Debate on pandemic origin sharpened, Omicron in Tianjin could be local

Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

News on Taiwan, U.S., CCP, covi traceability, disease control

News (1) to (10) / Reporters : Hans Mahncke, Jeff Carlson, The Epoch Times PREMIUM

News (1)

Taiwan lab leak sharpens debate on pandemic origin

Image : Academia Sinica’s Genomics Research Center in Taipei (Lysimachi/CC BY-SA 4.0)

On 9 December 2021, Taiwan announced that a researcher working in a Biosafety-level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory in Taipei had tested positive for the Delta variant of COVID-19 (covid, for short) “while experimenting on the virus in the lab.” Chen Shih-chung, the head of Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) confirmed that the female researcher had tested positive for covid after being “exposed to the pathogen” during research that was conducted in mid-November at the Academia Sinica’s Genomics Research Center in Taipei.

Notably, Taiwan has not experienced any recent covid cases, a fact noted by Chen who said, “We believe the possibility of infection from the workplace is higher because we have zero confirmed infections in the community.”

It was later reported that the researcher had been bitten by a mouse during two separate incidents. Taipei’s deputy mayor Huang Shan-shan, who described the woman as a “research assistant,” said that she had been bitten by a laboratory mouse carrying the Gamma strain of the virus on 15 October 2021 but subsequently tested negative for infection.

However, a little more than a month later on 19 November, she was again bitten by a mouse in the lab. This time, for reasons that remain unknown, the researcher did not undergo testing after the second bite until well after she had developed physical symptoms. According to Taiwan News, the woman developed a cough in late November, which intensified during the first week of December, but she did not seek out testing until 8 December.

James Liao, the president of Academia Sinica, cited six separate failures that contributed to the infection incident. These included the “failure to duly report a scientist being bitten by lab mice; not working with lab mice in a biosafety cabinet; not following protocols in removing hazmat suits; new personnel not receiving adequate training; lack of supervision and monitoring during experiments; and lax management in lab practices.”

News (2)

Taiwan leak occurred despite use of high security lab, Gain-of-function experiments at Wuhan's BSL-2 labs

Taiwan’s lab leak of covid took place at a BSL-3 lab, which mandates the use of personal protective equipment, biosafety cabinet​s, sustained directional airflow without recirculation, as well as self-closing and interlocked doors. By contrast, the gain-of-function experiments being conducted on coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were done at much less secure BSL-2 labs.

As context, Rutgers University biologist Richard Ebright has stated, “BSL-2 is the biosafety level of a U.S. dentist’s office (i.e., lockable door, screened windows, sterilizer, gown, and gloves).” Ebright told the Financial Times, “If [coronavirus] work was happening, it should definitely not have been happening at BSL-2, that is roughly equivalent to a standard dentist office.”

The use of BSL-2 labs for gain-of-function experiments by the Wuhan Institute of Virology has been heavily criticized by many scientists. Michael Lin, a bioengineer at Stanford University, told MIT Technology Review that allowing work on potentially dangerous bat viruses at BSL-2 is “an actual scandal.”

A prominent and early supporter of the natural origins narrative, Columbia University virologist Ian Lipkin, changed his mind about the virus’s origin after the Wuhan Institute admitted it conducted its coronavirus experiments at a BSL-2 lab.

“It shouldn’t have happened,” Lipkin stated. “People should not be looking at bat viruses in BSL-2 labs.”

Lipkin said that he now considers a lab leak to be a viable theory, saying that his “view has changed.”

News (3)

Taiwan's leak response stands in contrast to CCP's Wuhan response

Additionally, the open and immediate manner in which the Taiwanese government handled its lab leak incident contrasts sharply with China’s handling of the covid pandemic. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials refused to acknowledge the outbreak until Taiwan notified international authorities on 31 December 2019 but despite the CCP’s refusal to acknowledge an outbreak, there were earlier warnings from those stationed in Wuhan.

According to the U.S. Consul General in Wuhan, the city was hit by an unusually vicious flu-like outbreak in October 2019. A November 2019 intelligence report by the U.S. military’s National Center for Medical Intelligence reportedly warned of a contagion and stated that “it could be a cataclysmic event.” Chinese authorities have reportedly traced early cases of COVID-19 to mid-November.

Notably, at the same time that the outbreak in Wuhan appeared to be reaching a critical juncture, the Wuhan Center for Disease Control, which was conducting coronavirus research alongside the Wuhan Institute of Virology, suddenly moved its lab’s location on 2 December 2019, to a spot just a few hundred yards from the Huanan Seafood market—which would initially be cited as the origin of the early covid cases. The CDC’s new location for its lab was also directly adjacent to another hotspot of later covid cases, the Union Hospital, where a group of doctors first became infected.

The genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid, is discovered no later than 27 December 2019. Both Chinese and Western scientists obtained copies at that time but, under pressure from the CCP, neither Chinese nor Western scientists shared the information publicly. When a Chinese scientist from Shanghai finally released the sequence on 11 January 2020, the CCP shut down his lab.

The CCP’s cover-up and the capitulation by scientists allowed the virus to continue to spread at a critical time. It also gave the CCP additional time to obfuscate the virus’s origins and create a Natural Origins narrative centered around the Huanan Seafood Market.

Additionally, although the World Health Organization’s (WHO) initial report on the origins of the outbreak stated that a lab leak was extremely unlikely, the lead investigator of that report, Peter Ben Embarek, told a Danish documentary team that the lab leak theory was probable, and suggested that a Chinese researcher could have been infected by a bat while taking samples in connection with research at a Wuhan lab.

Embarek also admitted that a deal had been struck between the WHO’s investigative team and their Chinese counterparts. The lab leak theory could be mentioned in the WHO’s final report, but only on the condition the report did not recommend any specific studies to further that hypothesis.

News (4)

Daszak: CCP is vetting the genetic sequence data from his gain-of-function experiments to the NIH

China’s censorship has taken many forms. Recently, Peter Daszak, the president of EcoHealth, the body through which Dr. Anthony Fauci funded the Wuhan Institute of Virology, told the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that he was unable to hand over requested genetic sequence data from his gain-of-function experiments to the NIH because the data was going through an approval process by CCP authorities.

This arrangement with the CCP is a breach of the terms and conditions of Daszak’s NIH grant, which specifically required that all genetic sequence data be made publicly available. CCP oversight and control was not part of Daszak’s agreement.

The fact that genetic sequence data that may relate directly to the origin of the pandemic remains under the control of the CCP also raises questions about the claims of both Daszak and NIH that their Wuhan experiments could not have caused the pandemic.

News (5)

Lab leaks occurred before in China, Soviet Union, Singapore, Taiwan, North Carolina before the pandemic

The incident in Taiwan has renewed the debate over the origin of the pandemic. According to Yanzhong Huang, a Chinese public health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, “if the lab worker is confirmed to have been infected at her workplace, then this will add credibility to the lab leak theory.”

