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China’s Digital Currency Could Bring Surveillance State to Wallets at Expense of U.S. Dollar

China’s emerging digital currency could enhance the yuan’s importance in the international financial system at the expense of the U.S. dollar and extend the Chinese surveillance state into wallets around the world.

A combination of visibility of currency users and technical control is a monetary dream for Chinese communist officials, who have staked their regime on their ability to monitor and curtail private activity within China. The digital yuan’s acceptance beyond mainland China could give the regime a significant geo-economic tool, one that bypasses the network of banks and financial institutions that are subject to U.S. laws and binds client states more directly to Beijing.

Beijing’s moves come amid tensions with the Biden administration as the new government in Washington continues calibrating its China policy after the Asian giant’s tactics led former President Donald Trump to sour on its president, Xi Jinping, after spending years touting their alleged friendship. Before Trump, former President Barack Obama grew equally frustrated with Chinese officials, sources said at the time. Now, it’s Biden’s turn.

“There’s no anonymity, which [means] the central bank and the central government is going to watch you and how you spend your money,” said former Department of Commerce assistant secretary Nazak Nikakhtar. “It’s programmable.” (Read more from “China’s Digital Currency Could Bring Surveillance State to Wallets at Expense of U.S. Dollar” HERE)

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Disturbing Leaked Documents Show China’s Plan to Control the Global Internet; China Acting ‘More Aggressively Abroad’

By The Epoch Times. Chinese leader Xi Jinping personally directed the communist regime to focus its efforts to control the global internet, displacing the influential role of the United States, according to internal government documents recently obtained by The Epoch Times.

In a January 2017 speech, Xi said the “power to control the internet” had become the “new focal point of [China’s] national strategic contest,” and singled out the United States as a “rival force” standing in the way of the regime’s ambitions.

The ultimate goal was for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to control all content on the global internet, so the regime could wield what Xi described as “discourse power” over communications and discussions on the world stage.

Xi articulated a vision of “using technology to rule the internet” to achieve total control over every part of the online ecosystem—over applications, content, quality, capital, and manpower.

His remarks were made at the fourth leadership meeting of the regime’s top internet regulator, the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, in Beijing on Jan. 4, 2017, and detailed in internal documents issued by the Liaoning Provincial Government in China’s southeast. (Read more from “Disturbing Leaked Documents Show China’s Plan to Control the Global Internet” HERE)

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Blinken Says China Acting ‘More Aggressively Abroad’

By Reuters. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview that aired on Sunday that China had recently acted “more aggressively abroad” and was behaving “increasingly in adversarial ways.”

Asked by CBS News’ “60 Minutes” if Washington was heading toward a military confrontation with Beijing, Blinken said: “It’s profoundly against the interests of both China and the United States to, to get to that point, or even to head in that direction.”

He added: “What we’ve witnessed over the last several years is China acting more repressively at home and more aggressively abroad. That is a fact.”

Asked about the reported theft of hundreds of billions of dollars or more in U.S. trade secrets and intellectual property by China, Blinken said the Biden administration had “real concerns” about the IP issue. (Read more from “Blinken Says China Acting ‘More Aggressively Abroad'” HERE)

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More Lies Revealed: Chinese Military Collaborated With Lab Where COVID-19 Pandemic Originated

The Chinese regime has said its controversial virology institute had no relationship with the military, but the institute worked with military leaders on a government-sponsored project for almost a decade.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) participated in a project, sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)—a regime-funded scientific research institution—from 2012 to 2018. The project was comprised of a team of five military and civil experts, who conducted research at WIV labs, military labs, and other civil labs leading to “the discovery of animal pathogens [biological agents that causes disease] in wild animals.” . . .

In recent months, the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry and Shi Zhengli, the WIV virologist nicknamed “Bat Woman” for her research on coronaviruses of bat origin, denied there is a connection between the WIV and military, and said that no WIV researchers were infected with COVID-19.

However, according to an investigation conducted by the U.S. State Department, “several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses.”

“The WIV has engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military since at least 2017,” states a State Department fact sheet. (Read more from “More Lies Revealed: Chinese Military Collaborated With Lab Where COVID-19 Pandemic Originated” HERE)

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Chinese Embassy Tweets Anti-American, Antisemitic Cartoon

The Chinese Embassy in Japan last Thursday tweeted an antisemitic cartoon and then deleted it at the behest of Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

The cartoon featured an image of the Grim Reaper wearing an American flag and carrying a scythe with the Israeli flag as he goes door to door and leaves a bloody trail behind him. The doors are labeled Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Egypt.

The tweet in Japanese said: “If the United States brought ‘democracy,’ it would be like this.”

