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China Admits Endless Coronavirus Lockdowns Are Crushing Already Critical Birth Rate

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China’s National Health Commission (NHC) told Reuters this week that ongoing Chinese coronavirus lockdowns nationwide have had a “clear impact on the marriage and childbirth arrangements of some people” within the country and have contributed to the nation’s plummeting fertility rate and shrinking population, the news agency reported Tuesday.

“COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] has contributed to the decline in the country’s marriage and birth rates that has accelerated in recent years due to the high costs of education and child-rearing,” the NHC told Reuters in faxed statements on August 22.

“The coronavirus has also had a clear impact on the marriage and childbirth arrangements of some people,” the commission added.

Reuters on August 8 cited a U.N. China report which found that Beijing’s relentless zero-tolerance policy toward the Chinese coronavirus throughout the pandemic, including stringent lockdowns and forced quarantines, had effected “a long-term impact on first births [in China].”

“Couples that may have been thinking about having a child in the next year, definitely postponed those. Couples that really weren’t sure, have postponed indefinitely,” U.N. Population Fund Representative to China Justine Coulson said as quoted by Reuters on August 8. (Read more from “China Admits Endless Coronavirus Lockdowns Are Crushing Already Critical Birth Rate” HERE)

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US Likely to Go to War With China in the Next Decade, Experts Say

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The U.S. and Chinese militaries will clash over a Chinese campaign to take over Taiwan in the near future, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

China’s unequivocal determination to fully integrate Taiwan with the mainland is compounding U.S. fears of growing Chinese threats to itself and key East Asian allies, setting both sides on a risky path to kinetic conflict, according to experts on defense and China/Taiwan issues. A majority of Americans expect war within the next decade, one that experts said could widen beyond repelling a Taiwanese invasion and test the limits of each side’s naval and aerial capabilities.

“Washington and Beijing are caught in a downward spiral of each believing the other side is bent on changing the status quo and each trying to dissuade further movement with shows of force and determination. There’s a moderate risk of war, even though neither side wants it,” Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center, told the DCNF.

China has not put forth clear conditions for invading Taiwan, although a Taiwanese declaration of independence would almost certainly trigger the move, according to David Sacks, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In 2005, China promulgated the Anti-Secession Law that laid out plans for “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan but also provisioned “vague” circumstances that would justify use of force. (Read more from “US Likely to Go to War With China in the Next Decade, Experts Say” HERE)

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After Aborting Nearly a Half-Billion Children, Communist China Seeks to Boost Birth Rate

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Owing to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) one-child policy, implemented in 1980, as well as to other correlated factors such as a decrease in the number of women of childbearing age and declining fertility, China faces a demographic crisis. The CCP is now, as a result, trying to reverse the damage its past policies have done.

Whereas in 1950, a year after the communists formally took power, China’s fertility rate was 5.29, it now stands at 1.16. In other words, as of 2021, there were only 7.5 births per 1,000 people. Fewer than 10 million births are expected in 2022, down from an already historic low of 10.62 million last year.

Reuters reported that this fertility rate is far below the 2.1 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development standard for a stable population and constitutes one of the lowest in the world. The 2.1 figure is considered the standard because it reflects the average number of children required per woman for each generation to replace itself without a considerable influx of immigrants. The fertility rate for the U.S. in 2021 was 1.78.

In addition to discouraging abortion, the communist regime is now introducing financial and institutional support measures for prospective parents. These measures involve tax, housing, employment, and education aids as well as lowered kindergarten enrollment ages. (Read more from “After Aborting Nearly a Half-Billion Children, Communist China Seeks to Boost Birth Rate” HERE)

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At Least 300 TikTok Employees Worked for Chinese State Media: Report

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A new report found some overlap between hundreds of employees at TikTok’s parent company ByteDance and Chinese state media outlets.

Forbes surveyed hundreds of LinkedIn profiles for the tech firm’s employees, finding at least 300 workers had previously held positions in Chinese state media – and 15 of them currently work for both.

“Fifteen indicate that current ByteDance employees are also concurrently employed by Chinese state media entities, including Xinhua News Agency, China Radio International and China Central/China Global Television,” the report said. The U.S. State department has labeled these organization as “foreign government functionaries.”

TikTok has come under increased scrutiny as U.S. officials continue to warn of the national security threat the app poses: FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in June called on the CEOs of Google and Apple to remove the app from their stores, citing reports that suggest the app harvests “swaths of sensitive data.”

“TikTok is not what it appears to be on the surface. It is not just an app for sharing funning videos or memes. That’s the sheep’s clothing,” Carr wrote. “At its core, TikTok functions as a sophisticated surveillance tool that harvests extensive amounts of personal and sensitive data.” (Read more from “At Least 300 TikTok Employees Worked for Chinese State Media: Report” HERE)

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To Avoid Sanctions, Countries Are Ditching the US Dollar

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Russia, China and other countries have escalated efforts to ditch transactions made with U.S. dollars in 2022, helping them bypass Western sanctions and keep their economies afloat.

Since Western countries levied heavy sanctions on Russia in punishment for its invasion of Ukraine, India has increased its imports of Russian coal and natural gas, paying in Chinese yuan, United Arab Emirates dirham, Hong Kong dollar, and euro, Reuters reported Wednesday. Turkey and Iran have also forged agreements with Russia to base bilateral commerce on the Russian ruble, an effort to divest from dependence on the “toxic” U.S. dollar while easing the effect of sanctions on the Russian economy.

