Japan is planning to lift a state of emergency for three more prefectures as the number of new coronavirus cases falls.Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said Thursday in Tokyo a group of experts have approved a plan to lift the emergency imposed for the western prefectures of Kyoto, Osaka and Hyogo.The three prefectures were among seven, including Tokyo, that were first placed under a state of emergency last month by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe out of fear the coronavirus outbreak would overwhelm the country’s health care system. The prime minister briefly expanded the decree for the entire country.Tokyo and four other prefectures, including the northern island of Hokkaido, will remain under the state of emergency.The COVID-19 outbreak has pushed Japan’s economy into a recession for the first time since 2015, as its gross domestic product shrank by an annual 3.4 percent in the first three months of 2020, following a contraction in the last quarter of 2019.Further evidence of the financial blow came Thursday, with the finance ministry releasing figures showing Japan’s exports fell 21.9 percent last month, the biggest drop since the 2008 global financial crisis.Japan has been mildly affected by the coronavirus compared to the rest of the world, with more than 16,000 confirmed infections, including over 700 deaths.
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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
China Recalibrates Economic Goals Following Pandemic
Chinese leaders are expected to begin charting out a new economic development plan Friday as part of major meetings of top officials in Beijing. The annual “Two Sessions” meetings, considered among the most important political events for top lawmakers and political advisers, are likely to result in major adjustments to the country’s economic goals. FILE PHOTO: China’s Premier Li Keqiang speaks during a joint news conference at the 8th trilateral leaders’ meeting between China, South Korea and Japan in Chengdu, in southwest China’s Sichuan province, Dec. 24, 2019.Observers also are waiting to see if Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will announce the country’s GDP growth targets in the report that sets the tone for economic development throughout the year. Already, the economic toll from the COVID-19 pandemic has forced major changes to national goals. Chinese officials had previously highlighted 2020 as the year when officials vowed to complete building a “moderately prosperous society,” when the gross national product and average income per capita would be double what it was in 2010. That target is likely already a fantasy, after the economy reportedly contracted 6.8% this year compared with the first quarter of 2019. The International Monetary Fund estimated the Chinese economy could expand 1% to 1.5% in 2020. Nicholas Lardy, an expert on China’s economy at Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the 2020 target will still likely be fulfilled within the next year. “This is an objective set forth quite a few years ago, and maybe it’s going to take them an extra six months to get there,” Lardy said. Li Keqiang earlier said that as long as China can keep unemployment under control this year, it does not matter if it has a higher or lower annual growth rate. A vendor demonstrates a food processor to customers at a market in Shenyang in China’s northeastern Liaoning province on May 12, 2020.Private companies? State owned? One major dilemma for Chinese authorities for years has been how to encourage more private companies and shrink inefficient state-owned enterprises. That is expected to remain a key issue, even though it’s not on the Two Sessions agenda this year. Beijing has said it would open up more sectors to private firms and reduce direct government interference in microeconomic activities. In the newly released plan for economic structural reform, Beijing tries to highlight a mixed ownership. Lardy said that Beijing had been pursuing mixed ownership since 1995 when they passed the new corporate law, and mixed ownership has preceded fairly broadly within the state-owned enterprise sector. But, according to Lardy, the performance of state companies has basically been going down for 10 years. “So, maybe they’re going to implement it in a different way, or they’re going to have different things. But, that’s an example of something that I did not find so impressive because I think doubling down on mixed ownership, I don’t see any reason to think it’s going to be transformative,” Lardy said. The National People’s Congress, delayed from early March because of the coronavirus outbreak, will start on May 22. The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference will start one day earlier on May 21.
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US Pledges Support to Taiwan, Amid Deepening China Tensions
The United States said its strong and bipartisan support for Taiwan’s democracy “comports with” the U.S.-China agreements and is “the right solution to maximize the stability” of the Taiwan Strait. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday congratulated Taiwan’s democratically elected President Tsai Ing-wen as she began her second term. This handout picture taken on May 20, 2020 by the Taiwan Presidential office shows Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen speaking at the Taipei Guest House as part of her inauguration for her second term as in office, in Taipei.“We congratulated the winner of the election there. We were happy to see that,” Pompeo said in response to a question from VOA during a State Department news briefing. His remarks came just hours before the State Department on Wednesday announced it had approved a possible defense sale of 18 MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology (AT) Heavy Weight Torpedoes (HWT) and related equipment at an estimated cost of $180 million to Taiwan. “The democratic process in Taiwan has matured into a model for the world despite great pressure from outside. Taiwan has demonstrated the wisdom of giving a people a voice and a choice,” Pompeo told reporters. Congratulations to Dr. Tsai Ing-wen on the commencement of your second-term as Taiwan’s President. Taiwan’s vibrant democracy is an inspiration to the region and the world. With President Tsai at the helm, our partnership with Taiwan will continue to flourish.— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) FILE – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian takes a question at the daily media briefing in Beijing on April 8, 2020.In China, the Beijing government vowed retaliation for Pompeo’s message to Taiwan. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian warned against such U.S. support of Taiwan. “Practices that undermine China’s core interests and intervene in China’s domestic affairs will be met with forceful fightback, which will not to the slightest extent impede the historical trend of China’s reunification,” he said. “We urge the U.S. to immediately correct its mistakes.” “China will take necessary measures in response to the U.S. erroneous practices, and the consequences will be borne by the U.S. side,” Zhao added. China’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement Wednesday that the military would “take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard” China’s sovereignty. Taiwan and China have been separately ruled since a civil war in the 1940s, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists lost to Mao Zedong’s Communists and rebased on the island. China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has not ruled out use of force, if needed, to unite the two sides. Taiwanese President Tsai rejects Beijing’s proposal for a “one-country, two-systems” form of rule that China uses to govern Hong Kong. Taiwan government surveys say about 80% of Taiwanese oppose unification with China. “We are willing to engage in dialogue with China and make more concrete contributions to regional security,” Tsai said in her inauguration speech. “Both sides have a duty to find a way to coexist over the long term and prevent the intensification of antagonism and differences.” I am honoured to once again take on the responsibility entrusted to me by the Taiwanese people as President. I know that no matter the challenges we may face, we will stand together in freedom, democracy, & solidarity. Full speech:— 蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen (@iingwen) May 20, 2020 The U.S. and Taiwan enjoy a robust unofficial relationship. The 1979 U.S.-China Joint Communique switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. The relations between the U.S. and Taiwan have been governed by the Taiwan Relations Act that was passed by Congress in April 1979. The U.S. provides defense equipment to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act. The State Department said in a statement Wednesday evening that the approved sale of the proposed $180 million in military equipment “serves U.S. national, economic and security interests” by supporting Taiwan’s “continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability.””The recipient will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen homeland defense,” the statement said. Experts said the rare, high-level U.S. messages on Taiwan on the day of Tsai’s swearing-in ceremony was a pushback to China’s increasing pressure on Taiwan. “The U.S. is showing strong support for Taiwan because of Beijing’s growing military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan, and because President Donald Trump’s administration is less concerned than prior administrations that its support for Taiwan will damage U.S.-China ties,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “China is almost certain to respond to this trend. The Chinese warning is not an empty threat. They will look for creative ways to harm American interests and prevent Taiwan from challenging China’s sovereignty claim,” Glaser added. “The shameful snub by the WHO and China’s unnecessary politicization of global health has reinforced U.S. efforts to demonstrate maximum support for Taiwan,” said Robert Manning, a senior fellow with the Washington-based Atlantic Council. “The upgrade in U.S. levels of engagement with Taiwan is understandable and well-intentioned. A U.S. tighter embrace of Taiwan is, in a sense, the flip side of the angry demonization of China that has broad support in the U.S.,” Manning added, while cautioning “if the U.S. policy toward Taiwan is not carefully calibrated, it could backfire and lead to China becoming more reckless in its efforts to punish Taipei.”
