23/02/2020
BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has written back to a group of U.S. elementary school students, encouraging them to continue their efforts to learn Chinese language and culture and contribute to promoting friendship between the two peoples.
On the eve of the Spring Festival, 50 fourth-grade students from Cascade Elementary School in the U.S. state of Utah wrote New Year cards to Xi in Chinese, telling him about their Chinese language learning and personal hobbies, expressing their love for China and Chinese culture as well as their hope for a chance to visit China, and wishing “Grandpa Xi” a happy New Year.
In his reply letter dated Feb. 15, Xi told the children that like the United States, China is a big country, that the Chinese civilization has a history of more than 5,000 years, and that the Chinese people are as hospitable as the American people.
He added that they can learn more about Chinese history and culture by learning the Chinese language, which is used by more than 1 billion people around the world.
Xi said he is pleased to see those students write and learn Chinese so well, and hopes that they will continue to work hard, make greater progress and become young ambassadors for the friendship between the two peoples.
Established in 1967, the public school is one of the first schools in Utah to offer a Chinese immersion program, which involves more than half of its students. Utah has one-fifth of all Chinese language learners in the United States. The state’s Chinese immersion program began in 2009 and is now available in 76 elementary and secondary schools.
Source: Xinhua
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21/02/2020
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – U.S. energy firm Westinghouse is expected to sign a new agreement with state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India for the supply of six nuclear reactors during U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit next week, officials said, aiming to kickstart a long-running project.
The agreement will lay out timelines and the lead local constructor for the reactors to be built at Kovvada in southern India and also address lingering concerns over India’s nuclear liability law.
The United States has been discussing the sale of nuclear reactors to energy-hungry India since a 2008 landmark civil nuclear energy pact and last year the two governments announced they were committed to the establishment of the six reactors.
Last week representatives from U.S. energy and commerce departments, Westinghouse, the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum and The Nuclear Energy Institute were in India for talks with government officials as part of a commercial mission to promote nuclear exports to India.
“We are encouraging moving forward with Westinghouse and NPCIL to sign a MoU. It certainly is a private industry to private industry, a business to business decision,” Dr. Rita Baranwal assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy, told Reuters in a phone interview.
“We’re optimistic that an MoU will be signed shortly,” Baranwal, who was part of the mission, said. Once that is cleared the two sides will begin contract negotiations, delivery schedules and pick vendors. The plan for a new MoU has not been previously reported.
Westinghouse did not respond to a request for comment nor did NPCIL. But Indian foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday Westinghouse and NPCIL were in talks to move forward with the project.
“Following resolution of Westinghouse’s bankruptcy issues, the two sides are in discussion regarding the division of responsibility of the work,” he said.
Trump has made bilateral trade with India a top priority, seeking greater market access for U.S. products from farm goods to motorcycles. Negotiators are trying to put together a limited trade deal before a bigger agreement that Trump said this week will probably happen after the U.S. presidential elections.
Lack of movement on the nuclear reactors has been a sensitive issue, another member of the U.S. delegation said, after Washington made an exception for India by agreeing to provide it civilian nuclear energy technology even though it has not given up its nuclear weapons program.
A longstanding obstacle has been the need to bring Indian liability rules in-line with international norms, which require the costs of any accident to be channeled to the operator rather than the maker of a nuclear power station.
Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse’s plans to supply the AP1000 reactors to India which it has also sold to China were thrown into further doubt when it filed for bankruptcy in 2017 after cost overruns on U.S. reactors.
LIABILITY LAW
Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management bought Westinghouse from Toshiba in August 2018 and has sought progress on the India sale over the next six-seven months, the member of the U.S. delegation said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
India has made clear there is no going back on the 2010 Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage law that foreign governments and vendors say leaves open the possibility of lawsuits against suppliers for nuclear accidents, rather than the operators of the plants.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has tried to limit the impact of that law by setting up an insurance fund for potential victims of a nuclear accident.
“To be clear, there are still open issues around the liability issue,” Baranwal said, adding it was part of the discussions last week. “I can’t say that it’s been resolved. But we made some progress and understanding was that concerns were at a higher level.”
India expects to generate 22,480 MW of electricity from nuclear stations by 2031 up from the 2019 level of 6780 MW.
