France has condemned Wednesday’s violence at the U.S. Capitol as “a serious violation against democracy.”Unlike many world leaders who used written statements to denounce the clashes in the U.S. Capitоl, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, took the stage in a video posted on his Twitter account Thursday.
With the hashtag #WeareOne, and the French and U.S. flags behind him, Macron criticized “the supporters of a departing president who challenge, with arms, the legitimate results of the election.”
He spoke in French and addressed the American people directly in English.
“I just wanted to express our friendship and our faith in the United States. What happened today in Washington, D.C., is not America, definitely. We believe in the strength of our democracies. We believe in the strength of American democracy,” Macron said.We believe in democracy.#WeAreOnepic.twitter.com/dj3hs66KKn— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 7, 2021For hours, and late into the night Wednesday, French news channels had wall-to-wall coverage of the situation in Washington as many French viewed the images with shock.
For some, the events echoed what happened in France with the “Yellow vest” movement over economic issues and its riots in 2018 and 2019.
Many French politicians, including far-right leader Marine Le Pen and former President Francois Hollande spoke publicly about the clashes.In Photos: Electoral College ProtestsProtesters back President Trump’s objection to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the November electionAgnes Firmin Le Bodo, a lawmaker and member of the French-American friendship group, described the images coming from inside and around the U.S. Capitol as shocking because the Capitol building, she said, is the symbol democracy. She said that when democracy is under attack in one country, democracies everywhere should be concerned.
French authorities said they were looking forward to working with President-elect Joe Biden and his new administration.
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Month: January 2021
Italy Once Again a COVID Hotspot
Vaccine inoculations have begun in Italy for medical staff and the most vulnerable, but the country’s daily death toll continues to be well over 500. All Italian primary school students and most middle school students returned to face-to-face lessons on Thursday. But not all regions in the country have agreed to re-open their schools to younger students due to very high numbers of COVID infections in some places.In at least four regions the return of middle school students has been delayed. Regions also adopted different decisions for high school students, but most were being allowed to return to face-to-face classes next Monday, as Education Minister Lucia Azzolina explained on Italian national television.The minister said five million younger students would be returning to school on Thursday. These are the same students, she said, who were already attending classes during the second wave. The government, Azzolina added, has also authorized 50 percent of high school students to return to in-person classes next Monday and the other 50 percent will continue with distance learning.The relief group Save the Children this week warned that the pandemic has had severe effects on the lives of millions of youngsters who have faced difficulties with distance learning due to lack of technology and possibilities to study online.Protests broke out Thursday throughout Italy against the failure to reopen schools to all students.Italy continues to enforce COVID restrictions in spite of the tight measures taken over the Christmas season. More than 20,000 new infections were reported on Wednesday and the daily death toll stands as well over 500.Meanwhile, Covid vaccine inoculations began before the end of the year, first with medical staff and the most vulnerable.A resident receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Villa Verde elderly care home, as part of the coronavirus vaccination campaign in Rome, Italy, Jan. 7, 2021.More than 320,000 Italians have been inoculated so far with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that have been distributed across Italy. The regions of Lazio, Tuscany and Veneto in particular, have managed to quickly use most of the doses available to them. The Moderna vaccine will also soon start to be used in Italy after it received approval and up to 1.3 million doses will be available in Italy in the first quarter of this year.The Italian government aims to vaccinate six million people by the end of March, 14 million by the end of April and the remainder of all those who accept to be vaccinated by the end of August. Vaccination is voluntary.
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Cameroon Says Elephants Killed 10, Leaving Many Homeless and Hungry
Rampaging elephants have killed at least 10 people, destroyed plantations and left hundreds homeless on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria. The government of the central African state says people have moved into the elephants’ habitat, sparking conflict.Scores of villagers watch and shout as over a hundred elephants trample millet farms in the suburbs of Cameroon’s northern town of Kaele. Dourougar Mussa, a community leader in Kaele, says the elephants have been destroying farmlands and houses in the area since November.No one should attack and provoke the elephants to get wilder, Mussa tells 15 male farmers gathered in front of him. He says the lives of humans are more important than the crops and houses destroyed by the elephants.Jean David Ndjigba, the top wildlife government official in the Far North region of Cameroon where Kaele is found, says the elephants have killed at least 10 people within the past two weeks. Some died in stampedes. Others were killed when they charged at the animals to scare them away. Officials say the elephants have destroyed more than a hundred hectares of millet farms along the northern border with Nigeria. Hundreds of people have been left homeless or hungry. Ndjigba says the elephants are leaving the Kalfou reserve in search of water and food.He says the number of elephants in the reserve has increased over time, but the habitat of the animals has been reduced, as people take over the land for farms and villages. He says the Kalfou reserve which is about 10,000 hectares was home to 50 elephants 20 to 30 years ago. He says today the reserve is now down to 4,000 hectares and is the habitat to over 300 elephants.Ndjigba adds it is dangerous for villagers to try to kill the animals – and calls for less confrontational methods to scare the elephants from farms and villages.Villagers should make noise, he says, by shouting and beating drums, dishes and pots with sticks to chase the elephants away instead of struggling to kill the gigantic animals. He says villagers can also burn pepper because elephants hate the smell of the spicy hot powder. He says bee farmers should place their bee hives on the surroundings of villages because elephants run away from bees.Cameroon is home to an estimated 6,500 elephants, one of the largest populations left in Africa. Wildlife groups have been urging Cameroonians not to kill the animals, which have been poached extensively across the continent in recent decades and are classified as an endangered species.
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Cameroon Says Explosives Planted by Separatists Killed 5, Including Female Journalist
Officials in Cameroon have ordered the military to hunt down separatist fighters whom authorities blame for planting bombs that killed four soldiers and a female journalist. The attack also injured three others.Deben Tchoffo, governor of Cameroon’s North West region, says at about 1 am on Wednesday, roadside bombs exploded near a convoy of government officials being escorted by the military.
Tchoffo says the delegation was returning to the town of Mbengwi from the Njikwa and Andeck districts, where the officials went to officially install administrators recently appointed by President Paul Biya.
Tchoffo said the attack was carried out with improvised explosive devices planted by separatist fighters on a road near the English-speaking northwestern town of Mbengwi. He said the three people injured were government officials. Their injuries were classified as life threatening and they were rushed to hospitals. He said three troops are still missing and that there were huge material loses. Tchoffo added that the military has been deployed to the area to search for the perpetrators.
Fouda Etaba Benoit Nicaise, the most senior government official in the Momo administrative unit where Njikwa and Andeck are located, was unhurt. The government says he was the main target.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. A statement from Cameroon’s minister of communication Rene Emmanuel Sadi blames separatists.
The female journalist killed was Liwusi Rebecca Jeme, who was also the highest government communication official in the Momo administrative area.
Her boss, Louis Marie Begne, North West regional delegate of communication, condemned her killing.
He said Jeme will be remembered as a committed and highly professional journalist, adding that it is unfortunate that an innocent individual should be killed under such circumstances.
Jeme’s death has prompted condemnation from journalist associations, churches and NGOs.
Rosaline Obah, coordinator of the Cameroon Community Media Network, said it was imperative for both the military and the fighters to end the separatist crisis in the English-speaking regions, which has killed more than 3,000 people in the past four years.
Obah said journalists should never be targeted, neither by fighters nor government troops.
“We are there to report the news and say it as it is and in no way should we be considered as parties or actors in conflict. And so we condemn in very strong terms the killing of our colleague. We are by this encouraging a peaceful resolution of this crisis, using a non-violent approach and call on the parties to take to the dialogue table so that the casualties recorded that has involved one of us should be a thing of the past,” Obah said.
Armed separatists have been fighting in the North West and South West regions since 2017 to create an English-speaking state.
The separatists complain of marginalization by Cameroon’s French-speaking majority. The U.N. says more than 500,000 people have been displaced by the crisis.
