Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, June 8, 2020

If The Chinese think poll numbers looking low or that the unrest in America means the Xi doctrine has a widening path on the road ahead, they should think again. But, being Confucian Communist, that’s hard.

Trump actually may be ahead of where he was when he ran against Hillary. And, if the one president who could stand up to China were really on the outs, the last thing America’s government would want is for the news media to report on it. It’s a rouse. America and Trump are far better positioned to take on China than anti-society new media would have us think.

Mayor Han of Kaohsiung in Taiwan just faced a recall election and he got spanked. In a vote of 939k to 25k, the China hopeful from the grand old KMT-Nationalist Party faced a humiliation that the rest of the party might never overcome. The Kaohsiung city council speaker reportedly jumped to his death. Mayor Han had challenged Taiwan’s president in the general election and lost, now his own constituency dumped him. It wasn’t just a reprisal on him or his party; it was a reprisal against China. He ran on a platform of reuniting with China. These days, China is unpopular because of decisions within China’s power to change.

Hong Kong is another hot spot for bad press. While Hong Kong could never stop China alone, Hong Kongers have been a platform on which China showed the world how China does things. And, the world isn’t having it.

We’re past the point of common sense and diplomatic shuffles. Nothing China even could do ever would change anyone’s opinion. The world already has its mind made up.

Great Pacific

Overreach bolsters tech demand
Protests In Hong Kong And Minneapolis Show The Need For Privacy And Bitcoin // Forbes

Trade & Tech

The case to extradite Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou from Canada to the United States can continue, judge rules // CNN

UK to decide on Huawei 5G ban // BBC News

China

US to impose restrictions on more Chinese media outlets // Taiwan News

Chinese Government Buildings in Africa Used as a Way to Spy // christianitydaily.com

Government Buildings in Africa Are a Likely Vector for Chinese Spying // Heritage Foundation

Bill that could delist Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges to see ‘swift passage’ in House, analyst says // MarketWatch

All about the whole thing…
The US is Getting SERIOUS About China // YouTube @ China Uncensored

China asks state firms to halt purchases of U.S. soybeans, pork, sources say // CNBC

Smear piece: American YouTuber inside China spreading CCP anti-democracy sentiment
China propagandist Nathan Rich’s criminal record revealed // Taiwan News

Is Beijing preparing to decouple from the US? // SCMP

Taiwan

Defeat! 939k : 25k
Kaohsiung voters recall Han Kuo-yu // Taipei Times

Taiwan opposition candidate Han Kuo-yu removed as mayor of Kaohsiung after heavy defeat in recall election // SCMP

Crackdown and pushing out spies:
Taiwan offering up to NT$20,000 reward for info on foreigners who overstay visas // Taiwan News

Taiwan remains sanguine despite Beijing sabre-rattling // Financial Times

Taiwan recall vote stirs acrimony, brings new problems for KMT // Yahoo News

Hong Kong

Pro China sentiment
Never bet against China // SCMP

Tiananmen vigil as it happened: thousands of Hongkongers defy ban to mark anniversary of June 4 crackdown // SCMP

Hong Kong leader calls out ‘double standards’ on national security, points to U.S. // Yahoo News

Hong Kong Police Block Tiananmen Square Vigil, Citing Coronavirus // NPR

Podcast episode: Basic Law recap & history
Hong Kong: the end of one country, two systems? // Guardian

Hong Kong facing ‘Tiananmen Square’ moment – as plea is made for UN intervention // Express

Security Law Sends Hong Kong Residents Dashing for the Exit // Bloomberg

 

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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

 

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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

 

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Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, September 16, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92cVA_EwNI0

America faces a crossroads. We have enemies mounting against us. Great monsters, fed and allowed to grow, are coming back to haunt us, hunt us, and devour us. It's scary. And, there is a natural tendency to negotiate and avoid provoking wrath of what already wants to eat us.

Some Americans—many, perhaps—have done very bad things in the past. But, many of us learn and improve. Others of us fought against the injustice. Like any nation, America needs to heal, grow, fight the bad, and strengthen the good. We don't need to all lay down and die as our enemies want.

Death comes like a burglar, sneaking in the night. It seeks to isolate, frighten, paralyze first with fear, then with venom, and finally consume. Death makes us long for fear and even death itself. Don't follow its poisonous seduction.

When a people find their heart, no matter how dark times have become, they have what they need to overcome any obstacle. The greatest battle is not over land or law, nor waged with guns or swords, but over the heart and fought with the heart.

We face trying, fearful times. By standing on our values, no matter the cost, we will pay a lesser price in the long run anyway.

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