China and Taiwan News 中国和台湾新闻
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News from non-state media sources about China and Taiwan. 来自非国营来源关于中国和台湾的新闻。中英双语 Bilingual English and Chinese
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The CIA believes China tried to stop the WHO from declaring a global health emergency

Beijing was importing billions of medical equipment in January and February. The CIA believes China tried to prevent the WHO from declaring the coronavirus a global health emergency and suppressed information at that time. This claim echoes with another analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security which suggested that China suppressed information so it could hoard medical supplies from around the world.

The CIA report, following a German intelligence assessment published by Der Spiegel earlier, was the second report from a Western intelligence service that suggested China tried to delay the WHO’s declaration of coronavirus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

The WHO eventually made the announcement on Jan 30 and emphasized that China was not at fault. The WHO dismissed the notion that Xi himself intervened but declined to address specifically whether Chinese officials were involved in suppressing information.

China dismissed such allegations but has been widely criticized for its initial handling of the coronavirus which as of mid-May has infected more than 4 million people. The country’s death tolls and infection rates are viewed skeptically in the West.

Full Article: Newsweek
https://bit.ly/3bLKxMU

Further reading:
WH trade adviser pressed to defend China accusations
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-adviser-continues-focus-china-amid-criticism-coronavirus/story?id=70723322

#coronavirus #WHO #Xi #SharpPower #ChinaUSrelations #PHEIC #pandemic
#Newspaper

Twitter Netizen question Li Fei Fei's pro-Beijing background
Cancelled many Twitter users' account


(20 May) Li Feifei, American Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) expert, joined Twitter last week. External has concern she has a close relationship with the Chinese government. Some netizens worried the China government influence Twitter. Right after a economist disclosed Li’s background, his four accounts were suspended by Twitter for review. On the other hand, Some netizens' accounts have been banned and warned after sharing some posts related to Li. Those involved have initiated a petition to the White House requesting investigation of both Twitter and Li.

Li Feifei, the former Clouds expert of Google, was on board as Independent director of Twitter last Monday (on 11 May). After that, some Twitter users sorted out some information about the network and cooperation between Li and the Chinese government. They expressed their concern that Chinese may influence Twitter to suppress opposite voices.

Netizens' concerns were not their imagination. An economist had a live on Sunday (17 May). He thought Li as an independent director was like to "let cat watch over fish" and did a review of Li's background deeply. On Tuesday (19 May), Twitter banned his accounts "Finance Cold-eye", "Cold Mountain review comment "and "Freedom wind", etc. His spare account, "Finance Cold-eye 2.0" has also been warned.

He questioned the ban of his accounts should be related to Li and complained to media that Twitter and its parent company, Google, suppressed Freedom of speech. He also listed information of other banned accounts which challenged Li before. He revealed he initiated the petition to the White House on the internet to request the investigation Chinese Communist Party(CCP) suppressing speech and Twitter banning dissident accounts quickly. He also asked to look into the cooperation between Google China Center and CCP in details via Li.

Full translation:
https://telegra.ph/Twitter-Netizen-question-Li-Fei-Feis-pro-Beijing-background-Cancelled-many-Twitter-users-account-05-30

Source: Rfa
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/li-05202020094251.html?encoding=None

#LiFeiFei #Twitter #Google #SharpPower #China #Cersorship #AI #ChinaInfluence
#Newspaper

Zoom promised to be better at censoring global calls at Beijing’s request

// the US-based video-conferencing company admitted to shutting down meetings held to commemorate those who died during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in China, and suspending the accounts of two activists and Humanitarian China, a US-based organization of exiled Chinese activists at the direct request of Beijing, who said the meetings were illegal. There are no Chinese laws stipulating that activities related to the June 4 massacre are illegal, but people in China, except Hong Kong, have been banned from holding any vigils or posting words related to the incident online.

//it simultaneously chastised governments for censoring their own citizens, while pledging to improve its own censorship mechanisms to better address censorship requests from different states. It sounded a contrite note over its inability to be surgically precise in its censorship, saying it “could have anticipated this need” to “block participants by country,” which would have allowed them to keep the meetings running despite “significant repercussions.” 