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China’s Luckin Coffee Scandal Renews US Call for Stricter Oversight
Luckin Coffee Inc., a Chinese coffee retail chain listed on the Nasdaq, confirmed this week it has received notice that it will be delisted from the U.S. stock exchange after it acknowledged falsifying $310 million in sales.Analysts say the action is a blow to all Chinese companies, and comes as U.S. lawmakers consider imposing new regulations on Chinese companies seeking American investment.FILE – A Luckin Coffee logo is seen at a closed store in Beijing, following the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, China, April 16, 2020.”This is a such an unfortunate incident, it is a blow to the reputation of Chinese listed companies in the U.S,” said Guo Yafu, founder and CEO of TJ Capital Management.Luckin is the latest in a series of Chinese companies listed in the U.S. that have come under intense scrutiny.The U.S. Senate on Wednesday passed sweeping legislation that potentially could bar many Chinese companies from listing shares on U.S. exchanges or raising money from American investors without adhering to strict regulatory and auditing regulations.The so-called “Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act,” overwhelmingly approved by Republican and Democratic senators, would require Chinese companies to demonstrate they are neither owned nor controlled by a foreign government. This would require the companies to submit to an audit that can be reviewed by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a non-profit group that oversees audits of all U.S. companies that want to raise money in public markets.Who is Luckin?Luckin Coffee Inc, a coffeehouse chain founded in 2017, joined Nasdaq in 2019 through a $561 million IPO, or initial public offering.The company rapidly expanded between 2017 and 2019, fueled by an aggressive marketing strategy, in which the company reportedly spent three times as much as it earned to feed its growth. By the beginning of 2020, the company claimed it had 4,500 shops in Mainland China, several hundred more than rival Starbucks.FILE – Jenny Qian Zhiya, CEO of Luckin Coffee, rings the Nasdaq opening bell with employees to celebrate the company’s IPO at the Nasdaq Market site in New York, May 17, 2019.Yet on April 2, Luckin Coffee announced that an internal investigation found that its chief operating officer, Jian Liu, had fabricated the company’s 2019 sales by “around RMB2.2 billion” ($310 million). On April 8, the U.S. stock market halted trading on all Luckin shares as a result of the fraud probe.Throughout April, the company’s stock dropped by over 80%. On May 12, the company fired its CEO Jenny Zhiyq Qian and COO Jian Liu from their positions.”The cooked books are either from accounting fraud or sales fraud,” Guo told VOA.After the delisting decision by Nasdaq, Luckin Coffee founder Charles Lu Zhengyao said in a statement published on Chinese social media platform WeChat on Wednesday that he “apologizes to all the investors, staff and clients of Luckin for the terrible impact of the incident.”Lack of oversightLuckin Coffee’s announced delisting follows years of tensions between American auditors and Chinese companies over the financial documentation required of companies that list shares on U.S. exchanges.FILE – A customer picks up her order from a Luckin Coffee pop-up shop at the World Robot Conference in Beijing, Aug. 15, 2018.Congress created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in 2002 to ensure that companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges have accurate financial and corporate records.It took a few years for PCAOB to negotiate inspection-related agreements with many countries around the world, but eventually nearly all – except China – have come into agreement.”There may still be one or two small countries without agreements — China is by far the largest without one,” said James Peterson, an author and former staff attorney for now defunct Arthur Andersen.Many Chinese companies have significant government links and claim “state secrets” when asked to disclose financial information to U.S. auditors.Peterson said that the content of corporate records and audit working papers are no more qualitatively “secret” in China than they are for businesses in any other country.”China’s claim of ‘state secrets’ is no more than rhetorical cover for the simple position that ‘we do not want to,'” Peterson told VOA.Trump wants to get tough U.S. President Donald Trump said in a recent interview aired on Fox News that he was looking “very strongly” at setting rules to require Chinese companies to comply with American accounting rules. Federal officials have long demanded compliance with U.S. audit inspections as a condition for listing.Yet he also suggested that he doesn’t want to threaten to delist Chinese companies that don’t comply with U.S. regulations if it spurs them to flee to a competing foreign stock exchange.”Let’s say you want to get tough,” Trump said, “What do they do? They say, ‘OK, well, we’ll move to London or we’ll go to Hong Kong.'” Guo said Trump’s concern is reasonable, since a lot of Chinese companies have or are preparing to list in Hong Kong.”If the U.S. wants all Chinese companies [that don’t comply with U.S. auditing rule] to leave, they will have to find other places to go. These are all good companies, like Baidu and JD. com,” he said.He added that Alibaba, the e-commerce giant based in China, already has a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock exchange.
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ASEAN Bloc Fights Impulse to Hoard Medical Goods
More than half the nations of Southeast Asia started this week by taking a donation of protective personal equipment (PPE), such as medical suits and masks, from their neighbor Vietnam to help them in the fight against COVID-19. It is the latest sign the region is resisting the impulse to choke off any shipment of medical supplies out of their borders, an impulse seen globally as supply shortages put health workers’ lives at risk.
With the handover Monday in Hanoi, which also included virus test kits, Vietnam has now donated to all its peers in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which it also is the rotating chair for 2020. The ASEAN bloc said it would cooperate to prevent blockages, such as the ban on medical exports that some members had started to enforce as the pandemic emerged.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said COVID-19 is a “common enemy” that the region needs to fight together.
“ASEAN should collaborate to keep trading routes and supply lines open, especially for essential goods, such as food and medical supplies,” he told his counterparts in video call last month.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin echoed his sentiments to protect “critical infrastructure for trade.”
