Bloomberg News 3 November 2021 State media dispute posts circulated as evidence of conflict Episode shows Beijing’s challenge in managing heated rhetoric Taiwanese soldiers during a military exercise, in Tainan, Taiwan, in September. Source: NurPhoto/Getty Images Chinese state media have sought to quiet online speculation that a conflict with Taiwan may be imminent, in a sign of how heated rhetoric between Washington and Beijing was feeding public concern about the risk of war. Chinese social media networks have seen a flurry of chatter about a possible Taiwan crisis in recent days, seemingly fueled by Beijing’s call for citizens to stockpile food and an unrelated message claiming to show the nation was preparing to mobilize military reserves. The surge came after a report by China’s state broadcaster saying that Taiwanese were hoarding their own survival supplies. On Tuesday, the Economic Daily published a commentary urging the public “not to over read” a Ministry of Commerce statement encouraging families to stock up on some daily necessities due to supply-chain concerns. Then, late Tuesday, a social media account affiliated with the official People’s Liberation Army Daily newspaper denounced the mobilization rumors as a “vile” and “malicious fabrication.” “It will not only cause negative impact to the state, the military and society, it could also lead to severe consequences,” said the account, Junzhengping. One screenshot of a text message widely circulated on social media urged reserves to “get ready for being recalled at anytime” because “the Taiwan issue was very grim.” On Wednesday morning, the Junzhengping denial was among the top-trending topics on the Weibo social media network. Still, the war talk continued to simmer, with a 63-year-old video of PLA generals singing that they “will definitely plant the flag of victory on Taiwan” getting more than 130 million views. The controversy shows the challenge President Xi Jinping’s government faces in trying to manage Chinese public sentiment over Taiwan, even with its vast censorship powers. Over months of saber-rattling over Taiwan, authorities have sometimes needed to step in to tone down the rhetoric and at other times faced backlash for perceived weakness. The PLA sent more than 200 military planes into Taiwan’s air-defense-identification zone last month, amid national day celebrations on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden affirmed the U.S.’s commitment to the island’s defense and Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen confirmed assistance from U.S. military advisers, something long viewed a potential justification for war by Beijing. The official China Daily newspaper warned in an editorial Sunday that Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party were “leading Taiwan to an abyss.” The paper cited a senior Chinese official’s pledge to spend the island’s post-unification revenue on improving the well-being of its residents as a remark that shows “confidence that the Taiwan question will be settled in the foreseeable future.” Chinese reports that Taiwanese people were hoarding supplies were largely dismissed in Taipei, where residents have lived with the threat of Chinese invasion for more than 70 years. Still, a poll conducted last month by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation found that 28.1% of respondents agreed that China would attack “sooner or later,” compared with 23.7% who disagreed. Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper, offered a strategic rationale for the government’s rhetoric in a commentary published Monday. Hu argued that “peaceful reunification” would likely result from applying enough pressure to make the DPP leadership believe it had no choice but to surrender. “Personally, I believe there is still a chance for peaceful reunification, but it must be based on the condition that the DPP authority feels cornered and will perish if they do not accept reunification,” Hu said. — With assistance by John Liu, Jing Li, and Samson Ellis
It's interesting in a way that China has already gone way past the point where we would boycott smaller nations and look to find replacement suppliers but there is none of that. No country is, obviously anyway, doing as they should and taking stock of China dependence for essential medical/industrial etc. China must be confident they are so essential now. the world cannot stop buying from them no matter what? With Taiwan gone as an alternative for much, how long can we repair and recycle before kissing the ring?
This is the beginning of the end for China and its dumping practises....this post describes it. https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/which-way-the-environment.362576/#post-5483251
Perhaps.. I was visiting an ICU yesterday and thought, how much of this is dependent on Chinese made components, if not totally made in China? The rush for PPE was an eye opener to many how even what seems basic stuff like non-spun poly fabrics were not available. I mostly live in Colombia and considering the industrial wages are lower than Chinese, its shocking how everything is imported and nobody seems to even attempt competition in raw manufacturing with China. I had an idea for a filter system during the pandemic, scoured Colombia and nobody was making any of what seemed basic components. I'm not putting that well, heading out the door but the extent of the dependency..
