International

A restaurant in China has apologised for its controversial policy of asking diners to weigh themselves before entry in an overzealous response to a new national campaign against food waste. The beef restaurant in the central city of Changsha was heavily criticised on Chinese social media as soon as it unveiled the policy on Friday. Customers were asked to stand on scales and scan their data into an app that recommended food choices based on their weight and the dishes' calorific value, according to a report by the state-run China News Service. President Xi Jinping this week urged the nation to stop wasting food, as the coronavirus pandemic and serious flooding last month have led to a rise in food prices. In response, regional catering groups have urged customers to order one dish fewer than the number of diners at a table -- an attempt to overturn the ingrained cultural habit of ordering extra food for group meals. Signs were displayed in the beef restaurant reading "be thrifty and diligent, promote empty plates" and "operation empty plate" -- referring to the nationwide campaign -- according to photos published in local media. In a swift backlash, hashtags related to the incident have been viewed over 300 million times on the social platform Weibo. The restaurant said it was "deeply sorry" for its interpretation of the anti-waste campaign. "Our original intentions were to advocate stopping waste and ordering food in a healthy way. We never forced customers to weigh themselves," it said in an apology posted online on Saturday morning. Chinese state media has also waged war on viral binge-eating videos, known as "mukbang", while livestreaming platforms have promised to shut down accounts promoting excess eating and food wastage.

Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was arrested yesterday and led in handcuffs through his newspaper office as police raided the building, part of a sweeping crackdown on dissent since China imposed a security law on the city. It was the latest police operation against dissidents under the sweeping new law and sparked a fresh round of condemnation over Hong Kong’s stuttering freedoms. Lai, 71, was among ten people detained on charges including colluding with foreign forces — one of the new national security offences — and fraud in an operation targeting his Next Digital publishing group. Among the others arrested were two of Lai’s sons, young pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow and Wilson Li, a former activist who describes himself as a freelance journalist working for Britain’s ITV News. Even as police were conducting interrogations, Beijing hailed Lai’s arrest, declaring him an “anti-China rabble-rouser” who conspired with foreigners to “stir up chaos”.US Senator Marco Rubio led criticism overseas. “As more arrests are expected, the free world must respond quickly as well as provide safe harbour to at-risk Hong Kongers,” he tweeted. China’s new security law was imposed on June 30 and is not supposed to be retroactive. The most serious national security crimes carry up to life in jail. In a late-night briefing, police said those arrested were part of a group that had previously lobbied for foreign sanctions. “After the national security law came into force, this group was still active,” senior superintendent Li Kwai-wah told reporters. Earlier in the day, journalists working at Lai’s Apple Daily streamed dramatic footage on Facebook as some 200 police officers raided their offices with a handcuffed Lai in tow. “Hong Kong’s press freedom is now hanging by a thread,”  Apple Daily said, adding it would continue to publish. Chris Yeung, president of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, described the police action as “shocking and terrifying”.The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong said the raid signalled “a dark new phase” that “upended” previous assurances by China and Hong Kong’s government that the national security law would not stifle press freedoms. The security law was introduced in a bid to quell last year’s huge and often violent pro-democracy protests. Similar laws are used on the authoritarian mainland to snuff out opposition. Authorities have since wielded their new powers to pursue Hong Kong’s democracy camp, sparking criticism from Western nations and sanctions from the United States. Lai’s Apple Daily and Next Magazine are enormously popular and unapologetically pro-democracy. After his arrest, Next Digital shares soared more than 250% as supporters made online calls for people to buy the stock. Across the border, few Hong Kongers generate the level of personal vitriol from Beijing that Lai does. China routinely calls him a “traitor” and a “black hand” behind last year’s protests. Allegations of Lai colluding with foreigners went into overdrive in Chinese state media last year when he met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence. Lai spoke to AFP mid-June, two weeks before the new security law was imposed on Hong Kong. “I’m prepared for prison,” he said. Lai described Beijing’s new security law as “a death knell for Hong Kong” and said he feared authorities would come after his journalists. He also brushed off the collusion allegations, saying Hong Kongers had a right to meet with foreign politicians. Beijing’s new law targets secession, subversion, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces. Its broadly worded provisions criminalised certain political speech overnight, such as advocating sanctions, and greater autonomy or independence for Hong Kong. Critics believe the law has ended the key liberties and autonomy that Beijing promised Hong Kong could keep after its 1997 handover by Britain. Washington last week responded by imposing sanctions on a group of Chinese and Hong Kong officials — including the city’s leader Carrie Lam. The law’s introduction has coincided with ramped-up police action against democracy supporters.

An Indonesian volcano spewed a giant ash cloud 5 km (3.1 miles) into the sky on Monday in its second eruption in three days, emitting a thunderous noise and turning the sky dark, authorities and witnesses said. The eruption of Mount Sinabung on the island of Sumatra comes after more than a year of inactivity and was the second since Saturday, as authorities warned residents and tourists about possible lava flows. Dramatic footage of the morning eruption captured by residents showed a giant cloud of thick ash rising from the peak of the 2,460-metre (8,071-ft) mountain in Karo, North Sumatra. ‘The sound was like thunder, it lasted for less than 30 seconds,’ resident Fachrur Rozi Pasi told Reuters by phone. Residents have been advised to stay outside of a 3 km radius of the volcano and to wear masks to minimise the effects of falling volcanic ash, the volcanology agency said in a statement. No casualties have been reported and a spokeswoman for the civil aviation authority said flights were still operating in the region. ‘The situation around Mount Sinabung is very dark now,’ said Gilbert Sembiring, who was visiting a friend in Naman Teran Kampung when Sinabung erupted. ‘It was bigger than the eruption a couple of days ago.’ Sinabung, located in one of the world's most volcanically active countries, had been inactive for centuries before it erupted again in 2010.

