International

The deadly coronavirus is spreading out of control in Hong Kong with a record 100 new cases confirmed, the finance hub's leader said Sunday 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 7.5 million people. On Sunday chief executive Carrie Lam said more than 500 infections had been confirmed in the last fortnight alone, nearly a third of the 1,788 cases since the outbreak began. More than 100 were confirmed on Sunday, a record daily high for the finance hub. "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. On Sunday 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. On Sunday, 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 twelve people have been 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."

Hong Kong on Saturday set new conditions for incoming travellers from countries deemed high risk, which mean arrivals need an official certificate to prove they have tested negative for Covid-19. The new measures, effective from midnight (1600 GMT) next Saturday, were announced as Hong Kong grapples to stop a new wave of infections spreading, with dozens of new cases being reported daily. Hong Kong has seen a total of 1,714 coronavirus infections and 11 deaths. The newly gazetted conditions will affect travellers who have visited Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, and South Africa in the 14 days before arriving in Hong Kong, with the aim of stamping-out the number of imported cases. Hong Kong's government expressed concern at the 234 imported cases there were reported between 20 June and 27 July. Those entering the territory will need to produce a letter or certificate with the name of a health care provider or laboratory who ran the test that shows the result as negative. An official letter from a government certifying approval of the laboratory of health care institution is also required, as well as confirmation of a hotel booking for 14 days.  Aircraft operators are tasked with giving a document to the Department of Health before arrival that confirms travellers being checked in for flights to Hong Kong have produced the relevant documentation. Violations are punishable by fines of 50,000 Hong Kong dollars (650 US dollars) for operators and 10,000 Hong Kong dollars for passengers, with the possibility of up to six months imprisonment for both.

Large parts of China were reeling yesterday from the worst floods in decades, as disruption mounted for supply chains, including for personal protective equipment (PPE), vital in the fight against the novel coronavirus.  The central city of Wuhan and the provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang declared red alerts as heavy rain swelled rivers and lakes. Wuhan, on the banks of the Yangtze river where the novel coronavirus emerged late last year, warned residents to take precautions as water levels fast approached their maximum guaranteed safety level. The summer rainy season brings floods to China almost every year but the impact of the disruption they cause is being felt further afield as Chinese goods become more important in global supply chains for various items, including PPE. “It’s just creating another major roadblock here in terms of PPE getting into the United States - it is the worst of times for it to happen but that’s what we’re dealing with right now,” said Michael Einhorn, president of Dealmed, a US medical supply distributor, which sources disposable lab coats and other products from Wuhan and nearby regions. “We cannot get product out for over a week, which is a very long time in our business,” he said, adding that the delays could last up to three weeks. Xiantao, just west of Wuhan, is China’s biggest manufacturer of nonwoven fabrics used in PPE production.  A third of China’s total exports of nonwoven fabric products are from the city. With the relentless rain, more misery seems inevitable.  The giant Three Gorges reservoir, which has been holding back more water to try to ease downstream flood risks, is more than 10m higher than its warning level, with inflows now at more than 50,000cu m a second.  The Poyang lake in Jiangxi province, which is formed from the overspill of the Yangtze, is 2.5m higher than its warning level. It has expanded by more than 2,000sq km during thus flood season, and parts of the surrounding town have been inundated.

Beijing’s tough new security law and President Donald Trump’s order to rescind special trading privileges have blunted Hong Kong’s competitive edge and risk turning the finance hub into just another Chinese city, analysts warn.  Once lauded as an oasis of predictability in Asia, semi-autonomous Hong Kong has been plunged into crisis over the past year, threatening its status as a reliable world-class business centre.  As 2019 came to a close, the city was already deep in recession because of spiralling US-China trade tensions and months of huge, often violent pro-democracy protests.  And the jolts to business sentiment have not let up. Late last month Beijing blanketed the city in a game-changing anti-subversion law aimed at ending protests against its increasingly authoritarian rule.  Then on Tuesday – in response to that law – Trump announced that Hong Kong would no longer have preferential trade treatment.  He also signed a law that will sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for cracking down on dissent.  While analysts and multi-nationals knew the move to strip the city of its trading privileges was coming, some were taken aback by the breadth of the executive order that followed.  “This turned out to be much more wide-ranging and less targeted than I hoped it would be – and it looks like Hong Kong will suffer as much as mainland China,” Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, told AFP.   The order ends preferential treatment for Hong Kong passports, revokes licence exceptions for certain exports, suspends Washington’s extradition agreement with the city and stops any joint police training. It also terminates the Fulbright scholar exchange programme. The sanctions against Chinese officials came from a bill passed with bipartisan support – an illustration of how Beijing’s response to Hong Kong’s protests has united Washington’s bitterly divided politics.  “Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China – no special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies,” Trump said.  Banks have a year-long grace period to stop doing business with Chinese officials deemed to be “primary offenders” in undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy.  “We can see that banks are going through their client lists and those who are sanctioned are also expected to close accounts on their own,” Andy Kwan, director of the ACE Centre for Business and Economic Research, told AFP.   Both China and Hong Kong’s government denounced Washington’s move on Wednesday, vowing some sort of reciprocal response.  That sets the stage for American businesses in either China or Hong Kong to face counter-measures.  “(US) acts are hypocritical and will certainly cause very serious damage to American companies and citizens,” Hong Kong’s government said. While the precise impact of the new restrictions will take time to manifest, Julia Friedlander from the Atlantic Council said the latest measures “erect trade barriers and sever deeply integrated financial ties for Hong Kong with the United States”.  “This will have a devastating impact on Hong Kong as the financial gateway to Western markets and will also, by necessity, raise the profile of mainland Chinese markets for international firms and governments looking to finance global supply chains out of Asia,” she added. The Trump administration has so far avoided the “nuclear option” that US media report had been discussed within the administration – undermining the Hong Kong dollar’s peg to the greenback.  Pro-Beijing figures in Hong Kong shrugged off the ending of trade privileges.  “It will only drive more Hong Kong people to rely more and more on mainland China for support for our prosperity and stability,” Regina Ip, a leading pro-Beijing lawmaker, told Bloomberg.  Last week, city leader Carrie Lam pointed to the city’s stock market as proof the business community was not worried. Since Beijing’s national security law was first publicly mooted in late May the Hang Seng index has risen more than 10%, aided by an influx of mainland investment. But it remains one of the world’s worst performers, down 11% over the past year, compared with a 2.8% gain in MSCI’s index of world stocks, according to Bloomberg News.   Given the huge international investments in Hong Kong, few are predicting a sudden capital flight. “It will take time and processes will be run before decisions will be made and implemented by multi-nationals with Hong Kong operations,” Tsang said.   But the double-whammy of Beijing’s security law and Trump’s increasingly hardline stance towards Beijing will make Hong Kong less attractive compared with cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen, he predicted. “It must raise questions in the minds of international business people as to whether Hong Kong still offers an edge over a competitive mainland city.”

