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  1. #2301
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Well that tells you all you need to know about the quality and veracity of that article.
    It says more about your lack of understanding of the term genocide than anything about the article.

    Do I have to post the definition again so it sinks into your empty head?

  2. #2302
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    You might not want to read it. You might not want to hear what I have to say. But somewhere in this short narrative is a truth that you all have to face…

    The United States is NOT a democracy.

    And,


    China is NOT a dictatorship.
    Being half right is worth something

  3. #2303
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    Robert Vannrox, who penned #2564 above, was an Operator for the US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) 1981- 2007, and has lived in China since 2009. This is the sort of source our resident intellectuals call a phoney. But they believe that fruitcake with a personal message bestowed to him by God (in a dream), Adrian Zenz.

  4. #2304
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Robert Vannrox, who penned #2564 above, was an Operator for the US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) 1981- 2007, and has lived in China since 2009. This is the sort of source our resident intellectuals call a phoney. But they believe that fruitcake with a personal message bestowed to him by God (in a dream), Adrian Zenz.
    Do you think we don't know that you have a man crush on every snivelling foreign chinky sycophant you find?

    Like the cretinous cyclist who claims he cycled all over the 1.6 million sq km of Xinjiang and never saw a single concentration camp?

    The View, from China-uyghurs-1-660x495-jpg

  5. #2305
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Less we forget, the children.

    A Crime by Any Name.


    July 3, 2019

    The View, from China-original-jpg


    "At a processing center in El Paso, Texas, 900 migrants were “being held at a facility designed for 125. In some cases, cells designed for 35 people were holding 155 people,” The New York Times reported. One observer described the facility to Texas Monthly as a “human dog pound.” The government’s own investigators have found detainees in facilities run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement being fed expired food at detention facilities, “nooses in detainee cells,” “inadequate medical care,” and “unsafe and unhealthy conditions.” An early-July inspector-general report found “dangerous overcrowding” in some Border Patrol facilities and included pictures of people crowded together like human cargo. More than 50,000 people are being held in facilities run by ICE, and something close to 20,000 in facilities run by Customs and Border Protection, and more than 11,000 children in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services.* (The government describes them as “unaccompanied,” a label immigration advocates say is misleading because many were separated by the government from the relative who brought them) Some of the people detained by the U.S. government have entered the United States illegally or overstayed their visas; some are simply seeking to exercise their legal right to asylum."

    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/ar...lities/593239/
    A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.

  6. #2306
    Elite Mumbler
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    All of those "prisoners" can go home if they so choose you disingenuous wanker.

  7. #2307
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pickel View Post
    ^
    All of those "prisoners" can go home if they so choose you disingenuous wanker.
    Just filling the thread with more crap to try and hide the vile chinkies' crimes.

  8. #2308
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    Xi of Arabia and the petroyuan drive

    Xi Jinping has made an offer difficult for the Arabian Peninsula to ignore: China will be guaranteed buyers of your oil and gas, but we will pay in yuan.

    By Pepe Escobar
    December 16 2022

    The View, from China-chinas-xi-gcc-countries-jpg


    "It would be so tempting to qualify Chinese President Xi Jinping landing in Riyadh a week ago, welcomed with royal pomp and circumstance, as Xi of Arabia proclaiming the dawn of the petroyuan era.

    But it’s more complicated than that. As much as the seismic shift implied by the petroyuan move applies, Chinese diplomacy is way too sophisticated to engage in direct confrontation, especially with a wounded, ferocious Empire. So there’s way more going here than meets the (Eurasian) eye.

    Xi of Arabia’s announcement was a prodigy of finesse: it was packaged as the internationalization of the yuan. From now on, Xi said, China will use the yuan for oil trade, through the Shanghai Petroleum and National Gas Exchange, and invited the Persian Gulf monarchies to get on board. Nearly 80 percent of trade in the global oil market continues to be priced in US dollars.

    Ostensibly, Xi of Arabia, and his large Chinese delegation of officials and business leaders, met with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to promote increased trade. Beijing promised to “import crude oil in a consistent manner and in large quantities from the GCC.” And the same goes for natural gas.

    China has been the largest importer of crude on the planet for five years now – half of it from the Arabian peninsula, and more than a quarter from Saudi Arabia. So it’s no wonder that the prelude for Xi of Arabia’s lavish welcome in Riyadh was a special op-ed expanding the trading scope, and praising increased strategic/commercial partnerships across the GCC, complete with “5G communications, new energy, space and digital economy.”
    Foreign Minister Wang Yi doubled down on the “strategic choice” of China and wider Arabia. Over $30 billion in trade deals were duly signed – quite a few significantly connected to China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects.

