Watching the CCP Press

 

A Chinese factory in Zambia was set on fire. The following quotes are from the Global Times, the CCP news outlet.

The three Chinese nationals from East China’s Jiangsu Province were murdered by three local Zambians who then set fire to the warehouse of a Chinese clothing company on Sunday, outraging the Chinese community in the African country, local sources revealed to the Global Times.

According to a preliminary investigation by Zambian police, the suspects, two men and one woman, entered the warehouse and killed the victims before committing robbery, and then set a fire to destroy evidence.

Then the article wanders into the territory of victimhood.

Some Chinese living in the country expressed concern over their own safety. Some locals have misunderstood epidemic measures adopted by some Chinese companies, they said. . . Local Zambians have misunderstood why Chinese companies are prohibiting their employees from going outdoors during the epidemic: allegedly one of the reasons for the murders. 

The Chinese are acting responsibly, and those irrational locals just don’t understand. But why would they not accept the wisdom of the Chinese position?

Some reports by Western and local media and politicians have stigmatized China and are affecting Africans’ ideas of China and Chinese people, Chinese nationals working in Zambia told the Global Times.

False Western reports have generated a bad impression of Chinese, Wang Xin, deputy head of the Overseas Chinese Association in Zambia, told the Global Times on Monday. Those who thought the novel coronavirus originated in China were staying away from Chinese and this had induced conflict between Chinese and local Zambians, Wang said.

False Western reports led to people thinking the virus originated in China. 

Huh.

The rest of the article lets the reader draw the unavoidable conclusions:

Some Chinese living in Zambia also claimed that Lusaka Mayor Miles Sampa has been playing a role in provoking conflicts between Chinese and local Zambians with his allegedly frequent comments against Chinese.

During an inspection of a cement factory with a closed-off management system amid the epidemic, Sampa accused the Chinese management of being “slavery reloaded” and posted the comment “Black Zambians did not originate Coronavirus. It originated in China,” he said on his Facebook page. He also publicly used derogatory words such as “Chinaman.”

Get it? The truly lamentable virus is racism, spread by the lies of the Western press.

This is what they put in their English-facing pages; imagine what we don’t see. 

Makes me get almost nostalgic for the USSR – they lied just as much, but they didn’t whine like the CCP. Such delicate sensibilities , so easily bruised. Of course, it’s for domestic consumption: those Western devils are Stigmatizing China, which is inseparable from the CCP, and this baseless slander is a coordinated attempt to sully the shining truth of Xi.

If I could make an observation, it might be this: Xi, and by extension, his political apparatus is really bad at reading the room.  This was actually an opportunity to bind the world’s economies tighter to China if they’d behaved differently. Lies, delays, defective medical equipment, and utter BS deflecting responsibility may play well domestically, but when you have your forearm on the windpipe of the domestic audience, what’s the point? The world expected the CCP to act like a grown-up who shared the values of the international system they desire to join, and the CCP says nah, bro, we’re going to deflect all criticism and screw Hong Kong and threaten Taiwan and India also you should buy our stuff, because screw you.

They may have thought this would work in the West because they had penetrated the academic institutions, corrupted the elites in government with investments, depended on the reflexive anti-Americanism of the chattering class, and could count on Paul Krugman to write another piece about their nice train stations. Maybe they’re right. But if the virus had come from Italy or Japan or the UK or Canada, the response would have been different.

We know that, right? In our gut? Those countries would have behaved completely differently. The media might be hating on the UK because it’s Tory now, but otherwise, the NYT and WaPo would be doing stories about how Canada’s acceptance of blame is laudable and stands in stark contrast to Trump’s failings, and here’s Gov. Cuomo to tell you how Trump should have done this or that.

The only time China pops up in the COVID stories these days is to tell you they tested eleventy billion people in Wuhan and no one had the virus, so everything’s awesome, and meanwhile in Virginia people are going to the beach like suicidal lemmings.

Perhaps Xi gambled that contrition would be seen as weakness –  the anti-Western narrative would prove more profitable, and the West would fracture along its brittle lines and seek to channel its anger inward. Can’t say it won’t work. He has lots of help. You can always hire people to hate their own culture, but the most dependable allies are the ones who’ll do it for free.

