We will be joined today by James R. Gorrie, author of “The China Crisis” and journalist working for the Epoch Times.
Uyghur torchbearer for 2008 Beijing Olympics serving 14-year sentence in Xinjiang
A Uyghur who served as a torchbearer in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and was a loyal Chinese government official is serving a 14-year jail sentence for watching counter-revolutionary videos, caught in a crackdown on the ethnic minority group, officials in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi said.
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/adil-abdurehim-02112022170759.html/ampRFA
Viral Anti-Xi Article Reveals CCP Infighting That May Derail Xi’s Bid For 3rd Term, Analysts Say
“The 40,000-word long article listed mistakes that Xi Jinping has made in politics, economy, and diplomacy. It’s a summary of Xi’s ruling over the past nine years,” Li Hengqing, a China expert at the Washington Institute for Information and Strategy, told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times on Feb. 8. “After 2018, we all said that there’s no force to stop Xi from taking a third term. Now, we can see that the situation isn’t simple, and it’s unclear whether he can obtain it,” Li added. He emphasized: “The article circulated broadly inside and outside of China. Even several friends from mainland China forwarded it to me … It shows that the CCP factions against Xi are fighting to stop Xi from continuing in office.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/viral-anti-xi-article-reveals-ccp-infighting-may-derail-xis-bid-3rd-term-analysts-say
Analyzing Fang Zhou’s ‘Objective Evaluation of Xi Jinping’
The article unwittingly reveals the Jiang faction’s fears and schemes. On the one hand, the Jiang faction appears confident that Xi’s incompetence means that he is essentially on his last legs. “2022 will be the biggest turning point for [Xi Jinping]. Even if he manages to stay in power by some magic trick, he’ll face a thorny road ahead and complete collapse by 2027,” the article said. The article also notes on several occasions that Xi lacks mass support in the Party (“aside from his allies, he has hurt almost everyone [in the Party]”), and starkly puts him on notice near the end: “The CCP will not wage a cold war with the world for Xi’s benefit; if he insists on destroying the common good, he will eventually offend everyone. It would be dangerous for Xi at this juncture because people will adopt an ‘anti-Xi, not anti-CCP’ [反習不反共] strategy.”
https://sinoinsider.com/2022/02/analyzing-fang-zhous-objective-evaluation-of-xi-jinping/
Is an anti-Xi resistance emerging?
It’s this toxic mix of mediocrity, insecurity and arrogance that informs Xi’s policies at home and abroad, Ark argues. It motivates Xi to grab ever more power. It’s why his aides tried to establish a cult of personality (but ultimately failed because of the blandness of the personality — which is why Xi now keeps a low profile). It’s also why, abroad, Xi has turned to wolf warriorism: ‘The greater the threat he feels, the sharper the spearhead China points to the outside’. Yet Ark points out that this has, instead of cowing the West, antagonised it instead. In particular, as in the bullying of Australia, Xi ‘underestimated the pride of democracies’.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/is-an-anti-xi-resistance-emerging–
In Leaked Recording, Elite Chinese Scholar Laments Crippling Dysfunction of Communist Regime
Huang then blasted “massive interest groups” in government and the pharmaceutical business for seizing the opportunity of the pandemic to take in billions. He noted that local governments have been ordering compulsory mass testing in their respective areas after only “one or two” positive cases, which allowed the “[expletive] interest groups” to make 670 billion yuan doing nucleic acid testing. Huang added that 670 billion yuan represents just 1 percent of the 67 trillion yuan in revenue generated by China’s anti-epidemic economy, citing research by Peking University’s health economics professor Li Ling.
https://www.visiontimes.com/2022/02/22/in-leaked-recording-elite-chinese-scholar-laments-crippling-dysfunction-of-communist-regime.html
‘We’re in an economic war:’ White House, Congress weigh new oversight of U.S. investments in China
Congress is considering legislation allowing the government to screen American investments in China and other adversarial nations — and potentially deny them if a project threatens national security. At the same time, the White House is talking about issuing executive orders to increase scrutiny of American funding for Chinese startups and technology firms, expanding a ban that today only exists for a select group of firms aligned with the Chinese military.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/19/china-investments-economy-us-congress-00008745
China And Saudi Arabia Strengthen Ties With $10 Billion Petrochemical Plan
Plans for a joint Saudi Arabia-China refining and petrochemical complex to be built in northeast China that were shelved in 2020 are now being discussed again, according to sources close to the deal. The original deal for Saudi Aramco and China’s North Industries Group (Norinco) and Panjin Sincen Group to build the US$10 billion 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) integrated refining and petrochemical facility in Panjin city was signed in February 2019. However, in the aftermath of the enduring low prices and economic damage that hit Saudi Arabia as a result of the Second Oil Price War it instigated in the first half of 2020 against the U.S. shale oil threat, Aramco pulled out of the deal in August of that year.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/China-And-Saudi-Arabia-Strengthen-Ties-With-10-Billion-Petrochemical-Plan.html
Canada has officially “arrived” on the world stage with China and Iran condemning @JustinTrudeau and Canada for gross human rights violations.
https://twitter.com/dockaurG/status/1494703989656637443
World Bank accused of ‘funding campaign of repression’ in Xinjiang
The report by the Atlantic Council, a prominent Washington-based think tank, found “significant evidence” that several clients of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank subsidiary, were “active participants” in a campaign in which China has been accused of the widespread use of forced labour, forced displacement of people from their land, cultural erasure and environmental destruction in Xinjiang.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3167288/human-rights-china-world-bank-accused-funding-campaign
