China’s ruler Mr. Xi Jinping was elected President of the People’s Republic of China on March 14, 2013. With a populace of 1,439,323,776 people. According to the United Nation’s data, China is the world’s most populated country. Since the size of China’s standing army is presently 2,185,000, the largest military force in the world. The President of The Republic of China probably feels that he can throw his weight around. Just ask the Indians, the Vietnamese, the Philippines, the Japanese, and a host of other countries. Who are presently embroiled in territorial disputes with China? Furthermore, the people of Hong Kong are now under the mandate of China’s new Security Law. Enacted on June 30, 2020, by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, of the People’s Republic of China. This law among other abuses essentially curtails the civil rights of Hong Kong Citizens, robs them of their democratic privileges, and criminalizes dissent. All in furtherance of state control and totalitarianism.
Although Christianity has grown in China over the last forty years. The practice of religion is definitely not regarded as a right in Communist China. There are many underground churches because Christianity is not only suppressed, but also curtailed, and persecuted. Churches and other places of worship are routinely demolished and leaders and congregants arrested and imprisoned. “Fenggang Yang, of Purdue University’s Center on Religion and Chinese Society, estimates that there are between 93 million and 115 million Protestants in China, with fewer than 30 million attending officially registered churches. Other Christian organizations postulate a higher number still. Theories of Catholic faithful in China range between ten million and twelve million. However, the Vatican and Beijing have not had formal diplomatic ties since Mao severed them in 1951. Since August 2014, Pope Francis has sought to thaw relations with China, which had strained further amid a dispute over who has the authority to appoint bishops.” (Council On Foreign Relations, Christianity in China published October 11, 2018, by Eleanor Albert).
During the Clinton Administration, The World Trade Organization granted China special trading privileges commencing December 11, 2001. Subsequent to this agreement China has been accused by a multiplicity of countries of violating the basic tenets of this agreement. Such countries include the U.S.A. and several members of The European Union. The protectionist tariffs imposed against China by The Trump Administration, and The European Union, and the punitive measures adopted by China against Australia. Have done nothing to assuage the international tensions being stoked by nationalism and self-interest. The displeasure of the Asian giant against the people Down Under was invoked because Mr. Scott Morrison (Australia’s Prime Minister) demanded a full investigation by WHO into the origins of the Corona Virus. The world knows that the virus came from China. Historically, China has been a breeding ground for deadly diseases.
1. Perhaps the most devastating pandemic to emerge from China was the plague or Black Death that ravaged Africa, Asia and Europe from 1346 to 1353, claiming between 75 and 200 million lives, scientists estimate.
2. The 1918 influenza pandemic, which is often referred to as the “Spanish flu” because censorship during World War I limited its reporting elsewhere, may have originated in China the year before, according to some experts. The 1918 pandemic was the deadliest of the century and one of the more deadly in history, killing 20 million to 50 million people globally.
3. The pandemic of 1957-1959, dubbed the Asian flu because it emerged in China, killed 2 million people worldwide in a two-year period. The Asian flu, caused by the H2N2 subtype of the influenza A virus, began in Guizhou province in 1956 and spread to Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States, according to MPH Online, an independent online resource.
4. Leading scientists in China and internationally, however, generally agree that COVID-19 likely originated in wildlife, before spreading to humans, possibly through an open-air wholesale food market in Wuhan, according to The Wall Street Journal newspaper. Chinese officials reported that several of the first cluster of cases had ties to the market, which has since been closed, the vox.com website reported. An animal, such as a bat, civet or pangolin, likely transmitted the virus to a human there in December 2019, although genetic analyses are yet to confirm the exact species responsible.
(All of the above four paragraphs were taken from The Indo Pacific Defence Forum March 21, 2020).
It should be obvious to anyone that the Chinese Communist State is not only a source of danger to its own citizens. But also a serious threat to the rest of the civilized world. “China spent approximately 1.39 trillion yuan (approximately US$200 billion), on public security in 2019, a threefold increase in the past decade. The public security expenditure includes state security, police, domestic surveillance, armed civil militia, and other measures to deal with public disturbances. Since 2010, it has surpassed the country’s military spending, with a difference of roughly 166 million yuan in 2019. Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Xinjiang were the top three provinces in terms of public security spending.” (hadley.ward@statista.com).
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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