Editor’s note for Monday, January 11, 2021
A note from the editor of today's The China Project Access newsletter.
My thoughts today:ย
China has seen its biggest daily increase in COVID-19 cases in over five months, as new infections continue to rise in Hebei, the province that surrounds Beijing.ย
Reuters reports that โHebei accounted for 82 of the 85 new local infections reported on January 10โ by the National Health Commission (NHC). Liaoning Province reported two new cases, Beijing one case, and there were 18 imported infections.ย ย
The numbers are tiny in comparison with infection counts in the United States, but Chinaโs well-oiled quarantine-and-test machine is going into action, with Hebei Province in โwartimeโ mode. This week also brings epidemic prevention measures back to Beijing and other cities, as well as official warnings (in Chinese) to keep Chinese New Year travel to a minimum. As one of our Beijing correspondents observed in a Zoom call this morning, the numbers are so small in China, but people are actually changing their behavior already.ย ย
Our word of the day is this rude tweet (่ฟๆก่จ่พ็ฒ้ฒ็ๆจๆ zhรจ tiรกo yรกncรญ cลซlว de tuฤซwรฉn). That is how Chinaโs Foreign Ministry spokesperson today (in Chinese, English) characterized this tweet from the U.S. โAmbassador at Large for International Religious Freedomโ on a now-removed tweet from the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. that said Uyghur women were no longer โbaby-making machinesโ thanks to Chinaโs policies in Xinjiang.ย ย
Upcoming events:ย
- On January 12, join the China Corner Office Podcast for a live interview with James Chou, managing director and CEO of Microsoft for Startups, North Asia.ย ย
- Tickets for the 2021 Serica Annual Gala are available now. The general session is free, but tickets are also available for purchase to network with our gala speakers and honorees in a virtual cocktail room. Learn more and register here.
โJeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief
