[Epoch Times, June 18, 2021]Hello everyone, and welcome to “Current Affairs”, I am Fuyao. Today is Thursday, June 17, 2021.
Today’s focus: secret preparation for Star Wars? The U.S. confirmed the space directed energy weapon program; confronted head-on, the US Secretary of Defense: Beijing violated the law in the South China Sea and hit the CCP’s defense secretary from the air; caught the “Apple Daily” five high-level officials, the CCP was denounced as “cowards”; Mainland scholars: CCP Leaders can’t tell the truth, they can only talk nonsense; after the Guangzhou quarantine period expires, they will not let people go, but they will maintain stability on July 1st?
Secretly preparing for Star Wars?U.S. Confirms Space Directed Energy Weapons Program
On the morning of June 17, China launched the Shenzhou XII spacecraft, sent three astronauts to the “Tiangong” space station, continued to build the space station, and “launched a series of key technology verifications.”
“Tiangong” is the second space station currently in space for mankind in addition to the international space station jointly operated by the United States, Russia, and Japan. After completion, it will serve as the orbital laboratory of the CCP’s space program.
Malcolm Davis, an expert on Chinese military and space research at the Australian Institute of Strategic Policy, once said that China’s space projects are managed by the military, and everything they do directly serves the military or has long-term strategic benefits. Nigel Inkster, the director of operations and intelligence at MI6, has also stated that the CCP is “trying to ensure that it can catch up and surpass” the United States in terms of space military capabilities, and wants to pose a “credible threat” to the United States. .
In this regard, the United States certainly has a plan to deal with it.
Just as the Shenzhou 12 spacecraft was launched into the sky, the US Space Force confirmed to the outside world that they were developing “directed-energy weapons” to maintain America’s superiority in space. The so-called directed energy weapon is a weapon system that uses the energy of lasers, microwaves, and particle beams to launch in a certain direction to destroy or damage targets.
It sounds like the “Star Wars Plan” proposed by former U.S. President Reagan in the latter part of the Cold War seems to have returned.
In 1983, Reagan delivered a famous speech known as the “Star Wars Project”. The United States then officially launched the Strategic Defense Program (Star Wars Project) to eliminate Soviet Russian nuclear bomb attacks by developing space directed energy weapons and conventional weapons. Threatened.
This plan was not successful at the time, but it laid a solid foundation for American space technology, and at the same time forced Soviet Russia to launch an arms race in space, which was regarded by the outside world as an important driving force for the downfall of Soviet Russia. After the disintegration of Soviet Russia, the Star Wars program was also stopped due to insufficient attention from the US government.
But now, this plan has surfaced again. According to the U.S. military website “C4ISRNET”, on the 16th, the head of the U.S. Space Force and Secretary of Space Operations, Jay Raymond, was asked on the House Armed Services Committee whether they were developing directed energy weapons. Raymond replied, “Yes, we have.” But he suggested that it is better to discuss the details in a more confidential setting, because the United States needs to protect these “highly dependent capabilities.”
In addition, the spokesperson of the Space Force stated in response to “C4ISRNET” inquiries that they have repeatedly pointed out that the CCP and Russia have the capability of directed energy weapons to destroy or destroy US satellites. Raymond’s reply stated that the Space Force is working “Respond appropriately to threats.”
Head-to-head confrontation with the US Secretary of Defense: Beijing breaks the law in the South China Sea
In addition to the space contest that sounds very sci-fi, the US and Chinese defense ministers also faced each other head-on on the same occasion a few days ago.
On June 15, ASEAN held an enlarged meeting of defense ministers by video. In addition to the ten allies, participating countries also included Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, the United States and China.
This is the first time that the US and Chinese defense ministers have appeared at the same public meeting after the Biden administration took office.
The US Department of Defense issued a statement on the 16th that the Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III clearly stated in his speech the US government’s vision for the Indo-Pacific region and emphasized the importance of allies and partners in addressing security challenges. The statement said that he also emphasized China’s illegal activities in the South China Sea.
At the same time, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi also mentioned the dispute between the East China Sea and the South China Sea and directly raised the importance of Taiwan Strait security. Nobuo Kishi said that emphasizing peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is not only important for the region but also for the international community.
