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Wednesday, March 31, 2021

WHO-China joint report on virus origins:Wuhan Lab-leak is "extremely unlikely", ‘more states should be probed’...

 

The headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland

Highlights from WHO-China joint report on coronavirus origins: -A lab leak was "extremely unlikely" -Huanan seafood market was NOT the original source of the outbreak -It’s important to investigate “potential early events” of COVID-19 cases in different countries


Peter Ben Embarek (center) talks with Liang Wannian (left) and Marion Koopmans (right) after a press conference to wrap up a visit by an international team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) in the city of Wuhan, in Central China's Hubei Province on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
Peter Ben Embarek (center) talks with Liang Wannian (left) and Marion Koopmans (right) after a press conference to wrap up a visit by an international team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) in the city of Wuhan, in Central China's Hubei

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If WHO scientists cannot find the answer in China regarding coronavirus origins, maybe it's time for scientists to dig somewhere else and test more hypotheses to solve the mystery, Chinese scientists from the WHO-China virus tracing team suggested, after a joint WHO-China report on tracing the origins of coronavirus was released on Tuesday, which still leaves the virus origins question unanswered.
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The report, generated after WHO experts visited Wuhan, the Chinese city first reporting a COVID-19 case, dismissed the "lab-leak" conspiracy theory, and recommended transmissions between animals and humans, and transmissions through frozen food, which is consistent with what WHO experts said in a February conference in Wuhan. It also suggested the 7th Military World Games, which was held in Wuhan in October 2019, two months before the first case in this city was reported, is worth digging into.
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Before official release on Tuesday, Western politicians and media once again cast the report, pre-leaked to media earlier, in doubt, questioning the investigation's transparency , impartiality and the involvement of Chinese government in the writing of the report. Chinese experts in this joint team refuted such baseless claims, saying the Chinese side has provided what it could, and it is willing to assist any further origins investigation in other places since it has mature technology on virus detecting and tracing.
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The report pointed to a possible path of transmission between animals and humans and transmission through frozen food. It also said that the lab-leak theory is "extremely unlikely", which is consistent with what Peter Ben Embarek, a Danish food safety scientist leading the WHO team, said in Wuhan in early February, when wrapping up the WHO visit.
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The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday night it appreciates the scientific, diligent and professional spirit of the WHO-China expert team and calls for further investigation in other countries and places to trace the virus origins as it is a global task after WHO released the joint report.
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Politicizing the tracing work will only seriously hamper global cooperation on virus tracing, undermine global anti-epidemic efforts and lead to more loss of life. This runs counter to the desire of the international community to unite and fight the epidemic, FM said in a statement released on Tuesday night.
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The WHO report also touched upon the hypothesis of the 7th Military World Games regarding virus origins, a possibility previously raised by a Chinese epidemiologist. The WHO report said that "no appreciable signals of clusters of fever or severe respiratory disease requiring hospitalization were identified during a review of these events," but recommended a further joint review of the data on respiratory illness from on-site clinics during the games.
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"The hypothesis was raised by foreign experts during our communication," a Chinese expert from the joint team's animals and environment group told the Global Times. He said that large international events need to be considered as an option during origins tracing work of an epidemic.
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The Chinese expert, who asked for anonymity, said that they obtained records from the Wuhan government, which show many countries had transported food to Wuhan during the event, many via cold chain route. "But now we only have records, no samples, so it will be difficult for us to find the evidence," he admitted.
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The scientist also said it is highly probable that the virus was transmitted via cold chain, given the fact that cold chains triggered most of the later outbreaks in China after the one in Wuhan. "But at the early stage, all eyes were fixed on animals, so not enough samples were connected in the cold chain environment," said the expert, suggesting further research in this area.
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The WHO report further suggests that animals in livestock farms in Southeast Asia could be "linked to early human cases" and that further study on these farms is needed.
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The anonymous expert said that given the geographic adjacency and frequent exchanges between China and Southeast Asia countries, such a proposal is reasonable.
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"Yunnan borders Southeast Asia, and bats travel frequently, which gives rise to the possibility of passing the virus to other animals and between each other," he said, noting that a batch of pangolins, which tested positive for coronavirus, were smuggled from other countries.
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At a Friday conference, Feng Zijian, Deputy Director-General of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China's CDC), who is also the expert of the WHO joint team, said that there is a virus highly similar to COVID-19 in bats and pangolins in terms of virus sequencing. However, it's proven not to be a direct ancestor, while more animal species, including minks and cats, are worthy of inquiry as likely potential natural hosts of the virus.
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According to the report, data suggests that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, where large clusters of infections were found, was not the original source of the outbreak.
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"The place which saw the first outbreak does not necessarily make it the origins of the virus," another member of the joint expert team, who preferred anonymity, told the Global Times.
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The expert said there's nothing strange about the fact that a scientific conclusion about the virus has yet to be found. On the other hand, it implies the difficulty in tracing virus origins. "Virus origins tracing work of previous large-scale epidemics was conducted by scientists in different countries and regions," said the scientist, urging global virus tracing, especially since mounting evidence suggesting that there were positive coronavirus samples found in other countries before the Wuhan outbreak.
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He suggested further study of positive coronavirus samples found in human and environment before January 2020.
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China has done what it can do in helping find the origins of the virus. If the answer could not be found here, maybe it's time to find it in other places, and test more hypotheses, according to the expert from joint team's animals and environment group. China is willing to assist virus origins tracing work in other places, as it has already grasped such technologies and methodologies, the expert said.
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Doubt from West
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Western media and politicians could not wait to fire torrents of criticism toward the report, which was leaked to some media before its publication.
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Among the most vocal critics were US media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post, which questioned the report's impartiality as they hyped that WHO experts weren't given full access in Wuhan and the Chinese government exerted pressure on the UN body.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN last week that he had concerns about "the methodology and the process," including "the fact that the government in Beijing apparently helped write it."
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Such accusation was slammed by Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.
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"The US kept showing its 'concerns' over the report. Is it attempting to exert pressure on WHO experts?" Zhao asked. "Please ask the experts which parts of the report the Chinese government helped them to write. Does China's facilitation on traceability research also behind-the-scenes manipulation?"
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"What they needed, we gave them, including files," said the expert, explaining certain documents were restricted because it involved patients' sensitive personal information.
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In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, Liang Wannian, team leader of the Chinese side of the WHO-China joint expert team, said that the Chinese side showed the WHO experts raw data one by one, such as the early case database and epidemiological survey forms of field use.
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Foreign experts, including Peter Daszak, a British-born zoologist, who is president of the NGO EcoHealth Alliance in New York City, and Peter Ben Embarek from the WHO team, have repeatedly denied accusation of limited access in Wuhan.
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Those Western countries only want WHO to pinpoint Wuhan as the origins of the virus, and better prove the virus was leaked from lab; if not, they just launched a smear campaign at China, said experts.

