Tag: China

Over 125 China-Backed Companies Get Millions in U.S. PPP Loans

 

More than 125 companies owned by or linked to China have received hundreds of millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans meant for American small businesses during the Chinese coronavirus crisis, a report alleges.

According to an analysis by the Horizon Advisory consulting firm, published by the New York Times, anywhere from $192 million to $419 million in PPP loans — funded by American taxpayers — has been awarded to more than 125 China-backed companies since March.

The report states that at least 32 of those China-backed companies have secured loans for more than $1 million, totaling $180 million alone. The loans were intended to help small businesses with fewer than 500 employees stay afloat amid an economic shutdown spurred by the pandemic.

Read more: https://nonperele.com/report-over-125-china-backed-companies-get-millions-in-u-s-ppp-loans/

China joins U.N. human rights panel, will help pick experts on free speech, health, arbitrary detention

This is not a Joke…. Or is it!

GENEVA, April 2, 2020 — China was appointed on Wednesday to a United Nations Human Rights Council panel where it will play a key role in picking the world body’s human rights investigators — including global monitors on freedom of speech, health, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary detention — in a move that has sparked protest by international human rights activists.

“Allowing China’s oppressive and inhumane regime to choose the world investigators on freedom of speech, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances is like making a pyromaniac into the town fire chief,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a non-governmental human rights organization based in Geneva that closely monitors the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council, and a leader in speaking out at the UN for victims in China.

“It’s absurd and immoral for the UN to allow China’s oppressive government a key role in selecting officials who shape international human rights standards and report on violations worldwide,” said Neuer.

Full Story Here: https://unwatch.org/china-joins-u-n-human-rights-panel-will-help-pick-experts-on-free-speech-health-arbitrary-detention/

Hong Kong bookseller who sold books critical of Chinese political leaders jailed for 10 years

Gui Minhai, who had been missing since October.

A Hong Kong bookseller who sold texts critical of Chinese political leaders, and who has previously been abducted in a Thai beach resort before resurfacing in detention in mainland China, is jailed for 10 years.

A Chinese court has sentenced Chinese-born Swedish citizen Gui Minhai to 10 years in jail for illegally providing intelligence overseas, prompting a protest from Stockholm.

Key points:

  • Gui Minhai is one of five booksellers linked to a Hong Kong bookshop who disappeared in late 2015
  • He was awarded a free speech award by Sweden in 2019, which Chinese officials objected to
  • Sweden is demanding consular access to Gui, but Chinese officials say visits have been put on hold due to the coronavirus outbreak

Gui, a bookseller previously based in Hong Kong who sold books critical of China’s political leadership, was detained by mainland police in 2018.

He was seized while with Swedish diplomats on a Beijing-bound train.

Relations between Sweden and China soured in the months leading up to the sentencing, with Chinese officials warning Swedish counterparts against meddling in China’s internal affairs.

Sweden summoned the Chinese ambassador to Stockholm to protest against the sentence and demand Gui’s release.

“We have summoned China’s ambassador to our cabinet secretary and again demanded the release of, and consular access to, our citizen,” a foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters.

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said Gui should be released, a position Sweden has held throughout.

“We also require access to our citizen to provide the consular support he is entitled to,” Ms Linde said.

“We have not had access to or knowledge of any trial. Thus, we have not been able to review the indictment nor been able to offer access to legal counsel,” she said.

Full Story: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-26/hong-kong-bookseller-gui-minhai-jailed-for-10-years/12001008

Uyghurs were enslaved and forced to convert to Islam, Chinese Government claims

A masked Uighur boy takes part in a protest against China, at Fatih Mosque in Turkey

Uyghurs in Xinjiang were forced to become Muslim and have been an integral part of China for thousands of years, Beijing said in a new report, in an attempt to justify its controversial crackdown against the ethnic minority in the far-western region.

Key points:

  • China has sought to justify treatment of Uyghurs that Western countries have condemned as “cultural genocide”
  • Beijing’s report hits back at “double standards” of critics and defends “anti-terrorism” efforts
  • Experts say the white paper is a classic case of China’s ongoing information warfare

A white paper released on Sunday by China’s State Council Information Office — the Government’s propaganda arm — presents the ruling Communist Party’s interpretation of history, claiming “Islam is neither an indigenous nor the sole belief system of the Uyghur people”.

The report also said that Islam spread into Xinjiang by “the Arab Empire” and that the Turkic Uyghur people “endured slavery” at the hands of “the Turks”.

