A bipartisan delegation led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) arrived in Shanghai on Saturday afternoon, amid concerns about the timing of the trip. The delegation’s arrival was first reported by China’s state-run media, which said Shanghai will be the first stop of the senators’ trip. After visiting China, the senators are scheduled to travel to South Korea and Japan. The delegation is co-led by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idado). The four other senators on the trip are Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) Before leaving for China, Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor on Oct. 4 that the senators will meet government and business leaders from both nations during their trip. However, it is unclear if the senators will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping....Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/senate-delegation-led-by-schumer-arrives-in-china-5505716
This autumn, China is facing a new wave of COVID-19 outbreaks. Meanwhile, officials have continued to publish obituaries to mourn the deaths of high-ranking officials, professors, experts, and elites who died of unspecified “illnesses,” including many young people. Entering the fall season, a new strain of COVID-19, EG.5, is spreading in many parts of China; with fears that a new infection peak is approaching. In a paper published in the Journal of Virology on Sept. 28, Shi Zhengli, director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, said her team has assessed the risk of human-to-human transmission for 40 novel coronaviruses, half of which are high-risk, and six of which have been found to be capable of infecting and causing disease in humans. According to the paper, another outbreak is “highly likely” to occur.... 
Multiple recent official reports in China reveal the setting up of Armed Forces Departments (AFDs), a paramilitary entity under the supervision of both the army and the regime that oversees China’s militia, one of the largest of its kind in the world. A major state-owned enterprise (SOE) in Shanghai, China’s commercial and financial hub, reportedly launched an AFD inside the company last Thursday. Shanghai Municipal Investment Group (SMIG), a major infrastructure construction service and property development company run by the Shanghai municipal government, held a formal launching ceremony of its AFD on Sept. 28, with the two commanding generals of the Shanghai garrison attending, according to Jiefang Daily, an official publication of China’s Army....