Tag: Science&Health

Poachers Pluck South Africa’s ‘Succulent’ Plants for Chinese Market

Media Library

The Little Karoo, Western Cape, South Africa —  South African customs officials recently became suspicious when they noticed that shipments of “Made in China” children’s toys were being sent, oddly, back to China. On closer inspection, the packages did not contain toys at all but were filled with poached contraband. Chinese criminal syndicates, often the very same ones that already have established smuggling routes in South Africa for illegal abalone or rhinoceros horns, have now moved on to trafficking in elephant’s foot. But elephant’s foot is not what you think.…

Chinese Woman Appeals in Fight for Right to Freeze her Eggs

Media Library

Beijing —  An unmarried Chinese woman on Tuesday began her final appeal of a hospital’s denial of access to freeze her eggs five years ago in a landmark case of female reproductive rights in the country. Teresa Xu’s case has drawn broad coverage in China, including by some state media outlets, since she first brought her case to court in 2019. She lost her legal challenge last year at another Beijing court, which ruled the hospital did not violate her rights in its decision. The upcoming judgment will have strong…

Chinese Man Who Reported on COVID to Be Released After 3 Years

Media Library

Hong Kong —  Chinese authorities were preparing Sunday to release a man who disappeared three years ago after publicizing videos of overcrowded hospitals and bodies during the COVID-19 outbreak, a relative and another person familiar with his case said. Fang Bin and other members of the public who were dubbed citizen journalists posted details of the pandemic in early 2020 on the internet and social media, embarrassing Chinese officials who faced criticism for failing to control the outbreak. The last video Fang, a seller of traditional Chinese clothing, posted on…

China OKs its First mRNA Vaccine, From Drugmaker CSPC

Chin@Strategy

BEIJING —  China has approved its first domestically developed mRNA vaccine against COVID-19, CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd 1093.HK said on Wednesday, a major achievement in a country that has declined to use Western COVID shots to support domestic research. China, whose home-grown vaccines are seen as less effective than the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA shots, has been racing to develop vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology since early 2020. The long-awaited approval comes as infections have fallen sharply across China since it suddenly dropped its strict “zero-COVID” curbs in December,…

Chinese SARS Whistleblower Jiang Yanyong Dies at 91

Chin@Strategy

Beijing —  Jiang Yanyong, a Chinese military doctor who revealed the full extent of the 2003 SARS outbreak and was later placed under house arrest for his political outspokenness, has died, a long-time acquaintance and a Hong Kong newspaper said Tuesday. Jiang was 91 and died of pneumonia Saturday in Beijing, according to human rights activist Hu Jia and the South China Morning Post. News of Jiang’s death and even his name were censored within China, underscoring how he remained a politically sensitive figure even late in life. Jiang had…

Hong Kongers Keep Wearing Masks Despite Lifting of Mandate

Chin@Strategy

hong kong —  Days after the Hong Kong government lifted its mask mandate, most Hong Kongers continue to wear the protective anti-COVID-19 coverings, a decision that for some people shows a continued concern about health and for others indicates distrust of the government. Tam Mei Tak, a radio talk-show host and political commentator, told VOA Cantonese that many Hong Kongers have realized that “trusting the government is worse than relying on themselves” in the fight against the pandemic. A poll of Hong Kong residents commissioned by the local South China…

US Ambassador: China Should Be Candid About COVID Origins

Chin@Strategy

The U.S. ambassador to China says Beijing needs to be more forthcoming about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, a day after reports that the U.S. Energy Department concluded the outbreak likely began because of a Chinese laboratory leak. Nicholas Burns told a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event by video link Monday that China needs to “be more honest about what happened three years ago in Wuhan with the origin of the COVID-19 crisis.” Wuhan is the Chinese city where the first cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in…

Hong Kong Revokes Visa for Controversial Chinese Scientist Who Edited Babies’ Genes

Chin@Strategy

A controversial Chinese biophysicist, who had been imprisoned after creating the world’s first gene-edited babies, had his Hong Kong work visa revoked after immigration officials suspected he lied on an application form for a talent scheme. He Jiankui, who sparked an international scientific and ethical debate in 2018 when he revealed he had created the world’s first “gene-edited” babies resistant to HIV, said at the time at an international conference in Hong Kong that he had modified two embryos before they were placed in their mother’s womb. The scientist said…

US Seeks Reengagement with China to Stop Illicit Fentanyl as Blinken Heads to Beijing

Chin@Strategy

State Department —  The United States is “actively seeking to reengage” China on counternarcotics, including stopping the flow of illicit synthetic drugs like fentanyl into the U.S., said the State Department ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing in early February. U.S. officials admit engagement between the two countries on these issues “has been limited in recent months.” “We don’t have any recent meetings to read out or to preview,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA on Tuesday, when asked if talks to combat fentanyl have been…

China’s Reopened Borders Raise Hopes for Soccer Resurgence

Chin@Strategy

After three years of isolation and financial struggles in Chinese soccer, the country is reopening its borders and economy to the outside world. With it, frustrated fans, financially challenged clubs and unpaid players in the Chinese Super League might receive some long-awaited good news. The 2022 season was unrecognizable from the 2019 edition, the last before COVID-19 hit. Then the league had an average attendance of over 24,000, the highest in Asia, and a number of big-name foreign imports. From 2020 onwards, Beijing’s “zero-COVID” policy, designed to stamp out the…