The World Health Organization
Is being accused of a conflict of interest
Plus the latest battlefront between China and Taiwan
That and more on this week’s China news headlines
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell. Be sure to like this video and remember,
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Here are this week’s China news headlines.
The World Health Organization is under scrutiny. It’s over their recent investigation in Wuhan,
China. They sent a team to Wuhan to investigate the origin of the coronavirus.
Which is hard to do more than a year later, but hey,
the Chinese Communist Party wouldn’t let them in until now. For some reason.
The WHO probe was a propaganda win for the Chinese Communist Party. The investigation team
praised Chinese officials for their coronavirus response.
And they said it was very unlikely the coronavirus leaked from a lab.
Why, that’s what the Chinese Communist Party has been saying all along!
Another Communist Party talking point the WHO backed up:
They said it was possible the coronavirus spread to humans through shipments of frozen food.
Of course, Chinese state-run media had a field day
with all of these glowing comments, while other countries were
a bit more critical. That’s when the WHO came out and tried to walk their comments back...slightly.
In an interview with Science Magazine, the WHO mission chief
talked about how “politics was always in the room.”
He hedged on the lab leak hypothesis, saying that the WHO hadn’t definitively ruled it out.
And he clarified that while it’s possible that the coronavirus is being transmitted through
frozen food now, it was “not a possible route of introduction” to China in 2019.
And when the reporter asked whether they had just given a PR win to the Chinese authorities,
the mission chief defended the WHO team, saying they’re not naive about politics.
I don’t think the problem is that the WHO is too naive.
The problem is that they know all too well how to operate under the Chinese Communist Party.
For example, the WHO experts had to be approved by Beijing
before they went. And some are now saying the WHO has a conflict of interest.
US Senator Marsha Blackburn wrote this letter to President Biden saying, “Concerns have been raised
regarding the manner in which World Health Organization investigators were chosen to
study the outbreak and some of the conflicts of interest that exist in those investigators.”
One of those experts Beijing approved is Dr. Peter Daszak.
We’ve talked about him before. Since the beginning of the pandemic,
Daszak has been saying there’s no way the coronavirus came from a Chinese lab.
Turns out, he’s been a longtime collaborator with the lead doctor of that Chinese lab.
Another person on the WHO’s “investigation” team:
Marion Koopmans. Here’s her page on the provincial Center for Disease Control
and Prevention in southern China’s Guangdong Province—where she’s listed as a consultant.
And funny enough, she’s also been praising China’s response to Covid since the beginning.
But in addition to those Beijing approved
foreign experts, the investigation team aslo included 17 Chinese experts.
And Jamie Metzl, who is an World Health Organization advisor, criticized the WHO for,
well, not actually doing an investigation.
“The investigation itself was very short. It was two weeks of quarantine and two weeks of meetings,
but the actual investigation was done by Chinese authorities. And so, the W.H.O.
investigators were basically receiving reports from the Chinese officials.
And why would Chinese officials lie to the WHO?
So what should be done about all these conflicts of interest?
Well, in an open letter, more than two dozen international scientists
are calling for a new investigation into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak.
In the letter, they say, “The joint team did not have the mandate, the independence,
or the necessary accesses to carry out a full and unrestricted investigation.”
And since the WHO is limited in what it can do, these experts say the international community
needs an investigation “carried out by a truly independent team
with no unresolved conflicts of interest and no...control by any specific agenda or country.”
Yes, that’s definitely not going to happen.
But this letter does show that the rest of the world
isn’t really buying what the Chinese Communist Party and the WHO are selling.
And that includes the US. State Department spokesman
Ned Price . He says the jury is still out on the WHO report.
And Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan
said “We have deep concerns about the way in which the early findings of the COVID-19 investigation
were communicated and questions about the process used to reach them.”
But after the Biden Administration started questioning the investigation,
WHO “expert” Peter Daszak tweeted please don’t rely too much on US intel.
Especially any intel about himself.
In response to all of this negative backlash, the WHO has decided to take responsibility
by scrapping their interim report on the investigation.
Because if they released an interim report then everyone would get mad at them again.
Don’t worry, they will release a full report...later.
And coming up after the break... Biden’s new trade negotiator wants to get tough on China.