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Prominent Hong Kong Student Activist Charged with Subversion
Authorities in Hong Kong have reportedly charged pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong with subversion under the new national security law. News of the new charge was posted on Wong’s Facebook account Thursday. The 24-year-old activist is currently serving a 13-and-a-half month prison sentence for organizing an unauthorized protest in 2019. It comes one day after at least 53 pro-democracy activists were arrested in Hong Kong in the biggest crackdown on opposition members in the semi-autonomous city since the law was approved by Beijing last July. Among those arrested in the pre-dawn raids included several members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party who took part in an unofficial primary election last July to pick candidates to run in legislative elections initially scheduled for September. The balloting was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. US Considering Sanctions on Those Involved in Hong Kong Arrests, Pompeo SaysMore than 50 people were arrested The party said on its Facebook page that former lawmakers and activists Benny Tai, James To, Lester Shum and Lam Cheuk-ting were among those detained in the raids.The Democratic Party candidates had hoped to win a majority of seats in the Legislative Council that would allow them to vote down proposed budgets and any legislation considered to be pro-Beijing. Also arrested Wednesday was John Clancey, an American lawyer who works for the prominent Hong Kong law firm Ho, Tse, Wai and Partners that takes on human rights cases. He was arrested when police raided the firm’s offices. A message posted on Joshua Wong’s Twitter account said Wong’s home was also raided in the sweep.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States will consider further sanctions and restrictions “on any and all individuals and entities” involved in carrying out the arrests. US Considering Sanctions on Those Involved in Hong Kong Arrests, Pompeo SaysMore than 50 people were arrested Hong Kong authorities have increasingly clamped down on the city’s pro-democracy forces since Beijing imposed the new national security law last July. Several pro-democracy lawmakers resigned en masse late last year after four of their colleagues were disqualified by the government, while several prominent activists have been arrested and jailed, including Wong and 73-year-old media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who was arrested last month on an initial charge of fraud, and has since been charged under the new law with “foreign collusion.” Under the law, anyone in Hong Kong believed to be carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces could be tried and face life in prison if convicted. The new law was imposed by Beijing in response to the massive and often violent pro-democracy demonstrations that engulfed the financial hub in the last half of last year, and is the cornerstone of its increasing grip on the city, which was granted an unusual amount of freedoms when Britain handed over control in 1997.
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US Capitol Has Seen Violence Over 220 Years, But Not Like This
In more than 220 years, the U.S. Capitol had seen nothing like it: a roiling mob, forcing its way past its majestic marble columns, disrupting the passage of power, desecrating the seat of the world’s greatest democracy.
But this was far from the first time the Capitol has been scarred by violence.1814
In 1814, just 14 years after the building opened, British forces in the War of 1812 tried to burn it down. The invaders looted the building first, and then set the southern and northern wings ablaze — incinerating the Library of Congress. A sudden rainstorm prevented its total destruction, but the building was left “a most magnificent ruin,” according to architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe.
Over the centuries since, events have made a mockery of the inscription on the rostrum of the House chamber — “Union, Justice, Tolerance, Liberty, Peace.” The building has been bombed several times. There have been shootings. One legislator almost killed another.1954
The most famous episode occurred in 1954, when four Puerto Rican nationalists unfurled the island’s flag and, shouting “Freedom for Puerto Rico,” unleashed a barrage of about 30 shots from the visitor’s gallery of the House. Five congressmen were injured, one of them seriously.
“I did not come to kill anyone, I came to die for Puerto Rico!” cried the leader, Lolita Lebron, when she and the others were arrested.
Before and since, the building has been a target. In 1915, a German man planted three sticks of dynamite in the Senate reception room; it went off shortly before midnight, when no one was around.
The bomber — who had previously murdered his pregnant wife by poisoning, and would go on to shoot financier J.P. Morgan Jr,. and bomb a steamship loaded with munitions bound for Britain — killed himself before he could be arrested.1971
More recently, the Weather Underground set off an explosive in 1971 to protest the U.S. bombing of Laos, and the May 19th Communist Movement bombed the Senate in 1983 in response to the invasion of Grenada. Neither caused any deaths or injuries, but both resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and led to tougher security measures.1998
The most deadly attack on the Capitol occurred in 1998, when a mentally ill man fired at a checkpoint and killed two Capitol Police officers. One of the dying officers managed to wound the gunman, who was arrested and later institutionalized. A nearby statue of Vice President John C. Calhoun still bears a bullet mark from the incident.2013
In 2013, a dental hygienist with her 18-month-old daughter in tow tried to drive onto the White House grounds, and was chased to the Capitol, where she was shot to death by police.1835
There have been other, storied attacks. In 1835, a deranged house painter tried to shoot two pistols at President Andrew Jackson outside the building; the guns misfired, and Jackson caned his assailant into submission.1856
And famously, in 1856, Rep. Preston Brooks attacked abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner with his cane on the floor of the Senate after the senator gave a speech criticizing slavery.
Sumner was beaten so badly that three years passed before he had sufficiently recovered to return to Congress. The House failed to expel Brooks, but he resigned — and was immediately reelected.
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World Leaders Offer Mixed Reactions After Mayhem at US Capitol
Mixed reactions of shock, sadness and sarcasm continue to be heard from around the world over Wednesday’s storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump angry over his loss in November’s presidential election.
“What happened today in Washington, D.C., is not America,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a video message on Twitter late Wednesday. “We believe in the strength of our democracies. We believe in the strength of American democracy.” We believe in democracy.#WeAreOnepic.twitter.com/dj3hs66KKn— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 7, 2021
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “distressed” to see the “rioting and violence” in Washington in a statement issued on his Twitter account. “Orderly and peaceful transfer of power must continue. The democratic process cannot be allowed to be subverted through unlawful protests.”
Distressed to see news about rioting and violence in Washington DC. Orderly and peaceful transfer of power must continue. The democratic process cannot be allowed to be subverted through unlawful protests.— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 7, 2021Taiwan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry expressed regret over the violence in a statement issued Thursday. The ministry said it had sent out an emergency notice to Taiwanese citizens “to raise their level of alertness and pay attention to safety” in regards to the curfew imposed by local Washington officials.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Choudhri told reporters Thursday the government is closely following the developments in Washington. “We are hopeful that the situation will soon normalize and would not in any way impact the ongoing transition process,” Choudhri said.
Raoof Hasan, a special assistant to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, told VOA the images of pro-Trump extremists forcing their way into the House of Representatives and Senate chambers as lawmakers were certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory proves the United States “commands little moral legitimacy to be commenting on democratic principles obtaining in other countries. “If the United States saw what the United States is doing in the United States, the United States would invade the United States to liberate the United States from the tyranny of the United States,” Hasan said on Twitter.
Protesters clash with Capitol police during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Shariman Lockman, a senior foreign policy and security studies analyst with the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia, told VOA the riot “doesn’t put America in the best light.” “It just compounds negative thoughts that people already have about America. You know, you can’t get COVID right and you can’t get your elections right. You [the U.S. government] keep telling us how to organize ourselves, but you can’t organize yourselves right.”
In South Korea, senior lawmaker Song Young-gil, a member of South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party, said in a Facebook post the incident “revealed the shameful side of the United States.” “This kind of behavior can be exploited by dictatorships who want to justify their behavior,” added Song, who did not elaborate. “I look forward to seeing the United States restore its system.”
“Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress. The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter. Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress. The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) January 6, 2021
European Union officials indicated their support for Biden on Wednesday, as pro-Trump extremists forced Capitol Hill into lockdown, interrupting the certification of Biden’s presidential victory.
“I believe in the strength of US institutions and democracy. Peaceful transition of power is at the core. @JoeBiden won the election,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, wrote on Twitter.
I believe in the strength of US institutions and democracy. Peaceful transition of power is at the core. @JoeBiden won the election. I look forward to working with him as the next President of the USA. https://t.co/2G1sUeRH4U— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) January 6, 2021″The outcome of this democratic election must be respected,” NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter.
