WASHINGTON: A US Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed through waters near the Paracel islands in the South China Sea challenging China's claim to the area, the Navy said on Wednesday (Apr 29).
The USS Barry undertook the so-called "freedom of navigation operation" on Tuesday, a week after Beijing upped its claims to the region by designating an official administrative district for the islands.
The US sought to assert the "rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea recognised in international law", the Navy said in a statement.
"Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose an unprecedented threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight and the right of innocent passage of all ships," it said.
The move came amid a rise in US-China tensions over the novel coronavirus epidemic, in which Washington has accused Beijing of hiding and downplaying the initial outbreak in December and January in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
The United States rejects China's territorial claim to much of the South China Sea, including the Paracels, also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.
The region is believed to have valuable oil and gas deposits.
In a statement on the People's Liberation Army website, the Chinese military said it had mobilised sea and air assets to track and warn the US vessel away from "Chinese territorial waters".
The PLA accused the United States of "provocative acts" that "seriously violated international law and China's sovereignty and security interests".
The US action was "also incompatible with the current joint efforts of international community to fight against the COVID-19", it said.
Last week China sought to further advance its territorial claims when it announced that the Paracel and nearby Spratly islands, the Macclesfield Bank and their surrounding waters would be administered under two new districts of Sansha city, which China created on nearby Woody Island in 2012.
It also announced official Chinese names for 80 islands and other geographical features in the South China Sea, including reefs, seamounts, shoals and ridges, 55 of them submerged in water.
KUALA LUMPUR: Two people from the same household will now be allowed to travel in the same car to purchase daily necessities, amid early signs of COVID-19 restrictions being eased in Malaysia.
Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in a daily press conference on Wednesday (Apr 29) that they will also be allowed to obtain their daily necessities, health and medical services beyond the travel limit, provided those services are not available within 10km from their residence.
“The standard operating procedure (SOP) before this only allowed travel for one person in the vehicle within a 10km radius, and beyond 10km with the police’s discretion,” he said.
Malaysia is currently enforcing a movement control order (MCO) that restricts domestic and international travel to rein in the spread of COVID-19.
The MCO, which came into effect on Mar 18, has been extended three times until May 12. Wednesday marked the start of the fourth phase of MCO.
A member of the Royal Malaysia Police checks a travel document during the Movement Control Order, limiting the activities of people in Malaysia as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 25, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Mohd Rasfan)
As of Wednesday, Malaysia recorded a total of 5,945 cases, with 100 deaths. Recovery rate was 68.75 per cent.
Attributing the plateauing of new infections to the MCO measures, Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said the country is entering the recovery phase.
Beginning Monday, students at higher education institutes, who have been confined to their campus hostels for over a month under the MCO, have also begun returning home in stages.
In the latest phase of MCO, economic sectors that were previously allowed to operate during the first three phrases can run at full operational capacity, according to an announcement by Senior Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali.
Effective from tomorrow (29 April 2020), companies that have received MITI's approval to operate during the MCO period are allowed to increase its operating capacity to 100% without limitation on operating hours. pic.twitter.com/iiiqI9J9Gt
Dr Noor Hisham said on Wednesday that the Ministry of Health would monitor the situation for up to four weeks before proposing to reopen the social and educational sectors.
"We suggested and proposed the economic sectors be reopened first. The social and educational sector, we'll delay a bit," he said.
SINGAPORE - Some people have been spreading fake news about the situation in foreign worker dormitories here, to incite fear, panic and even violence, said Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam on Wednesday (April 29).
These individuals, who the authorities understand are both local and foreign, have been circulating such falsehoods in the form of videos, photos and even doctored images of news channels, he said.
He cited a video clip that was circulating on social media platforms recently, claiming that a Bangladeshi worker had committed suicide in Singapore because of a lack of money and work.
Speaking to reporters via video conferencing on Wednesday, Mr Shanmugam said such falsehoods are being circulated online to create fear and panic among the foreign worker community of about 300,000 people.
"It's to create panic. It's to create unhappiness, anger, and hopefully violence," he said.
"And also to make our own people, Singaporeans, believe that... these foreign workers are being treated badly. It's a very malicious type of video."
He also noted that there was another video that was circulating of a fight in a dormitory between two men of South Asian origin.
"It was taken in a dorm in Dubai some time ago, but people try and pass it off as taken in Singapore," said Mr Shanmugam. The city of Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates, which hosts a migrant labour force of 8.7 million.
In another case, an audio recording was being circulated on text messaging platforms.
