Toxic: How the search for the origins of COVID-19 turned politically poisonous
"Crucial initial efforts were hampered by bureaucrats in Wuhan trying to avoid blame who misled the central government; the central government, which muzzled Chinese scientists and subjected visiting WHO officials to stage-managed tours; and the U.N. health agency itself, which may have compromised early opportunities to gather critical information in hopes that by placating China, scientists could gain more access, according to internal materials obtained by AP."
--- Most, if not all of the stuff mentioned in the article is already known. So, it's a bit silly to act as if the AP had discovered anything significant. But at least this reminds some people of China's role in hiding evidence.
"Most of the WHO delegation was not allowed to go to Wuhan, which was under lockdown. The few who did learned little. They again had no access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology or the wildlife market and obtained only scant details about China CDC efforts to trace the coronavirus there.
On the train, Liang lobbied the visiting WHO scientists to praise China’s health response in their public report. Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, saw it as the “best way to meet China’s need for a strong assessment of its response.”
The new section was so flattering that colleagues emailed Aylward to suggest he “dial it back a bit.”
“It is remarkable how much knowledge about a new virus has been gained in such a short time,” read the final report, which was reviewed by China’s top health official before it went to Tedros."
--- The WHO was clearly complicit. & that's where investigations nowadays should dig. It's highly unlikely to get more information out of China (only by luck or leak), but there were numerous scientists in the West who helped China in dangerous research & lied about it. They can be investigated.
Two men charged with spying for China under Official Secrets Act
"Christopher Berry, 32, and Christopher Cash, 29, were charged under the Official Secrets Act.
They are accused of giving "articles, notes, documents or information" to a foreign state, the Met Police said.
Police called it an "extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations"."
--- Seems to be one of the few cases in which China made use of people without Han-Chinese ethnicity. Interestingly just like in a similar case in Germany:
Germany arrests 3 suspected China spies
"The charges relate to espionage "at a point in time that cannot be precisely determined before June 2022."
Thomas R. is said to have acted as an agent for an employee of the Chinese secret service MSS.
It is alleged that he obtained information about innovative technologies that could be used for military purposes.
Prosecutors believe he used Herwig F. and Ina F., who were running a company in Düsseldorf, to obtain the information."
--- Interesting list of 'customers & partners', including 5 universities & colleges.
"The couple agreed on a deal with a German university on behalf of a Chinese partner on state-of-the-art machine parts for the operation of powerful ship engines that could be used in combat vessels."
--- Funnily, until recently German companies actually sold their ship engine technology legally to China.
"The Chinese Embassy in Berlin issued a statement rejecting accusations it was spying in Germany.
"We call on Germany to desist from exploiting the espionage accusation to politically manipulate the image of China and defame China,""
--- 'Defamation! China is sooo innocent & would never ever spy on anyone.'
It's all those ugly foreigners spying on innocent China, actually:
China sees foreign threats ‘everywhere’ as powerful spy agency takes center stage
" As ominous music plays, a broad-faced, beady-eyed man disguises himself as a street fashion photographer, a lab technician, a businessman and a food delivery driver – he even sets up an online honey trap – to glean sensitive state secrets in various places and industries.
“In the sea of people, you may have never noticed him. His identity is changeable and his whereabouts are hard to find,” a narrator says. “They are everywhere, cunning… and sneaky, and they may be right here in our lives.”
Eventually, Chinese police catch the spy in a dramatic ambush after state security authorities receive multiple tip-offs from the public.
“They can disguise as anyone. But among the crowds you and I together are protecting national security,” the narrator concludes. “We 1.4 billion people are 1.4 billion lines of defense.”"
--- Anyone. Your nanny could be a spy. Your plumber could be. Hasn't your baker asked some suspicious questions recently?
Well, commies love denunciation. & emperor Xi really wants to go back to the Cultural Revolution. So it all fits.
"And this year, the ministry dialed up its multimedia activity. In January, it launched a comic strip series called “Shenyin Special Investigation Squad,” featuring a team of five secret police officers hunting down foreign spies – plots it said were inspired by real-life counterespionage operations.
In one installment, a group of foreign-looking characters are tracked by the secret police as they try to extract strategic rare earth metals"
--- Yeah, that's what spies do: mining. Although I would rather have guessed it would be data mining.
Analysts: Argentina F-16, naval base decisions halt China’s momentum
"Fisher said Milei’s actions since coming to office have reversed “the momentum communist China has built up in Latin America,” and he called it a pushback against Beijing’s global hegemonic ambition."