Shocking scenes in Washington, D.C. The outcome of this democratic election must be respected.— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) January 6, 2021Turkey’s Foreign Ministry released a statement Wednesday urging its citizens in the United States to avoid crowded places and confrontations.
“We invite all parties in the USA to temperance and common sense. We believe that the USA will overcome this domestic political crisis in maturity,” it wrote in a statement.
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they storm the US Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021. – Donald Trump’s supporters stormed a session of Congress held today, January 6, to certify Joe Biden’s election win,…The Organization of American States also condemned the mobs.
The exercise of force and vandalism against the institutions constitutes a serious attack against democratic functioning,” the OAS General Secretariat on Incidents wrote in a statement Wednesday, urging a return to “much-needed rationality.” In a televised speech Thursday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said events at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday are evidence Western democracy is fragile and vulnerable to populism. He said, “A populist has arrived, and he has led his country to disaster over these past four years.” Rohani added he hoped “the next occupants of the White House” will “restore the country to a position worthy of the American nation, because the American nation is a great nation.”
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South Koreans Confused, Disgusted at US Election-related Violence
South Korea, whose political development and systems of government have long been influenced in part by the United States, is reacting with bewilderment to this week’s deadly post-election violence in Washington, D.C.People angry at President Donald Trump’s defeat in the recent U.S. election forcibly entered the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, scuffling with police, vandalizing congressional offices, and prompting scenes of chaos, including armed standoffs, which resulted in lawmakers being temporarily evacuated.Capitol Police shot one woman to death after she attempted to break through a barrier inside the building, while three others died from unspecified “medical emergencies,” according to police. Police also say they discovered two pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee.Many in South Korea, formerly ruled by military strongmen but now consistently ranked as one of Asia’s strongest democracies, expressed confusion and disgust about the rocky transfer of power in Washington.“I really don’t understand how this could be happening,” Yang Seung-hyun, a 41-year-old freelance businessman in Seoul’s Sinchon neighborhood, told VOA. “I don’t know how exactly it relates to South Korean politics, but I know it sure doesn’t look good.”Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather in WashingtonSouth Korea’s government has not commented on the violent intrusion of the Capitol building. But senior lawmaker Song Young-gil, a member of South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party, said in a Facebook post the incident “revealed the shameful side of the United States.”“This kind of behavior can be exploited by dictatorships who want to justify their behavior,” added Song, who did not elaborate. “I look forward to seeing the United States restore its system.”Heated political battlesSouth Korea is no stranger to feisty domestic political battles.Most notably, mass protests in 2016-17 led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, who was later convicted in a corruption scandal that could eventually see her jailed for over 20 years.South Korea’s three other living ex-presidents have also been convicted of criminal offenses.At South Korea’s National Assembly, occasional scuffles break out between lawmakers. There have also been instances of South Korean protesters attempting to breach the legislature.But in South Korea, those attempts are not usually successful, points out Lee Sang-sin, who focuses on political science and public opinion at the Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU).“Korean riot police are much more formidable than D.C. ones. And Korean mobs are not armed with guns,” Lee said, thanks in part to South Korea’s strict gun ownership laws.Kim Ha-neul, a 29-year-old nurse who lives in Seoul, said she was surprised to see such intense unrest in the United States. “And I don’t understand why police in the U.S. didn’t care about this (storming of the Capitol),” she added.Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump sit inside the office of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as they protest inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Rocky transfer of powerIt’s not clear how many rioters, if any, possessed firearms when they barged into the Capitol. The rioters were furious about what they claim is election fraud that delivered key swing states to Trump’s opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.Trump’s own Justice Department has denied allegations of serious voter fraud in the Nov. 3 election. Scores of legal challenges by Trump and his allies have failed.Instead, Trump attempted to convince Republican members of Congress, as well as Vice President Mike Pence, to delay or overturn the results of the election using a largely ceremonial parliamentary procedure meant to count the electoral votes.Hours before the vote-counting meeting convened Wednesday, Trump addressed a crowd of supporters on the National Mall, urging them to relocate to the nearby Capitol. A short time later, the chaos ensued, prompting Trump to send follow-up messages encouraging his supporters to be peaceful and then go home.Once the Capitol was secured, lawmakers reconvened and eventually certified the election results, meaning Biden will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.The White House later released a statement insisting Trump would commit to an “orderly transition.”New era?Many in Seoul hope the incoming Biden administration will mark the end of a testy era in U.S.-South Korea relations.As president, Trump regularly complained that Seoul did not pay enough for the approximately 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.Trump often talked about the issue in blunt terms, accusing South Korea of “freeloading,” or taking advantage of U.S. protection. At one point in 2019, Trump suggested South Korea was “rich as hell and probably doesn’t like us too much.”Though the military cost-sharing issue was a constant source of friction, officials from both countries insist the overall relationship remains solid.Biden has promised to bolster the alliance, which has been in place since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War — virtually the entirety of South Korea’s existence.US still a model?Since then, the United States has played a crucial but complicated role in the political development of South Korea.The U.S. for decades supported and armed South Korea’s brutal military rulers, even while supporting civil society and other programs meant to foster democracy and the rule of law.As a result, some aspects of Korean political institutions and civil society now mirror those in the United States.Among the shared features are the presidential system, the separation of powers among three branches of government, and the basic rights outlined in the constitution, said Ben Engel, a doctoral student who researches U.S. policy and influence in South Korea.“The U.S. was definitely a model they looked at, as were other places,” Engel said. “But Koreans have also tried hard to overcome the weaknesses in the U.S. system.”South Korea has now been a democracy since 1987. And although many here still see the U.S. as a model, it’s becoming tricker, said Lee of KINU.”America’s image among Koreans is closely linked with how we view ourselves,” Lee said. “If America can be no longer our role model then we must find our own path.”