“Conversion to Islam was not a voluntary choice made by the common people, but a result of religious wars and imposition by the ruling class,” it said, declaring that the Government nevertheless respects “the Muslims’ right to their beliefs”.

Full Story: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-22/china-report-says-xinjiangs-uyghurs-forced-to-convert-to-islam/11330490

2 Chinese Embassy Secretly Expelled From The US…

A camera monitor shows China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi answering a question during a National People's Congress press conference in Beijing on March 8, 2019. (WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images)
A camera monitor shows China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi answering a question during a National People’s Congress press conference in Beijing on March 8, 2019. (WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images)

Two Chinese Embassy officials were “secretly expelled” by the U.S. government for driving onto a “sensitive” military base in Virginia in September, according to a Dec. 15 report from The New York Times.

It appeared to be the first time in more than 30 years that Chinese diplomats were expelled over suspected espionage acts. U.S. officials believe that at least one of the officials was an intelligence officer operating “under diplomatic cover,” six unidentified sources familiar with the matter told the newspaper.

Full Story: https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-secretly-expelled-2-chinese-embassy-officials

Pope Signals Closeness to China and Distance from Taiwan and Hong Kong…

A worshipers waves the flag of China as Pope Francis leaves following the weekly general audience on June 12, 2019 at St. Peter's square in the Vatican. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP) (Photo credit should read FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)

ROME — Pope Francis sent subtle but clear signals of closeness to Beijing while distancing himself from Taiwan and Hong Kong during his flight to Japan from Thailand Saturday.

In a series of telegrams to officials of the three territories, the pope disclosed the current diplomatic position of the Vatican regarding key Asian conflicts.

Especially revealing was the wording of the pontiff’s telegrams to China and Taiwan and the different manner in which he described each nation.

“I send cordial greetings to your Excellency as I fly over China on my way to Japan. I assure you of my prayers for the nation and its people, invoking upon all of you abundant blessings of peace and joy,” the pope wrote to Xi Jinping, president of the People’s Republic of China and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

Full Story: https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2019/11/23/pope-signals-closeness-china-distance-taiwan-hong-kong/

Scientists shred Chinese CRISPR babies experiment after leak of unpublished research

‘Deliberate falsehood’: Scientists shred Chinese CRISPR babies experiment after leak of unpublished research

A controversial genetic experiment to make Chinese twins resistant to HIV is causing renewed outrage after the release of the original research, with scientists charging that it failed to meet its goals and ignored basic ethics.

The MIT Technology Review published portions of two previously unseen research papers on Tuesday, principally authored by Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui, who last year attempted to use CRISPR DNA editing technology to immunize twins – Lulu and Nana – against HIV.

While He’s bold claims about what the experiment accomplished have come under scrutiny before, a wave of new criticism has followed the publication, which was passed to MIT by an unnamed source. Chief among the complaints is that He’s experiment didn’t achieve its main goal: producing a mutation in the CCR5 gene that would create resistance to HIV.

“The claim they have reproduced the prevalent CCR5 variant is a blatant misrepresentation of the actual data and can only be described by one term: a deliberate falsehood,” Fyodor Urnov, a geneticist at the Innovative Genomics Institute, told the Technology Review.

Full Story: https://www.rt.com/news/474955-scientists-china-crispr-babies/

629 girls and women from across Pakistan who were sold as brides and taken to China

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Page after page, the names stack up: 629 girls and women from across Pakistan who were sold as brides to Chinese men and taken to China. The list, obtained by The Associated Press, was compiled by Pakistani investigators determined to break up trafficking networks exploiting the country’s poor and vulnerable.

The list gives the most concrete figure yet for the number of women caught up in the trafficking schemes since 2018.

But since the time it was put together in June, investigators’ aggressive drive against the networks has largely ground to a halt. Officials with knowledge of the investigations say that is because of pressure from government officials fearful of hurting Pakistan’s lucrative ties to Beijing.

Full Story: https://apnews.com/c586d0f73fe249718ec06f6867b0244e

Chinese-made condoms too small; Zimbabwe

Condoms waiting to be packaged at a factory in Japan. Photo: Bloomberg

A Chinese condom manufacturer says it is considering making its products in different sizes after Zimbabwe’s health minister complained that contraceptives made in China and exported to the African nation were too small for its men.

Health Minister David Parirenyatwa made the comments at an event in the capital Harare last week to promote HIV/Aids prevention, according to the website New Zimbabwe.com.

Full Story: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2135243/chinese-made-condoms-too-small-zimbabwes-health-minister