How to identify a real person from scammer?
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Posted:Sep 7, 2020 6:02 am
Last Updated:Mar 27, 2024 2:51 pm 157882 Views
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I have met many dates and they are real persons. Let me tell you how I verify them. If they emailed you first, you need 2 read their profiles thoroughly. They need 2 qualify your standards, such as age range, distance, education, smoker or non-smoker, ... anything not qualified you can ignore them. Of course, some of the standards can be compromised, some you can't. Never send any m*ney 2 anyone you have never met. Don't trust a stranger.
Ask them their real name, the city they live is within 50 miles or the distance you can drive 2, what is their jobs, where they work and ask more questions.
One MD emailed me from an online dating site. He asked where I was working. I told him I was working at Kaiser Permanente hospital pharmacy at what city (Kaiser has many locations in USA). That MD really went to the Kaiser hospital pharmacy and asked a pharmacy tech about my name. The pharmacy tech told the MD who I was at the pharmacy. That MD checked me out because MD is very comfortable with hospital. That was the first time I met that MD briefly at work. That MD really lives in Beverly Hills and he is a Jewish American. He doesn't follow the Jewish Kosher food restrictions and eats shrimp and crab. He is an atheist Jewish and only goes 2 synagogue twice a year for important holidays. I have dated with him for many yrs and went 2 many restaurants in Beverly Hills. He is a foodie person.
I used this method 2 check out many other dates. I asked my banker CEO/ Chairman friend about his bank with 4 locations. I drove 2 his bank and sat in the lobby and asked the loan officer who is the CEO/Chairman of the bank. That's how I know he is honest.
I usually dates CEO, MD, DDS, PhD, MBA, JD (attorney), CPA, Engineer, .... someone has at least B.S. (bachelor) degree, master degree or PhD. They need to have stable jobs and where I can check them at work. They have 2 be intelligent and trustworthy. I can ask them their job-related questions at beginning. They are all real persons, they are what they said they are. I have their names, jobs, even addresses in my computer, Microsoft Excel.
My banker friend is the longest and the most trustworthy friend since June 2006. He is very knowledgeable about finance. When I quit my pharmacist job in order 2 take care my mom, he encouraged me 2 invest on real estate and stock market. He told me 2 be my own boss (self-employed). He told 2 sell property in 2007 when I only knew him for a year. I took his advice and sold a property that made 4.5 times of original purchased price. He also sold some of his properties in 2007 and went 2 China for ten days. I went 2 China in May 2008. He said he won't buy Chinese properties because the property land is rented from CCP government unlike we purchase properties and land included. I trust him from the day one I met him. He advised me buy properties in Las Vegas, NV in 20'11. So, I went 2 Las Vegas and bought 5 properties using my mom's living trust name for title. When I came back 2 California, I told him I purchased five rental properties. He said "you are the queen of Las Vegas". He was joking. It has been fourteen yrs, the banker is still my best friend.
Before you met someone, please ask questions about that person and go 2 his work place and check the person out. Many profiles are fake location, fake age, fake photos, fake jobs, ... their profiles said "I like to walk on the beach", (who doesn't?) "easy going", ... it doesn't provide specific information to know a person.
I am lucky to live in Southern California and closer to meet the people who lives within 50 miles, so that I can check them out before I met them. Better be safe than sorry.
Hope my suggestion can help you to identify a real person from scammers. Good luck in your searching. I am a real person. I don't fool anyone, don't want to be fooled either.
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The turbulent year of 2020
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Posted:Aug 23, 2020 5:12 am
Last Updated:Sep 22, 2020 7:54 am 157853 Views
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Ever since the beginning of 2020, the Coronavirus outbreak started from Wuhan City, China. On January 23, 2 am wee hour, Xi announced lockdown Wuhan in Hubei province. According 2 the Wuhan mayor on Chinese TV broadcast interview that were more than 5 million Wuhan city citizens knew about this news hrs in advance Xi's announcement and they escaped from Wuhan 2 other provinces, then some went abroad. At the time, China said the Coronavirus source was from a seafood market in Wuhan. was an ophthalmology Dr. Li Wen-Liang 李文亮 sent emails 2 his colleagues and warned them 2 be aware of virus spreading by human human. Dr. Li later had been sent 2 the security guard 2 sign a paper that he was spreading the fake news. Dr. Li died on Coronavirus.