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China Notifies Downstream Mekong Neighbors Days After It Began Holding Back Water
China informed downstream Mekong river neighbors of a 20-day water restriction at its southernmost dam on the waterway six days after it started holding back water on Dec. 31, drawing a mix of credit for sharing data with downstream governments and criticism for not giving Thailand, Cambodia and others advance notice.A statement issued Wednesday by the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernment agency that works with the governments of Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, to manage the 2,703-mile river’s resources, said that China promised that the river’s flow held back at the Jinghong Dam “will be gradually restored to its normal operation status on January 25.”Thailand’s Office of Natural water Resources said it received notification from China on Tuesday that the water discharge would be nearly halved.“The ministry of water resources of China has notified the Office of Natural Water Resources… that it has reduced water discharge from Jinghong Dam on China’s border from 1,904 cu. m. to 1,000 cu. m. per second from Jan. 5 to 24. After that the discharge will be increased back to normal,” Somkiat Prajamwong, the director of the ONWR said in the statement.The notifications came shortly after a new U.S.-funded monitoring system revealed that China had not told the downstream countries that it was holding back water starting on Dec. 31.The Washington-based Stimson Center’s Mekong Dam Monitor, which uses satellite imagery to keep tabs on water levels along the Mekong, said water levels were low at several checkpoints in three downstream countries in its update for the week of Dec. 28, 2020, to Jan. 3, 2021.“Jinghong’s sudden restrictions of water starting 12/31 caused a sudden 1-meter drop in river level 380 kilometers downstream at Chiang Saen on 1/3-4. LMC and MRC data confirm this, but as of 1/4, China provided no notification of the sudden and unusual change that will impact fish and farming processes downstream,” the update said.“Also, the reservoirs for the Nam Ou 5 dam in Laos and the Don Sahong Dam on the mainstream in Laos are still at all-time lows. And finally, the Tonle Sap gauges show the lake in retreat after an extremely late and short flood season,” it said.Cambodia’s Tonle Sap, a large inland lake whose waters ebb and flow with the annual cycle of the river connecting it to the Mekong, has been drying at a rapid rate in recent years, threatening the fish stocks providing millions of Cambodians with their main source of protein.Brian Eyler, the director of the Stimson Center’s Southeast Asia Program and the Monitor’s project lead, told RFA’s Lao Service that China’s decision to hold back water disrupts the Mekong’s ecology.“The restrictions of water from the downstream are certainly not welcome. They are unusual for this time of year and not part of the Mekong’s natural cycle. However, what is welcome are China’s notification of its changes and dam operations that are causing the restrictions,” Eyler said.“China is making good on its promise to notify downstream countries when it changes its dam operations. But there are some inconsistencies with the notification,” he said.He said that China did not notify the downstream countries prior to holding back the water. After it became aware of eyewitness accounts of the river level dropping downstream, the monitor was able to identify the Dec. 31 restriction in data.“So, we began to get the word out. We alerted the Mekong River Commission. We provided alerts on social media and also said that China provided no notification. The Mekong River Commission had also observed the drop at the data portal and confirmed that China had provided no notification,” Eyler said.“Within 12 hours after our actions, China did provide a notification. So, China’s notification was late. It seemed to be compelled by external actors rather than of its own admission and own volition,” he said.China has been the target of criticism from the international community for its cascade of 11 megadams on the river. The lower Mekong basin experienced severe drought over the past year, with stretches of the river even drying up entirely. The dams in China are at least partly to blame.In October 2020, Beijing agreed to share data with the MRC, as some 60 million people in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam use the river for agriculture and fishing.Reported by RFA’s Lao Service and BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
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US Considering Sanctions on Those Involved in Hong Kong Arrests, Pompeo Says
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington is considering sanctions and other restrictions on those involved in the arrest of more than 50 people in Hong Kong and warned it could target the territory’s economic and trade office in the United States.In a move likely to further rile Beijing, Pompeo announced in the same statement that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft would visit Chinese-claimed Taiwan, which is not a UN member due to China’s objections.Pompeo also said he was “appalled” by the arrest of an American citizen as part of Wednesday’s crackdown and added: “The United States will not tolerate the arbitrary detention or harassment of U.S. citizens.”Hong Kong police arrested 53 people in dawn raids on democracy activists on Wednesday in the biggest crackdown since China last year imposed a security law which opponents say is aimed at quashing dissent in the former British colony.Among those detained was American lawyer John Clancey, a source at his firm said.Pompeo called the arrests an “outrage and a reminder of the Chinese Communist Party’s contempt for its own people and the rule of law.”“The United States will consider sanctions and other restrictions on any and all individuals and entities involved in executing this assault on the Hong Kong people,” Pompeo said.He said it would also “explore restrictions against the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the United States, and take additional immediate actions against officials who have undermined Hong Kong’s democratic processes.”Pompeo’s statement came after a day of turmoil in Washington that saw supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump storm the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn his November election defeat.Lawmakers on both sides denounced the action by Trump’s supporters and called it an embarrassment to American democracy that would play into the hands of rivals like China.“It kind of bolsters their claim that we’re falling apart and they’re the country of the future,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, a China hawk, told Tucker Carlson on the Fox News channel.On Wednesday, the Chinese embassy in Washington issued an advisory on its website, warning Chinese citizens to strengthen safety precautions in light of the “large-scale demonstration” in Washington and the curfew announced by the local government.Trump has pursued hardline policies towards China on issues ranging from trade to espionage and the coronavirus and his administration has imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for crushing Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and other alleged rights abuses.
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Capitol Siege: Americans See Images They Can’t Believe
It was a scene Americans never expected to see in their own country, as a riotous mob pushed into the U.S. Capitol building. Michelle Quinn reports.
Producer: Matt Dibble
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Raphael Warnock Becomes the First Black Senator in Georgia’s History
Democrat Raphael Warnock is the projected winner of one of Georgia’s two Senate runoffs Wednesday, becoming the first African American to be elected to the U.S. Senate in the state’s history. Warnock, who defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler, is a pastor of the Atlanta church where American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. preached. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo has this profile of Warnock.
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Thousands Storm US Capitol in ‘Shameful Assault . . . on Our Democracy’
Thousands of flag-waving supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump swarmed over the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to evacuate their chambers and delaying by several hours a normally routine procedure clearing the way for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to be sworn in as president and vice president on Jan. 20.House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced after hours of chaos around the white-columned edifice that police had secured the area and legislators would reconvene to continue the work of certifying the Electoral College vote that determines the next president.“Today, a shameful assault was made on our democracy,” Pelosi said. “It was anointed at the highest level of government. It cannot, however, deter us from our responsibility to validate the election of Joe Biden,” she said.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Violent mob loyal to President Donald Trump storms the US Capitol.“When we got over to other side of the gallery, the Republican side, they made us all get down, you could see that they were fending off some sort of assault, it looked like,” he said. “They had a piece of furniture up against the door, the door, the entry to the floor from the Rotunda, and they had guns pulled.””And they just told us to take our pins off,” he added, referring to lapel pins members wear so Capitol Police can quickly identify them. The lawmakers were later evacuated.News channels showed photographs of plainclothes police officers with handguns drawn, guarding House members as rioters tried to break through a door. A woman was shot in the melee and later died, a spokesperson for the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department said, adding late Wednesday that no other details were available.Once inside, one Trump supporter sat in the chair where Vice President Mike Pence had been presiding over the Electoral College discussions before they were interrupted, apparently taking selfies with his phone.By 5 p.m. local time, Washington Police Chief Robert Contee said the protest had been declared a riot, and at least 13 arrests had been made. Mayor Muriel Bowser imposed a 6 p.m. curfew, and the D.C. National Guard was activated.Elsewhere, a pipe bomb was found and safely detonated outside the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and a suspicious package prompted the evacuation of the nearby Democratic National Committee, according to The New York Times. Both are within blocks of the Capitol.Supporters of US President Donald Trump gather in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.Trump had encouraged the crowd to march on the Capitol in a fiery midday speech outside the White House, telling his supporters they needed to be strong in order to keep him in office. “We will never give up, we will never concede,” he said.The outgoing president tweeted twice during the protest, asking his supporters to go home but assuring them of his affection and repeating his unfounded claims that the election had been stolen from him.As the mayhem accelerated in and around the Capitol building, Trump tweeted a video urging the mob to remain peaceful and respect the police.“No violence!” Trump said. “Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!”Biden, from his transition hub in the eastern state of Delaware, said, “At this hour our democracy is under unprecedented assault” and called on Trump to go on national TV and fulfill his obligation as commander in chief to call off the mob.As he walked out of the Capitol, Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut said he had lived in Latin America and “always assumed it could never happen here.”“We’ve known for years that our democracy was in peril, and this is hopefully the worst and final moment of it,” Himes said.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sudan Religious Leaders Hold Talks Aimed at Ending Intercommunal Fighting
With an eye toward ending intercommunal violence that killed dozens of people last month in Central Equatoria state, South Sudanese religious leaders and civil society activists have organized direct peace and reconciliation talks between various communities. Some meetings already have taken place in rural villages of Terekeka County and included chiefs, women, youth, farmers, and cattle camp leaders. Paul Ygugusuk, archbishop of the Central Equatoria province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, blames a lack of clear laws on the movement of cattle and justice for victims of cattle raids for the increased violence in certain areas, particularly in Terekeka and Lainya counties. “The problem of Terekeka is that all previous resolutions have not been implemented, stolen cattle have not been returned; as such people take the law into their own hands,” Yugusuk told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. FILE – South Sudanese cattle herders stand among their animals in a field in Terekeka, in the Central Equatoria state of South Sudan, April 13, 2014.Cattle raids are a chronic problem in parts of South Sudan, separate from the civil war that killed tens of thousands between 2013 and 2017. More than 50 people were killed and hundreds of others were displaced by sectional violence in December alone, according to Paul Modi, bishop of the Episcopal Church’s Terekeka diocese. “Many people have been affected, displaced and living in hiding and properties lost. In many consultative forums, most of them are ready to reconcile and we call on the people to give room for peace and dialogue so that we can move forward,” Modi told South Sudan in Focus. Edmund Yakani, executive director for the local NGO Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, said the government should renew a failed gun-collection campaign aimed at reducing violence in the area, while making a greater effort to protect people’s lives and property. “The disarmament did not work effectively and responsively, because there are [not] critical factors like provision of safety and protection for the lives of the communities through police that can adhere to the rule of law. And the state needs to engage in intercommunal mitigation free from political manipulation,” Yakani said. Yakani says his group and other NGOs are organizing a national peace dialogue to be held later this month that will address the cyclical violence caused by cattle raids and revenge attacks. Archbishop Yugusuk is urging armed and non-armed actors to reconcile their political differences and work for lasting peace in South Sudan. “We cannot do our work when people are fighting. Now that there is an ongoing peace dialogue in Rome and although it’s going slowly, we call on the conflicting communities, the opposition and the government that the time has come for us to join hands for the revitalized peace agreement so that the implementation becomes easy,” he said. In his 2021 New Year’s message, President Salva Kiir called on the people of South Sudan to reconcile and work for peace. He said the transitional government is committed to peacefully resolving conflicts across the country.
