Day: August 25, 2021

Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today

Chin@Strategy

Inconclusive origins It’s been more than 18 months since the first cases of a mysterious “pneumonialike illness” were reported in Wuhan, China. The world still isn’t any closer to understanding how the pandemic started. The director of national intelligence delivered a preliminary report to President Biden on Tuesday about the pandemic’s origin. But officials have yet to answer the biggest question: whether the coronavirus was the result of an accidental leak from a Wuhan lab or whether it emerged naturally in a spillover from animals to humans. Officials have repeatedly…

‘Window Is Rapidly Closing’ to Gather Key Evidence on Virus Origins, Scientists Say

Chin@Strategy

Experts studying the origins of the coronavirus for the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that the inquiry had “stalled” and that further delays could make it impossible to recover crucial evidence about the beginning of the pandemic. “The window is rapidly closing on the biological feasibility of conducting the critical trace-back of people and animals inside and outside China,” the experts wrote in an editorial in the journal Nature. Several studies of blood samples and wildlife farms in China were urgently needed to understand how Covid-19 emerged, they said.…

Afghanistan’s Collapse: The View From Taiwan

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, followed by the fall of much of the country to the Taliban, led to strong responses in Taiwan. The pan-Blue and pan-Green camps have fought over the meaning of the withdrawal for Taiwan along the lines of their respective political agendas. The Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party, currently in opposition, is the major party in the Blue camp, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of the Green bloc holds the presidency and a majority in the Legislative Yuan. Media personality Jaw Shaw-kong, who is…

Zhang Zhan, Chinese Citizen Journalist, Is Ailing From Hunger Strike

Chin@Strategy

A Chinese citizen journalist who was imprisoned for exposing the failures of the government’s initial response to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan is seriously ill from a hunger strike, according to messages from her family shared by her former lawyer and a friend. The journalist, Zhang Zhan, 37, had traveled to Wuhan from her home in Shanghai and spent the early days of the outbreak documenting the city’s strict lockdown and the severe impact it had on residents’ livelihoods and freedoms. Ms. Zhang’s reports challenged the government’s efforts to portray…

A Jewelry Brand Targets Growth Beyond China’s Borders

Chin@Strategy

Since its inception in 2004, the goal of the Chinese jewelry brand Qeelin has been to create — as Dennis Chan, its Hong Kong-based co-founder and creative director, put it — “something with a rich culture but, at the same time, very contemporary.” The effort may be working. There are 38 Qeelin stores in mainland China, but the brand also has operated a boutique on Place Vendôme in Paris, a hub of high jewelry, since 2019. It is sold at department stores and boutiques such as David Jones in Australia…