Japan's declassified "June 4th" documents exposed, deceived by the CCP for 30 years

Reporter : Li Yun / Editor: Li Quan / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2020/12/31/a103021442.html / Direct translation / Image : Catherine Henriette/AFP/Getty Images

Recently, Japan has declassified 26 volumes of diplomatic documents, including the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the Tiananmen Massacre. Western countries imposed economic sanctions on the CCP. Diplomatic documents show that Japan insists that the West should not take strong measures against the CCP in order to allow it to reform. It was not until 30 years later that Japan discovered that it was deceived by the CCP.

On December 31, the British media BBC reported that Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) declassified 26 diplomatic documents last week, up to more than 10,000 pages, containing "extremely confidential" photocopying materials, which are rare in Japan after World War II, a large amount of public diplomatic historical data.

The diplomatic documents declassified this time contain historical data on Japanese foreign policy from 1987 to 1990. In the past three years, the world suffered the collapse of the communist camp, and many countries in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe embraced democracy.

But in China, in June 1989, the Tiananmen Square Movement to suppress students broke out during the June Fourth Movement. The CCP sent troops to brutally suppress students pursuing democracy, resulting in more than 10,000 deaths and more than 40,000 injuries. Strongly condemned by the international community.

At that time, Western countries including Japan reassessed their relations with the CCP. The declassified documents show that after the incident, Japan stated to China that "from a humanitarian standpoint, we cannot tolerate it at all." At the same time, Japan insists that the West should not take strong measures against the CCP.

At the G7 summit held in Paris, France in July of the same year, the seven major industrial nations, including Japan, discussed and issued a statement on severe condemnation and further sanctions against the CCP, which encountered resistance from Japan.

At that time, Japan's total economic productivity was still 8 times that of China, and it was also the largest aid country to China, with a large amount of investment in China.

Although Japan's move was opposed by several Western allies, the G7 countries finally reached a consensus, "We must avoid isolating China in order to allow it to reform." After 1990, the diplomacy between China and Japan made honeymoon progress. In July of the same year, Japan resumed its aid loans to the CCP.

In 1991, Toshiki Kaibe, then Prime Minister of Japan, was invited to visit Beijing, and finally achieved King Akihito's visit to China in 1992.

The BBC stated that the "stable and open China policy" that Japan had hoped for seemed to be fulfilled. But today, 30 years later, Japan has once again come to a crossroads, facing the dilemma of how to get along with Beijing.

Since 2020, Beijing has concealed that the CCP virus has caused the epidemic to spread across the world and brought heavy disasters to people of all countries. So far, more than 18 million people have been infected and nearly 2 million have died.

In addition, the CCP’s practices in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan have made the international community increasingly vigilant. Western countries led by the United States have realized their own safety and have joined forces to encircle and suppress the CCP and "disconnect" from the CCP. Including Australia and Canada also attacked hard and criticized Beijing.

The BBC said that Japan’s current attitude is still relatively ambiguous. In response to the declassified documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" published an editorial saying that in the past 30 years, China's development direction is completely different from what you imagined. The CCP has grown into an economy three times larger than Japan.

The editorial said that the CCP is oppressing basic human rights. As a member of the international community, Japan should express a clearer position with the CCP, reflect on its weak attitudes and learn lessons.

Japan's "Sankei Shimbun" also criticized that the attitude towards the CCP in the past 30 years has been misguided, and the Japanese government should deeply reflect on it. The report believes that Xi Jinping's authoritarian behaviour and the use of huge economic power to cultivate military power are also responsible for such threats to Japan. They also believe that the CCP should not allow Xi Jinping to visit Japan as a state guest because the CCP does not attach importance to human rights issues.

Shizuoka Prefectural University, Professor Suwa Kazuki, who specializes in modern Chinese politics, said that Hong Kong was once the touchstone for people's expectations that China could be democratized first, but it has suffered more oppression than expected. In the face of the CCP where there is no possibility of democratization, Japan should take the experience of 30 years ago and calmly judge the next step.

