As China continues to recover from COVID-19, the city where the now global disease began is stepping up ship production for military and commercial purposes as part of its broader economic recovery, domestic media and experts say. A state-owned builder of ships and submarines in Wuhan has worked overtime since March 3, the Chinese state-controlled Global Times news website reported last week. The facility of the China State Shipbuilding Corp. is “making up for time lost during the city’s lockdown” and keeping an “undisclosed major project” on track, the website said.   China looks to Wuhan, where the COVID-19 coronavirus surfaced in December, as a key site for building vessels for the People’s Liberation Army Navy, said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.  Factories in the central Chinese industrial hub turn out submarines for export, for example, to Pakistan and Thailand, he added. “Wuhan is a key industrial city when it comes to indigenous production for the PLA modernization, as well as the fact that when you talk about exports of submarines, this is increasingly going to become a crown jewel of China’s present and future arms export,” Koh said.   In that vein, Chinese defense contractor Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Co. built a complex 10 years ago on 3.3 square kilometers in Wuhan, U.S.-based defense research organization GlobalSecurity.org says. The site has “made significant contribution to the updating of the naval equipment and national defense of China,” GlobalSecurity.org says. Wuchang Shipbuilding let its second wave of workers back on the job March 26 for a factory reopening a day later, the Global Times report says. The subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp. makes ships and submarines. Despite Wuhan’s location 840 kilometers from the sea, completed ships reach the Chinese coastline via the Yangtze River. A Chinese naval Z-9 helicopter prepares to land aboard the PeopleÕs Liberation Army (Navy) frigate CNS Huangshan (FFG-570) as the ship conducts a series of maneuvers and exchanges with the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett.Wuhan is also known for a military school, a PLA chemical-biological weapons research center, and military logistics, said Alexander Huang, a defense-specialized strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. “Wuhan is the center or the probably most important location for several things,” Huang said. “These are the things I know, the logistics center, the chem-bio research institute and some transportation and others.” Much of China, including Wuhan, began powering back up in March after weeks of lockdowns that barred people from going to work. About 50,000 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Wuhan through March 19, the official Xinhua News Agency says. Renewed shipbuilding would fit in with what analysts call sustained Chinese coast guard and military activity near Taiwan and in the South China Sea, even at the peak of the virus outbreak. Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines, all of which contest Beijing’s South China Sea claims, are still too tied up fighting COVID-19 to bolster their own defenses, experts say. China is “taking advantage of the lull in activity” around the world by bolstering its military in nearby seas, said Jay Batongbacal, international maritime affairs professor at University of the Philippines.  Vietnam, which has issued shelter-in-place orders to contain COVID-19, on Friday filed a complaint with China over what Vietnamese media call the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing vessel near the disputed sea’s Paracel Islands. On Thursday a Chinese surveillance vessel “hit and sank” the Vietnamese boat with eight fishermen aboard, Viet Nam News reported. “The forward positioning of the coast guard ships is pretty constant,” said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia. “The PLAN (Chinese navy) stays out of it basically, but they get off the bench when an American warship begins sailing through the area and then whatever regular exercises or port calls.” Washington periodically sends warships to the South China Sea to confirm that it remains an international waterway. Submarine production in Wuhan is probably linked to export orders, too, Koh said. Exports drive the Chinese economy, but they are expected to slow because of the slump in demand from Western countries fighting COVID-19. Pakistan had announced plans in 2015 to buy eight new Chinese-made submarines, for example. Thailand is on track to get up to three Chinese subs by 2023, according to media reports from Bangkok. 
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Scientists say COVID-19 likely originated through “animal to human” transmission at a wild animal market in Wuhan, China.  New studies by the Global Virome Project, a worldwide effort to increase preparedness for pandemics, indicate the world can expect about five new animal-borne pathogens to infect humans each year, creating a sense of urgency to curb the wild animal trade. Steve Sandford files this report for VOA from Krabi, Thailand.
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Malaysia has arrested more than 4,000 people for violating virus lockdown orders, marking the toughest law enforcement action in Southeast Asia after the Philippines, where the president encourages police to shoot offenders.  
 
Malaysia is entering what it calls a “harsh mode” or a harsher phase of its official Movement Control Order to keep citizens in isolation and curb the spread of coronavirus, which threatens both the economy and human rights.
 
