BEIJING: China berated New Zealand on Monday (May 11) for its support for Taiwan's participation at the World Health Organization (WHO), saying the country should "stop making wrong statements" on the issue to avoid damaging bilateral ties.
Taiwan, with the strong support of the United States, has stepped up its lobbying to be allowed to take part as an observer at next week's World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's decision-making body, to China's anger.
Taiwan is excluded from the WHO due to the objections of China, which views the island as one of its provinces. Taiwan says this has created a dangerous gap in the COVID-19 fight, and has accused the WHO of bending to Chinese pressure.
New Zealand's finance and foreign ministers last week backed a role for the Taiwan at the WHO.
Speaking at a daily news conference in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said New Zealand's comments were a severe violation of the "one China" principle, which states that Taiwan is part of China.
"We express our strong dissatisfaction with the statements and resolutely oppose it, and we have already made stern representations with New Zealand," Zhao said.
The "one China" principle is the political foundation of China and New Zealand's relationship, he added.
"China urges New Zealand to strictly abide by the 'one China principle' and immediately stop making wrong statements on Taiwan, to avoid damaging our bilateral relationship."
China has denounced Taiwan's WHO attempts as a political stunt aimed at promoting the island's formal independence, and said it will fail in its efforts.
In Taipei, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told parliament on Monday that in order to be able to break through China's influence on the body there needed to be "even stronger international lung power".
"This year's international atmosphere is relatively beneficial for Taiwan's participation, and so the pressure on the WHO secretariat and China is greater and greater," Wu said.
Taiwan attended the WHA as an observer from 2009-2016 when Taipei-Beijing relations were warmer.
China blocked further participation after the election of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, whom China views as a separatist, an accusation she rejects.
China says it has the right to represent Taiwan on the international stage, and it and the WHO say Taipei has been provided with all the help and information it needs during the pandemic, something Taiwan disputes.
Taiwan has reported only 440 COVID-19 cases and seven deaths, thanks to early and effective disease prevention and control work.
JAKARTA: Hundreds of people in central Jakarta gathered on Sunday night (May 10) to say their goodbyes to Indonesia’s first McDonald’s outlet, in what some have said was a potential violation of COVID-19 restrictions.
Sarinah, a state-owned shopping centre where the flagship outlet was located, announced last week that the whole building would undergo renovation starting next month.
The shopping centre is also adjusting its retail mix in favour of Indonesian franchises as well as small and medium enterprises when the renovation is completed in 2021.
After nearly 30 years in business, the McDonald’s outlet at the Sarinah shopping centre closed its doors at 10.05pm on Sunday.
Videos and photos circulating on social media showed several hundred people flocking to the outlet’s parking lot to watch employees close the shop for the last time.
In one video, the workers were seen bowing to the cheering crowd before a man was heard shouting “McDonald’s Sarinah".
McDonald’s Indonesia also live-streamed the store’s closing on its Instagram account.
MEMORABLE PLACE
Since McDonald's announced the closure of the outlet on May 8, Indonesians have been tweeting their fond memories of the restaurant, loved for being a hangout that operated round the clock.
Terlalu banyak cerita dan juga kenangan yang pernah kita lewati bersama di sini. Mulai dari berbagi kesedihan sampai kebahagiaan.
McDonald's Sarinah - Thamrin menjadi McDonald's pertama di Indonesia dan hampir 30 tahun hadir untuk membagi kebahagiaan untuk semua. pic.twitter.com/3ZLNClIHKz
— McDonald's Indonesia (@McDonalds_ID) May 7, 2020
“It is a place for late-night chit-chat, early morning meet up with friends ... (A place) to chill out when electricity is out at my rented room, a restaurant visited on the first day of Idul Fitri,” Twitter user Santy Tobing said in response to the announcement.
“Too many fond memories at McD Sarinah. Thank you and sayonara.”
Mulai dr tempat: curhat malam ketemu subuh sama temen, janjian dan pdkt sm gebetan, ngadem pas listrik kos mati, resto yg dikunjungi di hari pertama lebaran krn nda mudik, terlalu banyak kenangan di McD Sarinah. Makasih dan sayonara 😔🙏💙
The outlet, which first opened on Feb 23, 1991, was located on the busy Thamrin street, at the heart of Jakarta where government offices and multinational companies are located.
However, its strategic location also meant that the store served as a silent witness to countless protests and riots nearby. It also witnessed a terror attack in 2016 and a series of demonstrations surrounding Indonesia’s 2019 presidential election.
