After Guardian Australia submitted an application under freedom of information laws for a file thought to be titled “Timeline of coronavirus outbreak and PRC coverup”, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it had found one document matching the request.
But Dfat decided the document was exempt from being disclosed “as its release would divulge material that was communicated in confidence by or on behalf of a foreign government or organisation” to the Australian government.
It is believed the 15-page document was authored by the US Department of State this year and distributed to officials in like-minded countries – including Australia – to spark debate about how the People’s Republic of China had handled the initial outbreak.
China’s domestically developed 20-megawatt turbo generator unit has been put into actual use for the first time. It is widely expected to be used on China’s future warships to support the advanced integrated electric propulsion (IEP) technology that would enable the use of high energy weapons, including electromagnetic railguns and lasers.
The ship-use 20-megawatt turbo generator unit, independently developed by the No. 704 Institute of state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) 中船重工704研究所 , was recently put into application.
In China, a record 8.7 million-strong college graduates, almost equal to the population of Switzerland, are finishing school and looking for jobs in the middle of the epidemic. This is the story of one of them.
Four people who claimed to be students have been arrested for breaching the national security law for Hong Kong and suspected of secession by advocating for “Hong Kong independence,” the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) announced on Wednesday night.
Hong Kong media reported that this is the first action taken by the new national security department under the police force since it was officially established in early July.
The four, three men and one woman aged between 16 and 21, were arrested at around 3:30 pm on Wednesday, Senior Superintendent Li Kwai-wah of the national security department under the HKPF announced at a press conference at 11 pm.
It involved a group setting up an organization on a social platform advocating for “Hong Kong independence.” The platform of the organization claimed to establish a “Hong Kong Republic.” There was also a manifesto inciting others to join the group, Li said.
If the crime is deemed as serious, they could be sentenced to 10 years in prison, and police can take DNA samples from the arrested individuals, Li said.
Li said he believed that the organization had been set up recently and that the message left on the social platform was only discovered after July 1 this year, and that inciting, aiding and abetting such an incident constituted sedition.
The police force did not disclose the names of the arrested people and the organization, but Studentlocalism, a secessionist group, announced on its Facebook page on Wednesday night that Tony Chung Hon-lam, one of the former conveners of the organization, was “arrested for inciting secession,” local media reported.
On Sunday, the organization published an article on its Facebook page titled “Counterbalancing Chinese nationalism and constructing Hong Kong nationalism,” with the hashtags including “independence is the only way for Hong Kong” and “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Time.”
The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) said on July 2 that the slogan, “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Time,” has the implications of secessionism, alienating HKSAR from China, changing HKSAR’s legal status or subverting the State power under the current circumstances.
Studentslocalism also announced it shut down its headquarters in Hong Kong on June 30, the same day the national security law for Hong Kong took effect, and said all the group’s affairs would be handled by overseas members instead.
They set up a division in the US on June 30, according to the group’s Twitter.
A Global Times reporter found that the group continued advocating “Hong Kong independence” on an overseas social media platform after June 30. In a post on Twitter on July 2 they said “disintegrate China.”
According to Li Xiaobing, an expert on Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan studies at Nankai University in Tianjin, whether the suspects are to be convicted under the national security law for Hong Kong depends on whether some of their speeches or activities after June 30 damage the interests protected under the national security law.
According to Article 20 of the national security law for Hong Kong, a person who organizes, plans, commits or participates in any of the acts that separates the HKSAR from China, whether or not by force or threat of force, with a view to committing secession or undermining national unification shall be guilty of an offence, the principal offender shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years.
A person who actively participates in the offence shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years; and other participants shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, short-term detention or restriction. If crime is deemed as serious, police can take DNA samples from the arrested individuals
All empires or great Powers in history have their day in the sun, and the United States is no exception. Considering the current situation within the United States and its loss of global dominance, especially in economic terms, it can be argued that this day seems to be drawing near.
Reality shows that the United States is experiencing a clear decline, especially in the context of the new coronavirus pandemic and the havoc it is causing around the world. However, American leaders still want to “show muscle” in front of other major powers such as China and Russia, which some analysts see as a sign of American fear and weakness.
The weakness and fear of the US elite and the external lobby that supports them can be seen in their insistence on forming alliances to contain China’s “threats” to their interests and security. So far, the conflict between China and the United States has been limited to the areas of trade, diplomacy, technology, and communications, but everything points to a direct military confrontation.
Of course, the U.S. position on China is not surprising. China’s interests are spread throughout the world, a situation that would obviously be scorned by the American elite and political management. Even during the neo-coronavirus pandemic, China was one of the few countries that still managed to sustain economic growth, while the United States experienced a significant economic decline.
China’s influence in the world is so great that, in the US “backyard” of Latin America, for example, China has seen a phenomenal increase in investment there.
Given the gloomy outlook for the United States at home and abroad, it is clear that it can no longer maintain its former hegemony. That is why the United States has advocated all sorts of threats and sanctions, even against some of its historical allies that have engaged in large-scale trade with major powers like China and Russia for economic gain.
These countries are, of course, reacting to US arrogance by gradually weaning themselves off their dependence on the dollar and gradually transferring this strategy to global trade and finance and amassing vast amounts of gold. In addition, ironically, China has managed to get some U.S. companies to invest heavily in its territory due to factors such as cheap labor.
This is why the US political elite and its external lobbying team have been calling for an international alliance to counter the Chinese “threat”. One of the illustrations of their attempts to provoke a military conflict between the United States and China is the blaming of China for the neo-coronavirus pandemic.
The possibility of military conflict is not unreasonable, since, after all, almost all wars in history have been conflicts between politico-territorial entities motivated by the need to defend their own interests or the interests of their own economic elites. Thus, the immediate confrontation is exacerbated by the desperation of the United States.
Like any declining empire, the United States had serious internal and external problems and wished to avoid the imminent collapse of the dollar, which had been the world financial benchmark, and the consequent collapse of the entire economy.
The decline of United States is certain. Time is on China’s side, China will avoid war as much as possible. Trump is desperate and will try anything.
Aerial photo taken on July 30, 2020 shows a worker checking blue bricks at a factory in Chu’an Town of Renqiu City, north China’s Hebei Province. “Blue Brick” with a long history is one of the main building materials of ancient Chinese architecture. The brick factory in Chu’an Town, which was built on the basis of an ancient brick kiln in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), develops the traditional craftsmanship and mainly produces blue bricks and other building materials for antique buildings at present.
A consortium consisting of Chinese solar energy Jinko Power Technology Co and France’s EDF won a power purchase agreement with UAE’s EWEC for a 2GW solar power project at Al Dhafra. The project will be the world’s largest solar power plant, & will power 160,000 households. With an expected production capacity of 2 GW, the Al Dhafra Solar PV Project will almost double the size of the approximately 1.2 GW Noor Abu Dhabi solar plant – amongst the largest operational solar PV plants in the world.
The Noor Abu Dhabi project, which was awarded to Marubeni Corp and Jinko Consortium in 2017, commenced commercial operations in April 2019.