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  1. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    The problem is fundamentally a lack of trust. When we say “on our terms,” how are we enforcing that? How can we know they are actually fulfilling their end of any given deal, reliably, and in good faith?

    Individually and at the corporate level, this is straightforward enough. You quickly learn who is and is not a good actor, and you act accordingly.

    99% of things we buy from China do not involve a breach of trust. When we try to build in China, breach of trust, sooner or later, becomes a near-certainty.

    So we keep things arms-length, and do not extend trust. That is doable.

    • #31
  2. Hang On Member
    Hang On
    @HangOn

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Hang On (View Comment):

    China Just Destroyed Hong Kong

    This deserves a Post of its own. We need to radically change our relationship with China.

    Laowhy’s and Serpentanza’s Youtube channels are excellent. Both are westerners (one American, one South African) with long periods in China and married to Chinese doctors (M.D. doctors). 

    • #32
  3. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    We should do business, on our terms. When we cannot get acceptable terms, we go elsewhere. Just as free individuals and societies ought to do.

    Would you have traded with the USSR or Nazi Germany?

    In the right circumstances, of course.

    I do not trade with Iran or North Korea, despite interest on their end. Partially this is practical – I do not wish to break the law. But if it was legal, and the business was very much in my favor… I probably would.

    Trade requires two to tango. Both sides have to believe they are benefiting. But just because one side is evil does not mean it is always and necessarily wrong to trade with them.

    Here is a reductio ad absurdum: Posit that you could sell North Korea food in return for their nuclear arsenal. Wouldn’t you do that?

    I know Jews who gave goods to the Nazis in exchange for lives, and I would probably have done the same thing.

    • #33
  4. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    I buy things from China every day. Why not?

    There are exceptions: I won’t buy a phone or computer from China, for security reasons. Nor will I buy a car or safety system, for quality reasons.

     

    • #34
  5. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    iWe (View Comment):

    Come on, folks. The demonization is over the top.

    Yes, China’s culture is different. And yes, their business ethics and practices are unacceptable.

    But avoid trading? Why should we? Global trade allows for the massive variety of products at affordable prices. Cutting off our noses to spite our faces is not very smart.

    We should do business, on our terms. When we cannot get acceptable terms, we go elsewhere. Just as free individuals and societies ought to do.

    You cannot do business with evil. They kill people to harvest their organs.

    Asian culture is as racist as they come. The Chinese people embrace racism, sexism, and many other non western ideas. They are our enemy.

    They always have been and always will be.

    • #35
  6. Roderic Coolidge
    Roderic
    @rhfabian

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    They are whiners, but not the largest whiner of them all. Can you recall another President who had greater self-pity?

    Whine?  No, I’d say he fights.  It’s one of the reasons why he was elected.

    • #36
  7. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    It seems to be that there is a very loud American politician who whines incessantly about how others are so unfair to him

    Oh gosh, there are many. Joe Biden. Nancy Pelosi. AOC. Bernie Sanders. Very common phenomenon.

    Great point.

    They are whiners, but not the largest whiner of them all. Can you recall another President who had greater self-pity?

    Can you not make anything about Trump, Gary.

    [redacted for rudeness]

    • #37
  8. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Hang On (View Comment):

    China Just Destroyed Hong Kong

    This deserves a Post of its own. We need to radically change our relationship with China.

    Riddle me this. Who was the only U.S. President to actually begin measures to radically change our relationship with China since 1988? 

    • #38
  9. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):
    You cannot do business with evil. They kill people to harvest their organs.

    Of course you can, and sometimes must, if only to save your own life or the lives of those you love.

    • #39
  10. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Hang On (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Hang On (View Comment):

    China Just Destroyed Hong Kong

    This deserves a Post of its own. We need to radically change our relationship with China.

    Laowhy’s and Serpentanza’s Youtube channels are excellent. Both are westerners (one American, one South African) with long periods in China and married to Chinese doctors (M.D. doctors).

    I stumbled on them years ago.  I second this, their shows are terrific, as is their joint channel ADVChina.

    • #40
  11. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    JamesL,

    This post is very important as it reveals a very crucial phenomenon that should affect your whole outlook. Communism is the new colonialism-imperialism. While the Chinese hide behind claims of the terrible effects of Western colonialism, many of which are untrue or exaggerations, you miss the fact that Bolshevik Marxism intends to take over where the Europeans left off. The Marxists are the exploiters. The Chinese Marxists are using cheap African labor virtually as slaves. The hatred of the Chinese in Africa is genuine hatred and has nothing to do with a few tweets on the internet.

