The secrets China keeps on COVID-19
The China Letter: February 23, 2021
The final days of February will evoke memories of how the coronavirus crept across the world one year ago, then became a global menace by March. It’s also been revived as a hot topic concerning China’s tactics to control information. We’ll continue to keep track of true stories—pass it on!
Who isn’t very satisfied
The White House is questioning the data China provided to the World Health Organization after the team that visited Wuhan presented its findings with the conclusion that COVID-19 almost certainly didn’t originate in a lab. So, where did it come from? Perhaps the coronavirus was spreading earlier than they knew at WHO:
The preliminary report from the mission will recommend more extensive contact tracing of the first known patient in Wuhan, as well as the supply chain of more than a dozen traders in the seafood market where it was spreading in December 2019. WHO continues to face criticism for accepting Beijing’s claim of few concerns at that time.
Stalled side of skirmish
China’s military outlet named four soldiers killed last June in the Galwan Valley in India’s Ladakh region, in a clash where India had 20 casualties. Beijing kept their count quiet until the release of a video that purports to be showing Indian troops wielding shields and long sticks confronting Chinese soldiers after wading through the thigh-deep water.
Facebook’s latest fakery
State-run Chinese media outlets continue to buy social media advertising that isn’t marked as such on Facebook—although YouTube and Twitter labels those sources properly. Lately, their main message is to counter reports about the treatment of Uighur Muslims, reports on which led Beijing to block the BBC from broadcasting in China.
An arrest behind bars
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was arrested again while in jail, on suspicion of assisting one of 12 fugitives China captured at sea last year, reported his Apple Daily tabloid. Lai remains the highest-profile detainee arrested under China’s security law, while police appear to be looking for other pro-democracy activists to link to him.
The last words, for now
Huawei has mainly continued to make headlines due to the extradition case of Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver. The company carries on regardless, even if U.S. sanctions and the decreased pandemic-era demand for new smartphones led sales to plummet. But pig farmers in China are finding greater use for controversial tracking technologies:
The China Letter is produced by the Canadian Freedom Institute, a think tank based in Canada. We produce the China Letter every week to keep you informed and to press the ideas of free markets and free people not only in China but around the world. Please consider donating to keep this newsletter running!