But with renewable power dropping in price and the government’s focus on solar power generation, there is a chance nuclear power will remain only small proportion of the country’s energy mix where it stands at 1.9 percent.
V.K. Saraswat, a top member of the government think-tank Niti Aayog said while solar was top priority, the government remained committed to nuclear energy also, as a clean source.
Source: Reuters
Posted in 2010 Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage law, energy-hungry, Indian firm, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s, Kovvada, MoU, Nuclear Power Corporation of India, Office of Nuclear Energy, Reuters, sign pact, The Nuclear Energy Institute, Trump visit, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, Uncategorized, United States, Westinghouse |
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20/02/2020
- A government task force has estimated a US$5 billion loss if Chinese students – angered and frustrated by the ban – cannot enrol for university
- The tourism sector is also likely to be hit by restrictions on travel from the mainland as Chinese visitors spend about U$8 billion in Australia each year
Some 150,000 Chinese nationals are enrolled at Australian universities, making up around 11 per cent of the student population. Photo: Shutterstock
Abbey Shi knows first hand the anger and frustration felt by Chinese students left stranded by the Australian government’s decision to ban travel from the mainland in response to the
coronavirus outbreak.
Shi, general secretary of the Students’ Representative Council at the University of Sydney, is in contact with more than 2,000 Chinese students who went home for the Lunar New Year holiday and now cannot return to
Australia with just weeks to go until the start of the new academic year.
“There is a lot of confusion about the ban and anger towards the government,” said Shi, an international student from Shanghai. Currently in Australia, she is sharing information with the stranded students via WeChat.
How to beat the coronavirus? Re-creating it in Singapore, Australia is vital first step
“The
education sector in Australia is being commercialised and students are being treated like cash cows,” she said. “Universities don’t care about our affected career path, life, tenancy issues, our pets at home.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Saturday announced that non-citizens – excluding permanent residents and their immediate family members – who arrived from or passed through mainland China within the previous 14 days would be denied entry to Australia as part of efforts to halt the spread of the coronavirus, which was first detected in December in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Other countries including the
United States,
Singapore and the
Philippines have introduced similar travel restrictions in response to the outbreak, which has sickened more than 19,000 people in at least 26 countries and territories outside mainland China and claimed 425 lives.
The travel ban, which is due to be reviewed on February 15, has upended the plans of numerous Chinese students who were due to begin or return to their studies from late February following the summer break.
Tony Yan, a mathematics undergraduate at Australian National University (ANU), said he had been left out of pocket for several weeks’ rent after being stranded in his home province of Jiangsu, but hoped he could return before classes started on February 24.
“I think the Australian government should have given a few days earlier notice,” Yan said. “I haven’t paid the tuition yet, many others haven’t as well.”
About 150,000 Chinese nationals are enrolled at Australian universities, making up around 11 per cent of the student population – a far greater proportion than in Britain and the United States, which came in at 6 per cent and 2 per cent respectively, in a 2017 report from an Australian think tank.
Coronavirus: Australia evacuates 243 people from China as deaths mount
ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt on Saturday described the travel ban as “disappointing”, pledging that the university would be “generous and flexible in supporting our students” through the coming weeks.
Monash University in Melbourne has delayed the start of its academic year, while other universities are exploring options such as online tuition and intensive summer courses.
Australian universities, some of which rely on Chinese students for nearly one-quarter of their revenue, are bracing to take a major financial hit due to the ban.
Phil Honeywood, the head of a government task force initially set up to manage the reputation of Australia’s international education sector in the wake of the country’s bush fires crisis, on Sunday warned the ban could cost universities A$8 billion (US$5.34 billion) if Chinese students could not enrol for the first semester of the year.
Coronavirus: what we know so far about the outbreak spreading in China and abroad
Education minister Dan Tehan on Monday met with peak body Universities Australia to discuss ways to minimise fallout for the sector.
“Australia will remain an attractive study destination for Chinese students, but it may take several years for Chinese student numbers to recover,” said Salvatore Babones, associate professor at the University of Sydney and adjunct scholar at the Centre for Independent Studies. “Students who are already in the middle of a degree are likely to return at the first possible opportunity, even at the cost of missing one semester, but students who have not yet started may make other plans.”
But ANU tertiary education expert Andrew Norton said there remained too many unknowns, including the number of Chinese students stranded abroad, to gauge the impact of the ban.
