Stephen McDonell Profile picture
China Correspondent BBC, formerly Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 如果你也曾经穿过那道看不见的界限并且在没有颜色的街道上找不到可以停留的地方请你一定回来告诉我。P.K.14 baffling bozos since the beginning.
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May 29, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
Unrest in #Yunnan south west #China over the weekend after reported moves by the government to demolish a mosque. Large numbers of riot police clashed with local Hui Muslims. Najiaying now said to be sealed off, with the internet cut there. This thread has quite a few clips on in which came out before the internet was cut there…
May 17, 2023 5 tweets 3 min read
A stand up comedy company in #China has been fined 14.7 million yuan (USD $2.13 million) after a comedian told a joke said to be making fun of the People's Liberation Army at a #Beijing show. The company Xiaoguo Culture says it has terminated its contract with comedian Li Haoshi. The joke involved dogs chasing a squirrel which he said reminded him of the expression, "Adopt a good style of work; be able to fight and win battles", a phrase #XiJinping has used to praise the work ethic of #China's military.
Mar 8, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
In recent years, #China based correspondents are being increasingly blocked from attending large political gatherings. Instead, the Communist Party flies in “friendly journalists” from other counties who can be relied on for positive coverage of the rubber stamp Congresses. It’s glaring at this Congress: very few #China-based correspondents being allowed in for anything, it’s mainly the agencies given access + those who’ve been flown in by #Beijing for “journalism training” and who deliver puff about how great the Congress is with questions like…
Mar 7, 2023 4 tweets 3 min read
Strongly-worded attack on the #US from #China's leader #XiJinping who said "western countries led by the US have implemented all-round containment, encirclement and suppression" against China + that this this brought "severe challenges" for this country. Closed door speech. #China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang also warned if #Washington doesn't "hit the breaks" soon instead of ramping up tensions that this would "surely lead to conflict and confrontation".
Mar 6, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
Bad enough that foreign correspondents have to work in #China under appalling conditions with constant state-sponsored harassment but straight out lies from Party-controlled media about it: “freely do interviews”? At the Congress? Most can’t even get inside the Great Hall. Image Only a handful of mostly agency reporters were allowed in for the NPC opening session. The vast majority of #China-based international correspondents are now denied entry to these events. Instead, people flown in for the Party’s China friendly media training get to go.
Feb 5, 2023 13 tweets 7 min read
#China Foreign Ministry re Chinese balloon being shot down by #US fighter jet: “China strongly disapproves of & protests against the US attack on a civilian unmanned airship by force…” that #Beijing had asked US to “handle the matter in a calm, professional & restrained manner” #China For Ministry[cont] “…the #US use of force is a clear overreaction & a serious violation of international practice. China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company concerned, and reserves the right to make further responses if necessary”.
Feb 3, 2023 5 tweets 3 min read
BREAKING: Chinese govt says this is a weather balloon which has accidentally been blown a long way off its course and that it “regrets the unintended entry of the airship into #US airspace due to force majeure”. #China's Foreign Ministry statement says that the balloon "used for research, mainly meteorological purposes" had been "affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability" had "deviated far from its planned course". #US
Feb 3, 2023 12 tweets 7 min read
I'm not a spy balloon expert but seems like a weird time for #China to launch this type of surveillance over the #US and #Canada, just days before US Sec of State Antony Blinken's visit to #Beijing. Maybe these balloons float around for ages? Any spy balloon experts out there? #China's Foreign Ministry says it is attempting to verify details of the alleged surveillance balloon which the #US has said is Chinese. However Spokesperson Mao Ning said that hype and speculation were not conducive to a solution until the facts became clear.
Dec 16, 2022 7 tweets 5 min read
A long-established local media outlet in the capital, The Beijinger, has done a survey of people in #Beijing, on a series of Wechat groups, about #Covid infections here. So far a whopping 70% of respondents say they’ve been infected. #China The sample group would include a lot of foreigners living in #Beijing and skew heavily towards Chaoyang and Dongcheng districts, however it would also seem to match other anecdotal evidence. It’s hard to find someone in the city who hasn’t caught #Covid over the last week or so.
Dec 14, 2022 13 tweets 10 min read
Latest from me on… #China #Covid: Hospitals under strain in wave of infections bbc.co.uk/news/world-asi… Doctors and nurses are being forced to go to work even if they contract #COVID19 we’ve been told. So hospital staff could actually be infecting patients with the virus. #China #Covid crisis. Latest from me: bbc.co.uk/news/world-asi…
Dec 5, 2022 8 tweets 5 min read
We're seeing easing of #ZeroCovid measures in different forms right across #China. This is only the beginning but it looks like the government has now given up on the idea of reducing each outbreak to zero cases. Take #Beijing: cases have not come down but restrictions easing. This doesn't mean there will suddenly be no restrictions, there could even still be lockdowns if #Covid_19 deaths spread too quickly, but the long term trajectory now looks set. In the wake of the protests in cities across #China, #ZeroCovid has to go.
