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Economy: How Much Did China Buy from the U.S. in 2020 to Fulfill Its Trade Agreement Promise?

The United States and China signed the Phase I Trade Agreement on January 15, 2020. Washington agreed to reduce some added tariffs in exchange for Beijing, in the years of 2021 and 2022, agreeing to buy an additional total of $200 billion in goods and services from the U.S., over and above China’s purchases from the U.S. in 2017.

A year after the agreement, China didn’t reach its purchase target and the U.S. trade deficient from China increased again.

China agreed to buy around $159 billion in American goods. However, according to a report from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, by November 2020, China’s actual purchases were around $82 billion, or 52 percent of the target.

China fulfilled 67 percent of its purchase goal on agricultural products, 52 percent on manufacturing goods, and 31 percent on energy products.

On the other hand, China kept increasing its exports to the world. Beijing stated on January 7 that leading with the strong export of medical supplies, China’s trade surplus with the world has increased to $535 billion, the new high from 2015.

The U.S. also tried to remove structural blocks that American companies faced in China in the Phase I Trade Agreement, in the areas of protecting intellectual property, avoiding forced technology transfer, and easing restrictions on market entry to China.

Last June, China announced it would open its $45 trillion financial market to the world. It also granted American Express a license for clearing house transactions. In September, China issued a draft regulation on protecting business secrets. However, these actions have not materially changed the real situation in China.

Some analysts think that the positive side of the trade agreement is that the Trump administration changed people’s view of China in the economic field and made companies rethink their dependence on the supply chain from China.

Doug Barry, the spokesperson of the US-China Business Council told VOA, “I hope the new administration can support the successful completion of the Phase I agreement and reach an accord with China to start the work of Phase II, which will focus on resolving China’s subsidies to state-owned enterprises, opening more economic fields to foreign competitors, and other trade issues.”

Source: VOA, January 16, 2021
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-trade-economy-tariff-20210115/5739614.html

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CCP’s Coverup – Hebei Province Reported False COVID-19 Counts

Hebei Province is one of areas in China that has the highest infection of COVID-19. It is not clear how many people have been infected since the Chinese Communist Party is known for hiding such information and for reporting a much smaller count. However, even the government’s numbers show false reporting.

  • On January 14, Longrao County, Hebei Province reported that its massive test of the country residents was negative for everyone. However, on January 17, the country reported 2 confirmed cases and 1 asymptomatic case. The local government then blamed the company conducting the tests for reporting the result before receiving test results.
  • On January 16, Meng Xianghong, Deputy Governor of Heber Province, stated at a news briefing, that Shijiazhuang City had completed its second round of nucleic acid testing on January 14 and found 247 positive cases. However, on January 15, Hebei Provincial Health Commission reported that on January 14, the province had 90 newly confirmed cases, including 84 cases from Shijiazhang. The number 84 was much smaller than 247 – the number of positive cases that the Deputy Governor mentioned.
  • Netizens found that the Hebei Provincial Health Commission had been reporting the same infection count on three out of four consecutive days: January 12 – 90 count, January 13 – 81, January 14 – 90, and January 15 – 90. Some people posted under China Central Television microblog page: “Why did Hebei report 90 cases on each of those days? Is it a coincident or because they did not dare to report more?”
  • A netizen posted a list of COVID-19 patient names on January 3, including six confirmed cases in Shizjiazhang city. On that same day, the government reported only 1 confirmed case.

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Pandemic: U.S. Disclosed Three Possible Investigation Areas on Whether the CCP Generated COVID-19 Virus in Lab

The State Department of the U.S. issued a fact sheet that stated, “The U.S. government does not know exactly where, when, or how the COVID-19 virus—known as SARS-CoV-2—was transmitted initially to humans. We have not determined whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan, China.” “The previously undisclosed information in this fact sheet, combined with open-source reporting, highlights three elements about COVID-19’s origin that deserve greater scrutiny.”

1. Illnesses inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV):

The U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in the autumn of 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses. This raises questions about the credibility of WIV senior researcher Shi Zhengli’s public claim that there was “zero infection” among the WIV’s staff and students of SARS-CoV-2 or SARS-related viruses.

2. Research at the WIV:

Starting in at least 2016 – and with no indication of a stop prior to the COVID-19 outbreak – WIV researchers conducted experiments involving RaTG13, the bat coronavirus identified by the WIV in January 2020 as its closest sample to SARS-CoV-2 (96.2 percent similar). The WIV became a focal point for international coronavirus research after the 2003 SARS outbreak and has since studied animals including mice, bats, and pangolins.