Kyoto University professor Nakanishi Teru Masa also said that China and Japan have their geographical similarities. The Japanese side looked forward to China's reform and opening up and let Japan embark on a pro-China line. This expectation that the economy will affect democracy has caused misjudgments in the world.

China's vaccines cause concern, "Let the leaders fight first" became a buzzword

Reporter : Luo Tingting / Editor: Fan Ming / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2020/12/31/a103021357.html / Direct translation

The safety and effectiveness of the CCP virus vaccine produced in China have been questioned by the outside world. A survey shows that the Chinese government agencies and medical staff have a negative attitude towards vaccination in China. For this reason, some experts proposed that the vaccine "let the leaders fight first," but unexpectedly it detonated the Internet and became a buzzword in mainland China.

The epidemic in mainland China has spread rapidly, and the official plan is to vaccinate a large area in China, but the response from the people is cold. Recently, an emergency notice of vaccination in Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province was posted online, showing that none of the local CCP government officials signed up.

Shanghai conducted a similar investigation in November, and it turned out that medical staff were reluctant to receive Chinese vaccines. Among them, more than 90% of medical staff in Yangpu District Chinese Medicine Hospital refused to receive Chinese vaccines.

On December 22, Professor Zhang Wenhong, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai, expressed his personal views on the refusal of the Chinese vaccine by medical staff at a meeting.

Zhang Wenhong said, "Whether you have 10% vaccination or 20% vaccination, we are not in a hurry."

He also bluntly said, "Then who should fight first today? I personally think that the leading cadres must fight first."

Zhang Wenhong's suggestion that the vaccine "let the leaders fight first" triggered heated discussions among netizens and became a buzzword on the mainland. Some netizens joked: "The vaccine must be vaccinated for high-risk groups first, and ordinary people can go a little later."

Li Datong, former editor of Freezing Point magazine of China Youth Daily, told VOA: "China's vaccine information is too opaque. How many experiments have been conducted, what are the results of Phase I, Phase II and Phase III? What are the side effects? It is not transparent now, I don’t know. , Then who dares to fight?"

He said, "Zhang Wenhong was right. When should we fight? You can only fight when the leaders are finished."

Mr. Zhou, a resident of Anhui, said that it’s not necessarily useful if the leader fights first. It depends on which level of leadership is doing this demonstration: "It’s good to let the leader fight first, but it depends on what leader it is. County leaders? Provincial leaders? Or central leaders? We don't know this, right?"

The Yi Pao published a signed article "The Voice of the Chinese: Let the Leaders Get the Vaccine First" on December 24. The article pointed out that the reason why the call of "Let the Leaders Vaccine First" has been widely responded to by Chinese society. There are doubts about the safety of the vaccine.

Second, because CCP officials hold power and face risks, officials naturally let the people face it first, so the vaccine is naturally let the people fight first. People are worried about the safety of the vaccine and they are afraid of becoming a test product for the vaccine, so they hope that officials will be vaccinated first.

The article said, why is there no question of "who gets the vaccine first" in the United States? It is because the safety of scientific research and production of American vaccines is guaranteed, which reassures the American people. New York nurse Sandra. Lindsay was the first person in the United States to be vaccinated with Pfizer. US Vice President Pence and his wife also took the lead in vaccinating Pfizer.

The Voice of America reported that there are reasons for the outside world to worry about China's vaccines. In recent years, China's frequent "toxin vaccine" scandals have made China's vaccines lack credibility.

Mr. Zhou, an Anhui resident, said: “If I were to be vaccinated, I would definitely not be the first one, because this vaccine is not yet reliable and needs to be internationally recognized.” The public is still unclear whether the vaccine produced in China is a virulent vaccine.

According to an analysis by the New York Times, from 2018 to 2020, there were 59 corruption lawsuits involving Chinese vaccine companies, of which 54 involved bribery of local Chinese officials. Weak supervision has led to many "viral vaccines" flowing into the market, such as the rabies vaccine produced by Changchun Changsheng Biological in 2018, and 145 infants and young children in Jinhu County, Jiangsu Province received expired vaccines in 2019.

