Category: China

This was a Chinese study, so like with any information coming from China be suspicious of its accuracy:

People with type A blood are more likely to catch coronavirus while those with type O seem more resistant, a preliminary study of about 2,000 patients in China showed. 

A team of Chinese researchers, led by Wang Xinghuan from the Centre for Evidence-Based and Translational Medicine at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, conducted the study. 

They took blood group patterns of patients in Wuhan and Shenzhen and compared them to local healthy populations. They found that blood type A patients showed a higher rate of infection and tended to develop more severe symptoms.

In the general population, type O blood (34 percent) is more common than type A (32 percent). But in the infected, this was reversed, with type O people at 25 percent and type A at 41 percent. People with type O blood made up 25 percent of deaths in the research. Normally, people with type O blood account for 32 percent Wuhan’s population. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Predictably the Chinese government is trying to deflect their own incompetence in handling the coronavirus by resorting to nationalism and blaming the United States:

Something that had been merely suggested before has now been blown wide into the open in China.

A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, Zhao Lijian, tweeted yesterday that “it might be the US army” that brought the coronavirus to China, giving an official boost to a conspiracy theory that had been allowed to circulate on Chinese social media for weeks. The conspiracy posits that 300 athletes from the US military who in October attended the 7th Military World Games in Wuhan, where the epidemic first broke out, were infected with the virus, thereby spreading it in China.

Zhao’s comment accompanied a video from a US congressional hearing this week on the country’s response to the epidemic. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in the video that some patients who were previously diagnosed to have died from the flu were found to have actually died from the coronavirus. The video began trending on Chinese social network Weibo, with many commenting that they now believe firmly that the US had covered up facts related to the epidemic.

Quartz

You can read more at the link, but President Trump should speak up about this at some point because clearly the Chinese government is trying to blame the U.S. for something their incompetence allowed to happen.

It appears that China’s “50 Cent Army” has turned its attention on South Korea to help manipulate online public opinion to be favorable towards President Moon:

On February 27, 2020, an online post titled “Chinagate” emerged, causing a controversy.  A self-described Joseonjok (ethnic Korean who migrated to Northeast China prior to 1945 and their descendants) Chinese claimed that “Joseonjok Chinese and Chinese students in South Korea are using social network services to manipulate public opinion on online communities and portals using online comments and other methods” and that “the Moon Jae-in administration and the ruling party are controlled by China.”  The person also posted, “Most of the people who are mobilized for this systematic manipulation of public opinion are [Chinese] university students studying in South Korea, and all of the top-ranked comments on Naver and comments on women’s cafes go through our hands.” [Note: Naver is a popular portal in South Korea.]

Another post appeared later the same day, claiming “Don’t think it’s Koreans that drive online public opinion” and “as soon as ‘the impeachment of Moon Jae-in’ appeared as the Blue House petition, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which considers President Moon as part of it, became active and led 500,000 to support the ‘I support President Moon Jae-in’ petition in a period of two days.”

These posts were claims, but what followed caused a stir.

East Asia Research Center

I highly recommend reading the whole article at the link by Dr. Tara O. Remember the Moon administration is no stranger to manipulating online public opinion as demonstrated by the Druking Scandal prior to the last presidential election.

If dogs can be infected with the coronavirus could they spread it as well?

A pet dog in Hong Kong has contracted COVID-19 from its owner in what could be the first known human-to-animal transmission, local health authorities said Wednesday.

The Pomeranian is now under quarantine after repeated tests confirmed a “low-level infection” of the virus, though it shows no symptoms of the disease, a spokesman for Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It appears the Chinese propaganda apparatus is now beginning their inevitable shift to blaming foreign countries for spreading the coronavirus within China:

China reported an increase Tuesday in cases of the new coronavirus coming from abroad, as the country where the disease first emerged now worries about importing infections.

In total there have been 13 confirmed cases of the virus being imported to the mainland — all in Chinese nationals returning from overseas.

More than 3,100 people have died and over 90,000 have been infected worldwide.

The vast majority of cases are in China, but South Korea, Italy and Iran have emerged as the countries with the most cases outside the epicentre.

Eight Chinese nationals who worked in the same restaurant in Italy’s northern Lombardy region have tested positive for the virus in eastern Zhejiang province, according to the local government.

They flew home to China from Italy last week.

AFP

You can read more at the link, but I have little faith in the numbers being reported out of China. It seems pretty coincidental that once the markets started tanking and companies began considering pulling out of China that suddenly news turned good that the Chinese were getting the coronavirus under control. Now as new cases pop up the Chinese propaganda apparatus can blame its spread on foreigners.

Yes you read that right, China of all places is beginning to restrict the movement of Koreans that arrive in the country:

More than 50 countries have implemented travel bans or quarantine measures on travelers coming from South Korea as of Friday amid fear of the global spread of the new coronavirus. 

In an odd turn of events, they include China, the origin of the disease.

Korean travelers face particular uncertainties flying into China as provinces and cities implement unexpected quarantines. Some Koreans residing there are being shunned by neighbors in apartment complexes. 

In a matter of two days, Korea saw its number of coronavirus cases double to over 2,300 as of Friday. The spike comes as health authorities conduct extensive testing on members of a minor Christian sect, Shincheonji, who make up the majority of new cases, which are mostly in the Daegu and North Gyeongsang area. 

In contrast, Chinese figures are showing a decrease in its cases, with 327 new cases and 44 new deaths announced as of Friday morning. 

Despite the fact that the coronavirus originated in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, China has been tightening its border controls and quarantine measures against travelers coming from Korea since the beginning of the week. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but China is having many Koreans who arrive in China go into quarantine for 14 days including all from the Daegu area.

The Korean government is now advocating for Chinese students to not return to South Korea until after the coronavirus fears die down:

Education authorities of South Korea and China agreed to advise their students against returning to school in the other country as part of their cooperation to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, Seoul officials said Friday.

The move comes as the spread of the virus is showing little sign of easing in the two countries after it emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late December.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This horrible that an entire family which includes three Korean nationals has been infected by the coronavirus:

Three Korean citizens in mainland China were confirmed to have been infected with the new coronavirus, the Korean government said Monday.

Kim Gang-lip, deputy head of the central disaster headquarters, told reporters that three members of a family staying in Qingdao, in the country’s eastern province of Shandong, have tested positive for the virus, which has killed 904 people and infected nearly 41,000 in 29 countries over the past few weeks.

“The World Health Organization and the Chinese government notified on Sunday that they were confirmed to be infected,” Kim said.

The three ― a father and his two children ― are “in a stable condition” and have been treated at a local hospital, he said. The man is the spouse of a Chinese woman who was confirmed to have been infected with the virus on Jan. 31.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I think all of us that follow these issues know why this is:

In all fairness, one may wonder why the “new” Chinese ambassador to Seoul was given a free pass on his diplomatic gaffe, while the U.S. ambassador ― who was born to a Japanese mother ― was pilloried over his mustache that critics compared to the facial hair of Japanese colonial-period leaders preying on Koreans. 

If one were to draw comparisons of Ambassador Harry Harris to Japan’s cruel governor-general during that country’s 1940-1945 occupation, then it would be justified in comparing Ambassador Xing Haiming to arrogant senior messengers from Ming or Qing emperors who treated Joseon kings as their subordinates. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.