China news roundup / Nachrichten 2021-10-26

---

‘We are so divided now’: how China controls thought and speech beyond its borders

"Of the many questions raised by Angwang’s case, perhaps the most striking is why the Chinese consulate would have bothered talking to him at all."

--- Because no influence is too little. The CCP wants to control everything & know everything, even if it's only a child reporting on the parents.

"In a tally of direct physical attacks originating from China since 2014, a recent Freedom House report uncovered 214 incidents in 36 different countries, from abductions in Thailand to physical assaults in Canada – far more than any other country in the study."

--- Most of these actions are not by Chinese secret services, but a more ubiquitous organisation:

"the PRC’s influence campaigns abroad target ethnic minorities and dissidents on a global scale unmatched by any other nation. Their activities, it reports, are best understood as functions of the United Front Working Department (UFWD), a nebulous part of China’s bureaucracy that oversees all activities aimed at influencing groups not directly controlled by the CPC
[...] In September 2014, borrowing a term from Mao, Xi called united front work a “magic weapon”, and launched an effort to reform and increase its power."

--- The United Front is active almost everywhere, probably even in the city you live in (if there is a somewhat significant Chinese community). They concentrate their 'work' mostly on (ex-)Chinese living abroad, but their influence is growing.

US has few good options if China seizes islands close to Taiwan, war game concludes

"The scenario, outlined in a report from the Center for a New American Security, began with China using military force to take control of Dongsha, a tiny atoll in the South China Sea between Taiwan and Hong Kong, where approximately 500 Taiwanese troops are stationed.
This type of limited aggression could be a precursor to the seizure of other islands near Taiwan or an outright invasion"

--- But would be pretty stupid, because it would lead to greater awareness on Taiwan, which with the help of the US would beef up its defences.

"the US had no credible way to compel China to return the island to the control of Taipei, the report states. Economic sanctions took too long to produce effects and appeared too weak to influence China's decision-making, while any military action risked an escalation to war, which both the US and Taiwan want to avoid if possible"

--- & you need war games to find that out? Anyway, it 'risked an escalation to war'? Isn't an invasion of said island already an act of war?
Well, OK, for the EU it would probably just be a cause for grave concern, followed by an appeal to 'all sides to abstain from violence & return to diplomacy'.

"Intelligence officials have not yet seen anything to suggest that China is preparing a military invasion, according to people familiar with the assessments."

--- Really? Expansion & upgrades to military airfields in the vicinity of Taiwan, increased incursions into Taiwan's ADIZ & amphibious landing exercises suggest otherwise.

The Debate over Origins of SARS-CoV-2

"Biologists have seen what evolution can create: the whole natural world around us. We believe that evolution can do anything. But the fact that evolution might have been able to generate SARS-CoV-2 doesn't mean that that's how it came about. I think we very much need to find out what was happening in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. I think that we can't say for sure yet whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from natural origins or if it was genetically manipulated somehow."

--- Yep. & since the CCP won't give any significant access to the WIV, we will probably never know.

"within the SARS-CoV-2 genome there is an insertion of 12 nucleotides that is entirely foreign to the beta-coronavirus class of virus that SARS-CoV-2 is in. There are many other viruses in this class, including the closest relative of SARS-CoV-2 by sequence, and none of them have this sequence. The sequence is called the furin cleavage site.
To back up a little bit: In order to infect a cell, the spike protein on the surface of viruses like SARS-CoV-2 needs to first be cut, or cleaved. The cut needn't be terribly exact, but it needs to be cut. Different viruses attract different kinds of cellular "scissors," so to speak, to make this cut; the furin cleavage site attracts the furin protein providing the most efficient way to make a cut. You don't need a furin cleavage site to cut the protein, but it makes the virus more efficiently infectious."

--- Simplest explanation of the furin cleavage site I have seen so far. (Can't say whether it's also the best explanation.)

"if SARS-CoV-2 came about by an artificial means, it means we've got to put better defenses around laboratories. I'm not suggesting that it was deliberately released if it came from a laboratory, but we have to realize that whatever a laboratory does might get out of the laboratory and create havoc. It means that work of this sort should only go on in what are called biosafety level 4 laboratories"

--- Better yet, such gain-of-function research should be prohibited. & if that doesn't happen, all such research needs to be fully publicised.

Rise in Human Bird Flu Cases in China Shows Risk of Fast-Changing Variants, Say Health Experts

"Most of the cases had come into contact with poultry, and there are no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission, said the WHO, which highlighted the rise in cases in a statement on Oct. 4.
It said further investigation was "urgently" required to understand the risk and the increase in spill over to people.
While human H5N6 cases have been reported, no outbreaks of H5N6 have been reported in poultry in China since February 2020."

--- Hmm, if there are no outbreaks in poultry & no human-to-human transmission, where does it come from?

"China vaccinates poultry against avian influenza but the vaccine used last year may only partially protect against emerging viruses, preventing large outbreaks but allowing the virus to keep circulating"

--- China & its vaccines...