“The current round of turbulence is likely to increase … momentum in the creation of a rival reserve currency or currencies to help supplant the oversized role of the dollar,” Anthony Kim, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation specializing in international economic issues, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The dollar comprised 60% of countries’ foreign exchange reserves, used to trade with one another, in 2021, and dominates international transactions, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve Board. U.S. sanctions cut off countries from accessing dollars for international trade. (Read more from “To Avoid Sanctions, Countries Are Ditching the US Dollar” HERE)

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Not Again: China Detects First Human Cases of Another Novel Virus

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Scientists from China and Singapore recently announced the detection of a novel animal-derived virus known as Langya henipavirus (LayV) in at least 35 humans across China’s eastern provinces of Henan and Shandong, China’s state-run Global Times reported on Tuesday, noting that the zoonotic virus is often found in shrews.

The scientists first announced their discovery in a letter to the editor published by the New England Journal of Medicine on August 4.

The document read, in part:

During sentinel surveillance of febrile patients with a recent history of animal exposure in eastern China, a phylogenetically distinct henipavirus, named Langya henipavirus (LayV), was identified in a throat swab sample from one patient […].

Subsequent investigation identified 35 patients with acute LayV infection in the Shandong and Henan provinces of China, among whom 26 were infected with LayV only (no other pathogens were present).

These 26 patients presented with fever (100% of the patients), fatigue (54%), cough (50%), anorexia (50%), myalgia [muscle pain] (46%), nausea (38%), headache (35%), and vomiting (35%), accompanied by abnormalities of thrombocytopenia [low blood platelet count] (35%), leukopenia [low white blood cell count] (54%), and impaired liver (35%) and kidney (8%) function.

(Read more from “Not Again: China Detects First Human Cases of Another Novel Virus” HERE)

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Joe Biden Met Chinese Energy Execs With Ties to Hunter at White House in 2014

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Joe Biden hosted a White House meeting with two Chinese energy executives with ties to his son Hunter back when he was vice president in 2014, records show.

The president, who still insists he never spoke to Hunter about his son’s overseas business dealings, met the two executives from Wanxiang — a major Chinese company — in the West Wing on July 25, 2014, according to White House visitor logs.

Wanxiang America president, Pin Ni, and Wanxiang Resources Co. president, Youhong Han, were at the White House for just over an hour — after the last-minute meeting was scheduled a day earlier, the records, first reported by the Daily Mail, show.

A client of Hunter’s Seneca Global Advisors company, GreatPoint Energy, had previously partnered with Wanxiang in 2012 for a $1.25 billion natural gas plant in China.

Hunter was also linked to the Chinese company via his investment in the Fisker car business, which was bought by Wanxiang in February 2014. Biden’s son had previously purchased one of Fisker’s electric sports cars for more than $100,000. (Read more from “Joe Biden Met Chinese Energy Execs With Ties to Hunter at White House in 2014” HERE)

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Candy Company Apologizes to Communist China for Calling Taiwan a Country

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The candy company that produces Snickers issued an apology to communist China for rightly saying in an advertisement that Taiwan is a country.

The company, Mars Wrigley, reportedly faced backlash from Chinese social media users after promoting a limited edition Snickers bar that was said to only be available in the “countries” of Malaysia, South Korea, and Taiwan, Reuters reported.

Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times reported that the company “apologized for marking Taiwan island as a country, saying its local team has verified & aligned the official site and social media accounts to ensure accurate content.”

“Snickers owner Mars Wrigley said it respects China’s [national] sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Global Times tweeted.

(Read more from “Snickers Candy Company Apologizes to Communist China for Calling Taiwan a Country” HERE)

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China Will Refuse to Take Back Illegal Immigrants in Retaliation for Pelosi Visit

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China said Friday that it will stop accepting deportees from the U.S. as part of its retaliation for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit this week to Taiwan.

The move was among nine steps announced by China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, along with ending cooperation on transnational crime and drugs, and halting talks on climate change.

It also raises the stakes for the Biden administration, which under U.S. law can punish countries that refuse to cooperate on deportations by refusing to issue new visas to that country’s citizens.

That decision belongs to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday, but analysts urged the Biden administration to strike back. (Read more from “China Will Refuse to Take Back Illegal Immigrants in Retaliation for Pelosi Visit” HERE)

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If Nancy Pelosi Cared About Confronting China She’d Do More Than Stage Political Theater

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The ebb and flow of the corporate news cycle almost always distorts and distracts rather than informs or enlightens. So it was this week with the coverage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, which produced the intended effect of eliciting lazy puff pieces lauding her “three-decade career of challenging the Chinese government on human rights and other issues,” as the New York Times’ Carl Hulse dutifully put it.

But make no mistake: Pelosi did not go to Taiwan to stand up to China. She went for her own purposes, to shore up a narrative about her legacy as a tough American political leader who has always stood up to autocracies like communist China in defense of democracy. Remember that time she unfurled the banner in Tiananmen Square and the police yelled at her? Of course you do. Hulse and his colleagues have made sure of it.

In reality, the Taiwan trip was pure political propaganda, lapped up and regurgitated by a sycophantic press unwilling to admit the obvious fact that Pelosi, like every other establishment figure in Washington, has never been serious about standing up to China.

Indeed, Pelosi’s long political career, much like President Joe Biden’s and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s, maps almost perfectly onto China’s steady economic and military rise, especially over the past two decades. Apart from occasionally staging a little political theater, Pelosi and her fellow Democrat leaders have done nothing to slow or even impede that rise — quite the opposite, in fact.

Consider just some recent examples. During the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the fall of 2020, Pelosi blocked a bipartisan House bill that would have curtailed the influence of Chinese-government-funded Confucius Institutes at universities across the country. Around the same time, her House Democrats denounced a bill that would have called out Beijing for spreading the conspiracy theory that Covid originated in a U.S. military lab, absurdly calling the bill racist and xenophobic. (Read more from “If Nancy Pelosi Cared About Confronting China She’d Do More Than Stage Political Theater” HERE)

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