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Selasa, 07 Juli 2020

China opens Hong Kong security agency headquarters; city's leader hails 'historic moment' - CNA

HONG KONG: China opened a new office on Wednesday (Jul 8) 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 early on Wednesday 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.

HONG KONG-CHINA-POLITICS (2) — Pedestrians walk past a plaque outside the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong after its official inauguration on Jul 8, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Anthony Wallace)

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.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam hailed the opening as "a historic moment" that will help safeguard national security.

"Today's unveiling ceremony is a historic moment because we are witnessing another milestone in the establishment of a sound legal system and enforcement mechanism for maintaining national security in Hong Kong," Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a speech during an inauguration ceremony for the new office.

READ: Five ways Hong Kong has changed under China's security law

Beijing imposed a new security law on Hong Kong last week targeting acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion.

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 made arrests for people voicing certain political views now deemed illegal, such as advocating independence or autonomy.

SPEAR TIP OF SECURITY APPARATUS

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 party-controlled courts and Hong Kong's independent judiciary since the 1997 handover.

HONG KONG-CHINA-POLITICS (1) — A Chinese flag flutters outside the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong after its official inauguration on Jul 8, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Anthony Wallace)

Among the many precedent-breaking provisions the law contains is authorisation for China's security apparatus 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 financial hub.

But China argues national security is the responsibility of the central government and says the laws are needed to restore stability. It has described the law as a "sword" hanging over the heads of critics.

On the 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.

READ: Hong Kong set to become a new Tibet, says exiled leader

NEW BOSS

Not much is known about the new security office China has opened in Hong Kong beyond its top leadership.

Last week Beijing appointed Zheng Yanxiong to head up the agency.

A party hardliner and a speaker of Hong Kong's Cantonese dialect, Zheng is best known for his involvement in a clampdown against protests across the border in neighbouring Guangdong province.

At Wednesday's ceremony Zheng said the agency would "strengthen our working liaison and coordination" with mainland bodies already in the city, including the local garrison of the People's Liberation Army.

His two deputies have been named. The first 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 publicly known about the second deputy, Sun Qingye. Last week the South China Morning Post described Sun as a senior official from China's intelligence agency, according to government sources.

Beijing's new security law says agents working for the office are exempt from Hong Kong's laws while carrying out their duties.

READ: What are Hong Kong police's new powers?

The opening of the new office comes little more than a day after Hong Kong announced expanded search and surveillance powers for police investigating national security crimes.

The new rules also empower Hong Kong police to order Internet takedown notices if posts and comments are deemed to breach national security.

A host of United States tech giants, including Facebook, Google and Microsoft have said they have stopped considering requests by Hong Kong's government for information on users because of the new law.

READ: Microsoft, Zoom join pause on Hong Kong data requests

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2020-07-08 03:33:45Z
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China opens new Hong Kong security agency headquarters - CNA

HONG KONG: China on Wednesday (Jul 8) opened a new office for its security agents to operate openly in Hong Kong for the first time under a tough new law, transforming a hotel into the force's headquarters.

"The Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was inaugurated here on Wednesday morning," China's official Xinhua news agency said.

The new base is the Metropark Hotel, a skyscraper overlooking Hong Kong's Victoria Park, a location that has hosted protests for years, including an annual vigil each June marking Beijing's Tiananmen incident.

A plaque bearing the security agency's name was unveiled early on Wednesday in front of Hong Kong government and police officials, an AFP reporter on the scene said.

Police blocked roads around the hotel and surrounded it with heavy water-filled barriers.

A Chinese flag was unfurled on a pole erected outside the building while a plaque bearing the emblem of the People's Republic of China went up overnight.

Beijing imposed a new security law on Hong Kong last week targeting acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion.

READ: Five ways Hong Kong has changed under China's security law

The law is the most radical change in Hong Kong's freedoms and autonomy since Britain handed the city back to China in 1997.

