A day after blowing up the de facto inter-Korean embassy, North Korea continued to ratchet up military pressure on the South, announcing the re-deployment of its forces near the border and angrily rejecting Seoul’s offer to send envoys to reduce tensions. As of Wednesday, North Korea’s military will reenter the area near the Mt. Kumgang resort area and the Kaesong industrial complex, according to a spokesperson for the Korean People’s Army in the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). In addition, guard posts that had previously been abandoned “will be set up again to strengthen the guard over the front line,” and North Korea will also resume “all kinds of regular military exercises” in the area near the country’s sea border with South Korea, KCNA reported. Combined with its moves over the past week, North Korea has now reversed many of the achievements made during a series of historic 2018 meetings between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. On Tuesday, North Korea used controlled explosives to demolish the inter-Korean liaison center just north of the border. Last week, Pyongyang said it would cut off all official channels of dialogue with Seoul. North Korea is ostensibly angry at the South for not doing more to stop defectors and other activists from floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets and other materials across the border. But in reality, the North’s anger appears to be a staged provocation cycle, possibly meant to unify domestic public opinion and force concessions from South Korea and the United States. In an unsigned KCNA commentary Wednesday, North Korea described the liaison office destruction as a “first stage step,” saying further action will depend on South Korea’s response. But in a corresponding statement, senior North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rejected South Korea’s offer to send envoys. Kim called the offer “unrealistic,” “tactless,” “absurd,” “sinister,” “a petty farce,” “reckless,” “preposterous,” and “disrespectful.”A woman passes by a TV screen showing an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his sister Kim Yo Jong during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 2, 2020.Another KCNA commentary hinted North Korea could soon resume its threats to set Seoul “on fire,” a warning Pyongyang has repeatedly made during past cycles of provocation. South Korea pushes back On Wednesday, a South Korean presidential spokesperson called Kim Yo Jong’s remarks “absurd.” “This is fundamentally undermining the trust that has been built between the leaders, and we warn that we will not tolerate their unreasonable words and actions,” said the spokesperson. South Korea’s Blue House also expressed outrage that North Korea publicly disclosed Seoul’s private offer to send envoys. “Unprecedented nonsense,” said a South Korean official, adding he hoped the North would show “basic courtesy” in the future. South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense also warned North Korea will “definitely pay for its behavior” if it conducts any military provocation. Past provocations North Korea has a long history of deadly military provocations against the South. In March 2010, a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship off Korea’s west coast, killing 46 sailors. A few months later, the North shelled the border island of Yeonpyeong, killing several more people. Tuesday’s liaison office destruction falls far short of those steps, says Duyeon Kim, a senior adviser for Northeast Asia and nuclear policy at the International Crisis Group. “It’s technically not an attack on South Korea nor an act that would invite a military response from Seoul,” she says. “We can expect Pyongyang will continue with similar military acts but not enough that would force Seoul to retaliate in kind with force.” Though the destruction of the liaison office is a slap in the face to Seoul, the move was primarily symbolic, since the office had been nonfunctional for months. South Korean staff left the facility in late January due to coronavirus concerns. “Blowing up the North-South Liaison Office conveys Kim Jong Un’s graphic rejection of President Moon’s attempts at rapprochement,” says Daniel Russel, a former top U.S. diplomat for East Asia. “It is also a reminder to the United States that North Korea cannot be ignored. Ramping up pressure through escalating provocations is how Kim makes the point that without sanctions relief, sooner or later he will also blow up Trump’s claim to have ‘ended the threat’ from North Korea,” said Russel who is now at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Trump and Kim have met three times, including in June 2018 where they agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But those talks have been mostly stalled since last year over disagreements on how to pace sanctions relief with steps to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program. Some analysts say North Korea’s provocations against the South are intended to indirectly pressure the United States. But so far there are few signs Trump is interested in prioritizing the issue ahead of his presidential election in November.
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Category: East
East news. East is the direction toward which the Earth rotates about its axis, and therefore the general direction from which the Sun appears to rise. The practice of praying towards the East is older than Christianity, but has been adopted by this religion as the Orient was thought of as containing mankind’s original home
Rhetoric or Reality? Britain’s Hong Kong Passport Offer Angers China
Britain and China are engaged in a heated dispute over plans to make it easier for some Hong Kong residents to emigrate to Britain. The British government announced the proposal last month in response to China’s ongoing attempt to impose a new security law on Hong Kong, following violent anti-government protests in 2019. Critics say the proposed legislation would make any form of anti-government criticism or protest a criminal act, with the potential to be charged with terrorism. They fear it could also allow Chinese security agencies to set up bases in the city. Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, whose 2017 appointment was approved by Beijing, said Monday the proposed security law was needed in the territory. “The people of Hong Kong want to see stability again. They want a safe environment to work and live in,” Lam said at a news conference in Hong Kong. She described opponents of the security law as “enemies of the people.” Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
FILE – A woman wearing a protective face mask stands in front of a Chinese national flag and a Hong Kong flag outside government headquarters, in Hong Kong, February 4, 2020.As part of that commitment, it seems Britain may offer Hong Kong residents an “emergency exit.” Britain issued so-called British Nationals Overseas passports to people who were Hong Kong residents before the 1997 handover. The government says around 350,000 people currently hold such a passport and over 2.5 million people who lived in Hong Kong before the British handover are eligible to apply. The British government is proposing to make it easier for holders of those passports and their immediate families to move to Britain, with what it calls a “clear pathway to citizenship” after five years. Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined the plans in an article for The Times newspaper June 3. “This would amount to one of the biggest changes to our visa system in history. If it proves necessary Britain will take this step and take it willingly,” Johnson wrote. The proposal is targeted both at Hong Kong residents and at the Communist Party in Beijing, according to Professor Steve Tsang of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, who spoke to VOA on Monday via Skype. “Implicit in the British plan is the possibility that Hong Kong could lose a very significant percentage of its talented people,” Tsang said. “From the perspective of Beijing, they want Hong Kong to do well. They are not, however, prepared to pay any price to keep the talent in place in Hong Kong, particularly if those talents also happen to be ‘troublemakers’ for Beijing.” “Beijing believes that they have millions of very well-educated Chinese on the mainland with Western educations who are perfectly capable of backfilling people who leave Hong Kong and continue to make Hong Kong a success and be very loyal to the Communist Party,” Tsang added. Until the policy is finalized, British ministers have proposed emergency measures to allow BNO passport holders easier entry rights into Britain. It’s the biggest change in policy since the handover, said Johnny Patterson of advocacy group Hong Kong Watch. “It signals not only an incredibly generous and meaningful immigration shift but also a sea change in Sino-British relations potentially,” Patterson said in a recent VOA interview. Professor Tsang said there is a notable lack of policy detail: “I think the ambiguity is very much by design. What the British government has offered Hong Kong essentially is to send a message both to people in Hong Kong that they are not forgotten and a message to China that there will be responses from the U.K., (and) hopefully the Chinese government will back off.” Beijing has warned that the British citizenship offer would itself breach the 1997 Joint Declaration. Until recently Britain agreed with that verdict. China’s attempt to impose the new security law appears to have changed the calculation in London.