Police set up hundreds of roadblocks, have been conducting inspections, and have arrested thousands, including one man who jumped into the Strait of Malacca to avoid arrest, according to the government news service Bernama.  
 
“At first, the police enforcement was done in the soft and advisory mode, then it changed into the stern mode, and now it has entered the harsh mode,” Bernama quoted Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the senior minister for security, as saying at a press conference Thursday. “So I hope the people will adhere to the MCO.”  
 
Lockdown enforcement around the world has ranged from Florida charging a pastor who violated orders against mass gatherings, to Australia fining citizens who gather in groups of two or more.  
 
But Malaysia reports one of the highest arrest rates, with 4,189 people arrested for loitering since March 18, including 1,449 charged in court. The rate is higher in the Philippines, where police arrested more than 20,000 lockdown violators, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said to “shoot them dead” if needed.  
 
Malaysia said its lockdown is decreasing the spread of COVID-19. It has reported 3,116 total cases and 50 deaths as of Friday.  
 
Google published data showing how much mobility has changed in each nation amid lockdown, using cell phone data. Malaysia saw the presence of citizens at retail and recreation sites decrease by 81% on Sunday, compared with about a month earlier, according to Google.
 
The law enforcement actions have included a crackdown on speech, however, that activists worry could threaten human rights, as the former ruling party that ran Malaysia for all except two years of its modern history returns to power.The sun sets on the beach in Penang, where one citizen jumped into the sea to avoid arrest for violating Malaysia’s virus lockdown order.In addition to lockdown violators, the authorities have arrested people for allegedly spreading misinformation online about the virus. Journalists say they are self-censoring news about the virus to avoid punishment from the government.  
 
“Human rights workers, free expression advocates, bloggers, software developers, and activists are all in danger when government uses leeway obtained during a crisis to curtail free expression far beyond what’s required,” said Jason Kelley, a digital strategist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates for an open internet.
 
He noted in a blog post that Malaysia is among several governments arresting people for alleged misinformation, and he says many of those arrested are activists.  
 
Economists say the political turmoil in Kuala Lumpur will make it hard for the government to fight the coronavirus. Mahathir Mohamad, who became prime minister again in 2018 thanks mostly to the 1MDB corruption scandal that sank the prior regime, tried to consolidate power in February. His failure caused a political crisis until the old ruling party stepped into the power vacuum in March.  
 
With the old party back in power, the government has started to stabilize, but the virus is still threatening the economy. Malaysia is one of the first three economies in the region, in addition to Singapore and Thailand, to predict a recession this year because of the coronavirus.  
 
In response, the government announced last week the “People’s Economic Stimulus Package,” locally abbreviated as PRIHATIN, to deal with COVID-19. The package includes $57.3 billion worth of cash aid, loans, deferred taxes and debt payments, along with other aid.  
 
