“Nobody in Wuhan believes the official numbers.”
By Steve Watson, Summit News
Residents in Wuhan, the origin of the coronavirus outbreak, have told reporters that “nobody believes the official numbers” being touted by the communist Chinese government, and that the general consensus is it could be 100 times worse than the world is being told.
While Whuan is reopening its transport systems and businesses, residents are adamant that they have not been informed of the true scale of the situation, according to Spanish newswire service EFE.
“There are suspicions that many people died in their homes without being diagnosed and, at first, there were no kits to do the test,” one resident said, adding that “Many people would die, officially, of a cold or some other disease. But there are stories going around of citizens who were made to sign death certificates of relatives without any other explanation.”
“Nobody in Wuhan believes the official numbers. The real one, only they know,” the resident said, pointing to the sky.
The report states that while frustration has led to a huge number of residents questioning the official narrative in social media chat groups, it has also led to a massive increase in censorship by the government.
The Spanish reporters pointed to reports suggesting that the number of urns provided by just 7 funeral homes in Wuhan adds up to between 30,000 and 40,000, while the Chinese government says that less than 4000 people have died from coronavirus.
A report by the independent Chinese media outlet Caixin estimated that just one of the funeral homes handed out 5,000 urns in one day last week.
The Spanish journalists attempted to interview workers at one of the funeral homes, but were stopped and turned away by authorities guarding the facilities.
Other residents told anti-Communist newspaper The Epoch Times that they simply cannot believe the government’s assertions about the death toll.
“Just exactly how many Wuhan residents have died from the virus if the line at the cemetery is so long?” one resident said, adding “China’s official media reported over 3,000 coronavirus deaths. I think the real figure is at least ten times the official figure, and even 100 times is not impossible.”
“The citizens of Wuhan believe that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) concealed the true death toll,” the report states.
It continues “They made this judgment based on two facts: one, the lines outside the funeral home to collect the ashes are very long, and two, the medical standards of European and American countries are higher than those in China. But the reported death rates in these countries are higher than that of China.”
Another Wuhan resident told Radio Free Asia “They are saying that only a few thousand died here in Wuhan, but does that sound right?”
Both the US and the UK governments are of the belief that China is hiding the real scale of the pandemic, estimating that it could be 15 to 40 times worse than the communist state admits.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that a communist government would be lying. Our own Democrat (Socialist) Party in America does it on a daily basis. – The Liberator
Why do you bother plagiarizing other people BS?
To avoid spending too much time, I selected one of the facts that the author presents and looked into it.
“Chinese state entities own Italy ‘s major telecommunication corporation (Telecom) as well as its major utilities (ENI and ENEL).”
Having some familiarity with ENEL, I started with them. ENEL is an Italian multinational energy company that is active in the sectors of electricity generation and distribution, as well as in the distribution of natural gas. The company is publicly-traded and is a component of Milano Indice di Borsa (MIB), which is the 30 largest stocks on the exchange (similar to S&P100).
I read ENEL’s annual report from 2017 (a page is copied an attached here) which explicitly defines the ownership structure and leaves little possibility for PBOC or other Chinese financial entities to be involved in a substantial way without being named in some fashion (see attached). I verified that this proportionality of ownership was also in place in 2018 (did not read 2019 report). It is entirely possible that Chinese own some portion of the publicly traded Enel shares, however not in such large number that they are specifically identified in any regulatory reporting that surfaces. The Chinese could own $100million of Enel shares and they wouldn’t make the radar. At every turn the “Ministry of Economy and Finance” is seen as the largest holder. I included a list of large private holders on file with the Milano borsa as well as those US interests that have filed reg docs with the SEC (from Yahoo Finance)
So when the author states that the Chinese state owns these assets I could find no evidence that the Chinese are even large holders (like, say a mutual fund would be) let alone that they have a controlling stake of some kind.
I have also attached a list of the current Enel Board of Director (see attached) just below.
image.png
The BoD is typically where investor partners inject their opinions and directions to companies that they own. Certainly there are other means but for companies of this size (annual rev: $~80billion) it is usually board-directed strategy and objectives that define the business’ plan and priorities.
Note the names of this board – *every* single member bears a surname that suggests he is of Italian descent, not Chinese. If the Chinese were as involved as the author alleges I would expect to see a smattering of Asians in this group but there are none. Moreover, this is a multinational company with operations in many countries around the world – note that the entire board would appear to be Italian. Not one Brit or American or Asian based on the surnames listed. I think that speaks the loudest toward who the owners are.