President Trump called Xi about the Coronavirus, Xi said the virus will disappear by April when weather becomes warmer just like SARS in 2003 in Asia. Trump believed Xi but he ordered U.S. airplane 2 take Americans worked in China back USA.
Then the virus spread South Korea, Japan, Singapore, ... then 2 Iran, Italy, Spain, France, UK, .... and USA and rest of the world.
Current Coronavirus update:
Global confirmed case: 23.2+ millions, Global death toll: 804+ thousands
全球：確診病例逾2320萬例、死亡逾80.4萬例
USA confirmed case: 5.66+ million, USA death toll: exceeds 1 7 6 thousands (more than Vietnam war, Korean war, 9/ terror attack in combined)
美國確診566萬5483例，總死亡人數超過 萬6632人
This pandemic spreading claimed so many lives that made majority of Americans realized how CCP ignored the disease and spread 2 the world. Trump originally just wanted China 2 more US products, so that makes the import / export balanced. Nevertheless, this virus spread 2 USA really pissed Trump. The unemployment was 3.7%, all the sudden, jobless claims shatter record soar 3.283 millions. Trump started 2 print m*ney, FOMC lowered interest 2 near zero %, Trump declared "National Emergence" and sent $1,200 the people made less than 75K/yr.
Many businesses, i.e. Airline companies, agencies, Hotel, Restaurants, Retail, Saloon, brick and mortar, ... got difficult. Everyone has 2 wear mask anywhere you go.
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China enforced new "National Security Laws" on Hong Kong. Actually that security laws can be enforced 2 anyone in the world has ever criticized CCP even not Chinese people, Hong Kong residents, or Taiwanese citizens.
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China has 27 provinces severe flooding. The food shortage will be coming soon. Their pork price is soaring 5 times higher. The rice, corn field in the flooding. Cows, pigs and chicken drowned. House crushed in mudslide, bridges broken, cars floating on the water, .... Please refer the photos inserted.
However, China still has time to send airplanes to circle and threaten Taiwan almost every many times. U.S. sent fleet and airplanes to protect Taiwan.
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Beirut, Lebanon, explosion causes mushroom cloud, least 181 deaths and 5,000 injured on August 4th. See the photo 4 and 5 for the images of Beirut before and after the explosion.
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The Coronavirus caused Japan to postpone the Tokyo summer Olympic to 2021. Nearly 60 killed in severe flooding in Kumamoto熊本市, Kyushu九州島, Japan. Japanese prime minister, Shinzō Abe (安倍 晋三) resigned on August 28th due 2 his health problem.
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Northern California wild fire due to the dry weather.
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U.S. Presidential election is November 3rd. I am a Democrat but don't know whom to vote for this year.
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August is a busy month for me to turn to be 65
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Posted:Aug 9, 2020 9:32 pm
Last Updated:Mar 27, 2024 1:24 pm 160212 Views
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By late of this August I will turn to be 65 years old. There are 4 things I must do before my birthday.
1. Driver's license renewal with DMV (Dept of Motor Vehicle). Before I went to DMV, I already went online to DMV of California to check its website. I had online renewed my driver's license twice (I have no moving violation or parking ticket for the past 15 years). The DMV letter said I have to physically go to DMV to renew this time. I went to DMV on Aug 4th morning. Wow, long waiting line around the building. Everybody wore a face mask, keep social distancing 6' and brought the necessary documents such as U.S. passport. When my turn, I had to fill out an application at a computer, then get in line again. DMV checked my U.S. passport and took a picture of me and told me to wait about 2 - 3 weeks for the new driver's license in the mail.
2. To apply a SSA (Social Security Administration) check. I have been a full time pharmacist for most of my adult life. My payroll had been deducted the insurance premium, so now it is time for me to get SSA checks. I applied 3 months before my birthday. SSA checks will automatically deposit to my checking account.
3. I got my free Medi-Care health insurance on Aug 1st, 20'20 (the 1st day of birth month at 65). The Medi-Care covers hospital and medical, but not prescription medication. So, I went to many seminar classes to attend many insurance companies for their plans. Some seminar provided a lunch or dinner meal, some provided a piece of pie with a drink, some just a glass of water. I had chosen a plan that provide me "Eye Care" (eye glasses) and prescription coverage. So many insurance companies to choose for supplement insurance (HMO, PPO ).
4. My California pharmacist license renewal. My mom fell down for 3 days and nights in her condo while she lived by herself in 2009. Luckily, I gave my female pharmacist (Kaiser and CVS) colleague who lives in the same condo complex with my mom. She didn't see my mom, so she opened my mom's door and found out my mom was on bathroom floor. She immediately called 911 and sent my mom to ER. She also called me to that hospital. At the ER, I saw many nurses were cleaning up my mom. A hospital social worker came to me and said "you can't let a 80 y/o woman to live alone". I used the time when my mom was in hospital for 4 days plus 14 days in a Nursing Home to quit my pharmacist jobs and brought my mom to my home. I took care of my mom, but she passed away in Sept 2013 at age of 87. She had severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoporosis. After my mom passed in 2013, I looked for jobs but they said I have lapsed too many years to work as a pharmacist. They rather to hire new licensed than my long career history pharmacist. I kept to renew even my mom passed, but became "inactive" as retired. I paid license renewal fee every 2 years. This Aug I decided NOT to renew my pharmacist license as "give-up" to work. It's making no sense to renew my license but not working anymore. I am officially retired. I have been a real estate and stock market investor since I moved my mom to my home in 2009. I have good days and bad days but my banker friend has helped me in decisions.
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4 Big Tech CEOs grilled by Congress on competition
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Posted:Aug 1, 2020 12:02 am
Last Updated:Aug 7, 2020 9:03 pm 155838 Views
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Fending off accusations of stifling competition, four Big Tech CEOs — Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai of Google and Tim Cook of Apple — are answering for their companies’ practices before Congress as a House panel caps its yearlong investigation of market dominance in the industry.
The powerful CEOs sought to defend their companies amid intense grilling by lawmakers on Wednesday.
The executives provided bursts of data showing how competitive their markets are, and the value of their innovation and essential services to consumers. But they sometimes struggled to answer pointed questions about their business practices. They also confronted a range of other concerns about alleged political bias, their effect on U.S. democracy and their role in China.
The four CEOs were testifying remotely to lawmakers, most of whom were sitting, in masks, inside the hearing room in Washington.
Among the toughest questions for Google and Amazon involved accusations that they used their dominant platforms to scoop up data about competitors in a way that gave them an unfair advantage.
Bezos said in his first testimony to Congress that he couldn’t guarantee that the company had not accessed seller data to make competing products, an allegation that the company and its executives have previously denied.
Regulators in the U.S. and Europe have scrutinized Amazon’s relationship with the businesses that sell on its site and whether the online shopping giant has been using data from the sellers to create its own private-label products.
“We have a policy against using seller specific data to aid our private label business,” Bezos said in a response to a question from U.S Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat. “But I can’t guarantee to you that that policy hasn’t been violated.”
Pichai’s opening remarks touted Google’s value to mom-and-pop businesses in Bristol, Rhode Island and Pewaukee, Wisconsin, in the home districts of the antitrust panel’s Democratic chairman, Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, and its ranking Republican, Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin.
But the Google executive struggled as Cicilline accused the company of leveraging its dominant search engine to steal ideas and information from other websites and manipulating its results to drive people to its own digital services to boost its profits.
Pichai repeatedly deflected Cicilline’s attacks by asserting that Google tries to provide the most helpful and relevant information to the hundreds of millions of people who use its search engine each day in an effort to keep them coming back instead of defecting to a rival service, such as Microsoft’s Bing.
As Democrats largely focused on market competition, several Republicans aired longstanding grievances that the tech companies are censoring conservative voices and questioned their business activities in China. “Big Tech is out to get conservatives,” said Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.
In a tweet before the hearing, President Donald Trump challenged Congress to crack down on the companies, which he has accused, without evidence, of bias against him and conservatives in general.
“If Congress doesn’t bring fairness to Big Tech, which they should have done years ago, I will do it myself with Executive Orders,” Trump tweeted.
