China news roundup / Nachrichten 2020-08-21
English news:
China's Cai Xia: former party insider who dared criticise Xi Jinping
"“You are a preacher of the communist party,” – a proselytiser verging on religious fanaticism"
--- So true. & she's still a believer, so my empathy is fairly limited.
"Party organisations at all levels and the entire school’s faculty and staff should take profound lessons from Cai Xia’s serious disciplinary violations"
--- Also true. They should learn that emperor Xi is a dictator who is not really interested in communism, but only in his personal power.
"she was not severely punished until she spoke out against Xi this past year"
--- Well, yeah, if you criticise a god, that's blasphemy.
US intel agencies find Wuhan officials kept Beijing in the dark for weeks about coronavirus
"President Xi "has his own guys all over China, so you can't keep information from him,""
--- He has his own guys, yes, but I doubt they are plentiful enough yet to be everywhere. So, it's possible that local bigwigs could keep a lid on it for a while. Anyway, emperor Xi obviously knew by 7 January. Therefore he was responsible for keeping the info from the world, anyway.
Satellite photos appear to show Chinese submarine using underground base
"one Twitter user just posting the words "Bond, James Bond" in reaction to the photo"
--- Oh great. Good to know that some anonymous Twitter user posted something.
Gosh, I hate this. Why is nonsense like this in news articles nowadays? You find that crap even in BBC articles.
"What's not unusual is the Chinese underground base"
--- Exactly.
"Tunnels blind potential opponents to the submarines' operating status and patterns"
--- Not much more so than the usual hangars & halls, though. & in case of war tunnels can be blocked quite easily.
Alibaba tells Trump we 'support American brands'
"Alibaba has moved to ease tensions with Donald Trump"
--- They just released some marketing material which is supposed to show them as supportive of the US economy.
"Alibaba's primary commercial focus in the US is to support American brands, retailers, small businesses and farmers to sell to consumers and trade partners in China"
--- Which is a blatant lie. Their primary focus is of course making money by facilitating business contacts. If they wouldn't do it, there are numerous other companies which could fulfill similar functions.
The real state of China's economy remains a mystery
"it's getting harder to say what the true state of the Chinese economy is. The numbers are all over the place"
--- All is fine, because emperor Xi is in power. & as a demigod he cannot fail to produce good results.
Report finds $50 billion of cryptocurrency moved out of China hinting at capital flight against Beijing rules
"not all of this is capital flight, but we can think of $50 billion as the absolute ceiling for capital flight via cryptocurrency"
--- Capital flight? There is no capital flight from China. Why should there be? All is fine, because emperor Xi is in power. & as a demigod he cannot fail to make the Chinese economy grow eternally.
Why Google And YouTube Are Now China’s Most Wanted
"Chinese citizens with a thirst for non-censored news and social media resort to virtual private networks"
--- Sadly, there are not really many Chinese with such a thirst. Hence, 'most wanted' is very relative.
"it might be justified for a Chinese social media entity to lose the ability to benefit from free media access and the rule of law in the U.S. when it’s not reciprocated. Harsh for ByteDance, perhaps, but fair’s fair for Beijing"
--- Shocking, truly shocking. Reciprocity is such an ugly word for the CCP.
Australia’s strategic blind spot: China’s newfound intimacy with once-rival Russia
"According to the Chinese state media, the leaders agreed to upgrade relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” — diplomatic speak for much closer friends, but not yet allies."
--- Huh? For me, allies comes first, & friendship can develop from that.
Anyway, for this article goes: Meh.
Russia & China seem to have the US as a common enemy at the moment, but they are highly suspicious of each other. What's more, China still thinks that Russia occupies Chinese territory.
Once they have a comprehensive agreement on this, there might be a friendship in the making, but else ...
"Some political experts and members of parliament in Australia are now starting to see the benefit of bringing Russia back into the fold to counter China’s rise"
--- Which fold?
China is building a GitHub alternative called Gitee
"The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), one of China’s top tech policymakers, recently picked (in Chinese) Gitee to construct an “independent, open-source code hosting platform for China.”"
