Category: China

At this point I don’t know how anyone can dismiss that COVID leaked from the Wuhan lab especially since the Chinese are not allowing any independent investigation into it:

A security person moves journalists away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology after a World Health Organization team arrived for a field visit in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province on Feb. 3, 2021. (Ng Han Guan/AP)

U.S. officials released an intelligence report Friday that rejected some points raised by those who argue COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab, instead reiterating that American spy agencies remain divided over how the pandemic began.

The report was issued at the behest of Congress, which in March passed a bill giving U.S. intelligence 90 days to declassify intelligence related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Intelligence officials under President Joe Biden have been pushed by lawmakers to release more material about the origins of COVID-19. But they have repeatedly argued China’s official obstruction of independent reviews has made it perhaps impossible to determine how the pandemic began.

The newest report angered some Republicans who have argued the administration is wrongly withholding classified information and researchers who accuse the U.S. of not being forthcoming. (……….)

But Friday’s report said the intelligence community has not gone further. Four agencies still believe the virus was transferred from animals to humans, and two agencies — the Energy Department and the FBI — believe the virus leaked from a lab. The CIA and another agency have not made an assessment.

Located in the city where the pandemic is believed to have began, the Wuhan Institute of Virology has faced intense scrutiny for its previous research into bat coronaviruses and its reported security lapses.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I guess the real question is why are some of these intelligence agencies claiming COVID came from an animal when no one has been able to prove that either?

Instead of calling him a dictator maybe President Biden should have just called him an Emperor instead because that is essentially what Xi Jinping has made himself into:

China called President Biden’s suggestion that its leader is a dictator “extremely absurd and irresponsible” on Wednesday in an angry response that threatened to undo recent efforts by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to calm tensions between the two superpowers.

Biden referred to Xi Jinping as a dictator while speaking Tuesday at a campaign event, where he said the Chinese leader had been embarrassed by the U.S. downing of a spy balloon because he was unaware it had gone off course.

“The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two boxcars full of spy equipment in it is he didn’t know it was there,” Biden said. “That’s what’s a great embarrassment for dictators: when they didn’t know what happened.”

Washington Post

You can read more at the link.

I don’t think the Yoon administration is going to get any appropriate response back from China because the ambassador likely said exactly what the CCP thinks of Korea:

Lee Jae-myung (L), leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, talks with Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming during their meeting at the envoy’s residence in Seoul on June 8, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

South Korea is waiting for China to take an “appropriate measure” following controversial remarks made by its ambassador in Seoul over South Korea’s ties with the United States, a presidential official said Tuesday.

Tensions have flared between Seoul and Beijing after China’s Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming said in a meeting with main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung that those who “bet on China’s loss” in its rivalry with the United States “will definitely regret it.”

The remarks were interpreted as a warning to Seoul against aligning itself with Washington.

“From our point of view, there was something that ran contrary” to diplomatic protocols, the presidential official told reporters.

“We’re waiting for the Chinese side to carefully consider this problem and to take the appropriate measure regarding this,” he said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is China needlessly raising tensions with South Korea trying to treat them like a vassal state:

Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming (L) speaks with Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, before their dinner meeting at the envoy’s residence in Seoul on June 8, 2023. (Yonhap)

China called in South Korean Ambassador Chung Jae-ho and lodged a complaint, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Sunday, in a tit-for-tat after the Chinese ambassador to Seoul was summoned over remarks warning Seoul against betting against China.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Nong Rong met with the South Korean envoy on Saturday and expressed serious concerns and a complaint over what it called an unfair response that South Korea showed about a meeting between Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming and opposition leader Lee Jae-myung.

Xing said during Thursday’s meeting with Lee, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, that it is a wrong bet to believe that China will lose in the rivalry with the United States. He also warned that “those betting on China’s defeat will certainly regret it later.”

On Friday, South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin called in Xing and “sternly warned” against the envoy’s “unreasonable and provocative” remarks. Chang also warned Xing’s remarks could be seen as interference of South Korea’s domestic politics.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

China continues to economically retaliate against South Korea as trilateral security cooperation between the U.S. and Japan improves:

Person holding a cellphone with logo of Naver on screen [SHUTTERSTOCK]

Korea’s largest portal Naver has been blocked in China at a tricky time when the United States and its allies are presenting a more united front against Beijing and Beijing is pushing back.  

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that it is looking into the case with other government agencies.  

“We are aware of the related reports. [The ministry] is checking the matter jointly with related government agencies,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk on Tuesday.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.