Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
News on U.S., CCP, disease control
News (1) to (4) / Editor : Lin Yan / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/1/7/n13901685.htm
News (1)
McCarthy sworn in as Speaker, priorities include anti-communism
Reporter : Zhang Ting / Image : In the early morning of January 7, 2023, Republican Congressman McCarthy was sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives. (Olivier Douliery/AFP)
At around 12.30 am on Saturday (7 January 2023), the US House of Representatives voted Republican Kevin McCarthy as elected speaker of the House of Representatives. McCarthy was then sworn in and announced a series of priorities, including anti-Communist issues.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, McCarthy officially launched the duties of governing the 118th Congress. He swears in the House of Representatives for all elected members.
"Congratulations, you are now members of the 118th Congress," McCarthy told new lawmakers at 1.40 am on Saturday.
McCarthy's contest for speaker had a dramatic week, marking the longest presidential election in 164 years, before ascending to the speaker's throne and becoming the third most powerful figure in American politics. After a series of major concessions, party opponents finally gave up the filibuster.
"After this week, one thing is clear: I will never give up; I will never give up for you, the American people; and I will never give up on our promise to America," McCarthy said.
In taking the gavel as House speaker, McCarthy thanked colleagues for their support and shared his vision for a united House.
News (2)
Priorities for the 118th Congress
In his speech, McCarthy revealed some of the priorities for the 118th Congress, including: conducting investigations into China, securing the nation's border and trying to eliminate some of the federal debt, which exceeds $31 trillion.
McCarthy said Congress would also address America's long-term challenges: Debt and the threat of the Chinese Communist Party. Congress must speak with one voice on both issues.
"As for (confronting) the Chinese Communist Party, we will set up a bipartisan special committee on China to investigate how (the United States) brings back the hundreds of thousands of jobs that went to China. Then we will win this economic competition." McCarthy said.
His speech won the applause of the members present.
After Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections last November, McCarthy announced the establishment of a special committee on China. He said the committee would expose and combat the Chinese Communist Party's threats to U.S. cyber, trade and military.
“The Chinese Communist Party is the greatest geopolitical threat of our lifetime. Building on the efforts of the Republican-led China Task Force, we need a whole-of-government approach to ensure that America is prepared to meet the economic and security challenges CCP China poses. Here’s why with a Republican majority, I will create a special committee on China," McCarthy said in a statement last month.
In the early hours of January 7, 2022, after McCarthy won the Speakership, he took the oath of office and presided over the swearing-in of all elected members. (Olivier Douliery/AFP)
News (3)
McCarthy: Building U.S. a safe Nation and an Accountable Government, declare Congress open again
McCarthy emphasized his commitment to voters. "As Speaker of the House, I am ultimately not accountable to my party, my caucus, our Congress, but to our country," he said.
"Two months ago, you voted for a new direction for our country. You embraced our commitment to America. Now, we will honor our commitment to you," he said.
He vowed to build a "safe nation" and help shape a "future built on liberty." McCarthy also wants to build an "accountable government that gives Americans the answers they want, need and deserve."
"Our system is built on checks and balances (checks and balances). It's time for us to be the checks and provide some balance to the president's policies," McCarthy added. "There is nothing like giving American families a peaceful life." It's more important to enjoy the life they deserve."
He also pledged to stop Washington's "wasteful spending to bring down the price of groceries, gas, cars and housing" and stop the "rising national debt."
"We are committed to cutting regulatory burdens, lowering energy costs for families, and creating good-paying jobs for workers by unleashing reliable, abundant American-made energy," McCarthy added. Sponsored by agents. Because the government is supposed to be here to help you, not hunt you down."
McCarthy also said he would reopen the U.S. Capitol. Following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots, additional security measures have been in place at the Capitol, leaving the public largely inaccessible.
"My friends -- this chamber is now fully open to all Americans," he said, to thunderous applause from Republicans. Democrats in the chamber were silent.
He also told House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat, that there will be many differences between the two parties. The road ahead is still very difficult.
"(Democratic) Leader Jeffries, we will have moments of agreement, but many times we will also have differences. I promise that although our debate will be passionate, it will never be personal. And now, the hard work has begun," McCarthy said, "and what we do here today, next week, next month and next year will set the tone for everything to come."
"Our country is worth fighting for; our rights are worth fighting for; our dreams are worth fighting for; our future is worth fighting for," McCarthy concluded.
News (4)
McCarthy: We're going to be more efficient
After winning the speaker's seat in the early hours of Saturday morning, McCarthy said, "My father always told me: It doesn't matter how you start, it matters how you end." "I think at the end of the day, we will be more powerful. Efficiency, more efficiency."
In a sign of efficiency, McCarthy's office released a list of bills just hours after he was elected speaker. Once the House's basket of rules is approved on Monday (9 January 2023), they will move forward to a vote on the bills. The bill includes the creation of a commission to investigate competition between the U.S. and CCP governments, as well as a commission to investigate the "weaponization of the federal government."
A bill will also be introduced next week that would "prohibit medical practitioners from failing to provide an appropriate level of care to children who have survived an abortion or an attempted abortion."
