The coronavirus pandemic has prompted authorities in Australia to ban people from witnessing in person one of the world’s most iconic New Year’s celebrations.New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced Monday that Sydney Harbor would be closed to the public Thursday night, New Year’s Eve, to prevent the disease from spreading outside the city’s Northern Beach suburbs. A total of 125 people in that neighborhood have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, since mid-December, including five new cases recorded Monday.The annual New Year’s observance features a spectacular fireworks display that lights up the nighttime skies over Sydney’s famous Opera House. At least 1 million people are normally in attendance, but Premier Berejiklian said the safest way for Sydney residents to view the fireworks show is from home, on television.”On New Year’s Eve, we don’t want any crowds on the foreshore around Sydney whatsoever,” she said.In addition to banning the public from the Harbor, Berejiklian has also limited private gatherings to just 10 people.
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Author: SeeEA
How American Pork Could Lead to Wider US Trade Deal with Export Powerhouse Taiwan
Taiwanese officials will lift a longstanding ban on additive-fed pork imports from the United States this month to open talks on a broader trade agreement with one of its top export markets, people close to the decision process say. Parliament in Taipei gave the final clearances last week to allowing shipments of American pork from pigs raised on the feed additive ractopamine which is used to promote leanness but is banned by 160 countries including China, Russia and the European Union. The imports, which will begin Friday, remove what Taiwanese officials believe to be a key barrier in U.S. trade ties. FILE – People join a protest to oppose the import of U.S. pork containing ractopamine, an additive that enhances leanness in Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 22, 2020.“When I’ve made legislative visits to the United States, the U.S. representatives would always bring up this topic, and now this issue that kept being brought up is out of the way,” independent lawmaker Freddy Lim said Monday. Formal U.S. interest in a trade deal hinges on President-elect Joe Biden’s government, Lim said, but “I personally feel optimistic given the sum or experiences and reactions from the past.” Second biggest trading partner Officials in Taiwan have tried off and on since 1994 for a free trade deal with the United States, the second biggest taker of Taiwanese imports after China. U.S. trade negotiators sometimes push their deal partners to let in American farm goods as a condition to signing agreements that eliminate tariffs on exports such as manufactured electronics that underpin economies such as Taiwan’s. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative says U.S. imports from Taiwan reached $61.6 billion in 2019. Americans buy computers, semiconductors and machinery, among other goods made in Taiwan, resulting in a trade surplus for the Asian manufacturing center that reached $19.3 billion last year. “It seems to me that nobody can deny because of the small, tiny size of Taiwan and [that] we don’t have enough natural resources, we have to fully engage into active international trade with foreign countries, and nobody here in Taiwan denies we need direct negotiations on trade with the United States, which happens to be one of the biggest countries in the world,” said Liu Yih-jiun, public affairs professor at Fo Guang University in Taiwan. Hints of a trade agreement Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told parliament in November the United States was Taiwan’s most powerful ally as he explained that his government would require on-site inspections at American meat factories and clear product labeling to protect food safety. Taiwan has avoided American pork to date on suspicion that ractopamine residue could cause human health problems. Government-run Central News Agency reported in November that lifting the ban “is seen as an attempt to pave the way for a bilateral trade deal with the U.S.” After Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen announced in August the intent to let in American pork, several U.S. government agencies responded with tweets and news releases.The de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan said it welcomed the move that would “provide greater access for U.S. farmers to one of East Asia’s most vibrant markets” and that Tsai’s decision would “open the door to greater economic and trade cooperation between the United States and Taiwan.” FILE – A bowl of rice with minced pork, a popular Taiwanese style dish, is seen at a restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, July 26, 2017.Pork permeates Taiwanese cuisine from dozens of restaurant entrees to hot dogs buried in pastries and thin strips of meat that turn up in breakfast-bar sandwiches. Some chefs put pork shreds in dishes labeled as vegetarian to give the greens a fatty, salty taste. No guarantee of a deal But the U.S. Trade Representative’s office has not said Taiwan must allow pork imports to qualify for a trade deal, minority party lawmaker Charles Chen said. “I think this matter raises major doubts among Taiwanese domestically about whether there will be any sort of exchange with the U.S. Trade Representative office,” Chen said. “If not, then it doesn’t mean that the trade representative will give us any advantages.” FILE – Pork intestines and other organs are seen on the ground after Taiwan lawmakers threw the parts at each other during a scuffle in the parliament in Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 27, 2020.Chen’s Nationalist Party took pork innards to a November parliament session to show their opposition. Lawmakers went on to throw the entrails at one another, capturing widespread media attention in and outside Taiwan.
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China’s Central Bank Orders Ant Group to Meet Strict Regulatory Guidelines
Regulators with China’s central bank have ordered online financial services giant Ant Group to restructure its operations to meet regulatory guidelines.The People’s Bank of China said in a statement Sunday that its regulators issued the requirements during a meeting with Ant Group executives the day before. Vice Governor Pan Gongsheng said the Bank outlined a list of problems with Ant Group, including a lack of sound governance, a defiance of regulatory demands, using its market dominance to squeeze out competitors and harming the rights and interests of consumers.Chairman and chief executive of Alibaba Group Jack Ma reacts during a session of “Future-Proofing the Internet Economy” at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in China’s port city Dalian, September 9, 2015.Pan said Bank regulators urged Ant to establish a separate holding company to ensure it has adequate operating capital, and to “strictly rectify illegal credit, insurance and wealth management financial activities.”Ant began as a payments service for Alibaba, the world’s biggest online retail company, and evolved over time as one of the world’s biggest online financial services companies, offering such services such as loans, investing and insurance. The Bank called on Ant to return to its “payment origins,” enhance transparency around transactions and prohibit unfair competition.Ant has issued a statement promising to establish a working group to ensure it is rectifying its issues with the Bank’s findings, and would fully comply with the Bank’s requirements.The government surprised the financial world last month when it suspended the Ant Group’s debut as a publicly traded company on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges, a move that cost the company $37 billion, which would have set the record profit for an initial public offering.The Bank’s meeting with Ant coincides with the Chinese government’s market regulation agency decision to open an anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba. The probe will look into the company’s practice of forcing its business partners to choose either Alibaba or a rival competitor, instead of allowing them to sell their merchandise through both outlets.Alibaba was founded in 1999 by Jack Ma, who has become the richest businessman in China with an estimated net worth of $59 billion. The company is the world’s biggest online retail company and expanded into financial services and other fields.The probe signifies Beijing’s increasing efforts to tighten control over the country’s dominant technology sector.Analysts also say Chinese leaders may be targeting Ma because he complained about China’s regulatory system at a business conference in October, accusing it of stifling innovation and blocking opportunities.