The Associated Press reported on December 25 that although there is no obvious reason to suspect that China’s vaccines are not working, China has a history of vaccine scandals. China’s pharmaceutical factories have not announced the final results of human trials of the Chinese virus vaccine, but they are used more than 1 million times in the name of emergency in the country.

The Japan Times also pointed out that China’s rapid development of a Chinese virus vaccine raises questions about its safety and reliability. The standards and safety measures used by Chinese R&D personnel lack transparency, and vaccines have been sent to various places for emergency use without the approval of regulatory agencies.

In response to many doubts about China's vaccines from the outside world, Zhong Nanshan, an epidemic prevention expert of the Communist Party of China, said bluntly in an interview with CCTV reporters on December 30 that Chinese vaccines must also be prevented. He also said, will he get infected after the vaccine? no one knows.

The CCP’s Official Epidemic Prevention Notice: More spread of the epidemic will become the norm

Reporter : Zheng Gusheng / Editor: Yun Tao / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2020/12/30/a103021029.html / Direct translation

The CCP virus outbreak has broken out in many places in China, and it is difficult for the CCP to completely cover it up. The recent holiday epidemic prevention notice stated that "multiple distribution" of local epidemics will become the norm.

The National Health Commission of the Communist Party of China issued a notice on epidemic prevention during New Year's Day and Chinese New Year on the 30th. The content of the notice was mentioned at the press conference of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council of the Communist Party of China that day.

Officials from the CDC of the National Health Commission said that in the context of accelerating the spread of the global epidemic, the local epidemic in China is spreading, spreading at multiple points, and even locally clustered, "this will become the norm."

The official epidemic prevention notice involves restricting private family gatherings, guiding migrant workers not to go home for the New Year, strictly controlling festival gathering activities and personnel movement, and strengthening transportation and epidemic prevention measures.

At present, there are outbreaks in Beijing, Shenyang, Dalian, Heilongjiang, Shanghai, Inner Mongolia, Hebei and other places. Many of these cities have been closed again. In Jinzhou District of Dalian, due to the lack of food and material supplies in the blockade of the community, the online video of the residents of the community yelling "we want to eat" desperately went out.

However, governments at all levels of the Chinese Communist Party, as always, conceal the severity of the epidemic, and continue to throw away the pot.

Beijing officials recently announced that they had tested positive for the CCP virus in imported auto parts, and that the outbreak in Shunyi District came from a man who entered the city from Indonesia.

Variant viruses have strong transmission power. Why do many people have concerns about vaccines?

 Report by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

As the devastating 2020 that causes many people to lose money to the pandemic, election fraud and scams is about to pass, 2021 presents us with full of unknowns and uncertainties. StayGate wishes everyone a happy, safe and smooth new year despite unhappiness and challenges.

At the end of 2020, there are still big things going on. The global election in the United States has not ended. Many people are still watching the possibility of Trump's re-election. On the other side of the earth, variants of SARS-CoV-2 (CCP virus, covi) spread rapidly from Europe, casting a shadow on people and adding a little anxiety. While the first nurse in Singapore was vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech SARS-CoV-2 vaccine on 30 December 2020, the new UK strain of covi was found on a Singapore Airlines pilot that had returned to Singapore.

New virus variant cited for reason of complete lockdown

The British government announced on December 19 that a more infectious and more easily out of control variant of the CCP virus appeared in the UK. The new strain spreads 70% faster than the previous virus. As of the week of December 20, reports from all parts of the UK show that the number of cases increased by 51% from the previous week, and stricter lockdown measures were subsequently announced. More than half of new patients in the UK are now tested for covi.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock also said afterwards that the new variant has been "out of control" and everyone must be as careful as if they are infected with the virus.