The WIV has a published record of conducting “gain-of-function” research to engineer chimeric viruses. The WIV, however, has not been transparent or consistent about its record of studying viruses most similar to the COVID-19 virus, including “RaTG13,” which it sampled from a cave in Yunnan Province in 2013 after several miners died of a SARS-like illness.

3. Secret military activity at the WIV:

Secrecy and non-disclosure are standard practices for Beijing. For many years the United States has publicly raised concerns about China’s past biological weapons work, which Beijing has neither documented nor demonstrably eliminated, despite its clear obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention.

Despite the WIV presenting itself as a civilian institution, the United States has determined that the WIV has collaborated on publications and secret projects with China’s military. Since at least 2017, the WIV has engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military.

Source: State Department website, January 15, 2021
https://www.state.gov/fact-sheet-activity-at-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology/

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Pandemic: COVID-19 Spreading in China

In the past month, the COVID-19 virus has been spreading in China. Several cities have been locked down, with a total of 29 millions people impacted. Out of the total 32 provinces in China, 29 have asked people to stay where they are and not to travel during the Chinese New Year.

#1: As of January 18, 2021, the Chinese government announced 4 high-risk areas and 88 medium-risk areas, all in Beijing, Hebei Province, and the three Northeastern provinces – Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning.

The high-risk areas are:

  • Gaocheng District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province (河北省石家庄市藁城区)
  • Xinle City, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province (河北省石家庄市新乐市)
  • Nangong Shi, Xingtai City, Hebei Province (河北省邢台市南宫市)
  • Huiqi Township, Wangkui County, Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province (黑龙江省绥化市望奎县惠七镇)

The Medium-risk areas are in the following cities:

  • Beijing City (with 6 medium-risk areas)
  • Tonghua City, Jilin Province (20)
  • Changchun City, Jilin Province (11)
  • Langfang City, Hebei Province (1)
  • Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province (35)
  • Xingtai City, Hebei Province (1)
  • Dalian City, Liaoning Province (3)
  • Shenyang City, Liaoning Province (2)
  • Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province (4)
  • Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province (1)
  • Hehei City, Heilongjiang Province (3)
  • Tsitsihar City, Heilongjiang Province (1)

#2: By January 11, 29 out of the 32 provincial administrations in China have asked people to stay in their current location (do not travel or go back to your hometown) for Chinese New Year (February 12, 2021). Traditionally, Chinese people return to their hometown or go to their parent’s home to celebrate Chinese New Year. Beijing was the first to launch the “stay in current location” initiative. (Xinhua)

#3: Local governments provided different incentives to get people to stay where they, including rent reductions, subsidies, and offering of free bus rides, free data on the Internet, free movie tickets, and free entrance tickets to tourist sites. (VOA)

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Infection Count: How Severe Is the Infection in Ruili City?

After September 8, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held a commendation conference to declare victory over the novel coronavirus, Ruili, a southern city in Yunan Province, bordering Myanmar, reported cases of the coronavirus infection.

The authorities only announced two infection cases, but it declared that it would conduct nucleic acid testing on all residents in Ruili which is about 210,000 people. Several of its actions, including locking down the city, building thousands of hospital beds, and moving in over 1,000 medical staff from other cities, made people wonder whether the real situation was much worse than what the government reported.

#1: China reported 2 cases on September 12 and 13, claiming the patients were from Myanmar and had illegally entered China. On September 14, the authorities then locked down the city of Ruili. The official WeChat account of the Yunan Provincial government reported that the government learned the mobile hospital concept from Wuhan and had set up several thousand patient beds in a large indoor facility, ready for patients to move in. On Twitter, Chinese netizens also posted pictures of Zhong Nanshan, a high-profile doctor on the coronavirus efforts, who showed up in Yunan. (New Talk)

#2: China sent eight medical teams, with a total of 632 medical staff members, from other cities and provinces, to Ruili. In addition, the Dehong Autonomous Prefecture, Yunan Province, sent another 564 medical staff members to Ruili to support nucleic acid testing. (Xinhua)

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Hiding Information: The CCP Held Commendation Conference about Fighting the Novel Coronavirus

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has declared victory over the novel coronavirus. On September 8, 2020, Xi Jinping hosted a Commendation Conference on Fighting against the Novel Coronavirus. At the ceremony, Xi gave a near-10,000 word speech, but he did not mention the truth about the pandemic’s origin, its development, or the infection count in China.

Radio France International reported that people were questioning why the CCP held such a celebration at this time since the pandemic is still spreading in the world. They wondered whether it is trying to cover up something or to make people forget something. Agence France-Presse pointed out that the CCP is trying to rewrite the Wuhan Pandemic story.

Xi gave medals to the “heroes” including Zhong Nanshan, who, on January 20, told the public that the virus can be transmitted from person to person (Editor’s Note: there is much evidence that the CCP knew about the person-to-person transmission much earlier but did not release the information to the public until Zhong’s staged statement), and Chen Wei, a People’s Liberation Army general in charge of developing a vaccine.