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Rhetoric or Reality? Britain’s Hong Kong Passport Offer Angers China
London and Beijing are engaged in a heated dispute over plans to make it easier for some Hong Kong residents to emigrate to Britain. The British government announced the proposal in response to China’s attempt to impose a new security law on the territory, following violent anti-government protests. Hong Kong is meant to be semi-autonomous from Beijing — but critics say the new law threatens that status. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell
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China’s Plan to Take Charge of ‘Serious’ National Security Cases in Hong Kong Sparks Concern
China must take charge of “serious” cases in Hong Kong that breach national security, a senior Chinese official said this week as Beijing prepares to impose new national security laws in the city.
Analysts and legal experts say Hong Kong’s freedoms are under unprecedented threats after China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, passed a plan in late May to impose sweeping national security laws on Hong Kong to prevent and punish what Beijing considers “acts and activities” that threaten national security, including advocacy of secession, subversion and terrorism and foreign interference.
The plan, which bypassed Hong Kong’s legislature, would also allow Chinese national security organs to set up agencies in the city. The laws are expected to be enacted within the next few months, with some reports suggesting it could take effect as soon as late June or July.
China insists such laws are necessary to halt widespread anti-government protests in Hong Kong, which started off being peaceful in June last year but turned violent as frustrations mounted.Police stand guard outside a mall where mourners pay their respects on the one year anniversary at the site where a man fell to his death after hanging a protest banner, in Hong Kong, June 15, 2020.Deng Zhonghua, deputy head of China’s ministerial-level Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told an official conference on Monday that the majority of the work to safeguard national security, including law enforcement and judicial process, should be done by Hong Kong’s authorities. But “in very special circumstances, the central (Chinese) authorities should have the power to retain jurisdiction over offenses in Hong Kong that seriously endanger national security,” he added.
Deng stopped short of defining what constitutes “serious” cases but insisted that such cases would be “very few” and would not affect the independence of the semi-autonomous city’s judiciary. He however stressed that the Chinese government must have an “actual grip” on national security offenses in Hong Kong.
“(The laws) must create an effective deterrence, instead of just being slogans and gestures,” Deng said.
He further stressed that the national security laws “have the authority and status that cannot be challenged” and no local laws in Hong Kong should override them.
He said Chinese security agencies will also “supervise and guide” the Hong Kong government in safeguarding national security.FILE – A woman wearing a protective face mask stands in front of a Chinese national flag and a Hong Kong flag outside government headquarters, in Hong Kong, Feb. 4, 2020.In his original address, Deng said the national security laws would give national security agents set up by the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities’ enforcement and judicial powers. But the word “judicial power” disappeared from his speech released after the conference.
Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said Deng’s speech was “very disturbing because it’s up to Beijing to define what is serious and what cases need special treatment.”
“It will be determined according to Beijing’s yardstick and this goes against the principle of the rule of law,” said Lam. “This is very dangerous.”
Johnny Lau, a veteran political commentator on Chinese affairs, said although the Chinese authorities have repeatedly emphasized that the national security laws would apply to only “a small bunch” of people, “the laws would likely be used to justify suppressing not so few government critics in Hong Kong”, where people have enjoyed a range of civil freedoms that would soon be deemed illegal under the national security laws.
Johannes Chan, professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, told local media Deng’s words on the “unchallenged authority” of the national security laws could mean they supersede Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and its laws which have mechanisms to safeguard human rights. He worried that Hong Kong courts would effectively become “rubber stamps” that execute the national security laws, without the authority to challenge and interpret them.A pro-democracy activist waves a banner during a protest at the New Town Plaza mall in Hong Kong, June 12, 2020.Philip Dykes, the chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association said Beijing’s intention to take control of the most serious national security cases amounts to a “reverse engineering” of a now withdrawn extradition bill which sparked the huge, year-long anti-government protest movement. The proposed law, which could see individuals sent to China for trials, plunged the city into its deepest political crisis in decades.
“It sounds like a reverse engineering of the ill-fated extradition bill. Rather than you going to the mainland, the mainland comes to you,” Dykes told the public broadcaster RTHK.
Experts have said the national security laws have sounded the death knell for the “one country, two systems” policy that has enabled Hong Kong to maintain its core values — the rule of law and basic civil liberties — that have underpinned its success as an international business hub in the past 23 years after its reversal from British to Chinese rule.
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security John Lee also said this week a new police unit being created to implement the national security laws will operate secretly because national security is involved. He also said Tuesday that the new laws will stipulate what politicians are barred from doing when they meet foreign government officials. Pro-democracy politicians have often been criticized by China for “inviting foreign interference” when they discuss Hong Kong with foreign officials.
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Malaysia’s New Government Cracks Down on Critics
A wave of criminal charges and police probes targeting critics of Malaysia’s embattled new government has rights groups worried the country is backsliding on free speech protections following the brief spell of a reform-minded administration. They say at least eight people have been charged or summoned for questioning for critical social media posts about the government, police or royals since May 6, including opposition lawmakers, journalists and the head of a clean government watchdog group. “We are beginning to see a reverting to the old government ways where not only were people called in for questioning — people are now getting charged and brought to court,” said Thomas Fann, chairman of the local pro-democracy group Bersih. “They want to send a very strong message that they won’t be tolerant of any sort of dissent against them,” he said. Malaysia’s long-ruling and corruption-mired Barisan National government was toppled in a 2018 general election that ushered in a reformist coalition led by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. But the coalition collapsed this past February when breakaway lawmakers joined forces with the lead party of the previous government, setting off a leadership tussle that saw Malaysia’s king name one of the defectors, Muhyiddin Yassin, the new prime minister. FILE -Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad participates in ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Nonthaburi, Thailand, Nov. 2, 2019.The king claimed Muhyiddin had mustered the support of a majority of lawmakers, but that has yet to be tested with a vote in Parliament. Critics of his “back door government” meanwhile bemoan the political horse-trading that has allegedly kept it together and want to see fresh general elections. Fann said the investigation and prosecution of government critics had tapered off after Barisan’s defeat two years ago and that he feared the recent spike will pressure some lawmakers and journalists to self-censor. “And that’s a real shame because we were beginning to see an opening-up of the media, you know, where media [were] becoming more vocal, more independent.” he said. Among those who have run afoul of the new government is Cynthia Gabriel, founding director of the independent Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism. She was summoned by police for questioning on June 10 over an open letter she penned urging the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the horse-trading allegations and possible payoffs to buy lawmakers’ loyalties. Gabriel called her ordeal “an act of intimidation and harassment” meant to silence her and others while Muhyiddin’s nascent government was still on shaky ground. “There are so many factions within political parties and the power grab has never been more intense,” she said. “So in all that uncertainty of holding on to power, criticism and dissent have become a major victim as authorities use their power to shut us up and instill fear of a more authoritative state.” Also summoned recently was an opposition lawmaker, Xavier Jayakumar, who criticized the government’s decision to shorten a sitting of Parliament on May 18, effectively bumping a planned no-confidence vote off the agenda. Among those charged have been a blogger over posts about the prime minister and king and a former radio personality for a post that allegedly offended a crown prince. Malaysia’s Center for Independent Journalism said such charges overstepped any legitimate need to preserve public order. “We need an enabling environment that promotes critical thinking and healthy debates that would uphold democracy and good governance,” executive director Wathshlah Naidu said. “It is time that we reject actions of the state to silence dissenting voices so that freedom of expression and speech can flourish in Malaysia.” International rights groups Article 19 and Human Rights Watch have also chimed in. “Malaysians should be able to criticize their government and its policies without fear of facing police questioning and possible criminal charges,” HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said in a statement. Rights groups place part of the blame on the laws the authorities are using for being overly broad, including sections of the Penal Code, Communications and Multimedia Act and Sedition Act. They have been urging the authorities for years to amend them so as to limit the potential for their abuse. Fann, of Bersih, said Mahathir’s administration missed its chance to do so. Had they managed, he added, “I think we would not be in this position where [critics are] as vulnerable as we are now.” The prime minister’s press secretary and political secretary refused VOA’s requests for an interview. The press secretary for the Home Affairs Ministry, which oversees the national police, also refused. The national police and attorney general’s office did not reply to requests for comment.