Hong Kong reimposed social distancing measures yesterday to combat a sudden spike in coronavirus infections, banning more than four people from gathering in public and requiring passengers to wear face masks on public transport or risk a $650 fine. Some businesses will also be closed and restaurants restricted over when they can serve diners. The finance hub was one of the first places to be struck by the coronavirus when it emerged from central China. The city has had impressive success in tackling the disease with just over 1,400 infections and eight deaths. In the last two months, local transmissions had all but ended. However, in the last two weeks a cluster of 180 local infections has emerged and officials believe the disease is spreading undetected in the densely populated city of 7.5mn. Yesterday, city leader Carrie Lam announced fresh anti-virus measures.  Alongside a ban on more than four people gathering in public, restaurants will only be able to serve takeaway food from 6pm to 5am, however they can still serve those eating in for breakfast and lunch. Twelve types of businesses including bars, pubs, gyms, beauty salons, nightclubs and karaoke venues must close. Hong Kongers have widely adopted face masks to deal with the pandemic but on Monday authorities made wearing face coverings on public transport mandatory for the first time. Those who refuse to wear masks face a HK$5,000 ($650) fine.  “This is a time for tightening,” Lam told reporters, adding the measures would be reviewed every seven days. The announcement is a new body blow to the city’s economy, which was already mired in recession before the pandemic hit. Last year Hong Kong was battered by both the increasingly aggressive US-China trade war and seven straight months of huge and often violent pro-democracy protests. Health secretary Sophia Chan said officials were trying to “strike a balance” between social distancing and keeping businesses open. Earlier in the day officials announced a 95-year-old woman had died of coronavirus, the city’s eighth victim.

Hong Kong will tighten social distancing measures again from Wednesday amid growing worries about a third wave of coronavirus infections, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said. The government will limit group gatherings to four people -from 50 - a measure last seen during a second wave in March. Twelve types of establishments, including gyms and gaming centres, must shut down for a week. Restaurants will only be allowed to give out takeaway after 6.00 p.m. The Chinese-ruled city recorded 52 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, including 41 that were locally transmitted, health authorities said. Since late January, Hong Kong has reported 1,522 cases and local media reported an eighth death on Monday. "Unless we have an effective vaccine which can be widely used in the community, we may need to co-exist with the virus for a period of time," Lam told a news conference on Monday. The measures were the result of a three-way tug of war between considerations related to public health, economic impact and social acceptability, she said. Lam also said civil servants will work flexible hours and that wearing face masks will be mandatory on public transport. Earlier on Monday, the organiser of the Hong Kong Book Fair, which draws about one million visitors annually, said the event due to start on Wednesday will be postponed to a later, unspecified date due to the coronavirus. At least three other July fairs and expos were also postponed. Hong Kong's Education Bureau on Friday announced the suspension of all schools from this week. 

As many as 33 rivers in China have risen to their highest levels in history during the current wave of floods, a senior water ministry official said on Monday, as regions across the country brace for another ‘grim’ week of torrential rain. Ye Jianchun, vice minister of water resources, told a briefing that 433 rivers - as well as major lakes like the Dongting, the Poyang and the Tai - have all risen beyond their warning levels since the flood season began in June. ‘Going into the key flood-prevention period of late July to early August, the current trends remain grim on the Yangtze and the Lake Tai basins,’ he said, adding that the belts of heavy rain that have lashed central China would eventually head north. Average rainfall has been at its highest since records began in 1961. The emergency ministry said last Friday that 141 people were dead or missing, with economic losses at around 60 billion yuan ($8.57 billion). Flood-control authorities throughout the Yangtze basin have already declared ‘red alerts’ that cover major population centres such as Xianning, Jiujiang and Nanchang. A red alert has also been declared at the Poyang lake, where water levels are more than 3 metres higher than normal, another record high. In some flood-stricken regions, soldiers filled sandbags to shore up riverbanks and stave off more damage. Town streets were inundated, and rescue workers waded through hip-deep water with inflatable boats to reach people trapped in homes turned into islands. According to water ministry data, warning levels were breached at more than 70 flood-monitoring stations on Monday. Water levels at the Three Gorges reservoir, which cut its discharge volumes for a fifth time on Saturday to ease downstream water levels, have now hit 153.2 metres, 6.7 metres higher than the warning level. China's weather bureau said that although some regions in the southwest would see a temporary respite from the heavy rain on Monday, central and eastern China would continue to bear the brunt of the storms.