--- Independent from the rest of the world that is.
Beauty creams stoke anti-China screams in Philippines
"The beauty product listed its manufacturing address as “707 Sto. Cristo St. San Nicolas, Manila Province, P.R. China. MADE IN P.R.C"
--- Totally innocent mistake, of course. Absolutely not related to any Chinese claims.
"Filipinos have likewise been outraged by other incidents, from textile products that reportedly identified Philippine cities as part of China, to a geotag on Facebook and Instagram which read “Philippines, Province of China.”"
--- Well ...
Video News:
--- China Uncensored features the usual weekend variety:
--- BBC Newsnight: "Lord Patten on China, the Conservative Party and Brexit"
--- RFA: "How Hong Kong's New Security Law Threatens Press Freedom"
Deutsche Nachrichten:
Warnung vor "Golden Spy" aus China
"Der amerikanische IT-Sicherheitsdienstleister Trustwave, sowie das FBI in den USA hatten bereits vor Angriffen mit der Software gewarnt. Die deutschen Sicherheitsbehörden warnen nun ihrerseits deutsche Unternehmen"
--- Deutsche Sicherheitsbehörden, wie immer an der Spitze in der Reaktionsgeschwindigkeit. Umpf.
"Ausländische Unternehmen, die einen Sitz in China haben, sind den Angaben zufolge verpflichtet, eine chinesische Steuer-Software namens Intelligence Tax oder auch Golden Tax zu installieren. [...] Wird diese Software installiert, lade sich die Spionagesoftware innerhalb von zwei Stunden im Anschluss daran unbemerkt hoch."
--- Natürlich ohne jedes Zutun des chinesischen Staates. Müssen irgendwelche fiesen westlichen Kriminellen gewesen sein, die sich Zugang zu offizieller chinesischer Software verschafft haben. Ganz bestimmt.
C&A verkauft sein China-Geschäft
"Allerdings ist das China-Geschäft mit 67 Läden in 23 Städten angesichts des riesigen Marktes vergleichsweise klein."
--- Den Blödsinn liest man immer mal wieder über ausländische Firmen in China. Das ist immerhin 1/20 aller C&A-Märkte. Für China mag das wenig sein, aber ist doch ein signifikanter Unternehmensteil.
Corona-Warn-App als Dauerzustand?
"Ich glaube, das wird zur Normalität. Ich kann mich auch ohne Probleme daran gewöhnen. Wir sind doch längst in der Zeit von Big Data angekommen. Für mich ist das gut, nicht kompliziert. Überall kann man diesen QR-Code sannen, das ist bequem."
--- Ist doch alles so schön bequem hier. Wen kümmert da totale Staatskontrolle?
Was Deutschland von Taiwan lernen kann
"Dabei setzt die demokratische Regierung auch auf technologische Hilfsmittel zur Überwachung: Wer trotz Quarantäne die Wohnung verlässt, muss damit rechnen, dass das Mobiltelefon geortet wird und die Behörden sich melden."
--- Glaube kaum, daß in Deutschland da von Taiwan gelernt würde. Da ist ja schon die relativ zurückhaltende deutsche App ein Aufreger.
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Finally! An inside source confirms exactly what I have said in my reviews of BOTH of Xi's books! He speaks of the Communist Party as a religious cult with himself as its Patriarch.
Well, I think, any critical China watcher would agree that the CCP has cult-like characteristics. (I mean, Mao is even on these Buddhist (?) plaques. Not sure, whether they do that with Xi already, though.)
Communism, like most other ideologies, is a religion surrogate, anyway.
True, but I've not found many other "religion surrogates" that mimic the trappings so perfectly that the pigs and the men truly are indistinguishable, at the risk of abusing an Orwellian metaphor.
As for Xi, I haven't seen any altars to him like the ones I saw to Mao, but religious believers throughout rural China are being told "no more financial aid from the government unless you replace all religious icons in your homes with portraits of Xi."
Yeah, I read that about Christian churches, mosques & Tibetan temples. Didn't know that it would be applied to pretty much anyone religious.