Some Taiwanese media said that Wei Fenghe, the Chief of Defense of the Communist Party of China, was slapped in the air. The screenshot of the meeting video showed that Nobuo Kishi smiled after speaking, while Wei Fenghe was expressionless.
After the meeting, the Chinese Communist Party officially issued a statement on the meeting, stating that Wei Fenghe said at the meeting that China’s determination to defend its core interests is “unwavering” on issues related to Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and South China Sea.
Catch “Apple Daily” 5 high-level CCP was denounced as “cowards”
However, the so-called “core interests” defended by the CCP are its party interests, which are harmful and unprofitable to the people. Let’s talk about the “Hong Kong-related” incident that has just occurred.
At around 7 am on the 17th, 500 Hong Kong police officers, including members of the National Security Agency, broke into the Apple Daily Building under Next Media and conducted a search. “Apple Daily” stated that the police required employees to leave the editorial department, prevented reporters from filming the search process, and seized a large number of documents and materials, including at least 44 computers in the editorial department.
At the same time, five senior executives of Next Media were arrested, including Next Media Chief Executive Officer Zhang Jianhong, Chief Operating Officer Zhou Daquan, “Apple Daily” Vice President Chen Peimin, Editor-in-Chief Luo Weiguang, and Apple News Platform Director Zhang Zhiwei.
The Secretary for Security Li Jiachao also issued a notice of freezing assets in accordance with the National Security Law, freezing the assets of the three related companies of Apple Daily, totaling approximately 18 million Hong Kong dollars. Starting at 9 o’clock that morning, Next Media announced the suspension of trading.
Regarding the reason for this large-scale raid, Senior Superintendent Li Guihua of the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police claimed to the media that dozens of Chinese and English articles in the “Apple Daily” network and physical newspapers were the focus of the “conspiracy” plan and provided oral facts to foreign countries. And foreign institutions sanction the CCP and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Li Guihua also warned “Apple” reporters to be careful not to commit this “crime” again. As for whether reposting related articles would violate the “National Security Law,” he said he should consider the reposters’ attempts and warned the public that “it is not good to provoked suspicion.”
In the face of renewed suppression, on the afternoon of the 17th, “Apple Daily” published an article titled “Letter to Readers: We Must Hold Our Posts and Fight for the Dawn”, stating that history must be fair to the allegations of “Apple Daily” .
The open letter said, “When news materials obtained honestly and honestly are flagged as criminal evidence by law enforcement authorities; when media workers who perform their bounden duties, they are also publicly called by the government to draw a clear line with them.” Hong Kong today is unfamiliar and unfamiliar. Speechless. The letter also stated that although the “one country, two systems” has shattered, all the staff of the “Apple Daily” will continue to stick to their posts loyally and fight to the end to welcome the dawn of the era.
The suppression measures taken by the Chinese Communist Party and the Hong Kong Government have also triggered international condemnation.
In a telephone briefing, the spokesperson of the US State Department, Ned Price, strongly condemned the arrest of five executives of One Media by the Hong Kong police and called for immediate release. He said that the Hong Kong government has selectively used the National Security Law and arbitrarily targeted independent media. The so-called “allegations of colluding with foreign or foreign factors to endanger national security seem to be entirely politically motivated.”
Nabila Massrali, spokesperson for EU foreign and security policy, said in a statement that the raid “further demonstrates how the National Security Law is used to stifle freedom of the media and freedom of speech in Hong Kong.”
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab tweeted that “Beijing is using the National Security Act to target different voices, not to address public safety issues.”
Lord David Alton, a member of the “Transnational Parliamentary Coalition on China Policy” (IPAC), also issued an article condemning the CCP, saying “this is shameless and shameful atrocities-cowardly acts afraid of printed text and media censorship.”
Zhang Jinhua, a professor at the National Taiwan University Journalism Research Institute, told Radio Free Asia, “(This) shows that the CCP has actually been very unstable within the past few years, so it has no self-confidence. … Different voices in Hong Kong think it is. It may be a threat. (The Chinese Communist Party) looks very powerful, but in fact, the heart is extremely weak, otherwise there is no need to use this coercive method.”