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Row over cotton and human rights

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Anger brews in China over brands boycotting Xinjiang cotton, linking it to claims of forced labour..

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CHINA is the biggest cotton user and second largest producer in the world.
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It produced nearly 5.2 million tonnes of cotton last year, and some 87% came from Xinjiang, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
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This commodity has in recent years been “politically tainted” following accusations of forced labour at cotton fields in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
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The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) – an influential non-profit organisation to promote sustainable cotton farming – has stopped issuing licences to cotton producers in the region since early last year.
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Without the certificate, cotton farmers could not sell their goods to retailers, suppliers and manufacturers, who have to follow the BCI standards.
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The organisation has nearly 2,100 members, of which nearly 500 are from China.
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This issue resurfaced again in the wake of the rising tension between the Dragon nation and the West
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after the United States, European Union (EU), Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on several Chinese officials over human rights issues in Xinjiang.
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There were non-stop claims of China detaining Muslim Uyghurs at concentrated camps, stripping off their religious rights and forcing them into hard labour at mass cotton fields.
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China has denied all accusations and retaliated with sanctions on the individuals and entities from the EU.
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Fashion giant H&M was the first to come under fire in a series of propagated plots.
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The Swedish retailer had in October last year said on its official website that it did not source products from Xinjiang due to “reports on forced labour and discrimination of ethno-religious minorities” in the region.
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This statement came to light again last week, fuelling anger of netizens, who called on a boycott against the brand.
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The flame quickly spread to Adidas, Nike, Uniqlo, Muji and some others, and old statements they made in relation to the ban on Xinjiang cotton resurfaced.
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Extreme citizens have carried out verbal attacks on workers at both the physical outlets and online stores, calling them traitors and asking them to resign while urging purchasers to burn or throw away their products.
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This prompted the rational ones calling for such “stupid” acts to be stopped.
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A hashtag on “Do not make workers’ lives miserable” was read 250 million times and generated 57,000 discussions.
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“It is your choice to tear or burn your stuff, but don’t see others as not patriotic if they don’t follow what you did, ” wrote one netizen named Yisuo.
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Another netizen said it was shameful to bully their own countrymen, adding that: “Life is not easy, these workers have mouths to be fed.”
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An online campaign on Sina Weibo, #IsupportXinjiangcotton, has also been launched in support of the major commodity in Xinjiang.
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It gained 4.2 billion views as of early Friday.
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On the other hand, over a dozen Chinese companies have stood by the northwestern region of China.
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Among them, sportswear company Anta announced its withdrawal from BCI, winning the hearts of the Internet users, who said they would only buy Made-in-China products in the future.
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Some people viewed that such support would not last long.
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“I could foresee that these people who shouted the loudest boycott calls will go into a buying frenzy when the brands offer huge discounts, ” said one of them.
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Chinese celebrities have also acted swiftly to distance themselves from the controversial brands.
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Actor Huang Xuan, the spokesperson of H&M, was the first to announce ending his cooperation with the brand, followed by some 30 others including idol Wang Yibo, who terminated his contract with Nike.
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Hong Kong star Eason Chan and Chinese singer-actor Yi Yangqianxi, a member of TFBoys, had cut off ties with Adidas.
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Others include Xinjang lass Dilraba Dilmurat, actresses Yang Mi and Liu Yifei as well as model Liu Wen.
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Last Thursday, training photos released by Shanghai Shenhua Football Club showed no sign of the Nike logo, leading to speculations that the pictures have been photoshopped to remove the logo from the right chest area of the players’ jerseys.
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Nike is the sponsor of all Chinese Super League teams.
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China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Xinjiang cotton is among the best worldwide and it would be a loss for companies not using it.
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Beijing also clarified that forced labours and other allegations on the Uyghurs were malicious lies in an attempt to smear the country.
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She also showed a picture of the modernised cotton field, saying over 70% of the cotton was picked with machines.
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“There is no forced labour in hand-picking cotton. It’s ridiculous that some enterprises actually believed in such rumour, ” she added.
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Asked if the issue involving the international brands resurfaced as China’s move to pressure and intimidate them into voicing supports for the country’s position on Xinjiang-related issues, Hua said these enterprises can be their own judges.
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“Given the size of Chinese market, we don’t need to pressure anyone, ” she added.


