by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
One Harbourfront office tower after Typhoon Mangkhut in Hong Kong, China, September 16 2018.
Beijing/Hong Kong : Typhoon Mangkhut, the world’s strongest storm this year, continued its path of destruction across Southeast Asia, reaching mainland China after pummeling Hong Kong and killing dozens in the Philippines, authorities said on Monday.
Mangkhut is now expected to move inland of China’s western Guangdong on Monday. While the storm has weakened, a T8 warning was still in place into Sunday evening — meaning that winds with speeds of about 63 kph were expected, CNN reported.
The storm has carved a deadly trail across the region, killing two people in southern China and at least 54 people in the Philippines, with more than 250,000 people affected.
Many of the Philippines’ deaths were caused by landslides, with dozens more still believed to be buried beneath the deluge, government officials said at a news conference on Sunday.
More than 2.45 million people have been evacuated in Guangdong as Mangkhut made landfall on Sunday night, according to Chinese state media.
Some 18,327 emergency shelters had been activated in the province, and that 632 tourism and 29,611 construction sites had been shut down.
As Mangkhut moved toward the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong was also buffeted by fierce winds that tore off roofs, downed trees and caused cranes perched atop half-built skyscrapers to swing ominously.
Hong Kong’s weather observatory issued its highest storm warning alert — a signal T10 — and the normally bustling city was all but shut down as transport was suspended and torrential rain flooded roads and buildings.
Winds of 173 kph and gusts of up to 223 kph were reported, stronger than Hurricane Florence that hit North Carolina over the weekend. There were no reported deaths in Hong Kong.
Airports in Shenzhen, a technology hub across the border from Hong Kong, and on the resort island of Hainan also cancelled all flights.
Mangkhut is still expected to bring heavy rain to Hong Kong, with flood warnings in place for low-lying areas.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Emerging Businesses, World
By Gaurav Sharma,
Beijing : China on Monday said it will extend the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to the west of Pakistan.
China has already invited Afghanistan — west to Pakistan — to join the CPEC. Iran, which is located further west, has expressed interest in joining the project.
The over $50 billion project — a key component of Beijing’s Belt and Road programme — is opposed by India as its planned route goes through the disputed Kashmir region.
“The two sides will advance the CPEC. In the light of Pakistan’s economic development and its people’s need, we will identify the pathways and cooperation for the CPEC,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang.
“We will accelerate the industrial cooperation and projects of people’s livelihood, extend the CPEC to the western area and make more people to benefit from it,” he said.
The CPEC envisages linking China’s Kashgar in Xinjiang to Pakistan’s Gwadar port.
Geng was replying to a question about Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s three-day visit to Pakistan last week during which he met the country’s new leadership.
He said the all-weather friendship between China and Pakistan was not aimed at targeting any third country, which could be a reference to India.
“Our relations will not target a third party and will be influenced by our development of foreign relations with other countries,” Geng said at a routine press conference.
“Politically they (China and Pakistan) will further enhance political mutual trust, strategic communication and firmly support each other’s core interests and mutual concerns. They will have closer communication and coordination on issues of common interest,” he said.
“On the security front, the two sides will enhance cooperation in defence and enhance exchanges between their militaries and law enforcement agencies. China will firmly support Pakistan in combating terrorism in the light of its own national conditions,” Geng said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
A demonstrator wearing a mask painted with the colors of the flag of East Turkestan and the Chinese flag attends a protest in Istanbul, Turkey in July 2018. Beijing has been accused of widespread human rights violations against Turkic Muslims in the far western region of Xinjiang. (Credit: CNN)
Beijing : A rights group on Monday accused the Chinese government of conducting a mass, systematic campaign of human rights violations against Muslims in the far western region of Xinjiang.
The new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report comes after a UN committee last month raised alarm at the “numerous reports of detention of large numbers of ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities held incommunicado and often for long periods, without being charged or tried, under the pretext of countering terrorism and religious extremism”, CNN reported.
In the report, HRW documents the increasing government control over the 13 million Muslims living in Xinjiang.
It is estimated that in the area, one million are currently detained in re-education camps where they are forced to learn Mandarin and sing the praises of the Chinese Communist Party.
“The Chinese government is committing human rights abuses in Xinjiang on a scale unseen in the country in decades,” Efe news quoted said Sophie Richardson, HRW China director, as saying.
Detainees in these political re-education camps have not been charged with any crime, have no access to lawyers or contact with relatives.
HRW pointed out that they have been held under circumstances that do not constitute a crime, including having links with foreign countries, using foreign communications tools like WhatsApp – censored by the Chinese authorities – or peacefully expressing their identity and religion.
“I asked (the authorities) if I can hire a lawyer and they said, ‘No, you shouldn’t need a lawyer because you’re not convicted. There’s no need to defend you against anything. You’re in a political education camp – all you have to do is just study’,” a man who spent months in the camps told HRW.
“Nobody can move because they watch you through the video cameras, and after a while a voice came from the speakers telling you that now you can relax for a few minutes… We were watched, even in the toilet,” another detainee told the rights group.
Outside these centres, Xinjiang citizens are under mass surveillance with high-tech systems such as phone spyware, biometrics, QR codes and big data, and officials make regular visits to their homes where they stay, the report said.
Passport controls, compulsory attendance in Mandarin night schools or flag-raising ceremonies are also common, with authorities even encouraging neighbours to spy on each other and sowing division between families.
Amid the allegations of systematic abuse by numerous organisations in Xinjiang, the Chinese government insisted that people in China have complete freedom to choose their religion.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
London : China’s bike-sharing firm Mobike has said it is pulling out of Manchester this week after losing 10 per cent of its bicycles each month due to theft and vandalism.
It has already started removing the bicycles and will transfer them to London, Oxford, Cambridge and Newcastle, where it will continue to operate.
According to a statement by Mobike on Wednesday, the company suffered “unsustainable” losses as too many of its bikes have been stolen, dumped in canals and bins, had locks hacked off, or been set on fire, Xinhua news agency reported.
Customers in Manchester should have their deposits and credit refunded in the next few days, the company added.
Two weeks ago Mobike warned that if the users in Manchester kept destroying the bikes the service would be withdrawn.
In June 2017, Manchester became Mobike’s first launch outside Asia. It is also the first city to lose its Mobike privileges due to antisocial behavior, according to Steve Milton, Mobike’s UK spokesman.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Chinese President Xi Jinping
Beijing : Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday pledged $60 billion in financing for development projects in Africa over the next three years, as Beijing furthers efforts to link the continent’s economic prospects to those of China.
President Xi made the pledge in his opening speech to the third summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC2018), kicked off in the Chinese capital Beijing on Monday under the theme “Towards a Stronger Community with a Shared Future Through Win-Win Cooperation”.
Xi said the figure includes $15 billion in grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans, $20 billion in credit lines, $10 billion for development financing and $5 billion to buy imports from Africa. He added that China will encourage companies to invest at least $10 billion in Africa over the next three years.
Also in his address, President Xi promoted China’s initiative to build ports and other infrastructure in African countries as a tool for “common prosperity” in a world facing challenges from trade protectionism.
The two-day Beijing forum has brought together leaders from China and more than 50 African countries. Dozens of African leaders met with Xi ahead of the conference.
FOCAC is the world’s biggest annual economic and political event reflecting Beijing’s interest in the African continent. It aims to intensify and push forward China’s relations with African countries.
—AB/UNA-OIC
