Earlier this week, in South Dakota, a Smithfield meet packing facility was found to have some 400 individuals with the virus. Suddenly South Dakota was labeled as another “Hot Spot” by the media, many of them – sadly – seemingly gleeful to be able to fix the label, angry at Governor Noem for having failed to act in lock-step with everyone else and impose a mandatory state-wide stay-at-home order. The Governor, in her defense, noted that such an order would have been irrelevant, as any stay-at-home order would have provided an exemption for workers in a meat packing facility.

But, as with all things, there is more here than meets the eye, as a sharp friend of mine – who lives in South Dakota – pointed out. Taking his cue, I did a little digging.

First, about Smithfield: the company was founded in 1936 in Smithfield, Virginia, and as of last year employed some 40,000 people in 50 sites across the US, and several thousand more in Mexico and Europe. In 2015 Smithfield was purchased by Shuanghui Group, now known as WH Group, a publicly traded company that is headquartered in Luohe, China. On their web site they state quite clearly that WH Group is not a state owned enterprise.

Technically true.

WH group is the largest meat producer in China, with more than $24 billion in sales in 2017. The Chairman is Mr. Wan Long, a billionaire in his own right; born in 1940, in Luohe. He has spent his entire life in the meat packing industry and worked his way up through the business until he was hired by a small state-owned company (first established in 1958) in 1968. He was named general manger in 1984. He has managed its growth since then, and its transition to a private company – of which he is the majority stockholder; that company is now known as WH Group.

As for Wan Long’s other interests, he was a member of the 9th, 10th and 11th People’s Congress.

The People’s Congress is the legislature of China (they have a unicameral legislature), with 2980 members who meet for about 2 weeks every year to pass legislation; in fact, it’s essentially a rubber stamp for whatever Beijing – President Xi – wants. A smaller number – 175 members, there Standing Committee – sit in session permanently. There are 8 recognized parties but the Communist Party currently has 2100 of the seats of the full Congress and 119 of the 175 seats in the Standing Committee. Not that any of the 8 parties are what might be called “the Opposition,” and the Communist Party controls candidate selection. In short, if you’re a member, your loyal to Beijing.

Wan Long was a member of the People’s Congress for 15 years, from 1998 to 2012. Add to that, he is the largest meat producer in China. He’s worth several billion dollars. Is it likely that he’s in communication with the leadership in Beijing?

Now, back to South Dakota.

The facility there employs more than 3,000 people. The first incident of the virus at the plant was reported on March 26th. The company added hand sanitizers and Cleaned the site where the man had been working. But two weeks later there were 80 cases. On April 12th the plant was closed with more than 518 workers testing positive and more than 600 total cases involving the plant.

Which leads me to ask a simple question: what communications did the plant managers have with the WH bosses in Luohe as the problem developed, and what were they told? Did someone, with the nod from Beijing – implicit or explicit – tell them to remain open until they were ordered to close? And while we’re at it, what directions have been passed out by Beijing to other Chinese owned corporations, what if anything have they told them as to how they are to respond to developments such as this?

If this all sounds like conspiracy theorist musings, that Beijing is out to get us, consider that the Editor in Chief of the Global Times, a member of the Chinese Communist Party, has recommended that China play politics with the US over the Wuhan virus, that Chinese firms deal with states first and with FEMA last in filling any virus related business. Global Times is owned by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.

Given that their senior editor is passing out such advice, is it too far etched to wonder if a loyal and prominent Communist billionaire would look to Beijing’s concerns first and worry about American workers later?

Copyright 2020 Arrias
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