From: slider@anashram.com

Beijing could face a rising wave of hostility in the wake of the
coronavirus outbreak that could tip relations with the United States into 'armed confrontation', an internal Chinese report has warned.

The report, presented early last month by the Ministry of State Security
to top Beijing leaders including President Xi Jinping, concluded that
global anti-China sentiment is at its highest since the 1989 Tiananmen
Square crackdown, the sources said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8284569/Internal-Chinese-report-warns-Beijing-faces-Tiananmen-like-global-backlash-virus-sources.html

As a result, Beijing faces a wave of anti-China sentiment led by the
United States in the aftermath of the pandemic and needs to be prepared in
a worst-case scenario for armed confrontation between the two global
powers, according to people familiar with the report's content, who
declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter.

The report was drawn up by the China Institutes of Contemporary
International Relations (CICIR), a think tank affiliated with the Ministry
of State Security, China's top intelligence body.

Although the briefing paper remains disclosed, the content of the document
was described to Reuters by people who had direct knowledge of its
findings.

'I don't have relevant information,' the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson's office said in a statement responding to questions from
Reuters on the report.

China's Ministry of State Security has no public contact details and could
not be reached for comment.

CICIR, an influential think tank that until 1980 was within the Ministry
of State Security and advises the Chinese government on foreign and
security policy, did not reply to a request for comment.

Beijing could face a rising wave of hostility in the wake of the
coronavirus outbreak that could tip relations with the United States into 'armed confrontation', an internal Chinese report has warned.

But the presentation of the report shows how seriously Beijing takes the
threat of a building backlash that could threaten what China sees as its strategic investments overseas and its view of its security standing,
according to Reuters.

Relations between China and the United States are widely seen to be at
their worst point in decades, with deepening mistrust and friction points
from US allegations of unfair trade and technology practices to disputes
over Hong Kong, Taiwan and contested territories in the South China Sea.

In recent days, US President Donald Trump, facing a more difficult
re-election campaign as the coronavirus has claimed tens of thousands of American lives and ravaged the U.S. economy, has been ramping up his
criticism of Beijing and threatening new tariffs on China. His
administration, meanwhile, is considering retaliatory measures against
China over the outbreak, officials said.

The report also said the United States was aiming to undercut the ruling Communist Party by undermining public confidence.

The paper concluded that Washington views China's rise as an economic and national security threat and a challenge to Western democracies, the
people said.

Chinese officials had a 'special responsibility' to inform their people
and the world of the threat posed by the coronavirus 'since they were the
first to learn of it,' US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said
in response to questions from Reuters.

Without directly addressing the assessment made in the Chinese report,
Ortagus added: 'Beijing's efforts to silence scientists, journalists, and citizens and spread disinformation exacerbated the dangers of this health crisis.'

A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council declined to comment.

### - they've always been a rather insular lot the chinese, we brits even
had to bombard them from the ocean, start a war and wreck their economy
because they singularly 'refused' to buy their opium from the english??
said they had their own traditional supply and didn't need anything from england!?

they wouldn't play-ball so what else were we supposed to do! :)))

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)