News (5) to (9) / Reporter : Yang Wei / Editor : Gao Yi / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/1/8/n13902501.htm
News (5)
The new U.S. Congress will focus on the CCP, and the CCP media abuse reveals helplessness and cowardice
Image : On 7 January 2023, Kevin McCarthy, the new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, holds the speaker's gavel after being elected. In his speech, he listed priorities, one of which was the establishment of a "special committee on China" aimed at the CCP. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)
On January 7, the new House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress officially began to operate. The new Speaker McCarthy said in a speech, "As for (confronting) the Chinese Communist Party, we will establish a bipartisan China issue special committee". On the first day of the new U.S. Congress, it directly targeted the CCP, causing the CCP to resent and fear. The party media hurled insults, but they dared not mention the truth, revealing their helplessness and cowardice. From the beginning of 2023, Sino-US relations have set a new tone to some extent.
News (6)
New, bigger trouble for the CCP
On 7 January 2023, the new U.S. House of Representatives was sworn in. The former speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom the CCP hated, was finally no longer the speaker but the CCP was not happy. The new speaker is House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. His attitude towards the CCP is more direct and sharper than Pelosi.
Four months ago, on 2 August 2022, Pelosi, then Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, arrived in Taiwan for a visit. The Washington Post published her signed article "Why I Led a Congressional Delegation to Taiwan" on the same day. The article said, "Any attempt to determine Taiwan's future in a non-peaceful manner... (all) poses a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific region and is of serious concern to the United States"; "Facing the accelerated aggression of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), we as the congressional delegation should be seen as a clear statement that the United States stands with our democratic partner, Taiwan, in defense of itself and its freedom."
She also mentioned the banner she put up in Tiananmen Square 30 years ago, "dedicated to those who sacrificed for China's democracy"; and condemned the CCP for trampling on the freedom of Hong Kong, carrying out genocide against ethnic minorities such as Tibet and Xinjiang, and persecuting religion and dissent, people etc.
In order to prevent Pelosi from visiting Taiwan, the CCP tried to put pressure on the White House but failed. In desperation, the CCP held military exercises around Taiwan, tested missiles, cut off eight communication channels with the United States, and sanctioned Pelosi, making harsh abuse.
Pelosi also pointed directly at the CCP. During her tenure as speaker, Congress successively introduced bills targeting the CCP but she did not establish a "Special Committee on China Issues" against the CCP during her tenure. Even so, the CCP has always regarded Pelosi as a thorn in its side. Now that Pelosi is stepping down, the CCP is in even greater trouble.
McCarthy said in his manifesto, "As for (confronting) the Chinese Communist Party, we will set up a bipartisan special committee on China to investigate how (the United States) will bring back the hundreds of thousands of jobs that flowed to China. Then we will win this economic competition."
Democratic lawmakers also applauded this attitude, which should be one of the few consensuses between the two parties. Now, no one in the United States dares to speak out easily on anti-communist issues. The Republican Party is in charge of the House of Representatives and will continue to vigorously promote anti-communist issues. The White House controlled by the Democrats has almost no way out.
News (7)
The last bit of space for Sino-U.S. compromise is almost squeezed out
Democratic President Joe Biden can influence Democratic leaders in Congress, but must be careful with Republican leaders. The CCP failed to get Biden to dissuade Pelosi from visiting Taiwan, and now it is even more impossible to expect the White House to persuade Republican lawmakers. In fact, the establishment of the "Special Committee on China" can only make the White House tougher on the CCP.
One year later, 2024 is the year of the general election. The president and the House of Representatives will be re-elected. Facing the increasingly prominent threats and challenges from the CCP, the Democratic Party needs to show toughness. Otherwise it may be criticized by the Republican Party and seriously lose points in front of voters. Republican congressmen will serve as the chairmen of various committees and have the right to request government officials to testify in Congress. If Biden’s cabinet members act weakly or even compromise with the CCP, they will be exposed and questioned almost immediately.
On 14 November 2022, Xi Jinping and Biden met on the sidelines of the G20 summit, which was supposed to be the last chance for the two sides to possibly reach some kind of compromise, but nothing happened. At that time, the results of the U.S. House of Representatives election had become clear, and it was unlikely that the White House would make any further concessions to the CCP. It seemed that the tariff reductions for China that Biden had advertised in the past had not been put on the table. The White House should have grasped the secrets of Zhongnanhai before the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, knowing that the CCP has no intention of real easing, and will not make concessions. Therefore, the relationship between CCP China and the United States can only maintain a state of not completely tearing the skin apart.
At the Xi-Biden meeting more than a month ago, there was still a theoretical opportunity for CCP China and the United States to compromise; now, such a compromise is even more difficult to happen.
In the past two years, Biden's attitude towards the CCP has changed from "competition" to "fierce competition". In fact, he has reserved some room for compromise between the two sides. In this way, the White House was unable to make some concessions, but repeatedly resorted to strong sanctions.
After the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CCP seems to have changed its tune externally, trying to ease the pressure from the outside world but in fact, it is unwilling to relax easily, and the CCP leaders cannot admit past foreign policy mistakes. Wang Yi's promotion and Qin Gang's succession as the CCP's foreign minister indicate that the CCP does not want to make real changes. Under pressure inside and outside the White House, it can only remain tough on the CCP. Showing weakness is hardly an option, and compromise is even more out of the question.