* HK tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law * Arrests come after US imposes sanctions on HK officials * Apple Daily source says other senior execs targeted * ‘Business as usual’ Apple Daily editor says Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai became the highest-profile arrest under a new national security law on Monday, detained over suspected collusion with foreign forces as scores of police searched the offices of his Apple Daily newspaper. Lai, 71, has been one of the most prominent democracy activists in the Chinese-ruled city and an ardent critic of Beijing, which imposed the sweeping new law on Hong Kong on June 30, drawing condemnation from Western countries. His arrest comes amid Beijing's crackdown against pro-democracy opposition in the city and further stokes concerns about media and other freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to China in 1997. It ‘bears out the worst fears that Hong Kong's National Security Law would be used to suppress critical pro-democracy opinion and restrict press freedom,’ said Steven Butler, the Committee to Protect Journalists' Asia programme coordinator. ‘Jimmy Lai should be released at once and any charges dropped.’ Ryan Law, Apple Daily's chief editor, told Reuters the paper would not intimidated by the raid. ‘Business as usual,’ he said. The new security law punishes anything China considers subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison. Critics say it crushes freedoms, while supporters say it will bring stability after prolonged pro-democracy protests last year. Lai had been a frequent visitor to Washington, where he has met senior officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to rally support for Hong Kong democracy, prompting Beijing to label him a ‘traitor’. Hong Kong police said they had arrested seven men, aged 39-72, on suspicion of breaching the new security law, without naming them, adding that further arrests were possible. Apple Daily, which posted on its Facebook page a livestream of dozens of police officers entering its premises, reported Lai was taken away from his home early on Monday. The paper said one of Lai's sons, Ian, was also arrested at his home. In the live feed, officers were seen roaming through the newsroom, rifling through files. Staff were asked to show identity documents. Some executive offices were sealed off with red cordons. The police later wheeled in stacks of empty plastic containers. Lai himself was brought back to the office in handcuffs later. One Apple Daily reporter asked Lai what he thinks of his arrest, and Lai responded: ‘They have to arrest me, what can I think?’ Police said they had a court warrant. The law allows police to search premises without one ‘under exceptional circumstances,’ and also allows seizing documents, equipment and financial assets. 'THIRD-WORLD' An Apple Daily source said that other senior executives in the company were among those targeted and that police were searching their homes. ‘We are arranging lawyers and so on to defend ourselves. We see this as straight harassment,’ the source said, adding that Lai was arrested on suspicion of sedition, criminal fraud and colluding with foreign forces. Shares of media company Next Digital, which publishes Apple Daily, plunged as much as 15.5%. Hong Kong Journalists Association chairman Chris Yeung said the search was ‘horrible.’ ‘I think somewhere in third-world countries there has been such kind of press freedom suppression; I just didn't expect it in Hong Kong.’ Answering questions on Lai's arrest, Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters in Taipei: ‘China should not treat Hong Kong this way.’ ‘We still urge the Chinese government to keep its promise and respect Hong Kong's democracy and freedom,’ Su said. The law has steered China further on a collision course with the West, prompting countries including Australia, Canada and Britain to suspend extradition treaties with Hong Kong. On major cases in Hong Kong, the central government in Beijing can claim jurisdiction. The legislation allows agents to take suspects across the border for trials in Communist Party-controlled courts. CHILLING EFFECT Lai was also arrested this year on illegal assembly charges, along with other leading activists, relating to protests last year. In an interview with Reuters in May, Lai pledged to stay in Hong Kong and continue to fight for democracy even though he expected to be one of the targets of the new legislation. Before Monday, 15 people had been arrested under the law, including teenagers. The new legislation has sent a chill through Hong Kong. Activists have disbanded their organisations, while some have fled the city altogether, prompting, in some cases, arrest warrants in their name for suspected violation of the new law. The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and other top officials for what it says is their role in curtailing political freedoms in the territory, drawing mockery and condemnation from Beijing. The arrest reflects that Hong Kong ‘wasn't intimidated’ by sanctions, Hu Xijin, editor of Global Times, said in a tweet. Global Times is published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party.

* Beijing's HK office ridicules US sanctions * HK govt say sanctions 'barbaric interference' * US Treasury says HK security law 'draconian' * Delaying HK poll undermines freedoms-Washington * Sanctions not impact financial firms: HK markets watchdog Beijing's top representative office in Hong Kong said on Saturday that sanctions imposed by Washington on senior Hong Kong and Chinese officials were ‘clowning actions’ that would not frighten or intimidate Chinese people. Separately, the Hong Kong government said the sanctions were ‘shameless and despicable’ and represented ‘blatant and barbaric’ interference in China's internal affairs. ‘We will not be intimidated,’ a government spokesman said. The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Luo Huining, the head of China's Liaison Office, as well as Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and other current and former officials that Washington accuses of curtailing political freedoms in the global financial hub. The move accelerates rapidly deteriorating Sino-US ties, more than a month after Beijing imposed sweeping national security legislation on Hong Kong that drew condemnation from Western governments and sent a chill across the city. ‘The unscrupulous intentions of the US politicians to support the anti-China chaos in Hong Kong have been revealed, and their clowning actions are really ridiculous,’ the Liaison Office said in a statement. ‘Intimidation and threats cannot frighten the Chinese people.’ Luo, the most senior mainland political official based in the Chinese-controlled territory, said US sanctions on him indicated he was doing what he ‘should be doing for my country and Hong Kong’, according to the statement. Luo has oversight over the implementation of the contentious security law that allows mainland security agents to be officially based in China's freest city for the first time. As well as Luo and Lam, the sanctions target Hong Kong police commissioner Chris Tang and his predecessor Stephen Lo; John Lee, Hong Kong's secretary of security, and Teresa Cheng, the justice secretary. Xia Baolong, the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing, was also named. Police chief Tang told local media on Saturday that maintaining the security of the country and Hong Kong was his responsibility, and foreign sanctions were meaningless. The sanctions freeze any US assets of the officials, prohibit them from carrying out business in the country and generally bar Americans from doing business with them. Beijing-backed leader Lam has previously told local media she has no assets in the United States. Hong Kong financial regulators moved to calm market fears on Saturday, as banks in the city grappled with the implications of the sanctions. The markets watchdog said it was not aware of any aspect of the sanctions that would affect how financial firms carry out their normal operations in the city. ‘DRACONIAN’ SECURITY LAW Washington said the ‘draconian’ security law had undermined its autonomy and set ‘the groundwork for censorship of any individuals or outlets that are deemed unfriendly to China.’ The US sanctions come a week after Hong Kong postponed a Sept. 6 election to the Chinese-ruled city's legislature by a year, citing a spike in coronavirus cases, prompting democracy activists to question whether the pandemic was the real reason. Washington said the election delay was the latest example of Beijing undermining ‘the democratic processes and freedoms that have underpinned Hong Kong's prosperity.’ The security legislation targets what Beijing broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison. Beijing and the Hong Kong government have said the law will not affect rights and freedoms, and that it is needed to plug security loopholes. They said it will only target a small minority of ‘troublemakers.’ Fifteen people have been arrested under the law so far, including four aged 16-21 who were detained last week. Beijing imposed the legislation directly on Hong Kong just before midnight on June 30, circumventing the city's legislature, and leaving the city's officials in the dark on the details of the law until it was implemented. The law has steered China further on a collision course with the West, prompting countries including Australia, Canada and Britain to suspend extradition treaties with Hong Kong. The legislation allows agents to take suspects across the border for trials in Communist Party-controlled courts, one issue that has raised alarm at home and overseas. Some Hong Kong people have fled the city to set up home overseas, while immigration consultants have reported a surge in inquiries of people looking to leave. Hong Kong authorities have issued arrest warrants for six pro-democracy activists who fled the city and were suspected of violating the new security. Some political analysts say the security law coming directly from Beijing and bypassing Hong Kong's legislature signals the start of a more authoritarian rule in the semi-autonomous city and a march toward mainland control. Critics of the law say it erodes basic rights and freedoms, guaranteed when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997, while supporters say it will bring stability after a year of often-violent anti-government and anti-China unrest.

