Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, May 11, 2020

China must brace itself for war. Regardless of any plot from America being true or false, how Beijing handled Wuhan—or rather mishandled—will not be overlooked by the free world. Regardless of how different governments handled the outbreak, the West will see an outbreak that wouldn’t have happened if China had followed the same forthright standards that the West does. The West thought China was on its way to following standards. But, Confucian Communism knows no standard except its own authoritarianism.

How did China get this far? There is so much in China to be desired, including the Bible-based government Dr. Sun Yat-Sen started over a century ago. Chinese medicine addresses many matters of health that elude Western pharmacy. Politeness, indirection, family, and respect—these are virtues the West could have learned from China. Except, just look at what’s happening now.

The term kowtow came from Hong Kong Cantonese. Bowing and placating the bully emboldens the bully. · · · →

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, May 4, 2020

The anti-China machine is in full gear. Western nations are cranking out new reasons to hate China every day. Some is true, some is not, all is justified because China chose to respond in control, concealment, and censorship. Much how George W Bush build a case against Iraq, which many believed to be fake from the get go, people will support action against China because of other indisputable things China has done.

The better road would have been to empower China with values rather than enabling China with money. Some foolishly thought, or at least claimed to think, that giving China Western money would teach China Western values. That’s as silly an idea as thinking that giving a child a birthday cake every day will teach the child to appreciate hard work. Instead of virtue, the West raised China be like Marie Antoinette who answered poverty by saying, “Let them eat cake.”

China’s solution to Western growth is to defeat the West with technology copied from the West. That’s not a nation that learned our values, but underappreciated our hard work to a point that they would go to war with great weakness: lack of ingenuity. Like a butcher prepares a cow, the West fattened China for the slaughter and China was all to happy to get fat and angry.

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, April 27, 2020

China is under global attack from all sides. It’s not just the government, but a sizeable portion of the Chinese people who cooperate with that government. We don’t know how many in China are part of the problem or the solution. Reports from China remain silenced and Chinese culture is beaten down and overtly compliant even to tyranny. While Chinese students at Western universities volunteer themselves as mouthpieces for Chinese Communist propaganda, they join the party deemed guilty by the jury of the world.

African governments are in panic about Chinese government gentrification of their own nations. China is seen as the villain who covered up information vital to the EU. Great Britain is fed up with China, claiming the Chinese don’t just lack or hide information, but lie about it. Trump has been warning the world about China since before he was president—arguably that got him elected.

Then again, there’s Taiwan again. Former US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has a petition for Taiwan to be admitted to the WHO. Even in a recent scuffle over some infected Navy sailors who walked around in Taiwanese public, there still are no new person-to-person virus cases in Taiwan 14 days later. The staggering success is largely accredited to Taiwan’s miraculously brilliant and swift handling of the situation. It’s all based on a germ-phobic population, slow and steady sectional school closing protocols, but it started with immediate and utter lockdown against the since-become world villain: China.

Taiwan has foresight. Maybe that’s why China wants Taiwan out of the WHO. And now, the truth isn’t hiding anymore.

Great Pacific

“Rebel from the outside”
Bookseller urges external HK resistance // Taipei Times

Kaohsiung police hold three over HK bookseller attack // Taipei Times

Bookseller who fled Hong Kong attacked with red paint in Taiwan // Yahoo News

China

Virus Outbreak: China tried to block EU criticism // Taipei Times

DOMINIC LAWSON: We’ve been far too cosy with China, but a Tory revolt is fighting back // Daily Mail

China Vs Foreigners Blacks & Africans!!! This Is Why Multiculturalism Doesn’t Work!!!? // YouTube @ American Curlss

US and UK propagandists put their Chinese rivals to shame // SCMP

Coronavirus: two congressmen want Americans to be able to sue China for ‘deaths, pain and suffering’ // SCMP

Taiwan

Petition by Nikki Haley backs Taiwan’s WHO bid // Taipei Times

Survived another oops: Taiwan stays clean
Virus Outbreak: No local infections for 14th day: CECC // Taipei Times

It’s actually under discussion!
Virus Outbreak: No lockdown needed in Taiwan: Chen // Taipei Times

Taiwan’s navy ship outbreak threatens its coronavirus success // Straits Times

Hong Kong

Hong Kong leader replaces five top officials // Taipei Times

5 Hong Kong ministers replaced in cabinet reshuffle // HKFP

Korean Peninsula

US monitoring intelligence that North Korean leader is in grave danger after surgery // CNN

Military Faceoff

US aircraft passes south of Taiwan for 12th time // Taipei Times

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, April 20, 2020

Just when we thought China couldn’t make itself more unpopular, China made itself more unpopular. Perhaps it was charity. Perhaps it was delusion. We don’t like thinking bad things about others, especially if we sacrificed our jobs and economies to have our stuff made more cheaply by them. Saying bad things about China was as politically incorrect as blaming the Karan for militants wanting to kill their enemies. Thinking bad things about China made Americans feel almost as guilty as thinking that voting against Obama wasn’t racist. No one wanted to say that China might be up to no good.