But maybe, like, not super tough.
Welcome back.
The Senate Finance Committee has voted to approve Biden’s pick for top US trade negotiator,
the US Trade Representative.
Her name is Katherine Tai. Tai had worked for the US Trade Representative’s office
during the Obama administration, including as chief counsel for China Trade Enforcement.
And she actually won two cases against China at the World Trade Organization.
“I previously served as America’s chief enforcer against China’s unfair trade
practices and I know firsthand how critically important it is that we have a strategic
and coherent plan for holding China accountable
to its promises and effectively competing with its model of state-directed economics.”
Many have been wondering what exactly Biden’s China plan is. And Tai spelled it out.
“We must remember how to walk, chew gum, and play chess at the same time,”
Sounds easy.
But while Tai agrees China is a rival,
she also said that we have to cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party.
“China is simultaneously a rival, a trade partner,
and an outsized player whose cooperation we’ll also need to address certain global challenges.”
Which is a stance that the Biden administration has pretty consistently taken on China now. The
real question is, what will Biden be willing to do to get the Chinese Communist Party’s cooperation?
The Chinese Communist Party is responding to allegations of sexual assault on Ugyhur Muslims.
By attacking the Uyghur women making those claims.
One way Chinese officials attacked the women was by making public their medical
and fertility records. But that’s not all. One Xinjiang official said of one of the women,
“Everyone knows about her inferior character. She’s lazy and likes comfort,
her private life is chaotic, her neighbours say that she committed adultery while in China.”
The Chinese Communist Party. Their motto—believe women...are lying whores!
And now it’s time once again for my unfortunate catchphrase.
Hong Kong police have arrested more democracy activists.
“Forty-seven Hong Kong dissidents were charged on February 28 with conspiracy to commit subversion,
in the largest single clampdown on the city’s pro-democracy opposition
under a Beijing-imposed ‘national security law.’”
At this point, every prominent Hong Kong activist is either in jail or exile.
And if arresting huge numbers of Hong Kongers for no good reason
doesn’t make everyone else there love the motherland, I don’t know what will.
But sadly, Lithuania doesn’t love the motherland. They’re considering leaving
China’s 17+1 forum, and getting closer to Taiwan.
This would be a huge blow to China’s plans for Central and Eastern Europe.
If you want to know more about the 17+1 and how China is using it to infiltrate Europe,
check out our recent episode, China’s Big Europe Failure.
Speaking of Taiwan, China has announced a ban on Taiwanese pineapple imports.
It’s not about politics, obviously.
“It was purely a matter of biosecurity.”
I mean, imagine if Taiwan accidentally
exported a deadly microbe that harmed people in other countries!
In response to China’s ban, the people of Taiwan
bought the entire year’s worth of pineapple exports in just four days.
I always loved those Taiwanese pineapple cakes.
Now I love them even more that they’re sticking it to the CCP.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question for a viewer who supports China Uncensored on
the crowd-funding website Patreon. Go to patreon.com/ChinaUncensored to learn more.
Charlie W B~Rooke asks, “Chris, Are cute and cuddly Chinese Dwarf Hamsters
actually Communist Insurgents looking to infiltrate our hearts,
and subvert our Freedoms with enslavement to our Pets?! Its even more evil than Panda Diplomacy,
because anyone can go out and buy one! ...unlike Pandas...
Oh my gosh. Charlie. You may be on to something.
Pandas have been China’s diplomatic weapon of choice for a long time.
Now I don’t see what the big deal is with pandas. Disgusting.
But one problem with panda diplomacy is that they are, well, giant bears.
You’re right that Chinese dwarf hamsters are small and portable, and could be in
everyone’s home, slowly brainwashing them into loving the Chinese Communist Party.
The problem is that while they’re cute, they’re not as cute as pandas. To some people.
Which means there’s only one solution: The Chinese Communist Party is going to miniaturize
pandas. Yes, they’re going to genetically engineer giant pandas to become tiny pandas.
And then they’re going to use these tiny pandas to cuddle everyone into submission.
What’s that, Shelley? No, we cannot get a tiny panda for the studio!
We’re doomed.
Thanks for your question Charlie.
And thank you for watching China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell. See you next time.