Chairman Xi Jinping used to have the Midas touch. Everything he touched seemed to turn to gold, to China's benefit. However, after amassing the greatest amount of concentrated power since Mao Zedong, it seems that much of what China's paramount leader touches is now crumbling into dust.
Muizzu and his wife are on a state visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. This is the first bilateral visit since assuming office on December 17 last year.
"The countermeasures consist of freezing the properties of those companies in China, including their movable and immovable property, and prohibiting organisations and individuals in China from transactions and cooperation with them," the ministry said in a statement.
Even as Chairman Xi Jinping promised that Taiwan would be "reunified" with the mainland, China's newly appointed defence minister was making himself comfortable in the office of his predecessor, who disappeared after being ensnared in a scandal.
Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated that China would "surely be reunified" with the self-ruled territory of Taiwan in his New Year's address, renewing Beijing's threat to militarily take over the island but setting no timetable for gaining control, the Voice of America (VoA) reported.
It reported that the tensions between China and Taiwan remain high, Xi has repeatedly affirmed China's stance that Taiwan is a part of China and that it must be reunified, by force if necessary.
Some of the issues that have contributed to the tensions include the visit of former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan last year and labour practices in Xinjiang.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared in November that the increase in hospitalizations in China is linked to regular winter diseases rather than new pathogens.
This connection emerged as one of the means by which the US intelligence agencies were able to track the balloon's location and gather crucial information during its transit.
This is being done under Chinese President Xi Jinping's goal for the nation to rival the United States as the world's pre-eminent economic and military power.