Biology student Ma Jingjing wandered the hall of a job fair in central China among other young Chinese hoping to find work in an economy crushed by the coronavirus pandemic.   Ma, 26, is one of almost 9mn people graduating and entering the job market this year at a time of great uncertainty, an issue that has the ruling Communist Party worried to the point that President Xi Jinping has made it a priority.  The world’s second-largest economy may have rebounded sharply from a historic virus-induced contraction, but its young graduate jobless rate in June was more than three times that for urban unemployment.  Ma was among hundreds of young faces streaming in and out of the job fair on a recent weekend in Zhengzhou, where employers in industries ranging from real estate to manufacturing were recruiting. Like many others, the aspiring teacher is “at a loss” and wondering if she should settle for any job or hold off work for further education. “I have applied to seven or eight private schools, but only one has called me back for an interview,” she told AFP at the fair. “I’ve studied for so many years and don’t want my family to pay for further training,” she said. “I’m especially worried about my finances.” Aware of the risk that mass unemployment can spark political unrest - jeopardising the party’s pledge of prosperity in return for unquestioned political power - the government has been making efforts to boost graduate employment via state-owned enterprises (SOEs).  But poorer opportunities this year are pushing some into further studies, less ideal jobs or other options.  Although China’s economy appeared to make a strong comeback in the second quarter - growing 3.2% on-year - analysts caution the rebound may be overestimated, with a gap re-emerging between national figures and higher-frequency data. Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics told AFP there is no doubt China is recovering, but the magnitude would determine if growth is “strong enough to re-absorb some of the labour market problems” that emerged earlier this year, such as layoffs.  A gap in growth of a few percentage points could lead to a difference of millions of jobs created, he added.   Although China’s urban unemployment rate slipped to 5.7% in June, 19.3% of new graduates remained jobless, UOB economists said in a report, adding the labour market “continued to face challenges”. Top-level economic data has not necessarily meant better hiring on the ground.  A 27-year-old surnamed Kang, who graduated in 2017, is back in the market after his contract in the communications industry in Beijing ended. He decided to return to Zhengzhou, but has only received around five callbacks after sending more than 30 resumes to firms - and is still looking for a job.   “The virus outbreak has limited travel and a lot of job fairs have been postponed or cancelled,” he said. “I’m extremely anxious.” Lu Yifan, 25, said the pandemic had caused many overseas Chinese students like him to return home sooner than planned - adding to the flood of jobseekers.  And Guangdong graduate Zhao Jingying, 22, told AFP: “For us (this year), getting a single job offer is a feat.”  Another, Beijing-based Huo Ruixi, 23, left university in July but is planning a second round of further education after an unsuccessful five-month job search. The crisis is also causing problems for employers. Yang Changwei, manager at Deyou Real Estate, told AFP at the Zhengzhou fair it was getting harder to hire sales staff based on commission.   “It feels like jobseekers’ mindsets have shifted,” he said. “In sales, you may or may not make deals but with other jobs there can be more stability in income. Because of the epidemic, financial pressures are larger as well.”  Officials are ramping up efforts to boost graduate employment, and Premier Li Keqiang announced over 9mn new roles will be created this year.  A State Council guideline in March said smaller firms that recruit graduates with contracts longer than a year will be given a subsidy, while SOEs will “continuously expand” the scale of graduate-hiring this year and next.  Henan authorities, for one, said at least half the recruitment positions at SOEs within the province should be reserved for this year’s graduates, while Nanjing city in Jiangsu province set aside 1bn yuan ($143mn) to provide 100,000 internships for struggling graduates, Xinhua news agency reported.