How the coronavirus spread anti-Chinese racism like a disease through Asia
“This travel ban is a short-term policy to minimise the risk of disease spreading, which would be a more serious problem than a disruption to university timetables,” he said. “One of Australia’s major [education] competitors – the US – has a similar policy, and due to travel restrictions within China and the cancelling of commercial flights to and from China Australia’s competitors are unlikely to be able to take advantage.”
Norton noted that the sector had weathered previous outbreaks such as the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), and “although there were sometimes short-term dips in numbers, none of them have changed the long-term trend towards growth”.
The ban has also sent jitters throughout the tourism industry, which relies on Chinese visitors for a quarter of international spending. Nearly 1.5 million
visited Australia in 2018-19, Australian Bureau of Statistics records show, accounting for about one in eight arrivals.
Nearly 1.5 million Chinese nationals visited Australia in 2018-19, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics records. Photo: SCMP / Alkira Reinfrank
With Chinese tourists spending about A$12 billion (US$8 billion) in Australia each year, according to Tourism Research Australia, every month the travel ban remains in place could amount to billion-dollar losses for the sector.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland on Monday said the outbreak had already cost operators for Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef 25,000 direct bookings worth A$10 million. Chief executive Mark Olsen said the situation constituted a crisis for the industry that called for “unprecedented action” by the government.
David Beirman, senior lecturer in tourism at the University of Technology Sydney, said the ban was especially damaging for the industry as it came on the heels of devastating bush fires that had kept visitors away.
Coronavirus: how Facebook clickbait fuels a perfect storm of fake news
“There is no doubt that the coronavirus outbreak following on so closely to the bush fires will combine to hit international tourism to Australia very hard,” Beirman said. “Later this month the Australian Bureau of Statistics will reveal the December 2019 tourism figures, which are expected to show at best a 25 per cent downturn in international visitor arrivals compared to December 2018. January 2020 is likely to be far worse as the impact of coronavirus will certainly be a factor.”
Others have raised concerns about the impact of the travel restrictions on public attitudes toward Chinese and Chinese-Australians, warning they could stoke latent prejudices.
“This is an overreaction from the Australian government, and in many ways it feels like it is a form of racial targeting,” said Erin Chew, national convenor of the Asian Australian Alliance. “When previous viruses happened such as mad cow disease or the swine flu, Australia didn’t ban non-citizens from Britain and the US. Nor was the blame placed on the people in [those countries].
“Since the coronavirus outbreak it has been coined that this virus is the fault of Chinese people, not just in mainland China, but really all over the world.”
Source:, SCMP
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17/02/2020
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will meet executives of large Indian companies with interests in the United States as he looks to drum up investments during his visit to New Delhi this month.
Executives of some of the companies expected to attend the meeting include Indian oil & gas company Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), diversified group Tata Sons and auto sector companies such as Bharat Forge (BFRG.NS), Mahindra and Mahindra (MAHM.NS) and Motherson, industry and business sources told Reuters.
Trump is scheduled to make his first visit as president to India on Feb. 24-25 during which he will travel to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat followed by talks in New Delhi. The two countries are trying to sign a trade deal during his visit.
On Feb. 25, a meeting is being planned between Trump and Indian executives, especially those focussing on job creation and manufacturing in the United States, the sources said.
The meeting, which will be held in New Delhi, was unlikely to include executives of U.S. companies, they said.
Creating new jobs and boosting manufacturing is critical for Trump in his re-election bid later this year. U.S. factory activity rebounded in January but only after it contracted for five straight months.
“President (Trump) is keen on acknowledging Indian companies which are focussing on manufacturing in the United States,” said a Washington-based source aware of the plans.
United States is a key market for several Indian firms.
Mahindra last year said it will invest another $1 billion (£767.64 million) in the United States and was committed to creating American jobs, while Bharat Forge has announced plans to invest $56 million to set up a new plant in North Carolina.
The $100-billion Tata Group says it is one of the largest Indian-headquartered multinationals in North America, with 13 companies and more than 35,000 employees.
The Confederation of Indian Industries and U.S.-India trade groups have suggested several Indian executives for the Trump meeting and the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi was reviewing that, one source said, adding the final list was yet to be finalised.