"Somebody supposedly working in Sembawang Shipyard, telling the Malay-Muslim community you better go and buy up because the Chinese are going to go into a panic buying mode, and there's a shortage of everything that you can think of," he said.
Old photos of food packets that have been served to foreign workers have also started re-circulating online, suggesting that the quality of food is bad, said Mr Shanmugam.
He added that the food issue has been dealt with by Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, and that food quality has "improved tremendously".
"But don't get me wrong, we are delivering several hundred thousand meals, three times a day for the workers. Majority of them tell us that the food quality is good. I'm not going to say to you therefore every single packet is good, or every single person is happy - not possible," Mr Shanmugam added.
But some people are deliberately re-circulating these old photos, or photos of food being thrown away in other countries, to encourage foreign workers here to "come out and complain, even when there is nothing to complain", he said.
"They don't realise that this is like playing with fire... You use falsehoods to foment trouble and make them angry, you don't know what might happen. There could be a serious law and order situation. This is serious, and we are looking at it seriously," said Mr Shanmugam.
The authorities will take action against people who deliberately spread such falsehoods. "When it's clearly criminal, we will charge them," he said.
Mr Shanmugam was also asked why a Singaporean man was charged in court on Monday, instead of being served a correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma), for allegedly posting false claims that supermarkets would only open two days a week as part of enhanced measures.
The man was charged with communicating a false message under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act. If convicted, he can be jailed for up to three years and fined up to $10,000.
Mr Shanmugam said the facts of the case fit with the charge, which was brought on the man on the advice of the Attornery-General’s Chambers.
“You look at the previous cases where Pofma was used... in the vast majority, probably, there was no other criminal offence,” he added.
“When it’s a criminal offence, we will take action along those lines... but if it crosses the threshold for Pofma, we will use Pofma.”
BANGKOK: The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will relax certain COVID-19 control measures in the Thai capital as its order to temporarily close venues with risks of infection comes to end on Thursday (Apr 30).
Its spokesperson Pongsakorn Kwanmuang said eight types of venues will be allowed to resume operations, including restaurants outside department stores and supermarkets, public and private parks, hair salons and barbershops, golf courses and driving ranges as well as sports venues for running, tennis and badminton.
Markets, clinics and pet grooming businesses are also in the list.
"The reopening date will correspond to the one that Thailand's Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration will announce in a day or two," Mr Pongsakorn said on Wednesday, following a meeting with the Bangkok Communicable Disease Committee.
According to Mr Pongsakorn, operators who will benefit from Bangkok's relaxation of its disease control measures will be required to follow various regulations to ensure hygiene and reduce risks of the COVID-19 transmission.
At restaurants, for instance, body temperature screening will be required before entry. Customers will be seated at least 1.5m from one another and no alcohol consumption or live bands will be allowed.
Toilets will need cleaning every hour while tables and chairs will have to be disinfected every time after each use. Air-conditioned eateries will have to open their doors and windows every two hours for cleaning and ventilation.
"Restaurant employees must tie their hair and wear gloves, caps, aprons, face masks and face shields. Any employee feels unwell, has a fever, cough or has a body temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius or higher must stop working and see a doctor," Mr Pongsakorn said, adding that restaurants inside department stores and supermarkets are not included in the partial relaxation.
For hair salons and barbershops, only cut, shampoo and blow-dry will be allowed.
Customers will be required to make a reservation in advance as queuing will not be allowed at the venue. Disinfection of equipment will have to take place after each use and each service can only last up to two hours before a cleaning break of at least 20 minutes.
As for parks, Mr Pongsakorn said they can be used for exercises that do not require social gathering such as running and cycling. Football, basketball, aerobic dance or tai chi practice will not be allowed due to potential risks of infection.
On Wednesday, Thailand reported nine new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 2,947. So far, 2,665 patients have been discharged from hospitals and 54 have died. Thailand has been reporting single-digit increase in daily new cases since Monday.
SEOUL (BLOOMBERG) - For about as long as North Korea has existed, Kim Pyong Il has been considered a possible successor to the throne. And now, with his nephew Kim Jong Un's health status unclear, his name is being bandied about again.
Mr Kim Pyong Il, 65, is the last known surviving son of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung. After losing out in the 1970s to his half-brother, Kim Jong Il - who ended up running the country from 1994 to 2011 - Mr Kim Pyong Il spent about four decades overseas in diplomatic posts including in Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic before returning to Pyongyang last year.
