Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
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Chinese groups calling for more ‘fighting spirit’ are getting the upper hand on those who favour calm and cooperation, government adviser says
From Hong Kong to Covid-19, trade to the South China Sea, Beijing and Washington are clashing on a growing number of fronts and in an increasingly aggressive way
Efforts to promote dialogue and cooperation between the US and China are failing, observers say. Photo: AFP
Moderates who favour dialogue and cooperation as a way to resolve China’s disputes with the United States are losing ground to hardline groups bent on taking the fight to Washington, according to political insiders and observers.
“There are two camps in China,” said a former state official who now serves as a government adviser and asked not to be named.
“One is stressing the combat spirit, the other is trying to relieve tensions. And the former has the upper hand.”
Relations between China and the US are under intense pressure. After Beijing moved to introduce a national security law for Hong Kong, US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington would begin eliminating the special policy exemptions it grants the city, as it no longer considers it autonomous from mainland China.
Beijing’s decision to enact a national security law for Hong Kong was met with anger from the US and other Western countries. Photo: Sam Tsang
The two nations have also clashed over trade, Xinjiang, Taiwan and the South China Sea, with the US passing several acts denouncing Beijing and sanctioning Chinese officials.
China has also experienced turbulence in its relations with other countries, including Australia and members of the European Union, mostly related to the Covid-19 pandemic
and Beijing’s efforts to position itself as a leader in the fight against the disease with its policy of “mask diplomacy”.
After Canberra appealed for an independent investigation to be carried out to determine the origins of the coronavirus, Beijing responded by imposing tariffs on imports of Australian barley, showing it is prepared to do more than just trade insults and accusations with its adversaries.
Pang Zhongying, a professor of international relations at Ocean University of China in Qingdao, said there was a worrying trend in China’s relations with other nations.
“We need political and diplomatic means to resolve the challenges we are facing, but … diplomatic methods have become undiplomatic,” he said.
“There are some who believe that problems can be solved through tough gestures, but this will never work. Without diplomacy, problems become confrontations.”
said during his annual press conference on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress last weekend that China and the United States must work together to prevent a new Cold War.
His words were echoed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who said during a press conference after the closure of the legislative session on Thursday that the many challenges facing the China-US relations could only be resolved through cooperation.
However, the government adviser said there was often quite a chasm between what China’s leaders said and what happened in reality.
“Even though we say we do not want a Cold War, what is happening at the working level seems to be different.” he said. “The implementation of policies is not properly coordinated and often chaotic.”
Tensions between China and the US have been in a poor state since the start of a trade war almost two years ago. After multiple rounds of negotiations, the sides in January signed a phase one deal, but the positivity that created was short-lived.
In February, Beijing expelled three reporters from The Wall Street Journal over an article it deemed racist, while Washington has ramped up its military activity in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, and threatened to revoke the visas of Chinese students studying science and technology in the US over concerns they might be engaged in espionage.
Beijing has also used its state media and army of “Wolf Warrior” diplomats to promote its narrative, though many Chinese scholars and foreign policy advisers have said the latter’s nationalistic fervour has done more harm than good and appealed to Beijing to adopt a more conciliatory tone.
However, Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of Chinese tabloid Global Times, said China had no option but to stare down the US, which regarded the world’s most populous nation as its main rival.
“Being contained by the US is too high a price for China to pay,” he said. “I think the best thing people can do is forget the old days of China-US ties”.
Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, wrote in a recent newspaper article that Beijing’s actions – notably enacting a national security law for Hong Kong – showed it was uncompromising and ready to stand its ground against the US.
Wu Xinbo, dean of international studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, agreed, saying relations between the two countries were likely to worsen in the run-up to the US presidential election in November and that Beijing should be prepared for a fight.
But Adam Ni, director of China Policy Centre, a think tank in Canberra, said the issue was not that the moderate camp had been sidelined, but rather Beijing’s perception of the US had changed.
“Beijing has woken up to the idea that America’s tough policy on China will continue and it is expecting an escalation of the tensions,” he said.
“The centre of gravity in terms of Beijing’s perception of the US has shifted, in the same way the US perception of China has shifted towards a more negative image”.
Beijing was simply responding in kind to the hardline, assertive manner of the US, he said.
In Wuhan, the epicentre of China’s outbreak, all traffic lights in urban areas were turned red at 10:00, ceasing traffic for three minutes.