The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi declined to comment.
Other than his meeting with Indian business leaders and Modi, Trump is expected to attend an event at a stadium in Gujarat along the lines of the “Howdy Modi” extravaganza held in Houston last September during which the two leaders made a joint appearance.
Source: Reuters
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15/02/2020
MUNICH (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended on Saturday his nation’s global role despite misgivings in Europe, vowing that Western values would prevail over China’s desire for “empire”.
Pompeo was seeking to reassure Europeans troubled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America first” rhetoric, ambivalence over the transatlantic NATO military alliance and tariffs on European goods.
“I’m happy to report that the death of the transatlantic alliance is grossly exaggerated. The West is winning, and we’re winning together,” he said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference, listing U.S. steps to protect liberal democracies.
Pompeo was, in part, responding to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who on Friday accused the United States, Russia and China of stoking global mistrust.
Trump’s decision to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, as well as the Paris climate accord, have undermined European priorities, while moves such as recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital have weakened European diplomacy, envoys say.
Pompeo defended the U.S. strategy, saying Europe, Japan and other American allies were united on China, Iran and Russia, despite “tactical differences.”
He reiterated Washington’s opposition to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under construction between Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, a project backed by the government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Citing Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, cyber threats in Iran and economic coercion by China, Pompeo said those countries were still “desiring empires” and destabilising the rules-based international system.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, speaking immediately after Pompeo, focused his remarks solely on China, accusing Beijing of a “nefarious strategy” through telecommunications firm Huawei [HWT.UL].
“It is essential that we as an international community wake up to the challenges presented by Chinese manipulation of the long-standing international rules-based order,” Esper said.
He said it was not too late for Britain, which last month said it would allow Huawei a limited role in building its 5G networks, to take “two steps back,” but added he still needed to asses London’s decision.
“We could have a win-win strategy if we just abide by the international rules that have been set in place for decades … that respect human rights, that respect sovereignty,” he said.
Source: Reuters
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14/02/2020
MUNICH (Reuters) – Germany’s president took an indirect swipe at U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday in accusing Washington, China and Russia of stoking global mistrust and insecurity with a “great powers” competition” that could threaten a new nuclear arms race.
In opening remarks at the annual Munich Security Conference, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier deplored the three big powers’ approach to global affairs and, without naming Trump, took issue with his vow to “make America great again”.
“‘Great again’ – even at the expense of neighbours and partners,” quipped Steinmeier, a former Social Democrat foreign minister whose comments on foreign policy carry authority.
As foreign minister in 2014, he was central to the so-called “Munich consensus” when German leaders said Berlin was ready to assume more responsibility in global affairs. Steinmeier pressed that point again on Friday, but not before bemoaning the foreign policy approaches of Russia, China and the United States.
“Russia…has made military force and the violent shifting of borders on the European continent the means of politics once again,” he said in the text of a speech for delivery at the opening of the conference.
“China…accepts international law only selectively where it does not run counter to its own interests,” Steinmeier said.
“And our closest ally, the United States of America, under the present administration itself, rejects the idea of an international community.”
The upshot is “more mistrust, more armament, less security…all the way to a new nuclear arms race,” he said.
In response, he said, Germany should raise defence spending to contribute more to European security and to maintain its alliance with the United States, recognising that U.S. interests were gravitating away from Europe toward Asia.
He also called for a European policy towards Russia “that is not limited to condemning statements and sanctions alone”.
Europe, he added, “must find its own balance with China between intensifying competition between systems and the need for cooperation.”
Source: Reuters
Posted in armament, Berlin, China, dangerous, European security, foreign minister, German, global, insecurity, making, mistrust, more, Munich, Munich Security Conference, nuclear arms race, President, Russia, Social Democrat, stoking, U.S., U.S. President Donald Trump, Uncategorized, United States, United States of America, Washington, World |
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13/02/2020
- WHO scientists co-write letter saying December 26 data indicating Sars-like coronavirus was not passed to global health community for 17 days
- Hundreds of Chinese sign petition asking legislature to protect freedom of speech, amid discontent over outbreak’s handling and anger over Dr Li Wenliang’ death
A nurse in a protective suit feeds a coronavirus patient in an isolated ward in Wuhan. Photo: Reuters
China’s health authority reported 97 new deaths caused by the coronavirus and 2,015 newly confirmed cases of infection, taking its totals to 1,113 and 44,653 respectively.