Why governments and global economy jockeys supposedly didn’t see it coming remains unexplained. But, all of a sudden, China is global enemy number one. The Western press has been educating the world about Taiwan in almost every Taiwan news story for the past decade. Anybody who is anybody at least asks, “What’s the relationship between China and Taiwan?” To Western taxpayers and voters, no acceptable answer will be in China’s favor. These days, China is damned if it does and more damned if it isn’t.

Governments are paying factories to dump China’s manufacturing. But, that’s not the biggest problem for the Chinese.

No one gives as much money to the World Health Organization as the US, behind that is Bill Gates, then the UK. China is among the smallest donors. So, why is so much Western money being used along the propaganda points of such a puny donor as China? If so much money is being usurped, the US would be obligated to pull the plug. And, that’s what it looks like, especially with the WHO siding with China on the matter of Taiwan. While Taiwan’s exclusion from the WHO indicates bias, Western countries are concerned about the WHO helping cover up what happened in China.

With president Trump now calling for investigations in China about the pneumoniavirus, other problems could come up, such as the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. China won’t allow that, not even to regain control of all that US money in the WHO. The world won’t have it. Global hatred toward China is only beginning.

Great Pacific

‘Suppress and lift’: Hong Kong and Singapore say they have a coronavirus strategy that works // Science

Singapore’s Ho Ching thanks ‘friends in Taiwan’ after quibble over masks donation // SCMP

Trade & Tech

Coronavirus: American Factory boss says pandemic will change China’s role in global supply chain // SCMP

Huawei founder to leave board of Shanghai Huawei Technologies // Taiwan News

China

National coronavirus updates: Trump says US wants investigators to go to China // Seattlepi.com

Trump warns China over Covid-19 outbreak as Europe approaches 100,000 deaths // Guardian

Navarro: China went from net exporter of protective equipment to net importer // YouTube @ Fox News

As Coronavirus Fades in China, Nationalism and Xenophobia Flare // NY Times

Coronavirus: China’s economy shrank for the first time since 1976 in first quarter // SCMP

Nancy Pelosi calls Zoom ‘a Chinese entity’ // CNBC

Taiwan

Good news: Taiwan reports zero new coronavirus cases // Taiwan News

Hong Kong

US and UK condemn arrest of Hong Kong democracy activists // Guardian

More than 1,000 Hong Kong homeowners could see loans exceed value of properties in first quarter // SCMP

Cathay Pacific to lay off nearly 300 cabin crew in US, calling bases in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles ‘no longer viable’ // SCMP

Korean Peninsula

North Korean defector becomes first to win South Korea parliamentary seat // BBC News

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, April 13, 2020

The global case against China is marching forward in force. Typically the West doesn’t care about human rights violations—they care, but never enough to do anything until it involves themselves. Two million Uyghurs missing in Xinjiang doesn’t matter to the West. But, if Americans and Europeans are afraid of catching a pneumonia-cold that most people don’t know anyone who died from, but they have to stay home without toilet paper—well, now it’s time for a war. Who do the papers blame?—China.

Anti-Chinese sentiment is no joke. Taiwan is being painted as a key victim. The Chinese Communists are being labeled as the perpetrators of the global pandemic. Even in Israel, even among the anti-Trump American electorate, China is the biggest bad guy ever!

We can argue that China deserves it. We can argue that the West set up China by making China rich in the first place, then causing a fake pandemic. However we chalk it up, the West is coming for China. The saddest part of all comes from the Chinese.

A reporter working for a news company owned by a Chinese general makes a Chinese propaganda speech when “asking a question” to the president. Chinese college students at Western schools march, protest, and even bully, all inline with Chinese Communist propaganda. And, while the West amasses force against China, the Chinese Communists only dig their heels in and feed the forest fire of hate raging against themselves.