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European Markets Pick Up Baton from Asia as Big Rally Spreads
Tuesday’s big rally in Asia carried over into Europe as investors cheered new moves by central banks in the United States and Japan to help the global economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The FTSE in London is up 2.5% at the midday trading mark, Paris’ CAC-40 index has risen 2.6%, and Frankfurt’s DAX index is soaring above 3%. Tokyo’s Nikkei index led Asia’s big rebound earlier in the day, earning 1,051 points to finish the trading session 4.8% higher. The S&P/ASX index in Sydney was close behind, earning 3.9% at its closing bell. Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 2.3% higher, and Shanghai’s Composite index had gained 1.4%. The Sensex in Mumbai was up 1.1%, while Taiwan’s TSEC was 1.8% higher. The rebound was sparked by Monday’s announcement by the U.S. Federal Reserve that it would begin buying individual corporate bonds as part of its efforts to help the overall U.S. economy recover from the COVID-19 lockdowns that ground all economic activity to a halt. The announcement sparked a late rally on Wall Street, which had lost ground over fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections. A man walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, June 16, 2020.Markets were also bolstered by the Bank of Japan’s decision to expand its corporate lending program and purchases of corporate bonds from about $700 billion to $1 trillion. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ continue to trend upward in futures trading Tuesday, indicating a positive opening for Wall Street. Oil markets are rising, with U.S. crude trading at $37.72 per barrel, up 1.6%, while Brent crude oil is trading at $40.42 per barrel, up 1.7%
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India Says 3 Soldiers Killed in Standoff with Chinese Troops
At least three Indian soldiers, including a senior army officer, were killed in a confrontation with Chinese troops along their disputed border high in the Himalayas where thousands of soldiers on both sides have been facing off for over a month, the Indian army said Tuesday.
The incident — in which neither side fired any shots, according to Indian officials — is the first deadly confrontation between the two Asian giants since 1975.
The Indian army said in a statement that a “violent faceoff” took place in Galwan Valley in the Ladakh region on Monday night, “with casualties on both sides.”
“The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers,” the statement said. “Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation.”
China, for its part, accused Indian forces along the border of carrying out “provocative attacks” on its troops, leading to “serious physical conflicts” between the sides.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian gave no details on any casualties on the Chinese side, but said Tuesday that China had strongly protested the incident while still being committed to maintaining “peace and tranquility” along the disputed and heavily militarized border.
“But what is shocking is that on June 15, the Indian troops seriously violated the consensus of the two sides, crossed the border illegally twice and carried out provocative attacks on Chinese personnel, resulting in serious physical conflicts between the two border forces,” Zhao said.
Thousands of soldiers from the two countries, backed by armored trucks and artillery, have been facing off just a few hundred meters (yards) apart for more than a month in the Ladakh region near Tibet. Army officers and diplomats have held a series of meetings to try to end the impasse, with no breakthrough.
Indian authorities have officially maintained near-total silence on the issues related to the confrontation, and it was not immediately clear how the three Indian soldiers died.
But two Indian security officials familiar with latest developments told The Associated Press that soldiers from the two sides engaged in fistfights and stone-throwing, which led to the casualties. Both maintained that no shots were fired by either side. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with government regulations.
The tense standoff started in early May, when Indian officials said that Chinese soldiers crossed the boundary in Ladakh at three different points, erecting tents and guard posts and ignoring verbal warnings to leave. That triggered shouting matches, stone-throwing and fistfights, much of it replayed on television news channels and social media.
China has sought to downplay the confrontation while saying the two sides were communicating through both their front-line military units and their respective embassies to resolve issues.
The disputed border covers nearly 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) of frontier that the two countries call the Line of Actual Control.
Though skirmishes aren’t new along the disputed frontier, the standoff at Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, where India is building a strategic road connecting the region to an airstrip close to China, has escalated in recent weeks.
India and China fought a border war in 1962 that also spilled into Ladakh. The two countries have been trying to settle their border dispute since the early 1990s without success.
Since then, soldiers from the two sides have frequently faced off along their long frontier that stretches from Ladakh in the north to the Indian state of Sikkim in the northeast.
The Indian army statement said the “violent faceoff” occurred “during the deescalation process underway in the Galwan Valley.”
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US, China to Each Allow 4 Weekly Flights for Airlines; Delta to Fly Next Week
The United States and China will each allow four weekly flights between the two countries, the U.S. Transportation Department said on Monday, easing a standoff on travel restrictions in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Following the Chinese government approval, Delta Air Lines said it would resume passenger flights to Shanghai from Seattle next week via Seoul, and once weekly flights from Seattle and Detroit beginning in July. In a statement, the Transportation Department said it will continue to press for the full restoration of passenger air travel between the United States and China, in part to allow for the repatriation of Chinese students who have been unable to fly home because of the shortage of flights. “As the Chinese government allows more flights by U.S. carriers, we will reciprocate,” it said. A person briefed on the matter said Chinese authorities have agreed to some changes on requirements for U.S. carriers flying there, including allowing temperature checks to be done before flights take off for China, rather than mid-flight as previously discussed. United Airlines had also asked for approval to resume flights to China in June.
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N. Korean Army ‘Fully Ready’ for Action Over S. Korean Propaganda Leaflets -KCNA
North Korea’s army is ready to take action if defector groups push ahead with their campaign to send propaganda leaflets into North Korea, state media said on Tuesday, in the latest warning of retaliatory measures. The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said it has been studying an “action plan” to reenter zones that had been demilitarized under an inter-Korean pact and “turn the front line into a fortress.” “Our army will rapidly and thoroughly implement any decisions and orders of the Party and government,” the KPA said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency. Tensions have risen as Pyongyang threatened to sever inter-Korean ties and take retaliatory measures over the leaflets, which carry messages critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un including human rights abuses. Several defector-led groups have regularly sent back flyers, together with food, $1 bills, mini radios and USB sticks containing South Korean dramas and news, usually by balloon over the heavily fortified border or in bottles by river. On Saturday, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of Kim who serves as a senior official of the ruling Workers’ Party, said she ordered the military to prepare for next action. South Korea took legal action against two of the defector groups, saying they fuel cross-border tensions, pose risks to residents living near the border and cause environmental damage. But the groups say they intend to push ahead with their planned campaign this week. South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in urged Pyongyang on Monday to keep peace agreements reached by the two leaders and return to dialog.