News (8)
The reaction of the party media reveals the helplessness of the CCP
On 4 January, Qin Gang, the former CCP ambassador to the United States, published an article "Stable Sino-US relations are crucial to the future and destiny of our planet" in the "Washington Post" in the United States as the foreign minister of the CCP.
The article stated, "When I became the Chinese ambassador to the United States, Sino-US relations were facing complex and difficult situations. The dialogue and exchange mechanisms between the two countries were almost completely suspended, and Chinese companies were suppressed by unreasonable sanctions." The article described how Qin Gang tried to contact American politicians and tried to ease Sino-US relations but when he left office, Sino-US relations deteriorated, and Qin Gang could only say that he should not "confront conflicts."
Qin Gang's article is equivalent to a vivid summary of Sino-U.S. relations over the past year. As long as the CCP regime continues to exist, there will be no way for China and the US to "return to the right track."
In Qin Gang's farewell letter to Chinese students studying in the United States, he called the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China "a major event in the political life of the party and the country" and publicized the contents of the 20th National Congress. On 26 December 2022, Qin Gang also published an article "China's World View" in the "National Interest" in the United States, and also introduced the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China at the beginning of the article. Qin Gang unabashedly revealed his identity as the CCP's ambassador to the United States. He claimed to represent China before he would be accepted by the United States, but he himself repeatedly stated that he represented the CCP, not China.
After Qin Gang took over as the foreign minister of the CCP, he deliberately softened his tone towards the United States, but within three days he was exposed by the CCP media.
On 7 January 2023, when the new U.S. House of Representatives elected its speaker, Xinhua News Agency published two articles, "The Day of the Collapse of American Democracy" Stamped Again! ", "The Second Anniversary of the "Capitol Hill Riot", "American Democracy Is Still in Mishap". The article mocked the multiple rounds of voting for the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and deliberately mentioned that "Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election, but then-President Trump repeatedly claimed that there was large-scale election fraud and refused to admit defeat."
Xinhua News Agency also vilified both parties in the United States, including the taboo topic of election fraud by the Democratic Party. At the end of the article, it stated that "the disturbance in the House of Representatives is a 'mess', which once again shows the decline of the American political establishment."
Qin Gang may have hoped to perform well when he took office in the new year but Xinhua News Agency did not cooperate at all. Cai Qi, the new member of the Politburo Standing Committee who is in charge of propaganda, may not dare to make a decision on such fierce anti-American propaganda. After all, it involves foreign affairs. This shows that in the face of the new changes in the U.S. Congress, the top leaders of the CCP are more helpless than resentful, and they almost once again played the Ah Q-style drama of "rising from the east to falling from the west".
News (9)
The cowardice of the CCP is clearly visible
On 8 January 2023, Xinhua News Agency published an article "Xinhua Times Review: McCarthy's "narrow victory" and the fiasco of American-style democracy". When the CCP saw that McCarthy was finally elected, there was no point in ridiculing it anymore. It quickly shifted its attention and began to exaggerate that "the Democratic and Republican parties are now more at odds with each other" and that the "internal contradictions of the Republican Party are equally profound."
Of course, the CCP dictators cannot understand how democracy works. They are used to life-and-death secret struggles and compromises, as well as the CCP’s 20th National Congress-style black-box operations. The CCP will never allow Hu Jintao's scandal to be discussed again. The Xi camp hates the Jiang faction but they have to make high-profile sacrifices and evaluations to show harmony.
It is inconceivable for the CCP that the elected U.S. congressmen stick to their positions and do not make concessions easily, and publicly show them to the public in the speaker election. How is it possible to make such differences public? However, when the U.S. and world media focused and commented, it also truly demonstrated the power of democracy. Both the president and the speaker need to be under democratic supervision, and their powers will be limited to prevent a single-word tragedy. This is probably one of the reasons why the United States has become the number one power. Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson said, "This is not a disaster, the system is supposed to work"; "In this system, we have pain, responsibility and repentance; these are not bad things, No, those are the best things."
The Xinhua News Agency's article specifically exaggerates the "political struggle" within the United States, and also mentions inflation, border crises, and crime fighting in the United States but ignores the most critical "Special Committee on China Issues." This should be the topic that the CCP is most concerned about, and it should also express its attitude in a timely manner. However, the Xinhua News Agency article is immersed in the argument of "the east is rising and the west is falling", and it seems that the United States is once again vulnerable.
The ridicule of Xinhua News Agency may be to cover up the real focus, or to divert the focus of the current large number of Chinese people dying from the epidemic but the CCP dare not comment on the upcoming "Special Committee on China Issues" in the U.S. Congress. It should be the top leaders of the CCP that order not to be mentioned is not only helpless, but also cowardly.