As of Tuesday, 744 recovered patients had been discharged and the total number of recovery cases stood at 4,740.
Outside Hubei province, the epicentre of the coronavirus, the rise in new infections reported by China slowed for an eighth consecutive day.
Apology for slow treatment
A district leader in Hubei’s capital of Wuhan apologised on Tuesday to critically ill patients who had not been treated in a timely manner, state media reported.
Staff in the Wuchang district who were in charge of a chaotic bus transfer of people to hospital on Sunday were ordered to apologise to patients and their families one by one by telephone.
Wuchang officials told state media that mistakes had been made and the district’s most urgent priority was to admit all patients to hospitals or other medical facilities as soon as possible.
As coronavirus cases get priority in Wuhan, other patients are losing hope
The district leader, who visited hospitals to apologise in person, was mocked online for wasting protective suits when the city faces a shortage of medical supplies.
“Health care workers don’t have enough protective gear, why are you wearing it to apologise?” one person wrote on China’s Twitter-like Weibo. “These people are suspected cases, not confirmed ones. It’s a pity to waste the protective gear – it protects the lives of health care workers!”
“I really don’t think it’s necessary to apologise one by one, just apologise in the newspaper! Don’t waste time and protective clothing on formalities,” another person wrote.
Reporting system ‘needs update’
A group of scientists have called for changes in the way new viruses are reported, after a delay of more than two weeks between the first indication of a coronavirus strain in Hubei and the release of critical information to the global health community.
The group said in a letter to The Lancet that data indicating a Sars-related coronavirus was obtained by researchers on December 26.
Life inside China’s rapidly built hospitals in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak
“The Chinese authorities ruled out Sars and Mers, as well as a few other non-coronaviruses, on January 5, and confirmed a novel coronavirus as a potential cause on January 9. However, the genome sequence – crucial for rapid development of diagnostics needed in an outbreak response – was not released until January 12, 17 days after the preliminary sequence data were obtained,” they wrote.
The letter mentioned the “crucial role” of doctors in detecting the outbreak in China, including “eight doctors who were wrongly accused of spreading ‘fake news’” – a reference to a group that included Li Wenliang, the doctor hailed as a whistle-blower who later succumbed to the disease.
WHO head warns ‘time is of the essence’ in limiting coronavirus spread
“There are lessons the global health community can and should learn and act on so that we can better respond to the next EZV (emerging zoonotic virus) event, which is almost certain to happen again. These lessons are definitely not unique to China,” they wrote.
Two of the letter’s authors sit on the committee that provides the World Health Organisation (WHO) advice about when to declare a public health emergency of international concern – a status given to the coronavirus on January 30.
Hubei reports 94 new deaths
Health authorities in Hubei reported 94 new deaths attributable to the contagion on Tuesday and 1,638 newly confirmed cases, taking the province’s totals to 1,068 and 33,366 respectively. They had reported 103 fatalities and 2,097 newly confirmed cases a day earlier.
Coronavirus illness is named Covid-19 as hopes rise that cases may peak soon
Some 1,104 of the new cases announced were confirmed in Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated at a seafood and meat market.
The figures from Hubei on Tuesday showed the province’s lowest number of new cases in a day since the beginning of February, and the first time it had reported fewer than 2,000 new cases in a day since February 2.
China disinfects entire cities to fight coronavirus outbreak, some twice a day
Disease can spread faster than Sars: WHO
Michael Ryan, the WHO’s head of emergency programmes, said on Tuesday in Geneva that the disease caused by the coronavirus – now officially named Covid-19 by the WHO – had the potential to spread faster than either the Ebola or Sars viruses. Earlier this week, Covid-19 exceeded the Sars outbreak of 2002-03 in terms of deaths attributed to it.
Transmission methods have been shown to include human-to-human contact, and the incubation period is believed to be up to 14 days.
In recent days, epidemiologists have said that the contagion may also spread through “aerosol transmission” – when tiny particles or droplets of the virus suspended in the air are inhaled.
At least 500 Wuhan medical staff infected with coronavirus
Others indicated that transmissions were possible from patients who showed mild or no symptoms.