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Chinese Citizen Journalist Jailed for Four Years for Wuhan Virus Reporting
A Chinese citizen journalist was jailed for four years for her livestream reporting from Wuhan as the Covid-19 outbreak unfurled, her lawyer said Monday, almost a year after details of an “unknown viral pneumonia” surfaced in the central China city.Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer, was sentenced at a brief hearing in a Shanghai court for allegedly “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for her reporting in the chaotic initial stages of the outbreak.Her live reports and essays were widely shared on social media platforms in February, grabbing the attention of authorities, who have punished eight virus whistleblowers so far as they defang criticism of the government’s response to the outbreak.Controlling the narrativeBeijing has congratulated itself for “extraordinary” success in controlling the virus inside its borders, with an economy on the rebound while much of the rest of the world stutters through painful lockdowns and surging caseloads a year on from the start of the pandemic in Wuhan.Controlling the information flow during an unprecedented global health crisis has been pivotal in allowing China’s communist authorities to reframe the narrative in their favor.But that has come at a serious cost to anyone picking holes in that storyline.”Zhang Zhan looked devastated when the sentence was announced,” Ren Quanniu, one of Zhang’s defence lawyers, told reporters confirming the four-year jail term outside Shanghai Pudong New District People’s Court on Monday morning.Her mother sobbed loudly as the verdict was read, Ren added.Hunger strikeConcerns are mounting over the health of 37-year-old Zhang who began a hunger strike in June and has been force-fed via a nasal tube.”She said when I visited her (last week): ‘If they give me a heavy sentence then I will refuse food until the very end.’ … She thinks she will die in prison,” Ren said before the trial.”It’s an extreme method of protesting against this society and this environment.”China’s communist authorities have a history of putting dissidents on trial in opaque courts between Christmas and New Year to minimize Western scrutiny.The trial comes just weeks before an international team of World Health Organization experts is expected to arrive in China to investigate the origins of Covid-19.Concern for Zhang’s healthAnother lawyer said Zhang’s health was in decline and she suffered from headaches, dizziness and stomach pain.”Restrained 24 hours a day, she needs assistance going to the bathroom,” Zhang Keke, who visited her on Christmas Day, wrote in a note circulated on social media.”She feels psychologically exhausted, like every day is a torment.”Zhang was critical of the early response in Wuhan, writing in a February essay that the government “didn’t give people enough information, then simply locked down the city”.”This is a great violation of human rights,” she wrote.The court said she had spread “false remarks” online, according to Zhang Keke.Sentence sets an exampleRights groups have also drawn attention to her case.Authorities “want to use her case as an example to scare off other dissidents from raising questions about the pandemic situation in Wuhan earlier this year”, said Leo Lan, research and advocacy consultant at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders NGO.Zhang is the first to face trial of a group of four citizen journalists detained by authorities earlier this year after reporting from Wuhan.Previous attempts by AFP to contact the other three — Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua — were unsuccessful.
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Uighur Diaspora Hails Removal of ETIM From US Terror List
Uighur activists and experts alike welcomed the removal of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) from the U.S. terrorist list, saying the move by Washington last month helps the religious minority fight more effectively for its rights, while making it harder for China to portray its crackdown in Xinjiang as a counterterrorism measure.“To some degree, the Chinese government succeeded in labeling Uyghur organizations and personnel as terrorists in some international platforms,” said Ilshat Hasan Kokbore, a member of Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), which China has accused of being a group of “East Turkistan terrorist forces.”The ETIM, also referred to as the East Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIP), was founded in 1997 in Pakistan by then-33-year-old Uighur religious figure Hasan Mahsum, who was living there in exile. The leader reportedly had led a few dozen Uighur militants in the Afghanistan and Pakistan border region before being killed by a Pakistani army drone in October 2003.The U.S. designated the group in September 2002, accusing it of terrorist acts, such as arson, assassination, and bombing of buses, movie theaters, department stores, markets and hotels in China. The U.N. followed suit the same month, upon a request by the U.S., China, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a brief October 20 directive that was published November 5, revoked the terror designation. The decision, according to a State Department spokesperson quoted by Agence France-Presse, came because “for more than a decade, there has been no credible evidence that ETIM continues to exist.”Part of a trade-offJames Millward, a professor of Chinese history at Georgetown University, told VOA the U.S. listing of ETIM originally used language from a PRC white paper but mistakenly attributed a long list of violent acts from the white paper to a single group, ETIM.The designation, Millward said, “was part of a tit for tat to get PRC’s endorsement of the U.S. plans to invade Iraq.”“[T]he think-tank and counterterrorism world, on the other hand, have used the U.S. listing and PRC propaganda far too credulously to talk about terrorism in Xinjiang as an ongoing, even escalating reality,” Millward added.Another Chinese history professor, Michael Clarke from Canberra-based Australian National University, said the ETIM has lacked capacity to harm China since the death of its leader, Mahsum, in 2003. Nevertheless, authorities in Beijing continue to exaggerate its strength to gain international sympathy for their policy toward minority Uighurs.“The ETIM designation has been used by Beijing ever since 2002 as a blanket term deployed against any and all violence and opposition to the state in Xinjiang in order to delegitimize Uighur grievances and justify increased repression,” Clarke said.FILE – A protester from the Uighur community living in Turkey holds an anti-China placard during a protest in Istanbul, Oct. 1, 2020, against what they allege is Chinese oppression of Muslim Uighurs in far-western Xinjiang province.Human rights organizations say China since early 2017 has used fighting extremism and separatism as an excuse to hold more than 1 million Uighurs in internment camps where they face torture, indoctrination and forced labor. The organizations say the rest of the Uighur population in Xinjiang lives under heavy state surveillance.Suppression cited, not terrorism“The overwhelming majority of the violence in the Uighur region of China since 2001 cannot be characterized as terrorism,” said Sean Roberts, a professor at George Washington University.“Often, this violence has erupted when peaceful protests have been suppressed by security organs, and much of it can be attributed to violent responses to police brutality,” Roberts told VOA.China, however, rejects allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang. Chinese officials have called the detention camps “vocational training schools” where “students who were infected by extremist thoughts learn Chinese law, language and skills” in order to become “normal” people.Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, in a news conference November 6, said his country “deplores and firmly opposes” the removal of ETIM from the U.S. terror list.Describing the group as posing “serious threats” to security and stability in China, Wang said the U.S. had “flip-flopped” and exposed “the current U.S. administration’s double standard on counterterrorism.”“The United States should immediately correct its mistakes, refrain from whitewashing terrorist organizations and stop backpedaling on international counterterrorism cooperation,” Wang told reporters from Beijing.Exiled Uighur activists, contrary to China’s party line, say the U.S. decision is an important step to recognize the plight of Uighurs who have been deprived of basic cultural and political rights under the PRC.Salih Hudayar, founder and director of the Washington-based East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, said the State Department decision is equally important for Uighur Americans who have been afraid of using their preferred term “East Turkistan” instead of Xinjiang lest they be associated with this ETIM group.“Many Uighurs defaulted to calling it ‘Xinjiang,’ which means ‘new territory’ in Chinese, even though most Uighurs consider it to be an offensive, colonialist term designed to erase our identity, culture and history,” Hudayar told VOA.
