Video: Michelle Wu won Boston Mayor’s race, but unlikely to solve Boston’s problems as she like others catered to the 1% elites…look at streets of Boston. 吳弭贏得了波士頓市長的競選，但不太可能解決波士頓的問題，因為她像其他人一樣是為1% 的精英…看看波士頓的街道. 她做了好幾年Boston City Council Chairperson. City Council 是控制市政府財務而非市長. 希望我是錯的, 我可以肯定她未來四年不會有任何作為, 她下一步是做 US Senator, 當然這是要讓她的金主決定. 美國從來沒有民主, 祗有金錢民主.
Professor John V Walsh, MD, in San Francisco: BUT on the matter of Michelle Wu’s being a progressive, it depends on what one means.
She is a protege of Elizabeth Warren whose brand of progressivism means taking crumbs and selling out. She undercut the battle for Medicare For All and stabbed Bernie in the back, hoping to be the progressive choice for the Dem nomination. She has not said a single word about all the China bashing or the China Initiative.
We shall see how Wu does. But I do not have a lot of hope.
Professor Kiji Noh in San Francisco: Hal Brands, the coauthor of this belligerent article, is not only a member of the hawkish rightwing think tank AEI, he is a member of CNAS. CNAS is the new PNAC.
PNAC (Project for the New American Century) were the neocon crazies who drove the US to senseless war in the middle east. They had dreams of global imperial domination.
CNAS (Center for a New American Security) are the neo-neocon crazies who are driving us to war with China. They, too, dream of continued US global domination.
Here is a detailed example of their strategy towards China: they envision and plan direct kinetic war with China, for example, multi-pronged strikes deep within Chinese territory as part of their 3 & 4th offset strategy.
“The United States can assure access to bastions within Chinese or Russian territory that were previously considered safe by forcing those geographically vast countries to spread out their defensive capabilities to the point of being porous or forcing them to concentrate limited resources around key infrastructure, thus creating large accessible holes in their outer defenses…new missiles could bring would help create opportunities to attack an enemy from multiple axes of approach, a true strategic advantage that needs to be re-established. It would force China and Russia, which possess large land masses and very long and dispersed territorial and maritime boundaries, to distribute scarce defensive resources accordingly and prepare for attack from disparate points of origin…Going forward with a strategic eye toward China and Russia, a well-designed future carrier air wing should return to its historical strategic focus of being able to hold targets deep inside the Eurasian land mass at risk.”
Note how these plans are oriented towards overcoming Chinese defensive capacity against US coercion and regime change, not responding to Chinese offensive threat.
“for the past 20 years nations such as China…have been making investments in new anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities that seek to push the United States back from their borders and limit its [the US’s] ability to coerce or bring about regime change”.
Since its inception in 2007, CNAS has a record of catastrophic failures: it architected and implemented the US’s corrupt, war-crime-based losing strategy in Afghanistan known as “COIN”. (Notice how the COIN documents at Brookings have now been scrubbed.)
CNAS’s Asher also exploded the six-party talks with NK by sanctioning it right after agreements were reached. This was the last good chance of de-escalation with NK. https://www.cnas.org/people/david-asher It was the imperial brain trust for Obama’s criminal wars in Syria, Libya, and elsewhere. It is now Joe Biden’s privy war council.
CNAS was founded in 2007 by the architect of the Pivot to Asia, Kurt Campbell (Currently the Asia Czar in Biden’s administration) and Michelle “Sink China’s navy in 72 hrs” Flournoy. They originally started out at CSIS. Flournoy also went onto found WestExec with Anthony Blinken.
16 members of Biden’s top cabinet are CNAS: Eli Ratner (“Orient everything around war with China”), Rush Doshi (“Blunt China at all costs”), Victoria “F*ck the EU” Nuland, Avril Haines, Kurt Campbell (Asia Czar–China-NSC). Jake Sullivan (NSC), Wendy Sherman (under secretary of State), Laura Rosenberger (GMF/Alliance for Democracy), etc. Nick Burns is incoming as ambassador to China. https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_a_New_American_Security
Hal Brands is married to a Taiwanese woman, Elaine Chang, whose father (Matthew Chang) worked as Asst.V.P for the Japanese company Itochu, one of the funders of CNAS.
Video: Elon Mask tells US Military: China will overtake us in Military, Green Energy, electric vehicles and more… 埃隆馬斯克告訴美國軍方：中國將在軍事、綠色能源、電動汽車等方面超過我們…
Professor John V Walsh, MD, in San Francisco: China’s economy has been larger than that of the US since November, 2014, according to the PPP-GDP metric used by IMF, World Bank and CIA World Factbook – and it is growing faster.
In the pandemic putting lives above the economy turned out to be better for the economy also – to the surprise of the practitioners of the “science” of economics. China’s economy grew albeit more slowly; that of the US and all other major industrial nations contracted!
Military power grows out of economic power. I hope the US govt and Elite recognize this and decide to live in a multipolar world before it blows us all up.
Let’s hope so. We in the US have more to say about getting the Elite to embrace jsut a bit of sanity than anyone else. Let’s hope we can pull it off.