After the 20th National Congress, the top leaders of the CCP have never forgotten the "struggle". On 20 November 2022, when summarizing Xi Jinping's trip to the G20 and APEC, Wang Yi said, "In recent years, in response to the serious misjudgment of China's strategic direction by the United States and the series of negative trends caused by it, China has launched a resolute struggle to defend its rights." However, the new U.S. Congress is about to set up a "Special Committee on China Issues" against the CCP. For such a major event, the CCP media did not "struggle" tit-for-tat but looked around and talked about it.
However, the CCP will have to face this difficult problem sooner or later, and the CCP Foreign Ministry will have to respond sooner or later. How to respond is not a real problem, and the CCP cannot stop the more and more severe sanctions that may be triggered; what the CCP fears most should be whether the "Special Committee on China Issues" will soon raise the issue of accountability for the epidemic. At present, countries around the world are stepping up efforts to block the infected people from China. The CCP’s new and old accounts of concealing the epidemic and intentionally spreading the virus may be settled together.
Once the "Special Committee on China Issues" of the U.S. House of Representatives is established, the CCP will face a more difficult situation. The weakness of the CCP will be more visible, and it will not help if it is timid or not. If the CCP refuses to show its cowardice, and even wants to "struggle", the consequences may be even worse.
Epilogue
The election of the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has attracted a lot of attention, and the CCP has followed suit. However, the CCP has deliberately avoided the "Special Committee on China Issues" that is directly related to Sino-US relations. This just indicates how much impact the new U.S. Congress may have on the CCP.
McCarthy was elected as the new speaker after 15 rounds of voting, showing the influence of the hardliners of the Republican Party to the maximum extent, which is definitely bad news for the CCP. The space for compromise between China and the United States is shrinking rapidly, and the tone of Sino-US relations in 2023 is roughly set.
The CCP’s so-called “return to the right track” of Sino-US relations is increasingly hopeless. The internal and external pressure on the CCP regime seems to be increasing, and the signs before the CCP collapse will become more and more obvious.
The Epoch Times
News (10) to (12) / Reporter : Xia Yu / Editor : Ye Ziwei / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/1/9/n13902697.htm
News (10)
U.S. General: Preparing for the Taiwan Strait war, the U.S. military is deployed in Japan and the Philippines
Image : On 25 May, the United States and Japan conducted a bilateral flight exercise to improve rapid response capabilities, high combat readiness, close coordination, bilateral interoperability, and reliable deterrent capabilities. (US Indo-Pacific Command)
The top general of the US Marine Corps in Japan said that the U.S. and Japanese armed forces are rapidly integrating their command structures and expanding joint operations because the US China and its Asian allies are preparing for potential conflict, including a war in the Taiwan Strait and with CCP China.
Lieutenant General James Bierman, commander of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force of the US Marine Corps in Japan, told the Financial Times that last year, the two countries' militaries conducted exercises on territory they had to defend in the event of war experience "exponential growth".
Bierman said that the United States and its Asian allies are following the example of Western countries in supporting Ukraine's preparations for resisting Russia and preparing for situations such as the Chinese Communist Party's invasion of Taiwan.
"Why have we been successful in Ukraine? It's largely because after the Russian aggression in 2014 and 2015, we seriously prepared for future conflicts: training Ukrainians, pre-positioning supplies, making sure we could provide support, to maintain the location of the operation," he said.
"We call it a layout. We're doing it in Japan, the Philippines and other places," Bierman said.
Bierman was unusually candid in comparing the war in Ukraine to a potential conflict with China. The scale and complexity of China's military exercises near Taiwan has increased significantly in recent years. The CCP military said on Monday (9 January) that it conducted a "combat-oriented exercise" around Taiwan on Sunday, focusing on land strikes and sea assaults, the second such exercise in less than a month.
The Financial Times reported on 9 January that Japan and the Philippines are also strengthening defense cooperation with the United States in the face of China’s increasingly tough attitude.
News (11)
The U.S. Army confronts the Chinese Communist Party’s “Anti-Access Area Denial” strategy
The 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force is the only Marine Corps crisis response force permanently stationed outside the United States and operates within range of China’s medium and long-range missiles, which CCP China has been trying to use to limit U.S. operations in the region free.
The unit is at the center of a comprehensive overhaul of the Marine Corps aimed at replacing the U.S. military's focus on counterinsurgency in the Middle East, with the creation of small military units dedicated to fast and covert operations on islands and straits in East and Southeast Asia, an "anti-access zone" against China in the Western Pacific Deny" strategy.
For this strategy to work, tight alignment with allies is critical, Bierman said. For the first time in a series of recent exercises, the Marine Corps has established a bilateral ground tactical coordination center.
In another sign of deepening U.S.-Japan cooperation, specific Japanese military units have been designated as part of a "replacement force" with the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, as well as U.S. Navy and Air Force units.
Bierman added that, unlike the "circular" collaboration between Japanese military units and their American counterparts in the past, allied units responsible for operational planning are forming a "permanent community of interest."
He also said that although the U.S. military is paying attention to the CCP’s aggression around Taiwan, it should not overestimate the CCP’s military.