* City has seen a resurgence in coronavirus cases * Twelve opposition candidates disqualified from poll * Opposition was hoping for historic majority * China sending in officials to conduct coronavirus tests Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Friday postponed a Sept. 6 election to the Chinese-ruled city's legislature by a year because of a rise in coronavirus cases, dealing a blow to the pro-democracy opposition which had hoped to make huge gains. The decision came after 12 pro-democracy candidates were disqualified from running for perceived subversive intentions and opposition to a sweeping new security law imposed by Beijing, prompting questions among many about whether the pandemic was the real reason for the delay. "Postponing the September elections for a year is a cynical move to contain a political emergency, not a public health one," said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch. "This simply allows Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to deny Hong Kong people their right to choose their government." Avery Ng, secretary-general of the League of Social Democrats, was equally sceptical. "Obviously the Chinese Communist Party is using COVID-19 as a cover to stop Hong Kongers from voting against the government and democrats’ potential majority win," he told Reuters. "Together with the mass disqualification of candidates, the CCP ... only allows an election in which they can control the outcome to take place." The opposition had aimed to ride a wave of resentment over the national security law to win a majority in the Legislative Council, where half the seats are directly elected with the other half filled mostly by pro-Beijing appointees. Lam said she had to invoke an emergency law to make the postponement and no political considerations were involved. China's parliament would decide how to fill the legislative vacuum, she added. She told reporters the decision was aimed at safeguarding people's health. "We have 3 million voters going out in one day across Hong Kong, such flow of people would cause high risk of infection," Lam said. Hong Kong has reported more than 3,000 coronavirus cases since January, far lower than in other major cities around the world. But the number of new infections has been in the triple-digits for the past 10 days. Rival finance hub Singapore, which has had a larger coronavirus outbreak, held a general election in July. Many pro-democracy activists had suspected Lam would use the coronavirus to delay the election. The poll would have been the former British colony's first official vote since Beijing imposed the security law to tackle what China broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with punishment of up to life in prison. Hong Kong returned to China in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula guaranteeing freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland. Critics of the new law say it undermines that autonomy. The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the law is necessary to preserve order and prosperity after months of often-violent anti-China protests last year. "I anticipated it, because of this year's social movements, we already anticipated that the government wouldn’t give us the right to let us vote," said resident Janis Chow, 25. "I’m disappointed but I was ready for it." News of the postponement came as the nomination period for candidates seeking to run in the election closed. Among the 12 opposition candidates disqualified was Joshua Wong, who rose to fame leading pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong as a teenager in 2012 and 2014. "Barring me from running ... would not stop our cause for democracy," said Wong, 23, Wong, who China calls a "black hand" of foreign forces, said his disqualification was "invalid and ridiculous" and the new law a "legal weapon used against dissidents". The government denies political censorship or suppression of the right to run for the legislature. Authorities also disqualified some members of the Civic Party, a moderate, old-guard opposition group, and others who won an unofficial "primary" vote held by the opposition camp this month. That independently organised vote saw a younger, more defiant generation of democrats taking over the helm of the opposition, but the Civic Party disqualifications signal Beijing is becoming less tolerant of even moderate voices. Britain said it was clear the candidates had been barred because of their political views. Hong Kong's last British governor, Chris Patten, called it an "outrageous political purge". China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office said in a statement that officials would be sent down to Hong Kong to conduct large-scale coronavirus tests "to help Hong Kong build a large-scale quarantine and treatment centre", again sparking concerns among some local residents, this time that China may use this as an excuse to collect DNA samples for surveillance purposes.

Leading Hong Kong democracy campaigners were disqualified yesterday from upcoming elections after four student activists were arrested for social media posts, sparking warnings of a new “terror” under authoritarian China.   The moves were the latest blows against the semi-autonomous city’s democracy movement, which has been under sustained attack from China’s Communist Party rulers.  China’s government last month imposed a national security law on Hong Kong outlawing subversion, which it warned was a “sword” hanging over the head of democracy protesters.  In some of the most significant developments since the law was imposed, 12 democracy activists were on Thursday disqualified from legislative elections due to be held in September.  “Beijing shows a total disregard for the will of the Hongkongers, tramples upon the city’s... autonomy,” Joshua Wong, one of Hong Kong’s highest-profile activists who was among those disqualified, wrote in a tweet.  Wong described the move as “the biggest-ever crackdown” on the city’s pro-democracy movement.  The democracy campaigners had been hoping to win a first-ever majority in the partially elected legislature, which is deliberately weighted to return a pro-Beijing majority.  The disqualifications came after four students – aged between 16 and 21 – were arrested on Wednesday night for social media posts that were deemed to breach the new security law.  The four were all former members of Student Localism, a pro-independence group that announced it was disbanding its Hong Kong branch the day before the security law was enacted.   Police said they were arrested on suspicion of organising and inciting secession through comments made on social media posts after the law came in. Student and rights groups condemned the arrests, saying they heralded the kind of political suppression ubiquitous on the Chinese mainland. “Hong Kong has fallen into the era of white terror,” the Student Unions of Higher Institutions, which represents 13 student unions, said in a statement overnight.  “It is crystal clear that more and more Hongkongers (will) have to endure... Communist terror,” it added.  Nathan Law, a democracy campaigner who went into exile after the law was imposed, expressed similar sentiments on Twitter.  “White terror, politics of fear dispersed in Hong Kong,” referencing a Chinese idiom to describe political persecution.  He described the election disqualifications as an attempt to bring China’s rubber stamp parliament system to Hong Kong. “The Chinese Communist Party’s strategy is apparently aiming to suppress all forms of resistance in Hong Kong with huge fear and intimidation,” he wrote. Sophie Richardson, a China expert with Human Rights Watch, said Beijing’s new legislation was being wielded against peaceful political speech. “The gross misuse of this draconian law makes clear that the aim is to silence dissent, not protect national security,” she said.   The security law gave China’s rulers far more direct control over Hong Kong, which was supposedly guaranteed 50 years of freedoms as part of the 1997 handover agreement with Britain.  But last year the city was rocked by seven straight months of huge and often violent pro-democracy protests. 

Hong Kong’s government could postpone by a year a vote for seats in the city’s legislature scheduled for Sept 6 amid fears of a resurgence in novel coronavirus cases, public broadcaster RTHK reported yesterday.  A postponement would be a blow for the opposition pro-democracy camp, which is aiming to win a historic majority in the city’s assembly given widespread resentment of Beijing’s imposition of a new security law widely criticised by Western countries as eroding citizens’ rights. The RTHK report cited unidentified sources and did not give any more details. The office of Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  Some 600,000 people voted in unofficial primaries polls for the opposition in Hong Kong this month, sending a younger, more confrontational generation of pro-democracy politicians into the race for the legislature. One of them, prominent democracy activist Joshua Wong, said he would doubt the veracity of any coronavirus delay. “Using pandemic as an excuse to postpone the election is definitely a lie,” Wong said on Twitter. The Legislative Council, or Legco, election would be the first vote in the former British colony since the introduction of the national security legislation in the semiautonomous city. The law punishes what China broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison and sees mainland Chinese security agents operating officially in the city for the first time. Critics of the law say it erodes the freedoms Hong Kong was promised when it was handed back to China by Britain in 1997, while supporters say it would restore stability after a year of often-violent pro-democracy protests in the city. Britain’s foreign minister, Dominic Raab, told top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi that Britain would be watching the Hong Kong elections closely and stressed that China needed to rebuild trust in the global community, a British Foreign Office spokesman said. Under city laws, the government can postpone elections if the chief executive is of the opinion that the vote “is likely to be obstructed, disrupted, undermined or seriously affected by riot or open violence or any danger to public health or safety”. A new election date, not more than 14 days after the original date, must be announced immediately, according to election laws. But British colonial-era legislation gives the government sweeping powers in case of emergency or public danger. It is not clear if former members of the city assembly, whose terms have expired, could return to the legislature in the event of a postponement for a year. Hong Kong has reported about 3,000 coronavirus cases since January and more than 20 deaths – far lower than in other major cities around the world. But the government has warned of a new surge of infections in the community and has banned dining in restaurants and limited group gatherings to two people.  Rival finance hub Singapore, which has had a larger coronavirus outbreak, held a general election this month. At least 68 countries and territories have delayed national or regional elections due to the coronavirus since February, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance said. At least 49 countries and territories have decided to hold national or subnational elections, it said.