“We must also guard against imposition of unnecessary restriction on the flow of medical [supplies], food and essential supplies,” he said.
Supplies ‘save lives’
Malaysia is this year’s chair of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation bloc, whose officials have expressed alarm at the risk of shortages.
From the Philippines to Indonesia, nurses have worried they do not have enough gloves and masks to help protect them from contracting the coronavirus.
“Ensuring that trade policy is in place, providing access to the much-needed medical goods will save lives,” Dr. Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria, APEC Secretariat executive director and a former Malaysian trade official, said.
She noted in an earlier statement that supply chains “may still have vulnerabilities, bottlenecks and integrity issues. Many around the world have not been spared shortages of medical equipment, medicines and basic protective equipment.”
Mutual accusationsAround the world, nations have tried to keep gear for themselves to fight the pandemic. European governments accused each other and the United States of confiscating protective equipment en route. Colombia, India and Russia are among dozens of nations that suspended exports of some medical supplies.
In Southeast Asia, there have been similar export bans from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, such as of hand sanitizer and masks. Most have since rolled back the bans.
Observers say states should avoid tariffs and export quotas because they can create a vicious cycle of retaliation from other states, as well as create backups in the supply chain that keep medical gear from going where it is most needed. The pandemic has also caused some governments to issue bans on certain food exports as consumers stay home and hoard staples.
The ASEAN bloc has been able to roll back some of the restrictions, in part because it has started to emerge from the crisis. For instance, ASEAN chair Vietnam has had no local transmissions of the virus for more than a month and no surge of infections to overwhelm its health care system. It scrapped its restrictions on the export of surgical masks April 29, leading to an export boom for the 20 domestic firms that make them.
“Vietnamese textile and garment firms have been receiving constant orders,” the government said in a post on its website this month.
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Singapore Sentences Man to Death Via Zoom
The Singapore Supreme Court has sentenced a man to death via a video chat service due to the coronavirus lockdown in the city-state.A 37-year-old Malaysian man was sentenced to death by hanging on Friday for a 2011 heroin deal, court documents showed.Defense lawyer Peter Fernando said his client, Punithan Genasan, was sentenced in a hearing on the video chat app Zoom while he was in jail and Fernando and prosecutors took part in the hearing from various locations.Human Rights Watch condemned the use of the app to enforce the death penalty, maintaining it exacerbates a punishment it already considers cruel and inhumane.“It’s shocking the prosecutors and the court are so callous that they fail to see that a man facing capital punishment should have the right to be present in court to confront his accusers,” said Human Rights official Phil Robertson.A Supreme Court spokesman told Reuters the virtual hearing was held “for thesafety of all involved in the proceedings.”The spokesman also said it was the first criminal case where a death sentence was announced remotely in Singapore.The U.S.-based Zoom did not comment on the case nor did the public prosecutor.Fernando said he and Genasan will meet on Friday to discuss an appeal.Rights groups have also denounced the use of other video-calls for capital punishment verdicts, including a case in Nigeria earlier this month.
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Taiwan President Vows to Bolster Defense as China Steps up Military Threats
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen vowed Wednesday to step up defense following a series of bigger-than-normal threats by her government’s longtime rival China. “While we work to bolster our defense capabilities, future combat capacity development will also emphasize mobility, countermeasures, and non-traditional, asymmetrical capabilities,” Tsai said in a speech to mark the start of her second term in office. She was reelected in January. China maintains the world’s third strongest military and Taiwan ranks 26th by the database GlobalFirePower.com. Asymmetric warfare means use of strategy or unconventional arms, such as submarines, against an overall stronger enemy. The People’s Liberation Army from Beijing is getting ready for amphibious military exercises in the South China Sea possibly to simulate the takeover of three tiny islets that Taiwan controls as part of a marine national park, analysts and media reports in Asia say. The islands sit in a strategic spot between northeast and southeast Asia. Taiwan’s coast guard has a garrison on one. “If they want to seize the island they could encircle the island and force Taiwan to withdraw, without a fight,” said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. The Coast Guard Administration said May 12 the garrison is scheduled next month to hold a firing exercise around the Pratas Islands. China had passed its Liaoning aircraft carrier group around Taiwan in April and let a military transport plane to fly into Taiwanese air space earlier this month. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said last month it had information that China was talking about declaring an air defense identification zone over the South China Sea. The sea is disputed by Taiwan and four Southeast Asian countries. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy aircraft carrier Liaoning participates in a naval parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of China’s PLA Navy in the sea near Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong province, Tuesday,…Officials in Beijing have tired of Tsai’s refusal to see Taiwan as part of China, her ever-strengthening ties with the United States – the chief counterweight to Chinese political power globally – and Taiwan’s bid to attend the World Health Assembly this month despite Beijing’s longstanding opposition. Tsai, first elected in 2016 partly on her tough China stance, has made indigenous defense a priority. The island long dependent on heavy industry has come out already with surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles and 66 aircraft in the past. A domestic shipbuilder broke ground last year on a submarine that’s due as early as 2024. Over the next four years, Tsai said, Taiwan will work on strengthening defense “against the threats of cyber warfare, cognitive warfare, and ‘unrestricted’ warfare to achieve our strategic goal of multi-domain deterrence.” She said the government plans as well to integrate military and civilian “capabilities” in aviation and space. Taiwan and China have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists lost to Mao Zedong’s Communists and rebased on the island. China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has not ruled out use of force, if needed, to unite the two sides. Tsai rejects Beijing’s proposal for a “one-country, two-systems” form of rule that China uses to govern Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a Chinese territory with a measure of local autonomy. Taiwan government surveys say around 80% of Taiwanese oppose unification with China. The president suggested dialogue instead on Wednesday. “We will continue these efforts, and we are willing to engage in dialogue with China and make more concrete contributions to regional security,” Tsai said in her speech. “Both sides have a duty to find a way to coexist over the long term and prevent the intensification of antagonism and differences.” A new crash in relations would precede any attack by China, said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia. “You’re supposed to look for early warning signals, so you’d need to have some deterioration of relations between the two, and it’s certainly not the best relations, but not the worst,” Thayer said. Chinese officials aren’t planning an attack but want Tsai to make the next diplomatic move, said Alex Chiang, associate professor of international politics at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “I think the relation is already at the bottom and I think it’s up to Tsai Ing-wen to do something about it,” Chiang said. “If she can offer some kind of hope, some kind of friendly gesture toward China, maybe there will be some movement toward a better relationship.” China’s military exercises are just a “war game” and the country has no “appetite for military actions” while working on economic recovery post-COVID-19, he added.