Although this case is raising new questions about the likelihood of a lab as the origin of the pandemic, lab leaks are not as rare as the media would have the public believe.

The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic marked the first appearance of the H1N1 virus. Although the initial outbreak was natural, the virus’s sudden reappearance in the late 1970s was actually due to a laboratory leak of a stored strain of the H1N1 virus. We know this because the genetic sequence of the virus in the 1970s outbreak was nearly identical to the sequences of decades-old strains. Put another way, the virus was not evolving during this time, it was sitting in a lab. Indeed, the NIH notes that a “biosafety lapse in a research laboratory is now most often cited as the cause of the 1977-1978 reemergence of the H1N1 influenza virus strain.”

In 1979, spores of anthrax leaked from a lab in the Soviet Union, killing scores of people. At the time Soviet authorities covered up the origins of the outbreak, claiming that it came from contaminated meat. In a twist eerily reminiscent of the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 origins investigation, a molecular biologist from Harvard University, Matthew Meselson, was allowed to travel to the Soviet Union to investigate the outbreak.

Upon his return, he issued a report that backed the Soviet version of events, claiming that the outbreak started at a contaminated meat processing plant. Meselson stated that that explanation was “plausible and consistent with what is known from medical literature and recorded human experiences with anthrax.” In another parallel to the natural origins narrative for COVID-19, where illegal wildlife markets were initially blamed for the pandemic, Meselson claimed that the outbreak was caused by “the illegal sale of meat.”

After the fall of the Soviet Union, it was finally revealed in 1992 that the outbreak had in fact originated at a military research facility.

The original Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 made headlines across the world. However, a lesser known fact is that the SARS virus has subsequently leaked out of various labs at least six times. The first incident occurred in Singapore—a country known for its meticulousness and attention to detail—shortly after the initial outbreak ended. There were subsequent SARS lab leaks in Beijing as well as in Taiwan in 2003 and 2004.

The years 2013 and 2014 were particularly bad for lab accidents. Notably, many of the accidents that happened during this period took place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where lab mice escaped the university’s lab on at least eight occasions, including mice that were infected with SARS and H1N1 viruses. In response, the NIH stated that “it appears the measures taken by the University of North Carolina to reduce the likelihood of these events have not been effective.”

Poor biosafety at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is all the more notable in light of the fact that the university houses Ralph Baric’s lab. In 2015, Baric, who is a pioneer of gain-of-function experiments, famously collaborated with the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Shi Zhengli, to create a hybrid version of a bat coronavirus that had been adapted to grow in mice and to mimic human disease.

News (6)

Gain-of-function work in a lab of non-natural risk

Richard Ebright, who warned in 2015 that the only impact of gain-of-function work was “the creation, in a lab, of a new, non-natural risk,” has stated that these prior leaks underscore the fact that it “is eminently plausible that a Wuhan laboratory worker handling Sars-related coronaviruses was infected and then transmitted the infection to the general public, sparking the pandemic.” Notably, Ebright’s 2015 warning was in response to the experiments carried out by Baric and Shi Zhengli.

Incidents of lab leaks in just the last 10 years have involved notably dangerous pathogens, including Dengue, Anthrax, H5N1, smallpox, Ebola and Zika.

News (7)

Mediterranean fever outbreak in November 2019 in Lanzhou overlooked

Although there are far too many incidents of lab leaks to list here, one event is particularly relevant—the November 2019 lab accident in China when nearly 200 staff at the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute became infected with brucellosis, also known as Mediterranean Fever. Subsequently, thousands of residents of Lanzhou reportedly also fell ill. CCP authorities have denied that the Veterinary Research Institute was responsible, blaming the outbreak on polluted waste gas from a pharmaceutical facility which was allegedly carried by wind to the research institute. Ironically, even if the CCP’s version of events is accurate, it would still have been a lab accident.

News (8)

Taiwan's leak refocuses debate on pandemic origin

The Lanzhou outbreak, which happened at almost exactly the same time as the Wuhan outbreak, should have served as an immediate red flag for anyone looking into the origins of COVID-19 but the Lanzhou Outbreak has been largely ignored by the media. The incident underscored not only that laboratory accidents happen with disturbing regularity but also that the CCP has a history of covering them up.

In 2019, Yuan Zhiming, the vice-director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, wrote a review of the many safety deficiencies within China’s many laboratories. He noted that “several high-level BSLs have insufficient operational funds for routine yet vital processes,” noting that many of China’s BSL-3 laboratories “run on extremely minimal operational costs or in some cases none at all.”

Just one year earlier, in 2018, U.S. Embassy officials visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology and warned the State Department that there was “inadequate safety at the lab, which was conducting risky studies on coronaviruses from bats.” They also reported that there was a lack of trained staff at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

News (9)

Former U.S. FDA Head: Lab leaks happen all the time

Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration head Scott Gottlieb has stated that “lab leaks happen all the time.” During a May 2021 interview on Face the Nation, Gottlieb noted, “In China, the last six known outbreaks of SARS-1 have been out of labs, including the last known outbreak, which was a pretty extensive outbreak that China initially wouldn’t disclose that it came out of a lab.” Gottlieb said that “It was only disclosed finally by some journalists who were able to trace that outbreak back to a laboratory.”

The transparency and responsiveness with which Taiwan handled its recent biosafety lapse contrasts sharply with China’s ongoing efforts to impede any investigation into the origins of the pandemic. China’s efforts to thwart any true investigation of the virus’s origin also raise questions as to why the United States was providing technology and funding for gain-of-function experiments to a communist regime that is known for its lack of transparency.

News (10)

CCP suppresses pandemic origin narrative

Former-MI6 chief, Sir Richard Dearlove recently summed up CCP China’s approach to the pandemic when he told the Australian, “I’m pretty sure that the Chinese after the outbreak in Wuhan, and they’re very good at doing this, sat down and developed their own information campaign and this was almost certainly driven by the Ministry of State Security and run out of the PRC leadership to make sure that there was suppression of any suggestion that their narrative was not the correct one.”

Dearlove echoed the concerns of many when he ominously noted that ”what concerns me and what worries me is the extent to which the West went along with this.”

News (11)

SARS-CoV-2 "most likely" escaped Wuhan lab, possibly "genetically engineered", British MPs told

Reporter : Natalie Winters, The National Pulse / https://thenationalpulse.com/news/mps-briefed-on-covid-lab-leak-origins/

Image : Video Screenshot

Members of the British Parliament were informed that the “most likely origin” of COVID-19 was a leak of the virus SARS-CoV-2 from the Wuhan lab, and that the virus may in fact be genetically engineered. The news came during a briefing for the Science and Technology Select Committee.