Although Mr Kim Pyong Il has been effectively sidelined - he was largely purged from state media and never developed enough power back home to mount a serious challenge for leadership - some North Korea watchers say he could end up taking over from the 36-year-old Kim Jong Un, who hasn't named a successor. This is mainly because he has Kim blood, and he's a man.
The conservative male leaders in Pyongyang would resist giving power to Ms Kim Yo Jong - Mr Kim Jong Un's younger sister who has been by his side helping to make policy the past few years - according to Mr Thae Yong Ho, who was North Korea's deputy ambassador to the UK before he defected to South Korea in 2016. That's due to her gender and relatively young age of 30.
"The problem is that a Kim Yo Jong-led North Korea is unlikely to be sustainable," Mr Thae said, warning that collective leadership with her as the figurehead could lead to chaos. "To avoid this, some in the leadership would try to bring back Kim Pyong Il, who's now under house arrest, to the centre of the power."
Others don't think Mr Kim Pyong Il has a chance. South Korean ruling party lawmaker Kim Byeong-ki, a member of Parliament's intelligence committee, said on Sunday on social media that there was no indication he could possibly succeed Mr Kim Jong Un if the leader were incapacitated: "I laugh off these theories."
North Korea has often exiled those who fall out of favour, sending them abroad in attempts to erase their influence, but also providing a financial lifeline that keeps them dependent on Pyongyang's rulers.
If Mr Kim Pyong Il took power, it could put a great number of the current top leadership in jeopardy after they spent decades working to suppress his influence. When Mr Kim Jong Un took power after his father's death in 2011, he soon eliminated potential rivals: He executed his uncle and one-time deputy, Mr Jang Song Thaek, and was suspected to have ordered the assassination of his exiled older half-brother, Mr Kim Jong Nam, in Malaysia.
The fact that Mr Kim Pyong Il survived the purges in the ruling family may indicate that Mr Kim Jong Un never saw him as a credible rival, keeping him in the foreign service and at arm's length for years. In 2015, he was named North Korea's ambassador to the Czech Republic and was given extra protection in 2017 when Mr Kim Jong Nam was murdered.
Mr Kim Pyong Il kept a low profile while he was in Europe, though he still made an impression. Mr Lubomir Zaoralek, who was the Czech Republic's foreign affairs minister from 2014 through 2017, said "his style and manner were as if he had come from South Korea".
"You could see that he was established in Europe and that he has lived his life here," Mr Zaoralek said. "He was always careful in what he had to say, but it always made perfect sense. And it seemed that he lived a much freer life here than other North Koreans."
Mr Kim Pyong Il returned to Pyongyang last November, so that Mr Kim Jong Un could keep a closer watch on him, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing intelligence sources.
He has been the subject of speculation for decades in South Korea in unverified reports about family intrigue, often including house arrests and attempted assassinations. Before his years abroad, he served in the army, commanding an elite body guard unit, and also was appointed to posts in the ruling party, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry.
His mother Kim Song Ae - the second wife of the state founder - was influential in the 1970s and pushed for Mr Kim Pyong Il to take power. But she soon fell out of favour after Mr Kim Jong Il was named successor.
Mr Kim Pyong Il is largely seen as a contender this time by those who discount Ms Kim Yo Jong due to her age and gender, according to Ms Rachel Minyoung Lee, a former North Korea analyst with the United States government.
"It is highly unlikely that he has the connections or the support base he needs to be the next North Korean leader," she said. "Kim Yo Jong has a special status in the regime, and I think in this case, her connection to the Kim family trumps her gender."
KUALA LUMPUR: When Mel Youlanda had fever and severe gastric pain one evening, she feared that she had contracted COVID-19.
She wanted to head to the nearest hospital to get tested or at least see a doctor at a nearby clinic, but she simply could not.
The 41-year-old from Sabah lives in Menara City One condominium, one of Malaysia’s designated COVID-19 red zones.
The apartment complex, located in Kuala Lumpur’s city centre, has been placed under enhanced movement control order (MCO) since Mar 30 after a resident who was linked to the Sri Petaling Mosque tabligh gathering cluster tested positive for COVID-19.
So far, a total of 54 COVID-19 cases have been reported at the condominium and one resident, a Pakistani national, has died. The rest of the residents like Youlanda have been forced to remain inside their apartment units for the last month.
The area is tightly guarded by armed police and army personnel patrolling the condominium entrances to ensure that no unauthorised personnel come into the area and residents do not leave.
“I am scared. Everybody is afraid,” she said in a phone interview with CNA.
“When I was sick, I had to call the condominium management, and it was late at night so they told me I had to wait until 8am the next day to see a doctor,” she recounted.
