U.S. President Donald Trump has warned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of “serious consequences” if he allows the Chinese telecom giant Huawei a role in building Britain’s 5G phone network, according to officials on both sides of the Atlantic.The warning follows months of lobbying of Downing Street by top U.S. officials who aim to persuade the British government to shut out the Chinese company on security grounds.Trump told Johnson Friday that giving Huawei, which has ties to Chinese intelligence agencies, the go-ahead will cause a major rift in transatlantic relations and jeopardize intelligence-sharing between Washington and London, according to U.S. officials. They say the decision, expected Tuesday, will also likely impact the prospects for a post-Brexit transatlantic trade deal eagerly sought by Britain to compensate for likely diminished trade with the European Union.U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Saturday dubbed the Huawei deal a threat to “critical” infrastructure. But he indicated that if Downing Street falls into line, the U.S. will “dedicate a lot of resources” to getting a trade deal negotiated and signed by the end of the year.
The Huawei decision is also being watched closely on Capitol Hill.In an unprecedented move, three Republican senators — Tom Cotton, John Cornyn and Marco Rubio — sent a letter to Britain’s National Security Council urging Huawei to be excluded from 5G development. “The company’s actions show a clear record of predatory and problematic behavior,” the senators said, adding it would “in the best interest of the United Kingdom, the US-UK special relationship, and the health and wellbeing of a well-functioning market for 5G technologies to exclude Huawei.”FILE – Signage is seen at the Huawei offices in Reading, Britain, May 2, 2019.US sees Trojan horseFor a year, the Trump administration has been urging Britain to ban the Chinese company from participating in the development of Britain’s fifth-generation wireless network. U.S. officials say there’s a significant risk that the Chinese telecoms giant will act as a Trojan horse for Beijing’s espionage agencies, planting ‘backdoors’ into any equipment supplied to Britain, enabling data to be swept up and intelligence gathered. The U.S. imposed its own trade restrictions on Huawei last year.Huawei vehemently denies that it could be used by Beijing for intelligence purposes, saying that U.S. allegations are “baseless speculation.” The Chinese government says Huawei is a private company and poses no security risk to the West.But Beijing has also made ill-disguised threats, suggesting a decision to ban Huawei could result in Britain being punished when it comes to Chinese trade and investment. Similar warnings have been issued to other Western countries, all of which have been urged by U.S. officials to shun Huawei on security grounds.U.S. lobbying has been especially fierce among members of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing pact — the U.S.-led Anglophone intelligence arrangement linking Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Britain. Australia and New Zealand, although as yet not Canada, have banned Huawei from any role in developing their 5G networks. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to make a last effort to dissuade Johnson during a visit to London this week.In Germany, the Huawei issue has sparked a major division between Chancellor Angel Merkel, who fears Chinese retaliation if Huawei is excluded, and her coalition partners, the Social Democrats, who are opposed to offering Huawei any 5G role. Merkel’s ministries are also deeply split, with the trade and finance ministers backing Huawei’s involvement and foreign and intelligence officials highly skeptical that the risks are worth it.Both the White House and Downing Street have sought to play down talk of a transatlantic rift. In a bland statement Friday, the White House said Trump and Johnson “discussed important regional and bilateral issues, including working together to ensure the security of our telecommunications networks.”FILE – People attend a Huawei Mate20 smartphone series launch event in London, Britain, Oct. 16, 2018.’Next Chinese virus’A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The prime minister spoke to president Trump. They discussed a range of issues, including cooperation to ensure the security of our telecommunications networks.”But behind the scenes, the lobbying has been furious and the issue risks splitting the British cabinet, with several ministers determined to block Huawei, fearing the damage that could be done to Britain’s so-called special relationship with the U.S.The crescendo of the U.S. anti-Huawei campaign has been mirrored in London as it emerged last week that Johnson appeared set to give Huawei the green light, discounting U.S. alarm and prompting growing unease among his own Conservative lawmakers. Some have likened the political damage Huawei is causing to the coronavirus epidemic threatening to spread to the West, saying it is the “next Chinese virus.”If Johnson does give the go-ahead, it would confirm a ‘provisional’ decision made by his predecessor in Downing Street, Theresa May. Last year, she said Huawei should be allowed to build some so-called ‘non-core’ parts of Britain’s future 5G data network.U.S. intelligence officials and their counterparts at Britain’s GCHQ, the eavesdropping spy agency and the country’s largest intelligence service, say restricting Huawei to the non-core ‘edges’ of the new network would make little difference to the security risk.Johnson has come under pressure from British telecom providers and mobile phone companies, which have already been installing Huawei technology to start setting up the new network. They have warned that Huawei offers more advanced, better integrated and cheaper equipment than its commercial rivals, and banning the company would delay the rollout of 5G, costing the British economy billions of pounds. 