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South Korea, Japan, Indonesia Record Highest Daily Increases in COVID Cases
South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia recorded the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases Friday as a third wave of COVID-19 hit the countries.In South Korea 70% of the more than 1,200 new cases were in the greater Seoul area, where half the country’s 52 million people live.In Japan, with 884 cases reported Friday nationwide, Tokyo had the largest number of infections.Indonesia reported its biggest daily rise in deaths, with 258 fatalities and 7,259 infections, bringing the country’s total numbers to 20,847 and 700,097, respectively.Mexico on Thursday became the first Latin American country to launch a COVID-19 vaccination initiative, offering hope to a nation that has lost more than 120,000 people to the pandemic.A 59-year-old head nurse at the intensive care unit at Mexico City’s Ruben Lenero hospital was the first to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, in keeping with the country’s strategy to focus first on health care workers.“This is the best gift that I could have received in 2020,” Ramirez said after being inoculated in a ceremony broadcast by national media.Chile will immediately start inoculations of health care workers after receiving the first 10,000 doses of a 10 million-dose order of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine Thursday, officials said.Also Thursday, Costa Rica was preparing to vaccinate two senior citizens in a home near San Jose, while Argentina received about 300,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.The United States is about to complete its second week of vaccinations with about 1 million inoculations, mainly among health care workers and elderly residents of nursing homes. The numbers, however, are far short of the goal set by Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s effort to mass produce millions of doses of vaccines, to inoculate 20 million Americans by the end of the year.U.S. Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui has warned that it would take longer to administer the doses.The Trump administration has reached a deal worth $2 billion to secure an additional 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which would boost the nation’s supply to 200 million doses by mid-July.With surges throughout the U.S. leading to 327,000 COVID-19 deaths and 18.5 million coronavirus infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, the speed with which immunizations can be administered becomes increasingly important.California became the first U.S. state Thursday to record 2 million coronavirus cases.Iran said it has U.S. approval to transfer funds to pay for coronavirus vaccines, Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said Thursday.The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control gave permission for the transfer of $244 million to a Swiss bank to pay for initial imports of 16.8 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, the multiagency group set up to assure fair access to vaccines for all countries.U.S. authorities announced on Thursday that passengers arriving from Britain should test negative for COVID-19 before departure, after the discovery of a new and more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus.China on Thursday became the latest country to suspend all travel with Britain.
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US Designation of Vietnam as Currency Manipulator Could Spur Talks, Changes, Analysts Say
Analysts say this month’s U.S. designation of Vietnam as a currency manipulator will spur talks between the two countries that could see Vietnam buy more U.S. goods or reduce government intervention in the foreign exchange rate.The designation came about because the U.S. Treasury Department determined, according to its semiannual report on major U.S. trading partners’ macroeconomic and foreign exchange policies, that Vietnam – as well as Switzerland – is a currency manipulator. The department determined that Vietnam’s currency was undervalued by 4.7% in 2019.FILE – A woman counts Vietnamese dong bank notes in the office of a local company in Hanoi.Vietnam and the United States are expected to reach a currency-related agreement over the next year, two experts said. The two sides get along politically today despite old baggage from their war that ended in the 1970s.“Basically, it’ll now be a period where the U.S. will have discussions with Vietnam to try to resolve the situation,” said Rajiv Biswas, a senior regional economist with IHS Markit, a London-based market analysis firm. In Washington, he said, “They won’t immediately just start taking action in terms of policy measures.”Hanoi might agree to buy more U.S. goods or intervene less in its foreign exchange rate and let the free market decide, experts say. Inaction by Vietnam over the next year could prompt U.S. officials to levy import tariffs.About a quarter of Vietnam’s economy rests on exports, the result of low manufacturing costs and government incentives to promote foreign investment by the likes of Ford, Intel and Samsung Electronics. Vietnamese exports include smartphones as well as garments, shoes and automotive parts. The United States was Vietnam’s top trading partner in 2019 in both imports and exports.Other countries labeled currency manipulators have patched things up with the United States by agreeing to buy American products. Taiwan, for example, was reportedly planning more purchases of U.S. goods late last year to reduce its U.S. trade surplus and avoid being labeled a manipulator.In February 2019, Vietnam-based budget carrier Vietjet Air agreed with U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing to buy 100 additional 737 MAX planes.“Once Boeing gets its MAX planes in order, Vietnam will order more,” said Jack Nguyen, a partner at the business advisory firm Mazars in Ho Chi Minh City. “We made a huge order to Boeing, so we’re trying to balance the trade.”The United States dubbed China a manipulator in August 2019 but removed that label in January of this year after China agreed to an initial trade deal auguring well for American businesses.Hanoi and Washington will probably start talks toward an “enhanced bilateral engagement” calling on Vietnam to do something with its currency rate and “address any significantly large trade surplus with the U.S.,” SSI Research of Hanoi said in a December 21 summary of economic trends in Vietnam. Vietnam’s central bank has said it’s willing to work with Washington. “The country is also willing to coordinate with the U.S. side to discuss relevant issues based on the spirit of cooperation and mutual benefits, towards fair and harmonious commercial ties between the two sides,” VGP News said.Vietnam would find it hard to snap up a lot of American imports or bring down the trade gap in the near term, Biswas said. It would be easier for now, he said, to intervene less in the foreign exchange rate.China, like Vietnam, depends heavily on manufactured exports and its communist government controls the currency exchange rate. China and the United States are separately entrenched in a trade dispute that has sent tariffs soaring on both sides since 2018. U.S. President Donald Trump is not personally targeting Vietnam, scholars believe, though American officials are warily watching Vietnam as a place where China-based factories have relocated to avoid tariffs tied to the Sino-U.S. trade dispute.From the U.S. side, “this is perhaps just a little sort of a warning to Vietnam to not enjoy the benefits of supply chain too much,” said Song Seng Wun, an economist in the private banking unit of Malaysian bank CIMB.
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SKorea, Japan, Indonesia Record Highest Daily Increases in COVID Cases
South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia recorded the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases Friday as a third wave of COVID-19 hit the countries.In South Korea 70% of the more than 1,200 new cases were in the greater Seoul area, where half the country’s 52 million people live.In Japan, with 884 cases reported Friday nationwide, Tokyo had the largest number of infections.Indonesia reported its biggest daily rise in deaths, with 258 fatalities and 7,259 infections, bringing the country’s total numbers to 20,847 and 700,097, respectively.Mexico on Thursday became the first Latin American country to launch a COVID-19 vaccination initiative, offering hope to a nation that has lost more than 120,000 people to the pandemic.A 59-year-old head nurse at the intensive care unit at Mexico City’s Ruben Lenero hospital was the first to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, in keeping with the country’s strategy to focus first on health care workers.“This is the best gift that I could have received in 2020,” Ramirez said after being inoculated in a ceremony broadcast by national media.Chile will immediately start inoculations of health care workers after receiving the first 10,000 doses of a 10 million-dose order of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine Thursday, officials said.Also Thursday, Costa Rica was preparing to vaccinate two senior citizens in a home near San Jose, while Argentina received about 300,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.The United States is about to complete its second week of vaccinations with about 1 million inoculations, mainly among health care workers and elderly residents of nursing homes. The numbers, however, are far short of the goal set by Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s effort to mass produce millions of doses of vaccines, to inoculate 20 million Americans by the end of the year.U.S. Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui has warned that it would take longer to administer the doses.The Trump administration has reached a deal worth $2 billion to secure an additional 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which would boost the nation’s supply to 200 million doses by mid-July.With surges throughout the U.S. leading to 327,000 COVID-19 deaths and 18.5 million coronavirus infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, the speed with which immunizations can be administered becomes increasingly important.California became the first U.S. state Thursday to record 2 million coronavirus cases.Iran said it has U.S. approval to transfer funds to pay for coronavirus vaccines, Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said Thursday.The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control gave permission for the transfer of $244 million to a Swiss bank to pay for initial imports of 16.8 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, the multiagency group set up to assure fair access to vaccines for all countries.U.S. authorities announced on Thursday that passengers arriving from Britain should test negative for COVID-19 before departure, after the discovery of a new and more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus.China on Thursday became the latest country to suspend all travel with Britain.
