China’s sprawling and thinly resourced countryside was racing to beef up its medical facilities amid a surging Covid-19 wave as hundreds of millions of migrant factory workers prepare to return to their families for the lunar new year. Each year, hundreds of millions of people, mostly working in factories near the southern and eastern coasts, return to the countryside for the lunar new year festivities, due to start on 22 January next year. The travel rush is expected to last 40 days, from 7 January to 15 February, the Ministry…
Day: December 28, 2022
Covid in China: US imposes Covid testing for visitors from China
“The infection surge in China is on expected lines,” Dr Chandrakant Lahariya, an Indian epidemiologist and health systems specialist told the BBC in a recent interview. “If you have a susceptible population that is not exposed to the virus, cases will rise. Nothing has changed for the rest of the world, including India.” BBC
Australia Approves Extradition to US of Ex-Marine Pilot
sydney — Australia has approved a request to extradite former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan to the United States where he faces charges of money laundering and breaking U.S. arms control laws, the Attorney-General’s Department said on Thursday. Duggan, who was arrested in Australia in October and remains in custody, is accused of breaking U.S. arms control laws by training Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers, according to a 2017 indictment unsealed by a U.S. court in December. Australia received an extradition request from the U.S. for…
Australia will not require travellers from China to provide negative Covid test
Australia will not immediately follow countries such as the United States, Italy and Japan which have moved to require travellers from China to produce a negative Covid test to enter. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, on Thursday backed health advice that said Australia has built up immunity to the variant ravaging China, but he did not rule out travel restrictions in future. Covid has been spreading rapidly throughout China since Beijing begun rolling back its strict “zero-Covid” policies. Several countries have announced border restrictions for arrivals from China, which will…
VOA Interview: House Select Committee Hopes to Explain Why China Matters
As Republicans prepare to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives, they are looking to put their stamp on a range of issues, including China. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California, who is campaigning to become the next speaker of the House of Representatives, has named Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin to lead a new House Select Committee on China. Gallagher spoke with VOA Mandarin on December 15 on Capitol Hill about his plans for the new panel, which aims to focus on economic and security competition…
China needs to rethink its relationship with Russia in 2023
Given these massive changes, it is fair to ask why Beijing appears to remain committed to its quasi-alliance with Russia. What benefits does China receive and are they worth the risk to its relations with the West? Or is China merely shackling itself to a nation that increasingly resembles a corpse? Before February, the grounds for this alliance were clear. Following the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol building, the United States appeared to be a nation in disarray, suffering hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 deaths, a chaotic withdrawal…
Myanmar court imprisons detained opposition official’s lawyer
A secret court in Myanmar on Wednesday sentenced the lawyer representing a leader of the former ruling political party to 15 years in prison with hard labor, according to an attorney with knowledge of the country’s judicial proceedings. The military tribunal in Mandalay’s Obo Prison sentenced Ywat Nu Aung, who represented Zaw Myint Maung, a vice chair of the National League for Democracy Party, on charges of aiding a terrorist organization, the attorney told Radio Free Asia, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. The move is the…
Former Uyghur Muslim preacher confirmed dead in prison in China’s Xinjiang
A Uyghur Muslim preacher serving a five-year sentence in China’s far-western Xinjiang region for making a religious pilgrimage abroad died of liver cancer in prison in February, according to a police officer who works in the district where the preacher resided. Omar Huseyin, 55, was the former hatip, or preacher, at the Qarayulghun Mosque in Korla, known as Ku’erle in Chinese and the second-largest city in Xinjiang. Authorities apprehended him in September 2017 amid a widespread crackdown on Islamic clergy and other prominent Uyghurs, for traveling to the holy city…
US says passengers from China will be required to present negative COVID test
Passengers arriving in the United States from China, Hong Kong and Macau will be required to present a negative COVID-19 test from no more than two days before departure, the U.S. health authorities announced Wednesday. Amid increasing cases of the coronavirus in China nearly three years after the start of the pandemic, the United States joins Italy, Japan, Taiwan, and India in requiring passengers from China to test negative before arrival. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, made the announcement, saying that the requirement applies to air…
In 2022, Chinese scientists reached new heights, depths and frontiers in pursuit of discovery and understanding
Qianshi, launched by Baidu tech giant in August, was among China’s tech achievements in 2022. The quantum computer can be accessed by an app, with users able to download software and send their own computing task. Credit: Institute for Quantum Computing, Baidu South China Morning Post