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Trump Supporters Storm US Capitol as Lawmakers Start Certification of Biden Victory
Thousands of flag-waving supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to evacuate and shutting down the normally routine procedure of certifying the Electoral College vote, the final step in the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the next president and vice president. Stunning television images showed closely packed demonstrators teeming over the exterior of the white-columned building. Hundreds more overwhelmed Capitol Police and poured into the building, as some were reported trying to break down the doors of the House of Representatives chamber where lawmakers had been debating the Electoral College vote showing Biden had defeated Trump. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 1 MBOriginal | 1 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioCapitol police respond after pro-Trump mob breaches Capitol building during joint session of Congress.Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser imposed a 6 p.m. curfew and the D.C. National Guard was activated. Plainclothes security forces were photographed on the Fox News channel with handguns drawn facing off against demonstrators inside the building. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a member of Trump’s Republican Party, told the network he overheard police reporting that shots had been fired. A civilian was shot inside the Capitol and was taken to a hospital. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on TV from a video message released on Twitter addressing rioters at the US Capitol, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House, Jan. 6, 2020.Biden, from his transition hub in the eastern state of Delaware, said, “At this hour our democracy is under unprecedented assault” and called on Trump to go on national TV and fulfill his obligation as commander in chief to call off the mob. Law enforcement authorities fired tear gas at the protesters as they stormed the Capitol – the worldwide symbol of U.S. democracy – and called for reinforcements to deal with the demonstrators who entered the building and to keep thousands more outside the building. Protesters clash with Capitol police during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Lawmakers in the House were given gas masks to protect against the tear gas irritant. Plainclothes police officers pointed weapons at one blockaded, windowed door to the House floor to keep out protesters. The discussions about the Electoral College vote to make Biden the country’s 46th president then were halted as police attempted to restore order. The clashes came about two hours after Pence told lawmakers in a letter he would not attempt to block congressional certification of Biden’s victory in the November election even though Trump, Pence’s boss, repeatedly implored him to stop Biden’s path to the White House after his January 20 inauguration. Pence, at the start of congressional certification of Biden’s 306-232 victory in the Electoral College, said he did not believe he has the “unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted.” A supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump wears a gas mask as he protests after storming the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021.Trump, in an early morning Twitter comment and later at a rally with several thousand supporters near the White House, called on Pence to show “extreme courage” to block Biden’s victory. But when Pence balked, Trump, who has railed for weeks against the election outcome, rebuked his second in command, saying on Twitter, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!” Republican challengersAs the debate started, some Republican lawmakers supporting Trump immediately challenged the outcome in the southwestern state of Arizona, which Biden narrowly won. The Senate and House, as planned, immediately split into separate debates on the merits of the Arizona challenge. Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opposed a dozen Republican colleagues in the Senate and more than 100 House members seeking to upend the Electoral College outcome. “The voters, the courts the states have all spoken,” McConnell said. “They’ve all spoken. If we overruled them it would damage our republic forever. This election was actually not unusually close,” with Biden winning the popular vote by more than 7 million votes. “We cannot simply declare ourselves a national board of elections on steroids,” McConnell said. “The voters, the courts, and the states have all spoken … If we overrule them, it would damage our republic forever.” Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump sit inside the office of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as they protest inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said, “The Congress does not determine the outcome of elections, the people do. By the end of the proceedings today, it will be confirmed once again, something that is well known, and well settled: The American people elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to be the next president and vice president of the United States.” “But,” Schumer continued, Republicans “are going to object to the counting of the vote anyway, and in the process, they will embarrass themselves, they will embarrass their party, and worst of all, it will embarrass our country.” Republican lawmakers seeking to block the certification of the Electoral College outcome echoed Trump’s claims that vote and vote-counting irregularities should void the election outcome. In Photos: Electoral College ProtestsProtesters back President Trump’s objection to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the November electionFrom formality to spectacleNormally, the congressional certification of the Electoral College outcome is an hourlong formality once every four years. This time, however, it is a drama-filled spectacle. Trump for weeks has made baseless claims that he was defrauded out of a second term, even as he lost 60 court challenges to the vote. More than 100 House members and 13 senators said they would object to certifying Biden’s narrow victories in several political battleground states, which could set off hours of contentious debate. At the rally, Trump told supporters he would march with them to the Capitol but instead retreated in a motorcade back to the White House. In the indirect form of U.S. democracy, the 50 states and the national capital city of Washington conduct the presidential election, with the popular vote outcomes in each of the states and Washington leading to the Electoral College vote, with the biggest states holding the most votes. “States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval,” Trump contended on Twitter in the latest in a long string of complaints about the election.
“All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!” Trump tweeted. States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) take part in a joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 election results on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.As Pence alphabetically started reading through the list of states and their electoral votes, the process was immediately stopped with the Arizona challenge. The outcome in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all states Biden won, also could be challenged. The congressional certification of the Electoral College outcome is mandated by the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says that the Senate and House must meet to officially count and certify the Electoral College results from all 50 states and Washington.
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US Justice Department Confirms It Was Victim of SolarWinds Hack
The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed on Wednesday that it had been the victim of a massive hacking operation linked to Russian intelligence. In a statement, Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said about 3% of the agency’s email accounts appeared to have been compromised, although no classified information was accessed. “After learning of the malicious activity, the Office of Chief Information Officer eliminated the identified method by which the actor was accessing the … email environment,” Raimondi said. Raimondi said the department learned about the previously unknown hack on its networks on Christmas Eve and determined that it constituted a “major” security incident. The disclosure came a day after U.S. intelligence agencies said that the hack was part of an ongoing intelligence operation and likely being carried out by Russia. FILE – This Feb. 11, 2015, photo shows FireEye offices in Milpitas, Calif.The hack came to light in early December when private cybersecurity firm FireEye disclosed that its networks had been compromised. Investigators have traced the breach to SolarWinds, a Texas-based network management software company that the hackers used to penetrate the computer networks. In a statement Tuesday, the FBI, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and the National Security Agency (NSA) said that of the approximately 18,000 SolarWinds customers impacted by the hack, “a much smaller number has been compromised by follow-on activity on their systems.” FILE – The SolarWinds logo is seen outside its headquarters in Austin, Texas, Dec. 18, 2020.“We have so far identified fewer than 10 U.S. government agencies that fall into this category and are working to identify the nongovernment entities who also may be impacted,” the agencies said. Officials had previously confirmed that the departments of Defense, Treasury, State, Homeland Security, Commerce and Energy were impacted. Among targeted businesses were Microsoft and Amazon. U.S. President Donald Trump has faced criticism for failing to respond to the alleged Russian hacking operation and for suggesting that China may have been responsible. The National Security Council has set up a task force made up of intelligence agencies to investigate and remediate the attack. “At this time, we believe this was, and continues to be, an intelligence gathering effort,” the agencies said in a statement. “We are taking all necessary steps to understand the full scope of this campaign and respond accordingly.”