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Trial of Hong Kongers Detained in China Begins Monday, Supporters Say
Ten of 12 Hong Kong people captured by China at sea as they tried to flee by boat four months ago will go on trial in the mainland city of Shenzhen on Monday, supporters said on Friday.The case has attracted great interest in Hong Kong and abroad as a rare instance of the Beijing authorities arresting people trying to leave the financial hub at a time of growing concern about the prospects for the city’s high degree of autonomy.The families had asked this week for 20 days’ notice to allow them to attend the trial, given a 14-day COVID-19 quarantine upon entering mainland China.Instead, the families of seven detainees were notified of the trial date by government-appointed lawyers, a support group said.”Obviously (the Chinese authorities) are rushing during the Christmas period so as to minimize international backlash,” said Beatrice Li, sister of detainee Andy Li.Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Twelve Hong Kongers were intercepted by the Chinese coastguard on Aug. 23 on a boat believed to be bound for Taiwan.Two underage suspects will undergo private hearings on a separate date, Chinese authorities said earlier this month.All were facing charges in Hong Kong linked to anti-government protests in the former British colony, including rioting and violation of a national security law Beijing imposed on the city in June.In their mainland trial, they face charges of illegally crossing the border and organizing an illegal crossing, which could carry sentences of up to seven years.The Hong Kong government has said the defendants must face justice on the mainland before returning to Hong Kong, where they are expected to be further investigated for the suspected protest-related crimes.
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Ex-Japan Prime Minister to Face Questioning in Parliament Over Funding Scandal
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was set Friday to correct statements he had made in parliament related to a political funding scandal that has also cast a pall over the current premier.Abe apologized Thursday for repeated false denials that his political funding group had subsidized cherry blossom viewing parties for his supporters, in possible violation of the country’s strict political funding laws.Japan’s longest-serving leader denied he had known anything about the payments, maintained innocence and pledged to work to regain public trust. The apology came after his secretary was summarily indicted over the issue and fined 1 million yen ($9,650).This marks a dramatic reversal of fortunes for Abe, one of the country’s political blue bloods, whose grandfather and great-uncle also served as premiers. He quit on health grounds in September after serving nearly eight years as prime minister.The scandal could also damage his successor, Yoshihide Suga, who was Abe’s right-hand man throughout his term and has defended his boss in the parliament.Suga, who has been beset by other controversies and seen his support ratings slide less than a year before the next lower house election must be called, also apologized Thursday for making inaccurate statements.Abe had appeared for voluntary questioning by prosecutors Monday about the issue and again denied his involvement, media said. Abe did not discuss in detail his dealings with the prosecutors during a news conference Thursday.His statements to parliament contradicted the findings of the prosecutors at least 118 times, several domestic media reported, citing a parliamentary research bureau.Politicians in Japan are forbidden from providing anything to constituents that could be construed as a gift. The rule is so strict that two ministers in Abe’s Cabinet quit in quick succession last year for giving things such as melons, crabs and even potatoes to voters in their constituencies.
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USGS: 6.3-Magnitude Earthquake Rocks Philippines
A 6.3-magnitude quake struck the Philippines on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, with residents in the capital, Manila, reporting buildings shaking and Christmas Day Masses interrupted, but there were no reports of damage.The quake struck in Batangas province on the main island of Luzon at a depth of 114 kilometers (70 miles) at 7:43 a.m. local time (2343 GMT), according to USGS.The agency initially said the quake’s strength was 6.2 and 108 kilometers deep.In the coastal city of Calatagan, about 90 kilometers south of Manila and near the epicenter, people attending Mass remained calm as the earthquake hit, police chief Major Carlo Caceres told AFP.”There was a pause in the church service, but the people did not panic,” Caceres said. “This area is quake-prone and people are more or less used to them.”There were no reports of damage or casualties in the area, he added.”The office furniture and equipment swayed, but nothing was broken,” said policeman Allan Megano in the nearby town of Balayan.The Philippines is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
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Taiwan Lawmakers Approve Imports of Additive-Fed US Pork
Taiwan’s parliament on Thursday approved measures that pave the way for imports of U.S. pork
containing a leanness-enhancing additive, despite objections by the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party which says the move is a health risk.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s decision in August to permit imports of U.S. pork containing ractopamine, banned in the European Union and China, has roiled Taiwan politics. The KMT has staged noisy protests and flung pig entrails in parliament on one occasion last month to protest against the plans.
The government says nobody will be forced to eat the pork and that the move brings Taiwan into line with international norms. Major Taiwanese food firms have already pledged not to sell pork made with ractopamine.
But with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party having a majority in parliament, the KMT was never going to be able to block the administrative measures that allow ractopamine pork.
“Ractopamine pork is poison pork,” KMT lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao told parliament, holding up a large sign reading the same message. Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters the government would protect people’s health. “We have seen that importers have publicly said they will not import ractopamine pork,” he added.
The KMT cancelled plans for public protests against the decision outside parliament after Taiwan reported on Tuesday its first locally-transmitted COVID-19 case since April.
The issue is extremely sensitive for Taiwan’s government as the United States is the Chinese-claimed island’s most important international backer and supplier of arms.
Taiwan’s government hopes the easing of U.S. pork imports will pave the way for a long-hoped for free trade deal with Washington. The de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan has decried “disinformation” from politicians about food safety.
Pork is Taiwan’s most popular meat, with average per capita consumption of around 40 kg. Most pork consumed in Taiwan is domestically reared.
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Asian Migrant Workers Locked Up, Dumped as Coronavirus Curbs Ease
Migrant workers in Asia are being locked up and abandoned by employers even as countries ease coronavirus curbs, say human rights groups, which are calling for better housing and changes to visa laws.The warning came after more than a dozen workers from Myanmar were dumped by the roadside in Thailand this week following a ban on the movement of migrant workers in and out of certain areas because of a COVID-19 outbreak.In Singapore, where cramped dormitories were a virus hotspot, migrant workers are still largely confined to their rooms even as authorities have eased restrictions in the city. “It is clear that these governments – and employers – really treat migrant workers as second-class citizens,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of global non-profit Human Rights Watch in Asia. “Certainly, governments need to address outbreaks and test workers. But they are doing it in a way that violates their rights, and in a way that they would not treat their own citizens,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.In Singapore, where the vast majority of COVID-19 cases were reported in the dormitories, authorities had earlier sealed off the accommodations that house more than 320,000 mostly SouthAsian low-wage workers.The government vowed to build new dormitories with improved standards. But workers remain largely confined to their dorms, except those who are eligible to apply for permission to go out briefly on rest days.Migrant workers in some dormitories will be allowed to go out once a month from early next year if they wear contact-tracing devices and are subject to frequent testing.Proprietary ApproachThe government’s measures are “disproportionate” and do not respect migrant workers’ rights, said Alex Au, vice president of the Singaporean non-profit Transient Workers Count Too. “Yes, we need to be vigilant, but it is a matter of proportionality: the facts do not justify such severe restrictions on migrant workers,” he said.The workers – nearly half of whom had been infected, according to the government – already had greater immunity, and were tested more frequently than the community, Au said. “The Singapore government has a paternalistic, almost proprietary approach towards migrant workers – caring for them because they are of economic value,” he said. “There is a subconscious blaming of the migrant workers, which is happening in other countries, too,” he added.The Singapore government has defended its measures, saying that migrant workers had received good care, and will get the vaccine for free like all other residents.”The risk of COVID-19 re-emerging in our migrant worker dormitories is real and significant,” Tan See Leng, a second minister for manpower, said in a Facebook post last week. “We know that our measures have been tough on our migrant workers. We recognise our responsibility to keep them safe, and to take care of their livelihood and welfare,” he said.A spokeswoman for the ministry declined further comment. In neighbouring Malaysia, authorities have said they would file charges against Top Glove, the world’s biggest maker of medical gloves, for poor worker accommodations after a COVID-19 outbreak.In Thailand, authorities have said they will extend the work permits of migrants, permit some workers to get tested for free, and file charges against employers who abandoned workers.But authorities must also commit to improving migrant housing, and reform the law to free up visas that keep workers tied to employers, said Robertson. “Migrant workers’ vulnerability is heightened because of their living and working conditions, yet they face unequal access to services,” he said.”There needs to be a rethink of how migrant workers are treated – and not just because it’s imperative for public health.”