The American flag was lowered at the US consulate in Chengdu yesterday and Chinese authorities entered the building as Beijing carried out a Cold War-style retaliatory closure of the mission. Relations have deteriorated in recent weeks in an intensifying standoff between Washington and Beijing, with the Chengdu mission ordered to shut in retaliation for the forced closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas. Beijing confirmed that the consulate had closed at 10am (0200 GMT) yesterday. “Afterwards, Chinese authorities entered through the front entrance and took it over,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. Both consulates closed 72 hours after the respective orders were made. A State Department spokesman told AFP the mission’s diplomats and their dependents would leave China by August 27. Video footage published later Monday by the US embassy on Chinese social media platform Weibo showed US Marines in dress uniform lowering and folding the Stars and Stripes from the front of the consulate, before handing it to consul-general Jim Mullinax. Diplomatic tensions have soared between the two powers, with both alleging the other had endangered national security. Footage from Chinese state media showed officials arriving at the consulate in a minibus and walking into the front of the building. They were followed by several workers in full hazmat suits and goggles, carrying cleaning equipment. Two men wearing white gloves were shown covering up a US consulate sign on the wall outside the building with a large grey sheet. A crowd gathered Monday outside the mission, and one man was escorted away by police after waving a banner and two Chinese flags while shouting “Long live China’s Communist Party”. Over the weekend, removal trucks entered the site and cleaners were seen carting large black rubbish bags from the  consulate.  AFP reporters saw workers removing the US insignia from the front of the building “Today, we bid farewell to the US consulate in Chengdu. We will miss you forever,” the US embassy in Beijing posted on Weibo. In a separate statement, the consul-general posted that his mission had provided services to more than 200 million people in southwest China and Tibet, and had given “thousands” of visas every day to Chinese students and tourists. “We are disappointed by the Chinese Communist Party’s decision,” a State Department spokesperson said. The Chengdu consulate covered southwest China, including Tibet. Many Tibetans accuse the central government of religious repression and eroding their culture. Beijing says closing the consulate was a “legitimate and necessary response to the unreasonable measures by the United States”, and alleged that staff at the diplomatic mission endangered China’s security and interests. Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters that some US staff in the Chengdu consulate “were engaged in activities outside of their capacity, interfered in China’s internal affairs, and endangered China’s security and interests”. Washington officials, meanwhile, said there had been unacceptable efforts by the Chinese consulate in Houston to steal US corporate secrets and proprietary medical and scientific research.

* New measures in place from Wednesday, last for 7 days * Masks mandatory in all indoor and outdoor public places * Government says situation ‘very worrying’ Hong Kong on Monday announced further restrictions to curb a surge in coronavirus cases, including a ban on gatherings of more than two people, a total bar on restaurant dining and mandatory face masks in all public places, including outdoors. The measures, which take effect from Wednesday, are the first time the city has completely banned dining in restaurants. Since late January, more than 2,600 people have been infected in Hong Kong, 20 of whom have died. ‘The situation is very worrying,’ said Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung, adding that the current outbreak is the most severe the city has experienced. The measures will be in place for 7 days, he said. The Chinese territory in July halted dine-in services from 6pm as concerns grew of a third wave of infections but allowed restaurants and cafes to function through the day as normal. However, the city has seen a spike in locally transmitted coronavirus cases over the past three weeks, with Sunday the fifth consecutive day of triple digit infection figures. Authorities have warned that citizens have become too lax about wearing masks and social distancing. Over the weekend they stepped up controls, sealing off popular beaches and introduced new rules to limit movements of ship and flight crews which stop in the city. Hong Kong's Hospital Authority has said new cases are being found faster than public hospitals can take them in, according to public broadcaster RTHK. China's liaison office in Hong Kong said on Sunday that the central government had made clear it would boost the city's capacity in coronavirus tests and help set up hospitals especially for infected patients.

China took over the premises of the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Monday, after ordering the facility to be vacated in retaliation for China's ouster last week from its consulate in Houston, Texas. The seizure capped a dramatic escalation in tensions between the world's two biggest economies that began when employees at China's Houston consulate were seen burning documents in a courtyard last Tuesday, hours before Beijing announced that it had been ordered to leave the facility. The US consulate in Chengdu, in Sichuan province, was closed as of 10 a.m (0200) on Monday, and Chinese authorities had entered the building from the front door, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. On Friday, Beijing announced that it had asked the United States to close its Chengdu post, and gave the Americans 72 hours to vacate, the same amount of time China was given to leave its Houston mission, which was shut on Friday. ‘We are disappointed by the Chinese Communist Party's decision and will strive to continue our outreach to the people in this important region through our other posts in China,’ a US State Department spokesperson said in an email to Reuters. At midday on Monday, police removed a roadblock that had restricted access to the Chengdu facility, and dozens of passersby stopped to take photos and videos. One man stood across the street and played the Chinese national anthem from his phone. Grey sheet-like material was placed over the spot near the entrance where a plaque had been affixed, and over the place where there was large lettering saying ‘US Consulate General’. The US embassy issued a video in Chinese on its Twitter feed: ‘The US consulate in Chengdu has been proudly promoting the mutual understanding between Americans and the people in Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan and Tibet since 1985. We will forever miss you,’ it said. The American flag was no longer flying at the consulate having been lowered at 6:18 a.m. on Monday, according to video shot by a journalist and shared by state broadcaster CCTV on its Twitter-like Weibo account. The eagle on top of the flagpole remained. On Sunday night, a crane was seen entering the consulate compound and hoisting at least one container onto a large truck. The Chengdu consulate opened in 1985 and had almost 200 employees, including about 150 locally hired staff, according to its website. It was not immediately clear how many had been working there at the time of its closure, after US diplomats were evacuated from China because of the coronavirus pandemic. US-China relations have plunged to their worst in decades over a range of disputes, from trade and technology to the COVID-19 pandemic, China's territorial claims in the South China Sea and its clampdown on Hong Kong. On Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a speech calling a more assertive approach to China the ‘mission of our time’.

Taiwan resumed an island-hopping ocean cruise on Sunday, joining a handful of places in the world to restart voyages after the coronavirus pandemic brought the industry to a virtual standstill. Some 900 holiday makers are adapting to new safety measures when boarding Genting Hong Kong's Explorer Dream embarking from Taiwan's northern Keelung port. The company now offers trips of up to five days from Taiwan to its scenic outlying islands of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. The cruise resumption is part of a government effort to boost a tourism industry badly hit by the pandemic. Taiwan has largely closed its borders since mid-March and advised citizens against overseas travel unless absolutely necessary. James Sun, sales manager of the cruise line, said a sea voyage could satisfy the desire for travel of people who are not permitted to go abroad. The ship is carrying just a third of its maximum passenger limit, and is equipped with 22 COVID-19 wards to isolate passengers if any fall ill. The 500-strong crew underwent a 21-day health screening before coming on board. All front-line service staff are required to wear masks and gloves. Buffet service has been dropped, the onboard casino and spa are shut, and dining tables are set apart and divided by screens. Passengers must keep social distance and have their temperatures checked before coming onboard. "Due to the coronavirus, we can't go abroad but I still feel like travelling, so I signed up for the island-hopping trip," said passenger Cai Jiaru, 22. "I don't worry about the epidemic too much, because I think it is pretty safe in Taiwan right now." Taiwan has kept the pandemic well in hand with only 11 active cases and no local transmission for more than three months due to early and effective prevention. 

Security was tight outside the US consulate in the Chinese city of Chengdu on Saturday as staff inside prepared to leave, a day after China ordered it to close in response to a US order for China to shut its consulate in Houston. The tit-for-tat consulate closures have brought a sharp deterioration in relations between the world's two largest economies. A consulate emblem inside the compound was removed as staff could be seen pushing trolleys and several consulate vehicles came and went. Police, including many plain clothes officers, gathered outside and closed off the street to traffic. Neither the consulate in the southwestern Chinese city nor the US embassy in Beijing have responded to requests from Reuters for comment on the closure. The Chinese order to close it was retaliation after the Trump administration gave China until 4 p.m. last Friday to vacate its consulate in the Texas city. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the consulate had been ‘a hub of spying and intellectual property theft’. The US consulate in Chengdu was also given 72 hours to close, or until 10 a.m. on Monday, the editor of China's Global Times tabloid said on Twitter. The consulate opened in 1985 and has almost 200 employees, including about 150 locally hired staff, according to its website. It was not immediately clear how many are there now after US diplomats were evacuated from China because of the pandemic. A steady stream of people walked along the street opposite the entrance throughout the day, many stopping to take photos or videos before police moved them on. At the Houston consulate, staff packed up belongings watched by jeering protesters. Shortly after the closure order took effect a group of men who appeared to be US officials were seen forcing open a back door to the facility. Residents in Chengdu expressed mixed views on the closure of the US consulate in the city. ‘What I fear the most is the US won't just stop there, it might get uglier,’ said 19-year-old university student Zhang Chuhan. ‘I approve. The US closed our consulate, I think we should shut theirs too,’ said a man who identified himself as Jiang, 29. Relations between Washington and Beijing have deteriorated this year to what experts say is their lowest level in decades over issues ranging from trade and technology to the novel coronavirus, China's territorial claims in the South China Sea and its clampdown on Hong Kong. China's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has said some personnel at the Chengdu consulate were ‘conducting activities not in line with their identities’ and had interfered in China's affairs and harmed its security interests. He did not say how.

China on Friday ordered the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu to close in retaliation for one of its missions in the United States being shuttered, capping a furious week of Cold War-style diplomacy. The announcement of the closure followed a torrent of warnings from top American officials about the "tyranny" of China, and Chinese nationals being indicted in the United States on various charges. Ordering the Chengdu consulate to cease operation was a "legitimate and necessary response to the unreasonable measures by the United States", the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The current situation in China-US relations is not what China desires to see, and the US is responsible for all this," it said without saying when it would have to shut down. The ministry emphasised the closure was directly in response to the US ordering the Chinese consulate in Houston to shut down by Friday. Some consulate staff "were engaged in activities outside of their capacity, interfered in China's internal affairs, and endangered China's security and interests," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this week the Houston mission was a "hub of spying and intellectual property theft". Republican Senator Marco Rubio called the consulate the "central node of the Communist Party's vast network of spies and influence operations in the United States". China described the allegations as "malicious slander". The order on Houston came a day after the US Justice Department unveiled the indictment of two Chinese nationals for allegedly hacking hundreds of companies and attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research. The Justice Department then announced Thursday indictments of four Chinese researchers it said lied about their ties to the People's Liberation Army, with one escaping arrest by taking refuge in China's San Francisco consulate. Some two-dozen police were stationed in front of the Chengdu consulate -- which was surrounded by a waist-high barricade -- late Friday, according to an AFP journalist, with officers asking individuals taking photos to move along. Earlier, firecrackers were set off in front of the compound, according to images on state broadcaster CCTV, though one of its reporters added there was a wedding nearby and police at the scene were handling the matter. The two nations have increasingly tussled over a plethora of issues, including China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its efforts to quash a democracy movement in Hong Kong. In a video call with his German counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China still hopes to have mutually respectful cooperation with the US but stands ready to firmly safeguard its national sovereignty and dignity. "China will not follow the US's dance, but will also never tolerate the US's reckless behaviour," Wang said. The US administration has ratcheted up the rhetoric and taken increasingly strong actions in recent weeks, which many observers have said is part of President Donald Trump's strategy to win votes in the November elections. "Today, China is increasingly authoritarian at home, and more aggressive in its hostility to freedom everywhere else," Pompeo, who has helped to leads Trump's offensive, said on Thursday. "The free world must triumph over this new tyranny." The US has an embassy in Beijing as well as five consulates in mainland China, plus one in Hong Kong. The Chengdu consulate, established in 1985, covers the troublesome region of Tibet and has been at the centre of past controversy. In 2013, China demanded the US provide an explanation for a spying programme after news reports said a top-secret map leaked by fugitive intelligence analyst Edward Snowden showed surveillance facilities at Americans embassies and consulates worldwide -- with the Chengdu consulate among them. The Chengdu mission was also where senior Chinese official Wang Lijun fled in 2012 from his powerful boss Bo Xilai, who was then head of the nearby metropolis Chongqing. Victor Shih, associate professor of political science at UC San Diego, said that closing Chengdu instead of a higher profile US mission indicated it was trying to avoid derailing ties completely. "This response potentially allows the two sides to take a breather in this escalation, and provides room for the Trump administration to assess whether further straining ties with the US' largest trading partner in an economic downturn is advisable," Shih told AFP.