Great Pacific

Tucker: What does the US get from supporting WHO? // YouTube @ Fox News

Trade & Tech

How did Huawei fall foul of the US government and find itself at the epicentre of a new tech war? // SCMP

China

Xi Jinping’s China did this // Times of Israel

Chinese social media attacks Hong Kong star Karen Mok for supporting ban on eating dogs and cats // SCMP

China to release tourist blacklist after Great Wall vandalized // CNN

Coronavirus: nearly half a million Chinese companies close in first quarter as pandemic batters economy // SCMP

Taiwan

The WHO Ignores Taiwan. The World Pays the Price. // The Nation

Google gets federal OK to operate subsea cable from Taiwan to US // CNBC

Exclusive: Taiwan’s Powercall targets videoconferencing space as Zoom worries loom // Taiwan News

Taipei to reduce frequency of MRT trains during weekends // Taiwan News

Zoom banned by Taiwan’s government over China security fears // BBC News

Taiwan’s Advance on WHO in Covid-19 Shows Its Place in World // Bloomberg

US sees coronavirus window to push Taiwan’s global status // Yahoo News

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, April 6, 2020

The pneumoniavirus is having a detrimental effect on China. While Xi Jinping kicks China’s economy into full swing, the rest of the world is on full alert. Manufacturing moves home—whether to or from China. Countries seek alternate supply sourcing. Taiwan shines like a star of brilliance, set up as if to shame China by design. China’s big mistake was going along with feeling shamed, as if by design. China could have played its hand with Taiwan the way the UK did with the American Revolution—claiming it lost a few colonies, but that it didn’t matter. By pretending not to care, the world might not care and China would be unstoppable. Instead, China is taking every step possible to create new enemies and make old enemies worry.

In that wake, Taiwan grows in military and respect, even donating medical masks to other countries. The WHO now faces shame and doubt because of an evermore apparent bias toward China. Australia cooperates with the US in efforts to confront China. Critical voices in China are silenced or otherwise go missing. An employee of Hong Kong CEO Carrie Lam resigned, then killed himself. Kim Jong-Un makes more threats. East Asia is more volatile than ever. Times like these are what some call an “opportunity”.

Great Pacific

Hong Kong official reprimands TV station over WHO interview that mentioned Taiwan // Guardian

C.I.A. Hunts for Authentic Virus Totals in China, Dismissing Government Tallies // NY Times

Martha McSally calls on WHO director to resign // Politico

Hong Kong broadcaster accused of breaching ‘one-China principle’ after reporter presses WHO official on Taiwan membership // SCMP

Trade & Tech

Now TSMC involved!
Huawei Warns of ‘Pandora’s Box’ If U.S. Curbs Taiwan Supply // Yahoo News

China

‘Shameless’: anger as China quarantines freed human rights lawyer 400km from home // Guardian

Drums of war!
The coronavirus pandemic is the breakthrough Xi Jinping has been waiting for. And he’s making his move. // Maclean’s

Many wonder if China’s coronavirus recovery can be trusted // CNN

Chinese county goes into coronavirus lockdown as country tries to get back to work amid fear of second wave // SCMP

A Chinese Millionaire and Gadfly of the Communist Party Has Vanished After Staging an Art Performance Criticizing Xi Jinping // artnet News

China Concealed Extent of Virus Outbreak, U.S. Intelligence Says // Bloomberg

Expats face hostility after second wave of virus cases hits China and Hong Kong // Financial Times

Taiwan

Donating masks to allies! ?
Virus Outbreak: Taiwan joins global COVID-19 battle // Taipei Times

Is Taiwan Really Buying the ‘Wrong’ Weapons? // The Diplomat

Masks mandatory on Taiwan trains, inter-city buses starting today // Taiwan News

An American Perspective on Australia’s Approach to the Taiwan Strait // Ketagalan Media

Why Taiwan has become a problem for WHO // BBC News

Senior WHO adviser appears to dodge question on Taiwan’s Covid-19 response // Guardian

Hong Kong

Ramifications, ramifications…
Former employee of Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Office dies after falling from residential building // SCMP

Korean Peninsula

North Korea rips Pompeo, says ‘if the US bothers us, it will be hurt’ // Fox News

Military Faceoff

Lockheed Martin Wins $4.8B Deal to Procure 78 F-35 Jets // Yahoo News

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, March 30, 2020

https://youtu.be/ayqbj-b8SKg

Blame! Both general theories about where this virus originated fail to do two things: They don't acquit anyone and they don't tell us how to treat it. The theories no longer seem to matter since fear has taken over the world.

