Chinese residents say they are 'STARVING' under rules stopping them leaving their homes as country sees record number of Covid cases and expands lockdowns to more cities

Locked-down residents in one of China's biggest cities say they are at risk of starving in their homes after they were banned from going outside even to buy food under harsh new Covid measures sparked by just a few dozen cases.
 
Apparatchiks running the city of Xi'an on Monday told 13million people they are only allowed out of their homes when invited to take part in a new round of mass testing, or for medical emergencies.
 
Previously, one member of each household was allowed out once every two days to buy food. City officials said people in 'low risk' areas will be allowed out to buy essentials once testing is complete and if their results are negative.

'I'm about to be starved to death,' wrote one person on Weibo, China's equivalent of Facebook. 'There's no food, my housing compound won't let me out, and I'm about to run out of instant noodles ... please help!'  
 
'I don't want to hear any more about how everything is fine,' said another. 'So what if supplies are so abundant - they're useless if you don't actually give them to people.'

BERLIN, Dec 21 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed deepening bilateral ties in a phone call on Tuesday, the German government said in a statement.

Suspects paraded through Chinese streets like Cultural Revolution
'Cultural Revolution-style epidemic prevention' seen imposed in Guangxi Province

Videos surfaced on Tuesday (Dec. 28) showing four suspected smugglers being paraded through a city as they held large portraits of themselves, drawing rare criticism from within China for hearkening to the Cultural Revolution and violating Chinese laws.
 
On Tuesday, several videos surfaced on Twitter showing four men clad in white PPE being escorted by two police officers, also in white hazmat suits, being publicly paraded through a street in Baise City in Guangxi's Jingxi County. A long line of police can be seen flanking either side of the street, while crowds of onlookers gawk at the spectacle.
 
The men can be seen holding huge photos of themselves with their names and other information scrawled below. A voice can be heard broadcast over loudspeakers admonishing the public to dutifully follow epidemic prevention regulations.
 
In a second video, the men can be seen being marched to a public square, where they are forced to face a large mob gathered outside a supermarket. A third video of the incident shows the four men spaced far apart in the square and forced to stand perfectly still, while a fourth clip showed the men loaded in a pig truck.

Chinese residents say they are 'STARVING' under rules stopping them leaving their homes as country sees record number of Covid cases and expands lockdowns to more cities

Locked-down residents in one of China's biggest cities say they are at risk of starving in their homes after they were banned from going outside even to buy food under harsh new Covid measures sparked by just a few dozen cases.

Apparatchiks running the city of Xi'an on Monday told 13million people they are only allowed out of their homes when invited to take part in a new round of mass testing, or for medical emergencies.

Previously, one member of each household was allowed out once every two days to buy food. City officials said people in 'low risk' areas will be allowed out to buy essentials once testing is complete and if their results are negative.

'I'm about to be starved to death,' wrote one person on Weibo, China's equivalent of Facebook. 'There's no food, my housing compound won't let me out, and I'm about to run out of instant noodles ... please help!'

'I don't want to hear any more about how everything is fine,' said another. 'So what if supplies are so abundant - they're useless if you don't actually give them to people.'

#Beijing is purging food officials, a sign that the food shortages of last year are worsening—and will continue to worsen. #China is a “superpower” that cannot feed itself. #CCP

The Delta Variant Could End The Chinese Communist Party

China urges families to keep stocks of daily necessities ahead of winter

The Chinese government has told families to keep daily necessities in stock in case of emergencies, after COVID-19 outbreaks and unusually heavy rains that caused a surge in vegetable prices raised concerns about supply shortages.
 
The commerce ministry directive late on Monday stirred some concern on domestic social media that it may have been triggered by heightened tensions with Taiwan, while some said people were rushing to stock up on rice, cooking oil and salt.
 
"As soon as this news came out, all the old people near me went crazy panic buying in the supermarket," wrote one user on China's Twitter-like Weibo.
 
Local media has also recently published lists of recommended goods to store at home including biscuits and instant noodles, vitamins, radios and flashlights.
 
The public response forced state media on Tuesday to try to soothe fears and clarify the ministry's statement.
 
The Economic Daily, a Communist Party-backed newspaper, told netizens not to have "too much of an overactive imagination" and that the directive's purpose was to make sure citizens were not caught off guard if there was a lockdown in their area.
 
The People's Daily said the ministry issues such notices every year, but had issued its instruction earlier this year because of natural disasters, the surge in vegetable prices and recent COVID-19 cases.

Through his attorneys, Tao pleaded not guilty to all charges and contended that the FBI knowingly used false information from an informant to obtain search warrants.    
 
“We live under constant fear that our family would be separated as a result of this injustice,” said Tao’s wife, Hong Peng.
 
She said the ordeal has taken a toll on the mental health of her teenage children, both of whom were born in the U.S. The legal defense fees, meanwhile, have almost reached $1 million. Peng, now the primary provider for her family, juggles three jobs and sometimes has to work 24-hour shifts as an ultrasound technician to make ends meet. Even though they have raised nearly $350,000 from GoFundMe, the Taos are still more than two months behind on payments.

The China Initiative, despite its stated mission, hasn’t found much success catching spies or countering technology theft. Only about a quarter of 77 cases include economic espionage charges, and fewer than one-third have resulted in convictions, according to the MIT Technology Review analysis. Since 2018, when the initiative launched, the FBI has brought 12 prosecutions at academic or grant-making institutions, none of which involved espionage charges.

The sale of 50 F-35 warplanes made by Lockheed Martin to the UAE had slowed amid concerns in Washington over Abu Dhabi's relationship with China, including use of Huawei 5G technology in the country.
 
"Technical requirements, sovereign operational restrictions, and cost/benefit analysis led to the re-assessment," the UAE official said in a statement to Reuters that confirmed a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Through his attorneys, Tao pleaded not guilty to all charges and contended that the FBI knowingly used false information from an informant to obtain search warrants.    
 
“We live under constant fear that our family would be separated as a result of this injustice,” said Tao’s wife, Hong Peng.
 
She said the ordeal has taken a toll on the mental health of her teenage children, both of whom were born in the U.S. The legal defense fees, meanwhile, have almost reached $1 million. Peng, now the primary provider for her family, juggles three jobs and sometimes has to work 24-hour shifts as an ultrasound technician to make ends meet. Even though they have raised nearly $350,000 from GoFundMe, the Taos are still more than two months behind on payments.

The China Initiative, despite its stated mission, hasn’t found much success catching spies or countering technology theft. Only about a quarter of 77 cases include economic espionage charges, and fewer than one-third have resulted in convictions, according to the MIT Technology Review analysis. Since 2018, when the initiative launched, the FBI has brought 12 prosecutions at academic or grant-making institutions, none of which involved espionage charges.

The sale of 50 F-35 warplanes made by Lockheed Martin to the UAE had slowed amid concerns in Washington over Abu Dhabi's relationship with China, including use of Huawei 5G technology in the country.
 
"Technical requirements, sovereign operational restrictions, and cost/benefit analysis led to the re-assessment," the UAE official said in a statement to Reuters that confirmed a report in the Wall Street Journal.