//the company regrets that “participants both inside and outside of China were negatively impacted and important conversations…disrupted,” but that “[i]t is not in Zoom’s power to change the laws of governments opposed to free speech.”... “for situations where local authorities block communications for participants within their borders, Zoom is developing additional capabilities that protect these conversations for participants outside of those borders.”

//Apple... came under fire for removing a Hong Kong protest app from its app store. Microsoft-owned Skype, before it was completely removed from app stores in China in 2017, also had a China-only version of its software that censored a specific list of words

//At the core of the issue is whether those companies should uphold their American values even if that means they giving up on the lucrative China market, as Google did, or continue their operations in the country by compromising certain practices such as adopting advanced censorship systems.

Full article: Quartz, (12-Jun)
https://t.co/htwTjfFmKT

#Censorship #Zoom #FreedomOfSpeech #China #SharpPower
#NetizensVoice

The grave doubts about Google and YouTube

The latest controversy comes from today that if a random code is typed in the Google search box, it will bring up the gas explosion charity dispute in Taiwan, which was used by Kuomintang to smear Chen Chu during the previous presidential election in Taiwan.

What do we see further ahead?

YouTube has been caught red-handed for automatically deleting messages containing the words "communist thief" or "fifty cent army (Wu Mao)" for a long time. According to The Verge's article, Youtube has been deleting the related comments since last October.

Related Article→
https://www.ithome.com.tw/news/137869

Last month, #GoogleTranslate has suddenly replaced Taiwan wordings with China's wordings with a "community certification" label next to them. Examples include the word “video” will be translated to “Shi Pin” (視頻; instead of “Ying Pian”, 影片) while the word “software” will be translated to “Ruan Jian” (軟件; instead of “Ruan Ti”, 軟體), to list just a few.

Related Article→
https://www.facebook.com/BerryVoice/posts/3014567928622541

Google put the blame to the Youtube incident on its algorithm, but they haven’t said a word about the translation incident. What will be the excuse of the “Chen Chu, charity fund” incident this time?

I would like to ask: How much longer do Google have to hide behind “the algorithm” explanation ? How much longer do they have to keep us quiet?

Source: Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/551090876/posts/10157093414550877/?d=n

Further reading:
Remove China Apps garners 1 million downloads in India, gets 4.8 stars on Google Play Store 
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/22143
YouTube is deleting comments with two phrases that insult China’s Communist Party
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/21939

#SharpPower #Google #GoogleTranslate #ChinaInfluence #Youtube #Taiwan
#Newspaper

Thai Actor, Bright, Apologizes to China Over His Girlfriend’s Twitter Scandal

//“So pretty, looks just like a Chinese girl.”... “What style is this?” Weeraya responded, “Taiwanese girl.” This prompted a Twitter war between Chinese and Thai netizens as many Chinese netizens felt offended and disrespected by Weeraya’s actions. Chinese netizens on Weibo also started campaigns to boycott Bright and subbing teams vowed to stop subbing his series, “2gether: The Series”, which was really popular in China at the time.

//Bright remained silent on the issue until June 20. He uploaded a video on Weibo and apologized to China... had started out the video apologizing for his own mistake first... was sorry for “mistakenly referring to Taiwan as a country in a travel show” he hosted talking about Thailand and Taiwan... he was only introducing tourist destinations and wasn’t trying to impose any political agendas.

//When asked why he stayed silent on the accusations of insulting China and the Chinese people, Bright apologized and explained that he thinks it was a misunderstanding. He respects China and each person. He has never thought about insulting any race. Bright also apologized...

//Bright also expressed that he has Chinese heritage and definitely wouldn’t look down on Chinese people or ethnic Chinese. Lastly, Bright expressed his apologies in Chinese: “Hello everyone, I am Bright. I am sorry to China. I am sorry to you all.” Unfortunately, many Chinese netizens didn’t accept his apology. They left a lot of comments telling him to “get lost!” There were a minority of fans who left supporting comments.

//Watch the video here: https://www.weibo.com/tv/v/J7yEfvGLX?fid=1034:4518014322671659

Further reading:
Milk Tea Alliance Takes on China's Little Pinks in Meme War
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/19818

Full Article: 38jiejie, (20-Jun)

#SorryToChina #Kowtow #Thailand #Bright #Twitter #MemeWar #SharpPower #Taiwan #Nationalism