    Wake up and smell the Marxist overlords.

    Regards,

    Jim

     

     

    • #41
  12. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    It’s bad to make China live up to its agreements. It might, as the headline of this WJS article “[Deepen] Worry of More Conflict.”

    For more than a decade, Chinese companies raised billions by listing their shares on American stock exchanges while avoiding the accounting-quality checks that other public firms endure.

    “For more than a decade.” Who was President then? 

    But economic tension between the two global superpowers, amplified by political outrage in the U.S. over China’s role in the spread of the new coronavirus, has pushed a financial-markets issue into the political mainstream. Legislation passed by the Senate—and now introduced in the House—would kick Chinese companies off U.S. stock exchanges unless their audits are inspected by U.S. regulators.

    No firms would immediately lose their listing under the proposed legislation, but investors worry it will further inflame tensions between Beijing and Washington at a particularly bad time. Shares in major Chinese companies listed in the U.S. dropped sharply in the days after the Senate passage. With the global economy reeling from the coronavirus, a worsening of the relationship could create more skepticism about the resumption of trade talks and send both U.S. and Chinese shares lower.

    “Chinese companies have failed to meet U.S. standards that were agreed upon in writing when their companies were listed,” said Michael Farr, president of money-management firm Farr, Miller & Washington. “The problem is that compliance failures have gone unaddressed and bad behavior has increased.”

    Unlike other countries, China has never given U.S. regulators routine access to audit records needed to review the quality of financial accounting, according to U.S. officials, who have sought a deal for years. That covers about 200 companies with a total market value exceeding $1.4 trillion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

    Investors have often been willing to overlook the regulatory gap as they snapped up shares of Chinese companies, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., that made their debuts on U.S. exchanges. Wall Street banks, which underwrote the stock sales and are supposed to conduct due diligence on the companies, have been rewarded with more than $1.4 billion in fees, according to data from Dealogic. The major stock exchanges also benefited from lucrative, attention-getting global listings.

    So we gave China a competetive advantage over responsible companies from the US and elsewhere. But the money was good for the right people. 

     

    • #42
  13. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Breaking news:

    The State Department is required by the Hong Kong Policy Act to assess the autonomy of the territory from China. It certified to Congress on Thursday that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous.

    That is likely to have implications on economic relations and could lead to sanctions.

    • #43
  14. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    iWe (View Comment):

    I know Jews who gave goods to the Nazis in exchange for lives, and I would probably have done the same thing.

    What’s your point? How is that the same as getting cheaper goods from China? 

     

    iWe (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):
    You cannot do business with evil. They kill people to harvest their organs.

    Of course you can, and sometimes must, if only to save your own life or the lives of those you love.

    There are persistent reports from China of prisoners being killed to order to procure organs for a specific recipient. Is this what you mean?

    • #44
  15. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):
    The longer we trade with them, the more money we give them, the worse this is going to get.

    This. 

    • #45
  16. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Hang On (View Comment):

    You have part of the analysis, but only part.

    This is a counter to the protests of African ambassadors in China who have protested the treatment of their citizens at the hands of Chinese. Basically, when quarantines were lifted, Africans were targeted and run out of their lodgings and worse because they were once again visible. They became a target.

    But it isn’t only African foreigners who are being targeted. They are targeting westerners as well. They are banned from going into restaurants – Jim Crow all over again.

    You’re right. I left that part out, since it’s another can of worms. Here’s an interesting reddit post on the Weibo reactions.

    • #46
  17. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    iWe (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    The problem is fundamentally a lack of trust. When we say “on our terms,” how are we enforcing that? How can we know they are actually fulfilling their end of any given deal, reliably, and in good faith?

    Individually and at the corporate level, this is straightforward enough. You quickly learn who is and is not a good actor, and you act accordingly.

    99% of things we buy from China do not involve a breach of trust. When we try to build in China, breach of trust, sooner or later, becomes a near-certainty.

    So we keep things arms-length, and do not extend trust. That is doable.

    The problem with this strategy is that we would be inadvertently further enriching the CCP.