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China's tough stance in Alaska turns heads

 

Sunday, March 28, 2021

China's tough stance in Alaska turns heads

Standing his ground: Yang speaking at the opening session of the talks in Alaska. — Photos: AP

【完整版】中美高层战略对话现场全记录 U.S.-China Summit in Alaska [Full Version]



 

Blinken (far right) speaking at the dialogue as Yang (far left) and China’s State Councillor Wang Yi (second from left) listen.

 

 Chinese diplomats’ face-off with their US counterparts at a recent bilateral meet has won applause from many around the globe.


ALTHOUGH the two-day in-person meeting in Alaska between top Chinese and American officials ended last weekend, the fiery exchanges at its opening session have continued to reverberate and it is now a talking point among Chinese globally.

The strong phrases used by the Chinese diplomats on United States soil against their American counterparts have won applause globally, particularly from Chinese nationals and people of Chinese descent.

To the Chinese who remember history, the great humiliation exacted by the West on China in 1901 was avenged by the opening address of Beijing’s foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi at the Washington-initiated dialogue in Anchorage, Alaska.

Soon after the testy opening on March 18, photos of the Protocol of 1901 reminding readers of the unfair and degrading treaty forced on China began circulating widely on social media.

The treaty was signed on Sept 7,1901, by China’s Qing government after it could no longer muster resistance to invading troops sent by Britain, Germany, the United States, France, Tsarist Russia, Japan, Italy and Austria – the grouping was known as the Eight-Power Allied Forces..

The protocol stipulated that “the Qing government shall pay 450 million taels of silver to the Eight-Power Allied Forces for 39 years”. Together with “reparations” from provincial governments, the total sum of indemnity came to one billion taels of silver, equivalent to China’s revenue over 10 years then, says Chinese history..

According to the Global Talk show on TV station CTI Taiwan, the video of the 16-minute opening address by Yang, director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Foreign Affairs of China, has attracted “explosive hits” all over the world..

“In the past, no country bullied by the US dared to stand up to the US. This is the first time China told them off bluntly and demanded respect. People who are happy with Yang are not only the Chinese but also people from countries invaded by the US or who are suffering from US sanctions, like Iran..

“From now on, Washington must rethink how it should deal with Beijing. Everybody must watch this outstanding speech by Yang Jiechi, ” said commentator Yong See Kuan on the show early last week..

In another Taiwan talk show with opinion leaders, China was voted winner in this “most interesting diplomatic talk in history” and the United States was the loser in diplomacy and legitimacy..

Chinese nationals feel particularly proud, as it is clear that in this first high-level US-China meeting under President Joe Biden administration, the uncompromising and righteous stance adopted by Yang has cast a long shadow over American supremacy and diplomacy..

What was initially meant to be a several-minute photo shoot ended up lasting over an hour as both sides traded barbs. Members of the media were told not to leave so they could listen to rebuttals..

The expected diplomatic niceties were missing when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan commenced proceedings with sharp criticisms of China on issues ranging from bilateral relations and human rights to cyber attacks and violation of international rules..