Executive orders are more limited in scope than laws passed by Congress, though they too have the force of law. But presidents can’t use executive orders to alter federal statutes. That takes congressional action.
Trump’s Justice Department has urged Congress to roll back long-held legal protections for online platforms such as Facebook, Google and Twitter. The proposed changes would strip some of the bedrock protections that have generally shielded the companies from legal responsibility for what people post on their platforms.
The four tech CEOs command corporations with gold-plated brands, millions or even billions of customers, and a combined value greater than the entire German economy. One of them, Bezos, is the world’s richest individual; Zuckerberg is the fourth-ranked billionaire.
Critics have questioned whether the companies stifle competition and innovation, raise prices for consumers and pose a danger to society.
In its bipartisan investigation, the Judiciary subcommittee collected testimony from mid-level executives of the four firms, competitors and legal experts, and pored over more than a million internal documents from the companies. A key question: whether existing competition policies and century-old antitrust laws are adequate for overseeing the tech giants, or if new legislation and enforcement funding are needed.
Cicilline has called the four companies monopolies, although he says breaking them up should be a last resort. While forced breakups may appear unlikely, the wide scrutiny of Big Tech points toward possible new restrictions on its power.
Cicilline also said that in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, “these giants stand to profit” and become even more powerful as millions shift more of their work and commerce online.
The companies face legal and political offensives on multiplying fronts, from Congress, the Trump administration, federal and state regulators and European watchdogs. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have been investigating the four companies’ practices.
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龐培歐：中國不是正常國家、解放軍不是正常軍隊
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Posted:Jul 24, 2020 4:33 am
Last Updated:Jul 30, 2020 1:43 pm 156405 Views
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美國剛下令要求限時關閉中國駐休士頓總領事館後，國務卿龐培歐23日在一場針對中國的談話中表示，中國不是正常國家，中共總書記習近平是「破產極權主義意識形態的真心信奉者」，美中未來仍要持續對話，因中共不會自己改革，美國面對中共時應「不信任且要核實」。
龐培歐(Mike Pompeo)在尼克森圖書館以「共產中國與自由世界的未來」為題發表談話時表示，若想要有個自由的21世紀，而非習近平夢想的「中國世紀」，就不能再靠與中國盲目交往(blind engagement)的舊模式，「絕不能持續也不能重回。」
「自由世界若不聯手改變中共，將等著被中共改變；自由世界應與中國人民合作，改變共產黨。」龐培歐說，「雷根(Ronald Reagan)總統在『信任但要核實』(trust but verify)的基礎上處理蘇聯問題，但只要遇上中共，就得『不信任且要核實』(distrust and verify)。」
這是川普政府重要官員對中政策演說的最後一場，先前白宮國安顧問歐布萊恩(Robert O'Brien)、聯邦調查局(FBI )局長雷伊(Christopher Wray)和司法部長巴維理(William Barr)均已針對中國對美國和世界造成的威脅，發表看法。
龐培歐說，尼克森(Richard Nixon)1972年訪問中國，開啟美中交往政策近50年，尼克森當年的判斷沒錯，不可能讓中國永遠被排除在世界體系之外，只有中國改變，世界才能安全，美國希望引導中方改變，創造一個對內自由、對外友善的中國。
龐培歐表示，隨著時間過去，交往政策讓北京獲利更多，當自由世界對中國展開雙臂，北京反咬一口，「近50年來，中國所謂的雙贏沒有實現，美國也並未更加安全。」
龐培歐說，中共違背對國際社會的承諾，「我們今天戴上口罩坐在這裡，看著新冠肺炎死亡人數上升，閱讀香港和新疆各地遭壓迫的頭條新聞，看到因中國不當貿易行為，讓美國人民失業的驚人數據，也看見中國軍力增長，更具威脅性。」
龐培歐指出，中共不是正常國家，解放軍不是正常軍隊，解放軍維護精英統治與擴張帝國主義，本意不在保護人民，美國將持續在南海與台灣海峽，強化自由航行。
歐布萊恩指中共政權為馬克思列寧主義政權，龐培歐說，習近平就是破產極權主義意識形態的真心信奉者，期待打造中國共產主義的世界霸權。
龐培歐呼籲世界各國採取行動，了解中國，並且與中國人民往來，比起外國對手，中共更害怕來自人民真實的聲音。
華府智庫2049研究員易思安(Ian Easton)在推特評論，演講很精采，但他看不到美國要如何防衛台灣、看不到美國對香港的計畫，也看不到美國要如何從好萊塢、美國媒體與社會中，移除中共的影響力。
中國官媒環球時報總編胡錫進也在推特發文，強烈敦促美國人民支持川普連任，像龐培歐這種瘋子可以團結中國，對中國崛起至關重要；身為中國共產黨員，要感謝川、龐等人。
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胡錫進 has no right to call Mr. Pompeo a crazy.