The mutant virus has now spread to many countries including Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy. Many European countries, Canada, India, etc. have issued bans to the UK. South Africa has also discovered a new variant of the virus strain. Due to the surge in confirmed cases of infection, large-scale restrictions may continue until next year. People are talking about the new virus. About 40 countries have imposed travel bans on the United Kingdom.

The British Prime Minister originally said that imposing a lockdown order during Christmas is "inhumane", so he planned to give all British people a five-day reunion day from 23 to 27 December, allowing three families to gather indoors. But only 72 hours later, he changed his mind, the policy took a 180-degree turn, and the strict lockdown order was issued again.

Now, the number of people infected with the CCP virus in the world has exceeded 80 million, and it has increased by 20 million in the last month, which can be said to be a surge.

About the new covi mutation N501Y

The CCP virus is getting worse in terms of infectivity. What exactly happened?

The chief scientific adviser to the British government, Valance said, the virus strain was found in the southern part of the UK in September and then spread in the UK. Statistics in the United Kingdom in November showed that 28% of confirmed cases in London were from this variant virus. By mid-December, this number was close to two-thirds (62%).

So why not take action sooner? Because of the rapid spread of this new virus strain, it was only discovered by scientists late last week. At the time, British health officials were still debating whether the general public neglected the epidemic prevention or whether the covi was highly contagious that caused the rapid spread of the epidemic. Later, scientists further investigated and found that the infectivity of the new variant virus was significantly higher than that of other virus strains.

The new virus has 17 mutations. One of the important mutations is N501Y. This mutation allows the virus to enter cells more easily, and the virus content in patients infected with the new virus is higher, which may be more difficult to control. Today, about two-thirds of the cases in London are caused by it. However, there is no evidence that the new mutant virus will aggravate the disease or increase the fatality rate.

Will the mutant virus affect the vaccine effect?

As the United States began to promote vaccination, people's doubts about vaccines also followed.

Experts are still studying whether the vaccines now launched will become more effective or ineffective in dealing with variant viruses. Although health officials believe that the virus mutation will not affect the effectiveness of the vaccine, there is no official conclusion yet.

What is worrying is that the vaccines developed by Pfizer, Modena, Oxford, etc., which have been concerned by the outside world so far, are all against the spike protein of the virus to some extent, and the mutation of the virus also mainly occurred in the spike protein.  Professor Ravindra Gupta, a professor of clinical microbiology, said, “The virus may be evading the vaccine, and the first few steps have been taken. If we let it continue to add a few more mutations, we will start to be vigilant.”

Since the first outbreak in Wuhan, covi has mutated twice a month. If large-scale vaccination is carried out, it may also promote more mutations in covi. Although most experts believe that the newly developed vaccine can still fight against the new British variant virus, if the virus mutation can really make the existing vaccine ineffective, countries may have to continue to develop new vaccines as they did for flu confrontation.

Variations are not rare but elusive

Viral mutations are not uncommon. So far, experts have found thousands of variants of covi. However, most virus mutations have no effect on the infectivity of the virus and the severity of symptoms.

Gupta said that as early as April, Swedish researchers discovered a virus strain with two genetic mutations, which roughly doubled the infectivity of the virus. Approximately 6000 cases around the world are infected by this strain of the virus, most of which are concentrated in Denmark and the United Kingdom. Later, other variants of this virus strain appeared one after another. For example, some people were infected on mink farms in Denmark. Among the multiple mutations of the variant new coronavirus discovered in South Africa, there are also two genetic mutations seen in the past.

In addition to these two variants, the variant virus discovered in the UK this time has other variants, including variants of eight spinous proteins. This is called "variations under investigation" because the magnitude of the effects of these changes is currently unknown.

Unknowns and doubts caused by vaccines

In fact, many people are worried about vaccines. The true effectiveness of a vaccine also depends on the universality of the vaccine. If there are not enough people vaccinated, then its effectiveness will be greatly reduced.

The results of the covi vaccines during the clinical study are not much different from the conventional side effects of other vaccines, and they are currently safe but there are several factors we must consider. The vaccines have not yet been used on a large scale, and patients have been using the vaccines for a short period of time. It is unclear whether there will be long-term side effects.