In response to that hostile opening, Yang responded to each allegation blow-by-blow, shooting past the time allocated..

On human rights, Yang reminded the United States about the killing of African-Americans, saying: “We do hope the US will do better on human rights. The challenges facing the US in human rights are deep-seated. They did not just emerge over the past four years with Black Lives Matter.”.

On cyber attacks, he said: “Let me say that whether it’s the ability to launch cyber attacks or the technologies that could be deployed, the US is the champion.”.

On international rules, he said: “I don’t think the overwhelming majority of countries in the world would recognise that the universal values advocated by the US or the opinion of the US could represent international public opinion.... And the rules made by a small number of people would not serve as the basis for the international order.”.

With choice barbs, Yang belittled the Americans..

He shocked all by saying: “The US does not have the qualification to speak to us from a position of strength.”.

He told the United States to “stop interfering in China’s internal politics” on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan. On this subject, he added in Mandarin emphatically: “China will not buy (accept) the American way.”.

On democracy, he said: “You have your style of democracy and China has its own style.”.

Other phrases that appeared to hit hard at the United States and its Western allies include: “The US does not represent international opinion, and neither does the Western world.”.

Indeed, the 70-year-old veteran diplomat with tertiary British education has become a Chinese hero for showing the United States – and the world – how confident and assertive China can be after rising to become the world’s second largest economy and global power, with technology and military might..

Yang also reminded the United States that China, now led by President Xi Jinping, is not the China of 100 years ago, after saying China has suffered enough..

One of his most notable Mandarin phrase, “Chinese people will not buy the American way” is now appearing on T-shirts, umbrellas and other merchandise that is selling like hot cakes on the Chinese mainland..

Actually, not many observers had high expectations of this dialogue. Ahead of the meeting, top US officials visited regional allies Japan and South Korea and issued statements hostile towards China..

And just before the Chinese diplomats flew to Alaska, the US State Department announced it would impose sanctions on 24 Chinese officials for their role in “eroding” Hong Kong’s electoral system under a new Beijing law..

The timing of the sanctions and anti-China statements caused China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi to make this pointed remark: “This is not supposed to be the way one welcomes guests”..

Amidst these hostilities from Washington, many people had thought that Beijing might cancel the talks unilaterally..

But the Chinese went. By attending this face-to-face dialogue amid insults, China showed off its confidence to the world, attracting much attention..

China’s confidence stems from its achievements since it opened up to the world, according to Wang Wen, a professor at the Renmin University of China..

“In the past decade, China has become the world’s largest manufacturing country, the world’s largest goods trading country, and the world’s largest consumer market. In the next five to 10 years, China will most likely surpass the US to become the world’s largest economy, ” he wrote..

Wang sees China-US relations at their worst since diplomatic ties were established..

“After taking office, Biden has made it clear that he views China as the ‘most serious competitor’ to the US. He takes Donald Trump’s legacy as a bargaining chip in a new round of games with China.”.

Noting that the balance of power between the two countries has changed, The New York Times said in a commentary: “China today feels far more assured in its ability to challenge the US and push for its own vision of international cooperation. It is a confidence embraced since 2012 when Xi Jinping became the top leader of China..

“For decades, China approached American governments from positions of weakness. That forced it at times to accede to American demands, however grudgingly, whether it was to release detained human rights advocates or to accept Washington’s conditions for joining the World Trade Organisation.”.

The newspaper added that the Alaska dialogue shows that the Biden administration’s strategy to curb Beijing is facing a stiff challenge..

Martin Jacques, a visiting professor at the Institute of Modern International Relations at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, said the United States cannot accept the “painful fact” that China is now its equal..

In his opinion piece, he wrote: “Yang Jiechi gave a bravura performance. He let his American counterparts have it with both barrels, challenging not just the US position but also its very legitimacy. This is not normally the Chinese manner on such occasions. It is a sign that something has changed..

“There is a new sense of confidence on the part of the Chinese. That they are winning – or can win – the argument. That they are at least the equals of America. That they speak from a position of strength and America from a position of weakness. That history is on their side.”.

According to the scholar, the Americans have hitherto always thought of themselves as running the show: “The shock visible in the body language of Blinken and Sullivan was the realisation that this was no longer the case.”.

Jacques added: “America is in the process of coming to the painful realisation that China is now its equal. However, it cannot bring itself to accept what is already an historical reality.”.

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The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced sanctions against two US individuals, one Canadian politician and entity on Saturday as countermeasures against the two countries' unilateral sanctions on Chinese officials over Xinjiang followed counter-sanctions on the UK and the EU.

 
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 US fallacy on Xinjiang cotton a humiliation to humanitarianism

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