General News and Translation of external news on Taiwan, Afghanistan and CCP
News (1)
NUG reports Junta's massacres of civilians to UN Security Council
Submitted ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September 2021, the report appeals to the international community to reject the credentials of the Junta to represent the people of Myanmar at the UN. Displeased by current Myanmar Ambassador to the UN U Kyaw Moe Tun’s support for the NUG, the Junta is trying to replace him with someone loyal to it.
While the Junta regime is committing daily atrocities across the country, U Aung Myo Min, the NUG’s human rights minister, told The Irrawaddy that the report detailing the massacres of civilian residents of Sagaing’s Kani Township provided strong evidence that the regime is guilty of war crimes.
The minister said, “Willful killing and torture of unarmed civilians; intentional, excessive use of force in conflict situations are all equivalent to war crimes.”
In July 2021, a thousand junta troops attacked villages in Kani Township, which is a hotbed of opposition to the regime, and laid waste to the area, including public property, during their raids. Villagers who fled the military operations said that when they returned to their homes, they found the bodies of many villagers killed by the troops.
U Aung Myo Min said that based on the accounts of locals who found the bodies and who witnessed the abductions of villagers who were later killed, the report concludes that 43 people were killed in four massacres in Kani Township between 1 and 28 July 2021.
In the first massacre, the corpses of four men were found on 3 July 2021, their heads almost completely destroyed by close-range gunshots.
In the second case, another 16 bodies were found with signs of severe torture, some with cuts and bruises on their faces and necks, on 11 and 12 July 2021. In the third case, 12 corpses were discovered on 27 July 2021. In the fourth, 11 badly decomposed bodies were found on 31 July 2021 as the villagers went in search of missing locals.
The fatalities included people over the age of 60 and one who was disabled. The bodies bore signs of severe torture and severe injuries from beatings, with cuts and burns all over their bodies, including their faces. Some were found with their hands tied behind their backs or hanging from trees.
Human rights organization the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in a separate report on the Kani massacres released on 18 August 2021, “It is necessary for the international community to act against this terrorist group and reject the murderous junta and illegitimate coup at the United Nations General Assembly. At the same time, the National Unity Government, with legitimacy granted by the people of Myanmar, must be recognized and given appropriate credentials by the international community as the legitimate government of Myanmar.”
Since the military overthrew Myanmar’s elected government on 1 February, at least 1,006 people have been killed in fewer than 200 days as the merciless Junta continues its brutal crackdown to quell opposition to the coup.
Those killed have included teenagers, young children, student activists, protesters, National League for Democracy (NLD) members and their relatives as well as bystanders, pedestrians and villagers.
More than 7,300 people including elected leaders, NLD party members, election commissioners, doctors, protesters, journalists, writers, artists and civilians have been detained.
Around 40 military troops based in Tanintharyi and Magwe regions have reportedly fled the armed forces and joined the uprising against the junta.
Last month more than 740 junta soldiers were killed and almost 370 wounded during 355 shootouts, assassinations and bomb attacks involving ethnic armed forces and the civilian People’s Defense Forces across Myanmar, according to the parallel civilian National Unity Government.
On Thursday morning, around 25 soldiers based in Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region, abandoned their posts with their firearms, according to the Intelligence Agency in Tanintharyi, which was formed by soldiers who have joined the civil disobedience movement.
The group posted on Facebook on Thursday that the troops were from Battalion 25 in the township.
“The defections have been confirmed. I heard from my friend in the military,” a Dawei resident said. “We don’t know their ranks. They took their weapons.”
Residents told The Irrawaddy regime forces are searching all vehicles and blocking roads in the township since early Thursday.
On Wednesday, around 15 personnel from a military weapons factory in Thayet Township, Magwe Region, have reportedly defected with their weapons.
However, the regime has denied the defections, saying it is propaganda to boost armed resistance against the junta.
It is the latest in a series of military defections. Several hundred soldiers and police have fled their posts since the February coup.
Myanmar Now recently reported that 1,500 soldiers had left the military.
For the first time in its long, 143-year history, Myanmar’s national lottery is being boycotted by the public as Myanmar people refuse to make any kind of payments to the military regime that seized power in a coup on 1 February 2021.
As part of a wider Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against the regime, the public has been boycotting any payments, including paying taxes and utility bills and buying lottery tickets.
As a result, the regime was recently forced to postpone the lottery draw and reduce the 1.5-billion-kyat (about US$911,000) first prize to 500 million kyats. It has also been unable to pay the prizes in full to the winners amid a cash shortage.
Once a common sight, lottery shops and lottery ticket hawkers have now vanished across the country, reflecting strong public opposition to the regime and marking a significant event in the history of Myanmar’s state lottery.
News (4)
Myanmar's state lottery started as royal lottery in 1878
According to historical records, the first state lottery was introduced in 1878 when Myanmar’s last monarch, King Thibaw, ascended to the throne. It was hugely popular with the public, as only 10,000 kyats of the sales revenues of 60,000 kyats went to the treasury of the Mandalay court; the remainder was distributed as prizes.
No wonder Mandalay folks were lured to buy lottery tickets, as the first person to win first prize, Mi Ohn, was paraded around the town on an elephant, the royal tusker only for royal family members and high-ranking ministers at the time. However, the lottery became so popular that people were not engaging in other businesses, forcing King Thibaw to halt the lottery in 1881.
The king even wrote off taxes for subjects who fell into poverty due to buying too many lottery tickets, and paid off their lottery-related debts for them, leading to the Burmese saying that “The king would pay for you if you are in debt.”
There was no lottery in the decades that followed the British occupation of all of Myanmar and their sending of King Thibaw into exile. The current lottery was introduced in 1938, shortly before World War II, as the British wanted to raise revenues in colonial Myanmar (then Burma). Again, people from both urban and rural Myanmar went crazy about the lottery. The first winner of the first prize was U Ne from Mon State’s Thaton.
Anti-colonial activists tried to persuade the people not to buy lottery tickets, but few could resist their lure. In successive periods after Myanmar’s independence, the public continued to indulge in fantasies of winning lucrative prizes.
Its popularity grew further when the jackpot was increased to 1.5 billion kyats under the since-ousted National League for Democracy government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. At the time, lottery shops were a common sight at crowded junctions, and lottery ticket hawkers pushed their carts along the streets while playing loud music.
News (5)
Lottery-mad Myanmar public turns back on State Sweepstakes under Junta
Things have completely reversed since the military’s 1 February coup as people began to boycott military-linked products and payments to the regime after it killed hundreds of pro-democracy protesters. The great majority of the people have boycotted the state lottery since its management was taken over by the military regime led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
As the popularity of the state lottery, known as Aung Bar Lay, declined, the National Unity Government (NUG) formed by the ousted NLD government and other ethnic representatives in April announced a plan to run its own lottery to raise funds for civil servants who are on strike to protest against the regime.
