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Beijing News: Wuhan Disclosed Information on Unknown Viral Pneumonia

Beijing News recently reported that the Wuhan City Health Committee officially acknowledged the outbreak of an unknown type of pneumonia. As of 8 PM on January 3, the city confirmed 44 patients, of whom 11 were in serious condition. All confirmed patients are currently receiving treatment in isolated hospital zones. The government has traced 121 individuals who had close contact with the patients. The work of tracking down more people is still under way. As of now, no medical workers have been infected. A pathogen identification process is being conducted. Some common respiratory diseases, including flu, avian influenza and the adenovirus infection, have been ruled out. The outbreak is rumored to have started around a week ago. The Chinese central government and the Hubei provincial government have sent expert groups to the City of Wuhan. The disinfection process at the Huanan Seafood Place, where the outbreak originated, has started. Wider investigations of other spots have also started. The symptoms of this new unknown pneumonia are very similar to SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome), which had no cure and caused international panic in 2003.

(Editor’s note: Wuhan is the capital city of Hubei Province and has a population of 11 million. It is the largest transportation hub in central China. As of January 5, 58 patients were officially confirmed. Hong Kong has confirmed 14 patients.)

Source: Beijing News, January 3, 2020
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2020/01/03/669703.html

Chinese Ski Team Demanded Library in Norway Remove a Falun Gong Book

According to Norwegian media reports, a Chinese skiing delegation, currently training in Merok, Norway, demanded that a local library remove a Falun Gong related book. The reason was that the Chinese government banned those books in China in 1999. The librarian, however, categorically rejected the Chinese delegation’s demand.

Library manager Anne Marken told the Norwegian newspaper Trondheim, “Norway has freedom of speech, so we can’t comply with their request.” In preparation for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, more than 40 Chinese cross-country ski athletes and 15 coaches are training in Norway. The training is one of the exchange projects between China and Norway.

The Trondheim pointed out that in the past few weeks there have been three controversial incidents related to Chinese literary works in Merok’s local library. Library manager Marken told The Trondheim, “Three individuals have now asked us to take down that Falun Gong book. In addition, some others have made similar requests for three other books on our shelves. They said that if members of the Chinese ski team were found reading such books, they might be sent to a labor camp or prison in China.”

Marken emphasized that she told the Chinese ski team representatives that all the books in the library are available for ski team members to read, but the library will never remove any books because of the ski team’s request.

This is not the first time that Chinese groups have exerted pressure on foreign institutions overseas. In November 2019, China threatened to retaliate after the Swedish PEN awarded the Tucholsky Prize to Gui Minhai, a book dealer the Chinese regime abducted and who has been detained since 2015. After that incident, China announced that it cancelled plans for two business delegations to visit Sweden.

Source: Deutsche Welle, January 3, 2020
https://p.dw.com/p/3VewO

China-Cambodia Cultural Tourism Year

“Cultural Tourism Year” is an effective mechanism for China to build a close relationship with a target country and then exert its influence. People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, reported that 2019 is the China-Cambodia Cultural Tourism Year. The cultural and tourism authorities of the two countries have organized multiple cultural tourist activities, which has promoted the development of Cambodia’s tourism resources.

In recent years, the number of Chinese tourists to Cambodia has continued to grow. Because of the Cultural Tourism Year programs, there was an increase in the first 10 months of 2019. Chinese tourists to Cambodia exceeded 2.02 million, a year-on-year increase of 24.4 percent, accounting for 38.3 percent of the total foreign tourists to the Southeast Asian country. Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism estimated that the total number of Chinese tourists visiting Cambodia in 2019 will exceed 2.5 million and the figure is expected to reach 3 million in 2020. China has been Cambodia’s largest source of overseas tourists.

The tourism industry also benefits from the convenience of transportation. At present, cities in Cambodia including Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville have direct flights with dozens of cities in China. On a weekly basis, there are about 500 flights between China and Cambodia. The Cambodian government is also striving to open alternative tourist routes to China by both land and sea.

In 2019, China and Cambodia organized a series of cultural tourism exchange activities, including “Knowing China · Jiangsu Cultural Week,” the Lancang-Mekong River Cultural Tourism Exchange, the China-Lao-Cambodia Historical Sites Self-Driving Tour, and the 4th China-Cambodia Excellent Film Tour. At the same time, the Cambodian National Museum went to China to participate in the “Exhibition of Treasures from National Museums along the Silk Road” and the “Joint Exhibition of Asian Civilizations.”