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WHO Confirms Surge of COVID Cases in Beijing
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday that a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Beijing shows that even places that have successfully suppressed the virus must remain vigilant against a resurgence.At his regular press briefing Monday, WHO Secretary-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Beijing had gone 50 days without reporting a new case of the new coronavirus, and yet, since last week, a cluster of 100 new cases has been confirmed.Tedros said the origin and extent of the Beijing outbreak are being investigated, and he noted the virus is surging elsewhere as well. He said that worldwide “it took more than two months for the first 100,000 cases to be reported. For the past two weeks, more than 100,000 new cases have been reported almost every single day.”Coronavirus Resurgence in Beijing Mars China’s Self-Proclaimed Success in Containing ItBeijing has taken aggressive measures to stem COVID-19, including expansive testing, contact tracing and quarantining, as well as a partial lockdownHe said 75% of recent cases come from 10 countries, mostly in the Americas and South Asia. However, increasing numbers of cases are seen in Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, even in countries that have demonstrated the ability to suppress transmission.When asked about the safety of air travel as borders opened across Europe Monday, the WHO warned there is no “zero risk” environment for the virus.WHO Health Emergencies Executive Director Michael Ryan told reporters, “What we need to do is identify the risks that may be involved or the increased risk that may be associated with travel.”
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Coronavirus Resurgence in Beijing Mars China’s Self-Proclaimed Success in Containing It
A resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Beijing has ended the capital city’s two-month-long virus-free period and threatened to cloud China’s self-proclaimed success in combating the pandemic.
A week earlier, China released a 37,000-word white paper chronicling its monthslong fight against the coronavirus and heralding its success in containing COVID-19.
As of Sunday, the number of confirmed cases in Beijing has surged to 79, most of which are linked to the Xinfadi wholesale food market in the city’s southwestern Fengtai district, Beijing health authorities said at a press conference on Monday.
Countrywide, China totaled 177 confirmed cases on Sunday after having accumulated more than 83,000 patients in the past six months.
Bold measures
The city government has taken aggressive measures to stem the latest wave of outbreaks, including expansive testing, contact tracing and quarantining, as well as a lockdown of 21 residential compounds, officials said Monday.
At least nine schools near the market have been shut down. People who were exposed to the market’s workers and visitors were ordered to work from home for the next 14 days.Residents line up to enter a supermarket near a barrier with the words “Do Not Cross,” in Beijing, China, June 15, 2020.Since Saturday, Beijing has closed itself to tourists.
Initial genome sequencing of the viral strain from the Beijing market showed it originated from Europe, state media reported Monday, citing epidemiologists.
Officials fired
Three district officials, including Zhou Yuqing, deputy head of Fengtai district, were removed from their posts for “failing” to prevent the disease, Mayor Cai Qi said Sunday, declaring that the city has since entered a “wartime emergency mode.”
But those efforts have not helped to ease residents’ minds.
On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social microblogging site, one user asked, “Will Beijing become the next Wuhan? Please keep the public updated. Don’t put people’s lives at risk for the sake of economic growth.”
Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, is believed to be where the coronavirus originated and caused the global pandemic that began in December.
Many others complained about the city’s slow response in disclosing the movement map of new COVID-19 patients on Monday.
“Please look to the movement map of those three confirmed patients, made public by the Hebei (government). Can you please do your job!” another user wrote.In an image shot through glass, a resident waits to get tested at a fever clinic in Beijing, China, June 15, 2020.Economic impact
Economic activities near the Xinfadi wholesale market, the city’s largest, have once again come to a halt.
“I don’t know much (about the outbreak), except I learned from (video-sharing platform) TikTok that we have to take PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests,” a resident who lives close to the Xinfadi market and works in a nearby hotel, told VOA on the condition of anonymity. “Basically, many of us (in the neighborhood) just hurl up at home.”
A nearby restaurant has also suffered huge losses in recent days.
“We are hit pretty bad because we are (a place) mostly for large gatherings,” the restaurant manager who refused to be identified, told VOA. “Today, there’s not a single (dine-in) customer. Throughout the outbreak, there have been fewer and fewer (dine-in) customers. … I will be lying if I say I’m not worried.”
Contaminated food?
People who live far from the market were not as panicked, although many worried about contaminated food, particularly salmon. Coronavirus was earlier found on the chopping board of a seller of imported salmon at the market.
With declining demand, the city’s salmon supply has plummeted in recent days.Residents wearing face masks to curb the spread of the coronavirus shop for fruit at an open air market in Beijing, China, June 15, 2020.A resident in downtown Beijing told VOA that the market serves as Beijing’s kitchen, supplying 70% of the city’s demand for protein and vegetables.
According to local media reports, more than 10,000 wholesalers and workers, some of whom are not registered, and 3,000 trucks operated daily in the market before it was closed on Saturday, fueling worries that the resurgence of infection may get worse.
The Beijing resident who spoke to VOA anonymously attributed the city’s new wave of outbreak to its relaxation of COVID-19 controls last month.
That echoes some netizens’ concerns, since many subway commuters, including senior citizens, have not worn face masks.
A Beijing-based dissident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he believed Chinese authorities will now tighten controls to stabilize the city’s outbreak, including a stable supply of vegetables after panic-buying kicked in.
He said the vegetables were all gone when he last visited the supermarket. The city’s tightened controls and an emerging cluster of patients will further force many to avoid crowded places, he said.
He added that people’s freedom of speech will also be tightened, since authorities want to control its official narrative against the outbreak.
Already, VOA’s request to talk to a public health expert in Beijing was rejected after the expert replied that state police had ordered him not to accept any interviews with foreign media.
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Japan Drops Plan to Deploy US Missile System
Japan’s Defense Minister announced Monday the country will cancel plans to deploy a costly, land-based U.S. missile defense system designed to counter escalating threats from North Korea. Defense Minister Taro Kono told reporters he has decided to “stop the deployment process” of the Aegis Ashore missile system after discovering safety concerns regarding two communities near where the system would be based. Kono said the way the system was currently designed, they could not guarantee that the rocket booster from the missile system would not fall outside the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Mutsumi base in Yamaguchi, southwestern Japan. The defense minister said he consulted with U.S. officials and realized it would take a hardware repair, as well as a software modification, to fix the problem, which he says would be too time-consuming and costly. The Japanese government had approved adding the $3.2 billion missile defense systems in 2017 to bolster the country’s current defenses — Aegis-equipped destroyers at sea and Patriot missiles on land. Defense officials said the two Aegis Ashore units could cover Japan entirely from one station at Yamaguchi in the south and another at Akita in the north. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government will now have to reconsider Japan’s missile defense program.