    And that brings us to the two key connections established by Xi of Arabia: the BRI and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

    The Silk Roads of Arabia

    BRI will get a serious boost by Beijing in 2023, with the return of the Belt and Road Forum. The first two bi-annual forums took place in 2017 and 2019. Nothing happened in 2021 because of China’s strict zero-Covid policy, now abandoned for all practical purposes.

    The year 2023 is pregnant with meaning as BRI was first launched 10 years ago by Xi, first in Central Asia (Astana) and then Southeast Asia (Jakarta).
    BRI not only embodies a complex, multi-track trans-Eurasian trade/connectivity drive but it is the overarching Chinese foreign policy concept at least until the mid-21st century. So the 2023 forum is expected to bring to the forefront a series of new and redesigned projects adapted to a post-Covid and debt-distressed world, and most of all to the loaded Atlanticism vs. Eurasianism geopolitical and geoeconomic sphere.

    Also significantly, Xi of Arabia in December followed Xi of Samarkand in September – his first post-Covid overseas trip, for the SCO summit in which Iran officially joined as a full member. China and Iran in 2021 clinched a 25-year strategic partnership deal worth a potential $400 billion in investments. That’s the other node of China’s two-pronged West Asia strategy.

    The nine permanent SCO members now represent 40 percent of the world’s population. One of their key decisions in Samarkand was to increase bilateral trade, and overall trade, in their own currencies.

    And that further connects us to what has happening in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in full synchronicity with Riyadh: the meeting of the Supreme Eurasia Economic Council, the policy implementation arm of the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU).
    Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Kyrgyzstan, could not have been more straightforward:

    “The work has accelerated in the transition to national currencies in mutual settlements… The process of creating a common payment infrastructure and integrating national systems for the transmission of financial information has begun.”

    The next Supreme Eurasian Economic Council will take place in Russia in May 2023, ahead of the Belt and Road Forum. Take them together and we have the lineaments of the geoeconomic road map ahead: the drive towards the petroyuan proceeding in parallel to the drive towards a “common paying infrastructure” and most of all, a new alternative currency bypassing the US dollar.

    That’s exactly what the head of the EAEU’s macroeconomic policy, Sergey Glazyev, has been designing, side by side with Chinese specialists.

    Total Financial War

    The move towards the petroyuan will be fraught with immense peril.
    In every serious geoeconomic gaming scenario, it’s a given that an enfeebled petrodollar translates as the end of the imperial free lunch in effect for over five decades.

    Concisely, in 1971, then-US President Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon pulled the US from the gold standard; three years later, after the 1973 oil shock, Washington approached the Saudi oil minister, notorious Sheikh Yamani, with the proverbial offer-you-can’t-refuse: we buy your oil in US dollars and in return you buy our Treasury bonds, lots of weapons, and recycle whatever’s left in our banks.

    Cue to Washington now suddenly able to dispense helicopter money – backed by nothing – ad infinitum, and the US dollar as the ultimate hegemonic weapon, complete with an array of sanctions over 30 nations who dare to disobey the unilaterally imposed “rules-based international order.”

    Impulsively rocking this imperial boat is anathema. So Beijing and the GCC will adopt the petroyuan slowly but surely, and certainly with zero fanfare. The heart of the matter, once again, is their mutual exposure to the Western financial casino.

    In the Chinese case, what to do, for instance, with those whopping $1 trillion in US Treasury bonds. In the Saudi case, it’s hard to think about “strategic autonomy” – such as what’s enjoyed by Iran – when the petrodollar is a staple of the Western financial system. The menu of possible imperial reactions includes everything from a soft coup/ regime change to Shock and Awe over Riyadh – followed by regime change.

    Yet what the Chinese – and the Russians – are aiming at goes way beyond a Saudi (and Emirati) predicament. Beijing and Moscow have clearly identified how everything – the oil market, global commodities markets – is tied to the role of the US dollar as reserve currency.

    And that’s exactly what the EAEU discussions; the SCO discussions; from now on the BRICS+ discussions; and Beijing’s two-pronged strategy across West Asia are focused to undermine.

    Beijing and Moscow, within the BRICS framework, and further on within the SCO and the EAEU, have been closely coordinating their strategy since the first sanctions on Russia post-Maidan 2014, and the de facto trade war against China unleashed in 2018.

    Now, after the February 2022 Special Military Operation launched by Moscow in Ukraine and NATO has devolved into, for all practical purposes, war against Russia, we have stepped beyond Hybrid War territory and are deep into Total Financial War.