WHO officials said on Tuesday that the agency had also activated a UN crisis management team to better assess and mitigate the outbreak’s economic implications.
Petition calls for freedom of speech
Hundreds of Chinese, led by academics, have signed an online petition calling on the national legislature to protect citizens’ right to freedom of speech, amid growing public discontent over the handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
It also follows a massive outpouring of grief and anger over the death of Wuhan-based Dr Li Wenliang.
Coronavirus: hundreds in China sign petition calling for free speech
The petition is gaining momentum online, but some of the signatories and other rights activists have already come under pressure. Addressed to the National People’s Congress (NPC), it lists five demands for Beijing.
The demands are: to protect people’s right to freedom of expression; to discuss the issue at NPC meetings; to make February 6, the day Li died, a national day for free speech; to ensure no one is punished, threatened, interrogated, censored or locked up for their speech, civil assembly, letters or communication; and to give equitable treatment, such as medical care, to people from Wuhan and Hubei province. Many have reported experiencing discrimination elsewhere in the country.
“I am so proud of him,” China’s top medical expert Zhong Nanshan mourns whistle-blower doctor’s dea
US repeats concern over China’s purchases
The outbreak could have an impact on China’s commitment to buy more US agricultural products this year under the US-China phase one trade deal, White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said on Tuesday.
“We expect the phase one deal will allow China to import more food and open those markets to American farmers, but certainly, as we watch this coronavirus outbreak unfold in China, it could have an impact on how big – at least in this current year – the purchases are,” O’Brien told an event at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank.
‘No US doctors in China’
O’Brien said there were no American doctors on the ground in China so far, despite US offers to help fight the outbreak.
“We’ve offered the Chinese the opportunity to have American doctors … and other experts come to China to help them. That offer has not been accepted at this point but that is an outstanding offer,” he said.
Coronavirus outbreak exposes fallacy of the phase-one trade deal
But US officials said on Monday that China had agreed to allow American health experts into the country.
“China has accepted the United States’ offer to incorporate a group of experts into a WHO mission to China to learn more about and combat the virus,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said.
In a tweet on Monday, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said an advance team of WHO experts had arrived in China to “lay the groundwork for the larger international team”.
Tibet’s only patient cured
The only Covid-19 patient in Tibet was cured and discharged from hospital on Wednesday afternoon, People’s Daily reported, citing the patient’s doctor at the Third People’s Hospital of Tibet.
The patient, a 34-year-old man from Suizhou, Hubei province, spent three days on a train before reaching Lhasa on January 24. He sought medical treatment a day later and was isolated for treatment, before being confirmed as being infected on January 29.
US to test antiviral drugs in hopes of combating coronavirus
The man tested negative for the virus on Sunday and Tuesday, and CAT scans and clinical symptoms showed he had been cured. He left Tibet by train on Wednesday afternoon, according to thePeople’s Daily report.
Iran denies report of Covid-19 death
Iran’s health ministry has denied a report that an Iranian woman has died of a suspected coronavirus infection.
The state daily newspaper Iran reported on Wednesday that a 63-year-old woman had died in a Tehran hospital on Monday and that an investigation had been ordered into the cause of her death. No sources were cited in the report.
A spokesman for Iran’s health ministry denied the report. “There have been no cases of coronavirus in Iran,” he said.
Iranian health authorities have repeatedly said there were no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country.
Exams under threat
Chinese authorities are considering whether to postpone the country’s college entrance exams, due to take place in June.
“Those responsible for arranging college entrance exams need to put the lives and health of candidates and testing staff first,” Wang Hui, a Ministry of Education official, said at a press briefing on Wednesday. “We will closely monitor the development of the outbreak, evaluate the possible impact on the exams and carefully formulate a plan.”
Source: SCMP
Posted in American doctors, Chinese officials, coronavirus, COVID-19, deaths, hubei province, iran, Iran’s, Mers, Ministry of Education official, patients, phone apology, SARs, The Lancet, Tibet, Uncategorized, United States, Weibo, WHO scientists, World Health Organisation (WHO), Wuchang, Wuhan |
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12/02/2020
- Excluded from the World Health Organisation on mainland China’s objections, Taipei said it dealt directly with organisation on outbreak
- Beijing and the WHO say they ensured Taiwan was kept up to date with virus developments
Taiwan says it dealt directly with the WHO over the virus outbreak and did not need mainland China’s permission to do so. Photo: Getty Images
Taiwan’s presence at a World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting this week on the coronavirus outbreak that started in mainland China was the result of direct talks between the island and the body, and did not require Beijing’s permission,
Taipei
said on Wednesday.
