China news roundup / Nachrichten 2020-08-18
English news:
China's Xi Jinping facing widespread opposition in his own party, insider claims
"Under the regime of Xi, the Chinese Communist party is not a force for progress for China. In fact, it is an obstacle to China’s progress"
--- But of course. Emperor Xi wants to go back in time, not forward.
"there was widespread opposition within the party but few dared to speak out, afraid of political retaliation in the form of internal party discipline and corruption charges"
--- & since virtually every upper echelon in the CCP is guilty of corruption, everyone has to be afraid.
"It is a vicious cycle. After a wrong decision is made, the result is not good. But those below are too afraid to tell him and wrong decisions continue to be made until the situation is out of control. In this vicious cycle, there is no way to stop the country from sliding towards disaster."
--- My words. (Well, not exactly, but the meaning is the same.)
The interview manuscript: 'He killed a party and a country': a Chinese insider hits out at Xi Jinping
China’s Communist Party expels outspoken retired professor over speeches
"Her speeches were of “extraordinarily execrable nature”, and seriously violated the political discipline of the party"
--- She criticised emperor Xi! There is nothing worse! This blasphemy should not only cost her the party membership, but her head! Such blasphemy!
& since there seem to be quite a number of heretics, even in the CCP, there needs to be some rectification:
Xi’s 2021 political-legal rectification campaign
Xinjiang Hospitals Aborted, Killed Babies Outside Family Planning Limits: Uyghur Obstetrician
"Enforcement of restrictions requiring women to space out pregnancies by at least three years included killing newborns who had been born after being carried to full term"
--- That counts as euthanasia, I suppose. Emperor Xi's China looks ever more like nazi Germany.
"There were babies born at nine months who we killed after inducing labor. They did that in the maternity wards, because those were the orders."
--- Maternity wards with Chinese characteristics.
"she took an unknown type of birth control pill for more than 10 years, which she believes caused her to lose her hair and experience memory loss"
--- Always told my Chinese students that taking these pills was not very dangerous (as they believed), but I didn't take into account that the pills they would take, would be made in China. Perhaps their fears were more realistic than I thought.
Confessions of a Xinjiang Camp Teacher
"Prisoners had the right to go to the bathroom three times a day, at fixed times. They had one 15 minute shower per month"
--- Hygiene with Chinese characteristics.
"there are four kinds of electric shock: the chair, the glove, the helmet, and anal rape with a stick"
--- Humane treatment with Chinese characteristics.
"When her turn came, there was no promised gynecological examination. Instead she was forcibly fitted with an IUD"
--- Honesty with Chinese characteristics.
Speaking of honesty: China claims it's doing nothing wrong:
China defends detention of Uighur model in Xinjiang
Russia and China are Penetrating Balkans at West’s Expense
"money-short economies of the region are lured by China’s offer of “easy money” in the form of soft loans. Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are prime targets"
--- &, as usual, power(& money)-hungry elites are willing helpers.
U.S. tightening restrictions on Huawei access to technology, chips
"The new actions, effective immediately, should prevent Huawei’s attempts to circumvent U.S. export controls"
--- Well, then they shouldn't have given Huawei so much time to prepare & stockpile chips.
How fake award for a tycoon left Oxford University open to Chinese influence
"I looked up the meaning of ‘academician’ and it is absolutely meaningless, it means anybody involved with the university, of any description. So I said there you go, we can put that on the certificate. In recognition of his contributions to the programme."
--- Handing out meaningless certificates. That's so very Chinese.
But, well, is Oxford University already so Chinese?
Teresa Cheng intervenes to stop police shooting case
"Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng has started proceedings to end a private prosecution against a police officer who shot a student in the abdomen with live ammunition in Sai Wan Ho last year"
--- Justice with Chinese characteristics. Now in Hong Kong.
Free-roaming dogs prevent giant pandas from thriving in the wild
"Dogs have to be removed from giant panda reserves if they are to survive in the wild. Predation, harassment and disease transmission by dogs can have large-scale edge effects in both fragmented habitats and protected nature reserves."
--- Not that predation is natural, right? Perhaps they should instead of "removing" dogs create habitats that are not so fragmented?