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Chinese Regulators Open Anti-Monopoly Probe Into E-Commerce Giant Alibaba
The Chinese government is opening an anti-monopoly investigation into online retail giant Alibaba, a move that signifies Beijing’s increasing efforts to tighten control over the country’s dominant technology sector.
The State Administration for Market Regulation said Thursday the probe will look into the company’s practice of forcing its business partners to choose either Alibaba or a rival competitor, instead of allowing them to sell their merchandise through both outlets.
Alibaba was founded in 1999 by Jack Ma, who has become the richest businessman in China with an estimated net worth of $59 billion. The company is the world’s biggest online retail company and expanded into financial services and other fields.
In a separate announcement, regulators with the People’s Bank of China said Thursday it will meet with officials with the Ant Group, Alibaba’s affiliated financial services company, to discuss issues related to operating in a method that protects the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
The government surprised the financial world last month when it suspended the Ant Group’s debut as a publicly traded company on Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges. The initial public offering would have brought in a record-setting $37 billion.
Analysts say Chinese leaders may be targeting Ma because he complained about China’s regulatory system at a business conference in October, accusing it of stifling innovation and blocking opportunities.
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China Begins Anti-monopoly Probe of Alibaba
China has launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba, regulators said Thursday, heaping further pressure on the e-commerce giant and sending its share price tumbling.Regulators will also hold “supervisory and guidance” talks with Alibaba’s gigantic financial services subsidiary Ant Group, state media reported, just weeks after Beijing halted its record-breaking IPO at the last minute.The moves demonstrate mounting state pressure on one of the country’s most influential companies, whose success revolutionized the e-commerce landscape and made its founder Jack Ma China’s richest man.Investigators are looking into Alibaba for “suspected monopolistic practices,” the State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement.Alibaba shares tumbled 5.48% on the news shortly after the Hong Kong Stock Exchange opened Thursday morning.Its financial services subsidiary Ant Group said in a statement that it would “diligently study and strictly comply with regulatory departments’ requests.”Ant Group made its name via its main product Alipay, the online payments platform and super-app that is now deeply embedded in China’s economy.But the company has also expanded into offering loans, credit, investments and insurance to hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses, spurring fear and jealousy in a wider banking system geared more for supporting state policy and large corporations.As global demand for the dual Hong Kong-Shanghai listing pushed the IPO toward record valuations – potentially handing Ma and Ant Group even more funding, legitimacy and clout – Chinese regulators acted.FILE – Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma arrives for the Tech for Good summit in Paris, May 15, 2019.The outspoken and charismatic Ma had previously lashed out at China’s outdated financial system, calling state-owned banks “pawnshops” in an October speech that led to his being summoned for regulatory talks shortly before Ant’s IPO was suspended.This year, Beijing has also implemented new regulations to contain potential risks in China’s growing online lending industry, as the fintech arms of internet firms including Alibaba and Tencent have expanded and consolidated power over the market.State media have repeatedly called for tighter oversight of these firms, warning of potential financial instability as a result of their unregulated rapid growth.”This is an important measure for our country to strengthen anti-monopoly supervision in the internet sector, which is conducive to … promoting the long-term and healthy development of the platform economy,” said a Thursday commentary in the state mouthpiece People’s Daily.Bad debt in China’s chaotic financial system is a perennial risk, and regulators launched a crackdown on a growing nationwide credit addiction three years ago owing to fears of a financial meltdown.
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Hong Kong Legislator Reflects on Pro-Democracy Struggle as He Seeks Asylum
For Hong Kong activists, the past year has been one of despair and dread. Facing possible persecution under the new National Security Law, many have been forced to choose between their political causes and their homes. Former legislator Baggio Leung is one of them. A pro-democracy activist who was elected to office in 2016, his political views made him a target during China’s crackdown in recent years. He left Hong Kong for the United States this month, where he is seeking political asylum. VOA Mandarin Service’s Stella Hsu spoke with the former legislator about the tough decision to leave his hometown and his hope for the island.In the middle of December, Baggio Leung left Hong Kong and traveled to the United States seeking asylum.He cut ties with his family, fearing Beijing would harass them under a sweeping national security law imposed on the city this year. He also resigned from his position and duties at the pro-independence political party Youngspiration.Leung joined a growing number of democracy activists and former legislators who have fled Hong Kong after the passing of the National Security Law, which made it easier to punish protesters.“It is difficult for any Hong Kongers to accept that our home, once a free land, has become like what it is today,” he said.Active since Umbrella MovementLeung has been involved in the city’s pro-democracy protest since the 2014 Umbrella Movement and was once jailed for four weeks for unlawful assembly and attempted forcible entry after trying to barge into a Legislative Council meeting in 2016.“After I got out of the jail, I noticed that I was always followed,” he said. “There were always people around my apartment.“I felt unsafe. I started to think about leaving Hong Kong and discussed the idea with my friends and colleagues. Most of them told me, ‘You got to go, buy a flight ticket and leave tomorrow.’ But it’s not that simple. To me, I have a responsibility.”FILE – Democratically elected legislators Yau Wai-ching, left, and Baggio Leung meet journalists outside the High Court after the court disqualified them from taking office as lawmakers in Hong Kong, Nov. 15, 2016.Short term as lawmakerLeung won a seat in the 2016 Legislative Council elections. However, his tenure as a lawmaker was short. During the first meeting of the legislative session, Leung and other colleagues modified their oaths of office. A court later stripped them of their seats for failing to take their proper oath.“More than 30,000 people once voted for me; they would want me to represent and voice for them. I don’t think they would want me to leave,” he said.Nonetheless, in order to stay active in the movement and for his personal safety, he said he had little choice but to leave Hong Kong. He bought a ticket on a flight just three hours prior to departure, not sure if he would be arrested at the airport.“I believe every Hong Konger, regardless of his political stance, has thought about whether he should leave Hong Kong,” he said.Leung said he saw no way for him to return to Hong Kong in the short term after Beijing reined in the city’s limited freedoms.”All we want from the anti-extradition protest in 2019 is that Hong Kongers won’t be sent to China for trials. But now, the National Security Law has turned Hong Kong into China,” he said. “The government can appoint judges to hear your case. They can tell you that the condition of your bail is you can’t leave Hong Kong without going through the proper legal channel. They have turned Hong Kong into a prison for free thinkers.”’Hopeless’Leung is pessimistic about the city’s short-term future and said he had seen a wave of departures.“Hong Kong used to be a very attractive place for talents,” he said. “Now it’s hopeless. Every month you hear some foreign firms decide to move away because of the political environment. It’s such a pity.”Now in Washington, Leung told VOA he felt guilty for leaving other protesters behind.“I am lucky to be here in a safe place,” he said. “I have to do all I can for Hong Kong here. Otherwise, I cannot face the brothers fighting under the white terror [vigilante attacks on pro-democracy activists] in Hong Kong now. I believe one day Hong Kongers will win Hong Kong back, and all the exiled overseas could return home.”
