China posts record exports as global demand recovers from COVID

February exports grew at a record pace from a year earlier when coronavirus battered the economy, customs data shows.

China’s export growth jumped to the highest level in more than two decades, official data showed, with imports also surging in a sharp bounce back from the coronavirus outbreak that had brought activity to a near halt.

Exports surged 60.6 percent over a year earlier in the first two months of 2021, after factories reopened and global demand started to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, customs data showed on Sunday. Exports rose to $468.9bn, accelerating from December’s 18.1 percent gain and nearly double the growth expected by forecasters.

Exporters benefitted from the relatively early reopening of China’s economy [AFP]

Electronics and textile exports such as masks contributed to the spike in outbound shipments, as demand for work-from-home supplies and protective gear against the virus outbreak soared during the pandemic.

Imports jumped 22.2 percent to $365.6bn, up from December’s 6.5 percent increase.

Chinese authorities combine trade data for the first two months to compensate for fluctuations due to the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls at different times each year in January or February. Factories shut down for up to two weeks, then restock after they reopen.

Exporters benefitted from the relatively early reopening of China’s economy after the ruling Communist Party declared victory over the disease last March while foreign competitors still face anti-virus controls.

Forecasters say the Chinese export surge should decelerate as demand for masks and other medical supplies eases and overseas competitors return to global markets. Trade officials have warned that the global situation still is “grave and complex”.

Exports to the United States soared 87.3 percent over last year to $80.5bn in January and February, despite former President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes imposed in a fight over trade, technology and security. They have been left in place by his successor, Joe Biden, who took office in January.

Economists and political analysts expect few changes under Biden due to widespread frustration in Washington with China’s trade and human rights records, and complaints about technology theft and spying.

On Friday, China’s top economic official, Premier Li Keqiang, announced plans to accelerate technology development and reduce reliance on other countries.

That threatens to worsen tensions with Washington and Europe, which complain Beijing violates its market-opening pledges by shielding its suppliers from competition.

Demand rebounds

The latest trade figures look especially dramatic compared with early 2020, when the ruling party shut factories to fight the virus and trade plunged.

Then, global exports tumbled 17.2 percent in 2020’s first two months from the previous year. Exports to the US plunged 27.7 percent.

Li announced an economic growth target of “over 6 percent” this year, which should help to propel demand for foreign oil, iron ore, food, consumer goods and other imports.

Beijing promised to buy more American soybeans, natural gas and other exports in the “phase one” agreement last January aimed at ending the tariff war. The two sides agreed to postpone more tariff hikes, but penalties on billions of dollars of each other’s goods remain.

China fell behind on meeting those commitments but started to catch up as demand rebounded.

This year, China’s global trade surplus for January and February was $103.3bn, compared with a $7.1bn deficit in the same period last year.

Imports of US goods rose 66.4 percent to $29.3bn. China’s trade surplus with the US narrowed by 17.7 percent from the same time last year to $20.9bn.

Exports to the 27-nation European Union rose 62.6 percent over January and February last year to $73.7 bn. Imports of European goods gained 32.5 percent to $45.9bn.

Source: Al Jazeera

Russian army shows how it trains to violate international humanitarian law

On February 17, 2021, a video of military exercises at a training ground in Sverdlovsk Oblast of Russia was published on the official YouTube of the Russian Ministry of Defense. In the description to the video it was noted that servicemen of logistics units of the Central Military District used non-standard camouflage of fuel trucks disguising them as grain trucks and conducted mass refueling of armored vehicles in the field. The purpose of such camouflage was to mislead air reconnaissance and combat drones.

Volunteers of InformNapalm international intelligence community immediately saved this video in case it would be removed from the official channel of the Russian Defense Ministry and asked for comments from experts in international humanitarian law. All the experts we interviewed noted that the disguise of military equipment as civilian food transport is a direct violation of the rules of warfare and is regarded as a war crime. It is allowed to disguise or camouflage the equipment with special means to make it less visible, but to mark a military fuel truck as e.g. “Grain Truck” is, of course, a sign of a war crime.

Interestingly, there were quite a few comments under the video that to post such videos, and brag about such a dubious initiative is rather short-sighted.

We were curious how long it would take for the Russian Defense Ministry to realize its mistake and delete the video because they created and posted their own video evidence of training to commit war crimes. Two weeks have passed and the video is still available on the official channel, so we can assume that the Russian army deliberately demonstrates that it is ready to violate international humanitarian law and use civilian disguise for its military equipment.

Military perfidy as Russian public policy

It is symbolical that exactly 7 years ago, during a Russian hybrid special operation to seize Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a news conference that Russian troops would stand not in front but behind women and children, and therefore, the Ukrainian military would not be able to shoot at women and children. This was not a slip of the tongue by the Russian president but a clear signal of readiness to violate international law and use civilians as human shields.

“Humanitarian convoys” in violation of humanitarian law

Another example of Russia’s military perfidy during the war is the organization of the supply of weapons, ammunition, and other means to the Donbas region under the guise of so-called “humanitarian convoys”. Since 2014, Russia has illegally sent more than 100 such convoys which included dozens of trucks covered with white tarps, in violation of all international norms and agreements.

Back in late November 2014, US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland stressed that the “convoys of humanitarian aid” that Russia sends to the Donbas carried fuel for tanks and equipment for soldiers.

Among other things, Russian “humanitarian convoys” not only carry weapons, fuel and ammunition into the war zone in eastern Ukraine, but also actively carry plundered mining equipment and other assets out of the occupied territory of the Ukrainian Donbas.