Thirteen prominent Hong Kong democracy activists appeared in court on Monday charged with holding an unauthorised gathering to mark the Tiananmen Square crackdown, the latest in a string of prosecutions against protest leaders in the restless financial hub. Last month tens of thousands of Hong Kongers defied a ban on rallies to mark the June 4 anniversary of Beijing's deadly 1989 crackdown against students pushing for democracy. The annual vigil has been held in Hong Kong for the last three decades and usually attracts huge crowds. It has taken on particular significance in recent years as the semi-autonomous city chafes under Beijing's increasingly authoritarian rule. This year's vigil was banned for the first time with authorities citing coronavirus measures. At the time local transmission had largely been halted. But thousands turned out to hold candles in their neighbourhoods and in Victoria Park, the traditional site of the vigil. Police later arrested 13 leading activists who appeared at the Victoria Park vigil. All appeared in court on Monday to be formally charged with ‘inciting’ an unlawful assembly, which carries up to five years in jail. Among them are Jimmy Lai, the millionaire owner of the openly pro-democracy Apple newspaper, veteran democracy activists such as Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho as well as young campaigner Figo Chan. When asked if he understood the charge, Lee invoked the hundreds who were killed by Chinese tanks and soldiers at Tiananmen. ‘This is political persecution,’ he said. ‘The real incitement is the massacre conducted by the Chinese Communist Party 31 years ago.’ Some of those charged on Monday -- and many other leading democracy figures -- face separate prosecutions related to last year's huge and often violent pro-democracy protests. China's leaders have rejected calls to give Hong Kongers universal suffrage and portrayed the protests as a plot by foreigners to destabilise the motherland. Earlier this month Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law aimed at stamping out the protests once and for all. The law targets subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion, with sentences including life in prison. But its broad phrasing -- such as a ban on encouraging hatred towards China's government -- has sent fear rippling through a city used to being able to speak its mind. Police have arrested people for possessing pro-independence or autonomy material, libraries and schools have pulled books, political parties have disbanded and one prominent opposition politician has fled. The law bypassed Hong Kong's legislature and its contents were kept secret until the moment it was enacted. It empowered China's security apparatus to set up shop openly in Hong Kong for the first time, while Beijing has also claimed jurisdiction for some serious national security cases -- ending the legal firewall between the mainland the city's independent judiciary. China has also announced global jurisdiction to pursue national security crimes committed by anyone outside of Hong Kong and China, including foreigners. , the latest in a string of prosecutions against protest leaders in the restless financial hub. Last month tens of thousands of Hong Kongers defied a ban on rallies to mark the June 4 anniversary of Beijing's deadly 1989 crackdown against students pushing for democracy. The annual vigil has been held in Hong Kong for the last three decades and usually attracts huge crowds. It has taken on particular significance in recent years as the semi-autonomous city chafes under Beijing's increasingly authoritarian rule. This year's vigil was banned for the first time with authorities citing coronavirus measures. At the time local transmission had largely been halted. But thousands turned out to hold candles in their neighbourhoods and in Victoria Park, the traditional site of the vigil. Police later arrested 13 leading activists who appeared at the Victoria Park vigil. All appeared in court on Monday to be formally charged with ‘inciting’ an unlawful assembly, which carries up to five years in jail. Among them are Jimmy Lai, the millionaire owner of the openly pro-democracy Apple newspaper, veteran democracy activists such as Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho as well as young campaigner Figo Chan. When asked if he understood the charge, Lee invoked the hundreds who were killed by Chinese tanks and soldiers at Tiananmen. ‘This is political persecution,’ he said. ‘The real incitement is the massacre conducted by the Chinese Communist Party 31 years ago.’ Some of those charged on Monday -- and many other leading democracy figures -- face separate prosecutions related to last year's huge and often violent pro-democracy protests. China's leaders have rejected calls to give Hong Kongers universal suffrage and portrayed the protests as a plot by foreigners to destabilise the motherland. Earlier this month Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law aimed at stamping out the protests once and for all. The law targets subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion, with sentences including life in prison. But its broad phrasing -- such as a ban on encouraging hatred towards China's government -- has sent fear rippling through a city used to being able to speak its mind. Police have arrested people for possessing pro-independence or autonomy material, libraries and schools have pulled books, political parties have disbanded and one prominent opposition politician has fled. The law bypassed Hong Kong's legislature and its contents were kept secret until the moment it was enacted. It empowered China's security apparatus to set up shop openly in Hong Kong for the first time, while Beijing has also claimed jurisdiction for some serious national security cases -- ending the legal firewall between the mainland the city's independent judiciary. China has also announced global jurisdiction to pursue national security crimes committed by anyone outside of Hong Kong and China, including foreigners.

More than half a million Hong Kong people voted in primaries held by pro-democracy parties to choose candidates for upcoming legislative elections, organisers said yesterday.   The high turnout for the unofficial poll came despite a government warning that it could be in breach of a tough new security law imposed on the city by Beijing.  Tens of thousands queued in the intense summer heat at more than 250 polling stations across the city for the two-day vote which opened hours after police raided an opinion pollster helping to conduct the primaries. After polls closed at 9pm yesterday, organisers said more than 580,000 people had cast their ballots in the digital voting system.  “Under the cloud of the national security law, nearly 600,000 people came out and voted - this is where we can see the courage of Hong Kong people,” former legislator and organiser Au Nok-hin said.   The winning candidates are expected to be announced today evening after all the votes are tallied and be endorsed to run for seats in the city’s 70-member legislature in September.  On Thursday, constitutional and mainland affairs minister Erick Tsang warned that those “organising, planning and participating” in the primary might commit offences of succession, subversion and colluding with foreign forces under the new security law, according to interviews given to a select few pro-Beijing newspapers.   Despite the warning, hundreds of thousands flocked to cast their ballots. “I really love Hong Kong,” Au said. “Hong Kong people have again created a miracle and again told the world that our pro-democratic camp can attract so many to vote.” Beijing imposed the security law on Hong Kong last week targeting acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, in response to huge and often violent democracy protests that erupted last year.   Similar national security laws are used to crush dissent on the mainland and police in Hong Kong have already arrested people voicing certain political views now deemed illegal, such as advocating independence or greater autonomy.  Police late Friday night raided the office of Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), a prominent opinion pollster that was helping the pro-democracy camp to conduct the primary. Police claimed they were responding to a report that PORI computers had been hacked, resulting in an unlawful leak of personal information. The raid raised concerns over the primary but PORI president Robert Chung said the voting system was safe and its operation was legal and transparent.

Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens queued to cast ballots over the weekend in what the Chinese-ruled city's opposition camp says is a symbolic protest vote against tough national security laws directly imposed by Beijing. The unofficial poll will decide the strongest pro-democracy candidates to contest Legislative Council elections in September, when they aim to ride a wave of anti-China sentiment stirred by the law to seize control for the first time from pro-Beijing rivals. While the primaries are only for the opposition camp, observers are watching closely as they say the turnout will serve as a test of broader opposition to the law, which critics say will gravely undermine the city's freedoms. "A high turnout will send a very strong signal to the international community, that we Hong Kongers never give up," said Sunny Cheung, 24, one of a batch of aspiring young democrats out lobbying and giving stump speeches. "And that we still stand with the democratic camp, we still support democracy and freedom." Defying warnings from a senior Hong Kong official that the vote might fall foul of the national security law, residents young and old flocked to over 250 polling stations across the city, manned by thousands of volunteers. Long queues formed down streets, in residential estates and at businesses-turned-polling stations, with people casting an online ballot on their mobile phones after having their identities verified. Organisers said 500,000 people had voted by late afternoon on Sunday, in the city of 7.5 million. The full turnout is expected to be announced on Monday morning after two full days of voting this weekend. The law punishes what China describes broadly as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison and allows mainland security agents to operate officially in Hong Kong for the first time. Despite this tactical vote to maximise their chances, some pro-democracy activists fear authorities will try to stop some candidates from running in September's election. "They can arrest or disqualify any candidate they don't like under the national security law without a proper reason," said Owen Chow, a young democratic "localist" candidate. At a time when Hong Kong authorities have barred public marches and rallies for months on end amid coronavirus social restrictions, and arrested individuals for shouting slogans and holding up blank sheets of paper, the vote is being seen as a crucial and rare window for populist expression. "It's a proxy referendum against the national security law," said Democratic lawmaker Eddie Chu outside a metro station. 

Chinese vaccine developer CanSino Biologics is in talks with Russia, Brazil, Chile and Saudi Arabia to launch a Phase III trial of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine, its co-founder said on Saturday. China's success in driving down Covid-19 infections has made it harder to conduct large-scale vaccine trials, and so far only a few countries have agreed to work with it. "We are contacting and Russia, Brazil, Chile and Saudi Arabia (for the Phase III trial) and it's still in discussion," Qiu Dongxu, executive director and co-founder of CanSino, told an anti-viral drug development conference in Suzhou, in eastern China. He said its Phase III trials were likely to start "pretty soon," and the company plans to recruit 40,000 participants for the tests. Its Covid-19 candidate Ad5-nCov became the first in China to move into human testing in March but is running behind other potential vaccines in terms of trial progress. Two experimental vaccines developed by Sinovac Biotech and a unit of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) are already approved for Phase III trials. Qiu said its Phase II trials involving 508 people have yielded "much better" results than Phase I about the vaccines safety and ability to trigger immune response. He did not disclose specific evidence. He said its new factory under construction in China will allow it to produce 100-200 million doses of coronavirus vaccines per year by early 2021. China's military, whose research unit is co-developing the vaccine candidate, approved its military use last month, while Sinopharm's two experimental shots are offered to employees at state-owned firms travelling overseas. Zeng Guang, former chief epidemiologist at Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the conference that Chinese construction groups overseas in particular are keen to take experimental vaccines. He also said discussion should start whether to launch emergency inoculation of experimental vaccines "right now." There are no approved vaccines yet for Covid-19, a respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, which has killed more than half a million people globally.

Hong Kong's opposition camp set up polling booths across the Chinese-ruled city on Saturday for primary elections aimed at selecting democracy candidates who stand the best chance of success in Legislative Council elections in September. The primaries come less than two weeks after Beijing imposed sweeping national security legislation on the Asian financial hub, stoking concerns that wide-ranging freedoms not seen in mainland China will be crushed. The law punishes what China describes broadly as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with up to life in prison and allows mainland security agents to operate officially in Hong Kong for the first time. On the eve of the primaries, police searched the office of independent pollster Robert Chung, whose Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (HKPORI) helps organise the election, raising concerns among activists of interference in the poll. ‘The primary election is our first time to let Beijing know Hong Kongers never bow down to China,’ said pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong ahead of the opening of polling booths at noon (0400 GMT). ‘We urge the world to put Hong Kong under the global spotlight.’ While the primaries are only for the opposition camp, observers are watching closely as they say the turnout at the election will serve as a litmus test of broader opposition to the national security law. The election seeks to bolster the chance for democracy candidates to achieve a 35-plus majority in the 70-seat legislature in polls on September 6, potentially giving them power to block government proposals. Hong Kong's opposition camp secured a landslide victory in district council elections in November, riding on support for an anti-government protest movement triggered by a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial. Protests that escalated in June last year and evolved into calls for greater democracy have fizzled since police arrested more than 300 people on July 1, the day after Beijing introduced the national security law.

