IMF Makes Great Efforts While Being Faced With Many Challenges
Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is a talented and experienced woman who enjoys a high reputation internationally. Unfortunately, she was in charge of the International Monetary Fund for less than half a year before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the social and economic order around the world, and the global economy was almost at a standstill.
On the morning of May 18, Georgieva accepted an exclusive video interview with the reporter from Caijing. In a downturn in the world economy, Georgieva led the IMF to monitor the international monetary system and the global economic situation, conducting inspections on the economic and financial policies of 189 member countries, trying to estimate the stability risks that each member country may face. At present, many countries are eagerly looking forward to controlling the epidemic situatio and achieving orderly reopening of their economy. However, the rise of trade protectionism and the challenge of multilateral cooperation in combating the epidemic are also the difficult problems Georgieva faces.
Meng Wanzhou’s Case Moves to Next Stage
Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou just lost her first chance to regain freedom. On the morning of May 27, Associate Chief Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court in Canada informed Meng Wanzhou’s lawyers and the Canadian government’s lawyer that he ruled that Meng Wanzhou’s case met “double criminality” because what Meng is accused meets the essence of fraud. Meng Wanzhou’s request to terminate the extradition process was denied.
Meng’s extradition case will move to the next stage. At the hearing coming in June, the prosecution and the defense will focus on whether the arrest of Meng Wanzhou by Canadian officials is in compliance with law enforcement procedures. The arrest of Meng Wanzhou marked the beginning of the US government ’s sanctions against Huawei, a telecom giant based in China. Since then, Huawei has been included in the embargo list by the US government. The incident is still developing into a more severe situation.
China-developed Covid-19 Vaccine Promising
On May 22, 2020, a research team led by Academician Chen Wei of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences announced the conclusions of clinical trials of the vaccine they are developing which has passed the phase I trial. This is one of the most successful vaccines against Covid-19 developed by a Chinese research team. When and who will bring an effective and safe Covid-19 vaccine is being anxiously anticipated worldwide. According to the results of the clinical trials announced this time, this vaccine is safe and it does generate human immune response against the novel coronavirus.
On May 23, one of the leading researchers in this team said in an exclusive interview with Caijing reporters, “It ’s not yet time to make a final conclusion. The effectiveness of this vaccine needs to be verified through phase III of clinical trials.” Whether the vaccine is safe and effective requires a phase III clinical trial to prove. Currently, the phase I and phase II trials of this vaccine are nearing completion, and phase III trials will soon be conducted in Canada.
Internet Pyramid Schemes Remain Hard to Prevent
Almost all the entrepreneurs and investors interviewed by Caijing expressed the same opinion: internet fraud isn’t new. Moreover, the deep cause of this practice is the desire for more money. When more and more funds are pouring into the Internet industry, investors need to find promising projects as soon as possible, so they cannot investigate in detail of the companies they give money to. For entrepreneurs, they are desperately in want for funding to survive.
As an industry insider said, fraud is just like drug abuse, and it is easy to have dependence. Once the funds are obtained through fraud, the company would never stop. When it comes to pyramid schemes formed by a series of fraudulent activities, each participant driven by the desire for business income, is striving to maintain the existence and stability of the pyramid structure. Even if these fraudulent acts are discovered by investors, they won’t sue their partners, because doing so will harm the investors’ own reputation.