China’s government said the event was a chance to pay respects to “martyrs”, a reference to the 14 medical workers who died battling the virus.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption China came to a standstill during the three-minute silence at 10:00 local time
They include Li Wenliang, a doctor in Wuhan who died of Covid-19 after being reprimanded by the authorities for attempting to warn others about the disease.
“I feel a lot of sorrow about our colleagues and patients who died,” a Chinese nurse who treated coronavirus patients told AFP news agency. “I hope they can rest well in heaven.”
Wearing white flowers pinned to their chest, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other government officials paid silent tribute in Beijing.
Saturday’s commemorations coincide with the annual Qingming festival, when millions of Chinese families pay respects to their ancestors.
China first informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about cases of pneumonia with unknown causes on 31 December last year.
By 18 January, the confirmed number of cases had risen to around 60 – but experts estimated the real figure was closer to 1,700.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption China’s government said the commemoration was held to pay respects to “martyrs”
Just two days later, as millions of people prepared to travel for the lunar new year, the number of cases more than tripled to more than 200 and the virus was detected in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
From that point, the virus began to spread rapidly in Asia and then Europe, eventually reaching every corner of the globe.
Media caption The BBC met people in Beijing heading out after the lockdown
In the past few weeks, China has started to ease travel and social-distancing restrictions, believing it has brought the health emergency under control.
Last weekend, Wuhan partially re-opened after more than two months of isolation.
On Saturday, China reported 19 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, down from 31 a day earlier. China’s health commission said 18 of those cases involved travellers arriving from abroad.
As it battles to control cases coming from abroad, China temporarily banned all foreign visitors, even if they have visas or residence permits.
What is the latest worldwide?
As the coronavirus crisis in China abates, the rest of the world remains firmly in the grip of the disease.
The deaths increased by 1,480 in 24 hours, the highest daily death toll since the pandemic began, AFP news agency reported, citing Johns Hopkins University’s case tracker.
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the pandemic has bought the global economy to a standstill, causing a recession “way worse than the global financial crisis” of 2008
The United Nations appealed to governments around the world not to use the pandemic as an excuse to stifle dissent
Although the rules seem dramatic, many foreign airlines had already stopped flying to China – and a number of cities already had restrictions for arrivals.
Image copyright PTIImage caption This city of five million people has been under a lockdown since last week
At 05:00 local time (23:30 GMT) of 8 March, the intensive care unit of a private hospital in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan received a 68-year-old man suffering from pneumonia. He was also having problems breathing.
At the Brijesh Bangar Memorial Hospital in Bhilwara, the new patient was examined by 58-year-old Alok Mittal, a doctor of internal medicine, and his team. The patient wasn’t asked about any travel history; nor did he disclose anything. There were six other patients in the ICU.
The man’s condition did not improve much, and two days later, he was sent to a private hospital in Jaipur, some 250km (155 miles) away, for specialised treatment. In Jaipur, he was treated in two hospitals. “We had no idea what was in store,” Shantilal Acharya, an intensive care nurse who received the patient in the Bhilwara hospital, told me.
For reasons that are still unclear, even the hospitals in Jaipur didn’t test a patient with severe pneumonia for coronavirus. His condition deteriorated swiftly and he died a few days later, on 13 March. The news of his death was conveyed to Dr Mittal and his team.
Image copyright SHAUKAT AHMEDImage caption The infection possibly spread from a private hospital in Bhilwara
Strangely enough, the doctors didn’t appear to comprehend the gravity of the situation even though it was clear that India was facing an imminent outbreak of Covid-19. The country has reported more than 460 confirmed cases and nine deaths so far, and testing remains low. On 9 March, according to reports, Dr Mittal and a few others travelled to the city of Udaipur, put up in a resort and played Holi, the Indian spring festival of colours. (Repeated attempts at getting through to Dr Mittal by phone and text yielded no results.)
Days after the death of the pneumonia patient, Dr Mittal and a colleague checked themselves into an isolation ward of a government hospital. Over the next few days, a few more colleagues from the hospital joined them in isolation. Twelve of them, including Dr Mittal, tested positive for Covid-19.
Next day, as news of the infections leaked, all hell broke loose. The private hospital was popular with its residents, and many regularly visited its thriving out-patient department for treatment. As people panicked and began blaming the doctors for spreading the infection, authorities moved swiftly.
