The United States needs to delve deeper into the origins of Covid-19 and hold China accountable, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an interview aired on Sunday amid calls for a fresh probe into the origins of the virus.

“The most important reason we have to get to the bottom of this is that’s the only way we’re going to be able to prevent the next pandemic or at least do a better job in mitigating it,” Blinken said in an interview with Axios which was aired on HBO. Amid criticism surrounding the inconclusive international probe into the virus’ origins, Blinken said that the Joe Biden administration is determined to “get to the bottom” of the origins of the novel coronavirus.

On the issues of transparency of information on the virus, State Secretary told Axios that China has not “given us the transparency we need” and needs to be held accountable. He called on Beijing to make available all information relating to the pandemic and allow full access for international inspectors.

This recent push to get unearth more information on Covid-19 has come after Biden ordered the US intelligence community to produce a report re-examining the origins of the novel coronavirus and to help determine whether the disease leaked from a lab or spread from an infected animal to a human.

After the Biden administration’s push to “redouble their efforts” to conclude the origins of Covid-19, China appears to be on the backfoot and hit back at the US saying that it does not care about real facts.

“Some people in the US completely ignore facts and science, do not pay attention to ambiguous parts of their own research and their failures in the fight against the pandemic, over and over making the buzz that a re-investigation needs to be conducted regarding China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said last month.

On the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Dr Ming-Chi Chen, Associate Professor at the  Institute of Sociology & Center, joined NewsX in an exclusive about China’s persistent aggression against Taiwan.

Excerpts:

Q. In view of the 32nd anniversary of the historic Tiananmen Square Massacre, do you believe China is continuing to practice oppressive policies even today?

 A. Being China’s neighbour, we witness the aggression on a daily basis. Although People’s Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan for a day, they still claim that we are the part of them. China wants to retake Taiwan, and if necessary, by force. We bear the brunt of the threat and that is what makes the people of Taiwan more sympathetic to the people being oppressed by PRC, by the Chinese communist party in the areas of Tibet, in Mongolia and East Turkestan. Commemoration of the Tiananmen Square Massacre is a significant event in the history of Taiwan, and we are probably the only ones who observe this day freely. We are the only Chinese-speaking society who are able to remember and honour those people who sacrificed their life to pursue the ideals of freedom and democracy in China.

Hong Kong used to be the place where this day was observed with veneration and zeal. Unfortunately, this event has been brutally suppressed by the Hong Kong government, under the Chinese Communist Party, since they established the national curriculum last year. So, the situation is dire. China had become very brutal in 1989, and they are getting even more repressive, not only towards their own people but also towards its neighbouring countries like India, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. China’s threat is not only regional, it looms over the global stage. I think the world has to wake up to this new threat to ensure global peace, prosperity and stability.

Q: Do you believe China’s oppressive policies continue even today against the Taiwanese people?

A. Absolutely, just as Taiwan needs the Covid-19 vaccines the most, China has pursued every possible way to block our assets and that’s frustrating. At the same time, they are continuing their military invasion into Taiwan airspace and also into the maritime territory. Similarly, they have launched the disinformation campaign— which we call the ‘cognitive warfare’— against Taiwanese people. In every healthy democracy, diverse opinions should be allowed to flourish, nevertheless, China is so good at utilising these sort of differences and disagreements and enlarge and and polarize them.

We are facing this kind of hybrid threat from China. I think people in India too have a similar feeling towards China. They are not only using military force against the Indian people but also the myriad disinformation campaigns. We know that now many scientists are beginning to go through the possibility that coronavirus originated from China. The communist party is a threat to all its neighbours.

Babur Ilchi, Program Director at Campaign for Uyghurs, spoke to NewsX in an exclusive and shared his thoughts about the Tiananmen massacre, and the onslaught Uyghurs are facing. Excerpts:

Q. What are your thoughts regarding the Tiananmen Massacre and how China has not changed its stance despite facing criticism over the years?

A: The 1989 massacre was an absolute tragedy. Since that incident, we have seen that the CCP has no respect for human rights and human dignity. China has witnessed a massive crackdown of the Uyghurs. It is nothing short of a human genocide where close to 3 million Uyghurs are locked up in camps and prison. They are tortured and sexually abused. Many of them have died. The situation is dire. It is unfortunate to see that CCP is refusing to hold itself accountable. This has been their strategy for decades now. The international community must take strict actions; what they did not do in 1989 must be done now. It is very symbolic that the day of the anniversary marks the beginning of the Uyghur Tribunal, which is a huge independent people’s enquiry into the ill-doing of the CCP. The Tribunal represents the enquiry and aims at uplifting the people through truth and justice.

Q. The discussion over Uyghur Muslim oppression is being talked about on a global level. Can you say that the situation on the ground is similar, which may prove to be a matter of concern for Xi Jinping?

A: It is very difficult to know what’s happening on the ground in China due to the extremely oppressive regime and strict control on the flow of information. People aware of this dire situation are significantly less, but a vast majority is still in the dark about the reality of the Chinese Regime for the Uyghurs. What we’ve seen is that a few individuals recognize the unjust treatment of Uyghurs. A few months ago, CCP called for a boycott of brands that had made a public statement about using cotton harvested from forced labour by Uyghurs.

In an exclusive chat with NewsX, Chinese human rights lawyer Teng Biao spoke about the rule of law and human rights in China. Excerpts:

Q. What are your thoughts about the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre? What are the ramifications of that incident, and do they reverberate even today?

A. In 1989, the Chinese government used tanks and machine guns to crush the peaceful democracy movement and that’s a shock to the world. But for the past three decades, there has been another shock, that is China’s economic miracle, and the two things are interrelated. Because of the Tiananmen massacre attack, brutal suppression, the Chinese government deprived the Chinese people of its fundamental human rights, freedom and it seemed that no one could challenge the one-party rule. Then China adopted the so-called socialized market economy. There are many reasons to explain China’s rapid economic growth but one thing that many have ignored is the so-called low human rights advantage because there’s no independent trade union, there are low wages, extremely low social welfare, and low environmental protection. And Chinese products can be very cheap and competitive, as China was allowed to enter world trade organisations, western companies of western countries that prioritize business over human rights or democratization and that’s one of the most important reasons behind the China Miracle.

As all my fellow panelists pointed out that China has become an increasing direct threat to liberal international order, the two things are interrelated. But I would say the world, especially the western democracies should re-examine their policy towards China. Only 17 days after the Tiananmen Massacre, the American president George HW Bush sent a secret letter to Butcher Think, and later, he sent a secret envoy to meet Think to show his goodwill. And a few years later in 1994, American President Bill Clinton granted China the most favoured nation status to delink the human rights record for trade with China. I think it is time that the world thinks about the rise of China and the substantial threat from this regime. Again, It’s not only human rights and rule of law deteriorating after 1989. But also China has established what I call high-tech totalitarianism. The government uses DNA, Artificial Intelligence, Facial Recognition, social media, big data- all this kind of high-level modern technology to tighten its control on Chinese society. If this type of high-tech totalitarianism strengthens then it’s very difficult for Chinese people to resist or to push forward a political change. The role of law in China is deteriorating. So, in general, I think that India, the United States, and Europe— all these free countries— have a responsibility to democratize China.

Former US President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) called on America and all the nations to demand reparations from China due to the damage caused by Covid-19.

Speaking at the North Carolina Republican Convention, Trump said: “The time has come for America and the world to demand reparations and accountability from the Communist Party of China. We should all declare within one voice that China must pay. They must pay.” 

He also stressed that the US should immediately take steps to impose a 100% tariff on all Chinese products, which can stop them from pulling their military and move a lot of companies back to the US. The former US President also said that he had a great relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping until the ‘China virus’. He also said that China doesn’t care much about current President Joe Biden.

“In addition, all nations should work together to present China for a bill of minimum $10 trillion to compensate for the damage they have caused and that is a very low number, the damage is far far greater. As a first step, all countries should collectively cancel any debt that they owe to China as a downpayment on reparations,” said Trump.

“The nations of the world should no longer owe money to China. China has destroyed so many nations. China should owe money to the nations of the world.These nations have been destroyed,” he added.

Trump also slammed the Biden administration for being ‘timid’ and ‘corrupt’, accusing it of shutting down an investigation into the origins of Covid-19 earlier. “Joe Biden and his family took millions of dollars from the CCP. They bought him off, they fragrantly lied about it to American voters… the big tech and fake news media did not want to talk about it,” he said.

Taking a dig at Joe Biden, Trump slammed the current administration for bowing down to China, calling it the ‘most radical left-wing administration in history’. He said: “Always put America first. We don’t put America second. As we gather tonight, our country is being destroyed before our own eyes. Crime is exploding, police departments are being ripped apart and defunded.Is that good politics, defund our police?” 

“Illegal immigration is skyrocketing at a level we haven’t seen before. And this is over a period of few months. Gas prices are soaring. Our industries are being pillaged by foreign cyber attacks. That’s a lack of respect for our country and our leaders. And speaking of our leaders, they are bowing down to China, America is being demeaned and humiliated on the world stage. Our freedom is being overtaken by left-wing cancel culture. And the Biden administration is pushing toxic critical race theory and illegal discrimination into our children’s race theory,” Trump added.

He also said that the Republicans will win North Carolina again in 2024. “We are going to win North Carolina. We are going to lay the groundwork for making sure the Republicans once again carry the great state of North Carolina in a year that I look very much forward to-2024,” said Trump.

This comes amid a renewed focus on the origins of the virus. An explosive new study has found that Chinese scientists created the virus in a lab in Wuhan, then tried to cover their tracks by reverse-engineering versions of the virus to make it look like it evolved naturally from bats. Earlier this month, a report by Wall Street Journal had stated that three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology sought hospital care after they fell ill in November 2019, a month before Beijing reported the first patient with Covid-like symptoms. 

ANI

US President Joe Biden has said the United States and Europe can work in close coordination on global challenges, and market democracies, not China, should write global rules governing trade and technology.

In an opinion article for The Washington Post on Saturday, Biden said the US must lead the world from a position of strength to address issues like coronavirus, climate crisis, and the challenge posed by “harmful activities of the governments of China and Russia”. “While in Brussels, I’ll meet with the president of the European Commission and the president of the European Council to discuss how the US and Europe can work in close coordination on global challenges. We will focus on ensuring that market democracies, not China or anyone else, write the 21st-century rules around trade and technology. And we will continue to pursue the goal of a Europe whole, free and at peace,” Biden wrote in an opinion piece.

“Whether it is ending the Covid-19 pandemic everywhere, meeting the demands of an accelerating climate crisis, or confronting the harmful activities of the governments of China and Russia, the United States must lead the world from a position of strength,” he added.

Ahead of the G7 Summit in the UK starting next week, Biden said that it was up to the leading democracies to offer “a high-standard alternative to China for upgrading physical, digital and health infrastructure that is more resilient and supports global development.”

“Just as it does at home, honing the ability of democracies to compete and protecting our people against unforeseen threats requires us to invest in infrastructure,” he added. These remarks by Biden came after the White House issued an executive order on Thursday implying the ban on the acquisition of the US investors or investments targeting 59 Chinese military and surveillance companies.

These firms have been linked accused of performing activities undermining the security of the United States and its allies. Biden administration’s order expands the list issued under his predecessor, Donald Trump, in November 2020, which targeted 44 companies.  ANI