Getting a Foothold in China Comes With a Price
"BMW and other foreign manufacturers face the risk of persistent uncertainty. The problem is the state’s unpredictable role and sometimes sudden change of plans"
--- Which will only grow under emperor Xi's primacy of Marxism.
Photo of Chinese ambassador to Kiribati walking across backs of locals ‘misinterpreted’
"Everyone should be less hysterical about this and more respectful towards the diversity of Pacific ways, islanders should have cultural self-determination"
--- Haven't seen any hysteria about this, mostly slight criticism of the ambassador & some humour.
The problem with the ambassador walking over people is the symbolism & the ideas it may give Chinese diplomats.
China’s Economy Needs Institutional Reform Rather Than Additional Capital Deepening
"while GDP growth in China is a measure of the growth in economic activity, as it is in most economies, the relationship between economic activity and value creation is not the same in China as it is in most other countries"
--- How come? It can't be that the CCP is unreliable in publicising economic growth?!
"What China really needs is a transformation of its institutions in a direction that some might argue is very different from the direction it is currently following"
--- Emperor Xi knows best. All will be good. Certainly.
--- Other news (a lot):
The publishing empire helping China silence dissent in Hong Kong
Germany blocked Chinese metals takeover on military concerns
Ex-CIA officer arrested for allegedly selling secrets to China
US finalizes sale of 66 F-16 fighters to Taiwan as China tensions escalate
China unveils 'Sky Thunder' weapons system amid growing tensions with Taiwan
Trump dangles cash for US firms moving from China
Wuhan coronavirus: From silent streets to packed pools
Video News:
--- China Unscripted: "Debating Trump's WeChat Ban with Dr. Yang Jianli and Zhou Fengsuo"
--- CNBC: "China is one of the reasons why oil has been 'so resilient': Analyst"
--- Sky News (AUS): "Chinese dumping accusations are ‘bewildering’"
Deutsche Nachrichten:
Wandel durch Handel? Im Falle Chinas bleibt das ein frommer Wunsch
"Peter Altmaier (CDU), Merkels Wirtschaftsminister, fantasiert in Interviews immer noch von der magischen Kraft des Handels. „Ich war immer überzeugt und glaube immer noch daran, dass Veränderungen durch Handel erreicht werden können“"
--- Von einem Wirtschaftsminister sollte man etwas Realismus erwarten können. Vielleicht sollte er mal "Xis Gedanken" studieren.
Botschaft an Peking
"Normalerweise würde der Besuch des amerikanischen Gesundheitsministers Alex Azar in Taiwan in den vergangenen Tagen wohl kaum für Aufsehen sorgen"
--- Äh, wie bitte? Es gibt bei so ziemlich jedem Besuch auch deutlich niederrangiger Offizieller ein chinesisches Tantrum. Von daher ist es eher überraschend, daß wir nicht viel mehr Geschrei aus Peking vernommen haben.
"Es gilt zwar nicht als wahrscheinlich, dass Peking zeitnah die Invasion der Insel plant"
--- Kommt drauf an, wie man 'zeitnah' definiert. Kaiser Xi ist versessen darauf, Taiwan unter seiner Herrschaft heim ins Reich zu holen. Sobald er denkt, daß die VBA stark genug ist (oder glaubt, daß seine Zeit an der Spitze ausläuft), wird er wohl zuschlagen.
Taiwans Flagge in Somaliland
"Somaliland, das sich 1991 unabhängig erklärte, ist der einzige Teil von Somalia, wo es einen funktionierenden Staat gibt und nie radikale Islamisten die Macht ergriffen"
--- Was übrigens zeigt, daß das Chaos in Somalia keineswegs vorgezeichnet war.
Der Westen muss beweisen, dass er das bessere Leben bietet
"Ein Hybridsystem, das Marktdisziplin mit staatlicher Investitionslenkung kombiniert, und das so erfolgreich, das (sic!) China Investoren aus aller Herren Länder einen höchst attraktiven Markt bietet"
--- & einen höchst riskanten.
"Der Westen, so es ihn noch gibt, muss demonstrieren, dass Freiheit und Demokratie tatsächlich das bessere Leben bieten"
--- Schwierig, wenn es auch im Westen immer mehr Idioten gibt, die autokratische Ideen toll finden.
--- Weiteres: