World

COVID-19: Beijing is essentially in lockdown but authorities won’t use that word

Published

1 year ago

November 23, 2022

admin

In Beijing, business after business is bolted shut.

The authorities won’t use the word, but this city is essentially in lockdown.

In a number of districts across the capital, all non-essential shops are shut, restaurants and cafes are open for takeaway only and people are being asked to work from home.

COVID cases here have tripled in a week, they are at the highest level ever recorded.

While many have greeted the latest rules with weary acceptance there is clearly a price being paid by people for nearly three years of restrictions.

Leading shopping districts stood eerily silent and traditional huntong alleys, usually teeming with people, had just a trickle.

Mr Zheng’s coffee shop was still open, but only for takeaways.

“Business has not been good this year and it’s even worse recently, because of the pandemic,” he says, “You see, there are no people in this huntong.”

But elsewhere in the country, the anger goes much further.

In the central city of Zhengzhou workers at Foxconn, Apple’s biggest assembly plant, clashed violently with police.

Videos on Chinese social media show workers throwing large objects at authorities and smashing surveillance cameras.

There has been a COVID outbreak at the plant, many workers have been unable to leave and some are now saying there has been insufficient food and promised bonus payments have been delayed.

One video shows numerous police and workers in hazmat suits beating a worker with batons.

Elsewhere, being stuck at home is wearing people down. In the city of Chongqing, Zheng Meng took a video of himself attempting to leave his apartment.

“You can’t leave,” a pandemic worker tells him, “this compound is high risk”.

It is rare for someone in China to speak so plainly, but he was very clear in his opinion that China is getting this wrong.

“The World Cup makes the government embarrassed because everybody at home is still watching the TV and there’s no masks for the other people,” he says.

“Why are the Chinese different from the rest of the world? Because our body condition is weaker? Or the Omicron in China is stronger? There’s supposed to be a reasonable reason, there’s no reason at all. They just force us to stay at home.”

Just a week or so ago there had been real hope that things might start easing up. The government has called for the rules to be ‘optimised’, for the response to be more targeted and less blanket.

But it’s faltered in the face of surging infections.

The problem is that while local government authorities have been instructed to try and ease COVID restrictions, it seems they have not been instructed to hold their nerve when cases inevitably rise.

Thus, under immense pressure to keep numbers low, they’ve resorted to the familiar tactics of closing things down.

It illustrates the fundamental trap of China’s zero COVID agenda – there is no way out of it without rising infections and deaths, and the government has spent three years telling people that is unacceptable.

There are many people in China who support zero COVID, plenty are afraid of the virus.

It may be one obstacle in the coming months for a regime that still faces many.

World

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu rejects ceasefire deal that would ‘leave Hamas intact’

Published

18 hours ago

May 5, 2024

admin

Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu rejects ceasefire deal that would 'leave Hamas intact'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected ceasefire proposals because he says Hamas’s call for a withdrawal of all troops from Gaza and an end to the war is unacceptable.

Mr Netanyahu said agreeing to such proposals would “leave Hamas intact” and leave the possibility of another attack in future.

“Surrendering to the demands of Hamas would be a terrible defeat for the State of Israel,” he said in a video statement.

Mediated negotiations for a pause in the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas have been going on in Egypt, but a deal still appears some way off.

Hamas said in a statement on Sunday it’s “still keen to reach a comprehensive, interconnected agreement that ends the aggression, guarantees withdrawal, and achieves a serious prisoner exchange deal”.

The impasse comes after Egyptian media reported “noticeable progress” in ceasefire talks on Saturday.

The proposal mediators had put to Hamas set out a three-stage process for an immediate, six-week ceasefire and partial release of Israeli hostages, with some sort of Israeli pull-out in exchange.

More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 77,000 have been wounded in Israel’s military operation, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Israel has said it remains committed to a ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million have fled in search of safety, as it tries to wipe out Hamas.

The UN and others have warned of catastrophe if it goes ahead.

The war began in October after Hamas killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, when it launched a surprise attack.

More than 200 were abducted and many remain as hostages, while others are thought to have died.

World

Health warning issued as heatwave grips South and Southeast Asia

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2024

admin

Health warning issued as heatwave grips South and Southeast Asia

Countries in South and Southeast Asia have been coping with a weeks-long heatwave which has seen record temperatures sweep parts of the region.

Pupils in the Philippines, India and Bangladesh have been told to stay at home and learn remotely due to a severe health risk.

Schools in Cambodia have also cut back on their hours.

Cambodia faces its hottest temperature in 170 years, according to meteorologists – as high as 43C (109F).

Bangkok in Thailand has reached 40C (104 F), but the heat index is said to have topped 50 C (122 F) due to the heat being trapped among the mass of buildings.

The United Nations Children’s Fund warned in April that the heat could put the lives of millions of children at risk and asked people who care for them to take extra precautions.

A spokesperson for UNICEF said around 243 million children were exposed to hotter and longer heatwaves.

They said the increased heat was “putting them at risk of a multitude of heat-related illnesses, and even death”.

Thirty people in Thailand have died from heatstroke in the past month, according to data from the country’s health ministry.

People are being advised to avoid outdoor activities and to stay hydrated.

Several towns in Myanmar were included on lists of the hottest spots globally last month, with temperatures reaching 48.2C (118F) in at least one case.

Parts of eastern India also experienced their hottest April on record.

Kerala, on India’s west coast, this week instructed all schools and colleges to close until Monday, while influencers in Bangladesh have encouraging people to plant trees in response to the record heat.

Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said there were three factors for heatwaves: a naturally-occurring climate phenomenon known as El Nino, an increase in global temperatures, and human-induced climate change.

Brazil is currently experiencing another climate phenomenon – La Nina – with 39 dead and 68 missing in floods across the country.

More than 24,000 people have been forced to leave their homes due to the flooding.

Scientists believe the naturally-occurring phenomenon has intensified due to the impact of climate change.

World

Philippine coastguard hits out at China’s ‘brute force’ after water cannon attack

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2024

admin

Philippine coastguard hits out at China's 'brute force' after water cannon attack

China has been branded “a bully” and an international lawbreaker after its ships blasted Philippine vessels with water cannon in the South China Sea.

Sky News was on board the BRP Bagacay when a Chinese vessel fired water at it, causing significant damage.

Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela told Sky News that this week’s confrontation was the first time China had used “such aggression” against their ships.

“The metal parts and the railing were bent. The canopy was also destroyed. So this came as a surprise for us that China never hesitated to use brute force,” he said.

“It completely justifies us calling The People’s Republic of China a bully country.”

The Philippine coastguard was on a resupply mission to the Scarborough Shoal to deliver food and fuel to Philippine fishermen when they were struck.

The submerged reef lies in disputed waters. China claims sovereignty over the reef but it is much closer to the Philippines and lies within its legally recognised exclusive economic zone.

The vessel Sky News was on board was the closest the coastguard had ever been to the shoal – just 600 metres away from it.

Asked if the mission to the shoal was a provocative move by the Philippine coastguard, Commodore Tarriela denied they were “poking the bear” but rather “driving the bear out of our own territory”.

The Philippines has been stepping up its patrols in the area under the instruction of President Bongbong Marcos, and reasserting its claim to the shoal in recent months.

It has raised the spectre of open conflict. While neither side currently wants that, there is now a greater threat of open conflict.

Asked what the end game was for the Philippines, Commodore Tarriela said their priority was to “tell the world” about China’s aggression.

He said their secondary goal was to ensure “like-minded states” also made China “fall in line and respect international law”.

“Otherwise, it’s everybody’s loss,” he added.

Philippine government policy is not to resist using water cannon against Chinese vessels – and Commodore Tarriela insisted that policy remains in place after the confrontation.

The government also remains intensely determined to protect the waters it believes it has every right to operate in.

“We’re not going to yield and we’re not going to surrender a square inch of our territory,” Commodore Tarriela insisted.

Beijing has called the action its own coastguard took as “necessary”.

Speaking at the Chinese foreign ministry’s daily news conference, spokesperson Lin Jian described the coastguard’s conduct as “professional, proper, and lawful”.