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China Rejects Blame for Coronavirus Pandemic
China has lashed out at Australia and the United States for what it calls political manipulation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Australia has been at the forefront of calls for an independent investigation into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic and the response to it, and U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed China for the global pandemic. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne praised the World Health Resolution passed Tuesday that demands an independent “comprehensive evaluation” of the organization’s global response to the coronavirus pandemic. The resolution was submitted to the World Health Assembly by the European Union and other WHO members. Payne described it as “a win for the international community.” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Tuesday that China would welcome the investigation if Australia would return to the broad consensus of the international community. He said Beijing has always supported a comprehensive review of the pandemic as long as it is led by the WHO and conducted in professional and impartial manner. But U.S. President Donald Trump says the WHO is not impartial. He has accused the international agency of covering up for China, whom he blames for the global health crisis. On Tuesday, Trump threatened to permanently cut off U.S. funding for the WHO, which he had already put on hold. President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with restaurant industry executives about the coronavirus response, in the State Dining Room of the White House, May 18, 2020, in Washington.China accused Trump on Tuesday of conducting a smear campaign against Beijing and said the United States is shirking its international obligations. No dates have been set for conducting the evaluation, but China has said it should be done after the pandemic is over. Most experts agree that the coronavirus may not disappear any time soon, even if a vaccine is produced. Nearly 4.9 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and about 323,000 have died from it, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. China is experiencing a new wave of infections in its northeastern Jilian province, prompting the government to place thousands of residents under quarantine. Brazil, Peru and Mexico also are experiencing a spike of COVID-19 cases after the outbreak calmed in Europe and is leveling in the United States. New cases are growing in Africa. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Monday that his country would donate $2 billion to fight the coronavirus pandemic and send physicians and supplies to developing countries, especially in Africa. Scientists say the virus likely spread from a Wuhan market selling exotic and wild animals for food, and environmentalists and animal rights activists have demanded the elimination of the so-called “wet” markets. The Chinese government has banned the sale of wild animals for food as part of its effort to stop the spread of the virus, but the trade is still legal for other purposes, such as research. The official Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday that two central provinces, Hunan and Jiangxi, have come up with a program to buy out breeders of wild animals and help them transition to other livelihoods.
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Taiwan’s Tsai to Tread Cautiously on Cross-Strait Relations at Inauguration: Experts
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen is set to be sworn in on Wednesday for her second term. Analysts say she is expected to “put down the markers” on Taiwanese sovereignty but not cross China’s red lines in her inaugural speech.Tsai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) she represents won a landslide victory in January elections, which were widely seen as a referendum on the future of Taiwan and cross-strait relations with Beijing.Her inaugural speech could provide clues as to how Tsai, who rejects Beijing’s one-China principle, will proceed in her second term.Robert Sutter, who teaches international affairs at George Washington University, said Tsai is “a formidable opponent” of Beijing, and her stance has been consistent. Sutter said he expects Tsai’s speech will emphasize her government’s accomplishments in the first term and avoid overtly antagonizing China.
Sutter said, “Tsai Ing-wen strikes me as a very sober individual, who is very concerned about Taiwan’s sovereignty, and she’s very experienced in cross-strait relations. She knows what the buttons are, and she doesn’t want to push with Beijing, and so she’ll avoid them and say something meaningful to the people on Taiwan to deepen their sense of being in a good place of good government.” FILE – Supporters of Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election candidate, Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen, cheer for Tsai’s victory in Taipei, Taiwan, Jan. 11, 2020.Beijing has escalated the number and intensity of military drills around the island in recent months, including a 36-hour air force endurance exercise in April and a first-ever nighttime drill in March.
I-Chung Lai, president of the Taiwan-based Prospect Foundation, said the island received pressure from China to show goodwill in Tsai’s speech, but China’s recent saber-rattling could have the opposite effect.
Lai said, “So I really hope China can reduce the temperature a little bit so Tsai Ing-wen will have a better reason to respond in kind.”
Jacques deLisle is a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who focuses on contemporary Chinese law and politics. He said Tsai’s speech will not challenge the status quo in the Taiwan Strait but may reference protests and unrest in Hong Kong.
“I expect her to hit pretty hard on the themes of how successful Taiwan’s democratic liberal society has been in coping with COVID,” deLisle said. “I think she has to walk a fine line in how much to reference the Hong Kong situation which obviously is key to her re-election but neuralgic [sharply painful] to Beijing.”
DeLisle added, “I think there’ll be a bleak reference to how appealing the Taiwan model is and how Taiwanese people … don’t want to be Hong Kong. I think you will see the kinds of references to sovereignty that put down markers but don’t cross red lines.”
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, there will be no large-scale celebrations for the inauguration. Tsai posted a tweet on Monday, inviting people to watch the inauguration ceremony online “to celebrate the power of the people in this flourishing democracy that embraces diversity.”
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China Imposes Massive Tariffs on Australia Barley Imports, Sparking Fears of Trade War
Australia is considering taking China to the World Trade Organization over Beijing’s decision to impose massive tariffs on Australian barley imports. China announced Monday that it was imposing 80.5% anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Australian barley after claiming that barley farming was heavily subsidized by the government. Beijing just last week suspended imports from four major Australian beef suppliers over labeling issues. The tariffs, which take effect Tuesday, are expected to cost Australian farmers over $300 million annually. Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said Tuesday that China’s actions were “deeply disappointing” and were not made in accordance with anti-dumping rules. But Birmingham said Australia will not engage in a trade war with one of its biggest trading partners. Beijing’s trade actions against Australia are taking place amid a diplomatic dispute over Canberra’s strong push for an independent probe into the origins of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which was first detected last year in central China.
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Potential Coronavirus Vaccine Sends Asian Markets Upward Tuesday
Asian markets are soaring in midday trading Tuesday thanks to news of a promising vaccine for the novel coronavirus. Japan’s Nikkei index and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong are trading 1.8% higher, while Seoul’s KOSPI index and the S&P/ASX in Sydney have earned just over 2%. Shanghai is up 0.6%, and Taiwan is over 1% higher. Asia’s huge gains are mirroring Monday’s big day on Wall Street, where stocks surged after U.S.-based biotechnology company Moderna said its initial tests for a possible coronavirus vaccine produced favorable results from a small sample of people. The company said it is launching a large clinical trial in July to determine whether the vaccine works. But all three major U.S. indexes are trading slightly lower in Tuesday morning futures trading. In oil trading, the price of U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude was $32.25 per barrel, up 1.3%, while the international benchmark Brent crude was trading even at $34.82 per barrel.
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Deadly Earthquake Strikes Southwest China
At least four people are dead and 23 others injured after a strong earthquake struck southwest China late Monday. Geologists at the China Earthquake Networks Center said a 5.0-magnitude earthquake struck in Qiaojia county in Yunnan province. China is prone to earthquakes, especially in its mountainous western and southwestern regions. One of the worst disasters of its kind occurred in 2008, when nearly 90,000 were killed when a strong earthquake struck Sichuan province.