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People are burning documents at the Chinese Consulate in Houston, the US gave it 72 hrs to shut down
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Posted:Jul 24, 2020 3:12 am
Last Updated:Aug 8, 2020 7:02 pm 155019 Views
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People were seen burning documents at the Chinese Consulate in Houston, and fire services were called to the scene.
The police told multiple outlets that people were burning documents in what appeared to be open trash cans. It is not clear what those documents were.
It came as China said the US ordered the consulate to be closed in an "unprecedented escalation." Chinese state media reported that the US had given China 72 hours to close it.
The State Department said the closing was ordered to protect American intellectual property and Americans' private information.
China painted the decision in light of strained US-China relations, claiming the US "has repeatedly stigmatized China," and vowed to retaliate if the US did not reverse its order.
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The next Chinese Consulate to be shut down could be in San Francisco as a fugitive researcher 'hiding in San Francisco consulate.
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Trump's administration draws up plan for travel ban on 92 MILLION CCP members
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Posted:Jul 19, 2020 9:25 pm
Last Updated:Mar 27, 2024 1:08 pm 153870 Views
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Trump's administration draws up plan for travel ban on 92 MILLION CCP members including Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma – but Beijing lashes back that move is 'pathetic'
Administration officials have drafted an executive order that would ban all members of the CCP from traveling to the U.S.
Among the citizens included in this ban would be China’s richest man and highest-profile business leader, Jack Ma 马云, the founder of Alibaba
He is worth $46.3 billion and acts as an adviser to political leaders in Asia and Europe, along with fostering ambitions in the U.S.
The ban, if signed by the president, could also revoke the visas and expel from the country Chinese citizens and their families who are currently in the U.S.
China's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying 华春莹 said if rumors of the proposed order are true, it would be a 'bullying' tactic she claims is 'pathetic'
'If the U.S. thinks that everything China does is a threat, then it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy,' Hua said told reporters
Trump signed an executive order Tuesday implementing sanctions on China
A second executive order also ended special statuses for Hong Kong as China implemented new security laws on the region
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China sanctions Cruz, Rubio, Smith, Brownback for criticism
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Posted:Jul 14, 2020 1:13 am
Last Updated:Jul 20, 2020 12:34 am 154416 Views
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China said it will impose sanctions on three U.S. lawmakers and one ambassador in response to similar actions taken by the U.S. last week against Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses against Muslims in the Xinjiang新疆 region.
U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, Rep. Chris Smith and Ambassador for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback were targeted, as was the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. The four have been critical of the ruling Communist Party’s policies toward minority groups and people of faith.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said the U.S. move had “seriously damaged China-U.S. relations” and that China was determined to uphold its national sovereignty against what it sees as interference in its internal affairs.
“China will respond further according to the development of the situation,” Hua said.
She did not spell out the sanctions beyond saying they would correspond to the American ones. The U.S. prohibited any property transactions by Americans with four senior Chinese officials and barred three of them from entering the U.S.
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FOX News: Chinese virologist accuses Beijing of coronavirus cover-up, flees Hong Kong
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Posted:Jul 11, 2020 10:30 am
Last Updated:Aug 8, 2020 9:52 pm 151932 Views
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I copied and pasted the FOX News in order to reveal the truth for you to Google this blog title and view the video what the Chinese virologist, Dr. Li-Meng Yan. She knew the truth and risked her life, her husband's life, her supervisor's life, her parents' lives fleed from China to Hong Kong to USA and went on FOX News to tell the truth to the world. I didn't make up the story. You can Google it, if you haven't known.