I could go on-and-on but I think you can see how little real evidence there is for the Chinese owning this company in any meaningful measure beyond simple retail investing. The author wants to beat this drum of the Chinese coming into Italy and buying up the pace. While there may be some pockets of acquisition I would hardly expect a slow economy of aging people to be a real target for China. This is 2020 and the Italians have little to offer the Chinese in terms of intellectual property, technical expertise or natural resources. The fleeting bits of artisan-quality goods attributable to North Italy are small. If the Chinese felt that buying Ferragamo and other Italian fashion houses made sense perhaps the Italian gvt should get out of their way and allow business to decide what works best. In the end, I see no evidence of critical Italian infrastructure being sold to the Chinese in any meaningful way. This leads me to question every other assertion the author makes in his writing.
I leave you with this: many writers of opinion present facts and creds up front to sway a reader into following their viewpoint. I think this author is no different. At nearly the end of his writing he makes the following statement:
“The point I am trying to make here is that not only did the Chinese bring the virus to Italy (and the rest of the world) it was far-Left politics and policies that facilitated it. This should hopefully be a warning to Americans that while they work to rid themselves of the COVID-19 virus, they should just as vehemently endeavor to rid their government of any politician that circumvents the Constitution and ignores the laws of the land…plain and simple.”
Clearly the author is another undereducated wingnut conservative…circumvent the Constitution? The vitriol and bullshit is so deep in these words I might need a snorkel.
About the only thing this misinformed writer has correct is that the evidence does point to the disease originating in China. This points to some issues that have long been swept under the carpet – possibly aided by lib-tard turds aspiring to some sort of globalist outcome. Several countries in the world that operate in the “1st world” are filthy, unhygienic shit-holes. World opinion needs to hold out countries that engage in and support these unhealthy practices and target them for sanctions, embargos and economic penalties until problems are rectified. China would be number 1 on this list, in my view. Are there bigger shit-holes? Absolutely. Are there bigger shit-holes of infection distributing more goods in trade worldwide? Probably not.
The entire world needs to put China on notice that NUMEROUS health and public safety practices need to be improved immediately with transparency or we will stop all trade.
How ’bout them apples?
About the only thing I care for about the orange turd in the White House is his position on relations with China. The time is now for us to reign in the Chinese and I would support the president taking up the question of what the Chinese plan to do to avoid this issue in the future. I would welcome the president directing questions to Xi and other Chinese leaders about what they are going to change and how we will verify. I would also support the question of Chinese remuneration for this catastrophe. One could make a real argument that the authoritarian Chinese gvt was negligent when it allowed such squalid and unhygienic conditions that appear to have facilitated this cross-species virus transfer. It wasn’t awareness or capability; it was negligence, laziness and greed. Perhaps the CCP needs to repay the world for this avoidable catastrophe. Perhaps the donald could leverage the UN to make such a request and bolster it with the voices of countries like Italy.
I would also support a much tougher stance on US intellectual property being handed over to Chinese “partners” (aka: gvt-fronted businesses which US companies are forced to work with in-country). Perhaps the answer is “quid pro quo” – let’s put Chinese products up to a similar scrutiny as they do to US products. Ours would be one less focussed on idea theft and more designed toward ensuring safety and enforcing US trademark and patent law.
For example, I would allow all Chinese 5G products into the US with the same quid-pro-quo they demand of US companies: ALL intellectual property (schematics, design, CADs, etc) will be turned over to the US FTC &USPTO for “examination” (reverse-engineering regression, safety check and threat analysis) and archival. All products – every router, every wireless radio, every integrated processor – will be submitted and catalogued. The Chinese are notorious for shorting quality and safety. All products manufactured should be compelled to have safety, installation and usage instructions WRITTEN BY US-BASED AMERICANS in order to be sold here. Given the Chinese lack anything close to UL Labs I would also suggest a special lab to evaluate ALL imported products coming from China for safety and fitness for use. Unfortunately at this stage the Chinese gvt and its slave workforce cannot be trusted to act like civilized people.
I hope that someday you come to the realization that what you spout is not FACTS but your OPINION. Therefore, the question: Why is your OPINION more important, relevant or true than anyone else’s OPINION? For example, why should it be more important than the OPINIONS of people who actually live in Wuhan, China? THINK about THAT, Mr.”I Know Absolutely Everything There is to Know About Absolutely Everything”. – The Liberator