coronavirus Archives - Page 4 of 9

China’s Wuhan lab operating “covert operations” in Pakistan under a secret deal

31Jul

By Grace TsoiNo Comments

China’s Wuhan lab operating “covert operations” in Pakistan under a secret deal

Intelligence sources have revealed that Pakistan and China have entered a secret three-year deal to expand potential bio-warfare capabilities, including running several research projects related to the deadly agent anthrax.China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology has signed the covert deal with Pakistan military’s Defense Science and Technology Organization (DESTO), to collaborate research in “emerging infectious diseases” and advance studies on the biological control of transmitted diseases in the wake of coronavirus, said highly credible intelligence sources.The program, sources have said, is being entirely funded by China and is formally titled the “Collaboration for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Studies on Biological Control of Vector Transmitting Diseases”.Intelligence sources, includin

As relations with US deteriorate, China seeks to improve relations with Vietnam

30Jul

By Nectar GanNo Comments

As relations with US deteriorate, China seeks to improve relations with Vietnam

As relations with the United States continues to worsen every day, China has moved to improve its relations with Vietnam and other South East Asian neighbors.According to media reports, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi sought to placate an increasingly hostile Hanoi in a virtual meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh. This came a day after his deputy, Luo Zhaohui, tried to reassure China's neighbors that it wanted regional peace and stability.Beijing also said it finalized talks for a free-trade pact with Cambodia.China's state run Global Times reported that the 12th meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation was held via video link on July 21.Wang was quoted as saying that since the COVID-19 outbreak, China and Vietnam have given full play to...

Kashmir newspaper lauded on social media for giving away free face masks

30Jul

By Yusara AskariNo Comments

Kashmir newspaper lauded on social media for giving away free face masks

A Kashmiri newspaper is being lauded on social media after it distributed free face masks with its newspaper on July 21. ‘Roshni’, one of the oldest newspapers in Kashmir, encouraged readers to wear a mask due to the Covid-19 pandemic and also attached a disposable mask on its front page.The text on the page said: “Mask ka istemal zaroori hai (using a mask is necessary)”, with an arrow pointing to the attached mask.“With this, not only you, but those around you can be protected from coronavirus,” it read.Editor-in-Chief of the daily newspaper, Zahoor Ahmad Shora said they realized many were still not taking wearing masks seriously and many had been seen out in the streets without masks on. He said that they had to hire more people to pack the masks and get the edition ready.The initiative

Covid-19 pandemic: Uighurs forced to produce face masks in China

28Jul

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

Covid-19 pandemic: Uighurs forced to produce face masks in China

A recent investigation has revealed that some Chinese companies are using Uighur labor to manufacture personal protective equipment for Covid-19 under a contentious government-sponsored program that experts say often puts people to work against their will.Uighurs are a largely Muslim ethnic minority from the Xinjiang region of northwest China. The program sends Uighurs and other ethnic minorities into factory and service jobs, and their labor is part of the P.P.E. supply chain.According to China’s National Medical Products Administration, only four companies in Xinjiang produced medical grade protective equipment before the pandemic. As of June 30, that number was 51. State media reports and public records show that at least 17 of those companies participate in the labor transfer program.T

Ensure transparent understanding of source of Virus: Tibetan Representatives to WHO, UN

21Jul

By Grace TsoiNo Comments

Ensure transparent understanding of source of Virus: Tibetan Representatives to WHO, UN

Representatives of 10 Tibetan associations have demanded a transparent investigation into the source of the coronavirus in a meeting with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) officials in Indian capital city, New Delhi.The Tibetan representatives demanded that China should make a public announcement that the scientists are studying the virus to comply with a WHO resolution to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and not so, at the invitation of the Chinese government.Dolma Gyari, former Deputy Speaker and former Home Minister of Tibetan Parliament in-exile, said: "It becomes bothersome when claims are made implying that the WHO scientists, who are present in China to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of its introduction to the human pop...