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EXCLUSIVE: Chinese virologist accuses Beijing of coronavirus cover-up, flees Hong Kong: 'I know how they treat whistleblowers'.
Li-Meng Yan told Fox News that she believes China knew about the coronavirus well before it claimed it did. She says her supervisors also ignored research she was doing that she believes could have saved lives.
Hours before she boarded an April 28 Cathay Pacific flight to the United States, the respected doctor who specialized in virology and immunology at the Hong Kong School of Public Health had plotted her escape, packing her bag and sneaking past the censors and video cameras on campus.
She had her passport and her purse and was about to leave all of her loved ones behind. If she was caught, she knew she could be thrown in jail -- or, worse, rendered one of the "disappeared."
Yan told Fox News in an exclusive interview that she believes the Chinese government knew about the novel coronavirus well before it claimed it did. She says her supervisors, renowned as some of the top experts in the field, also ignored research she was doing at the onset of the pandemic that she believes could have saved lives.
She adds that they likely had an obligation to tell the world, given their status as a World Health Organization reference laboratory specializing in influenza viruses and pandemics, especially as the virus began spreading in the early days of 2020.
Yan, now in hiding, claims the government in the country where she was born is trying to shred her reputation and accuses government goons of choreographing a cyber-attack against her in hopes of keeping her quiet.
Yan believes her life is in danger. She fears she can never go back to her home and lives with the hard truth that she’ll likely never see her friends or family there again.
Still, she says, the risk is worth it.
"The reason I came to the U.S. is because I deliver the message of the truth of COVID," she told Fox News from an undisclosed location.
She added that if she tried to tell her story in China, she "will be disappeared and killed."
Yan's story weaves an extraordinary claim about cover-ups at the highest levels of government and seemingly exposes the obsessive compulsion of President Xi Jinping and his Communist Party to control the coronavirus narrative: what China knew, when it knew it and what edited information it peddled to the rest of the world.
Yan, who says she was one of the first scientists in the world to study the novel coronavirus, was allegedly asked by her supervisor at the University/WHO reference lab, Dr. Leo Poon, in 2019 to look into the odd cluster of SARS-like cases coming out of mainland China at the end of December 2019.
"The China government refused to let overseas experts, including ones in Hong Kong, do research in China," she said. "So I turned to my friends to get more information."
Yan had an extensive network of professional contacts in various medical facilities in mainland China, having grown up and completed much of her studies there. She says that is the precise reason she was asked to conduct this kind of research, especially at a time when she says her team knew they weren’t getting the whole truth from the government.
One friend, a scientist at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China, had first-hand knowledge of the cases and purportedly told Yan on Dec. 31 about human-to-human transmission well before China or the WHO admitted such spread was possible.
She reported some of these early findings back to her boss, Yan said.
"He just nodded," she recalled, and told her to keep working.
A few days later, on Jan. 9, 2020, the WHO put out a statement: "According to Chinese authorities, the virus in question can cause severe illness in some patients and does not transmit readily between people... There is limited information to determine the overall risk of this reported cluster.”
Yan said she and her colleagues across China discussed the peculiar virus but that she soon noted a sharp shift in tone.
Doctors and researchers who had been openly discussing the virus suddenly clammed up. Those from the city of Wuhan--which later would become the hub of the outbreak--went silent and others were warned not to ask them details.
The doctors said, ominously, "We can't talk about it, but we need to wear masks,'" Yan said.
Then the numbers of human-to-human transmission began to grow exponentially, according to her sources, and Yan started digging for answers.
"There are many, many patients who don't get treatment on time and diagnosis on time," Yan said. "Hospital doctors are scared, but they cannot talk. CDC staff are scared."
She said she reported her findings to her supervisor again on Jan. 16 but that's when he allegedly told her "to keep silent, and be careful."
"As he warned me before, 'Don't touch the red line,'" Yan said referring to the government. "We will get in trouble and we'll be disappeared."
She also claims the co-director of a WHO-affiliated lab, Professor Malik Peiris, knew but didn't do anything about it.
Peiris also did not respond to requests for comment. The WHO website lists Peiris as an "adviser" on the WHO International Health Regulations Emergency Committee for Pneumonia due to the Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV.
