Chinese Residents Describe Deaths Linked to Outbreak | China In Focus

Is the death toll from China's pneumonia outbreak rising? What Chinese residents have told us? Plus, COVID-19 prevention measures re-emerge in the country. A deadly export entering the US from China. The FBI director testifying on the country's role in America's drug crisis. You said we found enough fentanyl to kill 80% of American people. And that's just in the last two years. And in China, but widely popular in the US, a look at how a Chinese vape industry veteran is driving America's e-cigarette wave. And China's latest economic outlook overshadowed by a downgrade warning. A major ratings agency slapped a negative label on Chinese banks. What do you think of the rating? Let us know below and subscribe if you haven't already. Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Don Ma. In for Tiffany Meyer today. Let's zoom in on China's sickness outbreak. Described as a kind of pneumonia. The toll of its spread remains unclear due to Beijing's tight control of information. We spoke to a few Chinese residents. Here's what they told us. To protect their identities, we've distorted their voices. In northern Liaoning province, a worker in the health supplement field said he's seen a surge in death cases in hospitals there. But noted information about it is being censored. Don't look at the official numbers. Now there's a spike in death cases in local hospitals. The number of dead bodies in mortuaries this year would for sure surpass that of last year. In Anhui province, a taxi driver said hospitals in the area are crowded with patients. He added that locals, including doctors, suspect that COVID-19 is making a comeback. Doctors in my local hospital said there are many patients with white lung, maybe 10 out of every 100. White lung refers to the way pneumonia patients' lungs appear on CT scans. It's caused when the lungs fill with fluid due to the infection. The doctor said some of his co-workers' children also developed the symptoms. He said they usually have after-effects, and those that fail to recover have died. The information about the death toll is censored in China. A resident in Shanghai also described deaths linked to the outbreak. I've also heard of cases that have died from unknown pneumonia. But news like that is strictly censored. Hospitals won't tell you anything. A traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in Shandong told NTD that he's seen recent death cases as well, saying patients middle-aged or older have died from the outbreak. They died of heart attacks or brain infarctions triggered by the virus. Zooming out, Chinese authorities are reintroducing certain COVID-19 prevention measures. In Beijing, COVID-19 testing measures are making a quiet comeback to a state building in the heart of the city. The Chinese regime uses the venue for lawmaking activities and ceremonies. A conference related to China's textile industry was held there on Wednesday. A document from the industry association said the venue would require a negative COVID-19 within 24 hours of entry. Similar control measures are also reportedly appearing in Guangzhou and Shanghai. What's more, China's education ministry published a health notice. It urges schools nationwide to educate students on how to prevent COVID-19 infections plus other wintertime illnesses. What's the biggest threat to U.S. national security? FBI oversight is on display in a hearing this week run by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The agency's director now shedding light on China's involvement in U.S. fentanyl trafficking. Here's more. Just how deadly is the fentanyl being trafficked into the U.S.? According to FBI Director Christopher Wray, it's enough to potentially wipe out a population of 266 million in the U.S. That's what he told Congress on Tuesday. You said we found enough fentanyl to kill 80% of American people? And that's just in the last two years. OK, do you think we missed some fentanyl? Absolutely. When asked about China's role in driving the drug crisis, Wray said the country is applying most of the precursors to Mexican drug cartels. The cartels then use the chemicals to produce fentanyl and traffic the lethal drug into the U.S. On top of fentanyl... A lot of people don't know this, but China is also responsible for an awful lot of the precursors for the meth that's manufactured south of the border as well. Meth and fentanyl, two highly addictive drugs with severe consequences. Meth overdoses can increase the risk of heart attack or stroke, or be fatal. While fentanyl stands as the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 49. In a recent deal with Washington, Beijing agreed to stop the flow of deadly fentanyl from reaching the U.S. And President Biden pledged to hold China to its word. So the United States is going to seek to work together with China to target the fentanyl components. We're not just going to trust that this is happening, we have to verify it. Now a month after the agreement... Do you see that getting better? I do not. Beijing promised Washington it would deal with the issue back in 2019. Illicit fentanyl from China remains readily available in the U.S. today. Dazzling packages, fruity flavoring, and cheap price tags. E-cigarettes are sparking concerns among parents nationwide, fearing for the young adults who enjoy them. China makes over 90% of the world's vaping devices. China's communist regime strongly regulates these vaping products and the companies making them on Chinese soil. That includes a ban on flavored e-cigarettes. Companies that break the rules are subject to major penalties. The same fruity or candy-flavored vapes outlawed in China still get made in the country and have been able to skirt enforcement and sneak overseas, flooding the U.S. market. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has had little success in combating youth vaping. And the agency explained it can't levy penalties or file lawsuits against foreign companies. Back to the supply side. E-cigarette makers Elfbar, EB Design, and Lost Mary have become best sellers in the U.S. and their products all come from one Chinese company called Heaven Gifts. Data from October shows Heaven Gifts' weekly sales topped $9 million. Most e-cigarettes and vaping devices use nicotine, a stimulant that comes from tobacco. The substance is known for its dangerous and highly addictive qualities, while e-cigarettes pose dangers to respiratory health and have been linked to other issues. Financial giant Moody's just downgraded the outlook for the world's second-largest economy. That's alongside a new trend for China's credit ratings, shifting stable to negative. The move marks the latest sign of mounting global concern over China's surging local debt and a deepening property crisis. Let's take a closer look. Moody's cut its outlook on China's government credit ratings on Tuesday. The ratings agency downgraded it from stable to negative. It reflects global worries about China's economy. Moody's said it sees growing evidence Chinese authorities will need to give more financial support for debt-laden local governments and state