News (6)
NUG launches "Victorious Spring" lottery on 15 August 2021
The “Victorious Spring” lottery, named after Myanmar’s popular revolution against the junta, was launched on 15 August 2021. All 50,000 tickets put up for sale were sold out in just over one hour on the launch day despite the regime’s official threats to punish anyone who plays. And people bought the tickets not for the money, but for the merit.
On 18 August 2021, four days after the Victorious Spring lottery was launched, the junta-controlled Aung Bar Lay lottery department announced that the lottery prizes would be increased from 60 percent of sales revenues to 70 percent. The prizes will be paid in full at once; previously, those who won large prizes were paid their jackpots in installments.
Many believe the move is aimed at competing with the NUG’s lottery. It remains in question whether people will buy Aung Bar Lay lottery tickets, despite the regime’s promotion efforts.
The military regime is unaware—or at least pretends to be unaware—that people are not playing its lottery not because the prizes are small, but out of a determination to show their opposition to the military in whatever way they can. The fact that the public is boycotting the state lottery for the first time in 143 years shows just how much people loathe Min Aung Hlaing’s regime.
Police were investigating a report of a possible explosive device in a pickup truck outside the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill and have evacuated the area around the building.
U.S. Capitol Police said officers were 'responding to a suspicious vehicle near the Library of Congress' on Thursday morning.
The building is near the Capitol and the Supreme Court. Police have also evacuated the Cannon House Office Building. Congress is on break this week.
The US Capitol was put in lockdown on Thursday while police negotiated with a man in a pick-up truck who claimed to have a bomb, demanded to speak to Joe Biden and called for airstrikes in Afghanistan to 'kick the Taliban's a**'.
Ray Roseberry, 49, of North Carolina eventually surrendered to police after a five hour standoff.
At 9.15am this morning, Roseberry drove his black pick-up truck onto the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress, opposite the Capitol building.
Congress is in recess so no elected officials are there but there are staffers who are still working in the Capitol buildings.
Roseberry called 911, reporting that he had a bomb and wanted to speak to the President.
He then started a Facebook livestream - which has since been removed - where he claimed he had a 'tannerite bomb', and claimed the 'revolution is here' while complaining about the result of the 2020 election.
Tannerite is a binary explosive used for firearms practice.
Roseberry demanded airstrikes in Afghanistan, where tens of thousands are waiting to be rescued by the US military after Biden's decision to withdraw troops.
He surrendered to police shortly before 2.30pm. Police are yet to clear the area, or ascertain if the bomb is real.
The lockdown came months after a pipe bomb was left at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee in Washington a day before thousands of pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in January.
News (8)
Each of China's four airlines flying to the U.S. has a passenger load factor of no more than 40%
Editor : Lu Yongxin / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/08/19/a103193961.html
In response to the CCP government’s restrictions on 4 United Airlines flights, the U.S. Department of Transportation stated on 18 August 2021 that it will restrict the passenger loading of some Chinese airlines for 4 consecutive weeks. The passenger load factor (PLF) rate is less than 40%.
The incident began on 21 July 2021. After 5 passengers who flew from San Francisco to Shanghai tested positive, the CCP informed United Airlines on 6 August that it would impose sanctions.
The US government stated that the CCP’s "blocking measures" policy violates the air service agreement between countries and "improperly pushes the responsibility of passengers arriving in China for the diagnosis of COVID-19 on the airline industry."
The U.S. Department of Transportation stated that the airlines "cannot independently verify the positive test results claimed by the relevant Chinese authorities. In addition, they cannot confirm where or when the passenger has contracted the virus."
The Biden government stated that it will impose the same restrictions on four flights for four consecutive weeks, including one flight each of Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and XiamenAir.
According to this order, the U.S. Department of Transportation will impose a restriction that the load factor of a single flight from China to the U.S. is not higher than 40% on the above-mentioned four Chinese airlines that provide scheduled flights between China and the United States for four consecutive weeks.
United Airlines said, "We are very pleased to see the Ministry of Transport take this action in order to maintain the fairness of this important market." The Chinese Embassy in Washington has yet to comment.
News (9)
Taliban is intensifying hunt for Afghans who work for the U.S. and UK despite claims of amnesty
Reporter : Ross Ibbetson, Daily Mail
Taliban militants are intensifying their hunt for people who worked with UK, US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, according to a confidential report to the UN.
Jihadists are going door-to-door to threaten relatives of civil servants, interpreters and other consular staff, while other militants are even stopping people outside Kabul airport.
Despite the Taliban's claims of an 'amnesty', terrifying video today showed fighters spraying assault rifle bullets just yards away from women and children gathered at the airport's perimeter.
The UN dossier leaked to The New York Times says the Taliban are 'arresting and/or threatening to kill or arrest family members of target individuals unless they surrender themselves to the Taliban.'
It was filed to the UN by the Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, a group which provides intelligence on global conflicts.
Reporter : Kipp Jones, Western Journal
President Joe Biden, a lifelong ineffectual leader who has shown callousness with an alarming frequency this year, brushed off on Wednesday the deaths of Afghans who fell from a departing airplane while trying to escape Taliban control over Kabul.
Biden had sat down with journalist George Stephanopoulos for an interview when he let his mask slip again.
Biden accepted his first interview with ABC News when he spoke about the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. However, he revealed himself as a person lacking any empathy for those who died as a result of his decision to pull the military out of country with no apparent plan.
Biden claimed there was “no way” Afghanistan’s armed forces could have left following a 20-year war “without chaos ensuing.”
He then brushed off the deaths of people who clung to a jet plane to face certain peril, seemingly annoyed that several days had elapsed and he was still having to hear about it.
Stephanopoulos, who actually asked some pointed questions, showed the entire world that Biden does not care about human suffering.
“We’ve all seen the pictures. We’ve seen those hundreds of people packed in a C-17. We’ve seen Afghans falling,” the former Clinton White House communications director began, but was cut off by a particularly ornery Biden. Actually, those images that shocked the world had surfaced only two days prior to Biden’s cold-hearted comments.
Those comments should elicit complete disgust from any person was still giving Biden the benefit of doubt. Anyone who felt Biden deserved a chance to further run the U.S. and lead its allies should be awake now.
Biden wants people to get over tragedies because it is getting in the way of his domestic agenda. That agenda thus far seems to be ruining lives, financially straining families and will soon include leaving long-term care facilities and nursing homes short-handed after he forces vaccine holdout workers in those places into unemployment because of regulations requiring full vaccination for all employees.
Biden has made it clear that he does not care how policies like lockdowns or a southern border wide open to illegal immigration have affected everyday Americans.
The signs of Biden’s callous ways have been there for years — even when he was dealing with potential voters on the campaign trail. Just this week, since Biden botched the Afghan exit, stony-hearted comments he allegedly made in 2010 came to light.
As the U.K. Daily Mail noted Tuesday, Biden was quoted in a 2010 diary entry written by the late Richard Holbrooke, special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan during former President Barack Obama’s first term, as saying the U.S. needed to get out of Afghanistan a decade ago, regardless of the consequences.