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Beijing Outbreak Shows Need to Be Ready as Economies Reopen
China moved swiftly Monday to try to control a new outbreak of the coronavirus after 36 more cases were confirmed in Beijing.
People were lined up at hospitals and other facilities around the capital as authorities rushed to administer thousands of nucleic acid tests of people who worked at a major wholesale market, anyone who had visited it in the past two weeks or anyone who had come in contact with either group.
Authorities have confirmed 79 cases of the coronavirus over four days in what looks to be the largest outbreak since China largely stopped the epidemic’s spread at home more than two months ago. The new outbreak appears to have started in the Xinfadi market, Beijing’s largest wholesale food market, prompting inspections of fresh meat and seafood in the city and elsewhere in China.
“We must continue to take decisive measures to defend against outside cases and internal resurgences, and mobilize all units to take responsibility,” said Xu Hejian, the director of the Beijing government information office.
At a time when other countries are loosening virus-related restrictions, the development shows the importance of being ready to deal with the inevitable fresh outbreaks. They can pop up at anytime in unexpected places, even weeks after the epidemic has seemingly died down.
Greece eased restrictions on incoming visitors Monday. Passengers on some international flights will no longer face compulsory coronavirus tests. Hotels and museums are opening in the tourism-dependent economy, as are gyms, in the latest step in a phased reopening of businesses.
“Salut!” said a masked manager to a pair of regular customers as they entered a brasserie in Paris, where cafes and restaurants reopened for the first time since the fast-spreading virus forced them to close their doors March 14.
In the United States, the governor of hard-hit New York state threatened to reinstate business closings as some parts of the country struggled with an outbreak that appeared ready to stretch for months.
China’s authoritarian government and tight social controls enable tracking of residents’ movements through the use of apps and a network of neighborhood associations. Entry to many office buildings, stores and restaurants requires proof on a smartphone that the person has not traveled to areas where the virus is still active.
Beijing has closed the Xinfadi market and is requiring anyone who went there to self-isolate for two weeks. Neighborhoods close to the market have been put on lockdown and more than 76,000 people tested.
Citywide, Beijing has suspended the planned restart on Monday of some primary schools and reversed the relaxation of some social isolation measures.
Inspectors found 40 samples of the virus in the closed market, including on a chopping board for imported salmon. That prompted some supermarket chains to take salmon off their shelves over the weekend, and inspections of markets, stores and restaurants.
Beijing health officials said gene sequencing showed the virus strain causing the new outbreak was related to that in Europe, though it wasn’t clear if it was being spread by the movement of people or transportation of food.
Experts were doubtful the virus was being spread through salmon or other food products.
Ian MacKay, who studies viruses at the University of Queensland in Australia, said there was no evidence to suggest a link between outbreaks and food.
“For my money, it is more likely to be a person who came into the area with lots of people and the virus has spread, as the virus does,” he said.
Japanese health ministry officials said they are closely watching the Chinese investigation, as budget sushi restaurants in Japan rely heavily on imported seafood, especially from China. They added, though, that they have not seen scientific evidence suggesting the virus could be transmitted through food.
South Korea is also among those countries seeking to prevent a resurgence of the outbreak, reporting 37 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. Authorities said 25 of the cases came from the Seoul area, where health authorities are scrambling to trace infections linked to entertainment and leisure activities, church gatherings, warehouse workers and door-to-door salespeople.
Other countries are still battling major outbreaks. India’s home minister offered 500 train carriages Monday for use as makeshift coronavirus hospital wards as New Delhi struggles to contain a spike in cases. The Health Ministry reported a jump of more than 11,000 new infections nationwide for a third consecutive day.
In the U.S., cases in nearly half of states are rising. New York state officials are trying to avoid the fate of others seeing a surge in new cases after reopening.
Upset by “rampant” violations of New York’s pandemic-fighting restrictions, Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened to reinstate closings in areas where local governments fail to enforce the rules. He singled out Manhattan and Long Island’s tiny Hamptons as problem areas.
“We are not kidding around with this,” Cuomo said Sunday at his daily briefing. “You’re talking about jeopardizing people’s lives.”
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Australian PM ‘Sad and Concerned’ Over Countryman’s Death Sentence in China
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is urging China to engage in dialogue over an Australian man who has been sentenced to death in that country for drug trafficking. Prime Minister Morrison said Monday in Parliament that he and his government were “very sad and concerned” about the sentence handed down last week on Karm Gillespie, an actor turned investment advisor. Chinese media said Gillespie was arrested at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in December 2013, carrying more than 7.5 kilograms of methamphetamines in his checked luggage. Morrison said his country’s opposition to the death penalty is “bipartisan, multipartisan, unanimous, principled, consistent and well-known.” The prime minister said Australian diplomats will provide consular services to Gillespie and will engage Beijing on the issue. China is Australia’s largest trading partner and sends a large number of students to Australia, as well as tourists. But relations have deteriorated in recent months over Australia’s recent call for an international probe into the origins of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which was first detected late last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. Beijing has imposed a handful of bans and tariffs on Australian agricultural products, and has urged Chinese students to reconsider traveling to Australia out of fear they could be subjected to racism. But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters Monday that Gillespie’s case was unrelated to the current state of diplomatic relations with Australia. Gillespie’s family has issued a statement saying they are “very saddened by the situation” and urging his friends and acquaintances from speculating about the case” which we do not believe assists his case.”