A recent coronavirus outbreak in Beijing sowed fears of a second wave of infections in China, but officials appear to have beat back the disease with a new targeted strategy.   Authorities did not repeat the drastic nationwide shutdown seen when the virus first spread from Wuhan earlier this year.   Instead, they sealed off a limited number of residences and focused on mass testing, eventually screening more than half of the capital’s 21mn people.  This approach seems to have paid off, with reported cases falling to single digits each day by early July and zero in the past three days.  Here is a look at how China brought the new outbreak under control:    How did the outbreak begin?    China went to great lengths to protect its capital at the height of the pandemic, redirecting incoming flights to other cities and requiring visitors to undergo quarantine and virus tests.  But by early June, with just a handful of active cases across the country, Beijing had relaxed many of its restrictions and locals were no longer made to wear masks outdoors.   The emergence of a new patient on June 11 shocked the city.  Most of the 335 subsequent cases were traced to the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale market in southern Beijing, which was swiftly closed. Thousands of people were placed under quarantine and 11mn people were tested for the virus.  The city banned outbound travel by residents living in at-risk areas and required others to show negative Covid-19 test results in order to leave. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the outbreak, but early tests found traces of the virus on a cutting board at Xinfadi used to process imported salmon.    How has China’s handling  of the pandemic evolved?    After the virus first began to spread from Wuhan, China imposed a strict lockdown of the city and surrounding Hubei province in January that confined nearly 60mn people to their homes. But in last month’s outbreak, Beijing used what city authorities called “precise control” to lock down residential areas one neighbourhood at a time. All food and beverage workers across the city were required to take virus tests and some bars were ordered to shut.  Most malls and restaurants in parts of the city where no cases had been detected were allowed to remain open, however.  The city focused on tracing and rapidly isolating everyone who had potentially been exposed to the virus.  Volunteers went door to door across the city, asking residents if they had been in contact with people who may have been exposed to the virus.  The tracking took on a dystopian tone at times. Some residents were ordered to take virus tests after authorities used security camera footage of their car licence plates to determine that they had been near the market.   For that reason and others, Beijing is unlikely to serve as a model for other countries dealing with their own second-wave outbreaks.   “Nobody has the resources, capabilities, determination and financial ability, and of course social capital, to do this except China,” Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious disease specialist at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, told AFP.     Is this the ‘new normal’?    China’s economy was hit hard by the lockdowns brought in to curb the initial spread of the virus.  That has made the country’s communist government wary of one-size-fits-all shutdowns like the ones it imposed earlier this year.   “The country is unlikely to revert to old ways unless there is a more serious outbreak,” IHS Markit senior economist Yating Xu told AFP.   Even at the peak of the latest outbreak, Beijing officials avoided closing the city’s tourist sites and hotels.

China opened a new office yesterday for its intelligence agents to operate openly in Hong Kong for the first time under a tough new security law, in a public display of its tightening control over the finance hub.   The new base is located in a rapidly converted hotel overlooking the city’s Victoria Park, a location that has hosted pro-democracy protests for years, including an annual vigil marking Beijing’s deadly Tiananmen crackdown.  A plaque bearing the security agency’s name was unveiled in front of Hong Kong government and mainland officials — including Beijing’s top envoy to the city and the commander of the Chinese army barracks in Hong Kong.   Police blocked roads around the former Metropark Hotel and surrounded it with water-filled barriers. A Chinese flag was unfurled on a pole erected outside the building while a plaque with the national emblem went up overnight.  City leader Carrie Lam —  a pro-Beijing appointee — hailed the opening as “a historic moment” and said China’s intelligence apparatus would be an “important partner” in helping to safeguard national security. Luo Huining, Beijing’s top envoy to Hong Kong, said the city had “bade farewell to the days when it was defenceless in national security”. Beijing imposed the new law on Hong Kong last week targeting acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion, in response to huge and often violent democracy protests that erupted last year. The law is the most radical change in Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy since Britain handed the city back to China in 1997.   Similar national security laws are used to crush dissent on the mainland and police in Hong Kong have already arrested people voicing certain political views now deemed illegal, such as advocating independence or greater autonomy.  The content of the security law was kept secret until it was enacted last Tuesday, bypassing Hong Kong’s legislature. China has said it will have jurisdiction over the most serious cases, toppling the legal firewall that has existed between its Communist Party-controlled courts and Hong Kong’s independent judiciary since the handover.   Among many precedent-setting provisions in the law is authorisation for China’s security agents to work openly inside Hong Kong, with powers to investigate and prosecute national security crimes. Until now Hong Kong’s own police and judiciary had complete jurisdiction over the semi-autonomous finance hub. But China argues national security is the responsibility of the central government and says the law is needed to restore stability.  On the authoritarian mainland, China’s secret police are the spear tip of a highly efficient and ruthless security apparatus that pursues critics and scrubs the public sphere of dissent.  In his speech, Luo rejected criticism of the mainland legal system, saying “the Chinese mainland has a healthy legal system and a sound environment for the rule of law”. Observers have regularly raised concerns about due process in the country, where the courts have a conviction rate of about 99%. Last week Beijing appointed Zheng Yanxiong to head up the agency. A party hardliner, Zheng is best known for his involvement in a clampdown against protests across the border in neighbouring Guangdong province.  One of his deputies is Li Jiangzhou, a veteran public security officer who has worked in the Liaison Office, the body that represents Beijing in Hong Kong. Little is known about the other, Sun Qingye.  Last week the ‘South China Morning Post’ described Sun as a senior official from China’s intelligence agency, according to government sources.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew on Friday into the northern border region where Indian and Chinese troops are locked in a stand-off, and said the military stood ready to defend his country. His comments prompted Beijing to call for restraint at the tense border area in the northern Himalayan region of Ladakh. Modi, making his first trip to the Ladakh region since the Indian army lost 20 soldiers in a clash with Chinese soldiers last month, said his country's commitment to peace should not be seen as a sign of weakness. "Today India is becoming stronger, be it in naval might, air power, space power and the strength of our army. Modernization of weapons and upgradation of infrastructure has enhanced our defence capabilities multifold," he said in a speech to soldiers near Leh, the regional capital. India says Chinese troops have intruded across the Line of Actual Control, or the ceasefire line separating the two armies in the high altitude Ladakh region, and the clash on June 15 occurred because Chinese troops sought to erect defences on India's side of the de facto border. China says the whole of the Galwan valley where the clash occurred is its territory and that it was frontline Indian troops that had breached the border, which is not demarcated. China's foreign ministry said on Friday the two countries were holding talks to reduce tensions. Spokesman Zhao Lijian, responding to a question about Modi's visit to the border region, said both sides were in communications through diplomatic and military channels to ease the situation. "In these circumstances, neither side should take actions that might complicate the border situation," he said at a daily news briefing in Beijing. The most serious crisis on the India-China border in years has erupted while Beijing is embroiled in disputes over the South China Sea, Taiwan and its tightening grip over Hong Kong, which have all fanned fears of an expansionist policy. Modi referred to expansionism in his speech to soldiers, saying it caused problems. "(The) Prime Minister said that the time for expansionism is over. This is the era of development," the Indian government quoted Modi as saying, in a press release. "He recalled that it is this mindset of expansionism that did great harm." In a separate development, India's power ministry stipulated that Indian companies will need government permission to import power supply equipment and components from China, amid rising military tensions between the two countries.