    The only way for a peaceful resolution of this problem is to starve the CCP of money. Unfortunately, since the CCP is part owner of all Chinese companies, it’s impossible to do business with China’s companies without also doing business with the CCP.

    This is the same way the Arab countries became such a threat to western countries. The oil money didn’t go to the Arab middle and lower classes. Because of how the ownership of the oil rigs and refineries evolved, it simply went to the very wealthy who controlled all of the economic growth in the Arab countries.

    Insisting on democracy isn’t the answer either since the wealthy upper classes in these corrupt countries control the election processes. They have one goal, and it isn’t justice or fairness. It’s winning at all costs. They keep their upper hand.

    • #47
  18. Chris Gregerson Member
    Chris Gregerson
    @ChrisGregerson

    I still don’t like the idea of anyone being murdered because of their race, color, or creed; or any other reason. I try to separate Communist China from the millions of Chinese, many in the U.S. of A. We need to fight the ideology and save the people. 

    • #48
  19. Hang On Member
    Hang On
    @HangOn

    Chris Gregerson (View Comment):

    I still don’t like the idea of anyone being murdered because of their race, color, or creed; or any other reason. I try to separate Communist China from the millions of Chinese, many in the U.S. of A. We need to fight the ideology and save the people.

    Were that it were only so easy. I have no doubt most Chinese believe their own government because that is their only source of news. The Chinese have papers published all over the world including here in the United States. Internally, the Chinese can point to their own papers and say, see, even the US newspaper is echoing what our propaganda is saying. And most believe it. Most Chinese view the demonstrators in Hong Kong as traitors. That is what they are always have referred to until now. Now they are referred to as terrorists.

    • #49
  20. Hang On Member
    Hang On
    @HangOn

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    The Global Times is owned by the government so i would say propaganda, but this story may shed some light on what happened??

    https://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-builds-massive-spying-capacity-in-africa/

     

    The only good thing about this is Chinese building methods are crap and the buildings won’t last long.
    Most African countries are also single-party states and the parties have close relations with the CCP. Or they have until now.

     

    • #50
  21. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    MarciN (View Comment):
    Insisting on democracy isn’t the answer either since the wealthy upper classes in these corrupt countries control the election processes. They have one goal, and it isn’t justice or fairness. It’s winning at all costs. They keep their upper hand.

     

    • #51
  22. Danny Alexander Member
    Danny Alexander
    @DannyAlexander

    #42 Ontheleftcoast 

    FYI

    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dannyalexanderjapansoftwarebiz_china-stock-gsx-techedu-plunges-as-short-activity-6668242316798640129-vE3X

     

    • #52
  23. Danny Alexander Member
    Danny Alexander
    @DannyAlexander

    OP @jameslileks

    FYI per your observations about Xi and the CCP being unable to read a/the room:  As I elaborate here, in theory the regime ought to be conducting at least a Modified Limited Hangout; however, they aren’t doing so not because they lack the skill (to say nothing of sympathetic/pliant media access), but rather because the core CCP culpability facts are just so inherently radioactive that attempts to obscure them on the contrary just serve to highlight the disturbing green radioactive glow around the edges of the obscuring objects (Party cadres and diversionary arguments) that the Party tries to deploy.

    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dannyalexanderjapansoftwarebiz_the-ccp-has-been-completely-incapable-of-activity-6666451166269972480-1Clo

    Here’s an example of the Party face-planting on a Modified Limited Hangout attempted several days ago:

    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dannyalexanderjapansoftwarebiz_wuhan-lab-admits-to-having-three-live-strains-activity-6670430261487955968-tZGs

    Shortly after the above, the Party makes another attempt at a Modified Limited Hangout:  This time, the Party’s mouthpiece is someone with supposed international credibility, and per what I discussed in my initial LinkedIn post (first URL above), about what a passable Modified Limited Hangout might assert, she does try to invoke the image of the WIV/Wuhan Institute for Virology team as selfless guardians of humanity simply seeking to advance the boundaries of shared global knowledge about deadly bat coronaviruses posing heretofore unseen risks to us all — but then she goes and goofs it up by saying that the WIV doesn’t have the droids, er, the coronavirus strains the Free World is looking for.

    https://nypost.com/2020/05/25/chinese-researcher-warns-coronavirus-is-just-tip-of-iceberg/?utm_campaign=iphone_nyp&utm_source=mail_app

    • #53
  24. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Hang On (View Comment):

    Chris Gregerson (View Comment):

    I still don’t like the idea of anyone being murdered because of their race, color, or creed; or any other reason. I try to separate Communist China from the millions of Chinese, many in the U.S. of A. We need to fight the ideology and save the people.