Another foolish move by US, huge windfall for Hong Kong. SCMP: Exclusive | Goldman’s top banker says many Chinese IPO clients considering shift to Hong Kong from US exchanges 美國的又一個愚蠢舉動，給香港帶來了巨大的意外收穫。 南華早報：獨家| 高盛首席銀行家表示，許多中國 IPO 客戶考慮從美國交易所轉移到香港.
The tap has not been turned off for US listings but ‘balance of activity’ is coming to Hong Kong, regional investment banking co-head Drayton says. Hong Kong ranks third for global IPOs and secondary listings, behind Nasdaq and the NYSE so far this year, according to Refinitiv. But it is going to change big time!
NZ has mature ties with China that allow for disagreement: PM by Wang Miao in North Shore City Nov 07 2021
New Zealand now has “mature” ties with China that allow for disagreement, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said during a TV interview on Sunday.
One day before the opening of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week which Ardern considers as one of the most important international events hosted by New Zealand in decades, she reiterated that New Zealand will pursue a policy of integrity with China.
“We do still believe that we have the maturity in our relationship to raise issues that we’re concerned about, be it human rights issues, be it labor issues, be it environmental issues,” Ardern said in the interview. “And it’s very important to us that we continue to be able to do that and do that regardless of those trading ties.”
Not a few days ago, Chinese Consul General Ruan Ping also recognized the close relations between China and New Zealand.
“China and New Zealand have developed into comprehensive strategic partners with close cultural exchanges, and the level of development and cooperation is ahead of China and other developed countries in many areas,” Ruan said during an interview on Wednesday.
China has become New Zealand’s largest trading partner and the second largest source of foreign investment for many years. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, China-New Zealand economic and trade cooperation still shows strong resilience, Ruan said.
China recently formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement. Ruan noted that New Zealand’s role as the depositors of both agreements also builds a broader platform for bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
Jian Yang, a former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, told the Global Times on Sunday that mutual trust between China and New Zealand is built on the foundation of decades of good exchanges.
“As China-US relations are still under control, there is room for New Zealand’s independent diplomacy,” Yang said. “At the same time, China is aware of New Zealand’s plight, so its expectations of New Zealand are more realistic.”
Yang recognized New Zealand’s “lubricant” role within the APEC framework. “New Zealand has traditionally focused on resolving international disputes by social and economic means rather than military means and is willing to play an active role in the Asia-Pacific region.”
He also pointed out that New Zealand has a unique international position and has always maintained a positive image. “New Zealand has a good reputation among APEC countries, which helps it play a ‘lubricant’ role in relations between major powers.”
As the first developed country to sign a free trade agreement with China, New Zealand has major trade ties to China. The two countries upgraded their free trade agreement in January, while relations between China and New Zealand’s neighbor, Australia, have worsened since 2018.
The APEC Leaders’ Week will be held from Monday to Friday, when Ardern will host an online summit of leaders from the Asia-Pacific, including China, the US and Japan, to discuss how the region can recover from the pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, among other topics.
Professor John V Walsh, MD, in San Francisco: From Christopher Buckley, the Times’s hater in chief, dripping with sarcasm especially at the outset which is the most widely read part. It leaves the impression that the only political figures that count in China are CPC leaders. Everything deep down is ONLY about the CPC -not China or humanity. But whose portrait is that above the stage in the Times’s photo below? Sun Yat-sen, I believe. 來自《紐約時報》的主要仇敵克里斯托弗·巴克利（Christopher Buckley），諷刺意味十足，尤其是在最廣泛閱讀的開頭部分。 它給人的印像是，中國唯一重要的政治人物是中共領導人。 內心深處的一切都只關乎中國共產黨，而不是中國或人類。但下面泰晤士報照片中舞台上方的肖像是誰？ 孫中山，我信.
The New York Times: To Steer China’s Future, Xi Is Rewriting Its Past A new official summation of Communist Party history is likely to exalt Xi Jinping as a peer of Mao and Deng, fortifying his claim to a new phase in power.
SCMP Columnist – My Take by Alex Lo on Nov 7 2021 US military licensed to kill innocents 美國軍方獲准殺害無辜者
A minor mishap in the grand tragedy of Afghanistan, the Pentagon finds no misconduct or negligence in a botched drone strike that killed seven children and three adult relatives as its forces withdrew from Kabul. A lesser misdeed from another country would have been cause for US sanctions
For weeks, Zemerai Ahmadi and members of his family who were torn to shreds in a drone strike were branded terrorists during the last days of the United States’ disastrous military withdrawal from Kabul. Only a news expose forced the Pentagon to launch an “independent” investigation into the killings of Ahmadi, 37, a long-time employee of an American humanitarian group and nine family members, including seven children.
Now, having completed the probe conducted by the US military on its own operations, it’s been concluded that there was no misconduct or negligence. Commenting, Air Force Lieutenant General Sami Said said: “I found that given the information they had and the analysis that they did – I understand they reached the wrong conclusion, but … was it reasonable to conclude what they concluded based on what they had? It was not unreasonable. It just turned out to be incorrect.”
Move on please, nothing more to see here.