Dr. Alina Chan – a specialist in gene therapy and cell engineering from MIT and Harvard – said: “We have heard from many top virologists that a genetically engineered origin is reasonable and that includes virologists who made modifications to the first SARS virus.”

 

Chan added, “We know this virus has a unique feature, called the furin cleavage site, and without this feature, there is no way this would be causing this pandemic.”

 

She referenced the research collaboration between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and American non-profit EcoHealth Alliance, which received millions from Anthony Fauci’s National Institutes of Health agency.

 

Dr. Chan outlined, “A proposal was leaked showing that EcoHealth and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were developing a pipeline for inserting novel furin cleavage sites. So, you find these scientists who said in early 2018 ‘I’m going to put horns on horses’ and at the end of 2019 a unicorn turns up in Wuhan.”

 

Dr. Chan’s co-author, Viscount Ridley, stressed that uncovering COVID-19’s true origins was imperative to “deter bad actors who are watching this episode and thinking that unleashing a pandemic is something they could get away with,” during the session.

 

“We know now that experiments were being done at Biosecurity Level 2 (similar to a dentist’s office) that resulted in 10,000 times increases in infectivity of viruses and three or four times their lethality. The important thing is to stop doing these experiments that are risky,” he added.

 

The officials were also briefed on one of the strongest and widely circulated pieces of disinformation about the origins of COVID-19: A 2020 statement in the Lancet medical journal. The article prematurely concluded that the virus developed naturally and was leveraged by scientists and the mainstream media to silence discussion over the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 leaking from a lab.

 

Also controversial, the letter, which was spearheaded by EcoHealth’s Daszak, failed to mention any of the researcher’s conflicts of interest with the Wuhan lab and the Chinese Communist Party.

MP Aaron Bell slammed the Lancet for correcting this mistake “too little too late” in a recent memorandum.

News (12)

WHO covid envoy: "Unprecedented" spread of Omicron

Reporter : Lauren Lewis, Daily Mail

A senior official in the World Health Organisation has warned he has "never been more concerned about Covid-19 than I am tonight". 

Special envoy on Covid-19 to the WHO Dr David Nabarro said the spread of the Omicron variant (Covi29) was "unprecedented" and presents '"serious" issue for not only the UK but also "Europe and the World".

He called on "every single human being" to do "everything they can" to minimise social contacts, wear facemasks and practice good hygiene to prevent transmission of the super-mutant strain.  

It comes after Britain today announced its highest ever daily covid cases since the pandemic began with 78,610 people testing positive in the past 24 hours.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Professor Chris Whitty at night of 15 December 2021 delivered a stark warning over the need to think twice before attending Christmas parties, warning Covi29 already makes up a third of cases and that Government modelling predicts up to 400,000 people are getting the mutant virus every day.  

Speaking to Sky News, Dr Nabarro echoed Professor Whitty's warning about Christmas parties and urged 'every single human being' to 'minimise [social] contact to what is absolutely essential... only do what is vital.'

Dr Nabarro said Covi29 is spreading "superfast" and that the strain has "a doubling time of numbers of cases every two to three days".   

"That means that [Covi29] will be eight times more serious in one week. Forty times more serious in two weeks. Three hundred or four hundred times more serious in three weeks. Over a thousand times more serious in four weeks.'   

He warned the escalating caseload, including many people who have had both vaccinations, will add stress to already overworked health systems worldwide.  

"If we are lucky then we won’t have high death rates but we will still get a very heavy load on health services and therefore on hospitals," he said. 

Dr Nabarro said he could not predict the potential case or death toll from the latest variant and added it would not be 'helpful' to speculate.

He described any prediction as "just me expressing my hopes to you" and warned "nobody has" the information to predict how many people will get Covi29 in the coming weeks. 

Ref: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10314249/Ive-never-concerned-pandemic-tonight-Covid-19-envoy-warns.html

News (13) to (17) / Editor : Li Hong / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/12/15/a103294417.html

News (13)

FBI will release documentary focusing on CCP's economic espionage activities

Image : On 5 November 2021, the FBI released a trailer, which will launch a documentary called "Made in Beijing: Global Market Domination Project." (FBI video screenshot)

On the third anniversary of the implementation of the U.S. Initiative to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s economic espionage activities, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the progress of its operations since December 2018 in a report. At the same time, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also announced that it will launch a documentary, revealing how the Chinese Communist government uses various means to carry out economic espionage activities, steal the trade secrets of American companies, and pose a threat to the national security of the United States.

On 19 November 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice website released a report, announcing some of the results of the "China Action Plan" in the past three years. The report said that in all economic espionage lawsuits filed by the Ministry of Justice, about 80% of the cases involved actions that benefit the Chinese government, and at least 60% of all trade secret theft cases were related to the CCP.

Earlier on 5 November 2021, the FBI also released a trailer, announcing that it would launch a documentary called "Made in Beijing: The Plan for Global Market Domination". This 30-minute film will demonstrate the damage and threats American companies face from large-scale commercial espionage activities by the Chinese Communist government and its funded entities through interviews with senior executives of the victimized company, reminding American companies to be vigilant and protect their knowledge. Property rights are protected from infringement.

A report issued by the Center for Strategic and National Studies (CSIS) in July 2021 stated that after the center investigated 160 publicly reported CCP espionage activities against the United States since 2000, it found that 42% of the suspects were members of the CCP military. Or government employees, 32% are Chinese citizens, 26% are Americans recruited by CCP officials; 34% of the thefts are seeking military technology, 51% are acquiring commercial technology; 41% of espionage activities involve cyber espionage.

In addition, of these 160 cases, only 24% occurred between 2000 and 2009, and 76% occurred between 2010 and 2021.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a dialogue event organized by the Hudson Institute in July 2020, “The IP theft by the CCP is so large that it can be said to be one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history. The victims are the American people."

He said, “The CCP used the high efficiency of totalitarian politics to launch an offensive. They are astute in calculations, persevering, and are not subject to the moral constraints of an open democratic society or a society under the rule of law.”

Wray said that the CCP used various methods, from cyber attacks to buying reliable insiders, and even sending people directly to steal. The CCP has pioneered a wide range of innovative technologies for personal identity theft. The targets include not only CCP intelligence personnel but also state-owned enterprises that claim to be private companies as well as graduate students and researchers in certain fields.

News (14)

The FBI documentary contains four major cases

The FBI trailer says that the theft planned by the CCP is like a spy novel. Four well-known lawsuits are mentioned in the film.

One of the cases was the theft of American Superconducting Corporation (AMSC) trade secrets by Chinese company Sinovel. The Chinese bought an AMSC employee and stole the source code of a program used by a US company to adjust wind turbines to the grid's current technology for use in Chinese-made wind turbines. The FBI trailer said that this caused AMSC to lose 1.4 billion U.S. dollars and reduce revenue from 1.6 billion U.S. dollars to 200 million U.S. dollars. The Beijing authorities provided the technology thief with cash in advance and built a research room for him.

Another case was the theft of high-quality corn varieties in the United States. Mo Hailong, a permanent U.S. resident, was arrested in 2011 while stealing from a corn field. Mo admitted in January 2016 that he had long conspired to steal genetically modified corn seeds developed by Monsanto and DuPont and tried to send them to Beijing Dabeinong Group for commercial purposes. Mo was eventually sentenced to three years in prison for agricultural espionage.

The trailer says that the CCP’s five-year plan has made corn planting its top priority, especially genetically modified corn. They (the CCP) are trying to obtain corn seeds that have spent 30 years and billions of dollars in research and development. It takes an average of eight years for these special seeds to be marketed only.

There are also two cases. One was a case in which a Chinese-American chemical expert stole a large amount of trade secrets from three American institutions and handed them to the Chinese Communist government for profit. The technology stolen in this case includes U.S. military vehicle fuel tank technology, more than 30 product-related confidential documents with a research and development cost of up to 65 million U.S. dollars, as well as various chemical catalyst formulations and production processes for cleaning sewage. Another case involved the theft of composite film plastic technology from a US subsidiary of a Swedish company. The related materials could be used in submarine, petroleum exploration, and aerospace fields. The defendant’s company obtained trade secrets by poaching employees of the American company and provided it to the Chinese company in exchange for $3.1 million in remuneration.

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Fight the Thousand Talents Program

In March 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced the results of its investigation into the CCP’s trade practices under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, and submitted the CCP’s unreasonable trade policies and practices. In June 2018, the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy released the report “How China’s Economic Aggression Threatened the Technology and Intellectual Property Rights of the United States and the World”, which recorded the “two major strategies and the various behaviors and policies".

In November 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice launched the "China Action Plan", which identified a number of goals for the U.S. Department of Commerce, and required a centralized investigation and prosecution of CCP-related commercial secret theft and economic espionage. FBI Director Wray said in 2020 that the theft of sensitive information and technology by the Chinese Communist Party is not a rumor,  “The FBI will open a new counter-espionage case related to China (the CCP) almost every ten hours.”

In the beginning, the FBI focused on the most vulnerable academic circles because the open traditions of the academic circles and international exchange activities made it vulnerable to erosion by the CCP.

Wray said that in order to achieve its goals and surpass the United States, the CCP recognizes that it needs to leapfrog in cutting-edge technology. However, the CCP does not achieve innovation through a period of hard work, but often steals American intellectual property rights and then uses it to compete with the American companies it hurts.

Lei said that the CCP used the "Thousand Talents Program" and other talent recruitment programs to buy researchers in American universities and secretly bring back American discoveries and innovations to China, including valuable federally funded research results. This means that American taxpayers are paying for the CCP’s technological development. The CCP’s unearned technology has in turn weakened American research institutions and companies, causing Americans to lose their jobs, and this situation is increasing.

The report of the US Department of Justice on 29 November also cited a number of cases involving the CCP’s Thousand Talents Program.

From March 2020 to August 2020, NASA Chinese-American researcher Cheng Zhengdong, Harvard University Chemistry Professor Charles Lieber, former Emory University Professor Li Xiaojiang, former West Virginia University professor James Patrick Lewis  was prosecuted by the authorities for concealing his involvement in the CCP’s Thousand Talents Plan.

Cheng Zhengdong is in charge of a research team at Texas A&M University and has received 750,000 US dollars in NASA research funding. Cheng Zhengdong has access to information such as the International Space Station. However, he deliberately concealed his cooperation with Guangdong University of Technology in China and at least one Chinese state-owned enterprise when obtaining NASA funding.

Wray said that there is another trick that is even worse. The conspirators applied for a patent in China for the technology stolen from the United States, and then proposed to the victimized US company to use the stolen technology to establish a joint venture. On 26 June 2020, Zhang Hao was sentenced for economic espionage. He was charged with conspiracy to steal the intellectual property rights related to wireless devices of two American companies, one of which took more than two decades to develop technology It was stolen by Zhang.

In addition, military technology is also the target of the CCP’s intellectual property theft. The recent report of the Ministry of Justice mentions three cases. On 28 April 2021, a Chinese citizen admitted to exporting US$100,000 worth of American products to China's Northwestern Polytechnical University (a Chinese military university). He was sentenced to two years in prison for this.

On 18 October 2019, a 39-year-old Chinese citizen was sentenced to 40 months in prison for conspiring to illegally export military and aerospace-grade technology from the United States to China; on July 2 of the same year, an electrical engineer was conspired to China for conspiracy The export of semiconductor chips for missile guidance applications was sentenced to more than five years in prison.

In addition to combating commercial, technological, and military technology theft, the U.S. Department of Justice's report on 16 November 2020 also listed several other key areas of the "China Action Plan."

Trump ordered foreign investment and telecommunication security reviews

In April 2020, the then U.S. President Trump ordered the establishment of the U.S. Telecommunication Services Department’s Foreign Participation Evaluation Committee (also known as Team Telecom). From the perspective of national security, the committee makes recommendations to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on matters such as applications for licenses by foreign-owned and controlled companies, involving license issuance, infrastructure construction, restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions.

On 17 June 2020, the committee recommended that the FCC reject the application of the Pacific Optical Cable Network (PLCN) submarine cable system; on 9 April 2020, the committee recommended that the FCC revoke and terminate China Telecom (Americas)’s provision of international telecommunications services in the United States Authorization.

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FBI monitors CCP's anti-foreign malicious influence and intelligence activities

The Ministry of Justice used the "Foreign Agent Registration Act" (FARA) to require those who influence public policies and public opinion on behalf of foreign individuals or entities to increase transparency and expose the CCP's influence. Through outreach work with universities, this department emphasizes the protection of foreign students studying in the United States from the influence of the Communist Party and the freedom of thought and speech they enjoy.

At the end of 2019, the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force formally established a new department specifically responsible for understanding and combating vicious foreign influence threats from the Chinese Communist government and its agents.

In October 2020, eight defendants were charged with conspiracy to act as China’s illegal agents in the United States. Six of them were charged with participating in an international stalking operation, threatening, harassing, monitoring and intimidating a New Jersey resident and his family. To force them to return to China, which is part of the Chinese Communist government’s Fox Hunt and Skynet operations.

The CCP has always recruited former members of the US intelligence community. In November 2019, a former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official was sentenced to 19 years in prison for providing defense information to the CCP. On 14 August 2020, another former CIA official was arrested for conspiring with a relative (also a former CIA official) to communicate confidential information to the CCP.

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FBI's fight against malicious cyber activities goes on 

FBI Director Christopher Wray mentioned in a speech at the Hudson Institute last July that in 2015, Chinese hackers stole the personal information of nearly 80 million customers and former customers of Anthem. In 2014, Chinese hackers stole more than 21 million records from the Federal Administration of Personnel Management.

Regarding the reasons why the CCP hackers did this, Wray said, first of all, the CCP is eager to become the world leader in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The stolen information can be directly used for the development of artificial intelligence tools.

In addition, the CCP is using various social media platforms to find people who have access to sensitive government information. For example, Lei said, a Chinese intelligence official disguised as a headhunter on a well-known social media platform and offered a large sum of money to purchase so-called "consulting" services to a U.S. citizen. However, it was later discovered that the so-called "consultation" services were all related to sensitive information that this American citizen had the opportunity to have access to as a US military intelligence expert. The American citizen immediately reported the suspicious contact, who was eventually arrested by the FBI.

The CCP has a fundamentally different system

FBI Director Wray said, “Americans need to remember that the CCP has a system that is fundamentally different from our (democratic) system. It is unscrupulously exploiting the loopholes in our open system while taking advantage of its own closed system.”

Wray said, it must be noted that quite a few large enterprises in China are state-owned enterprises-completely owned by the government, that is, owned by the Communist Party. Even if it is not, the Chinese Communist Party’s laws allow the government to force any Chinese company to provide required information, including information about American citizens. In addition, the Chinese Communist Party’s laws also provide for the establishment of “Party Organizations” of the Chinese Communist Party within Chinese companies to ensure the leadership of the Communist Party. Even more surprising is that it is said that some American companies operating in China have also established CCP organizations, and the expenses are included in operating expenses.

Wray also said that American companies should carefully consider when considering cooperation with Chinese companies like Huawei. In today’s world, the most terrifying prospect is the ability of a hostile foreign government to destroy US infrastructure and equipment. If Chinese companies like Huawei are allowed unrestricted access to U.S. telecommunications infrastructure, they can collect any information that Americans transmit on their equipment or networks. To make matters worse, if the CCP wants to obtain certain information, Chinese companies will have no choice but to hand over the information. In the United States, personal privacy and due process protection are regarded as sacred and inviolable but in China such protection does not exist at all.

News (18) to (20) / Reporter : Luo Tingting / Editor : Wen Hui / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/12/15/a103294434.html

News (18)

Xi Jinping's closed-door meeting rarely attracts attention

Image : Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images

"So what about the food?" Xi Jinping's rare question at a closed-door economic conference recently aroused the attention of the outside world. According to expert analysis, the authorities are not only worried about the food issue, but also face at least seven major challenges.

News (19)

Xi Jinping: Keep your job in your own hands

The Chinese Communist Party’s Xinhua News Agency reported on 12 December that Xi Jinping said at an economic meeting on the 8th that the latest national survey showed that “the area of ​​arable land is still decreasing.” “In the past, it was the transfer of grain from the south to the north, but now it is the transfer of grain from the north to the south. Many local fertile fields do not grow food, and either build farms or grow flowers and fruits. What about food?"

He warned that food security is of great importance to national security, and that all mainland Chinese must take their jobs in their own hands and "never let others get our necks caught on the basic survival issue of eating."

In August 2020, a report issued by the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicted that by around 2025, China may have a food gap of 130 million tons, of which the three major staple foods of rice, wheat and corn have a gap of about 25 million tons.

News (20)

Tang Hao: The CCP faces seven major challenges

In addition to the issue of food security, this economic conference also released a signal of seriousness in the Chinese economy. Tang Hao, a senior media person, said that Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang at the meeting revealed that China's economy is very unoptimistic and encountered many difficulties.

In party media press releases, it is rare to acknowledge that China’s economy is facing the triple pressure of “demand contraction, supply shocks, and weakening expectations” and that “the external environment has become more complex, severe and uncertain”, and that next year’s economic development must be maintained with “stability”. Economic stability and overall social stability.

Tang Hao’s analysis in the program "Crossroads" shows that the Chinese Communist Party is pessimistic about next year’s economic prospects. Moreover, the press release of the conference called out 25 "stable" words, constantly shouting "six stability" and "six guarantees," which also reflected China. The economy is highly unstable. He believes that the CCP authorities will face seven major challenges in the future.

1. Unemployment is increasing

What the CCP is most worried about is the unemployment problem among the people. The first item of the "six stability" is "stabilizing employment." Yao Yang, Dean of the National Development Research Institute of Peking University, once revealed that China's actual unemployment rate exceeds 20%, and the actual number of unemployed exceeds 100 million.

Affected by the CCP virus epidemic and the trade war, well-known technology companies such as iQiyi, Kuaishou, and Bytedance have recently laid off employees or cut salaries.

At the same time, there are more than 9 million college graduates in China this year, and there will be more than 10 million college graduates next year. Tang Hao said that the growing "graduated army" and the growing "unemployed army" will not only compete with each other for jobs, but they may also bring challenges and tests to the Chinese Communist regime.

2. Supply chain tension "inner loop" may face paralysis

The epidemic has led to a tight global supply chain, insufficient supply of goods, and a sharp rise in prices. China has already experienced inflation. The producer price index (PPI) soared to 13.5% in October and dropped slightly to 12.9% in November, but it still exceeded expectations.

Tang Hao said that the increase in production costs may lead to the closure of Chinese companies, or increase the prices of consumer goods, passing the costs on to consumers. The authorities mentioned the "supply constraint blocking point" at the economic conference, which shows that the CCP's "domestic cycle" plan is not only blocked on the consumer side, but now also on the supply side. If this continues, the Chinese economy will be paralyzed.

3. Soaring prices, declining incomes, and people reducing consumption

Prices have risen, but many people have lost their jobs and reduced their salaries. Even civil servants have reported pay cuts. Tang Hao said that if people's income generally decreases, consumption will naturally decrease, so the "domestic cycle" may not be able to recycle.

4. Heavy government debts, difficulty in paying salaries

China is a large debtor country. According to official statistics, in the first ten months of this year, the total amount of debt issued by local governments across the country has reached nearly 30 trillion RMB.

At this meeting, the official said that “party and government agencies must insist on living tightly” and “contain new hidden debts of local governments”. Tang Hao said that the government also admits that governments in various places are now in heavy debts and financial difficulties. As a result, civil servants in many areas have been forced to cut their salaries or even get paid.

5. Promote common prosperity, high operational risks for enterprises

This meeting once again emphasized "common prosperity", claiming that "this is a long-term historical process." According to Tang Hao's analysis, this shows that the Communist Party's "communist" means will continue to extend into the pockets of all enterprises for a long time.

For example, Jack Ma recently publicly announced that in line with the Common Wealth Policy, five major benefits will be added to his employees, including housing subsidies, full-pay parental leave, paid annual leave, and so on. Tang Hao believes that Jack Ma will act as a "leader" and let his company's cash machine of the CCP use these protection fees in exchange for his own life safety.

He said that these, in line with official "shared wealth" expenditures, would greatly increase the operating costs of the company. If the company does not cooperate and does not want to be communist, it will definitely be used by the government to make trouble in the name of "strengthening supervision" or "anti-monopoly."

6. Lack of electricity, lack of labor, lack of core, lack of technology

A few months ago, a power shortage crisis broke out in China, which caused production difficulties for enterprises. The official said at the meeting that it is necessary to “strengthen the regulation of coal, electricity, oil, gas, transportation, etc., and promote sufficient power supply”, which means that China will still have a huge power gap in the future.

In addition, China's manufacturing industry is facing the dilemma of lack of labor. Internet platforms have taken a lot of labor from the manufacturing industry. Many people are unwilling to be blue-collar workers.

At the same time, China is also facing the problem of lack of core technology. The government emphasizes the development of science and technology, and it is necessary to formulate and implement a ten-year plan for basic research. However, the development of chips is not about shouting slogans and spending a lot of money to get immediate results. Tang Hao said that the CCP now wants to "remedy the situation", but he does not know how long it will take effect.

7. Economic data reports good news but not bad news, high risk of misjudgment

Li Keqiang once revealed that China's GDP data is "man-made" and unreliable. Recently, the former Minister of Finance of the Communist Party of China Lou Jiwei publicly criticized at a meeting that the official economic indicators reported good news but not bad news, and did not reflect the risks of economic downturn at all.

Tang Hao said that these fraudulent data are not only used by the government to deceive the people, but governments at all levels may also be used to deceive higher-level officials and the central government. This may cause the highest levels of the CCP to misjudge the situation and make more wrong decisions and requirements, which will bring heavier pressure and burdens to enterprises and people.

News (21) to (30) / Host : Li Muyang / Publisher : News Insights / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/12/14/n13437477.htm

News (21)

Weibo fined another 3 million fines 45 times in a year

On 14 December 2021, Weibo stocks listed in Hong Kong suffered a severe setback. As of 1.49 pm, Weibo's decline was as high as 8.31%, a record low since its listing in Hong Kong. However, this is the decline after the rebound, and the early decline reached 9.6%.

Weibo's share price plunged because of the announcement made by the Cyberspace Administration of China today. The announcement stated that Weibo was fined 3 million yuan for repeated publication and transmission of illegal messages. The circumstances were serious.

In response to the announcement of the Office of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Weibo stated that it accepts criticism and rectifies as required. Weibo has a good attitude, but a good attitude cannot avoid being beaten. In fact, from January to November, Weibo has been fined 44 times, with a total fine of 14.3 million yuan. With the latest punishment, Weibo has been punished 45 times this year.

The reason for punishment given by the CCP is to control pornography and marketing but no one will really believe it. The CCP has continuously taken measures to clean up science and technology enterprises, on the one hand to strengthen public opinion control, and on the other hand to use this to clean up the Internet, so that these Internet science and technology enterprises must obey the CCP.

In fact, Weibo was not the first to be swiped by the CCP’s sickle and axe. On 9 December 2021 the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology removed 106 mobile apps for violating the "Personal Information Protection Law" and other reasons.

Among them, Douban.com, which was removed, had been punished 20 times before. Compared with the amount of fines imposed on Weibo, Douban was fined significantly less, but there were also more than 9 million fines.

For another example, the "China Performance Association" under the Ministry of Culture of the Communist Party of China issued an announcement in September that 14 Internet platform companies, including Weibo, Douyin, iQiyi, Kuaishou, and Tencent Video, have signed the "Building a Qinglang Network Cultural Ecosystem" Self-Regulatory Convention.

In July, platforms such as Tencent, Kuaishou, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu were also "interviewed." In April, the three ministries and commissions of the Communist Party of China interviewed 34 Internet companies.

Judging from the repeated punishments, the CCP’s purpose is quite obvious. It does not want these Internet science and technology enterprises to die under a heavy fine. If these Internet science and technology enterprises die, the CCP will not be able to continue fines. The fine amount is not too high, which can ensure that the network science and technology enterprise will not die at once but also can cut the leeks frequently.

More importantly, the CCP repeatedly beats these Internet technology companies to ensure the growth of these leeks, and to make them always fearful of the CCP so that they can serve the CCP conscientiously.

News (22)

Is Beijing's use of force a suicide? There is something in Abe's words

After the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stepped down, his political role has not changed, and he still maintains his "tough guy" image.

At the “Taiwan-US-Japan Trilateral Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue” hosted by the Taiwan Vision Foundation on 14 December 2021 are President Tsai Ing-wen of the Republic of China and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the US Department of State Busby, etc. A guest at the meeting, Shinzo Abe made an English speech in the video. He once again issued a strong warning to the CCP that any military advances in Beijing would be a "suicidal act."

In the pre-recorded film, Abe first mentioned Lee Teng-hui, the first directly elected president in Taiwan's history. He believed it was the moment when democracy began to take root in Taiwan. 25 years later, Taiwan’s participation in the Global Democracy Summit as a democratic entity deserves congratulations.

Abe believes that Taiwan, the United States and Japan have a common important agenda, "Never lose faith in freedom, human rights, and the law." In the global democratic community, the fall of democracy in Hong Kong has even more demonstrated the importance of Taiwan’s rise. He emphasized that Taiwan must be "a leader in democracy, and Taiwan must rise because Taiwan is worth it." A confident Taiwan will become a "powerful guardian" that guards common values.

Immediately after the conversation changed, Abe pointed out that the threat facing Taiwan was also "a serious challenge for everyone, especially Japan." Therefore, Japan has strengthened its national security, and the Self-Defense Force has cooperated closely with the US military more than ever before.

Abe said that "weakness will lead to provocation." From the seabed, the sea to the airspace, from the Internet to outer space, Taiwan, the United States and Japan "must spare no effort to cooperate." Abe believes that strengthening cooperation between Taiwan, the United States and Japan is not enough. "More partners are needed." The boundary of cooperation extends from the Asia-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific. Countries that love freedom, such as Britain, France, Japan, India, and Australia, need to "get together" "under the banner of freedom".

Abe bluntly said that military advances are "like suicidal actions" for a huge economy like China. Therefore, Japan has repeatedly urged China (the CCP) not to pursue territorial expansion, it should exercise self-restraint, and should not often bully its neighbors. "This is also in their (CCP) own interests."

On 13 December 2021, in an interview with BS Japan Television, Abe mentioned the issue of Japan's exercise of its right to self-defense. He stated that Taiwan’s state of emergency may threaten Japan’s “endangering state of affairs” and force the Japanese Self-Defense Force to “exercise the right of self-defense.”

"Endangering the state of affairs" is a new security regulation passed by Japan in 2015. This means that Japan has not been directly attacked, but the United States and other countries closely related to Japan have been attacked by force, which has formed a threat to the survival of Japan. At this time, the Japanese Self-Defense Force can exercise restricted collective self-defense rights.

Shinzo Abe continued to put hard words on the CCP, especially this time, within half a month, for the second time to issue a strong warning to Beijing's face-to-face command. The high density and the toughness of the words are extremely unusual. Although Xi Jinping was not named this time, Abe said bluntly that the CCP’s armed advance was suicide. This sentence is no less forceful than the last time.

On 1 December 2021, Abe said bluntly, “If something happens in Taiwan, it means something is wrong with Japan, it means something is wrong with the Japan-US alliance.” At that time, Abe named Beijing leader Xi Jinping to understand that Japan and the United States will not stand by and watch the CCP’s armed attacks on Taiwan.

Analyzed from the discourse, this argument is more about emphasizing the Japan-US alliance in defense of Taiwan, emphasizing passive defense and defense. But this time, Abe said that the CCP’s armed aggressive advancement was "suicide," which seemed to have some proactive colors.

It seems to mean that if the CCP takes military actions against Taiwan and other neighboring countries, the Japan-U.S. alliance and Britain, France, India, Australia, etc. may not only be defensive and self-defense, but may also take advantage of the situation to counterattack.

The message passed by Shinzo Abe is not a lie. In fact, the United States continues to weave a giant net, which is already close to the CCP.

News (23)

Blinken directly denounces the Chinese Communist Party for hegemony

On 13 December, US Secretary of State Blinken embarked on a 4-day trip to Southeast Asia. After his first visit to Indonesia, he will also visit Malaysia and Thailand.

After meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo yesterday, Blinken met with Indonesian Foreign Minister Leitno on 14 December and signed a memorandum of cooperation.

Blinken gave another speech at the University of Indonesia. He directly mentioned the CCP’s economic coercion in the Indo-Pacific region and its coercive behavior in the South China Sea. He said, "We are working with allies and partners in the United States to ensure that this region remains open and accessible to everyone."

He emphasized, "We (the United States) are determined to ensure freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. This is why peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are of lasting interest to us."

In his strategic speech, Blinken urged Beijing to stop taking "radical actions" in the Indo-Pacific. He stated that the CCP claims that the high seas are its own; it distorts the open market by subsidizing state-owned enterprises; refuses to export or cancels contracts when it disagrees with the policies of other countries; engages in illegal fishing and so on.

He pointed out that “countries in the region want to change this behavior, and so do we”, “from Northeast Asia to Southeast Asia, from the Mekong to the Pacific islands, all are concerned about Beijing’s aggressive actions.” This is the reason why the United States is determined to ensure freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. 

Blinken’s speech particularly emphasized that the common interests between the United States and Southeast Asian countries have been threatened by the CCP. He bluntly stated that the CCP has threatened business interests of more than US$3 trillion a year, and the United States will not sit idly by. The United States "does not want to cause conflict but to prevent conflict."

Obviously, Blinken’s Southeast Asia trip is to strengthen the strategic partnership between the United States and Southeast Asian countries, and strive to increase its influence in one of the most dynamic regions of the global economy. Reuters pointed out that Southeast Asia has become a strategic battlefield between the two major economies of the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

In other words, the United States is determined to compete with the CCP for influence here because the CCP has invested a lot of money here. In Indonesia in particular, the CCP has invested billions of dollars to build highways, power plants, and high-speed railways. Even 80% of Indonesia's vaccines come from the CCP.

Geographically speaking, ASEAN countries are adjacent to China and benefit from China's economic development. However, the aggressive expansion of the CCP has made these countries very worried. Therefore, in international relations, ASEAN countries are closer to the United States. Especially with regard to the South China Sea issue, Southeast Asian countries all regard the United States as a security guarantee.

Diplomats and analysts believe that Blinken may allow American companies to relocate production from China to Southeast Asia as one of the measures to ensure sensitive supply chains and development financing. At the same time, it can increase employment in Southeast Asian countries and promote local economic development.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno pointed out in his speech that Secretary of State Blinken has promised to "establish a partnership with Indonesia in infrastructure investment." The New York Times stated that the United States has decided to “strengthen investment” in Indonesia in order to exert more influence in Indonesia and counter Beijing’s increasing influence.

More than Indonesia, Blinken’s trip to Southeast Asia is to strengthen the relationship between the United States and ASEAN countries. Especially in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand on the second island chain, if the United States wants to weave a giant net to contain the CCP, then these countries are indispensable and key links.

Geographically speaking, the locations of these three countries are extremely important, and they are all stuck in the south of China. If the United States weaves Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand into a giant net, then China's south will form a second chain of hunting the CCP.

Judging from the current situation, the CCP is indeed in a situation of embarrassment on all sides. First, let’s talk about Russia in the north, which completely blocked the CCP’s northward route. Although the CCP claims to be "not an ally better than an ally" with Russia, in fact Russia has never been at peace with the CCP.

To the east of China are Japan and Taiwan, forming a pincer attack on the CCP. To the west of China is India. Sino-Indian relations have never been better. There have been frequent conflicts on the border between the two countries recently, so there is no way out to the west of China.

Now the United States is strengthening its relations with ASEAN countries. Under the original situation of confrontation across the ocean in Australia, the United States has further tightened its encirclement. If ASEAN countries join the giant hunting net of the United States, then from the map, the CCP is almost trapped in a circle of encirclement.

Therefore, Shinzo Abe said that if the Chinese Communist Party makes military advances, it is tantamount to suicide. I don't know if the leaders of Beijing can understand this situation. In fact, judging from the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics by countries around the world, it has already reflected that the CCP is being besieged by the international community.

News (24)

Has Japan made a decision to boycott the Winter Olympics? Austria cleverly resisted

So far, Japan has not officially stated whether it will join the United States in its diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. However, scholars who are well versed in the Kishida government said that in fact, the Kishida cabinet had made basic decisions very early, and was just looking for the most suitable time to issue the cards.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on the 7th that he will comprehensively consider the significance of the Winter Olympics and the significance of Japan's diplomacy. On the same day, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Fangzheng made it clear that “judgments will be made after comprehensive consideration of various situations at an appropriate time.” He bluntly said that human rights issues will be taken into consideration when making decisions.

Japanese international relations expert Xie Wensheng told VOA that the Kishida government had already made basic decisions. As prime minister, Fumio Kishida has to deal with the triple relationship, the network of democratic countries, the network of political wrestling within the party, and the network of Japan-China relations.

Xie Wensheng analyzed that in terms of the international situation, the Kishida regime certainly understood that Europe and the United States would eventually boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics. It’s just that Japan needs to observe the extent of the resistance. Lin Fangzheng said that taking human rights issues into consideration, "it is actually a leak of the answer."