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Solar Rules Weaken Vietnam’s Love-Hate Relationship to Coal
Near the southern Vietnam beaches filled with kite surfers and mud baths, there sits a hydropower plant called Da Mi. It is no longer just generating power from dams and falling water, however. Crews added solar panels to the reservoir last year, creating what the Asian Development Bank called the first large floating solar project in Southeast Asia. With the project and others like it, sunny Vietnam has the region’s largest installed capacity of solar power. Its ambitions to move to solar and away from coal was stymied by one issue for years, though. After companies installed panels to suck up power from the sun, they sold the energy to the state utility, without a way to push it directly to customers like other companies. That is about to change. Hanoi has enacted legislation to allow these direct sales by removing the state monopoly, Vietnam Electricity, as the middleman. Supporters hope the rules will expand the market for renewable energy, particularly as Vietnam considers itself among the five nations most at threat from climate change. However it still has a love-hate relationship to coal, which is cheap but is also a major source of greenhouse gases that make the air unhealthy. “Vietnam Electricity (‘EVN’), and its authorized member companies, no longer the sole purchaser of electricity from solar power projects in Vietnam, as the definition of ‘electricity purchasers’ includes private organizations and individuals,” DFDL, a law firm, said in a note to clients explaining the significance of the new legislation, Prime Ministerial Decision No. 13. Biggest solar farm Vietnam says it has the biggest solar farm in Southeast Asia, though neighbors are catching up. Nearby Indonesia included solar incentives in its COVID-19 recovery plan, while Myanmar called for bids to build solar power projects. Malaysia and Thailand had the largest solar capacity in the region until being overtaken by Vietnam by 2019, according to Wood Mackenzie, a consulting firm.Vietnamese live on the island of Phu Quoc. Vietnam aims to build more floating solar power farms offshore. (VOA News)Next door China spent years ramping up solar panel production, making them more affordable to the world. However President Donald Trump’s trade war with China included tariffs on panels, pushing companies to buy from Vietnam instead. Now, the World Bank said in a press release, “Vietnam has also become a world leader in solar module manufacturing.” Many of the panels weren’t being used in Vietnam itself, though, as the nation debated whether and how much to wean itself off cheap coal. The communist government is trying to strike a balance. On one hand, it aims to keep electricity stable and affordable for citizens. During the COVID-19 lockdown, for instance, authorities cut power prices to ease the burden on consumers who were working less. On the other hand, Vietnam worries climate change threatens its coasts, farms, lives and livelihood. “Climate change is imposing great challenges on us,” said Phung Quoc Hien, vice chair of the National Assembly, last month. “We’ve gone through the worst crisis with saline intrusion and drought.” US interest While Trump dismisses the threat of climate change, his State Department promotes a climate-friendly agenda. For instance the U.S. embassy in Hanoi lobbied for policies to support renewable energy, including Vietnam’s legislation to allow companies to sell solar power directly to consumers. Beyond the direct purchases, Vietnam is weighing other ways to meet electricity demand, which has increased 12% a year, according to the Asian Development Bank. For instance it is considering moving away from setting feed-in tariff (FIT) prices for power and letting investors place bids instead. “In particular, the World Bank’s support to the government’s effort in shifting from FIT to a competitive bidding mechanism for solar PV [photovoltaics] could be applied for other types of renewable energy in the future,” said Hoang Tien Dung, general director of the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in a press release earlier this year. “It contributes to the sustainable and transparent development of renewable energy in Vietnam by harmonizing the interests of private investors, the government and customers.”
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South Korean Box Office Sales Slump During the Coronavirus Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on South Korea’s film industry – one of the world’s most vibrant. And with growing concern over continuing outbreaks, it’s uncertain when audiences will feel safe enough to return to movie theaters. Most South Korean cinemas never shut their doors during the pandemic even though box office sales have plummeted. In May, over 1.5 million movie tickets were sold nationwide, down from nearly 17 million in January, according to the Korea Film Council. It was an improvement over April’s numbers, which dropped to a record low of 970,000 tickets. Jason Bechervaise, who lectures on Korean cinema at Soongsil Cyber University in Seoul says the country’s film industry is “facing its biggest crisis” because of the coronavirus. It’s a setback for an industry that gained global recognition when the dark comedy “Parasite” prevailed at the Academy Awards ceremony in February, becoming the first non-English language movie to take home the Oscar for Best Picture. But, compared to film industries in Hollywood, China or Europe, South Korea’s is in a better position to bounce back, Bechervaise says. “The industry has slowed down but hasn’t ground to a halt like it has in other countries,” Bechervaise says. “It’s resilient and cinemas are still open and as (COVID-19) cases decline, hopefully people will feel more confident about going to see films again.” South Korea was one of the first nations to flatten the curve of the disease, which health officials attribute to rapid testing and technology-based contact tracing. But, in recent weeks the country has experienced an uptick in new infections, bringing the total number of cases to at least 12,121, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday. Faced with these rising numbers and what health experts warn could be a second wave of infections later this year, there’s scant expectation that box office revenue will return to pre-pandemic levels soon. ‘Un-tact cinema’Now, one of South Korea’s largest cinema chains is trying to make movie-fans feel more comfortable about coming back to the theater by limiting contact between guests and staff as much as possible. CJ-CGV has launched what it calls an “un-tact cinema” at one of its branches in Seoul where the popcorn, hot dogs and soft drinks have been relocated into vending machines and other snack bar orders are placed on kiosks and are delivered through a hands-free box. Ticket takers have been replaced by two roving robots that provide showtime and other theatre information on their touch-screen torsos. “It’s more hygienic than being face to face, so guests can feel safer and it’s just a more cool and interesting place,” says Lee Seung-soo, a CJ CGV official. Lee says his company had been considering rolling-out some of these automated features even before the coronavirus compelled businesses to adopt social or physical distancing policies. But the urgency of preventing disease transmission between customers pushed-up the unveiling of the “un-tact cinema.” He explains that in addition, CJ-CGV regularly disinfects all its facilities, and rows of theatre seats are left empty to provide more space between audience members. He adds that employees will not lose their jobs due to automation and will instead be transferred to other positions. “This un-tact cinema at this branch is just a test for now,” says Lee. “Based on how this program goes, we will decide whether to introduce these services to other locations.” Lotte Cinemas, another multiplex operator, has also introduced contact-free features at some of its venues according to media reports. For some South Korean film buffs though, automated cinemas still might not provide the desired protection from COVID-19 carrying strangers. Drive-in theaters Some are instead seeing the big screen from inside the safety of their own cars. Park Jae-ho, whose family runs Seoul’s only drive in movie theatre says when the pandemic began, ticket sales soared. “Normally, business isn’t so good, but once the coronavirus hit, sales went up by 30-percent,” he says. But like all cinemas in South Korea, Park’s drive in has mainly screened re-releases, because film production companies have pushed back opening dates for many new movies. “Ticket sales are getting back to normal,” Park says. “Customers won’t come if they can’t watch new films.” Lim Yoo-na and her boyfriend Kim Jeong-hak recently attended a screening of 2016’s La La Land at the Seoul drive in. The couple says they used to catch a movie up to three times a week before the pandemic. “It feels safer inside a car than at a theatre right now,” Lim, a 28-year old baker, says. Kim says he’s not sure when they will be able to resume their normal dating routine. “We are going to wait until the pandemic is over before we start returning to movie theaters,” the 35-year old web designer says. “And there would also have to be some new films to watch before we’d go back.”
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Duterte-Critic Journalist Ressa Convicted in Philippines Libel Case
High-profile Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was convicted Monday in a cyber libel case that press freedom advocates have branded a ploy to silence critics of President Rodrigo Duterte. The verdict was handed down in a Manila courtroom against Ressa, who heads the news site Rappler, and she will be allowed to post bail.