    SWIFTly drifting away

    The whole Global South absorbed the “lesson” of the collective (institutional) west freezing, as in stealing, the foreign reserves of a G20 member, on top of it a nuclear superpower. If that happened to Russia, it could happen to anyone. There are no “rules” anymore.

    Russia since 2014 has been improving its SPFS payment system, in parallel with China’s CIPS, both bypassing the western-led SWIFT banking messaging system, and increasingly used by Central Banks across Central Asia, Iran and India. All across Eurasia, more people are ditching Visa and Mastercard and using UnionPay and/or Mir cards, not to mention Alipay and WeChat Pay, both extremely popular across Southeast Asia.

    Of course the petrodollar – and the US dollar, still representing under 60 percent of global foreign exchange reserves – will not ride into oblivion overnight. Xi of Arabia is just the latest chapter in a seismic shift now driven by a select group in the Global South, and not by the former “hyperpower.”
    Trading in their own currencies and a new, global alternative currency is right at the top of the priorities of that long list of nations – from South America to Northern Africa and West Asia – eager to join BRICS+ or the SCO, and in quite a few cases, both.

    The stakes could not be higher. And it’s all about subjugation or exercising full sovereignty. So let’s leave the last essential words to the foremost diplomat of our troubled times, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov, at the international interparty conference Eurasian Choice as a Basis for Strengthening Sovereignty:

    “The main reason for today’s growing tensions is the stubborn striving of the collective West to maintain a historically diminishing domination in the international arena by any means it can… It is impossible to impede the strengthening of the independent centers of economic growth, financial might and political influence. They are emerging on our common continent of Eurasia, in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.”

    All aboard…the Sovereign Train.

    https://thecradle.co/Article/Columns/19565

  9. #2309
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    China urges US to respect WTO ruling on HK product labeling


    By GT staff reporters Published: Dec 22, 2022 11:01 PM

    "China on Thursday urged the US to respect a WTO panel ruling that rejected a US' origin labelling requirement on products from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Admonishing the US against politicizing trade issues, China crystallized its stance on upholding a rules-based multilateral trade system.

    The ruling, the second in half a month in favor of the Chinese side, debunks a rule-breaking US that has indulged itself in the exploitation of national security claims to put its selfishness above universally adopted principles, experts said.

    The latest ruling can be relied on by Hong Kong firms as a bulwark against US coercion, they said. And if Washington continues with its reckless approach to cause global trade disruptions and turn the WTO framework into a mere figurehead, a failing multilateral regime will eventually boomerang on the US, observers stressed.

    Upright ruling

    China greeted the Wednesday ruling by the panel established under the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) that deems the US origin marking requirement as unjustified, describing the conclusion as an upright ruling.

    A spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Thursday that China took note of the ruling and welcomes the just verdict.

    China hopes the US will respect the ruling, take practical actions to correct its wrongdoings and uphold a rules-based multinational system and normal trade order, according to a statement on MOFCOM's website, citing the spokesperson.

    Also on Thursday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular press conference that China welcomes the just ruling by the WTO panel.

    Hong Kong's status as a separate customs territory is approved by the Chinese government, affirmed by the Basic Law of the HKSAR and established by the WTO's multilateral rules. It is not something that was granted to Hong Kong by any single WTO member, Mao stated.

    "The US overstretched the concept of national security and politicized trade issues. This not only violates WTO rules but also hurts the US' own interests," she continued.

    "We urge the US to respect the ruling of the WTO panel, take concrete actions to correct its wrong move, uphold the WTO-centered multilateral trading system, and maintain the normal international trade order," according to Mao.

    China will firmly implement One Country, Two Systems, oppose interference in Hong Kong affairs by external forces, support Hong Kong in safeguarding its status as a separate customs territory, and support the region in cementing and improving its status as an international financial, shipping and trade center, Mao remarked.

    The WTO conclusion to a two-year dispute was undoubtedly expected, Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

    The ruling is based on WTO principles and in line with adequate evidence provided by the Chinese side, Gao said, noting that the US' unilateral and protectionist practices are unequivocally in violation of WTO rules.

    "Since Hong Kong's status as a separate customs territory is widely recognized, it is certainly wrong to confuse the products from the two members, and it is also a disguised way of raising tariffs on Hong Kong's exports to the US," Tu Xinquan, dean of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

    The ruling could provide support for Hong Kong companies to file lawsuits in US courts against the US government for violation of international commitments, Tu said.

    In a statement on Wednesday, the HKSAR government said the WTO panel has submitted its report to the DSB, clearly ruling that the US' origin marking request is "inconsistent with the most-favored-nation treatment requirement in respect of origin marking under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994."