firms. That in turn, the agency says, risks China's fiscal, economic and institutional strength. It's also cited an ongoing crisis in the country's property sector, where giants like Evergrande have huge liabilities. The central government is going to decide to what extent they want to play that role. And if they don't want to risk their sovereign rating, they will have to allow some of the companies with weaker fundamentals to go bankrupt. After the statement, a source said China's major state-owned banks stepped up dollar selling. The move by Moody's was the first change of its China view since it cut its rating by one notch six years ago. We saw equity markets in particular correcting very strongly, both onshore and offshore, after the announcement of the outlook downgrade. So it is not going to help in terms of promoting investor sentiment. China's finance ministry said it was disappointed by Moody's decision. It further said the economy will keep its rebound and positive trend, and property and local government risks are controllable. The Chinese market is feeling the effects of the West's de-risking efforts. The US suggests that foreign firms are selling off existing investments and repatriating funds. That's on top of choosing not to reinvest earnings in the Chinese market. According to a senior researcher at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the trend could further weaken the yuan and hinder China's economic growth potential. A survey released last week by the conference board, Think Tank, echoed those concerns. More than two-thirds of CEOs surveyed said China's demand has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The CEO and co-founder of Florida-based furniture company Industry West said that geopolitics and a slowing economy have pushed him to source more products from Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Mexico, adding that he felt the need to dramatically expand his China diversification strategy. Car makers, beware! Some manufacturing sites in China might require closer inspection. That's to make sure they're free of human rights violations. German car maker Volkswagen is facing scrutiny linked to China's Xinjiang region. What's the controversy about? Here's more. Volkswagen shareholders demanded the auto giant show more transparency on Wednesday. The comments came from Union Investment and Deca Investment, two key stakeholders in the company. It reflects ongoing concerns over Volkswagen's engagement in China's Xinjiang region. Rights groups have documented abuses including forced labour in detention camps. Beijing denies all such charges. On Tuesday, Volkswagen said a long-awaited independent audit had found no evidence of forced labour at its jointly owned site in Xinjiang, although the auditor further said the challenges of data collection in China were widely known. The investigation included on-site interviews and inspection of employee contracts and salary payments for the site's 197 employees. Union Investment called the audit a step in the right direction, but warned VW had not yet reached its goal. They argued there is still a lot to do and that a functioning complaints management system must be established. Even so, investors liked what they heard about the audit. VW shares were up close to 2.7% on Wednesday morning, helping drive the German DAX stock index to an all-time high. Switching gears, here are today's quick updates from Asia and Europe. Italy is officially withdrawing from China's Belt and Road Initiative. The Italian government recently informed Beijing it would not renew the deal. Italy is the first and so far the only major Western nation to join the program. It signed the deal in 2019, which expires in March next year. An Italian government source said the country intends to maintain good relations with China, even after the exit. More than 100 countries have signed belt and road agreements with the Chinese regime. The U.S. has warned that the project could allow Beijing to take control of sensitive technology and vital infrastructure in its partner countries. Over in Europe, top European Union officials will travel to Beijing to meet with Chinese regime leaders on Thursday. This will be the first in-person summit between the EU and China since 2019. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the European Council President and the EU foreign policy chief will join the trip. Talks are slated to focus on the war in Ukraine. The EU wants China to use its influence on Russia to stop the war and to respect Western sanctions on Russia. EU officials said there will be no joint statement and they don't expect concrete outcomes. And in the Taiwan Strait, an encounter between the U.S. and China. The Chinese military said Wednesday it sent fighter jets to monitor a U.S. Navy patrol aircraft. The U.S. Navy said their reconnaissance plane flew over the Taiwan Strait in international airspace. The Chinese military described the flight as public hype. The Communist regime claims jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan and the United States dispute that, describing the Strait as an international waterway. The U.S.-China run-in comes as Taiwan gears up for its presidential and parliamentary elections on January 13th. A clash between protesters and demolition workers, leaving some injured at a vegetable market inside China. In Wuhan City, violence broke out after a large demolition crew forcefully drove hundreds of merchants and traders out of the food market. Watch. Earlier in November, local authorities issued an eviction notice to all tenants. Without any form of negotiation or compensation, officials told them to pack up and vacate within 10 days. After that point, the market and their workplace would be torn down. When they refused to comply with the order, authorities mobilized thousands of riot police to the market to drive them out. Several tenants were hospitalized in the clash. Authorities said that the demolition was due to what they called safety concerns. According to some tenants, the city has yet to arrange compensation. Instead, officials stationed part-time security guards there to monitor the area. And that's all for today's China In Focus on YouTube. We're now sharing a shortened version of our program here after being demonetized for more than two years. If you would like to support us, subscribe to our partner platform, Epoch TV, where you can watch our full episodes or consider donating. Find us at donorbox.org slash china dash in dash focus. Here's what to look out for in our second half. Alarming reports coming from China. A surge in pneumonia infections is leaving hospitals overwhelmed and questions unanswered. What's driving the outbreak? And how concerning is it? In the US, five senators are pushing for travel restrictions to and from China. This, after Ohio and Massachusetts witnessed a child pneumonia spike. But local authorities claim it's unrelated to China. Are we on the brink of a potential second pandemic? To discuss, we sat down with Harvey Risch, Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. Thanks for watching China In Focus. I'm Don Ma. See you soon.