Mdm Syully Subrata, 54, said the outlet was packed with people looking to bid farewell when she went on Saturday afternoon.
“I had so many fond memories there,” she told CNA.
As a child, she said her parents often took her to Sarinah, Indonesia’s first shopping mall opened in 1967.
“When McDonald’s opened its outlet in Sarinah, it was my turn to take my children there,” she said. “It was close to where I lived so that was where I met my friends. It was so strategic it became a meeting point and a place to hang out after work.”
Mdm Syully Subrata posing in front of McDonald's Sarinah, on Saturday (May 9, 2020), a day before the iconic outlet closes. (Photo: Syully Subrata)
Mdm Subrata said she took her two sons there to take selfies. “I wanted to go in, but it was so packed inside with lines spilling into the parking lot, I decided not to. I was afraid of COVID-19. So we just stayed outside,” she said.
“But unexpectedly some of my friends had similar ideas. In total, I met eight friends by chance at the complex. We all wanted to bid our farewell to our beloved restaurant.”
Indonesians were quick to point out that the gathering could have been a violation of the government’s large-scale social restrictions that have been imposed to curb COVID-19.
The order, known in Indonesia by its acronym PSBB, bars a gathering of more than five people while all restaurants can only serve take-outs. It was estimated that the crowd had numbered more than 300.
“Hopefully a McD Sarinah cluster would not emerge … How can a gathering of this many people not get disbanded?” tweeted the Indonesian Pedestrian Coalition, a non-government organisation campaigning for pedestrian rights.
Indonesian film director Joko Anwar also criticised the gathering. "Was a gathering like this in the middle of a pandemic really necessary?" he said.
McD Sarinah got a special place in our memories, but seriously @McDonalds_ID was a gathering like this in the middle of a pandemic really necessary? The place could've gone in a sweet tone. But this is really tone deaf. Shame.
When asked by CNA, Central Jakarta police chief Heru Novianto said that police will not fine anyone for violating the social restrictions order.
“It was their last chance to buy food at the restaurant, and people flocked there. They were there to buy food although some lingered until the restaurant was officially closed,” the senior commissioner said.
“It was an impromptu gathering, so it was not the restaurant’s or anyone’s fault. Besides, the gathering only lasted for a brief moment and people were wearing masks and kept a safe distance.”
By law, the maximum penalty for violating the social restrictions order is one year in prison or 100 million rupiah (US$6,695) fine.
FILE PHOTO: People wearing protective face mask practice social distancing while receiving rice from an automated rice ATM distributor amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread in Jakarta, Indonesia May 4, 2020. REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana
Chief of Jakarta’s Public Order Agency, Mr Arifin said officials were immediately deployed to the outlet when the gathering occurred.
“We knew about the gathering because our patrol car passed through the area. It took us half an hour before the crowd was able to be dispersed,” Mr Arifin, who like many Indonesians goes with one name, was reported as saying by Indonesian media.
“I personally came to the location to question the management. According to the restaurant, the gathering was unplanned and the crowd came unexpectedly,” he added.
“Regardless, I reprimanded the restaurant. There should be no more gatherings or ceremonies during the PSBB order."
McDonald’s Indonesia has not commented on the incident.
WUHAN (XINHUA) - An official has been sacked in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province after the city recently reported six new confirmed Covid-19 cases, local authorities said on Monday (May 11).
Mr Zhang Yuxin was removed from his posts for poor management over the closing-off and control of the Sanmin residential community, which is under the jurisdiction of Changqing Street, where Zhang served as secretary and member of the Changqing Street working committee of the Communist Party of China.
Wuhan reported a total of six new confirmed Covid-19 cases on Saturday and Sunday. All the patients are from the Sanmin residential community. The community had previously reported 20 confirmed Covid-19 cases.
BEIJING: Wuhan, the original epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, reported on Monday (May 11) its first cluster of infections since a lockdown on the central Chinese city was lifted a month ago, stoking concerns of a wider resurgence of the disease.
The new infections add a layer of caution to efforts to lower coronavirus-related restrictions across China as businesses restart and individuals go back to work.
Wuhan reported five new confirmed cases, all of whom live in the same residential compound. One of them was the wife of an 89-year-old male patient reported a day earlier in the first confirmed case in the city since Apr 3.
All of the latest confirmed cases were previously classified as asymptomatic, people who test positive for the virus and are capable of infecting others but do not show clinical signs such as a fever.