    "The ruling has once again confirmed that the US has disregarded international trade rules, attempted to impose discriminatory and unfair requirements unilaterally, unreasonably suppressed Hong Kong products and enterprises, and politicized economic and trade issues," read the statement, quoting HKSAR Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau.

    The "Made in Hong Kong" marking on products from Hong Kong goods has been globally accepted over the years, factoring that the rights and obligations of the HKSAR - as a separate customs territory - are on par with that of other WTO members.

    Nonetheless, since mid-November 2020, the US has required that all Hong Kong-origin items to be imported to the US may no longer be labelled as originating in "Hong Kong", but must instead be relabelled to indicate "China". The revised origin marking requirement prompted the HKSAR government to swiftly advance an objection via bilateral and multilateral means, and the DSB agreed at a meeting in late February 2021 to create a panel to consider the dispute.

    Rule breaker

    The Wednesday ruling is seen as the latest warning to the US, which has provoked the ire of its trading partners including China. Its habitual positioning of itself as a rule breaker will only end up subjecting the US to the repercussions of a malfunctioning multilateral mechanism, experts said.

    The latest ruling showed that the WTO panel apparently doesn't support the US argument that the relabelling was necessary to protect its essential security interests, and offered a good precedent to fend off US' abuse of national security in other cases, Tu said.

    Its setback at the WTO this time could be a blow for the US in continuing to cite so-called national security concerns to hurt other sides' interests, and be a positive factor in China's lawsuit against the US in its chip export control measures, the expert emphasized.

    In another setback to the US, a WTO dispute settlement panel ruled earlier in December that the 25 percent tariffs on global steel imports and 10 percent import tariffs on aluminum imposed under former US president Donald Trump on so-called national security grounds were in violation of WTO rules.

    The US has maintained tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from certain WTO members, including China, since 2018.

    However, the US has continued to portray itself as a rules breaker. In a statement on Wednesday, Adam Hodge, spokesperson of the US Trade Representative's office, said that the US "strongly rejects the flawed interpretation and conclusions" in the WTO panel report regarding marks of origin.

    In a similarly toned statement following the WTO ruling on steel and aluminum imports, Hodge also showed defiance of the WTO assessment.

    The US' selfishness and unilateralism has reached a new level, it "has no shame" and "doesn't care about its international image at all," Tu stressed.

    "It is fair to say that the US is a bit of a public outrage now. Its inflation reduction legislation with massive subsidies for US companies also hurt and undermined the interests of its allies," Tu noted.

    It seems that Americans have been weighing the costs and benefits of breaching rules and may have become conceited about some transitory gains from being a rules breaker, while other members of the WTO pledge allegiance to multilateralism-centric rules, Gao said."


    China urges US to respect WTO ruling on HK product labeling - Global Times

  10. #2310
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    China launches trading of world’s first industrial silicon futures to boost risk management


    By Ma Jingjing Published: Dec 22, 2022 08:17 PM

    "The trading of the world's first industrial silicon futures started at the Guangzhou Futures Exchange on Thursday, in a move that experts said will help stabilize prices of the metal mostly used in chips and solar panels and enhance the risk management capability of market entities.

    A total of five industrial silicon futures contracts were launched, most of which opened higher on the first trading day. The main contract, SI2308, opened more than 3 percent higher at 19,100 yuan ($2,737) per ton, according to data from the exchange.
    Trading of industrial silicon options will start on Friday.

    The rollout of industrial silicon contracts and options will help stabilize the supply of industrial silicon for a resilient industrial chain, while improving international trade pricing so as to form a Chinese price that matches the country's silicon market scale, according to Wu Chenhui, an independent industry analyst.

    As another tool to manage risks, the industrial silicon futures will help hedge price volatility risks, give China more initiative in international silicon metal price setting, and contribute to the growth momentum of new energy and green development, Wu told the Global Times on Thursday.

    Domestic financial institutions, including CITIC Futures, Huatai Futures and Galaxy Futures, actively conducted research on industrial silicon futures as well as online and in-person investor education for the development of industrial silicon futures and derivatives.

    Silicon metal is a key raw material for producing polysilicon, organosilicon and aluminum-silicon alloys, which are widely used in photovoltaic solar cells, semiconductors, automobiles and construction.

    China is the world's largest industrial silicon producer, consumer and exporter, with a market of about 64.4 billion yuan in 2021.

    In 2021, the country's output of silicon metal approached 5 million tons, accounting for about 80 percent of the global total. Its consumption was 2.36 million tons, about 57 percent of the global total, according to the Guangzhou Futures Exchange.

    However, price volatility is a headache that most market players have experienced for years, as their production was often disrupted due to high raw material prices. This has a negative impact on company growth.