According to Holbrooke’s diary, Biden was asked about the need to protect Afghan civilians when he said: “F*** that, we don’t have to worry about that. We did it in Vietnam, Nixon and Kissinger got away with it.”
Biden was referring to the country’s chaotic exit from Saigon in 1975.
As bad as the fall of Saigon was, an American humiliation seared into the memory of the world, Biden’s Afghanistan disaster is making it look mild. Biden created a situation that left people so desperate they climbed on the outside of an airplane, only to fall to their deaths.
News (11)
"Disgusting" t-shirt blasted for mocking Afghans from falling from plane in Kabul
Reporter : Ben Cost, The New York Post
Some online bottom-feeders are being blasted for hawking a T-shirt that mocks Afghans who died after falling from a plane in an attempt to flee the Taliban this week.
The offensive T-shirt, which is emblazoned with the words “Kabul Skydiving Club Est. 2021,” surfaced on several off-brand online clothing stores, including Tee4Sport and tshirtatlowprice.com. The appalling paraphernalia also depicts silhouettes of several individuals plummeting from a military aircraft.
It was an insensitive shot at multiple people — including a 17-year-old boy — who died after plummeting from a US Air Force jet in Kabul while desperately attempting to flee Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover last week.
“Featuring the scene of the plane flying in the sky and suddenly, there are two people falling from it, the Kabul Skydiving Club Shirt is officially becoming a phenomenon and goes viral on the Internet after that!” reads the thoughtless description. “For those who are into Parachuting, skydiving, those who love jumping from the airplane to experience the highest mood, this shirt is totally suitable to wear!”
In an apparent attempt to prove they’re not terrible people, the shirt’s creators paradoxically offer condolences to the victims of the tragedy. “We were truly heartbroken and empathetic with the horrifying death of 2 people falling from the plane,” they write in the ham-handed post, adding, “and it was a shock when the rest of the world understand how the people of Afghanistan are facing the situation over there.”
“As Afghans are fleeing and clinging to planes out of desperation, someone decided to capitalize on their pain and misery with this repulsive t-shirt,” fumed Holly Dagres, an Iranian-American senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. “It’s being sold on at least half a dozen t-shirt printing websites right now. Humans can be so cruel.”
Meanwhile, an advert of the morbid memorabilia has since been removed from Reddit after users overwhelmingly voted that it showcased “moral/mental/physical corruption or perversion.”
Alas, cruel clothing hawkers attempting to profit off misery is not a new phenomenon. In June, Amazon’s US store pulled a controversial children’s T-shirt that depicted convicted former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd.
Ref: https://nypost.com/2021/08/19/t-shirt-blasted-for-mocking-afghans-falling-from-plane-in-kabul/
News (12)
3 Democratic Party members jointly sent a letter to Xiao Meiqin urging Taiwan to help solve the US chip shortage
Image : Reuters revealed on 19 August 2021 that three senators from the Democratic Party jointly sent a letter to Xiao Meiqin, urging her to convey the US's hope that Taiwan would help alleviate the pressure of chip shortages. (Provided by the representative office in the United States)
The global chip shortage problem is getting more and more serious. Some foreign media revealed today that three Democratic senators in the United States have sent a letter to my country’s representative to the United States, Xiao Meiqin, hoping that she would ask the Taiwan government for more assistance to solve the United States' problem of continuous shortage of chips.
According to a report by Reuters at night of 19 August, Michigan State Senator Gary Peters, Debbie Stabenow and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown jointly sent a letter to Xiao Meiqin on 18 August, praising and thanking her for her efforts to solve the US chip shortage problem, and affirm that Taiwan can get out of the plight of the covid epidemic in such a fast time and smoothly control the epidemic.
The three senators revealed in the letter that the information they have at hand shows that the chip shortage problem is likely to continue until 2022, and the United States is currently the most severely affected country in the world. It is hoped that Xiao Meiqin will continue to cooperate with the Taiwan government and the Taiwanese government to reduce the economic pressure on their states; and they will also actively call on the Biden government to provide Taiwan with additional covi vaccines.
In this regard, the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan said today that it could not comment immediately.
Reuters said that the shortage of chips in the United States has caused the suspension of auto-related industries, especially in states that are highly dependent on the auto industry, and the economy has been severely affected. Prior to this, the U.S. Department of Commerce specially invited large semiconductor manufacturers and automakers to hold an online meeting on 20 May 2021 to discuss how to solve the global chip shortage. At that time, Taiwan’s TSMC was invited.
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News (22)
Liu Taiying: If KMT wants to win 2024, Hou Youyi will have to cooperate with Ke Wenzhe
Image : Former Kuomintang Party Committee Chairman Liu Taiying pointed out that if the Kuomintang wants to win the 2024 presidential election, it has to pair the New Taipei Mayor Hou Youyi with Taipei Mayor Ke Wenzhe, so as to have a chance. (Data photo, synthesized by this newspaper)
Liu Taiying said that Hou Youyi is the most prestigious person in the blue camp, but now the KMT has only 20% of the votes left, and Ke P currently has 15% to 16%. If the Kuomintang is willing to recommend Hou Youyi to cooperate with Ke P, There is still a glimmer of hope of victory.
"Ke P once came to me, and I also persuaded him to cooperate with the Kuomintang. Otherwise, if he can't stand for election on his own, and neither will be elected by the Kuomintang, he must have been won by the DPP."
Regarding Liu Taiying's statement, Taipei spokesperson Chen Zhihan responded that Mayor Ke is currently focused on municipal administration and has no relevant plans.
However, Liu Taiying said that the KMT is now partially disintegrated and is not united at all. The DPP will continue to be in power in 2024.
Ref: https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3642891
News (23)
Major Study: Covi vaccines less effective against Delta variant, as good as "natural infection"
Reporter : Jack Philipps, The Epoch Times PREMIUM
The effectiveness of widely used covi vaccines against the Delta variant (Covi72) becomes weaker within three months of inoculation, said a study from Oxford University, which also said that two doses of the vaccine provided as much protection as “having had COVID-19 before through natural infection.”
The preprint survey, carried out by the University of Oxford and the Office for National Statistics and published on 19 August, looked at more than 3 million PCR tests across the UK from a random sample of people as Covi72 became widespread this year.
“People who had been vaccinated after already being infected with COVID-19 had even more protection than vaccinated individuals who had not had COVID-19 before,” Oxford said in a news release about the study. The researchers noted that while the vaccines made by AstraZeneca and Pfizer showed waning protection after several months, the vaccines are still effective to “ensure protection” against the Delta strain of SARS-CoV-2 (covi).
They added, “Two doses of either vaccine still provided at least the same level of protection as having had COVID-19 before through natural infection.
“With Delta, Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines still offer good protection against new infections, but effectiveness is reduced compared with Alpha.”
