China news roundup / Nachrichten 2020-01-15

English news:

China says its economy grew 2.3% in 2020, but consumer spending fell

"Chinese consumers remained reluctant to spend, as retail sales contracted 3.9% for the year"

--- Only the official numbers, as usual for CNBC. If there was any growth at all, it was because of increased government spending, &:

"China’s GDP growth figure this year will come off a lowered base"

--- CNBC again only notes the official correction from December, but the CCP already changed other numbers for 2019.

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China’s economy grew in 2020, but only the rich are “revenge spending”

"China’s luxury goods market appears to be “unstoppable,” and is estimated to have grown by nearly 50% last year"

--- The rich couldn't go travelling, so they had to spend their money at home.

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Trump admin slams China's Huawei, halting shipments from Intel, others

"revoking certain licenses to sell to the Chinese company and intends to reject dozens of other applications to supply the telecommunications firm
[...] detailed guidance with regard to which technologies were capable of 5G, and then applied that standard"

--- A last parting shot by the Trump administration, but at least a targeted one.

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Confidence in Chinese vaccines has taken a hit. But as coronavirus cases grow, some countries are still pushing ahead

"Even though Brazil's health agency regulator, Anvisa, voted to approve emergency use authorization of Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine on Sunday, it said it did not have access to important data about the vaccine on the Phase 3 study, such as the duration of protection provided by the vaccine and its effect on the elderly and other specific groups, such as people with comorbidities"

--- Desperation? Or corruption?

Sinovac defended the safety and efficacy of its vaccine. "These Phase III clinical trial results are sufficient to prove that CoronaVac vaccine's safety and effectiveness are good around the world,""

--- Just trust us, we are Chinese, we know what we are doing.

""The results are from different populations, in different places with different morbidity rates, and therefore they span a relatively large range," the representative said"

--- So, essentially, what they are saying is that their vaccine may or may not work, depening on the place where it is used. Now that inspires confidence.

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U.S. and China clash at WHO over scientific mission in Wuhan

"China should share all scientific studies into animal, human and environmental samples taken from a market in Wuhan, where the SARS-CoV-2 virus is believed to have emerged in late 2019"

--- No need for an investigation there. We already did that. Just trust us, we are Chinese...
Meanwhile, some ugly foreigners don't want to just trust the Chinese (or the WHO): Independent pandemic review panel critical of China, WHO delays
They even think they have good reason not to trust the CCP: Wuhan medics undercover: 'We were told to lie about Covid-19 outbreak'
Outrageous!

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Covid-19 'superspreader' in northeast China linked to 102 infections

"Over four days, the man held four "health seminars," or marketing sessions, in community health clubs targeting elderly residents in the cities of Gongzhuling and Tonghua in Jilin"

--- Not free of a certain irony.

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Trapped Chinese miners' note sparks hopes for rescue

"Initially, it took more than a day for the accident to be reported, meaning rescue teams lost precious time to start their attempt to reach the miners."

--- Urgency with Chinese characteristics.

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I’m ‘not bowing down to anyone’: Uncle Roger comic urges ‘no politics’ after deleting YouTube vid starring Beijing critic

"he was not “bowing down to anyone,”"

--- Except the CCP & emperor Xi.

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Why 1.2 billion people share the same 100 surnames in China

"Only about 6,000 surnames are in use, according to the Ministry of Public Security. And the vast majority of the population -- almost 86% -- share just 100 of those surnames."

--- & because this comes from the Ministry of Public Security, it must be true. As we all know, we can trust the CCP 100%.

"Various dialects of Mandarin are spoken between the provinces, with some so different that speakers are unintelligible to each other. Among these, the Beijing-based Standard Mandarin is the lingua franca -- and was formally declared the national spoken and written language in 2000."