Mainland scholars: CCP leaders can’t tell the truth but only talk nonsense
The CCP, which is strong in the outside world, suppresses speech and uses lies to maintain its rule. In fact, this kind of restriction is not only for ordinary people, they can’t tolerate half of the truth.
In the past two days, a speech by Zheng Xiangzhou, a mainland economist, has been widely circulated on the Internet. It is about how the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party spoke.
(Original) “A good leader can’t tell the truth casually. When you tell the truth, you leak this data; a good leader can’t tell a lie casually. When you tell a lie, everyone thinks you are not kind. If you can’t tell the truth and you can’t tell lies, what do you tell? Talk nonsense. Oh, so you see, the bigger the leader, the more able to talk nonsense. Telling the truth is character, and nonsense is called level.
“I have held three meetings in the Great Hall of the People, and the applause of each meeting is from the secretariat in the corner. I don’t understand. I just compare the documents of the secretariat with my documents. The Secretariat’s document will write one: “Applause here” and “Warm applause here for a long time” are all standardized. So it’s not easy to be a good secretary in China.”
Zheng Xiangzhou told the truth and asked the netizens to sweat for him. Someone said, “The video leaked the CCP’s state secrets!” “Is this guy still in China? Is his health okay?” “He needs to be protected, right?”
Guangzhou’s quarantine period expires and people are not released for the stability of July 1?
Next, let’s pay attention to the latest news of the CCP virus (Wuhan pneumonia) epidemic in Guangzhou.
The epidemic situation in Guangzhou continued. On the 17th, officials reported that there were 4 new local cases on the 16th, all from Baihedong Street, Liwan District.
At the same time, some people in Guangzhou were not allowed to go home after the expiry of the quarantine period. Some locals believe that the emergence of this chaos in management and control is related to the stability maintenance of the CCP over the centuries since the founding of the Communist Party of China on July 1.
The Epoch Times reporter learned that a Guangzhou resident who was isolated in a hotel in Baiyun District asked a friend to bring the news out, hoping to get attention, because “a lot of real information was not reported by the mainland.”
The whistleblower said that he went to the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Dade Road in Yuexiu District in early June. Because a doctor in the hospital was infected, he and anyone who had been to the hospital in those few days were taken away and quarantined. 14 day.
Since the isolation room in Yuexiu District was full, he and many others were sent to Baiyun District. There were police and security guards downstairs in the hotel where they were afraid that the people inside would run out.
Before him, a group of people had been quarantined in this hotel, but they were not allowed to go home until the end of 14 days on June 15. The caretaker could not give a reason and said that they were not clear. It depends on the arrangement above. Those in quarantine were forced to lodge a collective complaint.
At present, the two districts are bucking each other, Yuexiu District wants to throw the pot, saying that the isolated people belong to Baiyun District, and Baiyun District has strengthened its security.
The whistleblower said, “Don’t let people go, it’s like going to jail.” He thinks it should be related to the stability of July 1st.
In addition, some people reported on the Internet that the quarantine management was chaotic, the time was changed randomly, and even the critically ill elderly people were ignored and the deadline was delayed.
A Weibo netizen complained that his cousin was studying in a middle school in Liwan District. On June 1, the head teacher informed the class that someone in the class was diagnosed, and all classmates and their family members must go to the hotel for isolation. As of the 15th, the cousin and family members who lived with her had been quarantined for 14 days, and the nucleic acid test was also negative. However, he said, “In order to guarantee the birthday of the July 1st Party in Guangzhou, all quarantined people are not allowed to go home, and they do not tell when they will be quarantined!”
The netizen also wrote, “My grandmother lived with my cousin. At the beginning of the year, terminal lung cancer was found. We were very obedient and went to the hotel for isolation. However, the food business of the isolation hotel was definitely not enough. I could not eat Chinese medicine or buy Western medicine for treatment in the isolation hotel. , There is no nutritious soup supplement, I don’t know why I can’t clarify a time to return home? Is something wrong in the hotel to pay attention to it?”
Okay, let’s stop here today, and we will see you in the next episode.
“Current Affairs” Production Team
Editor in charge: Li Hao #
.