Tag Archives: foreign policy

Restrictions and Supply Chains

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The People’s Republic of China has relatively newly emplaced—earlier this month—export restrictions on a variety of Wuhan Virus-related medical equipment that prevents their shipment to the US. These restrictions included signed deals for shipment—these are now blocked as well.

This is another example of the duplicity of PRC government officials and another example of the worthlessness of those officials’ promises.

Still, it’s not all bad. I don’t know why we’d want medical stuff that’s manufactured inside the PRC or by PRC-controlled manufacturers anywhere else, given the demonstrated shoddiness and outright uselessness of their manufactory.

This is just one more reason why we—and the rest of the world—need to excise the PRC from anywhere and everywhere in our supply chains.

[The PRC] is an almost irreplaceable supplier, making more than 40% of the world’s imports of masks, gloves, goggles, visors and medical garments, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

This is a dependency that must end. The PRC government as currently constituted is simply too unreliable, and the products it produces for export are too quality-lacking.

Planning

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Many nations are beginning to look at how to release the stay-at-home encouragement regimes and outright lockdown/quarantine requirements, including the United States (and several of the individual States and groups of States), the European Union sort of confederation of nations, Austria, among others.

A bit of second-guessing by me: these “looks at” should have been ongoing, with plans nearing readiness as plans to reduce or release restrictions draw nigh.

Any flag officer, knowing logistics, could tell you this.

Just as a sensible person is reluctant to enter a building before knowing where at least some exits are located, so a sensible government shouldn’t be entering widespread stay-at-home encouragements, much less lockdowns, without also having at least begun planning for easing/releasing the restrictions and for post ease/release recovery.

Export Incentives Coupled with Domestic Disincentives

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The People’s Republic of China has moved to shut down the domestic marketing of wild animals on fears [wild animal traders’] goods sparked the coronavirus pandemic. This is a seeming response to growing international pressure on the PRC to cut that out for that reason.

[The People’s Republic of] China’s National People’s Congress on February 24 imposed a ban on the sale and consumption of wild animals in the country.

However.

Less than a month later, [The People’s Republic of] China’s Ministry of Finance and tax authority said on March 17 they would raise value-added tax rebates on nearly 1,500 Chinese products, including offering a 9% rebate on the export of animal products such as edible snakes and turtles, primate meat, beaver and civet musk, and rhino horns….

As the Congressional Research Service, cited in the article at the link, mentioned, the export move

could spread the risk to global markets[.]

You think?

The CRS’ report further noted,

Absent in [The People’s Republic of] China’s policy push are incentives to encourage the sale of pharmaceuticals, PPE, and other medical products overseas[.]

Hmm. Makes me wonder just what the PRC is up to, really.

 

The CRS’ report can be read here.

A Federal Surveillance Law Lapse

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A fairly broad range of FISA surveillance authorities held by the Federal government has lapsed, and that

has begun to limit the FBI’s ability to pursue some terrorism and espionage suspects….

Disagreements among the House, Senate, and White House over how much to renew and the degree of additional controls to be applied to what’s renewed combined with the Wuhan Virus situation to let Congress adjourn for the season and the situation without action.

I’m undismayed by this turn of events. In the first place, when Congress returns, it’s quite likely to work out these differences and renew the FISA authorities in some form—which, if done correctly, won’t be all bad.

However, given the decision by far too many in the FBI to not bother discriminating between suspects and political opponents, the lapse isn’t all bad, either. It’ll be worth the time if only necessary authorities are renewed, proper controls are put in place, and the miscreants in the FBI are terminated for cause along with those whose miscreancy was criminal brought to trial.

We’re Not the only Ones

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There’s this bit, via The Independent, a British online news publication, regarding the reliability of (medical) products from the People’s Republic of China:

The UK government’s new testing chief has admitted that none of the 3.5 million antibody tests ordered from [the People’s Republic of China] are fit for widespread use.
Professor John Newton, who was appointed by health secretary Matt Hancock to oversee testing, reportedly said the tests were only able to identify immunity in people who had been severely sick with coronavirus.
The tests did not pass the evaluation stage, and he was quoted by The Times as saying they were “not good enough to be worth rolling out in very large scale”.

The Brits, too—along with, I strongly suspect, all of Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, and on and on—need to adjust the supply chains of their nationally critical items so as to eliminate the PRC from them.

It’s generally appropriate not to ascribe to malevolence what incompetence can adequately explain. However, sometimes it really is malevolence, when it’s on the scale the PRC is perpetrating.