    The export price of China's silicon metals has long been lower than other countries as the benchmark price of international trade is mainly based on figures provided by foreign metal institutions.

    Due to disruptions amid power shortages in major silicon production regions, including Southwest China's Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, as well as soaring demand from solar power projects, the Chinese price of industrial silicon skyrocketed more than six times to 67,000 yuan per ton in August 2021 but fell to around 20,000 yuan per ton just two months later.

    Currently, the price of industrial silicon has stayed around 20,000 yuan per ton, according to data from smm.cn, Shanghai-based non-ferrous metals portal.

    "China's production capacity could meet the long-term supply of polysilicon, and along with many enterprises' production expansion, the country's production capacity of polysilicon is expected to reach 2.2 million tons in 2023," Xu Aihua, deputy head of the Silicon Industry of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, told the Global Times recently.

    The Guangzhou Futures Exchange, the fifth of its kind in China, was established in 2021 with a focus on products related to green and sustainable development.

    Hu Zheng, president of the exchange, said that the exchange will develop more futures related to green development, such as electricity, lithium, rare earths, products related to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as those connected with international financial markets, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday."


    China launches trading of world’s first industrial silicon futures to boost risk management - Global Times

  11. #2311
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    WTO ruling debunks US-style ‘international rules’: Global Times editorial


    By Global Times Published: Dec 22, 2022 11:56 PM

    "The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled on Wednesday that the US' mandatory requirement for Hong Kong products to be labeled "Made in China" violated WTO rules. It also rejected the US' defense of invoking the WTO's national security exception.

    This is the second time within a month that the WTO has rejected the discriminatory policy adopted by the US on related products on the grounds of "national security." Two authoritative cases have emerged, which fundamentally negate the so-called national security exceptionalism of the US and carry enormous significance. China is not the only victim of the US' abuse of the concept of national security in the field of international trade in recent years. Everyone can go to the WTO framework to seek due international fairness and justice.

    The status of Hong Kong as a separate customs territory is approved by the Chinese government, confirmed by the Basic Law of Hong Kong and established by the multilateral rules of the WTO. Marking "Made in Hong Kong" on Hong Kong products has been generally accepted by the international community for many years, and it also provides consumers with a clear and correct place of origin. In 2020, the Donald Trump administration unilaterally demanded that Hong Kong products exported to the US modify the origin label on the grounds that the situation in Hong Kong at that time posed a threat to US' national security, in an attempt to discredit "One Country, Two Systems." The Hong Kong SAR government launched the WTO dispute settlement mechanism after repeated but futile communication with the US. The ruling of the WTO expert team once again sounded the alarm in Washington: The national security exception clause is not a "talisman" for unilateralism and hegemony.

    Regarding the latest WTO ruling, Washington stopped talking about the "rules-based international order" this time, but once again declared that the WTO expert team "has no right" to review national security issues, and even claimed that the ruling further underscores the need for "fundamental WTO reform." The US has always used the so-called rules-based international order to suppress China. Is the WTO ruling not authoritative enough? Since the US is keen to talk about rules, please first implement the WTO ruling. Only after one has abided by rules can it require others to do so. This is the basic principle of human society. Why on earth should the US be an exception?

    From the perspective of WTO rules, the previous definition of "national security exception clause" was indeed relatively vague, giving the US the opportunity and space to abuse it. However, through these two rulings, the boundaries of national security have been defined and this loophole has been blocked. There will be no legitimacy or rationality for the US to do this again in the future.

    We all know that US' attitude toward the WTO is quite brutal. In cases where the US is involved, the professionalism, independence and courage of the WTO expert team are even more commendable. The WTO deserves the title of the most important international economic organization in the contemporary world. It is not surprising that the US refused to accept these two judgments. The refusal is in line with the international community's impression of the bossy US. US Trade Representative Katherine Tai even warned a few days ago that because the WTO made a ruling that is not conducive to the "sovereign rights" of the US, the WTO is walking on "very, very thin ice." The threat in her words is naked.

    Indeed, the US has become the biggest risk to the normal functioning of the WTO. The WTO Appellate Body has been paralyzed by the US with hooligan means for a long time, and there is no possibility of recovery in the short term. Many people predicted the US would use this opportunity to appeal the two judgments, but because there is currently no appellate body to make a final ruling, the cases will become dead. In other words, the US created a dilemma for the WTO, and then used this dilemma to escape enforcement of the rulings. But if the US really does this, although it can use lame arguments, the damage to its international reputation will be too much, and in the end the US will lose more than it gains.

