Preface
My friend Mike told me about CGTN, which is the You Tube channel for People's Republic of China. For clarity, I have nothing personally against China or Chinese people. I have Chinese friends, and I respect their heritage and culture. I respect China as a great, historical, world power. As a biblical Christian, I view all people as equal as in the sense, made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1: 26-27). I, at the same time believe in the universal corruption of humanity through sinful nature and sinful choices (See Romans as key). The applied gospel of Jesus Christ to persons is the remedy which is finalized in the eventually culminated Kingdom of God (Revelation 20-22, 2 Peter 3).
You Tube
Cited
'CGTN is funded in whole or in part by the Chinese government. Wikipedia'
Cited
'China Global Television Network (CGTN... is the international division of the state-owned media organization China Central Television (CCTV), the headquarters of which is in Beijing, China.'
Cited
'CGTN is registered under the State Council of the People's Republic of China and is under the control of the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party.[2][4]'
'2 "China is spending billions on its foreign-language media". The Economist. 2018-06-14. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-22.'
'4 Cook, Sarah (September 25, 2019). "China Central Television: A Long-standing Weapon in Beijing's Arsenal of Repression". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 5 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
According to the Central Intelligence Agency:
Cited
'Government type: communist party-led state'
Cited
'elections: last held in December 2017-February 2018 (next to be held in late 2022 to early 2023)'
'election results: percent of vote - NA; seats by party - NA; composition - men 2,238, women 742, percent of women 24.9%'
Not applicable seats by party, because China is a totalitarian, dictatorship which only allows the main communist party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to rule. China has one-party rule.
List of political parties in China: Wikipedia
Cited
'China, officially the People's Republic of China, is a one-party state under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Despite this, eight minor parties officially exist alongside the CCP in a United Front similar to the popular fronts of former Cold War-era Eastern European countries such as the National Front of the German Democratic Republic. The CCP's CGTN wing officially states that the Communist Party acts as the ruling party but cooperates with the eight minor parties.[1]'
'1 How does China’s political system work?, retrieved 2021-04-22'
Video comments
At the approximately 25 second mark, the gentleman from Brazil, Mr. Teixeira, an documented economist, Alessandro Teixeira Wikipedia, states (paraphrased) that in the context of the video, which is the pandemic, we cannot have different perceptions and different values.
Differing worldviews, paradigms and opinions on issues is a reality in the world. For example, Marxism and related communism, has a different view on human life than does biblical Christianity. The first approach sees human life as temporal only and non-spiritual, Whereas the second approach, biblical Christianity, views human life as ultimately continuing post-mortem, either in the lake of fire for the unregenerate, or within the culminated Kingdom of God (Revelation 20-22) in physical, spiritual contexts (1 Corinthians 15) as regenerate (John 3, Titus 3).
The type of consensus this speaker from Brazil requires would assuredly be non-democratic. Fitting well within a communistic, Chinese worldview. At the one minute mark, approximately, this gentleman further pushes for consensus to battle a pandemic. At 1: 10 forward, approximately, it is stated (paraphrased) that individual rights can never be more important than the societal rights. In other words, people are 'free' to comply with the state, but non-state compliance should not be tolerated.
Mr. Tao Xie Tao: The Diplomat basically agrees with the views of Mr. Teixeira. He mentions (paraphrased) the negative US media coverage on how China has dealt with the pandemic.
However, that negative coverage is in part because there are significant doubts on the honesty and integrity of what the Chinese government is stating, in regards to the pandemic.
Cited
'Alina Chan isn't saying the coronavirus definitely leaked from a lab in China. What she is saying is what more scientists have grown comfortable discussing publicly: There's no clear evidence either way.'
Cited
'The hypotheses in play
A number of theories about how the virus may have emerged have been thrown out. Most that remain fall under three possible scenarios:
The virus evolved naturally before spilling over into humans from an infected animal.
The virus evolved naturally, but an employee at the lab became infected from a sample and accidentally "leaked" it into the community.
Scientists at the lab were manipulating virus samples and accidentally or intentionally released the pathogen.'
---
At the 2: 00 mark, forward approximately, Mr. Tai implies (paraphrased) that liberty and rights, which is valued in the western nations is actually, in truth, less important than the right to life. China is presented as a key example that protects life.
But more people may have died from this pandemic in China than has been reported.
China Concealed Extent of Virus Outbreak, U.S. Intelligence Says Nick Wadhams and Jennifer Jacobs, April 1, 2020, Updated on April 1, 2020: Bloomberg
Cited from Bloomberg
'China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths it’s suffered from the disease, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House, according to three U.S. officials.'
Philosophically and politically, a little bit of reading history, will tell the reader that millions of people have died and more will die at the hands of communist governments for being considered political enemies of the state. Life is valued when it agrees with the values of the state.
In my view, a good life requires significant liberty and freedom for persons while living within law and order.
The disagreement proposed by Mr. Teixeira at approximately 2: 25 forward, is largely a phony bit of propaganda. The basic views of these men are the same, favouring a dictatorial, Chinese approach to the pandemic over Western approaches which allow more freedom and liberty from individuals. Mr. Teixeira's comments from the beginning of the video are then restated and he suggests past the 3: 00 mark that collectivism is required, in other words, in my humble opinion, a form of communism, or at least significant socialism. Of course the People's Republic of China is communist. Mr. Tai, of China, then basically supports the same idea as his colleague from Brazil.
BARCLAY, WILLIAM (1976) The Letters of James and Peter, Philadelphia, The Westminster Press.
BLACKBURN, SIMON (1996) Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
BRUCE, F.F. (1987) Romans, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
CRANFIELD, C.E.B. (1992) Romans: A Shorter Commentary, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
DUNN, JAMES D.G. (1988) Romans, Dallas, Word Books.
HAMILTON, VICTOR P. (1988) Handbook on the Pentateuch, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.
LA SOR, WILLIAM SANFORD, DAVID ALLAN HUBBARD, AND FREDERIC WILLIAM BUSH. (1987) Old Testament Survey, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
MOUNCE, ROBERT H. (1990) The Book of Revelation, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
TIME ALMANAC 2013 (2012) Chicago.