Coronavirus origin, conspiracies and silence

20Jul

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

Coronavirus origin, conspiracies and silence

In a village on the outskirts of China’s Wuhan, an elderly woman is chanting quietly. In early February, her 44-year-old brother died from coronavirus, and she cannot forgive herself.After the ceremony, Ms Wang says that the shaman received a message from beyond the grave. Her brother, Wang Fei, had absolved her of any blame. “Feifei doesn't hold me responsible,” she says. “He was trying to comfort me and persuade me to accept his death.”Her brother died in a Covid ward, unable to see visitors; his last days lived out in a series of desperate text messages. “I feel so tired,” he wrote in one of them.Ms Wang’s guilt is a product of one of the cruellest aspects of this global pandemic – the enforced isolation of sufferers from their families.“I couldn’t go to the hospital to take care of him

Pakistan: 50 doctors resign due to lack of PPE kits amid coronavirus pandemic

17Jul

By Yusara AskariNo Comments

Pakistan: 50 doctors resign due to lack of PPE kits amid coronavirus pandemic

As coronavirus continues to spread through Pakistan, 50 doctors put in their resignations due to lack of personal protective equipment (PPEs), an essential for them combating deadly virus.According to media reports, the resignations of almost 50 doctors across Punjab have been accepted by the provincial government, a notification said, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.According to a notice by the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education (SHCME) Department, dated June 27, the 48 doctors who stepped down had tendered in their resignations at various times this year.Of the 48 to have resigned, 11 had handed in their resignation letters before Pakistan reported its first coronavirus case on February 26, 2020.Doctors in Pakistan have protested over the lack of personal protective equip...

Anxiety in China stems from the CPC’s insecurity

17Jul

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Anxiety in China stems from the CPC’s insecurity

China has handled the COVID-19 outbreak better than most countries. Also, it has quickly cranked up its industries and global public diplomacy to offer testing kits and protective gear to countries across the world, including to its arch-rival, the United States, as well as to India.At the same time, Chinese territorial assertiveness continues without letup in the east, the South China Seas, and along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India. It is almost as if even a disruption like COVID-19 that has the rest of the world scrambling to manage public health, economic growth and political fallout, is insufficient to knock China off its stride.And yet, the Chinese people are anxious. The Communist Party of China (CPC) that governs them, even more so. Anxious that the rest of the world not...

Coronavirus: China’s workers and graduates fear for their future

17Jul

By Joanne SerriehNo Comments

Coronavirus: China’s workers and graduates fear for their future

Disastrous shutdown brought by the coronavirus pandemic has left many workers and young graduates fear for their future as unemployment looms over their head.In a building which is half shut and dark, Huang waits by a workbench for the welder to pass the next metal tray. There's only a handful of staff in the factory.The boss is stranded in Europe. They haven't had any new orders from their American customers for months. This is a business that's desperately trying to keep the lights on."Up until now we haven't received any substantial mass production orders to keep the factory running and to be able to pay salaries and to be able to stay afloat," Yuliya Yakubova said.Speaking from Italy she said, "The last [thing] I want to do really is fire or let go employees." But she doesn't have long...

Watch China’s actions, don’t listen to its words

16Jul

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Watch China’s actions, don’t listen to its words

At the moment, one of the most complex situations is the changing nature of nation-to-nation relationships with China. The words China wants us to use are telling.In the case of the US-China relationship, the Chinese Communist Party has been very keen to use words (both positive and negative) that create an impression of equality between Beijing and Washington.A few years ago, Beijing promoted the idea of China and the US being the “G2” - two equal governments, with primacy over the rest. The G2 construct allowed Beijing to imply that the world should be divided into two colonial-style spheres of influence, one for the US, and one for China.In 2008, US Navy Admiral Timothy J. Keating told the Senate Armed Services Committee about a comment a senior Chinese officer made to him: “As we devel