WHO scraps its COVID origins search, and China warns of ‘countermeasures’ against the U.S.’s war on balloons
News briefing for February 15, 2023
Here’s what else you need to know about China today:
Top story: New health insurance reforms have ignited protests in Wuhan and Dalian. Many of the demonstrators are elderly citizens who say that the move will make healthcare more expensive, in the latest sign that Beijing is struggling to deal with the financial burden of its former COVID zero policy, as well as a growing lack of public trust. Scroll down for a summary or click through for the whole thing.
The World Health Organization will not continue investigating the origins of COVID because it has no access in China, according to the scientific journal Nature.
China warned of balloon “countermeasures” against the U.S., after Washington blacklisted six Chinese entities linked to the balloon that illegally crossed into American airspace. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wāng Wénbīn 汪文斌 also accused the U.S. of flying high-altitude balloons “more than 10 times” into China’s airspace, “including Xinjiang and Tibet.” Meanwhile, U.S. officials cited by the Washington Post said they had been tracking the Chinese spy balloon from the time of its launch “from its home base on Hainan Island near China’s south coast.”
China is trying to mend ties with European countries. Top diplomat Wáng Yì 王毅 embarked on a weeklong tour to France, Italy, Germany, and Hungary, as well as a stop in Russia, in a bid to shore up its relations amid renewed tensions with the U.S.
China has filed indictments in more than 1,400 national security charges over the past five years, according to a rare disclosure from the country’s top prosecutorial agency, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP). Meanwhile, 78,000 officials were tried for receiving bribes — including the high-profile cases against former vice-ministers of public security Sūn Lìjūn 孙力军 and Fù Zhènghuá 傅政华.
Philippines President Marcos summoned the Chinese ambassador after China deployed a “military-grade laser” against the Philippine Coast Guard earlier this month.
Electric car company NIO has had a second fatal accident in a test vehicle, and fresh grocery ecommerce company Dingdong posted its first-ever quarterly profit. See details in our daily roundup of news from the Chinese business press.