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China Is Increasing Taiwan Airspace Incursions
The number of Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s airspace last year was the highest since 1996, which experts say is worsening the risk for conflict without drawing international headlines.The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) flew about 380 sorties into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) last year, a defense ministry statement said last week.The PLA began dispatching warplanes toward the island after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected for a second term in January, but the activity dramatically increased in the second half of the year in 2020 and is now almost a daily occurrence.According to a VOA compilation of flight data drawn from official statements by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, Chinese warplanes have flown 138 of these missions since mid-September. Only four days into 2021, six Chinese warplanes had flown into the island’s ADIZ.Far fewer flightsBy contrast, a Taiwan national defense report for the year 2017 said that during Tsai’s first term, in the nearly 1½ years from August 2016 to December 2017, China sent only 26 sorties into Taiwan’s airspace.Experts said the increased operations were aimed at normalizing the incursions.”The main message that the Chinese attached to these movements are they are routine Chinese operations,” said Dr. Oriana Mastro, a Chinese military expert and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, told VOA.FILE – A Chinese J-11 fighter jet is seen flying about 215 km (135 miles) east of China’s Hainan Island in this U.S. Department of Defense handout photo taken Aug. 19, 2014.”This is very problematic. It doesn’t make the news because this is happening every single day. It is problematic because, one, China is getting a lot of practice that really helps their military improve, but also they’re trying to make their aggression and militarization the norm, routine, something that is not worthy of any sort of response from other nations.”A research report published on the website of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense stated earlier this month that on March 31, 2019, Chinese fighter planes deliberately flew across the strait center line for the first time since 1999. At that time, the incident was reported as the most serious provocation between Taiwan and China this century.Last year, during the visit of U.S. Undersecretary of State Keith Krach to Taiwan in September, Chinese warplanes crossed the sensitive median line that separates the mainland and the self-governing island almost 40 times.Beijing’s art of fightingSince late 1990s, Beijing had hoped for a peaceful reunification. It had introduced numerous preferential economic policies for Taiwan. However, there have been signs in recent years that Beijing has decided there is little chance for a peaceful reunification with Taiwan given the political reality in the island.Wang Zaixi, former deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, recently said in an interview with Chinese media that there was a third way to choose between peaceful reunification and military invasion, which was to “promote reunification with force.” Wang quoted from Sun Tzu’s Art of War that China can “subdue the enemy without fighting.”As China’s military power tilts the military balance in the Taiwan Strait toward Beijing, analysts say the near-normalization of the Chinese military’s constant threats are aimed at subduing Taipei through exhaustion.According to the latest data from the U.S. Defense Department, China has the largest air force in Asia and ranks third in the world. In its annual report on China’s military and security developments to Congress, the Pentagon said the Chinese Air Force has more than 2,500 aircraft, including about 2,000 fighter jets.FILE – A Taiwanese Air Force F-16 fighter jet takes off from a closed section of highway during the annual Han Kuang military exercises in Chiayi, central Taiwan, Sept. 16, 2014.By contrast, according to research by the Federation of American Scientists, Taiwan has far fewer fighter jets. “Taiwan, which has 289 combat aircraft, will likely be unable to match China’s current operational tempo if the escalated intrusion rate continues into the mid- to long term,” the report said.Taiwan’s National Defense Ministry said last week that Taiwan’s military was now “day and night, regardless of holiday,” holding fast to its posts, monitoring the situation and adapting properly.Taiwan understandsOn the other hand, analysts also point out that Taiwan is fully aware of China’s approach, and there is little chance Beijing will succeed in subduing Taiwan.Yisuo Tzeng, director at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told VOA that Taiwanese people understand that “Beijing is using superior resources to conduct asymmetric warfare against Taiwan. Taiwan will use smart and cautious methods and use open and transparent methods to allow the entire society to have a full understanding.”Craig Singleton, a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, said that China portrays these military incursions as normal and routine training in an effort to hide from strong international reactions, but they may end up undermining China in the long term.”All of China’s flyovers and buildup have done nothing to deter increased U.S. collaboration with Taiwan.” Singleton told VOA. He said in some respects, these kinds of aggressive moves have been unsuccessful in deterring the U.S. or really even strengthening China’s hands, “because those aggressive moves have really been quite scary to all of China’s regional neighbors, who are sitting there and saying, ‘Maybe I need to get a little closer to the United States.’ ”
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Wall Street, China May Have Influenced NYSE Reversal on Chinese Telecoms
In a surprising reversal, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced early this week that it no longer intended to delist three Chinese telecom companies that had been targeted by the outgoing Trump administration for suspected ties to the Chinese military.The NYSE officially announced Monday that based on “further consultation with relevant regulatory authorities,” it no longer planned to delist China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom from trading.The recent delisting was prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s November executive order calling for the removal of companies from U.S. markets described as “communist Chinese military” companies.The U.S. Treasury Department subsequently released a list of 35 so-called communist Chinese military companies, including the three that had been set to delist from the NYSE as soon as Thursday.The NYSE did not explain the exact reason for this major turnabout, but some observers speculated it could be related to pressure from Wall Street and corporate executives concerned about losing investment opportunities or fearful of economic retaliation from China, which has been locked in a bitter trade war with the United States throughout the greater part of Trump’s four years as president.With President-elect Joe Biden preparing to take the helm on January 20, U.S. financiers and market analysts see the wisdom in not taking additional punitive regulatory action against the three companies that dominate China’s mobile business until Biden’s policies toward China become clearer.They say once Trump leaves office, it may be difficult or ill-advised for the U.S. to start another wave of financial warfare against China and its economic interests.Still, some analysts believe the U.S. banning Chinese companies with ties to the Chinese military serves U.S. national interests and that the Biden administration may seek to follow through the blacklist policy in a way that least affects U.S. investors.In a statement issued late Monday, the NYSE said its decision-making was not over, and that NYSE regulators “continue to evaluate the applicability” of the outgoing president’s executive order.FILE – Visitors look at a display from Chinese telecommunications firm China Telecom at the PT Expo in Beijing, Oct. 31, 2019.Pressure from Wall StreetFrancis Lun, chief executive officer of GEO Securities Limited in Hong Kong, believes the NYSE’s decision to delist the three companies on December 31 was irrational and unwelcome to Wall Street, which he suspected might have played a role in the NYSE’s flip-flop.”This proves that Wall Street and financial circles are China’s greatest friends,” Lun told VOA in a phone interview on Tuesday. “What a fortune has Wall Street made from China. If there were no dealings with Chinese businesses, [Wall Street’s] revenue would have slipped by one-fourth.”Lun said he hoped Biden’s approach to China wouldn’t be as hostile and tough as Trump’s. Once Biden restores normalcy to U.S.-China relations, such a financial containment policy will not sustain, he said.C.Y. Huang of FCC Partners in Taipei told VOA that Chinese companies would have little to lose should they be forced to delist from the U.S. stock markets.He said the three companies are currently operating well with solid fundamentals and a steady cash flow. And he said it would be U.S. investors’ loss if they were banned from buying shares in these companies, whether they are listed in the U.S. markets or elsewhere, such as the Hong Kong stock market.Huang said there would be fewer incentives for many of those 300 Chinese companies, whose shares are currently traded in the U.S. markets, to stay after U.S. investors become less friendly and regulatory restrictions are tightened.In contrast, China’s stock markets are becoming more attractive to Chinese companies, he said. There have been successful precedents of companies raising more funds or enjoying a higher price-to-earnings ratio back in China. For example, last year, JD.com and JD Health successfully raised $3.9 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively, in the Hong Kong bourse. SMIC raised $8.24 billion in Shanghai A shares. All three were record-breaking initial public offerings.”China continues to embrace rising capital inflows, although the capital market in Hong Kong, from a certain perspective, will become Sinicized, which means that it will have more Chinese funds in it,” Huang said.But blue-chip stocks are always favored by investors, whether their money is from the U.S. or China, Huang said. He added that it would be U.S. investors’ loss if they were not allowed to invest, because funds from other regions, such as Europe, China and Singapore, would fill the void.Return to ChinaSince the Holding Foreign Company Accountability Act came into effect in December, Chinese companies that cannot comply with U.S. auditing standards in the future may not be able to continue to list in the U.S.Under this premise, Huang believes that in the next two to three years, Chinese companies withdrawing from U.S. stock markets and returning to China for listing is inevitable.FILE – Staff members wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus use their smartphones at a display from Chinese telecommunications firm China Mobile at the PT Expo in Beijing, Oct. 14, 2020.He emphasized that this trend would be a “double-edged sword” for the U.S., hurting both U.S. investors and Chinese companies. He also said many U.S. companies that rely on the Chinese market were unwilling to lose out on the business opportunities from China’s army of 600 million middle-income consumers or the world’s largest 5G market in China as a result of rising U.S.