Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
News on CCP, Lebanon, Israel, Taiwan
News (1)
Lebanon walkie-talkie explosions, CCP's means of blaming Taiwan exposed
Editor : Wen Bin / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2024/09/19/a103915283.html / Image : On 18 September 2024, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanese army soldiers stood guard before the arrival of an ambulance. It was reported that hundreds of paging devices exploded in various parts of Lebanon the day before, killing hundreds of people. (Fadel Itani/AFP via Getty Images)
The collective explosion of walkie-talkies in many places in Lebanon on 18 September 2024 has caused 20 deaths and more than 450 injuries. After the incident, the CCP manipulated domestic and foreign media to link the incident with Taiwan. Taiwan's national security personnel revealed that the CCP's operation was suspected to be intended to discredit Taiwan.
Following the collective explosion of pagers on 17 September 2024, walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah in Lebanon exploded simultaneously in multiple locations on the 18th. Officials said that at least 20 people have been killed and more than 450 people have been injured.
After the incident, Chinese mainland media reported immediately that the pagers used in Lebanon were Taiwanese brand. At the same time, Taiwan's national security agency has obtained some information about cyber attacks, which attempts to link Taiwan to the explosion in Lebanon.
According to information from Taiwan's national security, the Central News Agency quoted information from Taiwan's national security department and revealed that the first post circulating online came from the X account "GUMBY" before 6 a.m. on the 18th. It first mentioned that the pagers that exploded in Israel were manufactured by Taiwan's Golden Apollo Company; this malicious message said that these pagers were imported in mid-April this year, and at that time, the Israeli parliamentary delegation happened to visit Taiwan. During the visit of the delegation, then-President Tsai Ing-wen promised to "deepen" the partnership between the two countries, implying that the Taiwanese government was related to the case.
In less than half an hour, at 6.21 am, the X account "Somali Institute of Chinese Studies", a think tank for Somali Chinese studies, relayed the post.
Taiwan's national security personnel said that compared with the hint in the previous article, this article directly named Taiwan's collusion with Israeli pagers as "recorded in history" and became the world's most deadly "semiconductor espionage" and corporate sabotage activities, maliciously accusing it of being a dangerous intersection of so-called technology, geopolitics, corporate terrorism and separatism.
In addition to the overseas accounts that the CCP often uses for "export-to-domestic sales" and social group X that mainly uses foreign information, Taiwan's national security also found an abnormal social media account. The IP address of the account's posts has been constantly moving in multiple countries and regions, including Taiwan, Britain, Greece, Turkey and other countries. It is suspected that the account played the role of "local collaborator" for the CCP in this information war.
In addition, Chinese media such as "NetEase" and "Baidu" also continued to hype related topics on the same day, publishing articles including "Lebanon suffered a terrorist attack by BP machine explosions, and Taiwanese manufacturers are likely to be Israeli accomplices", "A large number of pagers exploded, Israel is the most suspected, and foreign media questioned the close connection between Taiwan and Israel", "A large number of Hezbollah pagers exploded at the same time, suspected to be remotely controlled by Israel, and the source of production was actually Taiwan", etc.
Taiwan's national security officials said that these accounts involved in smearing Taiwan have long been posting articles to cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party government in opposing the West and democracy and touting China's characteristics, and Beijing's shadow is looming.
News (2)
Hezbollah pagers exploded collectively. Hungary: No manufacturing or operating bases
Editor : Cheng Yiren / https://www.ntdtv.com/b5/2024/09/19/a103915278.html / Image : On 18 September 2024, in Budapest, Hungary, Hungarian Member of Parliament Elad Novak tried to enter BAC Consulting KFT. (Janos Kummer/Getty Images)
Pagers used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon exploded collectively. The pagers were suspected to come from Taiwan's Golden Apollo Company, but were denied, saying that they were manufactured by Hungarian partners. However, a Hungarian government spokesman said that the company involved had no manufacturing or operating bases in Hungary, and these devices had never appeared on Hungarian soil.
According to a Central News Agency report, pagers used by members of the Lebanese Shiite fundamentalist militia Hezbollah exploded on 17 September 2024, killing more than a dozen people, including civilians, and injuring thousands. Hezbollah accused Israel of committing the crime, but Israel did not directly deny or admit its involvement.
According to Reuters and AFP reports, Taiwanese manufacturer Golden Apollo issued a statement on September 18, saying that the pager was designed, manufactured and sold by its Hungarian partner BAC Consulting KFT. Golden Apollo only authorized the use of the trademark and was not involved in the production of the device.
Reuters called and emailed BAC today, but received no response.