    Were that it were only so easy. I have no doubt most Chinese believe their own government because that is their only source of news. The Chinese have papers published all over the world including here in the United States. Internally, the Chinese can point to their own papers and say, see, even the US newspaper is echoing what our propaganda is saying. And most believe it. Most Chinese view the demonstrators in Hong Kong as traitors. That is what they are always have referred to until now. Now they are referred to as terrorists.

    I am convinced the CCP wants Hong Kong because it is beautiful and it is rich. They talk ideology, but they’re really about money and fancy places to visit, vacation, and live. They have screwed up the Mainland, and the Communists wouldn’t know how to build something beautiful if their lives depended on it. It’s ironic that they will inevitably destroy the disputed territories the CCP covets most: Singapore, Hong Kong, Nepal, and Taiwan (Formosa). Perhaps that is the Good Lord’s way of not letting such evil people get what they want. 

    It’s the same reason Pakistan and India fight over Kashmir. It’s beautiful and rich, and the politicians want it. 

    • #54
  25. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Watching the US press and other institutions is good practice for China watching.

    Like this:

    Accurate. The headline corresponds well to the graph.

    Well, sort of. When you click on the graph, this is what you see:

    I love the way the media has been all over this for years.

    Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow. Until it stops they stop moving.

    Iowahawk

    • #55
  26. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Hang On (View Comment):

    Chris Gregerson (View Comment):

    I still don’t like the idea of anyone being murdered because of their race, color, or creed; or any other reason. I try to separate Communist China from the millions of Chinese, many in the U.S. of A. We need to fight the ideology and save the people.

    Were that it were only so easy. I have no doubt most Chinese believe their own government because that is their only source of news. The Chinese have papers published all over the world including here in the United States. Internally, the Chinese can point to their own papers and say, see, even the US newspaper is echoing what our propaganda is saying. And most believe it. Most Chinese view the demonstrators in Hong Kong as traitors. That is what they are always have referred to until now. Now they are referred to as terrorists.

    A lady I know says that the many of the Mainlanders know their government is corrupt and lying to them while also oppressing them, but they’re terrified to say anything for fear of spying.

    • #56
  27. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):

    Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow. Until it stops moving.

    Iowahawk

    Wow. Too funny and true. 

    • #57
  28. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Hang On (View Comment):

    @jameslileks : You have part of the analysis, but only part.

    This is a counter to the protests of African ambassadors in China who have protested the treatment of their citizens at the hands of Chinese. Basically, when quarantines were lifted, Africans were targeted and run out of their lodgings and worse because they were once again visible. They became a target.

    But it isn’t only African foreigners who are being targeted. They are targeting westerners as well. They are banned from going into restaurants – Jim Crow all over again.

    Chinese are great at playing the victim card. They still play the rape of Nanking for all it’s worth.

    As for Wuhan, outbreaks are occurring again. They are being blamed on foreigners. The provinces along the North Korean border are locked down and of course, it’s coming from North Korea.

    And why has Tom Friedman been ignored? If ever there was a brown nose to China, Tom Friedman is it. He has books filled with it. All those bright shiny buildings with no rebar.

    Since China began its move into Africa I’ve felt sorry for the locals and thought that China would end up making the Belgians look like Mother Teresa.

    • #58
  29. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    iWe (View Comment):
    Here is a reductio ad absurdum: Posit that you could sell North Korea food in return for their nuclear arsenal. Wouldn’t you do that?

    That has been tried, and North Korea soon repudiated the agreement and resumed nuclear weapons development.

     

    • #59
  30. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    iWe (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):
    You cannot do business with evil. They kill people to harvest their organs.

    Of course you can, and sometimes must, if only to save your own life or the lives of those you love.

    I would trade with none of the people. Indeed, I would have aruged for turning on the USSR when we had the chance, and pushing them into oblivion. 

    I am not one of those who are soft, and unable to make the hard choice now, for the right future. 

    • #60
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