However, the vaccines have only been used for about three months, and the long-term effects and side effects are not clear. The sample of the study population is not large enough.

The most important thing is that, theoretically, the mRNA used to make vaccines is messenger ribonucleic acid, which can pass through the cell membrane and enter the cytoplasm. It is also possible to pass through the nucleus membrane to enter the nucleus, thereby interfering with the cell's genetic material. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, the vaccine is currently safe and will actively pay attention to its safety. At the same time, it is very clear that the vaccine will not enter the nucleus and interfere with genetic material but whether the vaccines will have long-term and serious consequences is a topic worthy of everyone's continued attention.

Meanwhile, as we enter the new year, let's learn to be frugal during the pandemic, stop the hearts of greed and pray that good prevails against evil, and support everyone in dire straits.

Beijing rarely admits that the actual number of people infected with the epidemic in Wuhan may exceed the official ten times

Reporter : Li Yun / Editor: Li Quan / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2020/12/30/a103020830.html / Direct translation

As the CCP virus epidemic is heating up again, a study conducted by the CCP's public health department showed that the scale of the Wuhan epidemic at the beginning of the year may be nearly 10 times that of public data. This ratio indicates that Wuhan, with a population of approximately 11 million, may have as many as 500,000 people infected with the virus. But this data is still questioned by all parties.

Comprehensive media reported on December 30 that the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a serum survey of more than 34,000 people in April, and about 4.4% of them were tested for virus antibodies, indicating that they had been infected.

The data was announced in the evening of December 28. This ratio indicates that among the 11 million people in Wuhan, as many as 500,000 residents may have been infected, which is nearly 10 times the 50,000 confirmed cases announced by the health department in mid-April.

The CCP received international criticism for initially concealing the epidemic. The United States has questioned the Wuhan infection data released by China. The revision of case and death data has made the outside world more suspicious that the CCP has falsified the data.

Analysts generally believe that the CCP’s figures are habitually falsified. Even if it is increased by 10 times, the CCP’s figures still involve serious underreporting.

The CCP virus is raging

After the outbreak of the Chinese Communist Party virus in Wuhan, Hubei Province at the end of 2019, the Wuhan Health and Health Commission reported three times from the end of the year to mid-January 2020 that it was "preventable and controllable, and no obvious human-to-human transmission was found."

Until January 20, Xi Jinping publicly gave instructions on the epidemic. That night, Zhong Nanshan, a CCP expert, admitted for the first time that the virus would be transmitted from person to person. But at this time the epidemic was completely out of control.

From late January to early March, it was the peak period of the epidemic in Wuhan. Hong Kong’s "China Human Rights and Democracy Movement Information Center" disclosed on March 23 that the CCP was falsifying data on CCP virus cases across the country.

The news revealed that many places did not send suspected patients to doctors, but isolated them in certain places, allowing them to "naturally recover" or "naturally die", and notify the local police station to bury the body in the mountain after death.

French Weekly Magazine stated on April 21 that data on infections and deaths from the epidemic in China have also been substantially deleted. The CCP only counts deaths in hospitals, and deaths at home are not counted. However, these dead people accounted for one-third of the newly revised statistics. Moreover, according to the CCP’s statistics, patients must simply die from the epidemic before they are counted. Other diseases are not counted.

Dr. Wang Weiluo, a scholar living in Germany, analyzed the data of the CCP’s "Direct Internet Reporting System for Infectious Diseases" and concluded that the statistics of the "Direct Internet Reporting System" alone are 25 times more cases than those announced by the CCP!

While concealing the epidemic and fabricating data, the CCP suppressed doctors and people who spread the truth about the epidemic, and colluded with the World Health Organization to cover up the truth of the epidemic to the world. Leading to a century-old plague that ravaged the world.

As of December 30, there have been more than 80 million confirmed cases worldwide and nearly 2 million deaths.