    The WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, were established under the leadership of the US, but now Americans who are increasingly lacking in confidence in the face of China's development have begun to feel that the WTO is taken advantage of by the Chinese. Some very radical views emerged, such as "kicking China out of the WTO," or simply dismantling the WTO. The US government has also become increasingly impatient with the WTO, and often shows extreme resistance to sharing due responsibilities.

    Fortunately, the irresponsible US is alone in the WTO. It has neither the power nor the ability to drive China or anyone else out, nor does it have the courage to withdraw from this cornerstone organization of international trade, so it has to play tricks from time to time. When it does these things, although it is relentless, it is guilty, because it knows that these are acts that really violate the rules and disrupt the international order. The US has become a saboteur of the multilateral trading system, a manipulator of double standards in industrial policies, a disruptor of global industrial and supply chains, and a master of unilateral bullying. It must pay for these mistakes. "

    WTO ruling debunks US-style ‘international rules’: Global Times editorial - Global Times

  12. #2312
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    China estimates 37 million a day are being infected by COVID

    Estimates from China’s top health authority say that nearly 37 million people were infected with COVID-19 in a single day on Dec. 20, according to a Bloomberg report.

    The report added that it is also likely that 248 million people contracted the virus in the first 20 days of the month.

    According to Bloomberg, the minutes didn’t note the number of deaths from COVID-19.

    Cases in China have surged just weeks after the country moved away from nearly three years of a strict “zero-COVID” policy.
    Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

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    Well let's see how 'ridiculous' this is then PH-


    • Expanding SCO (even Turkey is looking at joining)
    • BRICS- talk about sponsoring their own non SWIFT, non USD settlement system
    • Non- USD denominated energy/oil trade
    • Closer links between China/ Russia/ Iran
    • non Swift international settlements system, Chinese sponsored, up and running
    • Russian gas exports that previously went to Europe, now going to China & India- and not traded in USD. Europe is shafted- it has to pay considerably more for it's energy now, in USD.
    • Saudi Arabia too is beginning to sell it's energy exports in other currencies, as well as USD
    • And of course the BRI will only add impetus to all of these trends


    In comparison, the US is selling lotsa guns, and building no roads and bridges internationally that I am aware of. It is also at war, or proxy war, or illegally occupying, or bombing, or aggressively sanctioning, several places. USD hegemony in international trade, and the petrodollar, has lost it's monopoly- as indeed has SWIFT. Several countries (including Israel) are diversifying their Reserve holdings away from just USD too. You do the maths.
    Last edited by sabang; 24-12-2022 at 05:13 AM.

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    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    ^
    You left off another aspect China has recently highlighted, that all the world's citizens benefit by being addressed.

    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    #2581
    Debunking NaGaStan's illegal "international rules’' .

  15. #2315
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    Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning’s Regular Press Conference on December 23, 202


    "CCTV: We have noted that in response to the US’s illegal sanctions on two Chinese officials on the grounds of so-called human rights issues in Tibet, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a decree to announce counter sanctions on Miles Maochun Yu and Todd Stein.

    What message does China hope to send?


    Mao Ning:

    The US imposed illegal sanctions on Chinese officials under the pretext of so-called human rights issues in Tibet. This grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs and gravely violates basic norms in international relations. China has expressed its firm opposition and strongly condemned it.

    In response to the above mentioned wrong decision of the US.

    China has decided to take countermeasures, effective today, against Miles Maochun Yu, China policy advisor to former US Secretary of State and Todd Stein, current deputy staff director of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

    Both of whom have long acted egregiously on Tibet- and other China-related issues.

    The detail of the measures has been released in the Decree of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (No. 4).

    We stress once again that affairs related to Tibet are China’s internal affairs, and the US has no right and is in no position to interfere in them.

    Gross interference in China's internal affairs will be met with resolute countermeasures from China.

    We urge the US to withdraw the sanctions and stop interfering in China’s Tibet-related and other internal affairs."


    Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning’s Regular Press Conference on December 23, 2022
    Last edited by OhOh; 24-12-2022 at 02:46 PM.

  16. #2316
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    China has stopped publishing daily COVID-19 data, adding to concerns that the country's leadership may be concealing negative information about the pandemic following the easing of restrictions.

    China's National Health Commission said in a statement that it would no longer publish the data daily beginning Sunday and that "from now on, the Chinese CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) will release relevant COVID information for reference and research." The NHC did not say why the change had been made and did not indicate how often the CDC would release data.

    China is experiencing a surge in new cases since restrictions were eased. In China's eastern Zhejiang province alone, the provincial government said it was experiencing about 1 million new daily cases. Meanwhile, Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported on a leaked estimate by top Chinese health officials that as many as 250 million people may have been infected in the first 20 days of December.