A minor mishap in the grand tragedy of Afghanistan, the botched attack on August 29 and the subsequent US damage control nevertheless offers a sad commentary on Washington’s militarised foreign policy such as its “war on terror” and its frequent fatal consequences for innocent civilians in countries across the globe.
It came days after an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 13 US troops and 169 Afghans at Kabul’s international airport.
To stop another terrorist attack or deter an enemy, US forces ended up killing more innocent foreigners and worsening American security and credibility.
This pattern has been characteristic of much of US foreign policy and military operations in the past three-quarters of a century.
From the Middle East to Central Asia, the US has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, displaced millions, destroyed or uprooted entire societies and communities, and caused some to descend into endless civil war and sectarian violence.
The Biden administration imposed new sanctions against Cuba in July after a day of protests in Havana. The previous Trump administration imposed extensive sanctions against Hong Kong and the mainland after more than six months of violent protests and riots in the city. No one was killed by the city’s police.
Five people died in the January 6 protests at the Capitol, followed by a massive domestic crackdown. Ten civilians were killed by mistake in Kabul. The whole world should follow the example of Washington – and sanction the US.
Alex Lo has been a Post columnist since 2012, covering major issues affecting Hong Kong and the rest of China. A journalist for 25 years, he has worked for various publications in Hong Kong and Toronto as a news reporter and editor. He has also lectured in journalism at the University of Hong Kong.
Video: Xi Jinping Absent at G20, But All Allies In Asia-Pacific Are Happy Doing Business With China against US warmongering, regime change activities and hostility throughout Asia. 習近平缺席G20, 但亞太所有盟友都樂於與中國做生意, 反對美國在整個亞洲的好戰,政權更替活動和敵意.
RCEP to boost regional GDP by 0.86% by 2035: report by Chu Daye in Shanghai Nov 06 2021
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) pact, which creates the world’s largest free trade bloc, will lift regional GDP by 0.86 percent by 2035, a report by the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation stated on Sunday.
Chinese companies and localities are gearing up to reap the mutual benefits of the trade pact, officials and industry players told the Global Times on the sidelines of the 4th China International Import Expo in Shanghai.
There will be a net increase of $857.1 billion in exports and $983.7 billion in imports for the region by 2035, from a base level, the report showed. In terms of percentage points, the increase for exports will be 18.30 percent and 9.63 percent for imports.
The report came after China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced that China had completed all necessary preparations for fully implementing the RCEP as of Saturday. On Wednesday, the MOFCOM announced that after 10 members deposited the instrument of ratification with the ASEAN Secretary-General, the RCEP will take effect on January 1, 2022, as agreed upon.
In terms of investment, the freshly released report noted that the pact will drive up investment in the region by 1.47 percent, with additional economic welfare reaching $162.8 billion. By 2035, the RCEP will drive the real GDP growth of the entire world up by 0.12 percentage points and global foreign trade by 2.91 percent, the report said.
The report found that members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be the biggest beneficiaries of the pact in terms of GDP growth. An overall lift of 4.47 percent is to be recorded by 2035, with a 7.98-percent-increase for Cambodia; a 7.04-percent-gain for the Philippines and a 6.38-percent-increase for Thailand. Vietnam will see a 6.33-percent-increase in GDP.
Chinese localities are also gearing up for increased trade with ASEAN countries, as a total of 166,000 Chinese entrepreneurs, trade and customs officials and related personnel have completed RCEP training in over 600 training sessions and online training courses this year.
Zhu Yong, a senior commerce official in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, told the Global Times on Sunday that the region believes the RCEP is a precious opportunity for high-quality opening-up and the best opportunity since China’s accession to the WTO.
In the first half of 2021, Xinjiang’s trade with RCEP countries only accounted for 7.1 percent of Xinjiang’s total foreign trade. The figure lagged far behind the national average of 31.7 percent.
“The gap means Xinjiang faces a unique chance of achieving faster growth in the coming years in its trade with RCEP member countries, and there is a strong complementarity for goods traded,” Zhu said. “For instance, Xinjiang’s fruits, raised in a temperate climate zone, have big potential in the ASEAN market, and theirs as well in Xinjiang.”
For non-ASEAN members, South Korea is expected to see the biggest cumulative increase in exports, at 7.84 percent, while China will see the biggest increase in imports, at 10.55 percent, over the projected period. Simulations showed that China, ASEAN and Japan will see economic welfare increases of $99.6 billion, $67 billion and $51.2 billion, respectively, from base levels, by 2035.
Does Freedom Exist in China? Are the Chinese people free? These are common questions people ask all the time. China is incredibly complex and you must experience it yourself to start truly understanding the differences in culture. Does Freedom mean the same to everyone in the world? Absolutely not! Watch today’s video about freedom in China and learn what does Freedom mean to Chinese people. 中國有自由嗎？ 中國人自由了嗎？ 這些都是人們一直問的常見問題。 中國非常複雜，您必須親自體驗才能真正了解文化差異。 自由對世界上的每個人都意味著相同嗎？ 絕對不！ 觀看今天關於中國自由的視頻，了解自由對中國人意味著什麼。
Johnson Choi Biz 