Image copyright SHAUKAT AHMEDImage caption People have been stopped from entering or leaving Bhilwara
They imposed a “civil curfew”, prohibiting people from coming out of their homes and banning public gatherings. They shut schools, colleges, offices, and stopped people from leaving or entering the district. The private hospital was sealed and its 88 patients moved to other healthcare facilities in the area. “Officials were telling us the threat was serious and there was a chance of an outbreak,” local journalist Pramod Tiwari told me.
So Bhilwara, fearing a serious outbreak, did everything that India did a few days later. So could this city of 400,000 people and a major textile making hub, turn out to be India’s first coronavirus “hotspot”?
Of the 69 people tested in the city until Sunday evening, 13 people – including doctors and paramedics – aged between 24 and 58, have tested positive. They include three doctors and nine health workers. Thirty-one people – mostly hospital workers – are in isolation. “Most of them are doing fine,” Dr Arun Gaur, the chief medical officer of the district, told me.
But things could get really bad.
Between 20 February and before going into isolation last week, Dr Mittal and his team of doctors at the hospital saw 6,192 patients who came from 13 districts of Rajasthan and 39 patients belonging to four other states. Drawing from the experience in China and Italy, doctors now know that hospitals might turn out to be the “main source” of Covid-19 transmission. Also, both MERS and SARS had high transmission rates within hospitals. The potential for community transmission of the infection across a large geographical area from the Bhilwara hospital is real, officials fear.
Image copyright SHAUKAT AHMEDImage caption The city’s borders have been sealed
So did the virus reach this city through the patient who was treated at three hospitals and went untested before he died? Or did one of the more than 80 patients admitted in the hospital transmit it? Or was it spread by another patient in the intensive care? Or had one of the doctors picked up the infection separately and spread it unknowingly?
Nobody will know until all the contact tracing and testing is complete, and that’s the scary part.
The lack of early credible information on the transmission meant that rumours had a field day. Local media reported that one of the infected doctors had received guests from Saudi Arabia at home and had contracted the infection. He had then gone to the hospital and spread the infection to co-workers, the reports added.
Dr Niyaz Khan had to record a mobile phone video from his intensive care bed to squelch the rumour. With monitors beeping around him, Dr Khan, masked and breathless, implored: “Just to set the record straight, I have no relative in Saudi Arabia. I have a son and a wife. None of them is positive. Please don’t believe what is coming in the media.” Another doctor said it was unfair to blame the hospital: “The patient fooled us and told us he didn’t travel outside the country for the two days he was in the ICU with us.” And Dr Mittal himself – his wife has also tested positive – recorded videos in isolation saying that he had tested positive, and he was doing well. “Please do not panic,” the well-known doctor said.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption Residents in the city have begun panicking
That is easier said than done.
Realising the gravity of the situation, 300 teams of government workers and volunteers have fanned out in Bhilwara city. They are knocking on the doors of some 78,000 houses, and asking residents whether they’ve had a guest from outside the country, been treated in the hospital or know anyone who has tested positive. The survey began on 18 March and will finish on 25 March. “They are asking if we have cold, cough and fever and telling us if we have any of the symptoms we should report for tests at the government hospital,” a resident told me.
Another 1,900 similar teams have travelled out into neighbouring villages where more than 2.5 million people live. People in homes with suspect cases are being put into quarantine. Seven thousand people have been put into home quarantine so far.
Fearing a surge in infections, 20 more beds are being added to the hospital’s 30-bed isolation ward, which is already full. Six private hospitals have promised to provide an additional 35 beds for isolation. Thirteen places with 450 beds – extendable to 2,000 beds – where people can be quarantined have also been identified, Rajendra Bhatt, the senior-most official of the district told me. “It’s like fighting a war, but we have been agile and alert,” he said.
Meanwhile the residents, like elsewhere in India, are enduring an extended lockdown and curfew. Rajkumar Jain, a professor of computer science, is locked down with 14 members of his joint family in a two-storey home. “We are in complete panic,” he told me. “People are saying here that Bhilwara is going to become India’s Italy.”
Media captionWATCH: Millions of Indians bang pots and pans in support of health workers
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption The Taj Mahal is one of the world’s leading tourist attractions.
India’s iconic monument Taj Mahal has shut down to halt the spread of the coronavirus, officials say.