--- An ugly Libertarian doesn't like to cooperate with commies? How nasty!
Chinese professor of Japanese univ. missing in China since Feb. 2023
"Fan Yuntao, 61, was contacted by Chinese authorities before he disappeared, the sources said, adding he may have been detained. The whereabouts of Hu Shiyun, a professor at Japan's Kobe Gakuin University, also became unknown in China, the college said in March.Fan, an expert in international law and politics, had planned to be back in Japan by April last year, but his family living there has been still unable to establish contact with him."
--- Another one bites the dust. Seems to be quite dangerous nowadays to be a Chinese scholar abroad.
TikTok warns US ban would 'trample free speech'
"In recent months US officials have voiced alarm over TikTok's popularity with young people.
They allege TikTok's owner Bytedance is subservient to Beijing - accusations it has repeatedly denied.
[...] TikTok has said ByteDance "is not an agent of China or any other country". And ByteDance insists it is not a Chinese firm, pointing to the many global investment firms that own 60% of it.
[...] TikTok has stressed US data will be ringfenced and stored on Oracle servers in the US."
--- The article focuses a lot on TikTok's denials. Seems to have been written by someone who doesn't know much about China & wants to show how impartial he is.
Tens of thousands evacuated from massive China floods
"Provincial capital Guangzhou as well as smaller cities Shaoguan and Heyuan were among the worst hit."
--- Shaoguan, my second home. Nostalgia strikes. The building below looks like one I stayed in for a while in 2005 or so.
How Chinese firms are using Mexico as a backdoor to the US
China urges citizens to buy new appliances to boost consumer spending
US sends land-attack missile system to Philippines for exercises in apparent message to China
Blinken says genocide in Xinjiang is ongoing in report ahead of China visit
--- China Uncensored: [Are Taiwanese People Chinese?]()
--- BBC News: China floods: Tens of thousands of people evacuated from Guangdong after heavy rain
--- CNA: Floods swamp southern China amid worries about extreme weather, defences
Zwei Spionage-Verdächtige in Untersuchungshaft
"Zum Zeitpunkt der Festnahmen hätten sich die Beschuldigten in Verhandlungen über Forschungsprojekte befunden, die insbesondere zum Ausbau der maritimen Kampfkraft Chinas nützlich sein könnten, so die Bundesanwaltschaft. Gegen Bezahlung sollen sie für das chinesische Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MSS) auch einen Speziallaser ohne Genehmigung nach China exportiert haben, obwohl dieser der EU-Verordnung für eine sowohl zivile als auch militärische Nutzung unterliegt.
Einer der verhafteten Männer soll den Angaben zufolge für einen sich in China aufhaltenden Mitarbeiter des MSS die Informationen beschafft haben. Dazu habe er sich des festgenommenen Ehepaars bedient, das in Düsseldorf eine Firma betrieben habe, hieß es weiter. Die Firma habe als "Medium zur Kontaktaufnahme und Zusammenarbeit mit Personen aus der deutschen Wissenschaft und Forschung gedient".
Mit einer Technischen Universität in Ostdeutschland soll es nach Informationen des ARD-Hauptstadtstudios bereits zu einer Kooperation gekommen sein, weitere Projekte seien in Vorbereitung gewesen sein, heißt es in Ermittlungskreisen."
--- Hier ist eine Liste der Kooperationspartner. Interessante Mischung.
Interessant auch, daß sie angeblich Motorentechnik für Kriegsschiffe weitergegeben haben sollen. Bis vor kurzem hat MTU (denke ich) selbst noch solche Motoren in China in Lizenz bauen lassen.
Auch in England gab es Spionageaktivitäten: Zwei Briten wegen mutmaßlicher Spionage für China angeklagt
s.a.: [Mutmaßliche Spionage für China: Bundesregierung erwägt Reaktion nach Festnahmen(https://www.msn.com/de-de/nachrichten/politik/mutma%C3%9Fliche-spionage-f%C3%BCr-china-bundesregierung-erw%C3%A4gt-reaktion-nach-festnahmen/ar-AA1nqJTT)]
EU leitet weiteres Verfahren gegen TikTok ein
WADA verteidigt Vorgehen nach positiven Tests in China
--- ZDF heute: "Militärtechnik gestohlen? Welche Rolle die China-Spione in Deutschland spielen"
