According to the latest Communist Party notification, on March 31, there were 16 new confirmed cases in mainland China, including six in Yunnan, which recently reported a total of 15 confirmed cases; there were 42 new asymptomatic cases nationwide, including 23 in Yunnan, which recently reported a total of 45 asymptomatic cases.
Xinhua also made a rare announcement of the gender, age and nationality of each new case in Yunnan on March 31. 10 of the 23 new asymptomatic cases were Burmese and 13 were Chinese, while two of the six confirmed cases were Burmese and four were Chinese.
Xinhua, which has avoided reporting on the epidemic for days, suddenly released so many details this time, of course trying to put the blame for the epidemic outside the country, on Myanmar again. Xinhua also published a commentary article, “Ruili “closed” again, warning that “foreign importation” should not be loosened”. According to the article, “the emergence of the epidemic in Ruili has a certain relationship with the special geographical location. Ruili border line is long, and most of the sections do not have natural barriers such as high mountains and rivers, and the frequent exchanges between the Chinese and Myanmar people along the border line …… make the pressure on Ruili to prevent and control the epidemic particularly high.”
The top echelon of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is caught in a new round of internal and external difficulties on all sides, and now the epidemic can no longer be covered up, no doubt adding to the woes. Xinhua is trying to shift the blame for the failure of epidemic prevention on behalf of the CCP top brass, but seems to have forgotten the current situation in Myanmar. The Chinese Communist Party tried to claim that the fire of the epidemic came from Burma, and the fire of the situation in Burma is indeed getting stronger, but who lit the fire in Burma? By the Chinese Communist Party’s own admission now, the fire seems to have reached Yunnan.
On February 1, the Burmese military staged a coup, arresting Aung San Suu Kyi, the recently elected president Win Myint, and top officials of the ruling party. In the aftermath, countries have condemned the incident and called for a return to democracy, but the Chinese Communist Party has taken the opposite attitude, never condemning the military coup, never stating its support for Myanmar’s democratically elected government, and constantly blocking UN sanctions against the military. The CCP has clearly supported the Burmese military coup, supposedly thinking that the dictatorship is easier to control.
On January 12, Wang Yi visited Myanmar and also met separately with Myanmar Defense Force chief Min Aung Hlaing in a clearly out-of-the-ordinary diplomatic activity. At the time, Wang Yi said that “the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor is a landmark project in building a community of destiny between China and Myanmar” and “also believe that the Tatmadaw will continue to provide support for this.” Min Aung Hlaing, for his part, said he was “very pleased to see China’s growing international status and influence” and made a rare statement that he “continues to support China’s position on issues related to Taiwan, Hong Kong and the border” and that “the Tatmadaw supports both sides in overcoming the impact of the epidemic and accelerating the Myanmar-China economic corridor. The Tatmadaw supports both sides in overcoming the impact of the epidemic and accelerating the construction of the Myanmar-China economic corridor” and is willing to “communicate with the Chinese side” and “the Tatmadaw is willing to continue to play an active role in this regard”.
After the February 1 coup by the Burmese military, it was widely believed that the Chinese Communist Party was actually in danger of lighting a fire in its own backyard. For many days, the Burmese military has been brutally suppressing and shooting demonstrators, causing great public anger and international concern. Burmese people had protested in front of the Chinese embassy in Burma, asking the Chinese Communist Party not to interfere in Burma. Businesses of Chinese descent were very nervous, and many Chinese were forced to try to leave Burma, but the Chinese and Burmese borders were tightly controlled, and they could not get help from the Chinese embassy or consulate, making it difficult to return home successfully.
The Chinese Communist Party has confronted the United States and the West over Burma, putting Burma on the battlefield of confrontation as well, but the Communist Party did not expect the sudden outbreak of an epidemic in Ruili, Yunnan Province, which is adjacent to Burma. Xinhua tries to blame Burma for the outbreak, and if that is true, is the CCP not admitting that it has burned the fire in its own house?
There is no way to know the real situation or to confirm how much the outbreak in Ruili has to do with Myanmar, and Xinhua is just busy trying to make Myanmar the scapegoat. However, Xinhua’s claims are contradicted by the communist National Health Commission’s briefing.
In the March 31 report of the National Health Commission, the six new confirmed cases in Yunnan were all local cases, and the 23 new asymptomatic cases in Yunnan were all labeled as local cases.
On March 31, Xinhua reported, “In principle, 317 people were initially screened for close contacts and sub-close contacts in Ruili, Yunnan,” but this did not prevent Xinhua from reporting. The report said, “on the morning of the 28th, Ruili City, Jigao Yucheng key people to carry out routine nucleic acid testing sampling, at 2:00 a.m. the next day reported a case of Burmese people tested positive for nucleic acid, the review is still positive.” “A total of 506 sealing and control points were set up along the city’s border, with 3,902 people invested in the force.”
Xinhua seems to be determined to blame Myanmar for the outbreak even if it contradicts the official notification. The current situation at the top of the Communist Party is such that it can no longer afford to take responsibility for the failure to prevent the epidemic, and almost without thinking about it, it is shifting the blame to outside the country. In the heat of the moment, the top brass may have overlooked the coup in Myanmar and inadvertently linked the two together.
The real cause of the outbreak in Yunnan remains to be proven, whether it was imported from outside the country or a community infection is not known, and if the real cause is not identified, the people are at great risk. However, it is perhaps not unrelated that almost simultaneously with the coup by the Burmese military, the Chinese Communist Party did deploy a large number of additional troops to the China-Myanmar border in case of an untoward incident.
On March 9, Xi Jinping took part in a discussion with the military delegation to the Communist Party of China (CPC) National People’s Congress and affirmed that the army had “vigorously fought the epidemic” in the past year, and on March 29, the CPC military newspaper published an article entitled “Focusing on preparation for war to improve the quality of training,” which also said, “Grasp the normal prevention and control of epidemics and comprehensively The article also stated that “we should strengthen the training and preparation for war”. The epidemic situation in the CCP military is obviously much more serious than the outside world knows.
Regardless of whether the epidemic is directly related to Burma, and whether the CCP is deliberately placing blame or not, it seems that the fire lit by the CCP in Burma is starting to burn in Yunnan, not too early, not too late, and not too biased. We will have to wait and see where else this fire will burn in the future. Wang Yi has just gone to the Middle East to light another fire, so will he burn his own?
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