Aah, the World and its freelancers, an immutable source of sighs, of raising one's eyes to the sky (or one's one eye to the heavens for the one-eyed person) and of massaging tired eyebrows with frowns... This time again , Simon Leplâtre, in his works as a sofa-café journalist, gives us his opinions on the recent relaxation of the zero-covid policy in China...

Is it for the pleasure of those who employ him? Without a doubt. Is it to inform people? We will see why I doubt it. In any case, Jean-Claude Van Damme has something to worry about: here is a serious competition in terms of flexibility of the raconteurs. I dedicate my text to "SOMETHING ELSE"...

 

BY Xiao PIGNOUF

 

I must say it in preamble, the circumflexed pair of Lemaître and Leplâtre is an enigma for me. 

Of these two correspondents for Le Monde in China, I have, possibly the wrong and naive idea to believe that they were sent there, to live, to work, to investigate, to get information and inform, because of their knowledge of the country and especially the language, otherwise how would their task be even possible? And that their links should lead when it comes to the transmission of information about a country that one knows well, without of course mentioning — with adoration or even complacency to a certain extent I may dare — the word: objectivity…

However, it is clearly the opposite that dominates. Their press releases follow each other and resemble each other. A systematically damning and slanderous rhetoric, a defamatory and accusatory vocabulary serve to account for the slightest information and sometimes contradicting each other as we will see — because there is something as certain as the revolution of the planets around the sun, it is that whatever China does or undertakes, it will always be guilty of either doing it wrong or doing it wrong in the eyes of these masters of certified authentic information.

 

Suddenly, I am wondering if these two “chroniclers” of China would not be infected with the Ursula Gauthier syndrome. On November 18, 2015, Ursula Gauthier, journalist for the Nouvel Obs in Beijing had written an article full of benevolence for China and the Chinese people, following the terrorist attacks of the 13th in Paris. She said in particular of this Chinese, while they paid homage to the Parisian victims, that they "feel little sympathy for the rest of the world", but above all she accused the Chinese government of an opportunistic meshing, when the government dared to describe as “terrorist” (it was Ursula Gauthier who placed a pair of quotes on "terrorist") of a recent attack which had taken place in Xinjiang and left 50 dead.

According to Ursula Gauthier, it was not "terrorism", but the expression of fatigue, anger, an "explosion of rage", supposedly frequent in the region... Worse, she accused the Chinese state to be responsible for this anger which had led nice and honest Uyghurs oppressed by the authorities, to massacre their fellow citizens.

Naturally, this defamatory article had earned the journalist the refusal of the renewal of her visa, which she had hastened to pass off as a quasi military expulsion. It takes what one takes to return to France adorned with the halo of journalists whom the Chinese wanted to silence (in the absence of sweat under the armpits caused by exhausting work). Ursula must have been dreaming of the Albert Londres or Pulitzer prizes.

 

Since then, recovered, she has continued her undermining work in the comfort of her Parisian offices. It's not just cats that always land on their feet.

 

But let’s come back to Leplâtre and to the context.

 

Until recently, China's policy to fight the covid pandemic was characterised by "zero tolerance" for the virus. This extremely restrictive policy, made up of repeated and long confinements, isolation of positive cases and permanent tests was officially aimed at protecting populations at risk, in particular the elderly, who are poorly vaccinated compared to other countries. While China seemed to be doing better than the rest of the world during the first year of the pandemic, the end of restrictions in Europe and the United States did not change the zero-covid policy advocated by Chinese President Xi Jinping which continued while part of the rest of the world was gradually returning to a semblance of normality, with vaccination campaigns which withered by weariness of constant reminders and a less virulent omicron variant. In short what we can hope for was to approach a sort of herd immunity.

 

China continued its hunt for the virus, tirelessly, deaf to the taunts of the Western world which was regaining its freedom. In one of the rare articles by Leplâtre where he shows objectivity, we manage to see that Xi's policy, misunderstood by often condescending Westerners including yours truly, is motivated, in a country of nearly one and a half billion inhabitants, by the fear of an explosion of cases in a context of limited vaccination coverage and weak hospital infrastructure. It cannot be denied that part of the Chinese population, in particular the youth and the working population, despite their resilience, ended up getting tired of these restrictions when they saw that the rest of the world was living with the virus.

Be that as it may, Simon Leplâtre did not have words harsh enough to criticise the Chinese management of covid without stopping. Small digression here, essential: it is not a question of promoting Chinese policy in terms of managing the pandemic, nor of prohibiting criticism. Just to demonstrate an always degrading narration, whatever the subject. If a simple reading of the titles of the articles published by Leplâtre (and Lemaître) gives an idea of the arrogance of the tone adopted, if it is enough to understand the total absence of objectivity vis-a-vis information, it does not make it possible to notice the dishonest processes put in place: catchy titles, generalisations made from a single case (which, moreover, we never have any proof that it is not fictitious), distortion of information leading to fakes-news. In this case, it is stupid to hope for observations from Leplâtre that could give a favourable image of China. No, everything, absolutely everything is done to give her an execrable image.