However, up to now, the CCP is still concealing the truth about the epidemic, and it is pursuing citizen journalists and citizens who released the truth about the epidemic.

Shanghai citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was sentenced to 4 years by the CCP for reporting on the Wuhan epidemic on December 28; volunteers on the "Endpoint Star" website Chen Mei and Cai Wei are also facing court trial for spreading news of the epidemic, and their situation is worse than Zhang Zhan Bad.

Another is a Wuhan citizen reporter Fang Bin. He visited Wuhan Fifth Hospital in early February. Within 5 minutes, the hospital moved 8 corpses and caused a sensation. Afterwards, Fang Bin was taken away by the police and there has been no news.

Trump Team wants to present evidences of fraud on 6 January 2021

Reporter : Jack Philipps / Publisher : The Epoch Times

 

President Donald Trump’s campaign adviser said the team is aiming to present evidence during a potential congressional debate on Jan. 6 if lawmakers in the House and Senate object to states’ Electoral College votes.

As of Wednesday, it appears that at least one member of the Senate, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and a number of House lawmakers will object to the electoral votes during the Joint Session of Congress. Hawley announced he would object to the electoral vote, pointing to previous Democratic efforts to do so during the 2004 and 2016 presidential elections. After the objection, an hours-long debate will occur.

Miller said that evidence could be presented in Congress, which would differ from what the Trump campaign presented in courts over the past several weeks.

“We will have a chance in front of the American people, next week to present these cases, all these evidences of fraud,” Miller told Newsmax, pointing to a lawsuit filed by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) against Vice President Mike Pence earlier this week to prevent him from confirming Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Miller told the outlet that the 1887 Electoral Count Act allows the vice president, who is the president of the Senate, to preside over the Joint Session of Congress.

Then, Miller told Newsmax that he hopes at least one senator and representative join together to object to the Electoral College vote, allowing for two hours of debate.

Should that happen, Miller said President Donald Trump’s team is seeking to present alleged evidence of voter fraud or irregularities in the November 3 election, including law changes regarding mail-in ballots in Wisconsin, “suitcases of ballots” in Georgia being wheeled out late at night on Nov. 3 in Atlanta’s State Farm Center, and being blocked in Arizona and Michigan from inspecting voting systems, alleging that ballots were counted several times.

“These are the specific types of evidence we want to present to the American people on the national stage and not allow local politicians to sweep it under the rug,” Miller said.

Weeks ago, Trump’s team led by Rudy Giuliani presented a surveillance video from the State Farm Center that showed suitcase-like boxes being wheeled from under a table. It came after election officials allegedly told other workers and poll observers that counting was done for the night.

The Georgia GOP said they received conflicting and incorrect answers and statements from Fulton County officials about what happened on Election Night, and officials later acknowledged that vote-counting went on until the early-morning hours. State election officials, in response to the video, said nothing unusual occurred with the ballot boxes and vote-tabulation process in Fulton County.

Elaborating on Wisconsin, he said, “Article II of the Constitution makes it very clear, the state legislatures, and state legislatures alone, set up the voting systems for each state, the codes and the way they are conducted.” He said, “And what we have here is we have over 20,000 ballots that were cast without actually having an application on file, the mail ballots. Wisconsin’s very clear, very specific you got to have an application on file.”

Power of Vice President to Count or Reject Electoral Votes Disputed

Analysis : Petr Svab / Publisher : The Epoch Times

At 1 pm local time on January 6, members of Congress will gather in the chamber of the House of Representatives to observe the formal certification of Electoral College votes for president of the United States.

While it is usually a formality, nothing has been usual so far about this year’s election amid numerous allegations of voter fraud in key swing states.

The situation is complicated by a lack of clarity on the legal and constitutional guardrails for the process. The joint session of Congress may well result in gridlock, in which a clear winner of the race is not announced at all.