The researchers also found that those who had Covi72 infections after two doses had “similar peak levels” of covi as those who weren’t vaccinated.
With the Alpha variant, the peak virus levels of people who were vaccinated “were much lower,” the study found.
Two doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines provide protection levels of as much as 75 and 61 percent, respectively, about 90 days after inoculation, they noted. That’s down from 85 and 68 percent, respectively, two weeks after the second dose was administered, it also found.
Despite the findings, researchers touted the covi vaccines in an accompanying statement.
“Both of these vaccines, at two doses, are still doing really well against Delta,” said Sarah Walker, an Oxford University professor of medical statistics and the survey’s chief investigator. “When you start very, very high, you got a long way to go.”
Walker was not involved in work on AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which was initially developed by immunology experts at Oxford.
“We’re seeing here the real-world data of how two vaccines are performing, rather than clinical trial data, and the data sets all show how Covi72 has blunted the effectiveness of both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs,” said Simon Clarke, an associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading.
The researchers would not project how much more the protection would drop over time, but suggested that the efficacy of the two vaccines studied would converge within four to five months after the second shot.
Another finding made was that a single shot of the Moderna vaccine has similar or greater effectiveness against the Delta variant as single doses of other vaccines.
Meanwhile, the time between vaccine doses, researchers found, does not affect the “effectiveness in preventing new infections,” although “younger people have even more protection from vaccination than older people.”
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News
(26)
Hua Chunying praises Taliban's violence against civilians
On 19 August 2021, Hua Chunying, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China, spoke about the Taliban at a regular press conference.
In the words of the so-called “international media”, she said that the Taliban’s current performance is “good, positive, and pragmatic”. They “will not repeat the past history” and are now “more sober and rational than the last time they were in power.”
She also "educates" people who do not trust the Taliban not only to look at "how in the past", but also to "how is now". She said, “If you ignore the development of the situation, you will be ‘carving the boat and begging for a sword’ and will not draw realistic conclusions.”
Although the Chinese Communist Party media had already started to clean up the Taliban, what Hua Chunying said surprised the outside world. From which "actuality" did she start to see the Taliban become what she said?
Let's also take a look at some of the actions of the Taliban since they captured Afghanistan on 16 August to verify the facts.
On 16 August, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen called the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and emphasized that they would not retaliate and that they were "people's servants." On the 17th, the Taliban said that they wanted peace and would respect women's rights within the framework of Islamic law.
These are all verbal promises, which sound very gentle, and are quite different from their previous practices. In response, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded that the outside world will make judgments based on what this organization does, not what it said. Many Afghans also said that they will wait and see.
Others pointed out that the Taliban have all said the words "the public servant of the people", and it sounds like they have learned it from the CCP. Some cartoons have also appeared on the Internet, satirizing the Taliban as the true story of the CCP.
So, what are the actual actions of the Taliban?
On 18 August, hundreds of people in Jalalabad, the fifth largest city in Afghanistan, took to the streets to protest. They waved the Afghan national flag. As a result, Taliban militants shot at the crowd, causing 2 deaths and 12 injuries.
19 August is Afghanistan’s
Independence Day, and it is also the day when the Taliban announced the
establishment of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan". According to
Reuters, on the same day, people in the eastern city of Asadabad in Afghanistan
waved national flags to celebrate and were shot by the Taliban. The incident
resulted in several deaths. It is not clear whether the victims were shot or
trampled to death.
On the same day, the Pentagon correspondent Jeff Schogol of the military news media Task & Purpose posted a video on Twitter, which was passed to him by locals in Afghanistan. The video showed that the streets outside Kabul airport were crowded with people, and the gunfire at the scene was as intense as firecrackers. People either hugged their heads and squatted in the corner or hid in a panic on the lower side of the road. The scene was very chaotic.
Jeff Schogol asked, "How can (local) Americans and Afghans overcome this difficulty?"
Clarissa Ward, a female CNN reporter, also went to check the situation outside the Kabul airport in person. The footage shot showed that gunshots were heard from time to time at the scene, and Ward was quickly spotted by a Taliban member. The man carried an AK-47 on his shoulders and a whip in his hand. He also said that if Ward wanted to talk to him, he must first cover his face with a veil. After that, several Taliban soldiers attacked the crowd with guns.
In addition, BBC anchor Yalda Hakim also posted a video on Twitter, showing that many people, including the elderly, weak, women and children, were waiting outside the Kabul airport with their luggage. Taliban armed with guns shuttled among the crowd. They randomly beat people with whips.
These are all the latest facts after the Taliban captured Afghanistan. Everyone believes that it is in line with Hua Chunying's description of "good, positive, and rational", or is it just the opposite?
News (27)
Afghan mothers and children leave the U.S. military to ensure safe passage to the airport
There are still some videos circulating on the Internet, breaking the hearts of many people.
For example, Afghan parents who were unable to enter the airport tried to throw their children over the barbed wire to have British soldiers take the children out of the country; others handed the children out from above the fence.
An officer of the British parachute
regiment said, "The mothers who were beaten by the Taliban were desperate.
They shouted 'Save our children' while throwing their children at us.... At the
end of the day, we (soldiers) cried."
At the same time, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul stated on Wednesday (18 August) that the U.S. government cannot ensure the safety of traffic to Kabul International Airport. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that the U.S. military "has no ability to leave the airport and expand their action in Kabul to find the trapped Americans.”
Biden said on the same day that the United States would "do everything possible" to withdraw the Americans and American allies in Afghanistan before the deadline (31 August). If the mission cannot be completed by that time, the U.S. military will stay in Afghanistan until all U.S. citizens are evacuated.
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CCP wants the Taliban to cause trouble to the United States?
Unrest broke out in Afghanistan, and the US government was struggling to deal with it, but the CCP has repeatedly showing good to the Taliban. What are they calculating?
Current affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan analyzed that the CCP praised the Taliban for two purposes: One is to encourage the Taliban to continue to "normalize" and not to be radicalized. This can weaken the voice of radical forces in the organization and prevent them from losing control of terrorism. This is to pave the way for the possible recognition of the Taliban regime in the future.
Seth G. Jones, Vice President of international security projects at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank, told VOA that sources in Afghanistan told him that the Taliban had the support of China (the CCP). However, some pro-communist Hong Kong media recently published articles stating that the CCP has no intention of implementing its own model in Afghanistan, nor does it want to see the current situation in Afghanistan. The two sources of news seem to be contradictory.
Tang Jingyuan believes that the CCP is indeed in a wait-and-see state. Although it deliberately instructs the Taliban to cause trouble to the United States, it does not currently have such influence, so the first thing the CCP asks is that the Taliban should not make trouble for itself.
In the past, the United States
stabilized the situation in Afghanistan, and the Chinese Communists benefited. Now
that the United States is withdrawing, if the CCP wants to influence the
Taliban, it has to spend its energy and money to do a lot of things first.
