ETRI reports to the Chinese leadership.

Axios pointed out that “Beijing is seeking to turn the coronavirus, initially a disaster for China’s public image, into an opportunity to advance its global leadership and bolster its soft power abroad.”

Radio Free Asia reported the comments of Zhang Lifan, a Chinese affairs commentator, who believed the think tank’s survey revealed what the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) leaders want to do. They are trying to portray a perpetrator as a world savior. “They link the (coronavirus) epidemic to the CCP’s previous global strategy ‘Community of Mankind’s Shared Future’ (人类命运共同体). They want to use this concept to kidnap the whole world; use the coronavirus to kidnap the world and then let China, as the originator of the coronavirus, kidnap (save) the world.”

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.”

RFA: Xi’s One Belt One Road Initiative Faces Major Issues

The Government Is Taking over the HNA Group

Washington Passed the Taipei Act

Economy: China’s Exports in January and February Dropped 17 Percent

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