Image : A view of the headquarters of BAC Consulting KFT in Budapest, Hungary, 18 September 2024. (Janos Kummer/Getty Images)
Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said on social media X and Facebook: "The authorities have confirmed that the company in question is a trade intermediary company with no manufacturing or operating bases in Hungary... The devices mentioned have never been produced in Hungary."
"There is a Hungarian operations manager at the address listed, and the equipment mentioned has never been to Hungary," he said.
Kovacs said that Hungarian national security authorities will cooperate with all international partner services and partner organizations involved to conduct further investigations, and said that this case "does not pose a national security threat to Hungary."
The pager that exploded after being used by Hezbollah in Lebanon is suspected to be from Taiwan's Golden Apollo Company. The company's head, Xu Qingguang, explained on 18 September that the product was made by the foreign company BAC and said that a cross-border lawsuit would be filed. (Central News Agency)
News (3)
Hezbollah's pager suspected to be tampered with, the whole explosion in one look
Editor : Lu Yongxin / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2024/09/19/a103915252.html
Pagers used by Hezbollah soldiers and medical staff in Lebanon exploded simultaneously in many places across the country on 17 September 2024, killing at least 9 people and injuring nearly 3,000 people. From the pictures, some explosions occurred after the pager sounded, and the explosion seemed to only injure the person wearing the pager or the person closest to it. According to security sources, the pager that exploded is the latest model introduced by Hezbollah in recent months. Reuters reported that the format of the sticker on the back of the pager is the same as that of Taiwan-made products.
Time and location of the explosion
Central News Agency reported that the explosion occurred at around 3.30 pm Lebanon time on the 17th, in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of the capital Beirut, and the Bekaa Valley in the east, which is the stronghold of the anti-Israel armed group Hezbollah.
The explosions continued for about an hour, and Reuters reporters and Dahiyeh residents said they could still hear the explosions at 4:30 p.m.
According to security sources and relevant images viewed by Reuters, some explosions occurred after the pager sounded, and Hezbollah members once put their hands on the pager or put their faces close to the screen to check.
Image : On 17 September 2024, explosions occurred at several Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon. A man was watching a video posted on social media, in which a man was injured. (Joseph Eid/AFP via Getty Images)
Scale of the explosion
According to the relevant images viewed by Reuters, the scope of the explosion was relatively limited. Two supermarket surveillance videos showed that the explosion appeared to injure only those wearing the pagers or those closest to them.
Videos from hospitals and social media showed some people with bruises on their faces, broken fingers and lacerations on their hips, likely from carrying pagers in their pockets.
The blast did not appear to cause significant damage to buildings or start any fires.
Type of pager that exploded
A Reuters analysis of images of the destroyed pagers showed that the format of the stickers on the back of the pagers matched that of products made by Taiwan-based pager maker Gold Apollo. The company did not immediately respond to Reuters' questions. Hezbollah also did not respond to Reuters' questions about the brand of the pagers.
Two sources with knowledge of Hezbollah's actions told Reuters this year that Hezbollah members began using pagers because they believed they could evade Israeli tracking.
Three security sources told Reuters that the pagers that exploded were the latest models introduced by Hezbollah in recent months.
Cause of the explosion
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said it had launched a "safety and scientific investigation" into the cause of the explosion and said Israel would be "fairly punished."
Diplomatic and security sources speculated that the explosion may have been caused by the explosion of the batteries of these devices, possibly because the batteries overheated. Several experts interviewed by Reuters said they were not sure that the batteries themselves were enough to cause the explosion.
Some said that Israel may have infiltrated the supply chain of Hezbollah's pagers.
Paul Christensen, a lithium-ion battery safety expert at Newcastle University, said the damage seemed different from past cases of such battery failure.
Ofodike Ezekoye, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, said another reason not to believe that the explosion was caused by overheating of the batteries was that usually only fully charged batteries would catch fire or explode.
"Below 50% (charge)... it will produce gas and water vapor, but it will not catch fire or explode," he said. "It's unlikely that everyone who has experienced a pager malfunction has a fully charged battery."
Israeli intelligence forces have previously placed explosives in personal phones to target enemy attacks, according to the 2018 book Rise and Kill First. Hackers have also demonstrated the ability to insert malicious code into personal devices, causing them to overheat and explode in certain circumstances.
Authorities react
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry said the explosion was caused by an "Israeli cyber attack," but did not explain how it came to that conclusion.
Lebanon's information minister said the attack was a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty.
The Israeli military declined to respond to Reuters' questions about the pager explosion.