The cartoon demonized Israel, Israeli Ambassador to Japan Yaffa Ben-Ari told her Chinese counterpart, Cheng Yonghua, on Friday.

Yonghua said he had not noticed that Israel was part of the image. (Read more from “Chinese Embassy Tweets Anti-American, Antisemitic Cartoon” HERE)

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More Links Between China’s Biowarfare Labs and COVID

Chapter 78 of the Chinese Communist Party’s Thirteenth Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) describes the fusion of military and civilian research including the area of “synthetic biology.”

From the publications of China’s leading research scientists, “synthetic biology” appears to include biological warfare.

Many also underestimate the potential contributions of Chinese veterinary and agricultural research to such a military program.

Ningyi Jin is a member of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. He is described as a virologist, who studies zoonotic diseases. He is a native of Jilin Province of Korean nationality and is a member of the Communist Party of China.

He is also a senior officer in China’s Peoples’ Liberation Army.

Ningyi Jin is the Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology of the Military Veterinary Research Institute of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, the director of the Military Genetic Engineering Key Laboratory, and the director of the Jilin Province Virus Recombinant Vaccine Research and Development Engineering Center.

He has been a research collaborator with Peking Union Medical College, China’s Centers for Disease Control (CCDC), Model Animal Research Center of Nanjing University, Jilin Agricultural University, Wenzhou University, Yanbian University, Shihezi University, Sichuan University, Foshan University, and other allegedly “civilian” research institutions.

In one scientific publication, Ningyi Jin lists himself as a faculty member of Wenzhou and Guangxi Universities. In another publication, he affiliates himself with Yanbian University.

Ningyi Jin has extensive experience in experimentation with coronaviruses.

In addition to his research connections, some of which can be traced back to the United States, there are two aspects of Ningyi Jin’s research activities that raise red flags.

Not only does he use genetic engineering extensively, but Ningyi Jin is one of a number of scientists in China, who, since 2007, have conducted experiments with a transgenic mouse model containing the human receptor for coronaviruses.

That is, any one of those Chinese laboratories could have quickly pre-adapted a coronavirus for human infection using that mouse model and a technique called “serial passaging.”

More alarming, however, is Ningyi Jin’s attitude toward zoonotic research.

Zoonotic diseases are caused by germs that typically spread from animals to humans. That is, by definition, it is a naturally occurring event.

Ningyi Jin, by contrast, sees zoonotic diseases in terms of biowarfare or bioterrorism, where the use of biotechnology can transform a natural zoonotic pathogen in order to “greatly increase its lethality, offensive power, and toxic effects.”

That opinion is expressed in the preface of a book called “The New Edition of Zoonoses” written by Ningyi Jin in 2007.

Ningyi Jin’s viewpoint is not an isolated one, but a common theme that runs through many Chinese military publications.

The time is long past for the U.S. government to take a far more serious look at the Chinese Communist Party’s biowarfare program, their joint civilian-military research institutions supporting it, the laboratory origin of COVID-19, and the U.S. scientists and federal funding that may have contributed to it.

Preferably, this will be done before another more lethal COVID-19 appears.

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Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is retired from an international career in business and medical research with 29 years of service in the US Army Reserve and a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq. He is a member of the Citizens Commission on National Security. His email address is [email protected].

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China and Russia Optimistic Over Iran Talks as Biden Envoy Sulks on Sidelines

The governments of China and Russia, which appear to be taking the lead in talks between Iran and the remaining partners in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, expressed optimism after talks concluded on Friday for the week that progress had occurred.

The conversations over the agreement formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) began this week in Vienna, Austria. Representatives from China, Russia, and Iran — as well as the United Kingdom, France, and Germany — met to discuss, they claimed, a way to repair what remains of the agreement after years of violations by Tehran and President Donald Trump withdrawing the United States from it in 2018. Notably absent from the invitation list was the United States, which had no formal representation in this week’s talks.

The administration of President Joe Biden claimed it would engage in “indirect” talks with Iran and sent its special envoy on the matter, Robert Malley, to Vienna. Iranian officials clarified Tuesday, however, that “no negotiations will take place between the representatives of Iran and the United States” and no talks of any kind, direct or otherwise, would take place this week.

Malley is staying in a separate hotel in Vienna from where the Iran deal talks are occurring and appears to have met only with officials not privy to the negotiations, including representatives of the Austrian government and the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA).

