China news roundup / Nachrichten 2020-01-10/11

English news:

Pompeo: US to lift restrictions on contacts with Taiwan

"The move is likely to anger China and increase tensions"

--- Gets a bit boring, to read the same sentence whenever there is news about US relations to Taiwan. Is it a meme yet?

"China and Taiwan have had separate governments since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949."

--- Well, actually, since 1895. Taiwan was only officially returned to the ROC with the Treaty of San Francisco in 1952.

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China brings in new law to fight Trump's sanctions

"Changes announced over the weekend allow Chinese courts to punish companies that comply with such restrictions.
[...] Companies with significant business interests in China may need to tread carefully"

--- Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Obviously China is not really opposed to economic decoupling. Because this new law might just lead to more of that.
Speaking of which:

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The Undoing of China’s Economic Miracle

"China, of course, will still sell you all kinds of stuff and happily take your money."

--- As they always will.

"Xi’s new strategy, something he calls “dual circulation,” splits Beijing’s economic worldview in two—a domestic focus on companies in China making stuff for Chinese consumers, and an international one on the country’s exchange with the outside."

--- & that was long planned. So, don't blame Trump too much for decoupling.

"China will stay open for business—if that business helps protect its own interests"

--- Not much of a change, actually. That has always been the case.
A problem arises when a dictator thinks that his personal decisions are necessarily the best for his country & that he & his buddies know best how to run all kinds of companies.

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Raab to clampdown on firms linked to forced labour in Xinjiang

"relations between the two countries “depend on whether the UK sees China as a partner or a rival, respects China’s core interests and major concerns, and abides by the basic norms governing international relations, including non-interference in each other’s internal affairs”"

--- Translation: Do as we like, believe everything we say & don't criticise us, then we will do business with you.

"Xinjiang’s Uighur minority are being persecuted and recruited for forced labour. Photographic evidence suggests many of the camps do contain factories"

--- The factories don't need to be in the concentration camps. The workers are also bussed to factories outside. What's more, people living in their own homes are also forced to take up jobs they didn't want.

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Hong Kong security law being used to 'eliminate dissent' say US, UK, Australia and Canada

"The foreign ministers of Australia, the United States, Britain and Canada have issued a joint statement expressing “serious concern”"

--- Notably absent from this rather weak statement: New Zealand. When even Canada takes a stronger stance towards China than you, then something is rotten in your country.

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'Set expectations low': verdict unlikely from WHO team exploring Covid origins in China

"All rural villages in Shunyi district on the outskirts of Beijing are locked down
[...] A county in north-eastern Heilongjiang province also moved into lockdown after reporting new coronavirus infections"

--- All hands on deck to find those dirty foreigners responsible for this. With all these new cases, there must be a concerted effort by a foreign network to spread the virus in China.

"The WHO has had to balance China’s extreme sensitivity over the expert visit with the need to keep on good terms with the country, which is likely to the source of two cost effective vaccines that many expect to be used widely in the developing world"

--- More reasons for the WHO to shut up. As if there were not enough CCP bootlickers in the WHO, anyway.

"Fisher believes the chances of finding the origin of the pandemic are much better than they were year ago"

--- Joke of the day.

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‘Even mourning is said to shame China’: women of Wuhan fight to be heard

"Tencent is guided by local laws related to internet content, and we comply with all regulations and laws in countries and markets where we operate."

--- But before all, we do whatever the CCP tells us to.

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China debuts bullet train that can operate in extremely cold temperatures

"part of the Fuxing series of high-speed electric multiple-unit (EMU) trains developed and operated by the state-owned China State Railway Group"

--- Absolutely no foreign technology involved, particularly not from Bombardier.

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--- Other news:

Three-quarters of Wuhan patients hospitalized for Covid-19 still had symptoms 6 months later, Chinese study finds

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Twitter deletes China embassy's Xinjiang 'emancipation' tweet

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East German Files on China, 1967-1989

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Video News:

--- DW News: "China puts millions on lockdown to curb renewed coronavirus outbreak"

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--- China Uncensored: "Is China Controlling YouTube?"

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--- Caspian Report: "Unpacking the China-Russia alliance"

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Deutsche Nachrichten:

"Kontakte zu Taiwan nicht mehr beschränken"

"Interne Beschränkungen für US-Diplomaten im Umgang mit Taiwan soll es nicht mehr geben."

--- Nur logisch, da solche Beschränkungen nur der Beschwichtigung der VRC dienten. Spätestens mit der Einrichtung von Konzentrationslagern sollte aber jedes Appeasement ein Ende haben.
Deutsche Kommis sehen das natürlich etwas anders:

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Ein Schritt zu weit

"Damit bricht Washington die Ein-China-Politik, auf deren Einhaltung die USA sich in den 1970er Jahren verpflichtete"

--- Glatte Lüge ... äh ... Wahrheit mit kommunistischen Charakteristiken.
Die USA erkennen nur an, daß die VRC Taiwan als zu China gehörig ansehen, nicht aber, daß es dazugehört.

"Taiwan gehört offiziell seit dem späten 17. Jahrhundert zu China"

--- Was man so offiziell nennt. Die Qing eroberten die Westküste, hatten aber keinerlei Kontrolle über den Osten. Die Kolonisierung dauerte eine Weile. Volle Kontrolle gewann man erst im 19. Jahrhundert.
S.a.: China droht USA und Taiwan

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Willkommen in der Volksrepublik der verschwundenen Milliardäre

"Wurde er tatsächlich festgenommen, wie nun teilweise im Westen spekuliert wird? Mit hundertprozentiger Sicherheit lässt sich diese Vermutung nicht verneinen, da selbst Alibaba nicht in der Lage scheint, den Sachverhalt aufzuklären."

--- Willkommen in China.

"Erinnert wird so etwa an ähnliche Probleme, die vor drei Jahren mit Tencent der zweitgrößte Internet-Konzern des Landes hatte."

--- Quark. Tencent hatte ganz andere Probleme, nicht einen Eigentümer, der die Kommis verärgerte. Im Fall Ma ist zu erwarten, daß ein Entschuldigungsvideo mit klarem Kotau vor der KPCh veröffentlicht wird, & daß er danach weiterarbeiten darf, wenn auch unter stärkerer Kontrolle & vermutlich nicht mehr so im Vordergrund wie bisher. Sollte er sich weigern, ein entsprechendes Video aufzunehmen, könnte es ihm auch deutlich schlechter ergehen.

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WHO-Team diese Woche in China erwartet

"Mit dem Einreisetermin und der folgenden Quarantäne wird die Zeit für die WHO-Mission allerdings knapp, da am 12. Februar schon das chinesische Neujahrsfest begangen wird."

--- Gar kein Problem. Die Experten werden innerhalb von 2 Wochen abgekanzelt, dürfen nach Hause reisen & die WHO wird verkünden dürfen, daß man nichts gefunden hat, daß die chinesische Kooperation wunderbar war & daß die Herkunft des Wuhanvirus auch außerhalb Chinas sein könnte.

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--- Sonstiges:

Neuer Reisepass als Affront gegen China

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Chinesische Geiseldiplomatie: der Fall Huawei und der andauernde Streit zwischen China und Kanada

--- Audio-Podcast der NZZ.

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