News
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Xi Gang sets the tone for "common prosperity", experts speed up the collection of property taxes
On 17 August 2021, Xi Jinping set the tone to promote the so-called "common prosperity." On 19 August, the state media "Economic Daily" published an article on the front page, claiming to "build a pilot zone for the reform of the income distribution system and boost common prosperity."
The article was written by Zhejiang University professor Li Shi and others. It is recommended that property taxes such as real estate tax and inheritance gift tax be levied in a timely manner to adjust the income of high-income groups; limit unreasonable income, including gray income and monopoly sectors high income, etc.; it is also recommended to explore the incentive mechanism of charity to create a relaxed environment for the development of charity.
Among these words, the two points that have triggered the most discussion are "property taxation" and "high-income groups".
Some Weibo netizens said, "If the property has not been disclosed yet, real estate tax will be levied?" Some people also asked, "How do you count as a high-income group?"
According to the definition of the National Bureau of Statistics of the Communist Party of China in 2018, China's high-income group refers to people with a monthly income of 10,000 RMB or more, that is, people with an annual income of 120,000 RMB or more. Therefore, this "common prosperity" policy is not aimed at all the rich and powerful people, but also the countless middle class.
Someone complained on the Internet, "I am still carrying a mortgage of several million, and you are coming to collect my property tax?" "Common prosperity = common poverty."
Speaking of "common poverty," Bao Pengshan, a professor in the Department of Chinese at the Open University of Shanghai, once interpreted a kind of manipulation of the people mentioned in "Book of Merchants". The country is more powerful, and the more powerful is the king."
What do you mean? Bao Pengshan explained that those in power deliberately let the poor get rich and the rich keep getting poor. What happens when the poor become rich? To make him poor again, he has to toss like this over and over again.
What is the result of repeated tossing? It just makes people feel insecure. If the people of a country do not have a sense of security, there will be no qualitative, no fixed character and no perseverance. In this way, they can only find an external power to rely on and find a sense of attachment. Such a crowd is easy to control.
Let’s look at it by comparison. After
the CCP seized power, it fought against the landlords and the rich, and
"divided up the local tyrants to divide the fields." Now it wants to
make the high-income group poor. Does it also hide this purpose?
News
(30)
Let Xiamen people store their goods and plan to reclaim the sea to build an airport
In addition to targeting high-income groups, two other actions by the CCP have also sparked speculation recently.
One is that on 13 August, the Emergency Management Bureau of Xiamen, Fujian Province issued a document, in the name of "recommendations", requiring citizens to reserve necessary emergency supplies and list the basic and expanded versions of material reserve recommendations.
The basic list is divided into three categories: Emergency supplies, emergency tools, and emergency medicines, and 10 types of materials. The expanded version is composed of 67 types of materials in six categories.
Senior media person Hong Tao told Radio Free Asia that at this sensitive moment, the official issuing of such documents in Xiamen, a city that has always been regarded as the front line of confrontation in the Taiwan Strait, cannot but make people think.
He said, "It may also be a state of emergency drill. It is nothing more than the fact that the relevant parties seem to attach importance to it, convey a kind of information, and create some tension. Because it is in Fujian and Xiamen, many people speculate that it may be related to the situation in the Taiwan Strait. It’s hard to say what the reason is."
A person in the legal profession believes that such a unified official directive is itself an act of combat readiness. In recent years, the CCP’s approach has become more and more radical. So it is not ruled out that they have an attempt to take risks in the Taiwan Strait.
He said, "The Chinese Communist regime has a characteristic. It wants to achieve a goal at all costs.... As long as it doesn't collapse on its own, anything else is fine."
This announcement also caused concern among the people. Some people in the local business community revealed that after the news spread, local businessmen felt uneasy and worried that if the situation in the Taiwan Strait deteriorates, their life-long accumulation may be in vain.
In addition to this document, another suspicious move of the CCP is that it plans to invest 3 billion RMB to reclaim land in the sea near Pingtan Island in Fujian Province, which is the nearest to Taiwan’s main island, and build a maritime airport.
According to CCTV’s news on 17 August,
the site of Pingtan Airport is Dashayu and Xiaoshayu in front of Macau. The
specific construction area extends to the east coast of Macau in the east and
Huandao East Road in the west to Pingtan Island. At present, most of this area
is ocean, and the first thing to do in the project is to reclaim the sea to
make land.
So, how sensitive is Pingtan's geographic location?
Pingtan is only 68 nautical miles from the nearest point of Hsinchu in Taiwan, which is equivalent to 125 km, which is also the narrowest place in the Taiwan Strait. In times of hostility and tension between the two sides of the strait, Fujian is often regarded as the first line of operations against Taiwan. Therefore, whether the upcoming Pingtan Airport will be used for military purposes in operations against Taiwan naturally attracts attention.
However, according to the "Implementation Plan for the Construction of the Pilot Zone for a Powerful Transportation Country in Fujian Province" quoted by many media, the main consideration for Fujian Province seems to be the use of economic development and the use of economic integration and exchange with Taiwan.
There are many airports, military bases and military deployments in Fujian Province that are used for combat against Taiwan. The authorities have not stated whether the Pingtan Airport will have or will have military functions after its completion.
News (31) to (40) / Host : Li Dayu / Publisher : Dayu News Insider / Editor : Li Hao / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/8/19/n13173376.htm
News (31)
Taliban rebelled, beat women to death, rockets threatened to suppress resistance
In the past few days, things in Afghanistan have become the headlines of the world media, and the Taliban's every move has also attracted people's attention. On 17 August, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid also told the outside world at a press conference that it would allow the peaceful transfer of power and respect women’s rights within the limits permitted by Islamic law. As soon as the voice fell, there were slaps on their faces.
First of all, the media
exposed that on the eve of the Taliban’s seizure of power, around the end of
July, a group of Taliban militants broke into the home of civilian Naja in an
occupied area in northern Afghanistan. She was a 45-year-old mother with 4
children, this group of Taliban asked Naja to cook for them, but this family
was poor and said that there was no food to cook, these people went to her
house many times to persecute them, until the fourth time, the mother said
"I Very poor, I can’t cook for you.” As a result, these militants became
furious and beat Naja with AK47s, causing her to die. Naja’s children witnessed
all this with their own eyes.
In Kabul, the Taliban arrested a group of people on the street for unknown charges and told them to lean on the side of the street. Among them, armed men even held rockets at them. Let alone the parties, netizens will be scared when they see them.
Another example is the latest. On 18 August, in Jalalabad, the capital city of Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, a group of Afghan citizens gathered on the street, waving the three-color Afghan national flag and expressing their right. Protests against Taliban rule include marches and rallies. Some people climbed to the top of the building, pulled out the Taliban flag, and waved the Afghan flag. Many people looked around below and many men whistled in agreement.
As a result, Taliban militants were recruited and fired at the gathering crowd. It is currently known that at least 2 deaths and 10 injuries were caused. The representatives of the people who participated in the rally then held a press conference and cried out in front of reporters about the incident. People have commented that the Taliban say one thing and do another thing, and are afraid that people will express their opposition publicly. Many Chinese audiences should be very familiar with this scene.