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Hong Kong Media Tycoon and Pro-Democracy Activist Granted Bail
Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai has been granted bail after nearly three weeks behind bars.
The city’s High Court granted the 73-year-old Lai bail Wednesday after he agreed to put up a $1.2 million bond. He is barred from using Twitter, granting interviews or colluding with foreign forces.
The owner of Next Digital media company was arrested on December 3 and charged with fraud, with prosecutors accusing him of violating terms of the company’s lease of its office space.
Prosecutors have since charged Lai under Hong Kong’s new national security law for “foreign collusion.”
Lai was first arrested under the new law on suspicion of foreign collusion in August. Hours after his arrest, more than 100 police officers raided the headquarters of Next Digital, which publishes the newspaper Apple Day. The newspaper livestreamed the raid on its website, showing officers roaming the newsroom as they rummaged through reporters’ files, while Lai was led through the newsroom in handcuffs.
Lai was eventually released on bail after 40 hours in custody.
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Casinos, COVID or Drugs? Why China Is Building a Fence on the Myanmar Border
Media reports say Chinese authorities are putting up a barrier along their southeastern border with Shan State, a volatile part of Myanmar, a move some analysts believe will stop coronavirus-infected people from sneaking in while deterring Chinese casino gamblers and their debt-collection gangs from sneaking to the other side.Authorities in Southeastern China are putting up fences along the border with Myanmar’s Shan State, according to a November 26 report on The Irrawaddy news website. It says the Southeast Asian side’s military has sent a protest letter.Construction of the 3-meter-high fence started earlier this year, Radio Free Asia reported this month. The report said about 660 kilometers of fencing are finished.The two governments enjoyed strong political relations before 2011 when a military junta ruled Myanmar. Ties have wobbled since then as largely impoverished Myanmar looks to third countries for investment and frets over a construction debt to China. But last year Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi looked to China as a buffer against international criticism over her government’s persecution of the Muslim Rohingya minority.The fencing would help stop COVID-19 from moving north into China, analysts and Chinese media say. Myanmar reports about 118,000 cases, mostly from spikes in October and November. China, the disease’s apparent source, brought its outbreak under control in March during rigorous lockdowns.China worries that an outbreak from abroad would “ravage” the economy, Nagy said. China has suspended entry by nationals of 10 other countries on health fears, business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates said in November.The border barrier at the same time could help stop Chinese nationals from entering the Shan State region of Kokang to gamble.Casinos, spas and hotels have made Kokang a “major gambling center” where Chinese spend lavishly and gangs kidnap debtors, said Priscilla Clapp, former permanent charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar. Local elected officials operate some of the casinos, she added.“There’s a lot of criminal violence going on, and I think the Chinese, since it’s really right there on the border with Kokang, aimed at shutting off the border point,” Clapp said.Chinese authorities have cracked down against citizens who gamble in Myanmar, where visitors are also subject to conflicts between government forces and armed ethnic groups, Beijing’s state-run Global Times news website said in 2016. It quoted a Chinese gambler who had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and was considering suicide.Some analysts point to Myanmar’s drug trade as another reason for the border fences, which threaten to disrupt a supply route into China. In May, Myanmar police seized one of Southeast Asia’s largest hauls of the synthetic opioid liquid fentanyl.Myanmar’s Wa State, which borders China, generates billions of dollars’ worth of drugs, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, political science professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.The two sides are no strangers to border walls, and Myanmar might ultimately accept the latest one if it keeps criminals out or makes its own people stay home, said Kwei-bo Huang, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei.“If Myanmar doesn’t want its people going across the border, then they won’t necessarily be unhappy that there’s a wall that can hold back their people and not let them run away,” Huang said.On other fenced border sections, Chinese pass money through holes to vendors on the other side, said Huang, who has visited the 2,227-kilometer-long demarcation line.Chinese officials have not formally announced reasons for the latest border fence, analysts say.But Chinese dynasties and governments have tried to “consolidate” the border for millennia, said Thant Myint-U, a Myanmar historian and former public servant. Geographic barriers between the Irrawaddy river valley of Myanmar and core Chinese populations are “now being breached,” the historian said.
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Australian Held in China Hopes for Justice Despite Torture
A Chinese-Australian writer has told family he has been tortured during almost two years in detention in China but maintains confidence he will receive justice in court. Yang Hengjun was taken into custody upon arriving in Guangzhou in southern China from New York in January last year with his wife, Yuan Xiaoliang, and his 14-year-old stepdaughter. The 55-year-old spy novelist and pro-democracy blogger was formally charged with espionage in October, opening a path to him standing trial. “After two years, especially with torture, more than 300 interrogations and a lot of verbal abuse, I am now in a place of deeper retrospective and introspective meditation,” Yang wrote in a recent holiday season letter addressed to his wife, sons and friends, colleagues and readers. In the letter, seen by The Associated Press on Wednesday, he says, ”I miss you more and more.” The former Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said he was not guilty. When authorities “inspect my life, they can’t find anything wrong,” Yang wrote. “I still have some confidence in the court. I think they will give me justice,” Yang wrote. “Whether or not they judge me guilty will say a lot about whether the court is governed by rule of law or by pure absolute power.” In his letter, Yang advised his supporters: “Pursue democracy, the rule of law and freedom.” Australia has made repeated requests to Chinese authorities for an explanation of the charges against Yang. Australian Embassy officials last visited Yang in detention in Beijing last Thursday, according to a statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It didn’t disclose further information, citing privacy obligations. Yang’s detention comes as bilateral relations plumb new depths, particularly since Australia called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. China advised Australia in August that Chinese-born Australian journalist Cheng Lei had been detained, accused of endangering national security. Cheng worked for CGTN, the English-language channel of China Central Television, a state media organization.