Initially, we had a theory that the virus passed from wildlife to humans at a kind of so-called exotic meat market in Wuhan, a city in China. Then, a Chinese government official—later seen as a lone wolf not speaking for the pack—blamed the US Army specifically, as opposed to the US Military or CIA as the usual conspiracy theory suspects go. We'll look at the Army's place in Chinese politics later.

Upon review, there is a convincing case that the 2019-nCoV had its origin at a military laboratory and got out into the American public last summer before the CDC shut down that laboratory. But, this still doesn't explain how it would have gotten to Wuhan. And, both China and the US still face scorn for coverups and delayed response.

Then, we have China's negative PR campaign, two actually. Blaming the US "Army" feeds Chinese kook theory because the Chinese military is called the "Army". Even China's Navy is called the "People's Liberation Army Navy". It seemed from the outset as intended to tip Chinese cultural sentiment against America, not intending to be based in fact. Now, a few weeks later, the Chinese people fear "foreigners" (Westerners and 'Black People'). Old Chinese superstition still lingers, that Black People are cursed by the gods or by nature because black is the bad color in their culture.

As anti-foreign sentiment grows in China, the world grows more irritated with China. And, as the WHO digs its heels in on keeping Taiwan out, the world sees China controlling too much of the world through its deep pockets—a concern the international finance community had brought up from an article from Harvard Business Review, How Much Money Does the World Owe China?. When a WHO official hung up on an interview twice, we see that Harvard's curiosity wasn't irrelevant.

The world is responding in hatred toward China with such venom, people beat up Asians of any nationality, even those without any connection to China. Yes, the world propped up China for a grand fall into global disfavor. But, China still hasn't done anything to help itself. One little virus, no matter where it came from, was all it took to push the world over the brink.

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, March 23, 2020

China's in trouble—deep trouble. America pauses with the same hush of silence that swept the country from the outskirts of Washington to New Orleans in 1812, gathering around the radio in 1941, or staring at the same TV images on repeat in 2001. While America pauses and reflects, China accuses, taunts, and threatens, as if the world wasn't already angry enough about the jobs lost to a Communist country that promotes leaders for party loyalty rather than governing competence.

There is no PR campaign, no cooperation, no compensation that can buy back decades of ill will. That ill will against China was only fueled by governments and leaders who allowed themselves to be trodden on, quite an evil thing the West did to set China up for such embarrassment. But, the Communist Chinese do themselves no service by fitting the stereotype handed to them.

While China faces Western scorn, Taiwan shines like Venus at twilight. They have the breakout under control almost as much as they have public panic on mute. The Taiwanese premier jokes about everyone having only one butt hole, then encourages everyone to buy, buy, buy—it helps the economy, after all, and there is plenty of supply. While Taiwan clips right along, clamping down as needed, China's jealousy only simmers and froths. The Communists across the Straight want the results of capitalism and competence, without any of the actions or guiding virtues.

When scorn and jealousy mix and reach a critical boiling point, like fudge, China will start to harden. If these are the days when China invades Taiwan, a roused and ready America won't be the only thing stopping them. Taiwanese are already well-stocked at home from a virus that China perceivedly caused. They can stay at home. They have the defenses and pantries to hold out for America, who is alive and well and hungry to kick someone's butt.

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, March 16, 2020

https://youtu.be/GT920pnBPYM

News around the world has blacked out. Everything is about this new virus that should be called the "pneumoniavirus", also known as Wuhan's 2019-nCoV, everything—the news, the politics, the economy, the maps, organ harvesting. But, that wasn't the only Western bad news on China. Canada had a brilliant solution to the Huawei controversy: go public. So far that hasn't happened. But, Indonesia is buying American F-35s.

As the world goes into panic mode over a glorified common cold, death by economy will be greater than death by disease. People are afraid because people are afraid. Once they freak-out to full-freak capacity, they will look for someone to blame for all their fear. That takes us to China.

China doesn't like being the villain of the world. The Chinese Communist Party doesn't like looking bad. Who does? Most of that bad image throughout the world—including among the Chinese people themselves—comes from unedited videos of what the Chinese Communist government is doing to its own citizens. Other than uncut videos, people are irritated by reports of signs of organ harvesting along with appointing Communist Party bosses to new leadership positions also hurts China's image, both foreign and domestic.