Its exclusion from WHO membership because of Chinese objections has been an increasingly sore point for Taiwan during the outbreak. It complained that it was unable to get timely information from the WHO and accused Beijing of passing incorrect information about Taiwan’s total virus case numbers, which stand at 18.
But in a small diplomatic breakthrough for the island – which mainland China regards as a wayward province – its health experts were this week allowed to attend an online technical meeting on the virus.
The Chinese foreign ministry said that was because Beijing gave approval for Taiwan’s participation. Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said China was trying to take credit for something it did not deserve.
Coronavirus: Taiwan restricts travellers from Hong Kong and Macau amid outbreak crisis
“The participation of our experts at this WHO forum was an arrangement made by our government and the WHO directly. It did not need China’s approval,” Ou said.
Taiwan’s experts took part in a personal capacity to avoid political disputes, and did not give their nationality when joining the online forum, she said.
Coronavirus: Everything you need to know in a visual explainer
Taiwan’s WHO exclusion became another point of contention between China and the United States last week, after the US ambassador to the UN in Geneva told the WHO’s executive board that the agency should deal directly with Taipei.
Mainland China, which said Beijing adequately represents Taiwan at the WHO, accused the US of a political “hype-up” about the issue.
Beijing and the WHO said they had ensured Taiwan was kept up to date with virus developments and that communication with the island was smooth.
Beijing insists that Taiwan cannot be part of the World Health Organisation as the island is part of “one China”. Photo: AFP
Taipei said that it alone had the right to represent the island’s 23 million people, that it has never been a part of the People’s Republic of China, and that it has no need to be represented by it.
Source: SCMP
Posted in “one China”, Beijing, Beijing’s, China’s objections, Chinese foreign ministry, coronavirus, developments, ensured, Excluded, Geneva, health experts, Hong Kong, island, Macau, Mainland China, meeting, online, organisation, outbreak, People’s Republic of China, permission, Taipei, Taiwan, take part, technical, Uncategorized, United States, US ambassador to the UN, WHO, WHO’s, World Health Organisation |
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06/02/2020
BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) — China has lodged solemn representations to the United States regarding the recent officials exchanges between the United States and Taiwan, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Thursday.
Spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at an online news briefing when answering a question about Lai Ching-te’s visit to the United States.
China firmly opposes any form of official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan, Hua said, stressing that China’s position is consistent and clear.
China has lodged solemn representations to the U.S. side for allowing Lai’s visit, urging the U.S. side to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, stop official exchanges with Taiwan, and cut off all forms of contact between Lai and U.S. leaders, government officials and Congress members, said Hua.
She said the United States should handle Taiwan issues prudently and properly and stop sending wrong signals to the “Taiwan independence” forces to avoid serious damage to China-U.S. relations.
Source:Xinhua
Posted in "Taiwan independence", Beijing, China, China-U.S. joint communiques, China-U.S. relations, Congress members, government officials, lodges, official visit, one-China principle, representations, solemn, Taiwan, U.S., U.S. leaders, Uncategorized, United States |
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05/02/2020
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will begin delivering S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to India by the end of 2021, agency RIA Novosti on Wednesday quoted a Russian official as saying.
India signed a $5 billion deal for S-400 missiles in 2018, drawing warnings from the United States that such an acquisition would trigger sanctions as part of a wider programme against Russia.
“The contract is being implemented on schedule. The first shipment is due by the end of 2021,” Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), Vladimir Drozhzhov, said at Defence Expo 2020 in Lucknow, India, according to RIA.
In November, the same agency cited the general director of Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, Alexander Mikheev, as saying deliveries would start in September 2021.
Source: Reuters
Posted in acquisition, begin, citing, Defence Expo 2020, delivery, end-2021, Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), India, Lucknow, Moscow, Official, RIA Novosti, Rosoboronexport, Russia, Russian S-400 missile, Russian state arms exporter, surface-to-air missile systems, trigger sanctions, Uncategorized, United States, wider programme |
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