"When you talk about the complexity, the scale of some of the operations that they had to do, let's say (in) invading Taiwan, there would be signs and warnings, and within a certain geography and time frame, allow us to take a stand and do Be as prepared as possible," he said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. and Japan will hold a "2+2" security meeting between their foreign ministers and defense ministers; on Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will discuss strengthening the alliance at a summit in Washington. And the summit comes as Japan embarks on a major security policy shift that includes increasing defense spending and deploying missiles capable of hitting the mainland.
News (12)
U.S. military plans to strengthen military presence in the Philippines
As another location for the U.S. military, and as part of preparations for war, the Philippines plans to allow the U.S. military to deploy weapons and other supplies at five additional bases, which the U.S. already has available in the Philippines.
The geographic location of the Philippines puts the country at the center of U.S. plans to deter and respond to a Chinese attack on Taiwan. Of the five U.S. treaty allies in the Indo-Pacific (Australia, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand), the Philippines is the closest to Taiwan, with its northernmost island of Luzon just 200 kilometers (120 miles) away.
“You gain a point of leverage, a base of operations, which gives you a huge head start in different operating initiatives,” Bierman said.
He went on to say that when the U.S. military confronts the CCP, the CCP will have the starting gun (referring to launching aggression) and may initiate hostilities. "We can identify decisive critical areas that must be controlled, protected, defended and exploited."
On 21 November 2022, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Philippines, becoming the highest-level visit of the Biden administration to the country. Harris's trip not only seeks to strengthen the relationship between the two countries, but at the same time, the US side also seeks to strengthen its military presence in the Philippines.
Washington and the Philippines are advancing the Enhanced Defense Cooperation
Agreement (EDCA). The United States has proposed adding more sites to the current five EDCA sites, deepening cooperation between the two countries.
Reuters reported in November 2022 that Gregory Poling, an expert on Southeast Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, believed that considering the distance between the Philippines and Taiwan and its treaty obligations to the United States, the Philippines should be involved in a conflict across the Taiwan Strait. It is extremely difficult to remain neutral. Not only would the Philippines be the most likely destination for refugees from Taiwan, but the roughly 150,000 Filipinos living in Taiwan would be under any threat of CCP attack.
News (13) to (15) / Reporter : Zhang Ting / Editor : Lin Yan /
News (13)
Xi Jinping and Qin Gang's recent diplomatic rhetoric has slowed down, Expert analysis
The leader of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, delivered a New Year speech in a calm tone, and the newly appointed Foreign Minister Qin Gang also put down his wolf-fighting posture and said that he believes that "China The door to U.S. relations will remain open." Analysts believe that the current softening of the CCP is the need of the situation, and domestic pressure has prompted Xi to seek to create a calm external environment. Nevertheless, Xi's goal of overwhelming the United States and taking Taiwan has never changed.
In an opinion piece published in the Washington Post on Wednesday (4 January 2023), the new CCP Foreign Minister Qin Gang emphasized that "the future of this planet depends on a stable Sino-US relationship." Qin Gang recalled his visits to various parts of the United States during his tenure as ambassador to the United States.
"When I left the United States, I was more convinced that the door of Sino-US relations will remain open and cannot be closed," he said.
This is in contrast to Qin Gang's previous posture. The Wall Street Journal said that Qin Gang and Wang Yi are the main representatives of the strong diplomacy advocated by Xi Jinping, and both of them were promoted in the 20th Congress. People who have dealt with Qin Gang believe that compared with other diplomats with the spirit of wolf warriors, Qin Gang is more smooth and meticulous in how to use wolf warrior methods.
Qin Gang's tone this week is consistent with Xi Jinping's December 31 New Year's message.
When Xi Jinping mentioned Taiwan in his New Year speech, he avoided using the word "unification" and instead used "a family on both sides of the Taiwan Strait". In the 20th National Congress held in October 2022, Xi Jinping also emphasized that he would not give up the option of "armed reunification of Taiwan."
News (14)
Why the CCP has slowed down its rhetoric
Political commentator Li Linyi believes that the CCP's foreign policy changes with the changing situation. At present, the CCP’s economy is not good, so they need a stable relationship with the West. In the CCP’s relations with the West, the Taiwan issue is an unavoidable hurdle, so we can see that the CCP has simultaneously changed its rhetoric on the issue of the United States and Taiwan, and said some good things.
Another view is that Xi Jinping's slowdown in Taiwan's rhetoric is related to the 2024 Taiwan election.
Nikkei Asia quoted Zhu Jianrong, a professor at Tokyo's Toyo Gakuen University, as saying that Xi's remarks on Taiwan were "completely different" from those of past years.
"In his New Year's speech in late 2019, Xi Jinping used strong rhetoric about 'one country, two systems', which in turn led to Tsai Ing-wen being re-elected as president the following month."
With Taiwan elections looming again in 2024, Zhu Jianrong said, Xi may not want to repeat the experience.
Some experts believe that domestic pressure has prompted Xi to seek to create a calm external environment. Ryan Hass, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, was the National Security Council director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia under President Obama. In a commentary on Wednesday (January 4), he said that in the face of increasing social, economic and public health pressures, it is reasonable to expect that the Chinese leadership will focus on domestic challenges by seeking to calm the external environment.