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South Korea Urges North to Uphold Deals Amid Rising Animosities
South Korea on Sunday convened an emergency security meeting and urged North Korea to uphold reconciliation agreements, hours after the North threatened to demolish a liaison office and take military action against its rival.There’s concern that North Korea could turn to provocation to bolster its internal unity and wrest outside concessions as nuclear talks with the United States remain deadlocked. Observers say North Korea desperately needs sanctions relief in the face of harsh U.S.-led sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic.South Korea’s national security director, Chung Eui-yong, held an emergency video conference with ministers in charge of security and military generals on Sunday morning to discuss the latest situation on the Korean Peninsula and the government’s possible steps, the presidential Blue House said in a statement.The Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, later said that both Koreas must strive to abide by all agreements they have reached. The Defense Ministry said separately it closely monitors North Korea’s military and maintains a firm military readiness.Both ministries said the South Korean government “views the current situation as grave.”On Saturday night, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned that Seoul will soon witness “a tragic scene of the useless North-South liaison office (in North Korea) being completely collapsed.” She also said she would leave to North Korea’s military the right to take the next step of retaliation against South Korea.North Korean Leader’s Sister Threatens Military Action Against South Korea ‘We will soon take a next action,’ vows Kim Yo Jong North Korea earlier suspended communication lines with South Korea and threatened to nullify 2018 agreements that led the Koreas to halt firing exercises, remove some land mines and tear down guard posts in front-line areas.The North has linked its recent series of threats to Seoul’s failure to prevent activists from launching propaganda leaflets across their border. But some experts say North Korea is deeply frustrated that South Korea hasn’t done enough to revive lucrative joint economic projects as well as over a lack of progress in its nuclear talks with Washington.The negotiations have made little progress since a second summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in early 2019 fell apart because of disputes over how much sanctions should be lifted in return for Kim’s dismantling his main nuclear complex.Kim later vowed to expand his nuclear arsenal, introduce a new strategic weapon and overcome the U.S.-led sanctions that he said “stifles” his country’s economy.He also pushed South Korea to resume the operations of the two big inter-Korean projects — a factory park and a tourism site, both in North Korea — but South Korea was unable to do so due to the sanctions.Kim’s struggle to address economic woes has likely faced setbacks as the coronavirus pandemic forced North Korea to close its border with China, its biggest trading partner. North Korea says it hasn’t reported a single outbreak but foreign experts question that claim and warn a pandemic in the North could be dire due to its fragile heath care system.Some observers say the end of the 2018 deals could allow North Korea to send ships across the disputed sea boundary, float down mines on a border river or take other provocative steps at the border area. The South Korean Defense Ministry statement said the 2018 deals must be maintained to prevent accidental armed clashes and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.But it’s still unclear if the North would go ahead with its threat to destroy the liaison office, which was built at a North Korean border town following a 2018 summit between Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Such a move could deepen anti-Pyongyang sentiments and make it difficult for the North to restore ties with South Korea when needed.
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Thousands March in Australia Anti-Racism Rallies
Black Lives Matter protests attracted large crowds in Australia on Saturday in defiance of government warnings about the coronavirus. The marches have been inspired by mass gatherings in the United States following the death in police custody of George Floyd.Across Australia, thousands of anti-racism demonstrators rallied against high rates of indigenous incarceration, deaths in custody and the removal of indigenous children from their families. Aboriginal Australians make up about 3 percent of the population but almost a third of prison inmates are indigenous.“We are here to support our future as indigenous people and to walk against injustices of what happened to our people,” one aboriginal woman said.In Perth, Western Australia, protesters defied calls by the authorities Saturday not to attend because of coronavirus fears. Organizers handed out masks and hand sanitizer.An earlier march in Sydney was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court on public health grounds, but hundreds of people joined the protest.“I am here because there have been 437 deaths in custody since 1991,” a protester in Sydney said. “So I am here to make a stand, and I do not care that the government has said this is illegal.”New South Wales Assistant Police Commissioner Mick Willing was not happy protesters had ignored coronavirus health orders.“It is disappointing to acknowledge that around 300 people chose to ignore the warnings that had been given by police in terms of coming to this public gathering,” he said.There have been separate rallies in Australia by groups protesting the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees.The government had urged demonstrators to stay home because of concerns that mass gatherings could spread the coronavirus, which has been mostly contained in Australia.Two women were arrested after a statue of the British explorer, Captain James Cook, was defaced in Sydney. Another was damaged in Perth. However, Peter Dutton, Australia’s Home Affairs minister, criticized calls to remove statues of European colonists in Australia as an “obscure left-wing cause.”This year has marked the 250th anniversary of Cook’s voyage to Australia. British settlement would begin 17 years later.Historical monuments across the world have been torn down in recent weeks by anti-racism campaigners following the death of George Floyd, an African American man, in U.S. police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last month.
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Cambodians Revel in Now Tourist-Free Angkor Wat
The new coronavirus has left its mark on Angkor Wat, the world’s top tourist attraction.Foreign visitors are rare, the elephants are being rehoused and local businesses have gone bankrupt, but for Cambodians it’s a chance to reclaim their heritage.Authorities say the number of paying visitors have been measured by the dozens on any given day and all are among those who remained in the country after the coronavirus began crossing borders in late January, forcing lockdowns around the world and ending international travel.That compares with more than 2.2 million tourists who last year paid almost $100 million to get through the gates of the 12th century temple, which covers 208 hectares.“I find it very interesting without the tourists, because we usually have a lot of people out there and when we go there it’s just like you are visitors, not the real people who own this country, but now it’s very good,” Sreynath Sarum, a hospitality worker from Phnom Penh, said.Cambodia’s tourism industry had blossomed over the last 10 to 15 years with Angkor Wat, the ruins and surrounding temples in the country’s north west consistently winning international awards, and the nearby town of Siem Reap was rebuilt into a tourist hub.Mass tourism also brought problems, though.In this April 15, 2016, photo, tourists visit the Banteay Srey temple of the Angkor complex.Long lines at the gate, endless rows of buses, lines of Chinese visitors with selfie sticks and Westerners in Hawaiian shirts, shorts and joggers had turned a sacred religious site of Hindu gods and Buddhist traditions into a carnival theme park.That doesn’t always sit well with the monks and ordinary Khmers who value Angkor Wat as the foundation of Cambodian society, a reminder that this country was once a regional superpower and as a symbol of survival during 30 years of bloody civil war.Lonely Planet author and filmmaker Nick Ray said if there can be a positive side to a pandemic, then it was Cambodians reconnecting with their spiritual side.“From an economic point of view, it’s pretty tragic to see the absence of tourists. We know what that means for the economy and how badly businesses are hurting, like hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, cafes, bars, it’s like a ghost town, really,” he added.“But from a Cambodian perspective, it’s like they’ve reclaimed the temples. It’s Cambodian ancestry, it’s Cambodian heritage, it’s on the flag, Angkor is the spiritual symbol of a nation, and they’ve really taken that to heart again.”Angkor Wat today is not unlike it was two decades ago, when the archaeological site was serenely quiet with the Khmer Rouge disarming but bandits and the widespread theft of ancient relics by organized crime rings were issues that had to be dealt with before opening the temples up to global tourism.Standards of living have also improved over the last 20 years, and amid the ruins Cambodian children are now riding push bikes and playing in sand pits, while their parents pray at Buddhist shrines and hike through tropical forests.“I can’t imagine a time when Cambodians could go to Angkor Wat and pray in peace without hordes of people, or play badminton or picnic with their families – and that was a really kind of special experience to see,” travel writer Marissa Carruthers said.“But like I say, it’s quite stark seeing the temples and Siem Reap completely shut down.”This July 19, 2012, photo shows the Apsara sculptures carved on a wall of the Angkor Wat temple complex in Siem Reap, northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.The big bucks and crowds evaporated almost immediately as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, and getting them back as lockdowns end remains tricky.The government has announced a complicated set of rules including COVID-19 tests, medical certificates, health insurance and a new type of visa for future holiday makers.If a passenger on an inbound flight displays any COVID-19 symptoms and tests positive, everyone on board could be quarantined for two weeks. Moreover, every foreign visitor to the country must deposit $3,000 in a local bank account on arrival to cover any costs.Money that is not spent is expected to be returned, but these are moves which have upset the dormant tourism industry as unnecessary obstacles to be negotiated by travelers, particularly those from the West who already require at least two flights to get here.“That’s pretty off-putting to be honest,” Ray said regarding the deposit.“It’s almost akin to saying, ‘You know, we are closed for business,’” he added.Locals are also aware of the problems associated with COVID-19 and the harsh economic realities caused by the disease.“I would like to have the tourists come back because the people out there, they are struggling a lot, but slowly, slowly, not like a million people come back at the same time,” Sreynath Sarum said.