 

On December 31, 2021, “In the Chinese city of Xi’an, the zero Covid strategy until exhaustion”, he speaks of “inhuman measures”, of people “who struggle to supply themselves with food”. Ting, a student from Xi'an, positive for the Delta variant, was transferred (obviously) without explanation to a hotel where (obviously) the air conditioning does not work when it is minus ten outside, she is shivering under the blanket ( necessarily) thin of the hotel room. In the articles by Leplâtre and Lemaître, the technique is hackneyed: we are told of the setbacks of a character which authorise the authors to make a fallacious generalisation.

 

April 7, 2022: "In Shanghai, in the name of the zero Covid policy, children and newborns separated from their parents", we learn the horrible story of Mr. Ceng, whose young newborn son has been put in solitary confinement. In reality, it was the covid-positive mum who was separated from the baby (no one knows if she agreed or not, but we can hypothesise that as a responsible young mum, she has must have thought that it was better to keep her child away while she healed... right?). By reading the article a little further, we learn that the mother and the child are in the same clinic, just in different departments. Which is common in case of complications. Leplâtre also mentions a video taken in the hospital in question which "showed dozens of children, often five or six in beds with iron bars: many newborns, some in tears, ragged, or with their heads under a blanket...” According to him, China is post-Ceaucescu Romania. We are forced to take his word for it.

 

On April 8, 2022, “French people in Shanghai deprived of voting in the presidential election due to confinement”. A French expatriate business manager in Shanghai testified: “I am frustrated: I have the impression that in China, my freedom of movement and of thought are being taken away from me. Afterwards, I find that the means of voting for referendums and elections are obsolete in 2022, in the digital age”. Sorry, I can't really sympathise thinking of these poor French expatriates whom the Chinese health dictatorship has prevented from doing their duty as citizens and not only from spreading the virus in the name of it, but in addition to re-electing Macron .

 

April 13, 2022: “Covid-19: in Shanghai, wave of departures among expatriates subject to confinement”. In other words, brain-drain (Americans) in the Middle Kingdom faced with the "risk of seeing parents and children separated", "due to an arbitrary application of the law". Anxiety is palpable among expats, rumour has it that “many residents complain of a lack of food, access to hospitals is complicated, and more than 100,000 positive people are currently in confinement centres with Spartan conditions". I have no doubt that in people unaccustomed to self-restraint, the panic at the thought of shortages or simply total dependence on the goodwill of the authorities can be great.

 

On April 27, 2022, "Covid-19 in China: in Shanghai, the authorities are further tightening their policy of maximum confinement", Shanghai has become an open-air prison and when we manage to escape, we fall into shabby hotels with “damp-eaten walls, furniture covered in traces of chlorine and cockroaches roaming the room”.

 

On May 20, 2022, “In China, the continuation of drastic measures against Covid-19 is pushing the population to want to go into exile”, it is Sam, this time who illustrates the Chinese hell. Sam is exhausted by the confinement in Shanghai which began between the end of March and the beginning of April: “I am afraid because they can take me on board at any time: all it takes is a positive case in my building, and I will be sent to a centre of isolation. They can come at midnight, no discussion is possible. And, in addition, you have to leave your door open for teams to come and spray your interior with disinfectant... You don't even have the freedom to stay at home. He is so fed up that he wants to leave China. Unfortunately for him, "the Beijing government is increasing the restrictive measures at the start". Necessarily. A few days later, the Shanghai confinement will end, we hope that Sam will have changed his mind.

Of course, the slightest sign of protest, the smallest expression of exasperation, anger or impatience, very natural and easy to find when a people is subjected to such restrictions, are highlighted by Leplâtre. It is an entire population that is rebelling, a country that is revolting. So when the first rumours of popular discontent arrive across China, the dear angel ignites. And the Western media together. Indeed, young Chinese students seem to be rushing after months of compulsory confinement on campuses far from home and tired of distance learning courses. Some start brandishing white sheets at face level. The West, which always needs symbols, baptises this protest movement, the “Revolt of the white sheets”, which allows it to be placed in the wake of colour revolutions, or umbrellas, as desired. Only, we are still far from the mark. A few hundred demonstrators, at most, scattered over the gigantic Chinese territory in cities of several million inhabitants, does not make a revolution. As usual, the Western media inflates, exaggerates, extrapolates, amplifies, overstates, dramatises, zooms in on details while concealing the big picture. The main thing is to paint that of the beginning of an insurrection.

 

[GUSNOTE: ACCORDING TO JULES LETAMBOUR WHO DID THE TRANSLATION, THE SAME THING WAS HAPPENING IN FRANCE... JULES MENTIONED THE CASE OF ONE OF HIS FRIENDS WHO TRAVELLED 200 METRES AWAY FROM HIS EXCLUSION ZONE ON A BICYCLE AND GOT FINED 250 EUROS BY THE POLICE. IN AUSTRALIA, POLICE WERE BULLYING AND FINING COUPLES SITTING ON THE GRASS OF PARKS, ETC... ]

 

On November 22, 2022, Leplâtre seems to be taking the pretext of an informal discussion with a person who could be a friendly or professional relationship. This person testifies to his weariness with the restrictions that have complicated the lives of young Chinese. He made an article about it which he titled: “In China, the frustration of young people who suffer from the zero Covid policy takes a political turn”

 

On November 25, 2022, Leplâtre titled “In China, the riots in the main iPhone factory in the world reveal the limits of zero Covid”. It is actually a strike and demonstrations in the factory of a Taiwanese subcontractor of Apple, Foxconn. This did not have much to do with the covid but above all with unpaid wages due. But it's still taken: the giant with feet of clay wavers.