With no input from Washington, Iran has used the talks to vocally and repeatedly insist that it will not begin to discuss returning to compliance on the JCPOA with the United States unless the Biden administration immediately lifts all sanctions on Iran, not just those regarding the nuclear weapons issue. This would presumably include the accurate branding of Iran as a State Sponsor of Terrorism due to its international support of Hezbollah, a Shiite jihadist organization, and its involvement in deadly attacks on civilians such as the 1994 bombing of Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires. (Read more from “China and Russia Optimistic Over Iran Talks as Biden Envoy Sulks on Sidelines” HERE)

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U.S. Military: Chinese Attack On Taiwan Is Imminent

The U.S. military is concerned that an attack on Taiwan by Chinese forces is imminent, which could trigger a significant increase in tensions between the two countries.

Military officials are suspecting that China’s government is accelerating a timetable for attacking and possibly seizing control of the island following years of building tensions and disputes over sovereignty, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

“We have indications that the risks are actually going up,” Admiral Philip Davidson told a Senate panel in March.

As a result of the heightened tensions, the USS John S. McCain arrived in the Taiwan strait Wednesday, according to Reuters, as China attempted to continue agitating Taiwan with fighter jet flyovers. . .

The concerns about the potential action come after a tense meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Chinese counterparts, in which China accused America of “slaughtering” black Americans and having no right to comment on the treatment of Uyghurs.

(Read more from “U.S. Military: Chinese Attack On Taiwan Is Imminent” HERE)

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Many Chinese Communist Officials Are Avoiding COVID Vaccines; Some Areas At Less Than 10% Compliance

As the Chinese regime races to inoculate tens of millions through coercive policies and a propaganda blitz, some local officials are quietly dodging the shots themselves.

Amid Beijing’s aggressive vaccine push, dozens of officials from parts of Liaoning, a province in northeastern China, have cited various health reasons not to take the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, internal documents obtained by The Epoch Times reveal.

In a town called Xintai, located in the center of the province, only three out of 66 officials have gotten vaccinated, with another two on the registration list—showing a dismal willingness rate of less than 10 percent.

Fifty government officers and those with the local judicial office and law enforcement gave reasons such as underlying illness, allergy, pregnancy, recent surgery, or a cold, according to a chart that summarizes the region’s vaccination efforts.

Allergy stood out as the top reason, cited 22 times. Twenty people also cited high blood pressure while five mentioned diabetes—even though both are chronic diseases that would mark them as highly vulnerable to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. (Read more from “Many Chinese Communist Officials Are Avoiding COVID Vaccines; Some Areas At Less Than 10% Compliance” HERE)

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Report: Communist China Is Throwing Christians Into Torturous ‘Brainwashing’ Camps

The Chinese Communist Party is rounding up Christians in “secretive, mobile transformation facilities” and demanding that they reject their faith, according to a report from Radio Free Asia.

Using multiple state-run agencies, the proudly atheist communist regime has raided house churches in multiple regions including in the southwest and held Christians captive in facilities where some victims say they were “beaten, verbally abused and mentally tortured by staff.”

It was a mobile facility, that could just set up in some basement somewhere. It was staffed by people from several different government departments,” said a man with the pseudonym Li Yuese, a Christian who was imprisoned for 10 months in a “windowless room” after the CCP raided his church in 2018. “They threaten, insult, and intimidate you. These were United Front officials, men, women, sometimes unidentified, usually in plain clothes. The police turn a blind eye to this.” . .

“They were using brainwashing methods on those of us who were on bail from the detention center,” Li said, noting that “there is no time limit for the brainwashing process.” (Read more from “Report: Communist China Is Throwing Christians Into Torturous ‘Brainwashing’ Camps” HERE)

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Report: Facebook Is Allowing China to Buy Ads Depicting ‘Thriving’ Uyghurs in Xinjiang

Facebook staffers were reportedly growing concerned that the platform was allowing Chinese state actors to buy ads spreading propaganda with limited regulations, according to a report published Friday.

Employees were discussing ads purchased by Chinese entities that depict “thriving” Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. China was estimated to have detained at least 1 million Uyghurs in reeducation camps, in what the U.S. considered an act of genocide.

Facebook has been blocked in China since 2009, but has earned $5 billion per year in advertising revenue from Chinese businesses and government agencies, according to Reuters. One Muslim Facebook employee reportedly authored a “plea to leadership” for the company to “action to fight misinformation on the Uighur genocide,” according to the Journal. . .

Advertisements purchased by Beijing included videos featuring children showcasing the supposedly great lives they are living in Xinjiang detention camps, the Journal reported. The ads claim that the West was trying to “destabilize China” with false claims of genocide. (Read more from “Report: Facebook Is Allowing China to Buy Ads Depicting ‘Thriving’ Uyghurs in Xinjiang” HERE)

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