Hong Kong police arrested more than 300 people yesterday – including nine under China’s new national security law – as thousands defied a ban on protests on the anniversary of the city’s handover to China. Police used water cannon, pepper spray and tear gas throughout in a series of confrontations with protesters, a day after China drew global criticism for imposing the controversial legislation on the financial hub.  Beijing said the law would restore stability after nearly a year of unrest, but instead it sparked the worst street violence in months. Police said one officer was stabbed in the shoulder as he tried to make an arrest. Under the new law, certain political views and symbols became illegal overnight – including showing support for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang and Tibet independence.  Details released by police yesterday accused those arrested under the new legislation of possessing independence flags, stickers and flyers. “Advocacy for independence of Hong Kong is against the law,” security minister John Lee told reporters.  Still, many of those protesting yesterday chanted independence slogans – itself now against the law. “What this authoritarian regime wants to do is to terrorise the people and stop them from coming out,” Chris To, a 49-year-old protester, said.  Opprobrium over the law poured in from critics and western governments – led by the United States and Britain – over fears the law will usher in a new era of mainland-style political repression.  Under a deal ahead of the 1997 handover from Britain, China guaranteed Hong Kong civil liberties as well as judicial and legislative autonomy until 2047 in a formula known as “One Country, Two Systems”. British foreign secretary Dominic Raab said the law breached that agreement, a registered treaty.  Britain also said it would push ahead with previously announced plans to extend a possible path to citizenship for some three million Hong Kongers. Washington’s top envoy vowed unspecified counter-measures. “(China) promised 50 years of freedom to the Hong Kong people and gave them only 23,” Mike Pompeo said.  Beijing said foreign countries should keep quiet about the law, while Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam hailed the legislation as the “most important development” since the city’s return to Beijing’s rule. After huge and often violent pro-democracy protests last year, authorities have shown zero tolerance for even peaceful rallies in recent months. Gatherings of more than 50 people are banned anyway under anti-coronavirus regulations – even though local transmissions have ended.  But the July 1 anniversary has long been a polarising day in the city. Beijing loyalists celebrate Hong Kong’s return to the Chinese motherland after a century and a half of what they consider humiliating colonial rule by Britain. Early Wednesday helicopters flew across Victoria Harbour carrying Chinese and Hong Kong flags, while a barge chugged past hailing the law in giant Chinese characters on scaffolds. Democracy advocates have long used handover date to hold rallies as popular anger towards Beijing swells – although this year’s event was banned for the first time in 17 years. During huge pro-democracy demonstrations last year, the city’s legislature was besieged and trashed by protesters. The “One Country, Two Systems” formula helped cement Hong Kong’s status as a world-class business hub, bolstered by an independent judiciary and political freedoms unseen on the mainland.  But critics have long accused Beijing of chipping away at that status and describe the new security law as the most brazen move yet. It was passed in just six weeks, skipping Hong Kong’s fractious legislature, and the precise wording was kept secret until it came into effect late Tuesday. It outlaws subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces to undermine national security, with sentences of up to life in prison. It also topples the legal firewall that has existed between the city’s judiciary and the mainland’s party-controlled courts. China will have jurisdiction over “serious” cases and its security agencies will also be able to operate publicly in the city for the first time. Another provision also claims universal jurisdiction for national security crimes committed beyond Hong Kong or China.  Canada warned citizens in Hong Kong that they faced an increased risk of arbitrary detention or even extradition to China. Authorities in Taiwan opened a new office to deal with Hong Kongers seeking refuge. Beijing says the law will not end Hong Kong’s freedoms but critics have little faith in those assurances, given how similar national security laws are routinely used on the mainland to crush dissent.

China has asked four US media organisations to submit details about their operations in the country, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, in what it described as retaliation for US measures against Chinese media outlets. The Associated Press (AP), UPI, CBS and National Public Radio (NPR) are required to provide information about their staff, financial operations and real estate in China within seven days, ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily news briefing. "We urge the US to immediately change course, correct its error, and desist (from) the political suppression and unreasonable restriction of Chinese media," Zhao said. The United States and China have been locked in a series of retaliatory actions involving journalists in recent months, amid increasing tensions over issues ranging from the coronavirus pandemic to Hong Kong. Last month, the United States said it would start treating another four major Chinese state media outlets as foreign embassies, following similar measures taken by Washington earlier in the year. That designation similarly required the outlets to report their personnel and real estate holdings. In March, China expelled about a dozen US journalists from the New York Times, the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. At the time, it also asked those outlets, as well as broadcaster Voice of America and Time magazine, to provide details on their China operations. That had followed Washington's move to slash the number of journalists permitted to work in the United States for four major Chinese state-owned media outlets. "NPR is in communication with the relevant authorities and we are studying the request," said an NPR spokesperson. The AP said in a statement that it was "seeking more information about the requirements announced today and will review them carefully". CBS and UPI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In May, Washington limited visas for Chinese reporters to a 90-day period, with the option for extension. Previously, such visas were typically open-ended.