“The sheer size of PRIHATIN signals the seriousness and sincerity in the government’s approach,” said Jason Liang and Krystal Ng, partners at law firm Wong & Partners, in a joint assessment. “These measures ought to be far-reaching and should provide a source of encouragement and relief.” 
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With parties championing Malaysia’s Malay Muslim majority back in power following February’s FILE – Supporters of People’s Justice Party gather outside the National Palace to give support to Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020.“I am a brother to the Malays, the Chinese, the Indians, the Sikhs, the Ibans, the Kauaians, the Dusun, the Murut,” Muhyiddin, a Malay Muslim, said in his first public address after taking power. “I am your prime minister.”Many have their doubts.”The core of this government coalition is really the three most popular ethnic Malay conservative parties. That means that these politicians are likely to push for a revival of the kind of racial policies that we have seen prior to the 2018 election,” said Harrison Cheng, an associate director with consulting firm Control Risks who follows Malaysia.Malaysia’s ethnic Malays and Bumiputra draw on a raft of affirmative action benefits that help placate a deep-seated complex about losing out to the country’s generally better-off ethnic Chinese. With the main Malay and Muslim parties at his back, Cheng said, Muhyiddin will likely push those benefits forward by increasing the majority’s promised quotas for jobs and public contracts, even at the risk of scaring off some foreign investment.Parliament is not due to reconvene until May 18, after Muhyiddin postponed the original March 9 start date to give himself time to shore up support in case of a no-confidence vote.Ahmad Martadha Mohamed, a professor of government at Utara Malaysia University, said the new government has begun beefing up subsidies for Malays and Bumiputra already. Because they make up a disproportionate share of the lowest-income earners, he said they will also benefit most from the economic stimulus plans sure to follow the coronavirus outbreak.”After all, UMNO, PAS and Bersatu, these are the Malay groups, they get the support from the Malays, so of course what they are doing now is to make sure that they are targeting this group first,” Martadha Mohamed said.The return of UMNO and PAS to power also comes with a fear of more race-baiting politics.”There is nothing in UMNO and PAS’ track record in opposition in the past 18 months [to suggest] that they would shy away from using inflammatory rhetoric to stir up public anger against the Chinese and the Indians,” said Cheng.FILE – A supporter of People’s Justice Party wearing a national flag face mask as he gathers with others outside the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020.”That is their modus operandi, and I don’t think they’re going to move away from that, because they have seen how it has helped them to secure several by-election victories in the past 18 months as well as propel them into federal office now.”How high Malaysia’s racial and religious tensions run will turn heavily on how hard PAS pushes its Islamist agenda, including the federal application of Islamic law. The party has imposed a degree of it in the few states it runs but had efforts to take it nationwide rebuffed by UMNO during its first stint in power.The new government has sought to allay fears of an Islamist push and conspicuously passed PAS over for the religious affairs portfolio.Cheng and Martadha Mohamed said the new government could not afford to rile other groups and parties too much before its strength in parliament is tested and proven but added that PAS may be given more rope if and when it is.”I’m sure sooner or later it will come time when, you know, they will try to push for their own agenda … now [that] they are also part of the government, because that’s been the objective of the party,” Martadha Mohamed said.Before its demise, Pakatan had lined up several reform-minded bills to make the government more open and accountable. They included a bill that would set up an independent committee to hear complaints against the police and another to make the funding of political parties more transparent. In an article for Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia, an advocacy group Tricia Yeoh of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, a Malaysian research group, said those bills “will likely be shelved.”Thomas Fann, chairman of the Malaysian democratic rights group Bersih, said the country was in for the return of a more repressive brand of government as well.FILE – I this Feb. 22, 2020, photo, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, center right, speaks during a press conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia.In the days that followed Pakatan’s collapse and Muhyiddin’s rise by royal decree, protesters took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, the capital, complaining of a “backdoor” government and calling for new elections. Police ordered them to stop.Some were called in for questioning and investigated for sedition.”They were very quick to call people in for questioning, and even people who showed up to show solidarity were also called in for questioning. So that was, I think, a sign that the police are taking their cue from the new government that they should crack down more on any sort of dissent,” said Fann.”We do expect that this government … will be less tolerant of civil rights.” 
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China’s foreign coronavirus aid is boosting Beijing’s image with countries in need, analysts say, but the outreach is paired with spreading false narratives that blame the U.S. for starting the pandemic and hiding the severity of the outbreak at home. VOA’s Brian Padden reports on China’s outreach at a time when the U.S. is putting some medical foreign aid on hold to focus on mitigating the outbreak in America first.
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Sidewalk vendors wearing face masks and gloves sold pork, tomatoes, carrots and other vegetables to shoppers Friday in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic began, as workers prepared for a national memorial this weekend for health workers and others who died in the outbreak.  Authorities are easing controls that kept Wuhan’s 11 million people at home for two months, but many shops are still closed. Shoppers and sellers in the Minyi neighborhood on the city’s southwest side had to do their business over high yellow barriers, as access to the community is still controlled. 
“I don’t feel safe going to a supermarket,” said Zhan Zhongwu, who wore two layers of masks and was buying pork for his wife and grandchild. “There are too many people,” he said. “Many infections happened in the supermarket.”
Residents have been relying on online groceries and government-organized food deliveries after most access to the city was suspended Jan. 23 and restaurants, shops and other businesses shut down.
Wuhan and the rest of China are preparing for a nationwide three minutes of silence on Saturday in honor of the 3,322 people who officially died of the virus, including doctors, nurses and other health workers who have been declared martyrs.They include Li Wenliang, an eye doctor in Wuhan who was reprimanded in December for warning about the virus and later died of the disease. He became a symbol of public anger at the ruling Communist Party for suppressing information about the coronavirus, possibly worsening its spread, before it took action in late January.  The party rescinded Li’s reprimand and declared him a hero as part of a propaganda effort aimed at deflecting criticism of the official response.  On Saturday, national flags will be lowered to half-staff at 10 a.m. while air raid sirens and the horns of cars, trains and ships will “wail in grief,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.
 
People have been told to avoid cemeteries on Saturday, the start of a three-day holiday when families traditionally tend the graves of ancestors.  While the United States and other governments tighten controls and shut down businesses, Chinese leaders are trying to revive the world’s second-largest economy after declaring victory over the outbreak.  Still, local authorities have orders to prevent new infections as millions of people stream back to work in factories, offices and shops. Passengers on planes, trains, subways and buses are checked for fever and employers have orders to disinfect workplaces regularly.  Vegetable vendor Xie Lianning said she picked up supplies at a wholesale market at 5 a.m. and drove to Minyi. She was checked for fever at the neighborhood entrance.  Xie set up shop on a sidewalk in front of closed shops that were covered by roll-down metal doors. The block was surrounded by the head-high yellow barriers installed to keep residents inside during the quarantine.  “Our business is not bad. Here is definitely better than indoors,” said Xie. “Nobody wanted to go inside. People are willing to buy things outside.”  Wuhan accounts for three-quarters of China’s virus deaths but has reported no new cases for a week. Despite that, controls requiring official permission to enter or leave the city are to stay in place through Tuesday.  Xie said she still was worried about the virus but had to get back to work.  
“We have no choice,” she said. “There are old and young in my family living with us. We have a heavy financial burden.” 
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“Go hard, go early.”That’s the advice from Gen. Robert Abrams, the top U.S. general in South Korea, on how to combat the coronavirus.“It’ll seem like an overreaction. It’ll seem a bit over the top…a week later, your community will understand, your unit will understand.”Abrams, who spoke to VOA and CNN in a joint interview Thursday in Seoul, commands approximately 28,000 U.S. troops in South Korea. It was effectively the first U.S. community to be on the front lines against the coronavirus. Its efforts so far to contain the outbreak provide important insights in the global fight against COVID-19.Quick actionThe most important lesson, according to Abrams, is to act immediately and decisively.“You’ve got to attack this hard and fast from the very beginning,” he said, “It’s got a very, very high infectious rate.”Nowhere is that more evident than South Korea.The country reported its first case on January 20. Cases remained relatively low for weeks, until a 61-year-old woman, the country’s 31st confirmed case, attended religious services after contracting the virus.Within a week, South Korea exploded with thousands of cases — over half of which were linked to the religious group.“It only takes one person,” Abrams said, citing this case, South Korea’s so-called Patient 31 case.South Korea was able to quickly put out the cluster infection, thanks to its campaign of vigorous coronavirus testing, investigations to determine the path of infection and isolation of those involved.So far, the U.S. military in South Korea has avoided its own “super spreader.” As of Friday, only 17 individuals related to U.S. Forces Korea, including two armed services members, have tested positive for the virus.Fighting complacencyWith the number of new U.S. military-related infections picking up over the past week, though, Abrams has implemented strict new measures.At Camp Humphreys, the biggest U.S. base in South Korea, life has changed dramatically. Gyms have been closed. Bus and taxi services are suspended. Lines sometimes form outside the commissary because only 100 people are allowed in the store at a time.Last week, Abrams declared a public health emergency, which gave him greater authority to enforce restrictions among civilian employees, contractors, and service members’ families. That move came after a U.S. contractor caught the virus after eating at a local restaurant in violation of rules.“The fight now is really about…complacency and ensuring that every single person remains vigilant,” Abrams said. “And it’s difficult in a community, but what people need to understand about this enemy is that it only takes one person to not follow the guidance. That puts everyone else’s health at risk. And it will be almost immediate.”Military readinessMission-related activities have also changed. Aircraft mechanics, for instance, have been separated into teams.“So if a person on one team gets sick, it doesn’t affect all the mechanics,” Abrams said. The same goes for air crews. Pilots now are paired up, rather than rotated, making it easier to track down infection paths, should the need arise, he said.The measures could affect military readiness, especially if they last a long time, Abrams acknowledged. He said he is confident, though, of striking a balance between mission readiness and safety.“We’re still flying [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance flights]. We’re still flying helicopters. We’re still conducting routine training,” he said. “It’s required us to make some adjustments, but we’re all capable of doing it.”The U.S. military must deal with the coronavirus while also keeping an eye on North Korea. That threat was highlighted last month, when North Korea tested a record number of short-range missiles.Other challengesMaking things even trickier, the U.S. military this week furloughed over 4,000 local South Korean civilian employees, amid deadlocked military cost-sharing negotiations between Washington and Seoul.“I’ve been burning up the phone lines and email late at night and early morning back to Washington,” Abrams said of the cost-sharing talks, which are led on the U.S. side by the State Department.Asked if the military is able to cope with the furloughs on top of the virus containment, all while remaining mission-ready, Abrams replied: “I don’t have a choice. I have to deal with it…this is part of our duties and responsibilities.”Looking aheadNearly two months since the outbreak began in South Korea, the U.S. and much of the rest of the world are now learning the same lessons as those in South Korea.One important final lesson is that even when it seems the virus has been contained, the battle isn’t over.“I’m not about flattening the curve,” Abrams said. “I’m about squashing the curve.” 
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The top U.S. general in South Korea said he does not accept North Korea’s claim that it has no coronavirus cases.“I can tell you that is an impossible claim based on all of the intel that we have seen,” General Robert Abrams told VOA and the U.S.-based cable news network CNN in a wide-ranging joint interview Thursday.North Korea has repeatedly insisted it remains virus-free, even as the disease ravages countries around the world.”We’re not going to reveal our sources and methods. (But) that is untrue. How many, I couldn’t tell you,” Abrams said.North Korea closed its borders in late January, just after the coronavirus emerged in neighboring China. But completely sealing the border with China would be almost impossible, since North Korea’s economy relies on both formal and informal trade with China.Abrams said North Korea’s military was also “locked down” for about 30 days in February and early March. “They took draconian measures at their border crossings and inside their formations to do exactly what everybody else is doing, which is to stop the spread,” he said.A couple takes a selfie near cherry blossom trees on a street closed to avoid the spread of the coronavirus disease in Seoul, South Korea, April 1, 2020.A major outbreak could lead to a humanitarian disaster in North Korea, which lacks proper medical supplies and infrastructure.North Korea itself has called coronavirus prevention a matter of “national survival” and implemented strict quarantine measures. Its state media have portrayed the efforts as one hundred percent successful and instead highlight sprawling death tolls in other countries.With the world’s focus on the coronavirus, North Korea also has been testing an unprecedented number of missiles. Last month, the country test-fired eight short-range ballistic missiles, a record high for the country.“All they do is cause increased tension,” Abrams said of the tests, which he said were part of a four- or five-year plan by North Korea to develop solid fuel missile capability with increased accuracy. “If they perfect it, then bringing these types of systems online into a fully operational, capable status only serves to increase the threat to the Republic of Korea and other countries around the region.”North Korea is banned from any ballistic missile activity under United Nations Security Council resolutions. But U.S. President Donald Trump says he is not concerned about North Korea’s short-range tests.  
  