Haas believes that with Xi Jinping likely to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders meeting in November. Masafumi Ishii, a former Japanese ambassador to Indonesia and now an adjunct professor at Gakushuin University in Tokyo, said that even after APEC, China may maintain a moderate tone for a while. "With so many domestic challenges, there is no point in confronting the U.S. until we get out of the current predicament," Ishii said.
White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said last month at the Aspen Security Forum that China's aggressive "wolf warrior" diplomacy has clearly not been successful. Efforts to challenge Japan over islands in the East China Sea and engage India in a military confrontation in the Himalayas have hurt Beijing's standing in the world.
"I think they (the CCP) recognize that in many ways, this has backfired," Campbell said.
Campbell also said that domestic issues, such as the economic slowdown and covid, are also headaches for Xi.
"All of this, in my view, suggests that the last thing China needs right now is an openly hostile relationship with the United States. They want a level of predictability and stability, and we're looking for that," Campbell said.
News (15)
The CCP will not remain moderate forever
Political commentator Li Linyi said, "The problem is that once the CCP overcomes the economic difficulties and its strength grows further, the voice for military reunification of Taiwan will increase significantly. Therefore, neither the CCP nor the United States and Taiwan should have hope. Although the wording of the CCP's diplomacy has softened, the CCP will not back down in the slightest on issues of Taiwan and South China Sea interests. It is the CCP’s unchanging goal to overwhelm the United States and win Taiwan.”
Ishii of Gakushuin University in Tokyo takes a similar view. He said this is not to say that Beijing is on a permanent charm offensive, and "after a while, China (the CCP) may challenge the United States again."
News (16) to (18) / Reporter : Luo Tingting / Editor Wen Hui / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2023/01/09/a103620643.html
News (16)
Expert: The CCP sacrificed their lives to "break through" and hoped that the epidemic would end before the two sessions
Image : On 3 January 2023, Shanghai Tongren Hospital was full of severely ill patients. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)
Experts disclosed that as early as the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the epidemic had already broken out in China, and the authorities used the "blank paper revolution" to get off the donkey and give up clearing. The CCP sacrificed their lives to "break through the epidemic", hoping to end the epidemic before the two sessions in March this year.
News (17)
Xi Jinping's relaxation of epidemic prevention and control is "a donkey on the slope"
The CCP has implemented a three-year strict zero-clearance and blockade policy, which has created countless disasters and caused public dissatisfaction. At the end of November 2022, a large-scale "blank paper revolution" protest movement broke out in more than ten cities including Shanghai and Beijing. It is considered the biggest crisis since Xi Jinping came to power.
Without any warning, the CCP authorities launched the "New Ten Rules" for epidemic prevention on 7 December 2022, abandoning the zero-covid policy and fully liberalizing control. What followed was a major outbreak of the epidemic, and officials stopped releasing infection data that had long been questioned, completely concealing the truth about the epidemic.
Some Chinese people blamed the outbreak of the epidemic on the protesters of the "White Paper Movement". In this regard, He Qinglian, a Chinese economic and sociologist living in the United States, pointed out in a commentary article in the "Shangbao" that the CCP leader Xi Jinping's decision to relax the epidemic prevention and control is "a donkey on the slope." In fact, the epidemic in China has long been out of control.
The article said that an article "27 Days of 1 Billion People", which was quickly deleted on a Chinese website, was calculated based on the infection index of Hong Kong and Singapore, and "fever" was used as the search index. It was found that since mid-November, Hebei Shijiazhuang in the province, Lanzhou in Gansu, Luoyang in Henan and the whole of Hebei have successively entered the stage of mass infection.
Beijing is the first large city in the country to enter the mass infection, and the time point is 27 November 2022. Next are Chongqing, Wuhan, Kunming, and Chengdu. As of 9 December 2022, 240 million people across the country have embarked on the path of mass infection.
In addition, the data published by Beijinger, a website run by foreigners in Beijing, also proves that the epidemic has already broken out in China.
On 14 December 2022, the website issued an epidemic survey questionnaire on a foreign Chinese English WeChat group (8,000 people). The question of the questionnaire was: whether you were infected and when you were infected. More than 3,000 foreigners in Beijing responded.
The next day, the survey report was published on the website. It mentioned that 9% of the people had been infected before 1 December 2022; and by 14 December 2022, 58% of the people were infected within two weeks, and the cumulative infection rate reached 67%. Using this as a reference, it is estimated that as of 1 December 2022, the number of infected people in Beijing, which has a population of more than 20 million, is close to 2 million. This proves that the "dynamic clearing" policy has completely failed and can only be abandoned.
He Qinglian said in the article that those who blamed the "blank paper revolution" for the seriousness of the epidemic obviously did not understand the real situation.
She also said that long before the "blank paper revolution", Chinese public opinion was discussing whether to "let go" or continue to "seal and control". "Beijing was hesitant in the dilemma: let it go, which is tantamount to denying the correctness of zero-covid. Clearing covid has paid such a high price, including economic stagnation, and taking the initiative to end is tantamount to admitting that the central decision-making was wrong. It is difficult for the CCP who admits its mistakes, especially Xi Jinping, the leader, to accept it.”