Yan was frustrated, but not surprised.
"I already know that would happen because I know the corruption among this kind of international organization like the WHO to China government, and to China Communist Party," she said. "So basically... I accept it but I don't want this misleading information to spread to the world."
The WHO and China have vehemently denied claims of a coronavirus cover-up.
The WHO has also denied that Yan, Poon or Peiris ever worked directly for the organization.
"Professor Malik Peiris is an infectious disease expert who has been on WHO missions and expert groups - as are many people eminent in their fields," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Ann Harris said in an email. "That does not make him a WHO staff member, nor does he represent WHO."
Yan says despite any pushback, she has been emboldened by a sense of right and wrong and says she had to speak up despite the personal and professional consequences.
"I know how they treat whistleblowers," she said.
Like so many before her, once Yan decided to speak out against China, she discovered her life was apparently in jeopardy, as well as that of those closest to her.
It was a fear directly relayed to her and seemingly confirmed by U.S.-based Hong Kong blogger Lu Deh, she says.
After she shared some of her theories and suspicions with him, he told her she would need to relocate, perhaps to the United States, where she wouldn't have to constantly look over her shoulder. Only then would she be safe and have a platform to speak, he said.
Yan made the decision to leave, but things got complicated when her husband of six years, who also worked at her lab, discovered the telephone call between his wife and the blogger.
Yan told Fox News she begged her husband to go with her, and says while her spouse, a reputable scientist himself, had initially been supportive of her research, he suddenly had a change of heart.
"He was totally pissed off," she said. "He blamed me, tried to ruin my confidence... He said they will kill all of us.'"
Shocked and hurt, Yan made the decision to leave without him.
She got her ticket to the U.S. on April 27. She was on a flight the next day.
When she landed at Los Angeles International Airport after her 13-hour journey, she was stopped by customs officials.
Fear gripped her and Yan didn't know if she would end up in jail or be sent back to China.
"I had to tell them the truth," she said. "I'm doing the right thing. So I tell them that 'don't let me go back to China. I'm the one who came to tell the truth here of COVID-19... And please protect me. If not, the China government will kill me."
The FBI was allegedly called in to investigate. Yan claims they interviewed her for hours, took her cell phone as evidence and allowed her to continue to her destination.
The FBI told Fox News it could neither confirm nor deny Yan's claims; however, Fox News was shown an evidence receipt that appeared to confirm an interaction.
As Yan was trying to find her footing in America, she says her friends and family back home were being put through the wringer.
Yan claims the government swarmed her hometown of Qingdao and that agents ripped apart her tiny apartment and questioned her parents. When she contacted her mother and father, they pleaded with her to come home, told her she didn't know what she was talking about and begged her to give up the fight.
The University of Hong Kong took down her page and apparently revoked access to her online portals and emails, despite the fact that she says she was on an approved annual leave. In a statement to Fox News, a school spokesperson said Yan is not currently an employee.
"Dr Li-Meng Yan is no longer a staff member of the University," the statement read. "Out of respect for our current and former employees, we don’t disclose personal information about her. Your understanding is appreciated."
The Chinese Embassy in the United States told Fox News they don't know who Yan is and maintain China has handled the pandemic heroically.
"We have never heard of this person," the emailed statement read. "The Chinese government has responded swiftly and effectively to COVID-19 since its outbreak. All its efforts have been clearly documented in the white paper "Fighting COVID-19: China in Action" with full transparency. Facts tell all."
The WHO has also continued to deny any wrongdoing during the earliest days of the virus. The medical arm of the United Nations has been taken to task recently by scientists challenging its official view of how the virus spreads. The WHO has also altered the coronavirus timeline on its website, now saying it got information about the virus from WHO scientists and not the Beijing authorities--as it has claimed for more than six months.
Fox News has also reached out to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the scientists Yan accuses of suppressing her concerns for comment.
Yan says she'll continue to speak out--but knows there's a target on her back.