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China Threatens to Put American Tech Giants on Its ‘Unreliable Entity List’
China has responded to a new U.S. ban targeting telecom giant Huawei, threatening to retaliate through a series of countermeasures, including putting U.S. companies such as Apple, Qualcomm and Cisco on an “unreliable entity list” that would seriously impede their sales in Chinese markets. The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday threw a one-two punch at China’s high-tech efforts by announcing a new ban on global chip supplies to Huawei, while allowing a Taiwanese semiconductor producer to open a next-generation plant in the United States. In an FILE PHOTO: A Huawei company logo at Shenzhen International Airport in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, July 22, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/File PhotoA ban tailored for Huawei The U.S. Commerce Department issued a statement on Friday to amend an export control rule that “strategically targets Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain U.S. software and technology.” Under the new rule, foreign companies using U.S. semiconductor and chipmaking equipment will be required to obtain a license to supply chips to Huawei or its affiliates. The rule has a 120-day grace period.
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China Backs Calls for Probe of COVID Origins – But Not Now
China backed calls for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak, but only after the pandemic is under control, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday. Addressing a virtual meeting of the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization, Xi said China supports a “comprehensive evaluation” of the global response to the pandemic, after it “has been brought under control. A European Union-drafted resolution calling for a probe into both how the pandemic began as well as the responses to it is expected to gain approval this week. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne comments in Penrith, Australia, May 18, 2020.Australia has been among the most vocal proponents of such an investigation, and Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Monday it wants the effort to be “impartial, independent and comprehensive.” “We’re very encouraged by the growing levels of support for this comprehensive World Health Assembly motion,” she said. The novel coronavirus was first publicly identified in China in late December and has spread around world, killing more than 315,000 people and infecting at least 4.7 million. Xi reiterated Monday China’s stance that it has always been “transparent” about its knowledge of the virus. He also announced at Monday’s assembly that China would devote $2 billion for the fight against COVID-19 over two years, especially focused on developing countries. President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential recognition ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House, May 15, 2020, in Washington.U.S. President Donald Trump has been a harsh critic of China’s initial response to the virus. He also suspended funding to the WHO, contending the agency failed in its “basic duty” to investigate early reports out of China about the coronavirus in December last year. Governments around the world have instituted stay-at-home orders, and encouraged those who go out in public to practice social distancing and wear face masks in order to stop the spread of the virus. Those efforts have brought economies to a halt, with Japan the latest country to report Monday that its economy slid into recession in the first quarter of this year. With some countries, particularly those in Europe, seeing vast progress in bringing down death tolls and the rates of new infections, leaders are lifting restrictions. Belgium on Monday allowed markets and museums to open once again, while more students returned to schools. International travel restrictions are still in place in many areas, but popular tourist sites are also reopening, including Greece’s Acropolis in Athens and the Vatican’s Saint Peter’s Basilica. In India, a surge in new infections has led the government to extend its nationwide lockdown through the end of the month. It reported more than 5,000 new cases and 157 deaths Monday. Workers disinfect densely populated neighborhoods in Cairo, March 24, 2020. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)Egypt is closing shops, beaches and parks during the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, while also instituting a nighttime curfew. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele announced a 30-day extension of his government’s lockdown order, but late Sunday the country’s attorney general filed a lawsuit alleging Bukele’s action was unconstitutional. Bukele countered on Twitter that his position gives him the power to declare a state of emergency. The United States, the world’s leader in the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths, with about 1.5 million confirmed cases and 90,000 deaths, is gradually easing restrictions, albeit at a different pace in different regions. Health officials in the northwestern state of Oregon said they have acquired enough of the Ebola drug remdesivir to treat all eligible COVID-19 patients. The drug has been used in trials in a number of hospitals, and early results suggest it could speed recovery time. FILE – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo holds his daily briefing at New York Medical College during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Valhalla, New York, May 7, 2020.And in New York state, the hardest-hit in the United States, Governor Andrew Cuomo said anyone who has symptoms or is returning to work is now able to get a coronavirus test. Many areas of the United States have struggled to carry out as many tests as health officials would want because of a lack of supplies.
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S. Korean Soccer Team Apologizes for Allegedly Using Sex Dolls to Fill Empty Seats
A South Korean professional soccer club has apologized after being accused of putting sex dolls in empty seats during a match Sunday in Seoul.With stadiums empty as precautions against the spread of COVID-19, the Dalkom company offered to provide the management of FC Seoul with mannequins to help them fill their seats for the team’s first match Sunday and the team agreed. The company provided 30 mannequins in all – 28 female and two male.But during the televised match, some viewers noticed some of the female mannequins looked like sex dolls, and, in fact, carried advertisements for adult websites.In a statement, FC Seoul expressed “sincere remorse” over the controversy, and said they had been assured by the company they were using mannequins — not sex dolls — to mimic a home crowd during its 1-0 win over Gwangju FC at the Seoul World Cup stadium.FC Seoul said it was attempting to add “an element of fun” with the mannequins.
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Chaos Erupts in Hong Kong Legislature Between Pro-Democracy, Pro-China Factions
Tensions between Hong Kong’s two competing forces reached another flashpoint after pro-Beijing lawmakers took control of a key legislative committee Monday.The legislature’s House Committee, which scrutinizes bills and decides whether they can be put before a final vote, has been run for several months by the committee’s deputy chairman, pro-democracy lawmaker Dennis Kwok. Beijing has accused Kwok of blocking numerous bills from going to the full legislature for a vote, including a bill that will make it a criminal offense to disrespect China’s national anthem.Chaos erupted in the chamber last Friday between pro-democracy lawmakers and pro-Beijing lawmakers when the pro-Beijing faction took control of the committee through use of a legal opinion. The scene repeated itself Monday many members of the pro-democracy group were dragged out of the chamber by security guards shortly before a pro-Beijing lawmaker, Starry Lee, was elected the committee’s chair.The takeover will now allow the panel to push forward the proposed national anthem law, which calls for anyone who intentionally insults the anthem, by booing or any other means, to face up to three years in prison and fines of more than $6,000.The bill was introduced last year in response to fans regularly booing the anthem during soccer matches.As the battle flared in the legislative chamber Monday, 15 pro-democracy figures, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai, were in court to face charges for organizing and taking part in massive and often violent anti-government protests that engulfed the semi-autonomous city the last half of 2019. The demonstrations were initially sparked by a controversial extradition bill but evolved into a demand for greater democracy.The protests came to halt after the coronavirus outbreak that began in mainland China late last year spread into Hong Kong, but have sporadically resumed in recent days as the outbreak subsided.Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy under the concept of “one country, two systems,” since Britain handed the territory back to Beijing in 1997. But many Hong Kongers fear that autonomy is steadily being eroded by a central government that is increasingly meddling in its affairs.