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Vietnamese savings are reaching new highs, but observers disagree about whether saving so much is a good sign.Market research company Nielsen found in a survey last month that Vietnam has one of the world’s highest rates of consumer savings, with 69% of Vietnamese surveyed saying they put spare cash into savings, compared with 68% in Hong Kong, 66% in China, and 62% in Indonesia.As a developing nation, Vietnam is becoming increasingly wealthy, and citizens are saving more, joining a global trend of increased savings.Although saving seems good for individuals, observers, from Deutsche Bank strategist Binky Chadha to former U.S. Federal Reserve chair Ben S. Bernanke, have worried there is a surplus in savings in the world economy, which can distort the broader investment environment and lead to negative interest rates — meaning retirees must pay to keep their savings in a bank. ‘An asset bubble’In the U.S. for instance, the excess savings have pushed the stock market to record highs, which analysts say is approaching a bubble. In Vietnam, the excess savings has also fed an asset bubble, particularly in real estate.Vietnam’s economy is growing quickly but experts disagree on how to interpret the wealth that it is generating. On the one hand, there may not be enough productive investments available, so savers are investing in luxury real estate that is feeding a bubble, according to a research note by Oxford Analytica. On the other hand, being able to set aside so much money is a positive sign from consumers, according to Nielsen Vietnam.“As more and more people feel confident about their future, despite better job security, they are putting away more for a rainy day rather than spending today,” Louise Hawley, managing director at Nielsen Vietnam, said. “This also suggests optimism in what tomorrow will bring.”A sign of anxiety?However the high savings rate could also be interpreted as a sign of anxiety, as people worry they will need the money for retirement.”One of the main reasons why Vietnamese people have to save is because there is no social security network,” a commenter wrote in the local newspaper Thanh Nien.This means Vietnam is part of a global trend identified by Chadha. He noticed that savings rates are going up, even though interest rates are going down, sometimes to negative rates, so people are not saving money to earn interest. Instead Chadha sees this as a sign that people are saving because they fear they will not have enough funds in the future.Vietnam’s savings rate is not an isolated issue. Bernanke argued that Asia, particularly China, has earned so much from exports that the money has contributed to a “global savings glut.” More recently Vietnam has also become one of the developing Asia nations with high exports and, therefore, a current account surplus.FILE – An employee counts U.S. dollars at a branch of HD Bank in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, Jan. 12, 2018.This has implications for the rest of the world. Like China, Vietnam uses its surplus to buy U.S. Treasury bonds, stoking worries that the U.S. is increasingly indebted to foreign nations. The high demand for U.S. bonds is also a reason the U.S. doesn’t have to pay a lot of interest on its bonds, thus driving down interest rates.Vietnam also uses its surplus to buy a lot of foreign currency reserves, particularly U.S. dollars. The U.S. Treasury complained in a report this month that this helps drive up the value of U.S. dollars and drive down the value of the Vietnamese dong, making Vietnam’s exports seem even cheaper at a time when the Trump administration wants U.S. consumers to buy fewer Vietnamese products.“Vietnam should reduce its intervention and allow for movement in the exchange rate in line with economic fundamentals,” the report said.Still, in Vietnam Hawley said there is reason for optimism. Her company’s survey last month indicated the Southeast Asian nation has one of the world’s highest levels of consumer confidence, just after India and the Philippines.As with savings, however, the indications on financial security could go either way.Of surveyed Vietnamese 77% said they felt secure, which is lower than the level indicated at the same time the prior year, but higher than the level seen in the previous quarter’s survey. 