NO ACCESS TO 24/7 MEDICAL SERVICES
She explained that all residents who wanted to see a doctor were told they could only do so between 8am and noon each day at the ground floor.
“My pain at my stomach was bad so I pleaded for a doctor but they insisted that I only come down the next morning,” she recounted.
“I’m worried because what if this was a real emergency, would we still need to wait until the next day? It’s a nightmare, I don’t know what else to say,” she added.
Mel Youlanda received medication after seeing the doctor the next morning. But before that, she had to endure severe gastric pain for more than 12 hours. (Photo: Mel Youlanda)
She eventually met the doctor the following morning and got medication to treat her stomach flu. However, some of her other neighbours with more pressing needs for medical care were not so lucky.
Youlanda recalled how one of her close friends, who lived on a different floor, ended up giving birth at the condominium’s lift lobby due to a delay in emergency medical services arriving.
The woman had called for an ambulance at 6.30am after her water bag burst but it only arrived at 8am, she claimed.
All entrances at Menara City One are guarded by armed personnel. (Photo: Menara City One - People's Voice/ Facebook)
“If we were not under lockdown, someone could have driven her to the hospital but all the residents were locked in. So, she gave birth downstairs while waiting for the ambulance,” she said.
“We need the health ministry to take this seriously. Although we are quarantined, we cannot be denied access to emergency health care services.”
She stressed that it was important for residents to have access to doctors 24 hours a day, especially since the residents are at risk of contracting COVID-19.
NO FRUITS, VEGETABLES OR FRESH MEAT
Youlanda lives with five other people in her condominium unit, including two children. All of them are tenants of the unit.
She highlighted that one of the biggest issuse she and her housemates face is that they have not been able to consume wholesome and healthy meals since the enhanced MCO was enforced.
As they are not able to do their own groceries, she said that they would collect food supplies distributed by the authorities. But the supplies mainly comprised uncooked rice, flour, sugar, eggs, canned sardine and instant noodles.
Each apartment unit is required to send a volunteer to the seventh floor to collect grocery supplies provided by government officials. (Photo: Mel Youlanda)
“We had hoped for vegetables, fruits like papayas or bananas, chicken and fresh fish but we got none of this. There’s no point having many plates of rice when there’s no wholesome dishes to accompany them,” she said.
“My stomach would get upset after every meal, eating the same thing. And with instant noodles, it’s just not healthy to be eating them on a regular basis."
As there was no variety in the food provided, she and her housemates would have only one “proper meal” a day, usually comprising rice, eggs and sardine. For the rest of the day, they make do with bread or biscuits.
When asked if she could make requests for the officials to help make specific purchases for the residents, Youlanda said it was difficult to convey these requests as face-to-face communication was restricted to limit the spread of COVID-19.
A sample of a meal provided comprising of rice, some vegetables and sambal. (Photo: Mel Youlanda)
“Beside fruits and vegetables, I’d also like to request for things like shampoo, soap and detergent to keep me and my house clean. But I’m not so sure how we can convey this to the officials,” she added.
She stated that whenever the authorities were distributing food supplies, only one person from each household was allowed to leave the unit to collect them. Moreover, in her experience, the officials did not have much time to take requests from individual units to purchase specific groceries.
Earlier this month, Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that food will be provided for residents held within enhanced MCO premises.
Additionally, he maintained that all residents will be able to obtain essential items by placing a request with the operations centre within the premises.
OVERCROWDING OF RESIDENTS A CONCERN
Overcrowding of residents at Menara City One condominium at centralised locations recently gained national attention, after photos of residents queueing in line to be tested for COVID-19 went viral on social media.
In the photos, the residents were seen standing shoulder to shoulder in long queues.
Speaking in a press conference on Saturday (Apr 25), Malaysian Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said the overcrowding at the condominium was a concern. He noted that the implementation of the testing could have been improved to ensure that residents practiced social distancing.
He added that residents were told to come down in batches. However, in a statement reported by local media, condominium residents and the management committee maintained that health ministry officials had demanded that they come down together at once for screening.
When asked, Youlanda said that residents in her unit were luckily not among those who were asked to be tested. However, she still fears that she may be tested positive.
“I heard news that one by one of our neighbours had tested positive, and one person I know is in critical condition. It’s not easy to live like this,” she said.
To take her mind off the stressful situation, she would clean her house, surf the internet and talk to her housemates.
She works for a law firm but she admitted that her job is the least of her concerns at the moment.