Then, China blames the US Army—not the military, not the Marines, Navy, Air Force, nor Space Force, and not something more sensible like CIA. A Chinese official said that the US Army took the virus to China. A video is going viral in East Asia of Congressman Harley Rouda at a House Oversight Committee hearing questioning CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, "So, we could have people in the United States dying from what appears to be influenza, when in fact it could be the coronavirus or COVOID-19?" to which the director responds, "Some cases have been actually diagnosed that way in the United States to date." And, this is being used in China, and even among the Taiwanese, to argue that the pneumoniavirus existed in the United States long ago, wasn't noticed because it was misdiagnosed long ago, but the US Army then took the virus to China. Chinese speakers easily misunderstand because they don't know how democracy works. They believe this proves the pneumoniavirus originated in the US, even though there haven't been any epidemics of death-by-pneumonia in the US since the bacterial pneumonia epidemic of 1918.

As things progress, China is being pushed to the point of acting on an ancient psychotic belief that all of China's problems exist because China doesn't control Taiwan. If the Chinese PLA military attacks Taiwan, however, they won't be strong enough to deal with their own dissent at home. If China doesn't invade Taiwan, it is because the Communist Party has been rendered catatonic, not knowing what to do. continue reading

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, March 9, 2020

Things are fairing worse and worse for China, but better and better for Taiwan.

The KMT-Nationalist party is abandoning its long-standing agreement to cooperate with the Chinese Communists, much how the American Democratic party is abandoning socialism within its ranks. Taiwan's handling of the 2019-nCoV Wuhan virus is top notch, possibly the best in the world. The irony is that Taiwan is not a member of the WHO, for mere reasons of political pressure from China. The world will interpret Taiwan's absence from the WHO through the poor response to the virus from WHO members. And the world will, accordingly, blame China not only for the virus, but for the lack of Taiwan's valued input in the WHO.

This week, when things seemed as though they couldn't get worse in China, a hotel collapsed, which housed many people being observed for the virus. Not all had been diagnosed, but at least 10 are dead from the collapse.

Interestingly, this does not fair well for Taiwan. The more respect Taiwan earns from the international community, and the more spite China earns from the international community, the more envy will boil and bubble as China froths with rage against Taiwan. China's government is not functioning with any trace of sobriety. Recent events are pushing the Chinese government over the edge in their ancient desire to invade Taiwan. While that would leave them vulnerable at home and hated even more throughout the world, such things never stopped them before and certainly aren't stopping them now. continue reading

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, March 2, 2020

https://youtu.be/W4HQaPZJNzM

Wuhan 2019-nCoV will not end the world. But, it is throwing the world into panic. The long-time NIAID director steps out of lock with the president and gives a sobering warning about how viruses actually spread. Bad as the truth is, the stock market is drastically overreacting and Trump is trying to prevent a panic—or that's at least what we're all supposed to think. We can't have the truth of both bad and good news told to a public that dwells on the bad and ignores the good. Presidents know that, disease directors not so much. So, the director should get the muzzle, right?

That will cause more panic. Where panic and fear of China weren't enough to keep Americans from making China rich at Walmart for decades, fear of China's virus spreading at Walmart is making up for lost panic.

This is the perfect storm for those who chose not to prepare. The virus won't kill the world, but the world is panicking and will carry a grudge for what a Chinese virus did to the stock market. Once the virus passes, the world will have time to clean house. China will be blamed, as it should for it's mismatched priorities, then the world will cut China down to the size it never should have been allowed to grow past.

But in the meantime, the Chinese people are re-evaluating their own priorities, deciding whether their president has his own priorities in order. We could be looking at more killing fields, where citizens who fell for the games of self-censorship and spreading Communist propaganda are executed as cowards. Hopefully it won't come to that. But, China will face the enemies that it made on the inside while it also faces the enemies that made it big from the outside.

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, February 24, 2020

https://youtu.be/z_s84LZZtV0

There isn't news this week. More countries hate China. More people are sick with Wuhan nCoV. Cases rise in the Far East. Taiwan is one of the safest places to be—in terms of the virus, that is. Friends of Taiwan continue to be punished; this week regarded Czech in particular with the Senate chair planning a visit to one of the safest places to be in the Far East—in terms of the virus, that is.

The trend in Western journalism is to look down the nose toward China. Media censorship, mismanagement, discontent, and incompetence are part of the narrative. The US president has a different take.