The U.S. State Department said Washington was gathering information and was not involved. The U.S. Department of Defense said there were no changes to U.S. military deployments in the Middle East following the incident.
What are the implications for the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah?
Analysts believe the situation between Israel and Hezbollah could escalate. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire on their border several times since the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas broke out in the Gaza Strip last October.
However, experts are skeptical that an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah is imminent. The United States seeks to prevent a war between the two sides, believing that neither side would like it.
Matthew Levitt, a former deputy director of the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Intelligence who has written books about Hezbollah, said the pager explosion could disrupt Hezbollah's operations for a while.
Jonathan Panikoff, a former U.S. intelligence official, said Hezbollah may downplay its "biggest counterintelligence failure in decades," but if diplomacy continues to be ineffective, the growing tensions could still eventually lead to an all-out war.
News (4)
NPC report reveals: The lower the social class, the more people believe in "far ahead"
Editor: Li Chengyu / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2024/09/18/a103915147.html / Image : A group of old people playing cards in Beijing Temple of Heaven Park. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)
In recent years, the CCP has boasted about the so-called "Eastern rise and Western decline" and "science and technology far ahead". The survey report of Renmin University of China shows that the lower the social class and the lower the education level, the easier it is to believe these official propaganda.
On 6 September 2024, the China Survey and Data Center (NSRC) of Renmin University of China released a "National Public Science and Technology Innovation Awareness Survey Report". The survey was allegedly conducted in July and was targeted at 3,114 residents aged 18-60 in 31 provinces across the country. The survey content includes the public's current understanding and future prospects of the so-called "technological innovation", the challenges and driving forces of "technological innovation", the ability and influencing factors of "technological innovation" of enterprises, etc.
A number of party media reported on the report recently. However, Weibo netizens complained that they only saw the official "positive" report, but could not find the original report, "just like refuting rumors, they did not say what rumors they were refuting." Some netizens also mocked, "(Official concerns) The text was released and the interpretation angle could not be controlled."
At present, domestic self-media have issued interpretation articles from various angles, including "More than 90% of respondents believe that the education system needs to be deeply reformed", "96.15% of respondents believe that they still need to learn and communicate with the outside world", "State-owned enterprises have low innovation scores", etc.
One of the interpretation angles that has attracted much attention is, "The lower the education level, the more confident you are", "I believe that people who are far ahead are mostly at the bottom of society."
The charts provided by the report show that in terms of the so-called "technological innovation achievements", the public's recognition of the three fields of industrial Internet, artificial intelligence and large models, and biomedicine is the lowest, with a total score of less than 4 points, and the respondents The higher the education level, the lower the score given.
Taking artificial intelligence and big models as an example, respondents with "junior high school education or below" gave a score of 4.12 points, but as the education level increased, the score began to plummet, and the highest-educated "doctoral students" only gave 3.45 points. The scores in biomedicine also showed a similar distribution.
A netizen mocked: "It can be seen that the lower the education level, the more confident, and the more knowledge, the more reactionary. (The report shows) those with low education gave higher scores, but their willingness to buy and recommend were not high. This is probably the so-called 'the body is very honest'."
Image : Comments from netizens. (Webpage screenshot)
There is also a self-media interpretation of another survey data, pointing out that "the lower-class groups in society tend to recognize 'far ahead' Logic".
This survey designed two positive and negative viewpoints for the so-called "development and security" issue. One of them is: "Development is the foundation of security, and lack of development is the greatest insecurity. China's technological level is still behind the West, and it must catch up. Regulatory policies should encourage more than restrict it. "The other is: "Safety is the guarantee of development. Without safety, there is no development. It is better to lag behind in technology, but to ensure safety first."
A self-media interpreted that, first of all, private entrepreneurs are the most sober group, and they gave the highest score to viewpoint one, while university teachers or scholars from scientific research institutions gave the lowest score to viewpoint two, which shows that private entrepreneurs who directly participate in market competition and those engaged in scientific research have a deep understanding that there is still a gap between China's technology and developed countries.
Secondly, the unemployed or the unemployed industry group gave the lowest rating to viewpoint 1, which shows that most of them believe that China is "far ahead" of the West, so they regard security as the top priority.
Image : Self-media interpretation "the bottom of society recognizes far ahead more". (Webpage screenshot)
Third, the elites within the system have a clear understanding of the importance of scientific and technological development, but lack the motivation for reform.
Fourth, the scores of primary and secondary school teachers and students in school are disappointing. They are the two groups with the highest scores for viewpoint 2. In addition, another data in the report shows that young people aged 18 to 24 have a low recognition of innovation in private enterprises. This shows that they do not know what China's real development engine is, but are limited to or promoted in the context of cognition. The reason behind this is that Chinese schools are gradually out of touch with society and becoming increasingly closed, and the function of education is rapidly changing to "thinking exercises" for students.