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An explosive eruption of the Philippines’ restive Taal volcano no longer appears imminent, authorities said Sunday as they lifted most of a mass evacuation order but warned residents to remain ready to flee.Warning signs like earthquakes have been steadily waning since Taal burst to life two weeks ago with plumes of ash and lava, forcing over 135,000 people into shelters over fears a massive blast was coming.The nation’s seismological agency said steadily shrinking ash and gas emissions were signs of “decreased tendency towards hazardous explosive eruption,” leading them to drop the alert by a notch.The immediate impact of the reduced warning was the lifting of the evacuation order for nearly all the towns that ring the volcano, a tourist attraction that sits in the middle of a lake.”Residents of all towns under lockdown except Agoncillo and Laurel now have the option to return,” local governor Hermilando Mandanas told a press conference.”There’s a possibility that the volcano may still erupt and we should still be ready to evacuate in one hour.”No one is known to have died in the eruption, but the ash it unleashed forced the brief closure of the capital’s main international airport, stranding tens of thousands of travelers.The volcano shot ash 15 kilometers (nine miles) high and spewed lava in the January 12 eruption, which crushed scores of homes and killed livestock as well as crops.However, seismologists warned the volcano could unleash a much bigger eruption “within hours to days,” posing a deadly risk to anyone in a 14-kilometer radius “danger zone.”The volcano island is still under evacuation orders, and the thousands who lived there will not be allowed to return, the government has said.’Not really afraid’Taal, located just 60 kilometers from the capital Manila, is one of the most active volcanoes in a country where eruptions and earthquakes are a dangerous part of life.Its last eruption was in 1977, but it has a long history of activity. In 1965, a Taal eruption killed some 200 people.Despite the risks that the volcano erupt could again erupt, many residents were eager to return home.”That’s where we were born, including my ancestors… so we are determined to go back,” said Ronald Humarang, a 32-year-old factory worker.”I am not really afraid [of an explosion] because during the initial eruption, we didn’t evacuate our house immediately,” he told AFP.
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The U.S. Consulate in the epidemic-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan will evacuate its personnel and some private citizens aboard a charter flight Tuesday.A notice Sunday from the embassy in Beijing said there would be limited capacity to transport U.S. citizens on the flight that will proceed directly to San Francisco.It said that in the event there are not enough seats, priority will be given to to individuals “at greater risk from coronavirus,” a new respiratory disease that has sickened 1,975 people and killed 56, almost all in Wuhan.
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The new virus accelerated its spread in China with 56 deaths so far in what the country’s leader called a grave situation, and the government stepped up efforts to restrict travel and public gatherings while rushing medical staff and supplies to the closed-off city at the center of the outbreak. The figures reported Sunday morning covered the previous 24 hours and marked an increase of 15 deaths and 688 cases for a total of 1,975 infections. The government also reported five cases in Hong Kong, two in Macao and three in Taiwan. Small numbers of cases have been found in Thailand, Japan, South Korea, the U.S., Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, France and Australia. People wear masks as they pray at Wong Tai Sin temple on the first day of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Jan. 25, 2020, as a preventative measure following a coronavirus outbreak that began in Wuhan, China.Canada said it discovered its first case; the man is his 50s and recently flew from Wuhan to Guangzhou, China, and then on to Toronto. President Xi Jinping on Saturday called the spreading illness a grave situation in remarks reported by state broadcaster CCTV. He spoke at a meeting of Communist Party leaders convened on Lunar New Year — the country’s biggest holiday whose celebrations have been muted — and underlined the government’s urgent, expanding efforts to control the outbreak. Travel agencies have been told to halt all group tours, the state-owned English-language China Daily newspaper reported, citing the China Association of Travel Services. A couple wears masks to help stop the spread of a deadly virus as they walk at Jingshawn park, in Beijing, Jan. 25, 2020. China said it would close a section of the Great Wall and other famous Beijing landmarks to control the spread of the