The culture ministry said tens of thousands visit the “monument of love” every day and it was “imperative to shut it down”.
The Taj Mahal is one of the world’s leading tourist attractions, and draws as many as 70,000 people every day.
India has 137 reported cases of Covid-19 and three related deaths. It has tested 6,000 people so far.
On Tuesday, the Indian government announced that all monuments and museums run by the Archaeological Survey of India across the country have also been shut to keep people safe.
Culture Minister Prahlad Patel said all the 143 monuments and museums would remain shut until 31 March and the decision would be reviewed after the shutdown period.
On Tuesday, a 60-year-old doctor in the southern state of Karnataka tested positive after treating a man who died from the coronavirus last week.
Media caption Everything you need to know about the coronavirus explained in one minute
India has taken a number of steps to halt the spread of Covid-19:
All visas, barring a select few categories, have been suspended for a month
Visa-free travel afforded to overseas citizens of the country has been suspended until 15 April and even those allowed in could be subject to 14 days of quarantine
Schools, colleges and movie theatres in most states have been shut until 31 March
The Indian Premier League (IPL), featuring nearly 60 foreign players and scheduled to begin on 29 March, has been postponed to 15 April
India’s health ministry says it was among the first countries in the world to prepare for an outbreak of the respiratory illness, and denied allegations that it was slow in testing suspected cases.
Experts say that India is in a critical phase where it needs to halt community transmissions. The country has only tested 6,000 people so far and many believe that it’s not enough to halt the spread. Experts say that India needs to start testing thousands daily to effectively stop community transmissions.
The government says it’s prepared and has now allowed even private labs to test, apart from government-run labs.
Image copyright EPAImage caption India has stopped exports of masks to make sure there are ample domestic supplies
A 68-year-old woman from Delhi has been confirmed as the second Indian to die from the coronavirus.
The woman, who had underlying health conditions, is thought to have been infected by her son who travelled to Switzerland and Italy last month.
India’s first fatality from the virus was confirmed on Thursday.
The 76-year-old man, from the southern state of Karnataka, died after returning from a month-long visit to Saudi Arabia on 29 February.
People who came in contact with the man are being traced and quarantined, the state’s health minister said. India has 82 confirmed cases of the virus, the health ministry says.
The Delhi woman’s son was “initially asymptomatic but developed a fever and cough after one day”, a government statement said. The family were then screened and the mother and son admitted to hospital.
The 76-year-old Karnataka man was screened at the airport on his return but showed no symptoms at the time. After he developed difficulties last week, he was taken to hospital. He died on Tuesday but it was not reported until Thursday.
India’s Supreme Court has said it will only hear urgent cases from Monday, and has restricted the number of people who can enter a courtroom.
Karnataka has banned all gatherings including weddings, sports events and conferences for a week as the country attempts to slow the spread of the virus.
Malls, movie theatres, pubs and night clubs have also been shut.
“The government will decide on further action after a week following a review,” the state’s chief minister BS Yediyurappa announced on Friday.
But he said that government offices would continue to function as normal.
India has taken a number of steps to halt the spread of Covid-19:
All visas, barring a select few categories, have been suspended for a month
Visa-free travel afforded to overseas citizens of the country has been suspended until 15 April and even those allowed in could be subject to 14 days of quarantine
Schools, colleges and movie theatres in the capital, Delhi, have been shut until 31 March
The Indian Premier League (IPL), featuring nearly 60 foreign players and scheduled to begin on 29 March, has been postponed to 15 April
Two one-day cricket matches between India and South Africa will be played behind closed doors
India’s health ministry says it was among the first countries in the world to prepare for an outbreak of the respiratory illness, and denied allegations that it was slow in testing suspected cases.
“Our surveillance system is strong and we are able to quickly identify any symptomatic patients,” RR Gangakhedkar from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) told reporters on Thursday.
However, there are concerns about whether the country will be fully equipped to prevent and treat an outbreak.
It would be near impossible for India to force its citizens into mass quarantine and hospitalise people in numbers like China, says the BBC’s Soutik Biswas.
Our correspondent says there are also concerns about the country’s poor healthcare data. India has a shoddy record in even recording deaths and disease – only 77% of deaths are registered, and doctors are more likely to get the cause of death wrong than right, according to a study the Toronto-based Centre for Global Research. There is patchy data for flu-related deaths.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 