Thread by @Bernd__Neuner

1. On widespread #Sinophobia

I recently attended a seminar on doing business in #China, hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce. During the presentation of a lady representing German Trade & Invest, I was surprised to learn the President Xi Jinping allegedly had given a speech

2. ... announcing his intention to "...form powerful countermeasures and deterrent capabilities based on artificially cutting off supply to foreigners."

Since the presenter mentioned the speech had been published in Quishi, the official publication of the #CCP, I started looking

3. ... for the original of the speech. It did not take long, and my suspicions were confirmed. What Xi Jinping really had said was the following:

"...forming a powerful countermeasure and deterrent capability against foreigners who would artificially cut off supply [to China]".

4. I contacted the presenter and voiced my doubts regarding the quotes she used. She was very helpful and said she had received them from a colleague in Hamburg. I got in touch with him, and upon taking a closer look he confirmed the benign interpretation above. It seems the

5. ... malicious version stems from the initial translation published by the US think tank #CSET, latter corrected due to feedback from the audience:

cset.georgetown.edu/wp-content/upl…

(footnote 3, p.3)

6. The damage is done - how many people in positions of influence are now convinced that China aims at disrupting the supply chains of "the free world"?