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Australia’s COVID-19 Border Closures Separates Families of Migrant Workers
Strict COVID-19 controls in Australia are separating families of migrant workers who have been stuck overseas since its international borders were closed. Temporary visa holders do not have the same rights to return to Australia as citizens during the pandemic. “Scomo won’t let us come home and they say they don’t know how long it will take before we make it,” says a migrant Facebook song.A song for Scomo — a colloquial term for Scott Morrison — from an American temporary visa holder. The Australian prime minister is being urged to let migrant workers stranded overseas return to their jobs, homes and families. Hundreds of foreign workers, including those from the U.S., Britain, South Africa and Brazil, had temporarily left Australia to go on holiday, to study or attend funerals before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the government in Canberra to close the borders. They have been left stranded away from family, partners and jobs in Australia. Chloe Fletcher moved from England to Perth, but is separated from her sixteen-year old son, Taylor. He was in Britain studying for exams when Australia’s borders were closed and has been refused permission to rejoin his family. “For any mother to be away from the child for that long the pain is unbearable. It is like every day it is hard,” she said. “I don’t understand what the actual boundaries are, what makes a compassionate case because there’s no actual rules or regulations, so we don’t know what category we fit into.” Australia closed its borders to foreign nationals on March 20. Authorities say decisions about who is allowed to return under special circumstances are made in the interests of public health. Officials stress that shutting international borders has been one of the key factors in Australia’s ability to control the spread of the coronavirus. Australian citizens and permanent visa holders are permitted to return but face a mandatory 14-day quarantine period in a hotel paid for by the government. Australia has had about 7,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The vast majority of patients have recovered, but about 100 people have died from the virus. Lockdown restrictions are gradually being eased across the country. Cafes, restaurants, places of worship and schools are reopening under strict hygiene controls. But those desperate for Australia’s international borders to reopen face a long and uncertain wait.
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Keep Fishing, Vietnam Tells Citizens After China Ban in Disputed Sea
After China attempted to put limits on the disputed South China Sea, Vietnam responded with a message to its fishermen: just keep fishing, within the law. The Southeast Asian nation, a major world exporter of seafood, told provincial governments along the coast to “intensify” oversight of the fishers under their safeguard. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development sent a letter to the local governments last week, telling them to inform fishermen of China’s “invalid” fishing ban but also to “encourage fishers to stick to normal production within the limits of Vietnam’s territorial waters.” Vietnam rejected China’s seasonal ban from May 1 to Aug. 16 in the South China Sea, which is claimed by both nations, a month after saying China also sank a boat carrying Vietnamese fishermen who have been rescued. “The People’s Committees of provinces and cities shall direct functional agencies to intensify the management and supervision of fishing activities of fishing ships at sea,” said a report from VietnamNet, the official news site of the Ministry of Information and Communications. The agriculture ministry provided a hotline where people should report any “unexpected incidents” to its Department of Fisheries Control in the wake of China’s announcement. The fishing fracas threatens to inflame a South China Sea where multi-nation tensions have already been heating up in recent months. Washington warned Beijing against “exploiting” the COVID-19 pandemic to distract from its maritime aggressions in April, after China sent a ship back to the disputed waters, possibly to explore for oil. Vietnam protested the ship’s return, as well as the earlier sinking of a fishing boat. The Philippines, which has vacillated in its maritime criticism of China, took the rare step of standing by Vietnam after the sinking. Even Indonesia, not a frequent party to the South China Sea disputes, sank Chinese ships in 2019 that it accused of illegal fishing. Malaysia also protested the return of China’s exploratory vessel in April. The United States showed its opposition, to what it called, China’s “coercive and unlawful actions” in the South China Sea last week by dispatching the USS Gabrielle Giffords, named after a former Arizona congresswoman, injured in a 2011 shooting. “Routine presence operations, like Gabrielle Giffords’, reaffirms the U.S. will continue to fly and sail freely, in accordance with international law and maritime norms, regardless of excessive claims or current events,” Vice Adm. Bill Merz, commander of the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, said. The South China Sea, seen as a rich source of fisheries and oil, has overlapping territorial claims by several Asian nations. Vietnam has already seen a decline in its fishing sector because of COVID-19, including a decrease in seafood trade with China. Nguyen Viet Thang, chair of the Vietnam Association of Fisheries, asked the government to defend local fishermen and oppose China’s attempt at a summer fishing ban. “This regulation has no legal value for the seas under Vietnam’s sovereignty,” he said in a letter to the government on behalf of the association. “Fishermen of Vietnam completely have the right to fish in the waters under its sovereignty.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam has responded accordingly. “Vietnam rejects China’s unilateral decision,” Le Thi Thu Hang, the ministry spokesperson, said. She said, using the Vietnamese term for the South China Sea, “Given the current regional and global context, Vietnam asks China not to further complicate the situation in the East Sea.” China has said Vietnam does not have a right to protest the fishing ban.
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Pompeo Warns China Over Interference With US Journalists in Hong Kong
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said it had come to his attention that the Chinese government had threatened to interfere with the work of U.S. journalists in Hong Kong, and said any decision impinging on Hong Kong’s autonomy could affect the U.S. assessment of Hong Kong’s status.”These journalists are members of a free press, not propaganda cadres, and their valuable reporting informs Chinese citizens and the world,” Pompeo said in a statement.Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997, and the territory was promised a “high degree of autonomy” for 50 years, something that has formed the basis of the territory’s special status under U.S. law, which has helped it thrive as a world financial center.Pompeo announced on May 6 that the State Department was delaying a report to Congress assessing whether Hong Kong enjoyed sufficient autonomy from China to continue receiving special treatment from the United States.He said at the time the delay was to allow the report to account for any actions Beijing might contemplate in the run-up to China’s May 22 National People’s Congress.Tensions between Washington and Beijing have spiked in recent weeks, as Pompeo and President Donald Trump have complained about China’s early handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
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Chinese Ambassador to Israel Found Dead
The Chinese ambassador to Israel was found dead Sunday inside his home in Herzilya, according to Israel’s foreign affairs ministry. Du Wei, the 57-year-old ambassador, assumed his post in Israel in February. Initial reports say the ambassador died of natural causes or health reasons. China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman tweeted her condolences for Du without giving details about his death.Deepest condolences to my colleage Ambassador Du Wei to Isreal!— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) May 17, 2020The ambassador is survived by his wife and son, both of whom were outside of Israel at the time of his death.