“I haven’t been able to do any work while in quarantine, so I don’t think I’ll be getting the full salary for this coming month. But I don’t really know, I have not been in contact with my superiors since the MCO,” she said.
What she looks forward to most is being able to buy her own necessities, when the restrictions are eventually lifted.
The Menara City One condominium was placed under enhanced movement control order from Mar 30. (Photo: Polis KL/Facebook)
Malaysia’s nationwide MCO, which began on Mar 18, has since been extended until May 12.
However, she admitted that it would be “wishful thinking” to assume that the enhanced MCO on Menara City One condominium would be lifted together with the nationwide MCO.
“I think we’ve got a long way to go before freedom. The number of cases here is still above 50. If more people get discharged and hopefully there are no more new cases, we can look forward to it,” she said.
SEOUL (BLOOMBERG) - For about as long as North Korea has existed, Kim Pyong Il has been considered a possible successor to the throne. And now, with his nephew Kim Jong Un's health status unclear, his name is being bandied about again.
Kim Pyong Il, 65, is the last known surviving son of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung. After losing out in the 1970s to his half-brother, Kim Jong Il - who ended up running the country from 1994 to 2011 - Kim Pyong Il spent about four decades overseas in diplomatic posts including in Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic before returning to Pyongyang last year.
Although Kim Pyong Il has been effectively sidelined - he was largely purged from state media and never developed enough power back home to mount a serious challenge for leadership - some North Korea watchers say he could end up taking over from the 36-year-old Kim Jong Un, who hasn't named a successor. This is mainly because he has Kim blood, and he's a man.
The conservative male leaders in Pyongyang would resist giving power to Kim Yo Jong - Kim Jong Un's younger sister who has been by his side helping to make policy the past few years - according to Thae Yong Ho, who was North Korea's deputy ambassador to the UK before he defected to South Korea in 2016. That's due to her gender and relatively young age of 30.
"The problem is that a Kim Yo Jong-led North Korea is unlikely to be sustainable," Thae said, warning that collective leadership with her as the figurehead could lead to chaos. "To avoid this, some in the leadership would try to bring back Kim Pyong Il, who's now under house arrest, to the centre of the power."
Others don't think Kim Pyong Il has a chance. South Korean ruling party lawmaker Kim Byeong-ki, a member of parliament's intelligence committee, said on Sunday on social media that there was no indication he could possibly succeed Kim Jong Un if the leader were incapacitated: "I laugh off these theories."
North Korea has often exiled those who fall out of favour, sending them abroad in attempts to erase their influence, but also providing a financial lifeline that keeps them dependent on Pyongyang's rulers.
If Kim Pyong Il took power, it could put a great number of the current top leadership in jeopardy after they spent decades working to suppress his influence. When Kim Jong Un took power after his father's death in 2011, he soon eliminated potential rivals: He executed his uncle and one-time deputy, Jang Song Thaek, and was suspected to have ordered the assassination of his exiled older half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, in Malaysia.
The fact that Kim Pyong Il survived the purges in the ruling family may indicate that Kim Jong Un never saw him as a credible rival, keeping him in the foreign service and at arm's length for years. In 2015, he was named North Korea's ambassador to the Czech Republic and was given extra protection in 2017 when Kim Jong Nam was murdered.
Kim Pyong Il kept a low profile while he was in Europe, though he still made an impression. Lubomir Zaoralek, who was the Czech Republic's foreign affairs minister from 2014 through 2017, said "his style and manner were as if he had come from South Korea."
"You could see that he was established in Europe and that he has lived his life here," Zaoralek said. "He was always careful in what he had to say, but it always made perfect sense. And it seemed that he lived a much freer life here than other North Koreans."
Kim Pyong Il returned to Pyongyang last November, so that Kim Jong Un could keep a closer watch on him, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing intelligence sources.
He has been the subject of speculation for decades in South Korea in unverified reports about family intrigue, often including house arrests and attempted assassinations. Before his years abroad, he served in the army, commanding an elite body guard unit, and also was appointed to posts in the ruling party, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry.
His mother Kim Song Ae - the second wife of the state founder - was influential in the 1970s and pushed for Kim Pyong Il to take power. But she soon fell out of favour after Kim Jong Il was named successor.
Kim Pyong Il is largely seen as a contender this time by those who discount Kim Yo Jong due to her age and gender, according to Rachel Minyoung Lee, a former North Korea analyst with the U.S. government.
"It is highly unlikely that he has the connections or the support base he needs to be the next North Korean leader," she said. "Kim Yo Jong has a special status in the regime, and I think in this case, her connection to the Kim family trumps her gender."