At the same time, in
Asadabad, another provincial capital of Afghanistan, many Afghans waved the
tricolour national flag to resist the rule of the Taliban. It can be said that
these kinds of things are gradually increasing in Afghanistan.
News (32)
Taliban
violent torture, Kabul airport blocked, people were injured or trampled to
death while others managed to escape
Because people really have lingering fears about the Taliban's reign of terror, the experience of the Taliban when they came to power 20 years ago is a vivid goal for many Afghans. First of all, the Taliban's punishment is very harsh. The thieves’ hands will be chopped. Big holes will be dug for women who commit adultery to bury their lower bodies in the soil, so that people, who are standing around them, will stone them to death; if a woman has premarital sex or if someone is drunk, they will be subjected to caning. As for entertainment activities such as movies and music, they are completely banned. These decrees are called Sharia Law.
In addition, girls can no longer go to school at the age of 10 and must be covered up. They are not allowed to go to public places without the company of their husband or elder brother. Moreover, the Taliban tried their best to shield terrorists, becoming an umbrella for the evil forces of the world, and undermining culture and beliefs.
In addition to the bombing of the historic Bamiyan Buddha in Afghanistan in March 2001, in February of the same year, all artworks that violated Islamic teachings in the Afghan Museum were destroyed, many of which were priceless treasures. These actions are very similar to the CCP Red Guards.
Out of antipathy to the Taliban, some people chose to take to the streets to protest, while others still tried their best to flee Afghanistan. If people run away, whose leeks are the Taliban cut? This group of bandits told the public well, saying they were different, and persuaded everyone not to leave, and to stay, they would not settle accounts after the fall. The words are still in their ears, but how did the Taliban do it?
The best shortcut to leave Afghanistan now is the Kabul airport controlled by the US military. So many Afghans still go to Kabul airport, and the United States also allows Afghans to enter the airport. However, Taliban militants set up armed checkpoints outside the airport to intercept them. They used guns, sticks, canes, and even rockets to intimidate and drive the crowds, and they have caused casualties.
A local reporter from the Los Angeles Times in Afghanistan said that in front of him, at least six people were injured as a result of attacks by Taliban militants, including women and children.
In addition, because of the Taliban's real fire and ammunition, people who wanted to break into the airport were panicked and even stampede occurred. A 25-year-old girl, Aisha Ahmad, said that the people at the scene were very frightened, and she also saw women and children trampled by the turbulent crowd.
Some people also took a different path and climbed in with rope on the outer wall of the airport. In order to enter the airport controlled by the United States, these Afghans also struggled.
Not only the general public who want to leave, but even the queen-level singer of the Afghan pop music scene was rushing to take the U.S. military transport plane. Aryana Sayeed, the Afghan star, posted a photo on her IG, showing that she had already boarded a U.S. C-17 transport plane, and it happened to be the plane full of 640 people.
She said she was going
to be the last soldier to leave her home country, and now she has done it. Of
course, there may be people who want her to persist but she can persist to this
point. She is at least better than the Afghan President Ghani who fled in the
first place. Sayeed's final destination is Istanbul, where her other residence
is located.
News (33)
The United Kingdom and the United States accept nearly 50,000 Afghan refugees
The United States is currently preparing to accept 22,000 Afghans who have fled, and British Prime Minister Johnson is even more generous, saying that the country will accept 25,000 Afghans. This is another problem created for European and American countries after the Taliban counterattacked.
In fact, apart from Afghans, American citizens in Afghanistan have not yet been evacuated. There are still about 10,000 American citizens stranded outside Kabul. This is the number reported by CNN, but according to the Washington Post, the number is even higher, with 15,000 American citizens stranded in Afghanistan.
Fox News reported that according to the information they received from the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Defense on 17 August, the authorities still had no specific evacuation plan for the 15,000 people as of that day. However, Sullivan, the National Security Adviser of the White House, later stated that he would withdraw all Americans from Afghanistan as soon as possible.
The current Afghan
Taliban are more dangerous than before because they have taken over a huge
amount of American weapons.
Trump (Trump)’s eldest son, Trump Jr, said that the Taliban now owns more U.S. Black Hawk helicopters than there are in 166 other countries in the world. Advanced American weapons worth about 20 billion U.S. dollars are now owned by the Taliban.
Even so, in Afghanistan,
Afghanistan’s Vice President, Amrullah Saleh, dares to challenge the Taliban. Together
with Nasalih, as well as Ahmed Massoud, the son of the Afghan anti-Taliban hero
Masoud, they joined forces to form an army in the Panjesir Valley north of
Kabul and are currently fighting the Taliban. Saleh vowed not to share the same
life with the Taliban.
According to news on 18 August, Saleh and Little Massoud have led their troops to retake a capital city in Afghanistan, Charikar in Parvan Province, and there will be a chance to capture the original U.S. forces. If the Baghlan Air Force Base can win this place, perhaps for this anti-Taliban army, it may be regarded as a base that may be contacted for military assistance from the West in the future.
Saleh told the media that they did not lose their morale and they would not argue with Biden over the issue of Afghanistan. This is of no avail. He said that what they have to do now is to prove that Afghanistan is not Vietnam, and they see there is a huge opportunity ahead.
Saleh has always been
tough on the Taliban. He has been assassinated by the Taliban many times, but
failed. After the Afghan President Ghani fled on 15 August, according to Afghan
law, Saleh, who is actually the Vice President, should be now Afghanistan’s
"caretaker president". Heroes come out of troubled times. Let's see
what kind of record Saleh will create next.
News (33)
Congress
calls on U.S. troops to postpone withdrawal, 6,000 troops rush to help
At the same time, there are more than forty congressmen from both parties in the United States who sent a letter to Biden, calling on him to extend the length of the U.S. military’s presence in Afghanistan, but the purpose is not to fight the Taliban, but to continue to protect the Kabul airport and cover the diaspora and evacuate foreigners and some Afghans. Currently, the Pentagon plans to bring back 5,000 to 9,000 people from Afghanistan every day. Many Afghan refugees will be temporarily resettled at a military base in Texas.
News (34)
Taiwanese congressmen mention women's military training. U.S. treats Taiwan like Israel?
The CCP has recently launched a new round of cultural attacks and military intimidation against Taiwan because of the Afghan issue. The official media frequently shouted "Afghanistan today, Taiwan tomorrow" in an attempt to destroy Taiwan's psychology, followed by testing the US and Western reactions.
U.S. National Security
Adviser Sullivan made a clear statement after that. He rejected the statement
of "Afghanistan today and Taiwan tomorrow" and pointed out that
Afghanistan is different from Taiwan, and the U.S. commitment to Taiwan and
Israel will be as strong as ever. Here, he compares Taiwan with Israel, the
traditional ally of the United States, which shows that the United States has
placed Taiwan in a very important position.