Source: People’s Daily, December 29, 2019
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2019-12/29/nw.D110000renmrb_20191229_1-03.htm

LTN: U.S. Has Become Taiwan’s Largest Oil Supplier

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that the Taiwan state-owned CPC Corporation (Taiwan’s largest petroleum company) increased its oil import ration from the U.S. from 30 percent in 2018 to 40 percent in 2019. This made the United States Taiwan’s largest oil supplier. Natural gas imports from the U.S. are on the path of rapid growth as well. The planning involves an increase from today’s three percent to 16 percent in 2021. Taiwan is finalizing a US$475 million shale gas investment (30 percent of the stake) in Haynesville, Louisiana. Although the U.S. oil shipping distance is longer than from the Middle East, yet the U.S. suppliers have competitive pricing and also provide diversity. However, Taiwan does not plan to exceed the 40 percent upper ceiling for U.S. oil. The CPC also suggested that the expected significant increase of the natural gas import level was a direct result of the U.S. Trump administration removing the legal restrictions on exporting U.S. LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas).

Source: LTN, December 25, 2019
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3020154

Beijing Anticipates Upcoming Mass Layoffs and Social Unrest

As the end of the year approaches, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang once again demanded to regulate how Chinese companies fire their employees. He proposed measures to prevent the outbreak of mass layoffs. The official party mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency reported on December 24 that Li issued the “Opinions on Further Improving Job Market Stability.” It proposed that the government should put more emphasis on employment stability and offer guidance to companies that conduct economic layoffs. The Opinions aims to prevent the risk of mass layoffs and ensure that the employment situation is stable. The above measures highlight China’s grim employment situation as a large-scale wave of layoffs may come soon.

The Opinions also mentioned the need to improve emergency response mechanisms. All regions should deal in a timely manner with mass social unrest that results from large-scale layoffs. The local governments have been advised to coordinate the employment needs of different groups and formulate temporary response measures.

On December 23, the government think tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, released the “Social Blue Book: Analysis and Forecast of China’s Social Situation 2020.” It stated that, due to the downward pressure on the economy and the impact of Sino-U.S. trade frictions, compounded by cyclical, structural and frictional factors, China’s employment situation continues to fluctuate because of increasing pressure and amid growing risks.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 25, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/ql2-12252019061501.html

China Firmly Opposes the U.S. Space Force

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that China firmly opposes the newly founded U.S. Space Force. After U.S. President Donald Trump signed the military spending bill into law, the U.S. military officially established a new branch – The Space Force. Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang responded in a press conference, expressing “deep concerns” and “strong opposition.” Geng suggested that the United States took this step facing disagreement from the international community. The U.S. strategy of dominating outer space is really the militarization of space and is turning outer space into a war field. The move is directly against the common international belief of the peaceful use of outer space and it will destroy the global strategic balance, which is the foundation of world stability. It is a direct threat to peace and security. Geng called on all “major world powers” to take a “careful and responsible attitude” on this issue. President Trump said it was critical for the United States to have an advantage in space. Another Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson also mentioned that it has become urgent now to negotiate and establish international legal agreements on outer space arms control.

Source: Sina, December 25, 2019
http://https//chinanews.sina.com/gb/chnmilitary/chnmilitary/cankaoxiaoxi/2019-12-25/doc-ifzscpwc6013816.shtml

Xinhua: China Plans to Re-interpret Classic Religious Books

Xinhua recently reported that the Ethnic Group and Religion Committee of the Chinese National People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) just had a discussion forum on religion. Wang Yang, Standing Committee Member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, delivered a speech on the importance of controlling the interpretation of religious doctrine. Wang proposed that the translation and interpretation of religious theories should keep up with the pace of today’s social developments. The socialist core values should guide the re-interpretation process. This would be an effective way to defend China against extremists and their evil theories. Wang asked the committee to look into organizing a major effort to perform a comprehensive review of all religious teaching books, including the Bible, the Quran and the Buddhist books. The committee should start modifications and even do full re-translations.

Sources:
(1) Xinhua, November 26. 2019
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/leaders/2019-11/26/c_1125277447.htm
(2) Radio France Internationale, December 23, 2019
https://bit.ly/2t9rVpu

Potter King: “I Have Never Kneeled Down to the CCP”

Taiwan Internet Celebrity “Potter King” hosted a show with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and posted it on YouTube. His video was watched 3 million times on Facebook and 600,000 times on YouTube.

However, Papitube, a media company in China, which signed “Potter King” for the China’s market, demanded that he remove the video from YouTube, since he called Tsai Ing-wen the “President.” The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been belittling Taiwan all along and does not allow others to call it a country or call its leader the “President.”

Later, “Potter King” posted the WeChat exchange between himself and the Chinese company on the Internet. It showed that the staff at Papitube said, “Taiwan President???????!” “Can you remove it right now?” “Do you think if you didn’t post it on a Micro Blog that you can get away with it?” “This is very serious!”

“Potter King” refused to remove it. He answered that, if he can’t call his President the “President” (according to the CCP’s rule), he’d rather not make money from China. He said, “From the beginning, I have never kneeled down (to the CCP).”

This is a significant event having to do with the CCP’s coercing the world about Taiwan, since, in the past, many companies and people have chosen to yield to the CCP.

Source: Deutsche Welle, December 16, 2019
https://www.dw.com/zh/撩总统被中方解约-波特王凸显艺人困境/a-51689526