Satellite-based data has been used to suggest that China may be burning thousands of bodies in Wuhan. The site that aggregated the data that was separately used to make this suggestion was windy.com—a Czech company. Go figure. Windy.com did not make the suggestion; it visually animates data already available to the public. There is no news here, only everyone's data and someone else's speculation. The interesting part is how quick the Western public is to jump on any excuse to think something bad about China.

Certainly, cynicism toward China is not without cited history. China remains indignant. Nothing is new, except Czech's name in the headlines. China's spite for Taiwan and friends only grows as spite for China and friends snowballs all the more. Perhaps next week will yield something new in the news. But, when so many people are so bound to make history repeat, there just might not be much to report—except for those who only read what repeats.

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, February 17, 2020

https://youtu.be/H2NBk3u1Obo

The 2019-nCoV Wuhan virus isn't doing any good for Xi Jinping's public trust. Dissidents inside China are silenced and their social media accounts scrubbed. Joshua Wong issues a call to arms from Hong Kong. Taiwan closes its border and plans to evacuate its citizens from the quarantined cruise ship, Diamond Princess. Yet, the Philippines blocks entry to Taiwanese airline passengers while in-flight because World Health Organization information reports Taiwan as part of China. And, Xi tells Trump that everything will be okay after April's hot weather kills the virus.

It looks like the world wants a fight. Why did evacuation plans for this cruise ship take so long? Why doesn't China close its border to Hong Kong as an act of good faith to at least pretend to want to earn public trust? China locked down Wuhan and Huanggang, why not Shenzhen?

The WHO praised China's efforts, claiming they bought the world time. That doesn't stack—information control started the problem, China's clampdown on information only grows, the Philippines close their border to a country run by a completely different administration on account of the WHO reporting in denial. Is the WHO controlled by China, does the WHO just want to start a war, or could it be that the WHO wants to start a war because it doesn't like being controlled by China?

Fear of the virus may be overrated. Initial figures suggested that the seasonal flu may be more deadly. But, panic is panic. And, with Chinese cities going on lockdown, countries closing borders, and hundreds of people getting sick on a cruise ship after it was quarantined, nerves are on edge. Chinese State control of information has been exposed for the hoax it is; no Chinese people will trust China's government again. Even those who support the Communist Party can't expect the public to believe them anymore, no matter what they say. In the middle of the breakdown of Chinese trust and control, Xi's solution is to fly bombers around Taiwan.

Nothing re-elects a president like a war someone else started and nothing fires a president like an outbreak or a failed economy. If Xi invades Taiwan, Trump's re-election will be even more certain and Xi's own party could be doomed along with him. Nothing would weaken China's People's Liberation Army at home like the decision to boost its political image by invading one of the best responding WHO-non-members in the world, Taiwan. Xi is so addicted to failing, self-destructive decisions, invading Taiwan might be the ultimate fatal flaw of failure that he just can't refuse. While this viral outbreak isn't quite enough to push Xi to the point of desperation for distraction, it's another bail of hay on the camel's back.

Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, February 10, 2020

https://youtu.be/xbkPMxfPutk

The words of US President Trump set an unsettling policy for Communist China: "We're also getting our allies, finally, to help pay their fair share." This is far-reaching.

By having multiple nations with multiple militaries operating with appropriate budgets, China faces an enclave of opponents, not just one. There is no single head to decapitate. If you're in Beijing, sitting in a room filled with Mandarin speakers who agree that they are entitled to make the world their servant, Trump's words scare you.

While Beijing fights the virus it tried to cover up, Taiwan had recorded 10 deaths from that virus. Yet, China reported 13 in Taiwan, then told the United Nations that China speaks accurately for Taiwan, still arguing that Taiwan should not enter the WHO—even taking offense, still, at any suggestion of entry. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Wu pointed out that the WHO has referred to Taiwan by at least three different names in reporting on China's Wuhan outbreak. This week, even the US spoke up for Taiwan's request to join the WHO; China was all the more offended.

The outbreak isn't fairing well for China's credibility in governing Hong Kong either. Supermarkets are full of empty shelves.

While China's central government will continue the playbook strategy of blaming the very local governments it dominates, the central government's solution to the failure of a centralized government will be to centralize more government. In Confucian Communism, control is the solution to every problem, especially the problems that control causes. So they themselves believe even more than they purport, the reason that China has so many challenges within its vast stretches of land is that it doesn't have even more land. The Chinese Communists believe that their number one problem is that they don't control the world.