At the same time, many people on the island of Taiwan began to reflect on the Afghan incident and tried to strengthen Taiwan’s own defense. For example, Taipei City Councillor Xu Qiaoxin suggested that the Taiwan authorities resume conscription for one year in addition to recruiting soldiers, and women should also participate in training.
News (35)
The CCP receives "special attention" from the Taliban
While the CCP continues to exert pressure on the Taiwan Strait, can it gain any benefits from the Taliban's seizure of Afghanistan? Many previous analysts believed that the CCP and the Taliban might cooperate to develop rare earth resources in Afghanistan, and it would be convenient for the CCP to use Afghanistan as a springboard to affect the situation in Central Asia and the Middle East.
Now the CCP’s propaganda
agency has shown affection for the "special friendship" between China
and Taliban.
According to the latest news, Wang Yu, the CCP’s ambassador to Afghanistan, told the Global Times that the Taliban regime has made a security commitment to the CCP’s embassy. Wang Yu also took an exterior photo of the CCP’s Afghan embassy. Compared with the Western embassies that evacuated because of "conspiracy", the CCP’s bloody flag is still posing in the sky above the embassy.
In addition, there are
embassies of Russia, Pakistan and Iran, which are currently open. But so far,
Russia has not yet expressed its intention to establish diplomatic relations
with the Taliban.
However, the Taliban, which has just seized power in Afghanistan, have an unstable foothold. They have their own ghosts with the CCP and have their own goals. The CCP wants to be the world leader, and the Taliban also want to maximize the influence of their Islamic power in the world. There will be no room for two tigers. There will be conflicts in the future, and this potential difference may also attack the CCP at any time.
News (36)
Five
things give Xi Jinping headache
From the current point of view, we can foresee at least five points, the Taliban may become the CCP’s “negative equity” instead of creating income.
Third, the Taliban are
also well versed in blackmail, kidnapping and threats. Everyone is a rogue
bandit. They understand each other whether the Taliban will use the occupied
Afghanistan, known as the "Imperial Tomb," to bite the CCP and use
terror. The activities threaten the so-called "One Belt One Road" in
exchange for the CCP's financial and material support, and become another
"taddy" of the CCP besides the Russian father. It is also impossible
to say.
Fourth, the Western countries now claim to cut off the Taliban’s financial aid. The Afghan government’s original overseas deposits will not be used by the Taliban, and the Western countries’ funding for Afghanistan will no longer be given to the Taliban.
In this way, what does the Taliban live on? Those buddies around Afghanistan do not have much money but the CCP has some savings from cutting leeks. Think about it, everyone, if the Taliban do not ask the CCP for money, who do they want? Before they seized power, they had already gone to Tianjin to meet with Wang Yi. The content of the discussion may include the exchange of interests with the CCP.
But what does the Taliban have to change? It is nothing more than playing hooligans internationally, sometimes helping the CCP, or sharing some resources in Afghanistan, or asking the CCP for "remuneration" for not intervening in Xinjiang affairs.
Fifth, this point will be deeper. Taiwan's "Xin Media" reported that a Taiwanese American captain surnamed Zhang shared his knowledge of this place based on his 9-month combat experience in Afghanistan in 2010.
He first talked about the difficulties encountered by the U.S. military in Afghanistan. For example, there is no tap water in Afghanistan. The raw water in the local wild environment contains a lot of bacteria. Drinking it is easy to get sick. Therefore, drinking water must be transported from abroad. If you use local water to bathe, keep your mouth shut and avoid drinking. This is just one of the many inconveniences. There is also the transportation of materials, not all by air. Many land transportations rely on local transportation companies in Afghanistan, passing through Taliban-guarded sites, and have to stuff money. Besides bribery, even so, materials are robbed or blown up.
When the U.S. military is fighting the Taliban, the other side often rushes to Pakistan immediately, and the U.S. military can no longer pursue it.
Then, Captain Zhang talked about a very important point. He said that many Afghans do not have a strong concept of "nation". This is one of the reasons why the West wants to establish a decent "state" in Afghanistan but fails. He said that Afghanistan is a tribal society with strong religious concepts. People are loyal to their tribes, and which tribe is strong, other tribes will support others. Therefore, there are different warlords and militia forces in Afghanistan. They do not seem to have a strong concept of the "central government". .
Therefore, even if the Taliban occupy the ruling power now, they are not really able to subdue all forces in Afghanistan. From this point of view, the CCP's use of the Taliban is just one of the many forces in Afghanistan. It does not mean that it can completely play Afghanistan in applause. Therefore, it is estimated that there are things to worry about when interacting with the Taliban.
News (37)
After the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it is even more totalitarian! Expect the Taliban to learn, but it’s hard to have true friendship
The above five points are all factors that the Taliban may become the CCP’s “negative equity” and cause headaches for Xi Jinping. Perhaps because of this, Beijing is also worried that the Taliban will be a bottomless pit that will never be fed. Therefore, on 18 August, the CCP war wolf Zhao Lijian emphasized at a press conference that he would provide assistance to Afghanistan’s economic development "within his ability."
In addition, Zhao Lijian also repeated the CCP’s expectations for the Taliban regime. It is estimated that these expectations were explained by Wang Yi when the Taliban met with Wang Yi before, and Zhao Lijian repeated this again. He said, “Expect the Taliban to establish an open and inclusive regime structure that suits their own national conditions and implement a moderate and steady domestic and foreign policy.”
This seems to be showing affection with the Taliban and making suggestions for the development of the Taliban. In fact, this is based on the CCP’s uneasy attitude towards the Taliban.
The CCP wants to expand its influence in Central Asia and the Middle East. Afghanistan is an important hub. Then this region must be stable. If the turmoil continues, the CCP wants to use the Taliban to do things but it cannot do it. Therefore, the CCP wants the Taliban to maintain a certain degree in this region. The stability of the country is good for it to continue the “Belt and Road” and even communicate with the Arab world.
Afghanistan has long had the title of "Imperial Tomb." The Western powers that have operated here have all tried the taste of this "grave." If the CCP is willing, then "invite the king into the urn".
From a macro point of view, the current world situation is a contest between the evil forces and the righteous forces under the control of the devil. Ordinary people choose sides among them. This is a deeper view. On the surface, it is confrontation between the totalitarian and free world.
The CCP must rely on totalitarian power to defeat the American democratic system. Under the so-called "rising from the east and falling on the west", it forcibly deprives Hong Kong of freedom, sits by the Burmese military government taking power, and laughs at the success of the Taliban's counterattack. This is all because it is in line with that it wants to defeat with totalitarian power, the purpose of a free social system.
The CCP may overlook one point. There is no real friendship between totalitarianism and totalitarianism, and they might deal with each other at any time. Historically, the CCP, the former Soviet Union and Vietnam were all ruled by the Communist Party but they all fought fiercely.