Xie Wensheng believes that Kishida has a wealth of diplomatic experience, and it is clear that European and American countries will have many negotiations, negotiations and struggles under the stage of diplomatic resistance. Therefore, the Kishida government is looking for the most suitable time to issue the cards before making decision-making amendments.

As for when Japan will formally express its position, the outside world still needs to observe. Perhaps Japan may adopt a compromise method as previously stated and not send cabinet members to participate. This may be the most common type of diplomatic boycott in countries around the world.

On 14 December Austrian Chancellor Nehammer told the German "Le Monde" that "no high-level Austrian politician will go to China to watch the Olympics." He stated that this is not a "diplomatic protest or boycott, it is just because China's covid epidemic prevention requirements are very high."

Nehammer said that because of the covid epidemic, even if you go to China, you can only have video conferences with athletes, which is "not very useful". He said, "I prefer to meet our athletes in Vienna in person."

Everyone knows that the CCP has strict measures to prevent and control the epidemic. Those who enter China must be subject to compulsory isolation measures, the longest being 56 days. On 13 December the program also mentioned Professor Xu Yaqiong. He returned to China to treat his illness, but was forced to isolate him twice in a row, which aggravated his condition. After his condition worsened, the young Professor Xu Yaqiong died young.

Very few people believe Nehammer’s explanation, including the CCP because the CCP’s quarantine measures only target ordinary people, not politicians of various countries. When high-level Taliban visits CCP China consecutively, the CCP has never asked Taliban visitors to be quarantined.

In other words, Austria’s approach is more like cooperating with the actions of the United States to diplomatically boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics but he attributed this reason to the CCP’s high epidemic prevention requirements, so he had to admire Nehammer’s wisdom.

This ingenious resistance is almost impeccable. Not only achieved the goal of boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics, but also left the CCP with nothing to say. This Austrian approach can be called "gentle boycott" but the effect is the same.

News (25)

Omicron is now in Guangzhou

On 14 December 2021, the Guangzhou authorities notified that a case of Omicron variant had also occurred in Guangzhou.

The report stated that the infected case was a 67-year-old man who lived in Yuexiu District and entered China on 27 November 2021. After several tests during the quarantine period, they all showed negative results. After the quarantine case was lifted on 11 December, he continued to isolate at home. However, he was tested again on the 12th, and it was found to be positive in the early morning of 13 December 2021. Further analysis confirmed that the infection was a Omicron variant strain (Covi29).

Is it interesting? On 13 December 2021, Tianjin reports a case of Covi29, and on 14 December Guangdong reported one case. Will there be notifications from other provinces and cities in the future? I believe it will, and it may be more and more.

Why do you say that? Please note that since South Africa reported the first Covi29 case on 24 November while the virus has spread to many countries like crazy. Take the United States as an example. Since this case was discovered in the mainland, it has now spread to 77 countries.

News (26)

Zhang Wenhong: Omicron is "very difficult to deal with"

This shows that the spread of this virus is very strong. On 12 December, the well-known virologist Zhang Wenhong warned on a scientific forum that Covi29 is "very difficult to deal with" and that this virus has "a lot of mutations."

News (27)

Covid cases surge in Ningbo, Shaoxing and Hangzhou

Please note again that in the most recent period, covid cases of the CCP virus in Ningbo, Shaoxing, and Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province have continued to increase. Work of factories and enterprises in these three regions has been suspended and production has been suspended, 247 inter-provincial passenger transport has been suspended, all flights from Ningbo to Beijing have been cancelled, and only one flight a day is reserved for Hangzhou.

According to officials, as of 4 pm on 13 December, there were a total of 192 confirmed patients and 1 asymptomatic infection in these three regions. In addition, 580,000 people in the province are under quarantine control, of which more than 58,000 are under centralized quarantine.

The CCP has habitually covered up the epidemic. It has notified more than 190 patients but it is estimated that the actual number of infections may be even higher. I just want to ask, in the case of the outbreak in Zhejiang, are there any Omicron cases?

News (28)

CCP named local caterpillars on Chinese trees after America

When I was working on the mainland TV station, I went to the local forestry bureau for an interview. On the way to the countryside, I found a tanker was spraying pesticides on the trees on the roadside. The leaves of the trees were very scarce, and they were covered with white spider webs. I asked the person in charge of the Forestry Bureau who accompanied us what those spraying workers were doing.

The person in charge of the Forestry Bureau told me that those "cobwebs" on the trees are called "web-curtain caterpillars", which are actually "American white moths." This is a very reproductive bug that is very harmful to trees. It will eat up all the leaves, and then the trees will die slowly.

The origin of this worm is the United States, but the eggs are brought in through imported fruits and other commodities. At that time, the breeding in China was already quite powerful, but in order not to affect the export, I dared not directly call the "American White Moth" and changed the name to "Net Curtain Caterpillar."

I'm telling you this in the hope that it will attract everyone's attention. Because the CCP not only conceals the truth, but is also good at dumping the pot. Speaking of dumping the pot, let's talk about the Covi29 case in Tianjin.

News (29)

Tianjin dumped origin of Omicron to Poland

On 13 December, Tianjin notified the country's first Omicron variant (Covi29) case, an asymptomatic infected person who entered the country from Europe. Gu Qing, director of the Tianjin Health Commission, said that the patient's body temperature was normal when he entered the country and there was no abnormality in the declaration. He also said that so far, no other infected persons have been found among the immigrants on the flight where the patient is located.

Tianjin's half-concealed notification is quite doubtful. It is good for all countries to report truthfully, and it can remind people to take strict precautions. However, the Tianjin authorities did not specify which country in Europe the case came from.

News (30)

Poland has no Omicron cases

But needless to say for now, because Poland has already responded. The spokesperson of the Polish Ministry of Health said on 14 Decemberthat a Polish girl was confirmed to have been infected with the Covi29 in China yesterday and has been isolated and is asymptomatic.

However, the spokesperson pointed out that the girl was tested negative before taking the flight. What is more noteworthy is that as of 13 December, no Omicron case was found in Poland, and there was no notification of this mutant strain.

This is strange. There is no case notification of Omicron in Poland but Tianjin has dumped the virus source on Poland. Who is lying?

Based on the CCP’s consistent nature of lying, I would rather believe the Polish statement that so far no case of Omicron has been detected in Poland. Moreover, the discovery of cases is not a big deal for European and American countries, and there is no need to lie.

According to Tianjin, no other cases have been found on the patient’s flight, which can rule out the possibility of the patient being infected on the plane.

According to this analysis, there is actually one possibility left. Was the Polish girl infected after arriving in Tianjin?

In fact, the appearance of Covi29 in mainland China is not terrible. The terrible thing is to conceal the truth, and this is precisely the CCP's specialty.