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North Korean Leader’s Sister Threatens Military Action Against South Korea
The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has issued an ominous military threat toward South Korea, vowing unspecified retaliation over South Korean activists who have floated anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the North.In a cryptic statement late Saturday, Kim Yo Jong vowed her country would “soon take a next action” against South Korea — a move she suggested would be carried out by the country’s military.“By exercising my power authorized by the Supreme Leader, our Party and the state, I gave an instruction to the arms of the department in charge of the affairs with enemy to decisively carry out the next action,” Kim said in the state-run Korean Central News Agency.Threat on military pactIt was the most direct threat yet during North Korea’s recent effort to unilaterally raise tensions with the South. Last week, Pyongyang said it would cut off all official communications channels with Seoul and threatened to scrap an inter-Korean military agreement meant to reduce tensions.Some analysts say North Korea appears to be laying the groundwork for a significant provocation, possibly in an attempt to gain economic or other concessions from South Korea.“If North Korea hopes a new inter-Korean crisis can bring about a rapid and significant change in Seoul’s approach — in a way that could lead to large-scale economic aid to Pyongyang, for example — it may feel a major escalation of tensions is the only way,” tweeted Chad O’Carroll, CEO of Korea Risk Group, which produces the influential NK News website.FILE – U.S. Vice President Mike Pence inspects the Cheonan, a South Korea warship that was sent to the bottom of the Yellow Sea, March 26, 2010, by an explosion blamed on a North Korean torpedo.North Korea has a long history of deadly military provocations against the South. In March 2010, a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship off Korea’s west coast, killing 46 sailors. A few months later, the North shelled the border island of Yeonpyeong, killing several more people.The latest escalation in inter-Korean tensions coincides with rumors about the health of Kim Jong Un. Kim, a prolific cigarette smoker who has gained a massive amount of weight in recent years, has made very few public appearances in 2020.Earlier this year, unconfirmed media reports suggested Kim had undergone a heart operation. Some newspapers inaccurately reported that he had died. He later appeared in public with no obvious signs of new health problems.Amid the rumors, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, has taken on a bigger leadership role, frequently appearing in state media and issuing directives, especially related to inter-Korean relations.FILE – South Korean activists shout slogans with national flags as police block them from trying to release balloons with leaflets, during a rally at the border city with North Korea, in Paju, South Korea, April 15, 2016.This month, Kim has taken aim at North Korean defectors in the South, who for years have floated anti-regime leaflets across the border.South Korea’s left-leaning government, which desperately wants to improve ties with the North, has tried to placate Pyongyang’s concerns by vowing to legislate a formal ban on such launches and cracking down on groups sending the leaflets.Seoul also is attempting to move ahead with inter-Korean economic and other projects, which have been held back by international sanctions on North Korea’s nuclear program.But despite those steps, North Korea has continued to generate the sense of a crisis with Seoul, even allowing rallies in Pyongyang to protest the leaflet launches.“Getting stronger day by day are the unanimous voices of all our people demanding for surely settling accounts with the riff-raff who dared hurt the absolute prestige of our Supreme Leader representing our country,” Kim said in her statement Saturday.“I feel it is high time to surely break with the south Korean authorities,” she said. “We will soon take a next action.”“Rubbish must be thrown into dustbin,” she added.
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Australian Indigenous Groups Vow to Protect Sacred Sites From Mining
Mining giant BHP has suspended plans to expand a mine in Western Australia because of fears it could destroy dozens of indigenous sacred sites. The decision follows anger over the destruction of 46,000-year-old aboriginal caves by another resources company, Rio Tinto, last month. The ancient Juukan Gorge caves in Western Australia’s Pilbara region were destroyed by Rio Tinto as it expanded a multi-billion-dollar iron ore mine. There were protests outside its offices in Perth. The company has apologized for the distress it caused, but indigenous leader Robert Eggington says it was vandalism on a massive scale.“Something you could equate to as if they blew up the Pyramids in Egypt because they have either had uranium or found gold under the Pyramids,” Eggingtonsaid. “It is about time that the politicians and the social structures of this country start to put some proper laws in place to stop this on lands that once destroyed can never come back.”Several prehistoric artefacts have been found at the remote site about 1,000 kilometers north of Perth.The mining giant did have government approval to destroy the ancient rock shelters, but officials now concede the destruction of the caves was a “genuine mistake.” Campaigners want the right to appeal against ministerial decisions and aboriginal heritage laws in Western Australia that date back to the 1970s are being reviewed. Indigenous elder Delores Corbett says sacred sites must be protected.“I just hope this never ever happens again in Australia in regards to Rio (Tinto), mining companies, anyone blowing up without fully understanding the hurt that Aboriginal people go through,” Corbett said.The backlash has prompted another resources giant, BHP, to halt plans to destroy up to 40 cultural sites to expand a mine in Western Australia. It says it will consult closely with aboriginal groups. In a statement, the company said it had a “commitment to understanding the cultural significance of the region.” Land lies at the heart of indigenous culture, and it has immense spiritual, physical and social importance. The earth is seen as the Mother of creation, and a living, breathing mass that is full of secrets and wisdom.Aboriginal Australians make up about 3 per cent of the population. Elders say that colonization by the British in 1788, and the dispossession that followed, has inflicted great harm on people who have lived in Australia for 65,000 years.
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Australian Man Sentenced to Death in China for Drug Smuggling
An Australian man has been sentenced to death in China for drug trafficking.The Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court published a one-sentence statement on its website about the sentence, without providing details on charges. It only said that the man was sentenced Wednesday and that all his personal property would be confiscated, the typical language from the communist country.In its reaction, Australia’s foreign ministry said, “we are deeply saddened to hear of the verdict made in his case,” adding that Australia “opposes the death penalty, in all circumstances for all people.”Australian media identified the man as Cam Gillespie, saying he had been held in China for seven years. Gillespie was arrested at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in December 2013, according to Chinese media. He was in possession of more than 7.5 kilograms of methamphetamines, found in his checked luggage.China is Australia’s largest trading partner and sends a large number of students to Australia, as well as tourists.
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South Korea Box Office Sales Take Big Hit During Pandemic
While life in South Korea is slowly returning to normal, its film industry is still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. From Seoul, Jason Strother tells us why audiences aren’t coming back to movie theaters.
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