"Qiu Chuizheng", deputy chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, talked about the current development trend of the CCP in a recent speech to the "Center for Strategic and International Studies" of Washington think tank in the United States.
He first said that the United States, Japan, the U.S.-Europe alliance, and the G7 countries all mentioned peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait in this year’s joint statement. This is unprecedented. The Chinese Communist Party’s system determines that its rule is highly dependent on the party leader’s governance style. Under the characteristics of this system, Xi Jinping commanded the CCP to develop two rare "extreme" characteristics, one is a high degree of totalitarianism, and the other is to incitement nationalism to seek legitimacy for its rule.
Under this guiding ideology, the CCP has used modern science and technology to turn China into a modern version of the "Orwellian country." The combination is a big threat to international order and freedom and democracy. After the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it will become more arbitrary.
News (38)
Xi
wants the rich to "repay the society" for fear of financial risks,
even the troika can’t run
At present, Xi Jinping is collecting "property rights" in China in various forms, including sending so-called state-owned enterprises to buy shares in private enterprises, and gradually controlling all places that the CCP did not previously control. This is aimed at large private money investors. For private wealthy “retail investors”, the party has not forgotten them either.
On 17 August, Xi Jinping studied the so-called "common prosperity" at a meeting of the Central Committee of Finance and Economics of the Communist Party of China. For the first time, he mentioned the need to "reasonably regulate" the "over-income groups" in society, and encourage these people or companies to "repay the society", claiming to rectify the "income distribution order."
This is very similar to the CCP's original practice of hunting local tyrants and dividing fields, but the name is different.
At the same meeting, Xi Jinping also said to guard against "significant financial risks." He mentioned this, indicating that the CCP is now facing such a problem. China's July economic data such as total retail sales and annual growth rate of fixed asset investment all declined, far below expectations.
CCP China's economic problems, that are affected by the CCP's left-leaning policies, are also related to the continuous occurrence of man-made and natural disasters.
News (39)
Shanghai has "abnormal" cases
The first to bear the brunt is the plague. On August 18, Shanghai notified that a staff member of the Songjiang District Central Hospital had an "abnormal" nucleic acid test result, but did not say whether the abnormality refers to a positive or something, which caused many Shanghai residents to become nervous. Some nuances are still being covered up, and new words are often created! A positive is a positive. Does an abnormality mean that the test result shows "negative and positive"?
However, an insider in Shanghai broke the news on Weibo that the "abnormal" was actually a nurse in the infectious department of the hospital. She may have been infected by a Nanjing confirmed patient in the department, but as of now, the news has not been officially confirmed. However, the hospital and the nearby vegetable market have been locked down.
News (40)
Tight lockdown in Yangzhou and Zhengzhou, Beijing senior official drowned when driving
A similar situation occurred in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. Some areas have been locked down for more than two weeks due to the outbreak of the epidemic at the end of July. Liu Hongxia, a resident in the closed area, sent out a distress video saying that he has no income and is closed at home. He has to take care of the elderly and children as well as food at home. Not much, people are starving to death. Before the Zhengzhou flood, her home was also flooded, but the government has not received any relief money promised so far. The family has no money or food, which is very critical. At the same time, she was originally a reporter. She was arrested for helping petitioners to sue the head of the CCP's Bureau of Letters and Calls. She was sentenced to one year and six months in prison.
In addition to the spread of the plague, this year's floods are also very prominent. On 16 August, heavy rainfall in Beijing’s Haidian District caused serious water accumulation in some areas. Under the local Hanhe Road railway bridge, a car was trapped by the water. A couple in the car was actually drowned in the car when driving. Moreover, according to a report by Sing Tao Daily, the man killed was "Cai Kefang," the former deputy director of the Political Department of the Ministry of Railways of the Communist Party of China. At that time, many cars were flooded, but the outside world only knows that the couple was killed as a result, and no other casualties have been reported.
Drowning while driving on the streets of Beijing is as ridiculous as the problem that occurred in the Zhengzhou flood. Some netizens in Beijing argued that the problem of stagnant water on Hanhe Road has not been resolved, and that it is also a man-made disaster. The authorities have still not learned a lesson about Zhengzhou.
News (41)
Anti-covi broad-spectrum monoclonal antibodies can cope with existing mutant strains
Reporter : Lu Chengkuan / Publisher : Science and Technology Daily / http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2021/8/463545.shtm
The reporter learned from the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences on 19 August 2021 that researchers from the Institute and other units have developed a blocking type that can target multiple covi invasion receptors, ACE2. The monoclonal antibody h11B11 can effectively prevent and treat the infection of host cells and model animals by the novel coronavirus (covi) and its mutant strains, and has shown good safety in non-human primates. At the same time, as an antagonist of the covi invading the host receptor, the antibody shows superior broad-spectrum and neutralizing activity, and can deal with various mutant strains currently popular. Related results were published online in the journal Nature Communications.
Variant strains of covi continue to appear and spread faster and faster. This has brought huge challenges to the prevention and control of covi, and it is urgent to develop effective therapies that can deal with various variants of the virus. Neutralizing antibody therapy has been proven effective, but when variants appear, single-site monoclonal antibodies will inevitably fail. The development of broad-spectrum neutralizing antibodies must be put on the agenda.
Fortunately, recently, Chinese scientists have successfully isolated a humanized genetically engineered monoclonal antibody h11B11, which is directed against ACE2, the human angiotensin converting enzyme 2 receptor.
The so-called monoclonal antibody is an immunoglobulin molecule, which belongs to biological drugs. After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, monoclonal neutralizing antibodies that target the virus surface protein have become a potential effective treatment for new crown pneumonia. By binding to covi, it inhibits the activity of the virus and protects cells from damage. Compared with small molecule drugs, monoclonal antibody drugs have a clear mechanism, high selectivity and specificity to the target. Good monoclonal antibody drugs can hit the target with high efficiency and reduce side effects.
The research results have great clinical application value for the antibody therapy of covi, especially against the current multiple mutant strains. After the neutralization evaluation of pseudoviruses and true viruses of a variety of coronaviruses, the antibody was confirmed to have good inhibitory activity against covi and its mutant viruses.
At the same time, the antibody is used in combination with the covi therapeutic antibody CB6 developed by the Institute of Microbiology in the early stage, which can synergistically improve the neutralizing activity. The CB6 therapeutic antibody is an antibody that targets the RBD of the covi S protein. It was jointly developed by the team of Academician Gao Fu of the Institute of Microbiology and the team of researcher Yan Jinghua. It has obtained emergency use authorization in the United States, the European Union, India and other places.
Dr. Du Yanyun, School of Life Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Shi Rui, postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Zhang Ying from Peking University are the co-first authors of the paper; Researcher Tan Wenjie, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Researcher Wang Youchun, China Institute for Food and Drug Control, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Professor Wang Chenhui from the School of Life Sciences and Yan Jinghua from the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences are the co-corresponding authors of this article.
News (42)
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