Based on current election results, former Vice President Joe Biden has received 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 votes. Meanwhile, Republicans in seven states where Biden claimed victory have sent their own sets of electoral votes to Washington, and some members of the House have indicated that they will object to Biden electors in some states. Any objection would require support from one House member and one senator to be considered, and at least one senator has has left open the possibility he would join the effort.

So what will happen?

The counting of votes is primarily governed by the 12th Amendment of the Constitution and the amended Electoral Count Act.

The Constitution simply states that electors of each state have to meet, make a list of their votes, “which they shall sign and certify,” and send those to the president of the Senate, meaning Vice President Mike Pence.

“The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted,” the 1804 amendment says.

The Electoral Count Act of 1887, currently known as 3 U.S. Code Section 15, establishes a procedure for how the votes are counted, how to raise objections, and how to resolve disputes. First, it says that the vice president indeed presides over the proceedings. Then, it says the House and Senate leaders each designate two tellers. The VP opens the envelopes with the vote certificates and hands them to the tellers for counting. The tellers then read them out loud, count them, and hand them back to the VP to announce the results.

Then, in rather convoluted language, the law says that Congress members can object. At least one objection from each chamber is needed to trigger a separate vote by both House and Senate on the objections. If both chambers agree, the objected voters are rejected. That’s virtually out of the question given the Democrats’ majority in the House.

If two sets of electors are presented for counting, the House and Senate need to separately vote on which set is legitimate and which should be rejected. If each chamber votes differently, the set certified by the state’s governor should count. That would hand the victory to Biden.

The problem is, there’s a voluminous body of legal analysis arguing that the Electoral Count Act is unconstitutional. Congress has no business granting itself the authority to decide which slate of electors is the correct one and which votes should be rejected. Nor does Congress have the power to designate state governors as the final arbiters, a lineup of legislators and legal scholars have argued.

There are two arguments for who has the constitutional power to decide which electors to choose.

Some jurists say it’s the VP who has the sole discretion to decide which votes to count. The argument is that the framers intended for the VP to be the sole authority over the counting of the votes because the unanimous resolution attached to the Constitution said that the Senate should appoint its President “for the sole Purpose of receiving, opening, and counting the Votes for President.”

Moreover, before the adoption of the Electoral Count Act, it was always the VP counting the votes, sometimes despite major objections from Congress. Thomas Jefferson did so as the VP in the 1800 election, counting Georgia’s constitutionally deficient votes and de facto securing his own presidency.

Arizona state lawmakers and GOP electors, together with Rep. Louie Gohmert, have filed a federal suit asking for the court to clarify the law to the effect that the Electoral Count Act is unconstitutional and the VP’s power is paramount.

Not everybody agrees, though.

University of Virginia professsor John Harrison, an expert on constitutional history, says the VP doesn’t have “any constitutional power to make decisions” over which votes to count.

He argued that the law is deficient to the effect that “Congress doesn’t have the power to make the announcement [of its decisions regarding the vote count] conclusive.” But that doesn’t mean it can’t prescribe any rules at all.

“The Constitution does call for counting the votes with both houses present, so I think that setting up procedures for a count is within Congress’s power,” he told The Epoch Times via email.

The second argument is that the Constitution grants the authority to determine how electors are picked to state legislatures. As such, any disputes over which votes should be counted should be resolved by state legislatures.

The problem is, state legislatures are not in session and they cannot assemble in a special session without a call from the governors, who have refused to do so. Meanwhile, the legislatures have usually delegated the power to certify electors to the Governors and Secretaries of State, undermining their own authority on the matter.

The conservative Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the power of the legislatures is both “exclusive and non-delegable,” and thus any state and federal statutes to the contrary are unconstitutional and void.

That would not only knock down some provisions of the Electoral Count Act, but also render electoral votes that have not been certified post-election by state legislatures illegitimate.

Regardless of what the courts will say, the core question is what will take place in the House chambers on January 6? Will Pence refuse to follow the Electoral Count Act? Will some of the tellers dissent? If things go wrong for the Democrats, will House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) try to end the session prematurely?

There is no way to tell. Pence has not let his intentions be known.