 

On November 27, “China: in Shanghai, hundreds of young people demonstrate against the zero Covid policy after the tragedy in Urumqi”. First real demonstration of Shanghainese following the fire of a residence confined to Urumqi in Xinjiang. If I first see compassion for their Uyghur compatriots, he is practically swooning over what he believes to be the premises of a Tiananmen in 2022. The revolt is brewing. In a tweet not hiding his joy at seeing the signs of demands for more democracy, after an equally enthusiastic article in which he claims that demonstrators have demanded the resignation of Xi, he declares that he has never seen this in China... He has a short memory, this journalist... Unless for him, Hong Kong is still not China. Who knows.

 

Certainly, the Chinese are fed up with these restrictions and want to be able to live normally again. All the same, it is clear that the job of Simon Leplâtre, which should be that of "reporter", is getting closer and closer to that of foreign agitator. In any case, he is preparing to attend the demonstration of what he calls for, that is to say the democratic functioning of a society, but we will see that he is eternally dissatisfied.

 

As the boiling news starting to cool, the following days, Leplâtre resumed the information on a loop. Three articles, in quick succession, rearrange the words to say the same thing: all the same, this demonstration, what a historic moment! We learn some interesting things between the mentions of the Chinese dictatorship and police violence: the Shanghai demonstration which had started with "a small crowd (...) with flowers and candles on the ground" in tribute to the victims of the he fire took place in Wulumuqi lu, “Urumqi Street”. This is famous in the Shanghai by night, especially within the expat sphere: it is a kind of "Thirst Street" in which bars follow one another, often with shooting enticing doormen. Still according to Leplâtre, “hundreds of young people who went out for a drink in the bars of the city centre flocked, forming an exceptional demonstration where the crowd would take up slogans against the zero Covid policy in chorus”. The fact that young people going out for drinks in bars puts into perspective the rigour of the restrictions due to covid does not seem to touch Leplâtre... who prefers to compare China to a dictatorship.

The days following these popular upheavals are decisive for Western media rhetoric, starting with that of Leplâtre. Indeed, against all expectations, the Chinese government, after two years of a very strict policy in the face of the pandemic, suddenly decides to relax the rules and by extension the daily life of the Chinese people. The question is not really whether (if at all possible) Xi responded to protests from Chinese youth or whether these adjustments were long overdue. The two theories coexist. On the other hand, on the scale of Leplâtre and his colleague Lemaître, there happens very quickly, in a sort of neuronal tectonics adjustment, a recalibration of the discourse which, even now, leaves me speechless with a mixture of admiration (for the flexibility ) and consternation (for bad faith).

 

After dozens of articles tirelessly exhausting Chinese health policy, which he described as dictatorial, authoritarian and inhuman, Leplâtre changed his tune and began to mock the consequences of this relaxation and in the first place the increase in cases which does not take long to arrive. No way for him to admit that these changes are proof that democratic functioning can take place in China, that is to say dissatisfied citizens who are listened to. Oh no! Leplâtre is caught red-handed and acts like a child who blocks his ears and makes a lot of noise with his mouth so as not to hear what he is being told.

 

From November 30, he published a text, "Faced with protests, China threatens and sends weak signals of openness" which tries to make believe the idea of a Chinese government at bay, cornered, but still threatening, which has no choice but to bow or bite. He is ironic about the accusations made by China about the "infiltration and sabotage activities of hostile forces, (...) [d]illegal and criminal acts that disrupt the social order". But we know it's plausible.

 

On December 7, Leplâtre had nothing more to say, so he continued to comment on the night of November 26 to 27 in Shanghai, in an article entitled After the demonstrations in Shanghai, the stifling of anger against the zero Covid. If I mention it, it is not so much for its relevance as because it rejuvenates me. He recounts there once again this candlelight vigil in tribute to the victims of a fire in Urumqi, having supposedly taken place in a confined building, which was joined later in the night, around 3 a.m., by a crowd of young people coming out of clubs and bars on Wulumuqi Street, which is famously festive in Shanghai. Now, it turns out that I know this street well because I visited it more than once when I lived and worked there. At 3 or 4 a.m., few people, Chinese or foreign, who were not soaked, were walking, singing or shouting in the streets. I have nothing to add except that with a cell phone and a relative dose of imagination, a cop who picks up a drunk guy, in China, it easily turns into police repression on Twitter...

 

READ MORE:

https://www.legrandsoir.info/leplatre-et-sa-truelle.html

 

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....