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For South Korea’s Graduating High Schoolers, Entrance Exam Results Brings Relief
Twelve years of study boiled down into one eight-hour test for graduating high-school seniors — the suneung, South Korea’s college entrance exam, announced results on Wednesday.“I’m pretty satisfied with my results. I think I got what I worked for,” said Gi Tae Kim, a student who studied the liberal arts track at Daedong Taxation High School in Seoul. “Overall, I thought it was a bit easier than past tests.”Like U.S. students, many take annual aptitude and entrance exams more than once to improve their scores.“I thought that the Korean language section was alright. English was easy. The math and science sections were pretty difficult because there were many types of problems that I wasn’t accustomed to,” said Yun Jae Kim, a high school senior who studied the science course at Sangsan High School in Jeonju.There are five sections in the suneung: Korean language, mathematics, English language, history/social studies/science, and foreign language/hanmun (classical Chinese). Korean language, mathematics, and English language are deemed the major subjects.Depending on whether students opt for the liberal arts or science track, students are offered different versions of mathematics tests, and they choose different subjects for the social studies/science tests.Cha-Hong Min, the chairman of the Students wearing face masks wait for the start of the annual college entrance examination amid the coronavirus pandemic at an exam hall in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 3, 2020.“I was really worried and anxious because we barely had in-person classes and the test got delayed during one of the most important times in our lives,” said Su A Lee, a high school senior in Seoul.The South Korean government pushed the test to December 3 instead of the traditional third Thursday in November because of the coronavirus pandemic.Education and health officials equipped each desk with a Plexiglas barrier and mandated masks for the entire eight hours of test-taking.“The desks were still only one meter apart and there were no barriers on the sides of the desk,” Ji Yun Jeong, a student at Pohang Girl’s High School. “When lunchtime came around, even though everyone was eating at their desks, they all took their masks off to eat… so I think it was a bit insufficient on those terms.”Jeong added, however, that some students took their lunches outside of the classroom to eat.Despite mandated masks, ventilation, and the Plexiglas barriers, some violations snuck in.“There were a lot of students who brushed their teeth after eating lunch, and I saw a lot of them gathered in the restroom without wearing a mask, so I thought that was a bit dangerous,” said Jeong.“Even though there were guidelines that asked students to stay in their designated classrooms as much as possible and not meet other students, there were still students who would meet up with their friends during break time, and they’d eat snacks or chocolate together,” Jeong added. “When I saw that, I didn’t think that the preventative measures were upheld enough. Sanitization also did not take place after every break either.”After the suneung, some students are taking a breather from their nonstop studying and reflecting on their final year of high school during a pandemic. “Because of the circumstances, there’s not much to do other than occasionally meeting up with friends,” said Yun Jae Kim. “I think I’m going to spend most of my time resting at home.”Yun Jae Kim added he plans to take the suneung one more time in 2021 because he wants to get into medical school or dental school, so he will also be studying for next year’s exam during his spare time.“It was a really uncomfortable year in general because I couldn’t eat lunch face-to-face with my friends and we had to wear a mask all the time,” said Lee. “Our teachers also complained about how uncomfortable it was to teach with a mask on. Also, a lot of our school competitions, activities and events didn’t end up happening, so I do feel frustrated that my high school experience ended the way it did.”Jeong, on the other hand, said that despite the setbacks, she does see a silver lining.“In Korea, students study in a pretty strict studying environment for 12 years…there’s a lot of rote memorization and inculcation,” Jeong said.“So, I guess one positive outcome would be that we got to focus on the studies and hobbies we want to do. I think this year I developed the power to study and think for myself — and even after the pandemic, who knows what kind of crisis will happen,” she said. “So in regards to that, I think it’s Ok that I got to experience this crisis in advance and work on myself.”
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US Congress Passes Landmark Bill in Support of Tibet
The U.S. Congress on Monday passed a bill that is expected to upgrade U.S. support for Tibetans in key areas, including sanctioning Chinese officials if they try to appoint the next Dalai Lama. The Tibetan Policy and Support Act (TPSA) was passed by the House and Senate as an amendment to the $1.4 trillion government-spending bill and the $900 billion coronavirus relief package. It will pave the way for the U.S. government to issue economic and visa sanctions against any Chinese officials who interfere with the succession of the Dalai Lama, and will require China to allow Washington to establish a consulate in Lhasa — the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region – before Beijing can open any more consulates in the U.S. The bill, backed by both Democrats and Republicans, is expected to be signed into law by President Donald Trump. Lobsang Sangay, president of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the Tibetan government in exile, called passage of the bill “a momentous landmark for the Tibetan people.” FILE – Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, right, listens to Lobsang Sangay, president of the Tibetan government-in-exile, during an event at the Kirti Monastery in Dharmsala, India, Dec. 7, 2019.“Any interference by Chinese government officials will be met with serious sanctions and be deemed inadmissible into the United States,” he told VOA’s Tibetan Service. “By passing the TPSA, Congress has sent its message loud and clear that Tibet remains a priority for the United States and that it will continue its steadfast support for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the CTA,” said Sangay, who is at the helm for his second consecutive term. Rights group International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) said the bipartisan TPSA will launch a new era in U.S. policy on Tibet. “By passing the TPSA, Congress has not only upgraded its overall support for Tibet, but specifically laid a marker down on the global stage declaring that the international community will not accept China’s interference in the Dalai Lama’s succession and will oppose China’s human rights abuses in Tibet for as long as they continue,” Tibet Autonomous RegionBuilt on the landmark Tibetan Policy Act of 2002, the TPSA addresses Tibetan human rights, environmental rights, religious freedoms and the democratic Tibetan government in exile. It also calls for a regional framework to water-security issues, following years of concerns from environmental activists and neighboring countries that ambitious Chinese hydropower projects are diverting water, threatening regional ecosystems. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Tuesday that China strongly opposed the bill. In the daily briefing, Wang claimed that issues involving Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong “concern China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” and urged the U.S. to “stop meddling in Beijing’s internal affairs.” The legislation also touches on the controversy around the succession of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who is also a global Buddhist authority. The Dalai Lama is expected to reincarnate after he dies, and there is widespread belief that the Chinese government will interfere in the process and appoint its own Dalai Lama for political purposes. The TPSA says that naming the next Dalai Lama should be left solely to the Tibetan Buddhist community and that the official position of the U.S. is that China cannot interfere in the selection. China regards the exiled Dalai Lama as a separatist and criticizes foreign officials who meet with him. The Dalai Lama has spoken occasionally about his plans for reincarnation. In 2011, he told an audience he would decide when he is about 90 years old whether he should be reincarnated. He is currently 85.