However, on the Chinese social media, the public frequently discussed Dr. Li Wenliang who Xi didn’t mention at the award ceremony. Dr. Li is the whistle blower who mentioned the coronavirus on social media in early January. The CCP then reprimanded him and he later died after developing the infection when treating patients who had the virus.

Another highly discussed person, who is a hero in the eyes of the public  but who Xi also skipped is Dr. Zhang Wenhong. Dr. Zhang is the lead doctor on coronavirus prevention efforts in Shanghai. He rejected Zhong Nanshan’s claim that the virus might have originated outside of China. He said the facts showed that Wuhan is the first city to have reported the cases and if the virus was coming from overseas, it would spread in several cities in China simultaneously, not just in Wuhan. He also answered the question whether the China-made anti-virus vaccine is better or the imported vaccine will be when the vaccines are available. He said, “You can easily tell if a domestic car is better or an imported car is (Chinese all know imported cars are much better). Why can’t you tell when it comes to a vaccine?”

On social media, people were also asking where the citizens were who went to hospitals to report the true situation (that the official media were not reporting) and then got disappeared.

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Taiwan: CCP’s Response to U.S.’s Taiwan Visit and Drone Sale

The United Stated made two major moves regarding Taiwan. The first was that, on August 9, 2020, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar visited Taiwan and, on August10, met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. This is the highest ranked U.S. official to visit Taiwan. The second one was that the U.S. and Taiwan are in negotiation for the U.S. to sell Taiwan at least four MQ-9B SeaGuardian surveillance drones which have a range of 6,000 nautical miles (11,100 km).

China’s Foreign Ministry issued a standard protest. People’s Daily and Xinhua didn’t comment much on either event, but Huanqiu and some other media commented on it, either cursing the U.S. or trying to downplay the event.

#1: On August 5, Wang Wenbin, Spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, stated at the press conference, that China urges the US to abide by the one-China policy and the provisions of the three Sino-US Joint Communiqués, to stop all forms of official exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan, to handle Taiwan-related issues carefully and properly, and to refrain from sending any wrong signals to the “Taiwan independence” forces so as to avoid serious damage to Sino-US relations.

On August 5, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, stated at a press conference, that it is very dangerous for the Democratic Progressive Party authorities to collude with foreign countries and willingly play the role of a U.S.’ pawn.

On August 5, Lu Xiang, an expert on American issues at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times reporter that in 2000 and again in 2014, the U.S. had sent high-ranking officials (Department of Transportation and Environment Protection Agency) to visit Taiwan. They were sent during those two President’s second terms when they no longer considered re-election. This time, the HHS Secretary ranked higher than those two who were sent previously, based on the order of succession of Department heads to take the president’s seat if the current President is unable to perform his duties. In addition, Trump sent him to Taiwan in his first presidential term. This showed that Trump is gambling. Under the Coronavirus pandemic and economic pressure, Trump does not know how to play the chess game anymore. He just throws chess pieces onto the board. Now he has run out of pieces and throws bricks instead. (Global Times)

#2: Global Times said there was a huge controversy and debate in Taiwan regarding Azar’s visit. It said that some Taiwan netizens furiously claimed that Azar would put Taiwan into two bad areas: the pandemic (brought from the U.S.) and a crisis over the strait (between Taiwan and China). (Global Times)

#3: The Taiwan Strait Net commented that “jointly fighting the pandemic” is just a cover (for Azar’s visit). The U.S. has only one “strategy” to fight the pandemic: Blame China. Taiwan’s “magic operation (against the coronavirus)” was nothing but avoid testing. It said that quite a few people were worried, “(Azar) came from the U.S.? Shouldn’t he be quarantined?” (Taiwan Strait Net)

#4: Sina commented on the U.S. selling drones to Taiwan. “As the presidential election is coming up, the political in-fighting in the U.S. has intensified. Some politicians in the U.S. view playing the ‘Taiwan card’ as a measure that is low cost and has a quick return. However, playing the “Taiwan card” shows the U.S. lacks self-confidence and worries about its China policy. (Sina)

#5: Global Times said that some Taiwan netizens identified this drones transaction as Taiwan paying a “protection fee” to the U.S. “In the American’s eye, sending the HHS Secretary over to bring back $600 million is definitely worth it.” “The U.S. just takes Taiwan as an ATM machine.” (Global Times)

#6: Back on May14, 2020, Global Times commented on Taiwan’s purchasing 4 MQ-9 Reaper drones as not getting enough for the mainland to shoot down and claimed that these drones are nothing but target drones to be killed. (Global Times)

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