The risks Americans face in traveling to China

"Make no mistake: just like their North Korean clients, the Chinese government took hostages to force a favorable political outcome. They have been rewarded for their behavior, and history shows it will only continue. A warning to anyone else traveling to China: You could easily be next."

--- Well, easily. The probability to be kidnapped for the common tourist is rather low, but with the CCP you never really know. I'm pretty sure I won't go to China again.

Enes Kanter says Nike is 'scared to speak up' against China and wears 'Modern Day Slavery' shoes in protest of Uyghur treatment

""Nike remains vocal about injustice here in America, but when it comes to China, Nike remains silent," said Kanter, in a post which used the hashtags #HypocriteNike and #EndUyghurForcedLabor."

--- True, but Nike is not even the worst offender in the US. They at least say that they don't source cotton from Xinjiang.

"Kanter ended the video by inviting Nike's co-founder Phil Knight and high-profile ambassadors LeBron James and Michael Jordan to a trip to China so they can "see [it] with your own eyes" where the shoes are made"

--- Now that's nonsense. Even if they are allowed to go to Xinjiang, all they will be able to see are the usual Chinese Potemkin villages.

Is China quitting the economic race?

"Nominal GDP gained 18 percent over the announced result for the first three quarters of 2019. Nominal retail sales gained 7.2 percent. Touted by some as the future growth engine for the world, Chinese consumers remain a drag on their own economy.
Fixed investment is a mess. The NBS puts two-year average growth at 3.8 percent, while a direct comparison to announced fixed investment at this time in 2019 shows a 14 percent drop. The NBS says revisions are ongoing. Their numbers imply investment through three quarters of 2019 was exaggerated by nine trillion yuan. If the current speed of fixed investment is correct, then two years ago it was about $1.3 trillion lower than claimed"

--- No worry, the CCP will probably sell it as a new openness, if they actually publicise revised numbers. If.
Anyway, I doubt the premise of this article: That the CCP would move away from high GDP growth targets. There is too much face at stake.

Vietnam rail debt to China comes due, but trains don’t run

"Work began in October 2011 on the Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway and trains were projected to begin running in 2015. But after ten years of construction, the project—which covers a 13.5 kilometer line and 12 elevated stations—is not ready to serve passengers, and investment costs have soared to U.S. $868 million from the initial $553 million."

--- No, that's impossible! That only happens to us decadent Westerners. Never to Chinese projects!

"In early June, French joint venture consultancy Apave-Certifer-Tricc (ATC) released a list of safety risks related to the Cat Linh-Ha Dong railway project, including failure to ensure the safety of the electric traction and brake systems.
Eight out of ten emergency procedures had failed on the line’s test run"

--- Chabuduo.

---

---

China locks down city of 4m people after six Covid cases detected

---

FCC votes to halt China Telecom operations within U.S.

---

The Chinese Companies Polluting the World More Than Entire Nations

---

7 Dead, Including 5 Of Family, In Knife Attack In China's Wuhan: Police

---

The marvel of China's multi-generational rice terraces

---

Last, not least, the joke of the day: ‘No way to prove’ Amnesty Int’l is leaving Hong Kong because of security law, says Chief Exec. Carrie Lam

---

---

--- DW News: "US-China trade talks: What's Biden's reviewed US trade strategy?"

--- China Unscripted: "Japan Is Facing an Existential Crisis Over Taiwan"

--- Atlantic Council: China’s surveillance colony in Xinjiang: A conversation with Darren Byler

---

--- Carnegie Europe: Responding to China’s Influence in Southeastern, Central, and Eastern Europe

---

---

Abgesagte Lesung in Hannover: Uni Duisburg übernimmt

"Die Online-Veranstaltung werde wie geplant am Mittwochabend abgehalten, sagte eine Sprecherin der Universität Duisburg-Essen. Veranstalter sei allerdings nicht das Konfuzius-Institut, sondern das Ostasien-Institut der Universität selbst, sagte eine Sprecherin der Hochschule am Dienstag"

--- Immerhin. Besser wäre es, wenn man die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Konfuziusinstitut beenden würde.

"Die Absage sei "nicht akzeptabel, befremdlich und unverständlich". Die Hochschulleitung werde "zeitnah das Gespräch mit dem Direktorium ihres Kooperationspartners Leibniz-Konfuzius-Institut e.V. suchen, um die mögliche weitere Zusammenarbeit zu überprüfen", hieß es weiter. "Jeglicher Versuch der politischen Einflussnahme auf Forschung, Lehre und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit der Leibniz Universität durch ausländische Regierungen ist dabei strikt zurückzuweisen.""

--- Schöne Worte. Mal abwarten, ob tatsächlich Konsequenzen gezogen werden.

„Wenn Sie eine Lizenz nach China verkaufen, geht das nur einmal“

"Wir haben deshalb eine Trennung zwischen China und unseren sonstigen Aktivitäten. Wir bauen jeweils eine eigene Infrastruktur auf. "

--- So wird wohl die Zukunft für viele Firmen aussehen.

---

---

Zehntausende müssen in den Lockdown

---

Tschechische Republik empfängt Delegation aus Taiwan

---