Posted on 05/03/2020 9:05:04 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
U.S. officials believe China covered up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak — and how contagious the disease is — to stock up on medical supplies needed to respond to it, intelligence documents show.
Chinese leaders “intentionally concealed the severity” of the pandemic from the world in early January, according to a four-page Department of Homeland Security intelligence report dated May 1 and obtained by The Associated Press. The revelation comes as the Trump administration has intensified its criticism of China, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying Sunday that that country was responsible for the spread of disease and must be held accountable.
The sharper rhetoric coincides with administration critics saying the government’s response to the virus was slow and inadequate. President Donald Trump’s political opponents have accused him of lashing out at China, a geopolitical foe but critical U.S. trade partner, in an attempt to deflect criticism at home.
Not classified but marked “for official use only,” the DHS analysis states that, while downplaying the severity of the coronavirus, China increased imports and decreased exports of medical supplies. It attempted to cover up doing so by “denying there were export restrictions and obfuscating and delaying provision of its trade data,” the analysis states.
The report also says China held off informing the World Health Organization that the coronavirus “was a contagion” for much of January so it could order medical supplies from abroad — and that its imports of face masks and surgical gowns and gloves increased sharply.
Those conclusions are based on the 95% probability that China’s changes in imports and export behavior were not within normal range, according to the report.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Steve Sisolak
Gretchen Whitmer
Andrew Cuomo
Kate Brown
J.B. Pritzker
Building the case for overdue retaliation on multiple levels.
Good.
We seem to be the only country willing to semi-publicly accuse China of covering up the outbreak, even though the evidence is clear. If we are alone, our retaliation will be ineffective. China is aggressively employing both carrot and stick to bring global economies to heel. Do Europe, Japan and South Korea have the stones to join us?
The real question is:
Do we have the stones to follow through with them or (more likely) without them?
Trust me - NOTHING they did showed 'great concern' for their people.
I don't believe for a second they were concerned about their people... and that that it was the motive. If their concern was so great they would NOT have nailed doors shut and allowed citizens to starve to death. Or put living people in for cremation - - or deny their own doctors personal protection equipment.
No, it wasn't 'for their people' - hoarding was part of the attack.
The CCP and the WHO cover up its severity?! Perish the thought! This virus isn’t serious - just like the WHO and the CCP initially said. Just ask those living in an alternate reality on this very forum who say the same.
With them, yes. Without them, only symbolically. In the end we will play the hand we are dealt. Going it alone would be a weak hand, and China will know how the deck is stacked. Still, better to have Trump at the table than Biden, who would fold with a royal flush.
Re: Hoarding Supplies
Sounds like the “analysis” comes from a movie script.
I have zero confidence in the integrity of the USA Intelligence Community.
The yellow swine aka Chinese have no concern for life, be it human, animal, etc....
The virus was likely accidentally released from the Wuhan lab, and since they were doing gain of functional mutations in that lab, they feared this virus could be highly infectious and lethal. The way they reacted to the initial infections in Wuhan suggests they were panicked about what could happen, genuinely panicked.
The Communist government of China was fine with research that could make highly lethal viruses, but the loss of containment freaked them out. That’s why they reacted the way they did, shutting down all travel from Wuhan to the rest of China, and doing things like welding doors shut to keep people from leaving buildings in Wuhan. They feared a massive infection of the Chinese people, decimating their population, shutting down their economy, and potentially ending Communist control of China. .
So, their concentration was on rapid, emergent containment in Wuhan. Whether they let flights out of Wuhan to the rest of the world on purpose, or if they just prioritized containment in Wuhan and neglected to think about the effects on the rest of the world is unclear. The first scenario is essentially a crime against the rest of humanity. The second is also a crime, but one of neglect - not intent. Which is true remains unknown at this point - at least in public circles.
I have not seen anyone try to make that argument at Free Republic.
If the CDC counted covid-19 deaths the same way it counts influenza deaths, covid-19 would look like a moderately serious flu season.
Protect the elderly and the infirm.
For healthy children and adults: “It's just a common cold virus, Bro.”
Subject: Did Trump prevent an Italy here
Beside his efforts to return industries and services which had gone to China back to the the US .Opponents to the Chinese regime in power had its citizens protesting its policies , as in Hong Kong, since that change in American leadership. Wave the American flag and present his name when doing so.All of which presented those in power the need to destroy that leader Donald Trump
Would a runaway plague threaten populations of an enemy cause them to react by demanding extreme restriction of movement by its population to prevent its spread ? Thus wind up fragmenting its economy and create defeat for that leader’s upcoming election. Preventining the replacement of any industries from China
The way this whole thing developed starting with the Italian fashion industry areas controlled by the Chinese commies hit by a runaway CCWV (Chinese Communist Wuhan Virus) breakout occurred in Wuhan the politburo closed off Wuhan but did not warn the Italian Socialist government or the Pope with whom the Chinese government had good relations with.
But certainly violated it when the socialists should have been informed and allowed to deny those Chinese workers who replaced Italians in those factories taken over by the Chinese, travel to and from China particularly for their New Year while this was occurring. Which Trump did with the exception of only allowing American citizens returning.
Which also affected workers at the Chinese owned Smithfield Pork Processing and had the China backer US media charging racism but may have prevented an Italy from happening here .
Could be DHS does not want to say what really happened, this story allows vilification but avoids kinetic action. There is a very high probability damage to the US WAS the primary objective from the outset.
*** I have zero confidence in the integrity of the USA Intelligence Community. ***
Right there with you on that.
EXACTLY.
100%.
Completely. Right on.
I would think they neglected to ban flights from Wuhan into rest of the world. CCP is incompetent, kind of like the Soviets when Chernobyl happened. But CCP is not going to admit to their mistakes. They are already having problems getting the independent movement in Hong Kong under control. China could possibly assuage their most important trading partners if they confessed that they “f***ed up” but they did not want to sound incompetent if they did that.
“Whether they let flights out of Wuhan to the rest of the world on purpose”
Of course it was on purpose. Infected people from Wuhan were not allowed to travel to Shanghai and Beijing but they could go to Italy and New York.
This was not an accident. Chinese leaders made the decision to unleash this plague on the whole world.
It’s not just hoarding supplies in advance.
It is depriving communities of the supplies they had on available. Like the woman who went to multiple Home Depots and picked up thousands of masks and videoed herself gloating about it.
You can have a large stockpile of something and that is hoarding, but if it’s a freely available resource with no limit in supply then what’s the bother?
But when you buy every single item in stock at every location in town, that’s beyond cornering the market or stockpiling your own reserve.
Hasn’t Australia also made the charge?
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