China Is Permanently Damaging Its Marketplace Talk of war, stagflation and rationing is eroding the country’s confidence and affecting the dynamics of its financial industry By Shuli Ren 4 November 2021 https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...ion-jitters-may-permanently-damage-the-market If a stock market is a mirror of a society’s state of mind, then the U.S. is feeling exuberant right now. But in China, it is all about trepidation. Investors there are worried the government is going to mess things up. Both economies face the same set of problems: Supply chain disruptions, inflation pressures, the threat of rising interest rates. But the market dynamics couldn’t be more different. A new electric vehicle initiative from car rental firm Hertz Global Holdings Inc., which exited bankruptcy only a few months ago, added about $300 billion of market cap to Tesla Inc. That’s more than the entire worth of China’s biggest commercial bank, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. As Americans enthusiastically gobble up the new EV unicorns, the Chinese are busy confronting something they left behind four decades earlier: Rationing. An official statement urging local authorities to ensure there was enough food this winter prompted a social media frenzy, with people linking it to a possible war with Taiwan. In the last month, tensions between China and the U.S. increased over the island. While it’s fairly routine for the government to stockpile ahead of the winter holidays, markets are not taking anything at face value. Investors sold down big tech names, including smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp, fearing that rising geopolitical tension will play havoc with the way they do business. We’ve seen the damage U.S. sanctions have done to Huawei Technologies Co.’s handset sales. Traders are instead putting their money into staples, such as soy sauce maker Foshan Haitan Flavoring & Food Co., whose $78 billion market cap is now higher than Xiaomi’s. There’s no war yet, but markets are already defensive, playing like there is one. These days, Chinese investors talk obsessively about stagflation, economic sanctions — and wartime survival skills. State media is now rushing to quiet online speculation of a possible imminent conflict with Taiwan, but they are simply not powerful enough to alter the bearish tone in the marketplace. Unlike the U.S., China’s stagflation problem is partly self-inflicted by the government’s own policies. Single-mindedly pursuing a zero-Covid strategy, the authorities arbitrarily seal off entertainment parks, quarantine thousands of tourists and lock down cities for months at a time. And yet the latest Covid outbreak in China is the most widespread since the deadly virus first emerged in Wuhan. Instead of importing what has worked elsewhere, China is busy developing its own homegrown mRNA vaccines, which may or may not work. To move around China, each citizen needs to show a green health code on their smartphones, which the government uses to track Covid outbreaks in neighborhoods and communities. And that code can easily flip into yellow — which means they can’t enter public places like restaurants — or red — which means they are from a locale in quarantine. Each time the color changes, a would-be traveler needs to be tested and self-isolate till the health code turns green again. That’s a prescription for more economic disruption. The temperamental health codes are going to keep many consumers at home, even if they have money to spend. In September, the latest data available, restaurant sales rose only 3.1% from a year ago. It’s not a surprise that vegetable prices are soaring. Greens rot easily. Once harvested, they demand swift logistics — and if restaurants aren’t buying, they literally go to waste. During the Cultural Revolution, one of my uncles, a Fudan University-educated mathematician, was sent to Wuhan University to teach. When he came back to Shanghai in the late 1970s, he brought back a new eating habit. To this day, at each meal, he gobbles down bowls of rice flavored with soy sauce. It’s the insurance against famine he picked up during those hard times. And he’s hung on to the frugality even as he grew more affluent. If the rest of China starts to hunker down like my uncle, the country is in big trouble. When investors trade away smartphones for soy sauce, this marketplace will be permanently damaged.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Xi-expands-wartime-mobilization-powers-as-Taiwan-tensions-rise Xi expands wartime mobilization powers as Taiwan tensions rise Rules allow swift recruitment of civilians, bypassing legislative procedures Chinese soldiers practice marching in formation. Beijing is struggling to recruit members for the military. © Reuters TSUKASA HADANO, Nikkei staff writerNovember 6, 2021 BEIJING -- China has granted the central leadership under President Xi Jinping greater control over mobilization for national defense without having to go through time-consuming legislative processes. The changes will allow, for instance, the leadership to swiftly amend the National Defense Mobilization Law and broaden the age groups of civilians it would recruit when on a war footing. While the National People's Congress, China's parliament, is a rubber-stamp body, amendments to such laws typically involve two or three rounds of discussion by the NPC's Standing Committee, which meets roughly every one to two months. The move comes as tensions rise in the Taiwan Strait and is seen as an attempt by Beijing to prepare for a contingency. Last month, the NPC Standing Committee adjusted the amendment process for four laws -- the National Defense Mobilization Law, the Civil Air Defense Law, the National Defense Transportation Law and the National Defense Education Law -- to concentrate powers in the central leadership. The National Defense Mobilization Law stipulates that men aged 18 to 60 and women aged 18 to 55 can be mobilized for national defense purposes if "state sovereignty, unification, territorial integrity or security is threatened." The recent decision will let the top leadership expand the age groups, for example, without going through the NPC. The leadership has eyes on the growing tensions with the U.S. over Taiwan and the South China Sea. Washington has bolstered cooperation with Taipei and is working with the European Union and Japan to counter Beijing's growing influence. While U.S. President Joe Biden and Xi have agreed to continue dialogue, China is believed to be increasingly concerned by the possibility of a military contingency. Chinese President Xi Jinping walks past the honor guard at a ceremony on Sept. 30. The leader is strengthening his grip on power ahead of the Communist Party congress in 2022. © Reuters China is also stepping up military recruitment efforts. Xi, who chairs the Central Military Commission, in October approved the extension of medical benefits to military personnel's parents, spouses and spouses' parents, the People's Liberation Army Daily reports. They will receive priority care at nearby facilities as well. China's roughly 2-million-strong military relies largely on voluntary enlistment, conscripting members when missing its quota. But it is believed to be hard-pressed to find enough recruits as the country has fewer children, more of whom are choosing to further their education instead. "You can't use your smartphone for months once you're at sea," a retired naval officer said. "More young people are saying they don't want to join, that they won't even be able to have romantic relationships while in the military." Beijing has been working to strengthen its influence over the minds of young Chinese. In October, the Communist Party's Publicity Department told regional TV broadcasters in Shanghai, as well as in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hunan provinces, to curb production of entertainment programming. The department took issue with content that promotes celebrity worship and told the broadcasters to correct course. The four regions serve as China's entertainment hub, and the warning was likely intended to send a message to TV stations nationwide. The Chinese authorities are also working to stoke patriotism and party loyalty among the general public to solidify Xi's grip on power ahead of the Communist Party congress in 2022 to choose the party's next leaders. They have instructed TV broadcasters across the country to incorporate the Xi Jinping Thought ideology and themes related to the Communist Party's ongoing centennial in scripted shows, documentaries, cartoons and elsewhere through the end of that year.