China launched a rover to Mars yesterday, a journey coinciding with a similar US mission as the powers take their rivalry into deep space.  The two countries are taking advantage of a period when Earth and Mars are favourably aligned for a short journey, with the US spacecraft due to lift off on July 30.  The Chinese mission is named Tianwen-1 (“Questions to Heaven”) – a nod to a classical poem that has verses about the cosmos.  Engineers and other employees cheered at the launch site on the southern island of Hainan as it lifted off into blue sky aboard a Long March 5 – China’s biggest space rocket. Site commander Zhang Xueyu declared the mission a success on state broadcaster CCTV.  The five-tonne Tianwen-1 is expected to arrive in February 2021 after a seven-month, 55-mn-km voyage.  The mission includes a Mars orbiter, a lander and a rover that will study the planet’s soil. “As a first try for China, I don’t expect it to do anything significant beyond what the US has already done,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. It is a crowded field. But the race to watch is between the United States and China, which has worked furiously to try and match Washington’s supremacy in space.  Nasa, the American space agency, has already sent four rovers to Mars since the late 1990s. The next one, Perseverance, is an SUV-sized vehicle that will look for signs of ancient microbial life, and gather rock and soil samples with the goal of bringing them back to Earth on another mission in 2031. Tianwen-1 is “broadly comparable to Viking in its scope and ambition”, said McDowell, referring to Nasa’s Mars landing missions in 1975-1976.  After watching the United States and the Soviet Union lead the way during the Cold War, China has poured billions of dollars into its military-led space programme. “China joining (the Mars race) will change the situation dominated by the US for half a century,” said Chen Lan, an independent analyst at GoTaikonauts.com, which specialises in China’s space programme. China has made huge strides in the past decade, sending a human into space in 2003.  The Asian powerhouse has laid the groundwork to assemble a space station by 2022 and gain a permanent foothold in Earth orbit.  China has already sent two rovers to the Moon. With the second, China became the first country to make a successful soft landing on the far side. The Moon missions gave China experience in operating spacecraft beyond Earth orbit, but Mars is another story.  The much greater distance means “a bigger light travel time, so you have to do things more slowly as the radio signal round trip time is large,” said McDowell. It also means “you need a more sensitive ground station on Earth because the signals will be much fainter,” he added, noting that there is a greater risk of failure. China has upgraded its monitoring stations in the far-western Xinjiang region and northeastern Heilongjiang province to meet the Mars mission requirements, state news agency Xinhua reported last week.  The majority of the dozens of missions sent by the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and India to Mars since 1960 ended in failure. Tianwen-1 is not China’s first attempt to go to Mars.  A previous mission with Russia in 2011 ended prematurely as the launch failed. Now, Beijing is trying on its own.  “As long as (Tianwen) safely lands on the Martian surface and sends back the first image, the mission will... be a big success,” Chen said.

China launched a rover to Mars on Thursday, a journey coinciding with a similar US mission as the powers take their rivalry into deep space. The two countries are taking advantage of a period when Earth and Mars are favourably aligned for a short journey, with the US spacecraft due to lift off on July 30. The Chinese mission is named Tianwen-1 ("Questions to Heaven") -- a nod to a classical poem that has verses about the cosmos. Engineers and other employees cheered at the launch site on the southern island of Hainan as it lifted off into blue sky aboard a Long March 5 -- China's biggest space rocket. Site commander Zhang Xueyu declared the mission a success on state broadcaster CCTV. The five-tonne Tianwen-1 is expected to arrive in February 2021 after a seven-month, 55-mn-km voyage. The mission includes a Mars orbiter, a lander and a rover that will study the planet's soil. "As a first try for China, I don't expect it to do anything significant beyond what the US has already done," said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. It is a crowded field. But the race to watch is between the United States and China, which has worked furiously to try and match Washington's supremacy in space. Nasa, the American space agency, has already sent four rovers to Mars since the late 1990s. The next one, Perseverance, is an SUV-sized vehicle that will look for signs of ancient microbial life, and gather rock and soil samples with the goal of bringing them back to Earth on another mission in 2031. Tianwen-1 is "broadly comparable to Viking in its scope and ambition", said McDowell, referring to Nasa's Mars landing missions in 1975-1976. After watching the United States and the Soviet Union lead the way during the Cold War, China has poured billions of dollars into its military-led space programme. "China joining (the Mars race) will change the situation dominated by the US for half a century," said Chen Lan, an independent analyst at GoTaikonauts.com, which specialises in China's space programme. China has made huge strides in the past decade, sending a human into space in 2003. The Asian powerhouse has laid the groundwork to assemble a space station by 2022 and gain a permanent foothold in Earth orbit. China has already sent two rovers to the Moon. With the second, China became the first country to make a successful soft landing on the far side. The Moon missions gave China experience in operating spacecraft beyond Earth orbit, but Mars is another story. The much greater distance means "a bigger light travel time, so you have to do things more slowly as the radio signal round trip time is large," said McDowell. It also means "you need a more sensitive ground station on Earth because the signals will be much fainter," he added, noting that there is a greater risk of failure. China has upgraded its monitoring stations in the far-western Xinjiang region and northeastern Heilongjiang province to meet the Mars mission requirements, state news agency Xinhua reported last week. The majority of the dozens of missions sent by the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and India to Mars since 1960 ended in failure. Tianwen-1 is not China's first attempt to go to Mars. A previous mission with Russia in 2011 ended prematurely as the launch failed. Now, Beijing is trying on its own. "As long as (Tianwen) safely lands on the Martian surface and sends back the first image, the mission will... be a big success," Chen said.