virus.Millions of people traveling during the holiday have fueled the spread of the outbreak nationwide and overseas after it began in the city of Wuhan in central China. The vast majority of the infections and all the deaths have been in mainland China, but fresh cases are popping up. Singapore reported its fourth case on Sunday, a 36-year-old man from Wuhan. The Health Ministry said he did not exhibit any symptoms on his flight. He developed a cough the next day, sought treatment on January 24 and was immediately isolated. South Korea confirmed its third case, according to Yonhap news agency. In the heart of the outbreak where 11 million residents are already on lockdown, Wuhan banned most vehicle use, including private cars, in downtown areas starting Sunday, state media reported. Only authorized vehicles will be permitted, the reports said. The city will assign 6,000 taxis to neighborhoods, under the management of resident committees, to help people get around if they need to, China Daily said. Hong Kong’s responseIn Hong Kong, leader Carrie Lam said her government would raise its response level to emergency, the highest one, and close primary and secondary schools for two more weeks on top of next week’s Lunar New Year holiday. They will reopen February 17. Lam said direct flights and trains from Wuhan would be blocked. In a sign of the growing strain on Wuhan’s health care system, the official Xinhua News Agency reported that the city planned to build a second makeshift hospital with about 1,000 beds. The city has said another hospital was expected to be completed February 3. The new virus comes from a large family of what are known as coronaviruses, some causing nothing worse than a cold. It causes cold- and flu-like symptoms, including cough and fever, and in more severe cases, shortness of breath. It can worsen to pneumonia, which can be fatal. Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, China, Jan. 25, 2020.China cut off trains, planes and other links to Wuhan on Wednesday, as well as public transportation within the city, and has steadily expanded a lockdown to 16 surrounding cities with a combined population of more than 50 million — greater than that of New York, London, Paris and Moscow combined. China’s biggest holiday, Lunar New Year, unfolded Saturday in the shadow of the virus. Authorities canceled a host of events and closed major tourist destinations and movie theaters. Temples, Disneyland closeTemples locked their doors, Beijing’s Forbidden City and Shanghai Disneyland closed, and people canceled restaurant reservations ahead of the holiday, normally a time of family reunions, sightseeing trips and other festivities in the country of 1.4 billion people. “We originally planned to go back to my wife’s hometown and bought train tickets to depart this afternoon,” said Li Mengbin, who was on a stroll near the closed Forbidden City. “We ended up canceling. But I’m still happy to celebrate the new year in Beijing, which I hadn’t for several years.” Temples and parks were decorated with red streamers, paper lanterns and booths, but some places started dismantling the decor. Pedestrians are seen wearing surgical masks in London’s China Town, Jan. 25, 2020. European airports from London to Moscow have stepped up checks on flights from the Chinese city at the heart of a new coronavirus outbreak.People in China wore medical masks to public places like grocery stores, where workers dispensed hand sanitizer to customers. Some parts of the country had checkpoints for temperature readings and made masks mandatory. French automaker PSA Group said it would evacuate its employees from Wuhan, quarantine them and then bring them to France. The Foreign Ministry said it was working on “eventual options” to evacuate French citizens from Wuhan “who want to leave.” It didn’t elaborate. The National Health Commission said it was bringing in medical teams to help handle the outbreak, a day after videos circulating online showed throngs of frantic people in masks lined up for examinations and complaints that family members had been turned away at hospitals that were at capacity. Military staffThe Chinese military dispatched 450 medical staff, some with experience in past outbreaks, including SARS and Ebola, who arrived in Wuhan late Friday to help treat many patients hospitalized with viral pneumonia, Xinhua reported. Xinhua also said medical supplies were being rushed to the city, including 14,000 protective suits, 110,000 pairs of gloves, and masks and goggles. The rapid increase in reported deaths and illnesses does not necessarily mean the crisis is getting worse but could reflect better monitoring and reporting of the virus. It is not clear how lethal the new coronavirus is or even whether it is as dangerous as the ordinary flu, which kills tens of thousands of people every year in the U.S. alone. 
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