--- If they are unintelligible, they are languages, not dialects. Not to mention that beside Mandarin & other Sinitic languages, there are also completely different language families present in China. & it would be rather silly to think they all use the same Mandarin names.
Even among the Sinitic languages you have variation. The problem is the writing system:

""limit the new names and changes in the population information management system to the General Standard Chinese Characters Table -- effectively solving the problem of computing rare characters in names," according to the Ministry"

--- The fucked-up government only allows certain characters for family names. That doesn't mean, though, that in their spoken languages people all over China use the same surname, only because it is written with the same character.
That's as if in Europe people would use one character to write Smith, Smeets, Schmid, Schmidt, Schmitz, Smythe, Smid, Smits, Ferraro, Lefebvre, Favre etc., & then claim that's all just one name.

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--- Other news:

Rebels aim to insert genocide amendment in UK-China trade bill

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Video News:

--- China Uncensored: "Is China Run by Gangsters?"

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--- WION: "Gravitas: Why is China blocking access to the Wuhan Lab?"

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--- BBC: Covid-19: The road back to Wuhan

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Deutsche Nachrichten:

Mainzer Uni soll Infos über chinesische Fördergelder verheimlichen

"Es ist eine Gefahr für die freie und unabhängige Wissenschaft, dass die Universität Mainz nicht einmal die Namen ihrer Drittmittelgeber zu nennen bereit ist"

--- V.a. wenn es sich dabei um staatliche Institutionen einer Diktatur handel sollte.

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Handelskrieg: US-Regierung hebt offenbar Sonderlizenzen für Huawei auf

"Generell sei die Situation um China für US-Unternehmen chaotisch"

--- Jetzt offenbar nicht mehr. Alles, was mit 5G zu tun hat, wird offenbar nicht mehr genehmigt.

"Aufgrund mangelnder Komponenten hatte Huawei infolge die Smartphone-Tochtermarke Honor verkauft, um die verbliebenen Ressourcen auf eigene Geräte zu fokussieren"

--- Tatsächlich? Vielleicht wurde aber nur an eine Lokalregierung verkauft, um Honor aus den Sanktionen zu halten, & sobald diese beendet werden, geht Honor zurück an Huawei.

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China wird auch 2021 schneller wachsen als der Rest der Welt

"Weil China das Coronavirus seit dem Sommer weitestgehend im Griff hat und nur vereinzelt Infektionen und kleinere Ausbrüche zählt, haben sich die wirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten wieder normalisiert."

--- Mal wieder so ein typisches Beispiel für den naiven Schrott, den man v.a. (aber nicht nur) in Deutschland oft über die chinesische Wirtschaft liest. Die wirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten sind immer noch im Prozess der Normalisierung, die BIP-Zahlen sind nicht mehr negativ, weil so von Kaiser Xi vorgegeben & durch massive Ausgaben in staatliche Infrastrukturprojekte forciert (& durch nachträgliche Korrektur nach unten von Zahlen aus 2019).

"China, so glauben die meisten Beobachter, wird 2021 einen wirtschaftlichen Boom in einer Größenordnung erleben, wie ihn selbst die Chinesen seit Jahren nicht mehr erlebt haben. Der internationale Währungsfonds rechnet mit einem Plus von 7,9 Prozent."

--- Umpf. Boom. Ja, genau. Die Zahlen 2021 werden äußerst positiv aussehen, weil sie auf den äußerst schlechten aus 2020 basieren. Man wird im Endeffekt nur zu dem lange avisierten Wachstum zurückkehren.
Weiteres Bsp. für deutsche Medien:

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Chinas Wirtschaft wächst - trotz Corona

"Wir sehen noch viel Potenzial für den Konsum, da die Haushalte ihre im vergangenen Jahr angehäuften Ersparnisse abbauen werden"

--- Nur die Reichen in China konnten ihr Vermögen ausbauen & Geld beiseite legen. Für alle anderen sah es etwas anders aus.
Auch in diesem Artikel übrigens nicht der kleinste Hinweis auf die nachträglich geänderten Zahlen für 2019.
Auch die Welt scheint sich der Naivität anzuschließen:

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Deutsches Video:

--- Welt: "WACHSTUM TROTZ CORONA: "China wird die große Wirtschaftsmacht dieses Jahrzehnts sein""

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