The number of asymptomatic cases in China is not known, as they only appear on the radar of health officials when they show up positive during tests conducted as part of contact tracing and health checks.
China does not include asymptomatic cases in its overall tally of confirmed cases, currently at 82,918, until they exhibit signs of infection. Mainland China has reported 4,633 deaths.
Hundreds of asymptomatic cases in Wuhan, which was released on Apr 8 from a months-long lockdown, are currently being monitored, according to the city's health authority.
The number of new cases reported in China since April has been small compared with the thousands confirmed each day in February, thanks to a nationwide regime of screening, testing and quarantine.
The government said on Friday that China will gradually reopen cinemas, museums and other recreational venues, though restrictions including mandatory reservations and a limit on numbers will be in place.
Shanghai has already reopened some night entertainment venues such as discotheques. Walt Disney on Monday reopened its Shanghai Disneyland park, though to a reduced number of visitors.
The Wuhan cases helped push the overall new COVID-19 infections confirmed on May 10 to 17, the highest daily increase since Apr 28.
Of the new cases, seven were imported cases in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia involving travellers from overseas, compared with two reported a day earlier.
Northeastern Jilin province, which on Saturday reported a cluster of infections in one of its cities, Shulan, reported three additional local cases.
Shulan has been marked a high-risk area, the only place in China with that designation so far, after all cities in the country were declared as low-risk days earlier.
One of the three cases confirmed in the province on May 10 was from Shulan. The other two were from the city of Jilin uncovered through contact tracing of people who were in contact with earlier Shulan cases.
Nearby Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces each reported one case, adding to worries about a resurgence of the outbreak in the region.
A 70-year-old patient in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang, had tested negative seven times before results turned positive.
In China, the number of new asymptomatic COVID-19 cases fell to 12 on May 10 compared with 20 reported a day earlier.
SEOUL: South Korean officials scrambled on Monday (May 11) to contain a new coronavirus outbreak that is threatening to spread throughout the densely populated capital city of Seoul, leading the country to reconsider plans to reopen schools.
Officials reported 35 new infections across the country as of midnight on Monday, the second consecutive day of new cases of that magnitude and the highest numbers in more than a month, reinforcing fears the country could be entering a second wave outbreak.
The 69 cases reported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) over the past 48 hours were equivalent to the number of cases it recorded over the entire previous week.
Most of the new cases were linked to an outbreak at several Seoul nightclubs and bars. Authorities had tested 4,000 people who had patronised the night spots, but were still trying to track down around 3,000 more.
"Our top priority is to minimise the spread of the infections in the greater Seoul area," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a meeting with government officials on Monday.
Chung called for local governments to mobilise as many personnel as available and work with police to track down the missing patrons, some of whom authorities suspect of intentionally avoiding being tested.
"We should quickly find and test them, and speed is key," he said.
The spike in cases comes just as the South Korean government was easing some social distancing restrictions and moving to fully reopen schools and businesses, in a transition from intensive social distancing to "distancing in daily life."
Seoul's education superintendent proposed delaying reopening schools scheduled to begin on Wednesday by one week in light of the new outbreak, Yonhap news agency reported.
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon pleaded with clubgoers to be testing, warning that people caught evading testing could be fined.
"If Seoul was penetrated, the nation is at risk," he said, noting the city currently has fewer than 700 of the nation's 10,909 cases, which include 256 deaths.
In a speech to the nation on Sunday, President Moon Jae-in warned that "it's not over until it's over," adding that the new cluster shows the virus can spread widely at any time.
BEIJING: China reported 17 new COVID-19 cases in the mainland on Sunday (May 10), rising from a day earlier and marking the highest daily increase since Apr 28, highlighting the difficulty in stamping out the disease.
Though the new case count remains sharply lower than the peak of the outbreak in February, the data underscores continued risks posed by COVID-19. With the pandemic having spread globally, Beijing continues to exhort vigilance even as it tries to restart the economy.
Of the new cases reported on Sunday, seven were imported cases in Inner Mongolia involving travellers from overseas, compared with two reported a day earlier.
Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak in China, reported five new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the highest since Mar 11. All were in the same residential compound in the city.
Northeastern Jilin province, which on Saturday reported a cluster of infections in one of its cities, reported three new local cases. Nearby Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces each reported one case, adding to worries about a resurgence of the outbreak in the region.
The total number of infected now stands at 82,918 and the death toll remained unchanged at 4,633.
The number of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases - people who are infected but do not exhibit symptoms - fell to 12 on May 10 compared with 20 reported a day earlier.