    _________




    Yao Ruyan paced frantically outside the fever clinic of a county hospital in China’s industrial Hebei province, 70 kilometers (43 miles) southwest of Beijing. Her mother-in-law had Covid-19 and needed urgent medical care, but all hospitals nearby were full.

    “They say there’s no beds here,” she barked into her phone.

    As China grapples with its first-ever national Covid-19 wave, emergency wards in small cities and towns southwest of Beijing are overwhelmed. Emergency rooms are turning away ambulances, relatives of sick people are searching for open beds, and patients are slumped on benches in hospital corridors and lying on floors for a lack of beds.

    Yao’s elderly mother-in-law had fallen ill a week ago with the coronavirus. They went first to a local hospital, where lung scans showed signs of pneumonia. But the hospital couldn’t handle serious Covid-19 cases, Yao was told. She was told to go to larger hospitals in adjacent counties.

    As Yao and her husband drove from hospital to hospital, they found all the wards were full. Zhuozhou Hospital, an hour’s drive from Yao’s hometown, was the latest disappointment.

    Yao charged toward the check-in counter, past wheelchairs frantically moving elderly patients. Yet again, she was told the hospital was full, and that she would have to wait.

    “I’m furious,” Yao said, tearing up, as she clutched the lung scans from the local hospital. “I don’t have much hope. We’ve been out for a long time and I’m terrified because she’s having difficulty breathing.”

    Over two days, Associated Press journalists visited five hospitals and two crematoriums in towns and small cities in Baoding and Langfang prefectures, in central Hebei province. The area was the epicenter of one of China’s first outbreaks after the state loosened Covid-19 controls in November and December. For weeks, the region went quiet, as people fell ill and stayed home.

    Many have now recovered. Today, markets are bustling, diners pack restaurants and cars are honking in snarling traffic, even as the virus is spreading in other parts of China. In recent days, headlines in state media said the area is “ starting to resume normal life.”

    But life in central Hebei’s emergency wards and crematoriums is anything but normal. Even as the young go back to work and lines at fever clinics shrink, many of Hebei’s elderly are falling into critical condition. As they overrun intensive care units and funeral homes, it could be a harbinger of what’s to come for the rest of China.

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    Having so enthusiastically trashed China for it's "draconian lockdown policy", now MSM enthusiastically jumping on the bandwagon that "oh dear there has been a spike in Covid infection rates" (I mean, totally predictable) after the lockdown policy has been dropped- well how insincere.

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    Thrashed you say? Compare Chinese infection and morality rates to American. There's a good boy. There is no comparison. Knowing how much you love seeing on the ground accounts from expats actually living in China PH, here is a nice little Youtube for your delectation. You can see exactly how overflowing his local hospital is (in Guizhou) just before the 3 minute mark.


  19. #2319
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Having so enthusiastically trashed China for it's "draconian lockdown policy", now MSM enthusiastically jumping on the bandwagon that "oh dear there has been a spike in Covid infection rates" (I mean, totally predictable) after the lockdown policy has been dropped- well how insincere.
    Chinkystan has stopped publishing Covid rates you ignorant buffoon.


  20. #2320
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    Maybe this would be better off in your stupid "Brave New World" thread.

    Officially, China has reported fewer than 10 Covid related deaths in the last fortnight but a surge in demand for crematoriums has been interpreted as evidence that the true death-toll is much higher.
    British-based health data firm Airfinity last week estimated China was experiencing more than a million infections and 5,000 deaths a day.
    On Friday a local health official in Qingdao reported the city was seeing “between 490,000 and 530,000” new Covid cases a day. The report was shared by several other news outlets but appeared to have been edited by Saturday morning to remove the case figures.



  21. #2321
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Chinkystan has stopped publishing Covid rates you ignorant buffoon.

    late with your news, school girl

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    Public transport system is one of Hong Kong’s wonders

    Bloomberg recently reported that Hong Kong has just been ranked as having the best metropolitan public transit system in the world, ahead of Zurich, Stockholm, Singapore and Helsinki. The study on which the report was based surveyed 60 major cities worldwide. It was carried out by the Oliver Wyman Forum and the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

    Reading this report prompted a short personal reflection. As age advances, I, along with many others, experience what I call “RTS” or “Roving Twinge Syndrome”. Recently, a fresh RTS experience signalled the need to visit a physiotherapist in Causeway Bay from home, also on Hong Kong Island. Within a short walk from our flat, I realised, I had access to two, frequent, virtually door-to-door minibuses; at least four similarly handy double-decker buses; plus another swift minibus ride offered an MTR option. All of these were available (another age factor) at HK$2 (26 cents) a ride. And if even more convenience were needed, there was a nearby taxi rank — with fares less than half those typically charged in other major global cities. Extraordinary, when you think about it.