-China tensions.Oliver Rui, professor of finance and accounting at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, said the U.S. has been brushing aside the auditing standards on Chinese companies for more than a decade to benefit Wall Street. He said that in the face of hostile sanctions from the U.S., China could easily counterattack.”[China has] too much leverage,” Rui said. “For example, if U.S. companies which set up factories in China have done deals with the U.S. military, China can also sanction them. Who doesn’t have a military client? If you look carefully, it is impossible for any of the world’s top 500 companies to have no connection [with the military].”Revenge from ChinaBefore the NYSE announced the cancellation of the delisting plan, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission all spoke out harshly against the U.S.’s measures last weekend.A spokesperson for the China Securities Regulatory Commission said Sunday that “the U.S. implemented administrative orders for political purposes and unreasonably suppressed foreign companies listed in the U.S. This has seriously undermined normal market rules and order.”The China Securities Regulatory Commission said as the American Depository Receipts (ADRs) total less than $3.1 billion and account for, at most, 2.2% of the total shares each, even if the three firms are delisted, the direct impact on their development and market operation is quite limited.China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would “take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.”Daphne Wang, assistant research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei, believes the NYSE’s delisting decision may be related to China’s pressure and threat of retaliation.She said based on cybersecurity and national security considerations, the U.S. will not easily back down from blacklisting Chinese companies with ties to the Chinese state or military.Wang said the Biden administration might find a way to implement the blacklist while easing the impact on U.S. investors and companies.”The United States has the funds, and it will not allow American money to help China grow its strength that is strong enough to rival with the U.S. So, it will definitely impose capital controls,” she said.
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Netherlands Begins Coronavirus Vaccinations
The Netherlands delivered its first coronavirus vaccine dose Wednesday to a care home nurse, nearly two weeks after other European Union nations began inoculations.
A shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was given live on television to nurse Sanna Elkadiri, the first recipient at a mass vaccination center in Veghel, 120 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam. Afterwards, Elkadiri told an interviewer, “This is a very important moment for me as a person who works in the care sector. You want to provide the care knowing that your clients are safe. Without the vaccine that is not possible but from now on I can do it.”The Dutch government has come under fierce criticism for its late start to vaccinations. Prime Minister Mark Rutte told parliament Tuesday his government had focused preparations on the easy-to-handle AstraZeneca vaccine, which has not yet been cleared for use in the European Union. Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, AstaZeneca’s does not require deep-freeze storage at a certain temperature.The Netherlands is in a five-week lockdown as infection rates rise across the country.Nearly 12,000 people are confirmed to have died of COVID-19 in the Netherlands since the pandemic started, although officials say the true number is likely higher because not all people who died with symptoms were tested. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.
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Warnock Scores Historic Win in Georgia Senate Race, Ossoff-Perdue Runoff Still Too Close to Call
Democrat Raphael Warnock won one of two close Senate runoff races in the U.S. state of Georgia, putting Senate control within the party’s reach and making Warnock the first Black Democrat to win a Senate seat in a former Confederate state.
Warnock, the pastor of an Atlanta, Georgia, church once led by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler in a race that was called by Edison Research and the Associated Press early Wednesday after the candidates exchanged leads overnight.
In the other Georgia Senate race, Democrat Jon Ossoff maintained a tighter lead over Republican Senator David Perdue, whose six-year term expired on Sunday. Ossoff, a former congressional aide and television documentary producer, claimed victory early Wednesday but the race was too close to declare a winner.
An Ossoff victory would give Democrats full control of Congress, raising the possibility that President-elect Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers can more easily enact their legislative agenda.
Warnock and Ossoff needed heavy turnout from African American voters, as did Biden two months ago, when his popularity with Black voters and other groups allowed him to capture Georgia’s 16 electoral votes by almost 12,000 out of 5 million votes cast.
Warnock’s win also crystalizes a years-long political shift in Georgia, where growing numbers of minorities and college-educated residents have helped turn the state from a longtime Republican stronghold into a swing state.
“Georgia is in such an incredible place when you think of the arc of our history,” Warnock said Wednesday on ABC’s Good Morning America. “This is the reversal of the old Southern strategy that sought to divide people.”
President-elect Biden was quick to commend Warnock and Ossoff on Wednesday, although Ossoff had not been declared the winner.FILE – Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Georgia Jon Ossoff speaks after voting early in Atlanta, Dec. 22, 2020.“I congratulate the people of Georgia, who turned out in record numbers once again, just as they did in November, to elect two new senators, demand action, and call on our elected leaders to end the gridlock and move us forward as a nation,” Biden said in a statement.
Going into Tuesday’s voting, Republicans controlled the 100-seat Senate with a 50-48 advantage, needing to win one of the Georgia contests to keep their majority and act as a bulwark against Biden’s legislative proposals after he is inaugurated January 20.
With Warnock’s victory, an Ossoff win would give Democrats a 50-50 split with Republicans and a chance for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who will be able to preside over Senate proceedings when she chooses, to cast tie-breaking votes in Democrats’ favor.
Democrats already narrowly control the House of Representatives. With Democratic control of both houses of Congress, Biden would likely offer more sweeping proposals to bolster health care in the United States, tighten environmental controls that were eased during the four-year tenure of Trump and try to make it easier for immigrants to gain U.S. citizenship.
Conversely, Republican control of the Senate would make Biden’s political life more difficult and likely force protracted negotiations between his administration and Republican lawmakers on contentious issues.
The controlling party in the chamber also sets the legislative calendar, determining which issues are voted on while also holding a majority on each of the Senate’s issue-specific committees where potential laws are first considered.
The Perdue-Ossoff and Loeffler-Warnock contests were made necessary because none of the four candidates won a majority in the first round of voting in November. Voters are seen lined up for the U.S. Senate run-off election, at a polling location in Marietta, Georgia, Jan. 5, 2021.Voter turnout was robust on Tuesday, with long lines of voters snaking into polling places, and came after nearly 3.1 million people cast ballots before the official Election Day. Five million votes were cast in Georgia in the November balloting that included Biden’s race against Trump.
Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that he was defrauded out of winning the state, pleading in an extraordinary phone call last weekend with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find him 11,780 more votes – enough to upend the Biden win by a single vote. But Raffensperger, a Republican, rebuffed Trump, saying he was “just plain wrong” in contending he was cheated out of a victory in the state.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Trump continued to make false claims Wednesday, tweeting that Georgia elections officials “just happened to find 50,000 ballots late last night. The USA is embarrassed by fools. Our Election Process is worse than that of third world countries.”
Georgia election official Gabe Sterling dismissed Trump’s claims, declaring Wednesday there is “no evidence of any irregularities” in Tuesday’s election. “The biggest thing we’ve seen is from the president’s fertile mind of finding fraud where none exists.”