* Thousands defy police ban to protest new law * Pro-Beijing politicians welcome city's 'second return' * Britain describes new protests as heartbreaking * Pompeo calls new law an affront to all nations Hong Kong police fired water cannon and tear gas and arrested more than 300 people on Wednesday as protesters took to the streets in defiance of sweeping security legislation introduced by China to snuff out dissent. Beijing unveiled the details of the much-anticipated law late on Tuesday after weeks of uncertainty, pushing China's freest city and one of the world's most glittering financial hubs on to a more authoritarian path. As thousands of protesters gathered for an annual rally marking the anniversary of the former British colony's handover to China in 1997, riot police used pepper spray and fired pellets as they made arrests after crowds spilled into the streets chanting "resist till the end" and "Hong Kong independence". "I’m scared of going to jail but for justice I have to come out today, I have to stand up," said one 35-year-old man who gave his name as Seth. Police said they had made more than 300 arrests for illegal assembly and other offences, with nine involving violations of the new law. The law punishes crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, will see mainland security agencies in Hong Kong for the first time and allows extradition to the mainland for trial. China's parliament adopted the law in response to protests last year triggered by fears that Beijing was stifling the city's freedoms, guaranteed by a "one country, two systems" formula agreed when it returned to Chinese rule. Beijing denies the accusation. Hong Kong police cited the law in confronting protesters. "You are displaying flags or banners/chanting slogans/or conducting yourselves with an intent such as secession or subversion, which may constitute offences under the ... national security law," police said in a message displayed on a purple banner. Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong have repeatedly said the legislation is aimed at a few "troublemakers" and will not affect rights and freedoms, nor investors' interests. But critics fear it will end the pro-democracy opposition and crush freedoms, including an independent legal system and right to protest, that are seen as key to Hong Kong's success as a financial centre. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the new law was an affront to all nations and Washington would continue to implement President Donald Trump's directive to end the territory's special status. Britain said it would stand by its word and offer all those in Hong Kong with British National Overseas status a "bespoke" immigration route. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab described Wednesday's protests as heartbreaking and reprimanded HSBC and other banks for supporting the new law, saying the rights of Hong Kong should not be sacrificed for bankers' bonuses. Britain and Canada also updated their travel advisories for Hong Kong, saying there was an increased risk of detention. A former employee of the British consulate in Hong Kong, Simon Cheng, said he had been granted political asylum by the British government after being beaten by Chinese secret police last year in mainland China during 15 days of detention. In a post on Facebook after the enactment of the national security law, he said he hoped other Hong Kong people would be offered protection by Britain. Police fired water cannon to try to disperse the protesters. A game of cat and mouse reminiscent of last year's often violent demonstrations followed, with protesters blocking roads before running away from riot police charging with batons, only to re-emerge elsewhere. Police posted pictures on Twitter of an officer with a bleeding arm saying he was stabbed by "rioters holding sharp objects". The suspects fled while bystanders offered no help, police said. On July 1 last year, hundreds of protesters stormed and vandalised the city's legislature to protest against a bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. Those protests evolved into anti-China demonstrations and calls for democracy, paralysing parts of the city and paving the way for Beijing's new law. 'BIRTHDAY GIFT' In Beijing, Zhang Xiaoming, executive deputy director of Beijing's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told reporters suspects arrested by a new Beijing-run security office could be tried on the mainland. He said the new office abided by Chinese law and that Hong Kong's legal system could not be expected to implement the laws of the mainland. Article 55 of the law states that Beijing's security office in Hong Kong could exercise jurisdiction over "complex" or "serious" cases. "The law is a birthday gift to (Hong Kong) and will show its precious value in the future," Zhang said, adding the law would not be applied retroactively. Speaking at a flag-raising ceremony to mark the handover, the city's Beijing-backed leader, Carrie Lam, said the law was the most important development since 1997. "It is also an inevitable and prompt decision to restore stability," Lam said at the harbour-front venue where the last colonial governor, Chris Patten, a staunch critic of the security law, tearfully handed back Hong Kong to China. Some pro-Beijing officials and political commentators say the law is aimed at sealing Hong Kong's "second return" to the motherland after the first failed to bring residents to heel. Luo Huining, the head of Beijing's top representative office in Hong Kong, said at the ceremony the law was a "common aspiration" of Hong Kong citizens. Some pro-democracy activists gave up membership of their groups just before the law came into force on Tuesday, though they called for the campaign to carry on from abroad. "I saw this morning there are celebrations for Hong Kong's handover, but to me it is a funeral, a funeral for 'one country two systems'," said pro-democracy lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki.

