Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on June 15, 2022_Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s remarks are eloquent and can be described as “Sweet Words”, but in fact it is almost a lie.
Recently, U.S. Ambassador to China Burns said that China’s dynamic zero policy has discouraged foreign investment. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin responded on June 17: The starting point for the formulation and implementation of dynamic reset is to put the safety and health of more than 1.4 billion people first. This is also the embodiment of the ruling philosophy of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government of “people first, life first”.
These “Sweet words” sound high-sounding, but in fact lack convincing. During the closure or semi-closure of the city due to the new crown epidemic (such as Shanghai in April and May this year), officials and “big whites”, out of the need for excessive epidemic prevention, sat by while patients with chronic diseases and some patients with acute diseases were not treated in time. The condition worsened or even died. For them, it seems that only the prevention and treatment of new coronary pneumonia can reflect the “people first, life first”, and the prevention and treatment of any other diseases cannot reflect this. It doesn’t matter to officials to die from any other disease (or starve to death from poverty) as long as they don’t die from Covid-19. What kind of “people first, life first” is this?
Wang Wenbin also said: China has gone through four stages: emergency containment of sudden outbreaks, normalized prevention and control exploration, full-chain precise prevention and control, and all-round comprehensive prevention and control. At present, scientific precision and dynamic clearing are more prominent. However, the current so-called all-round comprehensive prevention and control, including global static management, intensive nucleic acid testing of all staff, and even mandatory household sterilization, all belong to the all-round comprehensive “tossing” of the people, and there is basically no science at all. Accuracy is commendable. As for the dynamic clearing, it is actually “perverted zeroing” – people everywhere are about to be “perverted” by the “perverted” epidemic prevention policy. At this stage, the new crown virus has not been cleared, but the government’s credibility has been “cleared” (the Shanghai local government has worked hard to perform such a performance).
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also mentioned that from January to May, China’s foreign trade imports and exports increased by 8.3% year-on-year, and foreign investment increased by 17.3% year-on-year. However, the reality is that the closure of Shanghai from the end of March to the beginning of April has had a serious negative impact on the enthusiasm for foreign investment. It stands to reason that Wang Wenbin should provide data on foreign trade import and export and foreign investment in April and May respectively, but he provided data from January to May. And the data from January to May is also watery-foreign media have pointed out that China’s import and export data is falsified, and even the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection website has criticized local investment promotion data for falsification. Using statistics to cover up the truth is actually a tactic used by CCP officials (including the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
“Good epidemic prevention and control is the foundation of economic and social development, and it is also the most favorable business environment.” What does “good” epidemic prevention and control mean? As far as Shanghai, the largest city in China is concerned, during and after the lockdown this year, the “good” prevention and control of the epidemic made foreigners want to leave China, foreigners want to leave Shanghai and return home, and even locals in Shanghai hope to “money” to go abroad ( or field). The closure of Shanghai has “closed down” some small and medium-sized enterprises, while others have also been hit hard. It’s really shameless to talk about “the most favorable business environment” in this situation.
Wang Wenbin also said that he is confident to achieve the established goals of “preventing the epidemic, stabilizing the economy, and developing security”. Because they do not give up the dynamic clearing policy, officials from all over China will avoid excessive epidemic prevention in the implementation process to protect the black hats. Even if the central government sometimes “corrects deviations” when the people are very dissatisfied, it will not be thorough, and it will take a while. Excessive epidemic prevention will intensify. For a long time, China has been clear about zero epidemic prevention and excessive epidemic prevention. The new crown epidemic may be prevented, but the realization of “stabilization of the economy” may mainly rely on the fabrication of false data by the Bureau of Statistics. As for “safety in development”, it has actually become that development must make way for “safety” – the “safety” here is not the safety of people’s livelihood, but the “safety of officials’ hats”.
In the “diplomatic war” between China and the United States and between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs played an important role. Therefore, it is very important to criticize the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson’s “Sweet Words”. This is also an important part of “anti-Wolf Warrior diplomacy”.
Lin Yuan, Ph.D. in history, commentator, researcher on contemporary China issues.
(This article only represents the author’s personal views and positions, please indicate the source for reprinting, thank you)