    How did all this come to be? In fact, the excellent foundations were laid down, over some decades, during the British Hong Kong era. Although the extensive, revered public transport system in London has been expanded over recent years it very clearly shows its pronounced age, today. Nonetheless, the British transport planners in Hong Kong were able to draw on the immense experience related to the development of that UK system as, step by step, they put together Hong Kong’s exceptional system.

    By 1904 Hong Kong had a narrow gauge, electric tramway system on Hong Kong Island. It is still running and delivering a highly patronised, low-cost service today using over 160, tottering, warmly inviting, four-wheeled trams that look like they have stepped straight out of the late 19th century. Also, early on, came franchised buses and regulated taxis. The proliferation of red and then green minibuses followed, providing an amazing range of long and shorter distance crisscross services across the entire territory.

    Finally, in 1979, a huge leap forward was delivered when part of the first MTR line began running from Kwun Tong to Shek Kip Mei. By early 1980, this first line ran from Central (through the immersed tube-tunnel) to Kwun Tong. Today, the MTR system, which includes underground and above ground lines and a light-rail network, covers over 240 kilometres with more than 160 stations. The Wyman Forum report noted how convenient, reliable and affordable the MTR service is and how the entire setup today offers a transfer system that is as close to seamless as possible. Moreover, public transit services of all kinds in Hong Kong, and particularly the MTR and major bus lines, maintain very high standards of cleanliness together with superior safety levels, compared to so many other systems.

    The report writers might also have observed, had they turned their minds to it, that, as a fortuitous product of the remarkable, specified-leasehold land allocation system introduced by the British from 1842 in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government reaps huge revenue boosts as the MTR system expands. Just look at the Western district today, which the Island Line extension has served since 2014: the many new high-rise apartment blocks whose building has been prompted by that extension have each required payment of lease-conversion premiums, contributing billions of dollars to public revenue. Compare this to the new costly addition to the London tube system, the Crossrail-Elizabeth Line. Almost all the real-estate price-boost benefit there has gone to private landowners.

    The extraordinary resilience of the MTR system (and public transport generally) was profoundly tested during the worst of the insurrection, which began in mid-2019 and ran for many months. The destructive attacks on MTR facilities became exceptionally frequent and savage. Yet it was able to maintain services that stayed remarkably close to normal, especially during high demand periods. It is frankly hard to think of any other public transit system, worldwide, that could have absorbed this level of continuous, intense vandalising over such a period and still maintained service provision in this way. It was simply an exceptional performance, and frankly not sufficiently appreciated, that helped Hong Kong hugely during the most disruptive political upheaval seen in well over 50 years.

    And what about that HK$2 fare mentioned earlier. This government-subsidised program was introduced in 2012 and it now applies to all those aged 60 and above. As it happens, the government began installing many outdoor lifts at elevated pedestrian crossings from around the same time providing further real assistance to commuters and particularly to the elderly and infirm.

    When you marry these excellent benefits with all that coverage, convenience, safety and reliability, it becomes clear that the public transit system in the HKSAR conspicuously supports low-cost, individual freedom of movement and is visibly family and senior friendly.

    The Wyman-Berkeley researchers surely have this right: the remarkable public transport system in the HKSAR is one of the city’s wonders, created, over time, by Hong Kong doing what it does best. Folk will, not without reason, continue to complain about grumpy taxi drivers and scold the MTR for its (relatively infrequent) breakdowns. And we should, of course, keep working to improve the Hong Kong transit system. But we can also salute this widely researched confirmation of its outstanding, first-in-class ranking.

    Public transport system is one of Hong Kong's wonders - Pearls and Irritations

  23. #2323
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    How did all this come to be? In fact, the excellent foundations were laid down, over some decades, during the British Hong Kong era. Although the extensive, revered public transport system in London has been expanded over recent years it very clearly shows its pronounced age, today. Nonetheless, the British transport planners in Hong Kong were able to draw on the immense experience related to the development of that UK system as, step by step, they put together Hong Kong’s exceptional system.
    I’ve been all over that system and the Brits did a good job. The train cars seem to be kept up to date but it is no way as good as New York’s system.

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    But many NY subway stations are fetid dumps that smell of urine. Like the London Underground- a good network, but totally showing it's age. In need of a considerable spruce up imo.
    Then you've got the interchange system between MTR and bus/ minibus. It works well- and a real bargain, in expensive HK.

  25. #2325
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    NY’s system does need sprucing up and I’ll agree some stations do need constant maintenance.

    One thing I will admit to. Seems the majority of women traveling on the Hong Kong system are better looking.

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