However, the authorities are still slowly "loosing the valve". In mid-November (after the 20th National Congress), the "Twenty Measures" for epidemic prevention were issued to make some fine-tuning of the policy. At this time, a "blank paper revolution" came, so the authorities stepped down and launched the "New Ten Measures" for epidemic prevention to smooth things over and loosen control.
The Wall Street Journal on 4 January 2023, citing officials and government advisers close to Beijing's decision-makers, confirmed that the "white paper movement" and urgent requests from many departments of the government eventually prompted Xi to make a change.
Xi decided to abandon the zero-covid policy as the battle to stop the spread of the virus became increasingly futile and the social and economic costs mounted, people familiar with the matter said.
However, the timing of the liberalization has been questioned by some senior government health officials. Zeng Guang, a Chinese epidemiologist and senior adviser to the National Health Commission, told a public health forum in Beijing on 16 December 2022: "If we look at it purely from a public health perspective, we would rather delay the timing (of reopening). "
The CCP’s unexpected loosening of controls has pushed China into a new state of public health emergency. The report mentioned that doctors and nurses in hospitals across China, as well as officials in local branches of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), were not forewarned about the shift and had to deal with patients without stockpiling of medical necessities and the infection surge.
On 21 December 2022, the minutes of an internal meeting of the National Health Commission of the Communist Party of China showed that it was estimated that the number of new infections in China on the 20th in a single day approached 37 million people, and an estimated 248 million people were infected in the past 20 days. Hospitals and funeral parlors across the country are full, and the death toll continues to soar.
News (18)
The CCP sacrifices human lives for "breakthrough"
"27 Days to 1 Billion People" also mentioned that Singapore, Japan and other places have high vaccination rates, excellent medical conditions, and improved immunity after several rounds of virus infection but as of November 2022, the excess mortality rate is still at 15%. ~20% or so. The highest is Hong Kong, which was as high as more than 150%.
The article estimates that in China, where medical resources are poor, “the excess death in the first round of the epidemic in one month is only 40% according to the figure in Taiwan, and the follow-up excess death is only 15% according to the current figure in Japan, so according to China’s annual death rate of 10 million people, the base number of excess deaths in the coming year will be close to or even reach 1.7 million.”
He Qinglian pointed out in the article that when the epidemic broke out, some local governments in China publicly declared that "the covi-positivity should be exhausted and the covid peak should be passed quickly." It is reported that this is the spirit of the internal meeting of the CCP's top leaders, hoping to end the epidemic before the two sessions in March 2023.
She believes that this kind of "breakthrough" method to achieve collective immunity is really incredible and makes the world very disturbed. Many international research institutions predict that unless China adopts new preventive measures, the worst-case scenario will be that in the next four months, the number of deaths in China will be comparable to that in the United States during the entire three-year epidemic period (as of 6 January 2023). Today, 1.1 million people died from thecovid epidemic in the United States.
He Qinglian said, "When China was cleared to zero-covid, the world called on China to loosen control in order to restore the global supply chain; now it is loosening control, imitating the CCP's "price breakthrough" in the 1980s, gritted its teeth, and hoped that it would be covi-positive after all. It is not the market price, the price breaking through the barrier is sacrificing the pockets of the people, and the epidemic breaking through the barrier sacrifices human lives."
Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, a Chinese-American epidemiologist and public health expert, told Voice of America that the purpose of the CCP’s current relaxation of epidemic control is to “infect all those who can be infected, and let all those who should die die as soon as possible.” "Infection, early death, early peak, early return to production".
He said that in the next 90 days, 60% of China's population, or 10% of the world's population, will be infected with the covid virus, and the death toll may be as high as millions.
News (19)
Chinese New Year is approaching, the epidemic has failed to zero, and the death wave has spread everywhere
Editor : Tang Zheng / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2023/01/09/a103620642.html / Image : On 18 December 2022, at a crematorium and funeral home in the eastern suburbs of Beijing, China, the family members of the deceased are transferring a coffin from the hearse to a container for storage, waiting for cremation. (Getty Images)
The epidemic in CCP China broke out like a tsunami, news of deaths was reported frequently across the country, and crematoriums were overcrowded. According to reports, experts expect most urban crematoria to process two or three times the usual number of deaths, and hospitals everywhere are overloaded. This wave of epidemics has made the funeral industry "business is booming" while family members complain that the deceased family members "died inexplicably."
According to a Voice of America report on 7 January 2023, not only in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, but also in second-, third-, and fourth-tier cities, family members and citizens of the deceased revealed that local crematoriums are also overcrowded. In the Jiangsu Province city of Taixing, a city with a population of 1.18 million, local residents revealed that due to the soaring number of corpses, the Taixing Funeral Parlor on Wenchang West Road opened seven or eight cremators, capable of burning hundreds of corpses a day.
Chen Jun, whose parents and parents-in-law were infected one after another in his hometown in Taixing, was in a heavy heart. He told Voice of America that his uncle was already seriously ill after being found to be infected with covid virus on 26 and 27 December 2022. He passed away on the 29th. The family stopped for four days before being sent to the Taixing funeral home for cremation.
