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Item One:
The PRC economy has entered a period of slow growth as a whole with actual contraction in some sectors of their economy. This has lead to vicious competition in certain industries, most notably, trucking. There are great fields of delivery and tractor-trailer trucks repossessed by banks because the drivers can't make their payments. Some drivers are willing to give away nearly new delivery trucks if the person will take over the payments. They are getting no takers.
You may remember me talking about the retail shopping stores closing. This is just a knock-on effect. No retail, no need for delivery trucks and their drivers. The number of truck drivers in China used to top thirty million. It is down by at least 20%. Trustworthy numbers are hard to come by. Trucking is a high risk job in China. It is not unusual for trucks involved in an accident to be looted, especially if they are carrying food. The driver is held responsible by the shipper.
Item Two:
An update on the loss of the PLAN Type 093 (NATO reporting: Shang) submarine. The submarine was caught in a Chinese trap set to ensnare USN, RN, and Japanese SDF submarines. An engineering failure on the nuclear powered submarine disrupted the air handling system. Fifty-five members lost their lives including, 22 officers, 7 officer cadets, 9 petty-officers, and 17 sailors. The boat's captain, Colonel Xue Yongpeng, was the senior nuclear power examiner for the PLAN. Another of the officers received a PhD from the University of Washington School of Oceanography in 2010. He was a leading world expert in ocean currents. Other officers were among the top PLAN experts in submarine operations.
Catastrophic submarine losses are not without precedence in the PLAN. In 2003 submarine number 361 Great Wall, a Type 035AIP (ES5E variant) (NATO reporting name Ming III) conventional diesel/electric submarine was lost along with 70 service members during an exercise in the Yellow Sea.
What is unusual here is that the PLAN is not calling this an accident but an incident. There are reports that the submarine was sabotaged by one of two senior officers of the Rocket Forces in a murder/suicide attack. The PLAN has announced that the submarine will NOT be salvaged whole but cut into pieces and salvaged that way. This is unusual in that the average depth of the Yellow Sea is only about 150 feet. This might explain why there was a major shakeup in the Rocket Forces following the loss of the sub. The timing also explains why Xi Jinping was absent from major meetings during the BRICS conference in South Africa. The fact that this was all leaked to western sources might explain the arrests of five very senior civilian leaders in the procurement of CCP military equipment for the Navy and Rocket Forces.
Item Three:
The CCP has instituted stricter controls on brokerage firms to restrict the purchase of foreign stocks and bonds. This is an attempt to stop the hemorrhaging of Chinese capital flowing out of the country. These actions tell those trying to get their money out of China that they need to do it faster and harder.
Item Four:
Lastly, the CCP issued a very mild and carefully worded statement on the Israeli/ Hamas conflict. The PRC lost three killed and five missing. The statement condemned the Hamas attack but called on Israel to act in a restrained manner. The CCP has generally supported the Palestinians in the past but doesn't want to endanger the billion dollar per year in badly needed chips that it imports from Israel.
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)