Election Day exit polls conducted by Edison Research indicated about seven in 10 Georgia voters were confident that the votes in Tuesday’s runoff elections would be counted accurately. Democrats were far more confident than Republicans.
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Trump Tells Supporters He Will ‘Never Concede’
U.S. President Donald Trump addressed thousands of supporters Wednesday in Washington, insisting he will “never concede” as lawmakers gather on Capitol Hill to certify the election of Joe Biden as America’s next president. Speaking on stage with the White House as a backdrop, Trump repeated his false claims that November’s election was “stolen” and that he won in a “landslide.” Along with the “radical left Democrats,” Trump said the “fake news media” used “the China virus” — referring to the COVID-19 pandemic — as cover to “steal the election.” U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) take part in a joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 election results on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Trump also called on Vice President Mike Pence to “do the right thing” as he presides over the certification of the electoral vote in a largely ceremonial role late Wednesday, two weeks before Biden’s inauguration. Trump falsely insisted that “All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify and we become president and you are the happiest people.” Trump’s supporters, including some groups that clashed with police, started gathering in Washington on Tuesday night. Authorities said they arrested at least six people on charges that included weapons and ammunition possession, assaulting a police officer and possessing a stun gun. Washington’s streets were shut down, and Mayor Muriel Bowser called in the National Guard, fearing a repeat of sometimes-violent confrontations between protest groups the city experienced last year. Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Downtown shops have been boarded up, and National Guard members assisted District of Columbia and National Park police in controlling crowds Wednesday. Bowser and politicians in neighboring Maryland and Virginia urged residents to stay home Wednesday and avoid counterprotests. The election certification, usually a routine and ceremonial function that is the final step after the Electoral College officially elected Biden on December 14, has turned into a litmus test of Republican lawmakers’ loyalty to Trump. More than 100 Trump loyalists in Congress were set to challenge Biden’s certification.
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Zimbabwe Authorities Selectively Enforce COVID Lockdown, Rights Groups Say
Human rights groups in Zimbabwe say the government is selectively enforcing COVID-19 lockdown rules. On Wednesday, a court handed down prison sentences to organizers of a New Year’s eve music event while a friend of the president who held his own party was untouched by police.
When Zimbabwe’s government first imposed a lockdown to rein in the spread of COVID-19 last March, police used the lockdown as grounds for forcibly shutting down the meetings of opposition groups, while letting events of the ruling ZANU-PF party go ahead with no interference.
A new 12-hour curfew went into effect this week and Musa Kika, executive director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, expressed concern that police are acting the same way.
“So, we have a security apparatus [whose] modus [operandi], whose prime mode of control, is force. Force that is meted out against the requirements of our constitution and laws and against regional and international standards to which Zimbabwe is bound. So, we have policing that turn to disregard human rights. And it is just incorrect to believe that enforcement of public health measures should disregard individual or group rights,” Kika said.
On Wednesday, a court in Harare sentenced three men to 12 months in prison for organizing an overnight music concert on New Year’s eve.
Tafadzwa Hungwe, their lawyer, spoke to reporters after the ruling.
“We were obviously shocked at the level of punishment that was meted out by the court today given that there is an option of fine and community service. As it stands, my instructions are to take it to the High Court and take it further. And we hope for the best in High Court,” Hungwe said.
Since the arrest of the three, social media has been awash with accusations that authorities are enforcing the law selectively. Critics say police did not arrest a well-known close ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa for holding a New Year’s eve party which also went viral on social media.
Zimbabwe’s Vice President Kembo Mohadi defends the work the country’s security forces, saying all they are doing is enforcing the new lockdown, announced over the weekend.
“Our security agencies will continue to enforce strict, tough standard operating procedures to ensure safety of all our citizens. We are our own saviors. And it is our behavioral change which will take us out of this danger. We have to be disciplined. When the situation doesn’t allow, there shouldn’t be any enjoyment, there shouldn’t be any merrymaking at all. We need to remain home and ourselves and others safe,” Mohadi said.
Zimbabwe had more than 17,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 418 deaths.
Health experts say the numbers are likely to rise over the next two weeks because of big gatherings many people held during the holiday season.
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Malawi Mandates Quarantine for Returnees from South Africa
Malawi has introduced a mandatory quarantine on returnees from South Africa to control rising cases of COVID-19. Thousands of Malawians have returned from South Africa in recent weeks, and officials fear they could import the new, more contagious form of coronavirus.Malawi has seen a rapid increase of COVID-19 cases since the middle of December. The Public Health Institute of Malawi reports confirmed cases jumped from 116 on December 18 to 946 on January 5. Health authorities say they believe the rise is largely driven by Malawians who traveled to South Africa to look for work and escape poverty triggered by the pandemic. According to Malawi’s immigration department, about 10,000 Malawians have returned from South Africa since the start of the pandemic, with others expected to return soon. Immigration officers at Mwanza border wellcoming buses carrying Malawi returnees. (Courtesy: Pasqually Zulu/Immigration Department)“Forty percent of our cases have come from especially our returnees and indeed our deportees. So we have no option but to put this mandatory institutionalized quarantine,” said Malawi’s minister of health Khumbize Kandodo-Chiponda.The new policy, announced Tuesday, says returnees will be taken to a quarantine facility for coronavirus testing. Those found to have the virus will not be allowed to return home until they test negative. John Phuka, the chairperson of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, says the measure will help contain the more deadly new strain of the coronavirus known as 501.V2 which has hit South Africa. “For the past two weeks the number of cases had doubled almost twice,” he said. “We were 210; we should have doubled to 400. We have now doubled again to over 800 active cases. So the rate at which this is rising is pointing towards that.” Phuka notes that more young people are getting infected, compared to the first wave of the pandemic. “In the current wave, amongst those we have lost to death, three are less than 30 years. As we speak we have two children who are admitted for example at Queens [Central Hospital]. And then last week we also discharged one child, six months old, so there are indications that we may have this variant,” he said.This is not the first time Malawi has put returnees in quarantine. In May last year, more than 400 Malawian migrant workers who returned from South Africa escaped from a coronavirus screening camp at Kamuzu Stadium in the economic capital, Blantyre. This came two days after eight people who tested positive for coronavirus escaped from Kameza Isolation center in Blantyre. This time Health Minister Kandodo-Chiponda says there will ‘very tight security’ in the quarantine facilities.
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Britain’s Johnson Defends Lockdown Decision to Parliament
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament Wednesday that the government had “no choice but to return to a national lockdown,” as health officials estimate that one in every 50 people in the nation have had COVID-19 in the last week.Figures released Tuesday by Britain’s Office for National Statistics show the number is higher in London, where one in 30 people had the virus between December 27 and January 2. The figure does not include people in hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions.Addressing parliament Wednesday ahead of lawmakers’ retroactive votes on lockdown measures introduced earlier this week, Johnson said the plan is for the lockdown to last until the end of March, but with a mid-February review. European Health Officials Cast Nervous Eye at Britain’s Struggling HospitalsEuropean health officials anxiously watch pandemic developments in Britain, the epicenter of a mutant coronavirus strain that is overwhelming hospitals thereHe said the lockdown is an effort to slow the spread of the virus while the country is accelerating its vaccination program.Under the latest lockdown, schools, outdoor sports facilities, bars, restaurants, hair salons, gyms, theaters and most shops are closed.Johnson said 1.3 million people have received at least one shot of the two-dose inoculation regime since injections began in early December. That includes almost a quarter of people over the age of 80. Comparing the vaccination effort to a race, Johnson said after the “marathon of last year, we are now in a sprint …to vaccinate the vulnerable faster than the virus can reach them.”New COVID-19 infections have soared in recent weeks as public health officials struggled to contain a new variant that the government says is 50% to 70% more contagious.Britain reported 830 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday. The death toll from the pandemic is now 76,423, one of the world’s highest tallies, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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