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Thailand Urges Tight Virus Controls for Big Holiday Celebrations
It’s holiday season in Thailand, when international tourists who pay top prices join local residents for countdowns, fireworks and a blur of partying. Central World, a mall in downtown Bangkok famous for its annual mega countdown, displays the tallest Christmas tree in Southeast Asia and gigantic gift boxes. Icon Siam, a rival luxury mall on the Chao Praya River, plans to light up Bangkok’s sky with a ribbon of fireworks just shy of a mile long. But the weekend A migrant worker receives belongings over barbed wire in front of a closed shrimp market, amid the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Samut Sakhon province, in Thailand, Dec. 20, 2020.”I’ll spend the next seven days to assess the situation and then we will decide about public New Year celebrations,” Thai prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters Monday. “I urge you all not to panic. I hope the situation will get better in seven days.” The latest outbreak erupted just as the Thai tourism industry was seeing glimmers of relief after months without the foreign tourists who pump millions of dollars into the Thai economy. While Thailand has largely contained the coronavirus — hovering near 5,300 infections and 60 deaths since January, according to FILE – A tourist wearing a protective mask sits on a social distancing seat as she waits for her flight at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International airport amid the spread of the coronavirus disease, in Thailand, June 3, 2020.By the end of this year, Thailand’s tourism authority estimates only 8 million visitors will have visited, a fifth of the 41.8 million expected before the coronavirus outbreak. That number would have included Michael Agard, who has celebrated New Year’s with his American and Swedish relatives in southern Thailand for the past 15 years. “I’d certainly like to get a vaccine before I go anywhere,” said Agard, 42, an IT specialist from New York City, who got stuck in Fukuoka, Japan — his regular stopover on the haul back to New York — in February and has been working from there since. “I’m worried a bit about taking a risk of flying in a long-haul flight.” Many hotels have been closed for months. Those that are reopening are struggling to fill rooms by attracting Thais, who in a typical year account for a third of the total market. “It’s a huge challenge for the company,” said Marion Walsh-Hédouin, the vice president of public relations and communications at Minor Hotels, an international hospitality group based in Bangkok. “We went through a very painful process of closing the hotels, of sadly losing many, many good team members across corporate offices and hotels. And we went through quite stringent right-sizing of the company.” Minor Hotels operates more than 530 hotels in 55 countries. In the first nine months of this year, the company reported a 63% decline in revenue from Thailand’s hotels and spas compared to the same period last year. Its profit has swung to a loss of 1.9 billion baht, or $63.8 million. Slow border reopening In October, the Thai government eased its border restrictions to allow entry to foreigners from low-risk countries. Authorities began issuing a special tourist visa that required long-term stays, in part to accommodate the required quarantine period. The program is falling short of expectations, with only 825 people and six luxury yachts from 29 countries taking advantage of the special visa, prompting the government this month to open the long-term stay option to all tourists regardless of their countries’ COVID-19 situation. It also introduced a new measure that allows citizens from 56 countries, including the United States, to enter without a visa if they are willing to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine. FILE – A closed tourist service counter is seen at the arrivals hall of Suvarnabhumi Airport during the coronavirus pandemic, in Bangkok, Thailand, Oct. 12, 2020.The quarantine is discouraging Colin Anderson, a 52-year-old Briton who for the last 25 years has traveled to Thailand in December from his home in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, to visit his brothers who live in Bangkok. “I was pretty much prepared to pay money and do the 14-day quarantine, but eventually I realized it’s 14 days in a room, eating takeaway food,” said Anderson, who works in IT for an insurance company. ”In the end, I decided it’s just too much. I think if I was going for three to four months, I would definitely do it, but not for five or six weeks of vacation.” The quarantine also deterred Anderson’s friend, Krijn Tol, who teaches English at a Rotterdam high school in The Netherlands. “You have to stay in quarantine in a hotel, and it’s a lot of money. It can add up to about $2,000, and that doesn’t sound very inviting,” said Tol, 65, who has an annual three-week winter break. “I think most people don’t want to go through that process of coming here. It’s quite stringent,” Walsh-Hedouin told VOA. Hotel operators and associations have been pleading with the government to shorten the quarantine, relax border controls, and explore alternatives for safe entry, such as having “travel bubbles” with select countries that would permit entry without quarantine. Thai officials said they are taking those suggestions seriously. This month, the government added a golf quarantine program, where golfers from overseas can stay in a resort and play rounds in a controlled quarantine environment, but it has yet to take other steps. “We understand and feel the pain of the tourism operators, but we also have to listen to general populations who may have a different take on this issue,” deputy government spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek told VOA. “It’s our job to communicate and build understanding with all parties, but rest assured that we are constantly reviewing options that will help us contain the virus and support the economy,” she said. Officials said the quarantine period gives the public confidence. Cutting it short may be scientifically sufficient but psychologically fraught. Until recently, most cases in Thailand arrived with overseas visitors. In July, FILE – Local tourists visit the Grand Palace as it reopens after months of being closed, as the Thai government eases isolation measures amid the spread of the coronavirus disease in Bangkok, Thailand, June 7, 2020.lvaThe Continent, a 154-room boutique hotel, reopened in October after six months. Although hotels are getting a boost from the government’s campaigns, a room with the discounted price of just more than 2,000 baht ($70) a night is a hard sell. The average Thai family earns $866 a month and spends $690, or 80%, on household expenditures, according to Thailand’s National Statistical Office. “Some 40 to 70 rooms a day and up to 80 to 90 rooms on a weekend are supported by Thai residents at 30 to 40% of what the rates used to be,” Pirodon, the hotel’s general manager, told VOA. The Continent Hotel charges between 4,200 baht ($140) and 7,000 baht ($233) a night for its rooms. In 2019, the average room rates for Bangkok’s five-star hotels and four-star hotels were about 9,000 baht ($300) and 4,500 baht ($150) a night respectively, according to a market survey by Edmund Tie, a Singapore-based real estate consulting firm. “You’re having to offer a rate, whether you are a four-star or a five-star hotel, in a 1,000 baht to 2,000 baht range ($33 to $66)” because that’s what the domestic market can pay, according to Pirodon. Until accurate, rapid testing and vaccines allow people to travel safely again, Pirodon said he is bracing for a slow recovery ahead. “It’s going to be a big struggle,” he said.
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European Markets Plummet on New Coronavirus Pandemic Fears
European markets were slumping Monday as panic sparked by the discovery in Britain of a new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 overshadowed a final agreement in Washington of a new financial relief package. The FTSE index in London was down 2.2% at midday. In Paris, the benchmark CAC-40 index dropped 2.7%, and the DAX index in Frankfurt plunged 2.9%. Asian markets were mostly lower earlier Monday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index closed down 0.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.7%, while Mumbai’s Sensex plunged 3%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX index lost more than five-and-a-half points, but was unchanged percentage-wise (-0.08%). In contrast, Shanghai’s Composite gained 0.7%, South Korea’s KOSPI index earned 0.2%, and the TSEC in Taiwan soared 0.9%. In commodities trading, gold was selling at $1,883.70 per ounce, down 0.2%. U.S. crude oil was selling at $47.33 per barrel, down 3.6%, while Brent crude was down 3.8%, selling at $50.24 per barrel. Many nations in Europe and elsewhere around the globe imposed travel bans of various time periods on flights from Britain as the new coronavirus strain spread across southern Britain. All three major U.S. indices continued to trend downward in futures trading before the ringing of the opening bell on Wall Street.
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China Announces Plans to Allow International Access to Giant Radio Telescope
China has announced it will allow access by international scientists to its massive radio telescope — the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST, in southwestern Guizhou province. It is now the largest and only instrument of its kind in the world following the recent collapse of a Puerto Rico-based observatory.Ahead of the announcement, Chinese officials last week allowed international journalists access to the instrument, built in a natural basin between mountains in a remote area of Guizhou. Work on the FAST began in 2011 and it started full operations in January this year, at a cost of about $170 billion. The telescope specializes in capturing the radio signals emitted by celestial bodies, in particular pulsars — rapidly rotating dead stars. The work it does is even more crucial since the December 1 collapse of the U.S.-owned Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. That radio telescope — second in size to FAST — was destroyed when its suspended 900-ton receiver platform came loose and plunged 140 meters onto the radio dish below. FAST’s chief inspector of operations, Wang Qiming, told the French news agency, AFP, a team had visited Arecibo and drew a lot of inspiration from that structure. But Chinese officials say FAST is two- to three times more sensitive than the Arecibo instrument and has five to ten times the surveying speed. Plus, it can rotate, allowing access to a wider area of the sky.Officials say they hope to open access to the telescope and its unique capabilities in 2021. Scientists using the Arecibo Observatory won a 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work proving the existence of gravitational waves by monitoring a binary pulsar. China hopes to attract similar scientific talent to the FAST telescope.
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