How China's Military Views the United States

This article estimates how many would become infected and how many would die in China if China lifts the Covid restrictions without bringing in western vaccines. Numbers are over 200 million infected, and 1.5 - 2.1 million dead. Hospital intensive care units could be overloaded by a factor of 15 (times their capacity).

Factbox-How many people might die, and why, if China loosens COVID restrictions

Hard to see Xi's hold on power surviving that kind of death rate. The longer he refuses to use western vaccines, the longer has to keep people on Covid restrictions, and the more the economy suffers. Add in the fact that the U.S. and Europe (and Australia and Canada)--China's highest paying customers--no longer trust China, and it may take decades for China's economy to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels.

 

More on the computer chip issue. The $500 billion industry is set to be worth a trillion dollars by the end of the decade. China is not happy that the U.S. is freezing them out of the high-tech chip technology. Taiwan is the global leader with 90% of the high-tech chip production. There are 81 new chip factories being built in the 2021-2025 time frame, with 21 of them being assembled in Taiwan (they are really serious about this!), 14 in the U.S., and 10 in Europe. It didn't mention what size the chip factories were, or what the total chip production capacity would be, however. It also didn't say whether the "facilities" were new factories or expansions of existing factories.

Global Semiconductor Race Is Turning Into a War

 

More on China's lending to Africa. This article says China may have caught itself in a debt trap of its own making. China owns 12% of African countries' debt, which has increased from $140B to $700B. African countries have become more assertive about not paying debt and NOT allowing China to seize their natural resources.

China May Have Created Trap for Itself With African Lending

 

U.S. aid to African countries is often in the form of private charities and Peace Corps volunteers. They build schools, and provide drinking water (without having to walk for miles balancing a giant water jug on your head) and teach sustainable ways of living. Hospitals are much more expensive than schools. China would not be building hospitals if there weren't a profit motive (from loan repayment plus access to natural resources). The U.S. doesn't do "profit motive" donations, generally speaking.

 

China still struggles with basic workplace safety measures, demonstrated by these women cleaning apartment windows on the 11th floor in Songyuan (northeast of Beijing). I'm surprised the window ledges weren't covered in ice in December that far north.

Women cleaning skyscraper windows without harnesses shocks Chinese netizens

 

China officially has no Covid deaths recently. However, dozens of hearses are lined up at a Beijing crematorium. The crematorium's parking area was full, and another 40 hearses were lined up down the street. It's almost like China's government doesn't tell the truth.

Hearses queue at Beijing crematorium, even as China reports no new COVID deaths

 

Kind of like your posts.

 

Western countries are starting to remove China from their supply chains due to Chairman Xi's Covid policies and their effect on factory production. The main beneficiaries appear to be India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Bangladesh.

China is losing its place as the center of the world's supply chains. Here are 5 places supply chains are going instead. (yahoo.com)