"(The number of deaths) can be said to be an eternal mystery. They died for no reason, and they don't even have numbers now," Chen Jun said. Hongqiao Hospital refused to state that the death was caused by the novel coronavirus pneumonia at that time."
"The hospital said that we dare not write about covid. If we write about the covid, we will take off our clothes (dismissal)." Relatives who participated in the treatment and funeral told him this way. "All Chinese are deceiving themselves and others."
"We were killed in an unclear manner like this. This is death." Chen Jun said.
The report quoted a staff member of Xuanbao Funeral Home in Taixing as saying that the organization’s workload has doubled or tripled before the epidemic. 11 staff members have been working from 12 pm to noon, or even 2 pm, for 11 consecutive days.
"I don't know when it will be the end, and the lives of the staff have already started to have problems. (More than 100 machines are burned every day) The number is about the same. The predecessors said that they have never seen such a situation, and such high-intensity working machines can't stand it."
The father of Mr. Z, a Tianjin citizen who did not want to be named for security reasons, died of the epidemic on 29 December 2022. He revealed that the No. 3 Funeral Home in Tianjin used to cremate an average of 40 corpses per day, but now it can burn more than 200 corpses, and it takes more than 40 minutes to more than an hour to burn a corpse.
Mr. Z said that (the funeral home) is full of cars and people. A friend of the funeral home said that 100,000 deaths in Tianjin during this entire period is very low, and from around 12 December 2022 last year to now, (the peak period) has to wait.
The father of Chinese human rights lawyer Sui Muqing died on Christmas Day after being admitted to Tonghua Central Hospital in Jilin Province in mid-to-late December last year.
Sui Muqing said that after the prosperity of nucleic acid and vaccines, all parts of China ushered in the prosperity of cremation. "The prosperity of the funeral industry is a great thing for the country and greatly reduces the financial burden. It is a very sad thing for each of our families," he said. "This kind of openness is very unprepared. "
In Sui Muqing's eyes, the (CCP's) zero-covid campaign in the past three years was a complete farce and failure, and this year's banning and prosecution is the most crazy and tragic. "It cleared our wallets, freedom, dignity, and our parents, but it didn't clear the virus. We revisited the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution again, making up for the price we didn't pay at the beginning." Sui Muqing said.
At the beginning of December last year, the CCP’s extreme “dynamic clearing” policy hastily exited amidst public grievances, and unpreparedly relaxed control, causing the epidemic to explode. Antipyretics were sold out, hospitals everywhere were overwhelmed by people with fever, and the number of deaths continued to skyrocket. , The funeral industry ushered in the busiest period of business in recent years.
According to a press release issued by the British health data company Airfinity on December 30 last year, 11,000 people die from the epidemic every day in China. By the end of April 2023, it is estimated that 1.7 million people will die from the epidemic in China.
Zhang Wenhong, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai, said on 29 December 2022 that the infection rate in many major cities has exceeded 50%, and it will reach 80% during Chinese New Year. If calculated based on a population of 1.4 billion, that is 1.1 billion people will be infected with the virus.
As the traditional Chinese New Year is approaching, China is ushering in a large-scale population flow between urban and rural areas. Officials from the National Health Commission of the Communist Party of China recently admitted that emergency and severe cases will reach a peak, and the medical system will be under great pressure. "During this period, there may be a peak of emergency and severe cases in small and medium-sized cities and rural areas."
Xiao Ming (pseudonym), an employee of Liaoning Anshan People's Hospital, previously told The Epoch Times, "Now that there are so many patients, there is no solution. It’s the limit. Some patients died before they could be rescued, and the higher authorities even lightly covered up the death data.”
"Actually, so many people die every day that the mortuary can't fit them. There were corpses parked at the door of the department and in the corridors a few days ago," he said.
News (20)
The CCP completely lifts the "zero-covid policy" as the borders are opened amid the pandemic
Reporter : Jin Shi / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2023/01/08/a103620475.html
On 8 January 2023, mainland China opened its borders for the first time in three years. At this time, the outbreak of the epidemic occurred in China, and China's comprehensive opening up has aggravated the international community's concerns about the spread of the epidemic.
On 8 January 2023, the Chinese authorities ended the requirement to quarantine incoming travelers, removing the last pillar of the “zero policy.” Previously, the Chinese government required foreign inbound travelers to undergo up to eight days of quarantine upon arrival.
On that day, Beijing, Shanghai and other airports were crowded with people.
Professor John of the School of International Relations: "Because there is no need for isolation, my daughter is here today."
Beijing's opening of the border coincides with the beginning of the "homecoming wave" during the traditional Chinese New Year. Officials expect about 2 billion trips will be made during Chinese New Year.
According to mainland media reports, travel platforms show that the current inbound and outbound air ticket orders have increased by 6 times compared with the same period.
In the past three years, the CCP authorities have implemented a strict "zero-clearing policy" for epidemic prevention, which has seriously damaged domestic people's livelihood and economy, and triggered rare large-scale protests in many places in China.
After that, the authorities reversed their policies and hastily lifted the epidemic prevention restrictions, which triggered another outbreak of the epidemic in China. The re-opening of borders has also aroused concerns about the spread of the epidemic from China to the world.
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