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Australia Gradually Emerges From COVID-19 Lockdowns
Gradually, personal freedoms are being returned to 25 million Australians. Many lockdown restrictions imposed in March are slowly being wound back. Cafes and restaurants are reopening and can accommodate a maximum of 10 customers at any one time. Victoria, which has imposed some of the toughest disease controls in Australia, announced Sunday a significant easing of some of its measures.On June 1, restaurants and cafes will reopen with up to 20 patrons indoors. Some churches are asking parishioners to book a place as services resume in Australia. Numbers are, for now, limited to less than a soccer team. Catholic authorities in Sydney say “this first step will offer comfort” after weeks of coronavirus lockdowns. However, many synagogues, Anglican churches and mosques in the state of New South Wales are staying closed, partly because of concerns for older members of their congregations. The livestreaming of religious services will continue. Health authorities in Australia say they have managed to contain COVID-19 but remain wary of undetected cases or a second wave of infections. Queensland’s state government says its southern border with New South Wales will remain closed to stop the spread of infection. Queensland currently has just 12 active coronavirus cases. As restrictions are slowly wound back, though, state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is urging residents to be cautious. “The majority of people are doing the right thing and I cannot thank Queenslanders enough. I mean, we have gone through enough natural disasters in our lifetime to know that people do listen to authorities,” she said. “Just because, you know, we have very few active cases, we still have a couple of thousand of people in quarantine, and until we get through all of those people in quarantine, you know, we are not out of the woods. So everyone has got to just be aware. At some stage, you know, people are starting to feel a little bit complacent. Please do not feel complacent. Please practice your social distancing.” Geography has played a key role in Australia’s ability to contain COVID-19. Foreign nationals are not allowed into Australia, and returning citizens face a mandatory 14-day quarantine period in a hotel. Strict social distancing measures have also been crucial, as has widespread testing. Health officials say Australia has conducted more than 1 million coronavirus tests. A major challenge for Australia is when and how to safely reopen its international borders. Aviation experts have warned that overseas travel might not return to normal here until 2023.
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Thailand Malls Reopen, with Temperatures Taken, Masks Worn
Thais streamed into shopping malls on Sunday, once again enjoying their air-conditioned oases as the country eased one of the restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus.The government allowed malls to reopen after the number of new virus cases in Thailand dwindled to single digits for all but one day over more than two weeks. Malls had been closed since March.Student Baiplu Chaonuam expressed her relief at returning to a Bangkok mall. “I started to get used to staying home, but to be able to come back out and look around at things is an improvement from staying in,” she said.The mall experience, however, may not be as carefree as it was before the virus, with measures instituted to reduce the danger that the malls will become new infection hotspots.Thermal scanners check temperatures for signs of fever and each shopper must pass through a disinfectant mist at every entrance. Everyone must wear a mask and keep it on throughout their stay. No crowding on the escalators, as people must keep a two-step distance from those in front of them.More controversially, shoppers must use their smartphones to register electronically when entering and leaving a mall, and when entering and leaving individual stores. If someone later falls ill, this stored data will be used to trace and contact anyone who may have been in contact with them at the mall.Contact tracing apps have been adopted in many countries, raising concerns among privacy advocates. But the Thai government says the data will be used only for public health purposes.Lines formed outside luxury brand stores at Bangkok’s upmarket Siam Paragon mall on Sunday as staff enforced the new entry procedures. Window-shopping families strolled down concourses, occasionally pausing to wash their hands with gel from the many dispensers.“To be able to go out again could help people relax,” said one mall goer, Jariya Seriyothin. “But we still have to be careful when we come out and not let all these easing measures make us forget about everything.”The coronavirus crisis has hit the already-struggling Thai economy hard. Millions of people have been laid off, with little immediate prospect of a return to work for many of them. The reopening of the malls at least brings some relief to one part of the retail sector. The government will watch to see whether the infection rate remains low before deciding on the next phase of its plan to restore normality. It is treading carefully, announcing Saturday that it was extending to the end of June a ban on the arrival of international passenger flights.Earlier this month, the government reopened public parks, which had been closed as part of anti-virus measures.Thai health authorities announced three new virus cases on Sunday, bringing the total to 3,028, including 56 deaths.
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For Many Cambodians, Debt Repayment Bigger Threat Than COVID-19
Deep household debt might soon push Cambodia into a crisis as job losses caused by COVID-19 make it even harder for families repay loans, experts and debtors say.While the country has officially only registered 122 coronavirus cases, thousands of garment workers lost their jobs when their factories closed. Thousands from the tourism or service sectors are also jobless or earning far less money than they were six months ago. For some, this crisis could have devastating consequences, including loss of family land, often a fast track to abject poverty.Tuk-tuk driver Hy Sokhom, 50, said he struggles to pay off his debt during the COVID-19 pandemic, in Kien Svay district, Kandal province, Cambodia, April 12, 2020.Hy Sokhom, who drives a tuk-tuk, a three-wheeled motorized rickshaw, is one of millions of Cambodians who, on average, are the world’s most indebted borrowers. Usually his wife and adult daughter sell noodles at a school in Kandal province’s Kien Svay district, but the school closed mid-March as part of measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.The family lost $10 in daily income.The couple’s two sons lost their jobs in Bavet city when the casinos closed under similar measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.The family lost $300 in monthly income the sons sent home.Covering the $400 monthly installments for their $18,000 loan — for a new tuk-tuk, home renovations and the cost of their sons’ move six months ago to Bavet, near the Vietnam border — seems impossible.They also must make monthly payments to two microfinance institutions (MFI) of about $50 each, bringing their monthly total to $500.One of the sons started a low-paying job as a security guard a few weeks ago, but that did little to alleviate the pressure on Hy Sokhom.Tourism takes a hitTourism, a growth industry with foreign arrivals exceeding 2 million people per year in 2007 and 6.6 million in 2019, has ground to a halt. Before the coronavirus, Hy Sokhom brought home about $20 a day. Now, $7.50 is a good day.Keith Mom, 47, wife of Hy Sokhom, request that the Cambodian financial institutions provide people like her a three-month moratorium, in Kien Svay district, Kandal province, Cambodia, April 12, 2020.“We don’t have money to pay the bank and not enough money to buy food,” said Hy Sokhom’s wife, Keith Mom. She believes the family deserves a break for never missing a payment before the coronavirus swept through the economy.“I want [the bank and microfinance institutions] to help assist us with a two- to three-month moratorium,” Keith Mom, 48, said. “They could collect money from us as normal when [this] is over.”But their bank, Pann Sopheak, 41, makes a living by selling fruit, in Kien Svay district, Kandal province, Cambodia, April 12, 2020.