Photo 1. Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a Chinese virologist
Photo 2. Dr. Li-Meng Yan at her wedding
Photo 3. Dr. Li-Meng Yan in Hong Kong (Yan)
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China strangles its world city
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Posted:Jul 3, 2020 9:06 am
Last Updated:Jul 6, 2020 10:56 am 147135 Views
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For decades, Hong Kong styled itself as Asia’s preeminent metropolis, a bustling former British colony at the center of the continent’s trade and logistics networks and the main international gateway to the booming Chinese market. Expats waltzed into Hong Kong as if it was an analogue of London or New York City. Local Hong Kongers exercised civil liberties unthinkable on the other side of the border with the mainland.
But those freedoms seemed to come under constant threat since Britain handed over Hong Kong to China’s authoritarian regime in 1997. Moves, large and small, by local authorities and their masters in Beijing to curtail Hong Kong’s special liberties sparked repeated rounds of protests, including the wave of demonstrations that paralyzed the city last year. And then, in one fell swoop, China dropped the hammer.
In what the Economist dubbed “one of the biggest assaults on a liberal society since the Second World War,” China implemented a sweeping, new national security law for Hong Kong on midnight Tuesday. “Overnight, Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents were put under the same speech restrictions as the mainland, with possible life imprisonment for those deemed guilty of subversion — a standard charge used to jail political dissidents and human rights activists in China,” my colleagues reported.
To many observers, the law marks the definitive end to an era. It’s the latest and perhaps most emphatic demonstration of the draconian grip of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has shrunk the space for civil society throughout China, steadily squeezed political dissent in Hong Kong and erected a dystopia of mass detention camps for persecuted ethnic minorities in the far-western region of Xinjiang.
“Hong Kong is a great world city, not a remote area like Xinjiang. But the government of Xi Jinping is now clearly determined to bring it into line,” wrote the editorial board of the Financial Times. “The formula of ‘one country, two systems’ applied to Hong Kong since 1997 and sanctified in international agreements seems in effect to be over — a point underlined by the way the national security legislation was written and imposed from Beijing, without any participation by the Hong Kong government or legislature.”
Thousands of Hong Kongers still took to the streets in a show of defiance this week. Hundreds were arrested. The fear is that the breadth of the new law — which apparently also extends to people living outside of China’s legal jurisdiction — could break the popular will to stand against Beijing.
This week’s events can be interpreted as “a bloodless version” of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Steve Tsang, a historian of Hong Kong at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, told the Atlantic. “People tend to focus on the killing [at Tiananmen], but the killing was an instrument,” he said. “The objective was to intimidate and terrify the people so that people don’t even think about [protesting] again.”
Not long ago, Hong Kong was seen as the city that would prefigure a more liberal, prosperous future for China. Now, its protesters are the canaries in the coal mine, left to voice the final cries of a society whose democratic aspirations are withering on the vine. Rather than seeing a metropolis of the future, analysts point to Hungary in 1956 or Prague in 1968.
Chinese officials seem unmoved by the torrent of Western criticism and sanctions coming their way. “The era when the Chinese cared what others thought and looked up to others is in the past, never to return,” Zhang Xiaoming, the executive director of China’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, told reporters.
Nor do they seem much bothered by the news this week that a host of foreign governments — including Australia, Taiwan, the United States and, most importantly, Britain — are considering fast-tracking permits for potentially millions of Hong Kong refugees seeking to quit their home city. That exodus may take place alongside a flight of Western capital and business — especially if the United States decides to scrap its special trade relationship with the territory, as President Trump has pledged to do.
Hong Kong’s diminishment may be worth the cost for Beijing, which can count on global business regardless and attract investors to gleaming megacities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai. But it may also serve the interests of the more radical set of Hong Kong’s protesters, who see the impossible odds of confronting the leviathan in Beijing yet still want to intensify the showdown. “If we burn, you burn with us,” a catchphrase from the Hunger Games series, has become a popular refrain.
“The choice is between dying quietly without the world noticing, or dying with dignity with the world noticing, and at the same time creating the chance of causing some damage to the people who kill Hong Kong,” Ho-Fung Hung, a professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University, told Quartz.
“Hong Kong’s people have continually shown an ability to defy impossible odds and create beauty even in the harshest settings,” wrote Jeffrey Wasserstrom, the author of “Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink.” But he laments the creeping nihilism of the times.
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