It will be recalled that InformNapalm international intelligence community has repeatedly recorded how Russian military personnel, in particular special forces, illegally crossed the Ukrainian border under the cover of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES). It was established that servicemen of the Russian 108th Air Assault Regiment took part in “humanitarian convoys” to the Donbas. Also, one of the servicemen of the 22nd Special Operations Brigade of the GRU, who took part in the operation to seize Crimea, was later seen as a member of “humanitarian convoys” under the cover of the Russian MES. InformNapalm also exposed how servicemen of the Russian 69th Logistics Brigade transported “humanitarian aid” to the Donbas under the guise of the MES.

https://youtu.be/3AeqkMH_Pas

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“Non-standard camouflage” to avoid spotting by drones

In order to hide from reconnaissance UAVs directly in the combat zone in eastern Ukraine, Russian servicemen resort to other “non-standard camouflage” tricks. If the official video from the Russian Defense Ministry shows just the training to disguise a fuel truck as a grain truck, the recent exposure of the Russian 51U6 Kasta-2E1 radar station which was hastily covered by a tarp in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, breaks all the rules. Apparently, under threat from the air, the Russian military are ready to turn into Ukrainians.

Source: InformNapalm

UK Home Office housed asylum seekers in barracks 'despite knowing Covid risk'

Reports show outbreak was among dangers flagged during department visits to Napier and Penally barracks

The Home Office knew that housing asylum seekers in dormitories at military barracks posed a risk of Covid-19 outbreaks but went ahead with the plan anyway, according to internal documents seen by the Guardian.

Nearly 200 people at the Napier barracks in Kent have tested positive for coronavirus, fuelling criticism of conditions at former military sites used to accommodate asylum seekers since mid-September.

Now two reports seen by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism show that an outbreak was among potential dangers flagged up during Home Office visits to Napier and the Penally barracks in Wales, to assess their suitability.

The reports – which was described by Yvette Cooper, the chair of the home affairs select committee, as “deeply troubling” – revealed concerns including:

• Covid-19 risk posed by dormitory accommodation at Napier.

• Poor heating in buildings at the Penally barracks.

• The strong “rightwing” presence near Napier.

• Public perception of “austere” conditions.

Some of the reports’ findings were revealed in sections of the documents that were redacted but could easily be read, apparently due to an administrative error.

Photograph: Andrew Aitchison/In Pictures/Getty Images

The home secretary, Priti Patel, has previously blamed the Napier outbreak on ‘mingling’ among asylum seekers.

Dormitory accommodation was cited in a redacted section headlined “summary of risks”. The report warned that using single rooms instead would cut capacity, rendering the site unviable.

The home secretary, Priti Patel, has previously blamed the Napier outbreak on “mingling” among asylum seekers, some of whom were sleeping 28 to a dormitory.

But the emergence of the department’s own internal assessment lends weight to claims that government officials knew the accommodation was inherently risky.

It emerged earlier this month that the Home Office ignored advice from Public Health England that asylum claimants should not be housed in this fashion.

The advice from PHE was given on 7 September, before the sites became operational. The Home Office declined to give the date of the site visits to Napier and Penally but the language of the reports indicated that they took place before the barracks were occupied.

The Home Office’s own report on Penally also raises questions over Patel’s defence of the decision to use military barracks. She has claimed that it would be an “insult” to suggest that they were not fit for asylum seekers, because they had previously housed “our brave soldiers”.

The Penally report said: “The Nissan [sic] huts aren’t used by the MoD [Ministry of Defence] during the winter due to the challenges heating them.”

A Home Office spokesperson said Penally’s heating system had been renovated but did not say whether the Nissen huts were now adequately heated.

A source close to asylum seekers who had stayed in Penally said the huts had insufficient heating.

They said the 12-person huts were equipped with a single electric heater. One asylum seeker said that when he was moved to a standard cabin the heater in that building was not functioning either and he had to rely on a donated heater from a shopkeeper in Tenby during his stay.

The Home Office has been approached for comment on the claims.

Its internal documents illustrated the department’s anxiety about public perceptions of how and where asylum seekers were housed. In a section marked “sensitivities”, the Napier report said “the area generally has a strong rightwing presence” and cited the proximity to small boat arrivals on the Kent coast.

The department looks to have been concerned that it would appear to be treating asylum seekers too harshly.

“Whilst surrounded by an 8ft-high fence with barbed wire, it does create a perception of an austere environment (detained) – therefore the narrative is crucial to state it is there to keep them safe and keep potential intruders out,” the Napier report said.

Cooper said: “This is deeply troubling. Despite the Home Office’s insistence that sleeping arrangements in these barracks were Covid compliant, these documents make clear that they understood the risks with placing people in dormitory accommodation during a pandemic.”

She said the “shockingly large outbreak” at Napier showed that risk assessments were either insufficient or were “ignored during this public health crisis”.

“The Home Office should publish the full assessment they did on these sites including the public health advice they were given, as well as who took the decision to put so many people into dormitory accommodation during a pandemic rather than single rooms,” she said.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The government is meeting its statutory obligation to provide asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute with accommodation.

“These sites are safe, secure and have accommodated soldiers and army personnel in the past – it is wrong to say that it is not good enough for asylum claimants.

“The Home Office and its providers have carried out necessary maintenance works and rigorous safety checks before bringing asylum seekers on to the site and complied with guidance from Public Health England throughout.”