“When he is live [on Facebook], we watch him, since we want to know about the credit issues,” said Pann Sopheak, Hy Sokhom’s neighbor.Pann Sopheak, a 41-year-old widow raising three children alone since her husband died six months ago, holds home renovations loans of about $8,000 from three different microcredit institutes. Her monthly repayment is about $400.A fruit seller, her income is down because fewer people shop in the market because they’re afraid of being in crowded public places during the pandemic.Pann Sopheak told VOA Khmer that when she asked her lenders for three months’ grace, they refused.“Please, Samdech [Hun Sen], help talk to the banks to give the borrowers a delay, a three-month moratorium,” she said.In a similar vein, the civil society organizations urged the National Bank of Cambodia, as well as the government, to issue a sectorwide directive, mandating a three-month moratorium.Various banks, including the National Bank of Cambodia, and the ABC did not respond to requests for comment.Kaing Tongngy, the CMA spokesperson, told VOA Khmer that the association has worked to give some borrowers a moratorium since March. He added that CMA can’t give all its clients a grace period.”Some clients still have the ability to pay, so they still pay as usual,” he said. Those clients who have been “badly affected … have to show their impacts. There are choices as they don’t have to pay for three to six months, depending on the negotiations and their impacted condition.”While the pandemic has affected borrowers worldwide, Cambodia is in a particularly vulnerable state.In their statement, the civil society organizations said that 2.6 million Cambodians owed an average of more than $3,800 to microfinance institutes. This, they said, was “the largest amount in the world.”Vorn Pao, president of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economic Association (IDEA), said the coronavirus crisis poses a real threat to the livelihoods of the 12,000 members.Vorn Pao, president of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economic Association (IDEA), said the coronavirus crisis posed a real threat to the livelihoods of the 12,000 members. He said at least 80 percent of his members carried loans. And the members of his association, he said, represented about 10 percent of the total number of tuk-tuk drivers, motorbike and taxi drivers, and vendors.“I am worried that if COVID-19 keeps on going, it will have hazardous impacts on their daily lives. They could face food shortage as their income continues to decrease,” he said.Hout Ieng Tong, president of the Hattha Kaksekar microfinance institution, said that his company has granted a grace period to some borrowers, including those working in the tourism and garment sectors.“We will investigate if [a client] is really impacted by this virus, and if [a client] is really incapable [to pay back the loan],” Hout Ieng Tong said. “It’s not that we will give them an automatic grace period.” Meas Sok Sensan, Finance Ministry spokesman, said his ministry had set aside a budget of $350 million to “serve those people in the informal and formal economy.”Many MFI loans are collateralized by land titles, leaving millions at risk of losing their homes and property should they default. Others could be forced to sell their land to cover their loans.“Many clients submitted their land titles as collateral in order to get a microcredit, and some of the worst MFIs might try to sell off this land in order to repay a microloan, thus leaving the client in a very bad situation — no land usually equals irretrievable poverty,” Bateman, the microfinance author, said. He added that MFIs have yet to promise they will not seize “the land and houses of those clients who cannot repay their microloans.”To prevent seizures, the civil society organizations in their statement urged that land titles be returned to the debtors.Hy Sokhom, echoing his wife, said he’s always made monthly payment on time, but this may not save him now.“When we borrowed money from them, they asked us everything in detail. When we have problems [with COVID-19], they have not asked us anything. It’s only that we have to pay them money,” Hy Sokhom said. “It’s injustice for the debtors.”
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COVID-19 Upends North Korean Defectors in Britain
Jihyun Park, a North Korean defector in London, had heard stories that other defectors in Britain were having a tough time making ends meet as the coronavirus disrupted daily life.She responded by packing up dozens of boxes with rice and spicy beef flavor Korean-style instant noodles bought with her own money and sending them to ease the lives of North Korean families just barely getting by.“This lockdown period is comparable to wartime,” said Park, a human rights activist who was born in North Korea’s east coast port city of Chongjin and arrived in Britain in 2008. “Many North Korean defectors lost their jobs and are staying at home. The lockdown was enforced suddenly and some people couldn’t stock up on food, so I wanted to provide what little help I can.”Jihyun Park sent instant noodles and rice to North Korean defectors in Britain who need support. (Connect: North Korea)Park, a math teacher before defecting in 1998, is the outreach director at Defector students learn everyday English and British culture. (Connect: North Korea)Suburban refugeThe southwest London suburb of New Malden is home to the largest North Korean community outside Asia. About 1,000 North Koreans have resettled here since the late 2000s, drawn by job opportunities in the businesses established by South Koreans who formed a large community in New Malden in the 1960s. The community expanded when Samsung Electronics established its U.K. head office in New Malden in 1980.The majority of North Korean defectors in Britain work as cleaners, movers or taxi drivers, or work gig jobs at restaurants and construction sites. Many of those who are jobless because of the economic impact of COVID-19 do not qualify to receive unemployment benefits.Only about 10% of the North Koreans are employed by large businesses like Korean supermarkets, said Seung Cheol Choi, former president of the Korean Nationality Residents Association, a North Korean defectors group in Britain.“Others don’t have regular jobs, so they can’t receive the government’s coronavirus subsidies. They must be having a hard time compared to before the coronavirus. Nonetheless, I believe the British social security system provides for basic necessities,” he said.Michael Glendinning, founder of Connect: North Korea, thinks being jobless is difficult for the North Korean workers.“Even the most basic needs are not being met — food, housing or whatever — and that’s one of the reasons why we started the fundraising: to be able to provide support,” he said.The UK connectionThere were only 20 North Korean defectors living in Britain in 2007, but ever since, the number has grown exponentially. Some came straight from China, a transit point for almost all North Korean defectors. Others moved to Britain after brief stays in South Korea, which received the first defector in 1948. As of December 2019, Andrew has been teaching a North Korean defector student for the past three years. (Connect: North Korea)Learning EnglishConnect: North Korea is running English learning programs for North Korean defectors to help them integrate into British society. About 20 volunteer English teachers switched to online lessons after the coronavirus lockdown.“We made the coronavirus the subject of our very first online class. I asked my student to briefly let me know what the symptoms of the virus are and what the U.K. government said people should be doing. I wanted to make sure he was aware of the new buzzwords and jargon around the coronavirus, and I also wanted him to stay safe,” said one of the English teachers, a Briton who asked to be identified only by his first name, Andrew.The North Korean student, in his 30s, is waiting for a decision on his asylum application. He has been learning English from Andrew for three years. For him, learning English is a key to a better future.“Wherever you live, English is a second language,” said the North Korean defector, who asked to not be identified. “I’m still young. Even though I can’t speak English well at the moment, I will continue to study hard so that more opportunities will open up for me.”
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