News (5)
Mid-Autumn Festival turns into "Mid-Autumn Disaster" China's holiday economy collapses in all directions
Reporter : Zhu Ying / Editor: Lin Qing / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2024/09/18/a103915107.html / Image : The sales of mooncakes and famous liquors during the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2024 have shrunk significantly, and the Mid-Autumn Festival has turned into a "Mid-Autumn Disaster". (Ad screenshot composite picture)
Around the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, Kweichow Moutai's stock price fell for three consecutive days, and many other famous brands of liquor also hit new lows. On the other hand, the price of mooncake gift boxes has dropped from the 100 yuan price range to the 20 yuan price range, and even red wine is delivered for promotion. People have found that it is not only mooncakes and liquor that are not selling well now, but the entire holiday economy has collapsed in all directions.
This year's Mid-Autumn Festival has turned into a "Mid-Autumn Disaster". Hundreds of millions of Chinese people suddenly do not send mooncakes or buy liquor during the festival. Not only are mooncake distributors in a gloomy mood, and are willing to "sell at a loss", but major brand-name wineries are also in a dilemma of shrinking sales and plummeting stock prices.
September 18 is the first trading day after the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Kweichow Moutai, known as China's "national wine", led the decline, driving the entire liquor sector down. As of the close, Kweichow Moutai reported 1,266.9 yuan per share, a sharp drop of 2.85%, and a market value of 1591.5 billion yuan. Compared with the peak three years ago, the market value has shrunk by more than 50%. This is the third consecutive trading day that Kweichow Moutai has fallen sharply, with a cumulative decline of 8.2%.
On the same day, the stock prices of well-known liquor companies such as Wuliangye, Luzhou Laojiao, Shanxi Fenjiu, and Yanghe Shares also hit new lows.
The outside world has noticed that during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, the sales prices of famous liquors such as Feitian Moutai, Wuliangye Puwu, and Guojiao 1573 did not rise as in previous years, but remained basically the same, while sales volume shrank significantly compared with previous years.
According to mainland media reports, many wine merchants said in interviews that this year's Mid-Autumn Festival sales were significantly lower than in previous years, and sales volume was even only one-third or 50% of last year.
At the same time, the sales volume of "moon cakes", the main consumer of the Mid-Autumn Festival, also suffered a cliff-like plunge. High-end moon cake gift boxes above 500 yuan have basically withdrawn from the market. The ones that can still be "sold" are all "economical and affordable" moon cakes, and the prices have been greatly reduced compared with the past. There are even moon cake gift boxes priced at only 20 yuan that come with a bottle of red wine, or directly promote "buy one box and get one box free" for promotion. Even well-known moon cake brands such as Maxim's Moon Cakes, Guangzhou Restaurant, Ronghua, and Jinjiu have launched 80% to 90% discounts early this year.
Image : Moon cake promotion buy one get one free. (Webpage screenshot)
Due to the reduction of business activities, various corporate departments are now cutting budgets, and Mid-Autumn Festival gifts have also been quietly downgraded. "Many customers have either cut their mooncake budgets directly and chosen some cheaper products as festival gifts instead. For those who have no choice but to give gifts, the budgets have mostly been cut in half."
The public account "Smart Valley Trend" posted an article on September 18 that a friend who makes mooncakes told his friend with a heavy heart, "The overall order volume has dropped by 20%... As far as I know, because there are no orders, some manufacturers are now working 3 days and resting 1 day, and can ship the next day."
Image : Webpage screenshot
A five-star hotel in Hangzhou had a mooncake sales target of 800,000 yuan last year, which has dropped to 150,000 yuan this year. Some hotels even have to promote sales by all-staff apportionment.
The article stated that in the past, mooncakes in high-star hotels were the "face responsibility" of gift givers. In the past, people spent a lot of money on shopping and gifts to maintain face and relationships. Now, due to the sluggish economic situation, the "face responsibility" can no longer hold up.
The article states that not only did the Mid-Autumn Festival economy collapse, but also the Qixi Festival economy. In the past few years, some people would go through Shanghai trash cans after Qixi Festival, "and might find Apple phones, gold jewelry, or even cash", but the situation on Qixi Festival in the past two years is completely different, "someone searched 20 trash cans in Shanghai and only found 2 flowers..."
"The collapse of the festival economy is all-round," the article concludes, "To put it bluntly, people nowadays have become smarter - it is better to please yourself than to please others."
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