* China parliament body passes HK security law * HK leader says inappropriate for her to comment * US begins removing HK special status * Joshua Wong quits pro-democracy group Demosisto * Activists plan to defy police ban on July 1 rally China's parliament passed national security legislation for Hong Kong on Tuesday, setting the stage for the most radical changes to the former British colony's way of life since it returned to Chinese rule 23 years ago. State media is expected to publish details of the law - which comes in response to last year's often-violent pro-democracy protests in the city and aims to tackle subversion, terrorism, separatism and collusion with foreign forces - later on Tuesday. Amid fears the legislation will crush the global financial hub's rights and freedoms, and reports that the heaviest penalty under it would be life imprisonment, prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong said he would quit his Demosisto group. ‘It marks the end of Hong Kong that the world knew before,’ Wong said on Twitter. The legislation pushes Beijing further along a collision course with the United States, Britain and other Western governments, which have said it erodes the high degree of autonomy the city was granted at its July 1, 1997, handover. The United States began eliminating Hong Kong's special status under US law on Monday, halting defence exports and restricting the territory's access to high-technology products. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, speaking at her regular weekly news conference, said it was not appropriate for her to comment on the legislation as the meeting in Beijing was still going on, but she threw a jibe at the United States. ‘No sort of sanctioning action will ever scare us,’ Lam said. Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of a think-tank under the Beijing cabinet's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told Reuters the law was passed unanimously with 162 votes. It is expected to come into force imminently. The editor-in-chief of the Global Times, a tabloid published by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party, said on Twitter the heaviest penalty under the law was life imprisonment, without providing details. Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong have repeatedly said the legislation is aimed at a few ‘troublemakers’ and will not affect rights and freedoms, nor investor interests. 'OVERPOWERING' The legislation may get an early test with activists and pro-democracy politicians saying they would defy a police ban, amid coronavirus restrictions, on a rally on the anniversary of the July 1 handover. At last year's demonstration, which came amid a series of pro-democracy protests, a crowd stormed and vandalised the city's legislature. ‘We will never accept the passing of the law, even though it is so overpowering,’ said Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai. It is not clear if attending the unauthorised rally would constitute a national security crime if the law came into force by then. A majority in Hong Kong opposes the legislation, a poll conducted for Reuters this month showed, but support for the protest movement has slipped, now getting the backing of a slim majority. This month, China's official Xinhua news agency unveiled some of the law's provisions, including that it would supersede existing Hong Kong legislation and that interpretation powers belong to China's parliament top committee. Beijing is expected to set up a national security office in Hong Kong for the first time and could also exercise jurisdiction on certain cases. Judges for security cases are expected to be appointed by the city's chief executive. Senior judges now allocate rosters up through Hong Kong's independent judicial system. It is not known which specific activities are to be made illegal, how precisely they are defined or what punishment they carry. Hong Kong is one of many developing conflicts between China and the United States, on top of trade, the South China Sea and the coronavirus pandemic. Britain has said the security law would violate China's international obligations and its handover agreement. A Japanese official said that if the law had been passed, it was ‘regrettable’. Democratically ruled and Chinese-claimed Taiwan said it ‘strongly condemns’ the legislation and its president, Tsai Ing-wen, said she was very disappointed. The European Union has said it could take China to the International Court of Justice in The Hague over it. China has hit back at the outcry, denouncing ‘interference’ in its internal affairs.

Chinese authorities are carrying out forced sterilisations of Uighur and other ethnic minority women in an apparent campaign to curb the population, a study said Monday, triggering swift international condemnation. China called the allegations baseless but the United States demanded an immediate end to the campaign described in the report, which was based on a combination of official regional data, policy documents and interviews with ethnic minority women. China is accused of locking more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities in re-education camps. Beijing describes the facilities as job training centres aimed at steering people away from terrorism following a spate of violence blamed on separatists. Now a report by Adrian Zenz, a German researcher who has exposed China's policies in Xinjiang, says Uighur women, among other ethnic minorities, are being threatened with internment in the camps for refusing to abort pregnancies that exceed birth quotas. Zenz's data-driven work -- which uses public documents found by scouring China's internet -- on the camps has previously been cited by experts on a UN panel investigating the facilities. Women who had fewer than the legally permitted limit of two children were involuntarily fitted with IUDs, says the report. It also reports that some of the women said they were being coerced into receiving sterilization surgeries. Former camp detainees said they were given injections that stopped their periods, or caused unusual bleeding consistent with the effects of birth control drugs. Government documents studied by Zenz also showed that women in some rural minority communities in the region received frequent mandatory gynaecological exams and bi-monthly pregnancy tests from local health officials. Zenz found that population growth in Xinjiang counties predominantly home to ethnic minorities fell below the average growth in primarily Han majority counties between 2017 and 2018, a year after the officially recorded rate of sterilizations in the region sharply overtook the national rate in 2016. Uighur activists say China is using the internment camps to conduct a massive brainwashing campaign aimed at eradicating their distinct culture and Islamic identity. China appears to be using coercive birth control in Xinjiang as part of a "wider game plan of ethno-racial domination," Zenz wrote in the report. "These findings raise serious concerns as to whether Beijing's policies in Xinjiang represent, in fundamental respects, what might be characterized as a demographic campaign of genocide" under UN definitions, Zenz said in the report. The US State Department called the campaign "reminiscent of the abuses against members of ethnic and religious minority groups throughout the 20th century." "We call on the Chinese Communist Party to immediately end these horrific practices and ask all nations to join the United States in demanding an end to these dehumanizing abuses," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a frequent critic of Beijing, said in a statement. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a group of North American, European and Australian members of parliament from a range of political parties, said in a statement it would push for a legal investigation on "whether or not crimes against humanity or genocide have taken place" in Xinjiang. IPAC was formed in June with a stated mission of standing up against "challenges posed by the present conduct and future ambitions of the People's Republic of China." Britain said it was aware of reports which "add to our concern about the human rights situation in Xinjiang". "Of course we will be considering this report very carefully," junior foreign office minister Nigel Adams told parliament. China's foreign ministry said the allegations were "baseless" and showed "ulterior motives." Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian blasted media outlets for "cooking up false information on Xinjiang-related issues," saying at a regular press briefing that Xinjiang is "harmonious and stable." The rights group World Uyghur Congress said the report showed a "genocidal element of the CCP's (Chinese Communist Party) policies" and called in a statement for international action to confront China.