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says anyone who violates the government’s lockdown measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak could be shot by police.Duterte issued the warning during a televised address Wednesday in response to demonstrations in a poor neighborhood in Manila by residents angry over insufficient food aid.He told police if they feel their lives are in danger when they confront protesters to “shoot them dead.” Duterte also warned of harsh punishments for anyone responsible for attacking doctors and other health care workers.Duterte has been condemned for his bombastic rhetoric coupled with his brutal crackdown on illicit drugs that has left thousands of suspected drug traffickers and users dead.The Philippines has 2,311 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections, with 96 deaths.
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As authorities lifted a two-month coronavirus lockdown in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, residents said they were growing increasingly skeptical that the figure of some 2,500 deaths in the city to date was accurate.Since the start of the week, seven large funeral homes in Wuhan have been handing out the cremated remains of around 500 people to their families every day, suggesting that far more people died than ever made the official statistics.”It can’t be right … because the incinerators have been working round the clock, so how can so few people have died?” an Wuhan resident surnamed Zhang told RFA on Friday.”They started distributing ashes and starting interment ceremonies on Monday,” he said.Seven funeral homes currently serve Wuhan — a huge conurbation of three cities: Hankou, Wuchang and Hanyang.Social media users have been doing some basic math to figure out their daily capacity, while the news website Caixin.com reported that 5,000 urns had been delivered by a supplier to the Hankou Funeral Home in one day alone — double the official number of deaths.Some social media posts have estimated that all seven funeral homes in Wuhan are handing out 3,500 urns every day in total.Funeral homes have informed families that they will try to complete cremations before the traditional grave-tending festival of Qing Ming on April 5, which would indicate a 12-day process beginning on March 23.Such an estimate would mean that 42,000 urns would be given out during that time.Various calculationsAnother popular estimate is based on the cremation capacity of the funeral homes, which run a total of 84 furnaces with a capacity over 24 hours of 1,560 urns city-wide, assuming that one cremation takes one hour.This calculation results in an estimated 46,800 deaths.A resident of Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, said most people there now believe that more than 40,000 people died in the city before and during the lockdown.”Maybe the authorities are gradually releasing the real figures, intentionally or unintentionally, so that people will gradually come to accept the reality,” the resident, who gave only his surname Mao, said.A source close to the provincial civil affairs bureau said many people had died at home, without being diagnosed with, or treated for, COVID-19.The source said any talk of the true number of deaths in Wuhan was very sensitive, but that the authorities do likely know the real figure.”Every funeral home reports data on cremations directly to the authorities twice daily,” the source said. “This means that each funeral home only knows how many cremations it has conducted, but not the situation at the other funeral homes.”The source said Wuhan saw 28,000 cremations in the space of a single month, suggesting that the online estimates over a two-and-a-half month period weren’t excessive.Wuhan resident Sun Linan said relatives of those who died are now forming long lines outside funeral homes to collect their loved ones’ ashes.”It has already begun,” Sun said on Thursday. “There were people lining up in Biandanshan Cemetery yesterday, and a lot of people forming lines today at Hankou Funeral Home.”Hush moneyWuhan resident Chen Yaohui told RFA that city officials have been handing out 3,000 yuan in “funeral allowances” to the families of the dead in exchange for their silence.”There have been a lot of funerals in the past few days, and the authorities are handing out 3,000 yuan in hush money to families who get their loved ones’ remains laid to rest ahead of Qing Ming,” he said, in a reference to the traditional grave tending festival on April 5.”It’s to stop them keening [a traditional expression of grief]; nobody’s allowed to keen after Qing Ming has passed,” Chen said.The son of deceased COVID-19 patient Hu Aizhen said he had been told to collect his mother’s ashes by the local neighborhood committee.”The local committee told me they are now handling funerals, but I don’t want to do it right now,” the man, surnamed Ding, told RFA.”There are too many people doing it right now.”Chen said nobody in the city believes the official death toll.”The official number of deaths was 2,500 people … but before the epidemic began, the city’s crematoriums typically cremated around 220 people a day,” he said.”But during the epidemic, they transferred cremation workers from around China to Wuhan keep cremate bodies around the clock,” he said.A resident surnamed Gao said the city’s seven crematoriums should have a capacity of around 2,000 bodies a day if they worked around the clock.”Anyone looking at that figure will realize, anyone with any ability to think,” Gao said. “What are they talking about [2,535] people?””Seven crematoriums could get through more than that [in a single day].”Reported by Qiao Long for RFA’s Mandarin Service, and by Lau Siu-fung for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
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It’s a sunny weekday afternoon in early spring, and the Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball Organization are playing one of the very few professional sporting events on earth – with no fans around to watch.With virtually all global sports curtailed because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Giants are staying sharp by playing practice games against themselves in front of 27,000 empty green and yellow seats at their ballpark in Busan, South Korea.  Inside the cavernous stadium, every sound of the game is amplified – every shattered bat, every groan after a batter swings and misses, the constant chatter between players and coaches in the dugout.  It’s heaven for baseball purists and other socially distanced, sports-starved fans in Korea and around the world, who have tuned in by the tens of thousands to watch live streams of the games on the Giants’ YouTube page.  “I think (the world) desperately needs baseball,” says Kerry Maher, a Giants superfan-turned-employee who was taking in the action from a seat behind home plate.  
 Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyEven though the games don’t count, about 10 times as many fans have been watching some of the Giants’ intra-squad games on YouTube, compared to the team’s average regular season home games last year.  
“People want sports right now, people are thirsty for it,” says Kim Sung Min, who works in the Giants front office. “I like to think that we’re just helping them out, just giving them a bit of a fix.”  South Korea is one of the few places in the world where this could happen now. The country saw a quick spike in coronavirus infections late last month but was able to quickly reduce its spread with a campaign of vigorous testing, isolation, and social distancing.  Several Korean baseball teams, as well as some professional football (soccer) clubs here, have since begun broadcasting their exhibition games online. Professional baseball leagues in Taiwan and Japan have also announced they will hold games – without fans – in mid to late April.
“We’ve been able to run daily practices for them, and for the sake of security, scrimmages have been the only sensible way to go,” says Kim. “Because scrimmages by nature, you’re just playing with each other inside the team without any outside contact.”
To a large extent, baseball already incorporates social distancing rules. Most fielders stand a dozen meters or more from each other. And there is no sustained physical contact.
Many of the Giants players wear disposable face masks – an unusual sight for a baseball field even in East Asia, where mask-wearing is relatively common.“Washing my hands as often as I can and wearing my mask and staying clean — that’s the most important thing for me now,” says Adrian Sampson, an American player who arrived in South Korea last month. “We just are trying to keep everyone safe and set a good example for everybody.”  The game feels different in many other obvious ways. There are no raucous in-game songs or chants that are a hallmark of Korean baseball games, no walk-up music for each batter, and no loud advertisements between innings.  No gimmicks. Just baseball. At a time when sports fans need it most.  
“It’s all we got. There’s no baseball, no soccer, no basketball, no car racing,” says Maher, a retired American university professor with a long white beard and an ever-present Giants baseball cap.
Maher has become something in between a team mascot and a local celebrity, after attending virtually every Giants game for several years. Recently, the team hired him to help foreign players adjust to life in Korea.Maher says he now hopes the healing power of baseball can soon help things return to some semblance of normalcy.  
It’s not far-fetched. Baseball has been a Godsend after past tragedies, such as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Even in normal times, the arrival of baseball in the spring is a sign of happier days to come, wiping away the coldness of winter. “We need some distraction,” says Maher. “And something spring-like.”
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Thousands of South Korean workers on U.S. bases were placed on unpaid leave Wednesday, after the United States and South Korea failed to reach a deal on how to split the cost of the U.S. military presence here.  Through seven rounds of talks, South Korea has refused the Trump administration’s demand to massively increase its contribution toward the approximately 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. The latest cost-sharing deal expired at the end of the year, but the U.S. had been covering the salaries of Korean employees with funds that ran out this week.  Starting Wednesday, about 4,000 Korean civilian employees, who work in areas such as logistics and administration, will be indefinitely furloughed. The U.S. will temporarily cover the salaries of about 4,500 others whose duties are considered essential, U.S. officials said.  The cost-sharing dispute has caused unusual friction in the 70-year-old alliance that both sides regularly refer to as “ironclad.” The friction is especially ill-timed, coming as the U.S. military fights off the coronavirus and as North Korea test-fires a record number of short-range missiles. During a last-minute push to reach a deal, the head South Korean negotiator, Jeong Eun-bo, said the two sides had reached the “final stages for sealing a deal,” but called the furloughs “regrettable.”FILE – Amphibious assault vehicles of the South Korean Marine Corps travel during a military exercise as a part of the annual joint military training called Foal Eagle between South Korea and the U.S. in Pohang, South Korea, April 5, 2018.“This is an unfortunate day for us. It’s unthinkable. It’s heartbreaking. The partial furlough of [Korean National] employees is not what we envisioned or hoped what would happen,” said General Robert Abrams, the top U.S. commander in Korea. “The furlough is in no way a reflection of their performance, dedication or conduct, but rather due to a lack of a burden sharing agreement making programmed funds unavailable,” Abrams said.  U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded South Korea pay up to $5 billion to support the U.S. military presence — or about five times the amount Seoul paid in 2019. Local media reports suggest the U.S. had recently lowered its demand to $4 billion. Trump accuses South Korea of taking advantage of U.S. protection. He has at times hinted he would support pulling troops from South Korea. At other times, he denies a withdrawal has been discussed.  South Korean officials have rejected Trump’s cost-sharing demands as absurd, noting that any deal will have to be reasonable, since it will have to be ratified by South Korea’s parliament. The issue could become even more politically sensitive ahead of South Korea’s legislative election this month. South Korean officials have warned that the furloughs could impact military readiness.  Camp Humphreys, the main U.S. base in South Korea, is already in partial lockdown after more than a dozen service members, contractors, and other individuals related to the U.S. military in South Korea tested positive for the coronavirus. 
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