Dec 2, 2022 18 tweets 12 min read
In #Beijing, the queues to get a PCR test are back to being very long and slow tonight. Daily test results are still needed to enter public buildings but the authorities have again suddenly closed a whole lot of testing stations, others only open for a few hours in the morning. Which brings us to this week’s Friday beverage O’Clock track, dedicated to everyone in #China still enduring #ZeroCovid restrictions. Trouble in My Brain… crank it up and don’t go insane!
Dec 1, 2022 6 tweets 5 min read
#JiangZemin's memorial service will be held next Tuesday at the Great Hall of the People in #Beijing. It will be broadcast live, there will be a 3-minutes of "silence" across the country with horns and sirens sounding. Note: There will be no chance for members of the public to file past his body. Given the upheaval in #China following gatherings to mark former leader Hu Yaobang's death, it could be that Xi's administration finds this too risky with anti-#ZeroCovid protests going on.
Nov 29, 2022 17 tweets 14 min read
Some of our TV coverage of recent #ZeroCovid unrest in #China, with protestors dramatically questioning the country’s governance directly, even challenging China’s leader #XiJinping himself. China’s #Covid crisis continues. Statement from the European Union
Chamber of Commerce in #China recommending a fresh vaccine push and public awareness campaign in the county regarding vaccinations. #ZeroCovid #Covid
Nov 28, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
I couldn’t believe it til I checked but, amidst #ZeroCovid protests here, #China Central Television (CCTV) is editing out close ups of spectators in its coverage of the World Cup so Chinese viewers don’t see thousands of fans without masks in the stands. Only crowd wide shots. Whether spectators in the stands should be wearing masks or not is another question but this is clearly the Chinese government not trusting its own people with the knowledge that, in the rest of the world, crowds are now gathering maskless and #China stands alone with #ZeroCovid.
Nov 27, 2022 10 tweets 10 min read
Anti-#ZeroCovid protests are spreading in #China in different parts of the country, following deaths in a fire blamed on lockdown policies. bbc.com/news/world-asi… This anti-#ZeroCovid protest is said to have happened today at Tsinghua University in #Beijing. For young people in #China, a large chunk of this crucial part of their lives has been dominated by the #Covid crisis and all its restrictions.
Nov 25, 2022 17 tweets 13 min read
Anyone banking on #ZeroCovid being wound back in #China soon, allowing the Chinese economy to bounce back, restoring supply chain reliability here in the near future… don’t. It’s going to take a looong time for China to ease #ZeroCovid. The government in #China doesn’t seem to know exactly how to escape from the #ZeroCovid corner it’s painted itself into. This will be a long, drawn-out, process of trial and error easing, restricting, easing, restricting.
Nov 23, 2022 10 tweets 9 min read
Fresh unrest at the world’s largest #Apple iPhone factory according to Reuters. “People describing themselves as Foxconn workers pulled down barriers and argued with hazmat-suited authorities at a #COVID-hit plant” in #China’s #Zhengzhou. More details coming through re fresh worker protests at #Foxconn: reports of injuries in clashes with authorities; some workers complaining that those who've had #Covid are being allowed back on shift; others saying they've not been paid bonuses. Some want to go home. #China
Nov 20, 2022 8 tweets 7 min read
#Beijing is not under any official #Covid lockdown but the vast majority of restaurants, shops etc in Chaoyang District are shut and many companies and government departments have told staff not to come in this week because of the #Coronavirus outbreak in the city. #China I should add the closing of businesses etc mentioned above has also spread to other parts of #Beijing + most schools have switched to online classes. Some restaurants are doing delivery meals. #Covid infections keep going up. Infections found outside of quarantine doubled today.
Nov 20, 2022 6 tweets 5 min read
Smoggy night after a smoggy day in #Beijing, #China. #Beijing now. #China
Nov 3, 2022 4 tweets 3 min read
#China Covid: Panic and fear drove iPhone factory breakout bbc.co.uk/news/world-asi… For this piece, workers at #Foxconn told us about some of the crazy rumours which drove the panic and mass breakout at the world’s largest producer of #Apple iPhones in #Chinabbc.co.uk/news/world-asi…