Small groups of Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrators gathered yesterday to mark the first anniversary of an attack in a train station by an armed crowd wearing white shirts, and demanded justice for victims of the violence and broader freedoms. The Yuen Long attack, and the police’s apparent failure to prevent it, exacerbated tensions during protests last year, plunging the global financial hub into its deepest crisis since Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Scattered individuals around the Yoho mall and Yuen Long train station chanted slogans including “Hong Kong independence, the only way out.” An elderly lady pasted small “HK Add Oil” stickers on to walls. Hundreds of riot police cordoned off areas and urged people not to gather because of coronavirus social distancing restrictions. Groups of youngsters roaming the malls cursed police from a distance and chanted: “Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our Times”, a slogan the government has warned might violate new national security laws. Police fired pepper spray during at least one skirmish. Yesterday’s protest followed the imposition of the new security laws by Beijing that have provoked international criticism and raised fears for the city’s liberties and autonomy under the so-called “one country, two systems” formula. Some protesters held blank sheets of paper to oppose the “evil” law they say has criminalised free speech. “I’ve had lots of feelings of disappointment in these past few weeks,” said Lok, an 18-year-old student dressed in a black shirt and shorts, conceding the turnout was less than he had hoped. “But Hong Kong people should still keep the revolutionary spirit, and fight for their freedoms.” Beijing says the law, which punishes what China broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, was needed to plug national security loopholes left by the city’s failure to pass such legislation on its own. Hong Kong authorities say it will help bring stability. On July 21 last year, 45 people were injured after more than 100 men in white swarmed the train station. Police have been criticised for not responding quickly enough to calls for help, and for not immediately arresting any alleged culprits at the scene. A recent documentary by public broadcaster RTHK showed the police had been aware of the white-shirted crowd gathering hours before the attack. Police later acknowledged plainclothes officers were present, but said investigations are continuing and further arrests were likely to be made. Protesters are still demanding justice. So far, 37 people have been arrested, with seven charged with participating in riots and conspiracy to injure others with intent. In May, an Independent Police Complaints Council report into the year-long protests found no evidence of collusion but identified deficiencies in police deployment during the incident.

Hundreds of cinemas reopened in scores of Chinese cities Monday after a six-month nationwide shutdown due to the coronavirus, highlighting its success in taming an epidemic still raging in parts of the world. But it will be an altered experience for moviegoers: online-only ticket sales, shuttered snack bars, and social-distancing during screenings as worries over Covid-19 persist. Cinemas can sell no more than 30 percent of available tickets per show, and seat-selection charts on leading ticketing apps indicated that in many theatres people will need to sit two seats apart. But none of that prevented 25-year-old movie fan Lu Yonghao taking a day off from his human-resources job at a Shanghai company. "I'm very excited. I haven't watched (a movie) in more than half a year, so I just decided to take today off and come experience it," he told AFP before taking his seat in a largely empty theatre. "I need to watch at least one movie a week to ease the pressures of life." Before opening, the cinema -- an outlet of the SFC chain, one of China's largest movie-theatre franchises -- underwent a through cleaning, with staff painstakingly wiping down seats and 3D glasses with disinfectant-soaked cloths. The cinema's manager Bao Yaopei said viewers had been regularly calling the front desk, asking when it might reopen. "Audiences have really been looking forward to this... to be able to enter cinemas, sit together with others and feel the happiness that movies bring." - Fears still linger - But coronavirus anxiety remains in the air, with cinemas in Beijing still closed for now. The capital did, however, lower its virus alert level beginning Monday after going more than two weeks without a new local infection, declaring that it had contained a cluster that emerged in June. That outbreak infected more than 330 people in the city and triggered a resumption of some restrictions seen earlier in the health crisis. Beijing's lowered alert will allow venues such as parks, museums, fitness centres and libraries to increase daily visitor traffic to 50 percent of normal capacity, and conferences of up to 500 participants can go ahead with proper safeguards in place. Chinese film authorities had announced in March that they would reopen cinemas, which were shut in late January, but swiftly reversed course after fresh clusters of cases were discovered across the country. Among the last businesses to reopen, cinemas have suffered a massive earnings hit. China's largest cinema chain, Wanda Film, said it expects to report a loss of at least 1.5 billion yuan ($214 million) for the first half of the year. Industry recovery will be slow due to lingering Covid-19 concerns and restrictions placed on movie houses, said Chinese producer and screenwriter Fang Li, who has three productions stuck in the pipeline due to the virus. "Even if commercial films are released after cinemas reopen, they will suffer more than 50 percent losses compared to before the epidemic," Fang said, predicting it could take a decade for the industry to fully recover. Illustrating the risks, a new outbreak emerged late last week in China's far-western Xinjiang region. The regional capital of Urumqi has since implemented mass health screenings and shut down most air traffic into the city and local public transport.

The deadly coronavirus is spreading out of control in Hong Kong with a record 100 new cases confirmed, the finance hub’s leader said yesterday as she tightened social distancing measures to tackle the sudden surge in infections. The finance hub was one of the first places to be struck by the virus when it emerged from central China.  But the city had impressive success in tackling the disease, all but ending local transmissions by late June.  However, in the last two weeks, infections have spiked once more and doctors fear the new outbreak is now spreading undetected in the densely packed territory of 7.5mn  people. Chief executive Carrie Lam said more than 500 infections had been confirmed in the last fortnight alone, nearly a third since the outbreak began.  Yesterday, 108 new infections were recorded by health authorities, a daily high for the finance hub, bringing the total to 1,886 cases. “I think the situation is really critical and there is no sign the situation is being brought under control,” Lam told reporters. Lam announced new social distancing measures last week, shuttering many businesses including bars, gyms and nightclubs, and ordering everyone to wear masks on public transport. Restaurants were ordered to only offer takeout services in the evenings.  Lam announced even more regulations, including plans to make it compulsory to wear masks inside any public indoor venue – and a new order for non-essential civil servants to work for home.  As hospital wards fill, officials are also scrambling to build a further 2,000 isolation rooms on barren land near the city’s Disneyland resort to monitor and treat those who test positive, she added.  Hong Kong was already mired in recession when the pandemic hit thanks to the US-China trade war and months of political  unrest last year. The new partial lockdown has compounded the economic  misery.  Lam called for landlords to look at lowering rents in the notoriously expensive city where inequality is rampant. She said further social distancing measures would be rolled out if the daily infection rate did not ease in coming days.  However, she said she was keen to avoid ordering people to remain at home. “We can’t just make a simple and extreme move to cut everything at once,” Lam said.  Authorities say testing will be ramped up, targeting high-risk populations such as taxi drivers and restaurant workers after clusters were found within their ranks. Some of the new infections have swept through elderly care homes, a major cause of concern given how deadly the  coronavirus is to older people. So far, 12 people have died after contracting the virus in Hong Kong – four in the last fortnight. Lam said officials would try to strike a balance between protecting health and keeping the economy partially afloat. “It’s hard to tell what kind of measures we will need to roll out... many places have ordered people to stay home,” she said.  “We haven’t adopted that in the last six months because we wanted to maintain a normal life for everyone.”