HARDLINER BOSS

The content of the security law was kept secret until it was enacted last Tuesday, bypassing Hong Kong's legislature.

Until then Hong Kong's own police and judiciary had complete jurisdiction over the financial hub.

But China argues national security is the responsibility of the central government and says the laws are needed to restore stability after huge and often violent protests last year.

Not much is known about the new security office China has opened in Hong Kong beyond its top leadership.

On the authoritarian mainland, China's secret police are the speartip of a highly efficient and ruthless security apparatus that tolerates no dissent.

Last week Beijing appointed Zheng Yanxiong to head up the agency.

A party hardliner and a speaker of Hong Kong's Cantonese dialect, Zheng is best known for his involvement in a clampdown against protests across the border in neighbouring Guangdong province.

His two deputies have been named. The first is Li Jiangzhou, a veteran public security officer who has worked in the Liaison Office, the body that represents Beijing in Hong Kong.

Beijing's new security law says agents working for the office are exempt from Hong Kong's laws while carrying out their duties.

READ: What are Hong Kong police's new powers?

The opening of the new office comes little more than a day after Hong Kong announced expanded search and surveillance powers for police investigating national security crimes.

The new rules also empower Hong Kong police to order Internet takedown notices if posts and comments are deemed to breach national security.

READ: Microsoft, Zoom join pause on Hong Kong data requests

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COVID-19 hampers Indonesia's fight against forest fires as haze season looms - CNA

JAKARTA: From reduced state coffers, overwhelmed hospitals to shortages in face masks, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to present unprecedented challenges in Indonesia's fight against another disaster - the annual forest and land fires.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 38,000 ha of forests and peatlands have been burned but the Indonesian Meteorology and Climatology Agency (BMKG) predicted that the worse has yet to come since the dry season would peak between August and September.

Although the BMKG predicted that the fires would not be as severe as the ones in 2019 when the dry season lasted until November, officials are forced to deal with two national disasters at once this year.

The Ministry of the Environment and Forestry, one of the institutions tasked with putting out forest and peatland fires, revealed that it had to cut its annual budget for forest fire mitigation by 39 per cent because of the pandemic.

“Because of COVID-19, the government has decided to divert much of our resources to deal with the pandemic,” the ministry’s director-general for climate change Ruandha Agung Sugardiman said in an online discussion last month.

READ: Area burned in 2019 forest fires in Indonesia exceeds 2018, says official

“These include manpower, volunteers, state coffers and money to buy equipment. Everything is redirected to deal with COVID-19.”

Mr Sugardiman said the central government is hoping that provincial and regency administrations would fork out 70 per cent of the expenses needed to combat forest fires, while the ministry covers the rest.

“It would be hard to control forest and land fires otherwise,” he said.

Forest fire — A firefighter in front of a peatland forest that has been destroyed by fire in September 2019. (Photo: Nivell Rayda)

However, regional governments have also been struggling financially because of the pandemic.

The Finance Ministry revealed last month that 530 provinces, regencies and cities had to redirect their expenditures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its economic impact through social welfare programmes and cash aids. Some regions also had to deal with decreased revenues because of the economic slowdown.

Home Affairs Minister Mr Tito Karnavian said last week that regional governments have been told to find alternative sources of funding to prevent and fight forest fires, including redirecting the Village Funds programme meant to spur economic growth in underdeveloped villages.

“We are encouraging (regional governments) to make use of its village funds (programme) and create forest fire-free villages,” he said after a Cabinet meeting on forest fires on Jul 2, according to local reports.

Mr Karnavian said regional governments are also encouraged to cooperate with private companies for funding, saying that “there are many big companies which are willing to contribute because they too are affected by the fires.”

INCREASED HEALTH RISK

At least 500,000 ha of forests and peatland were burned each year in Indonesia, caused by prolonged drought and the illegal slash-and-burn practices to clear land for agricultural purposes.

Last year, 1.6 million ha were burned, making it the worst forest fires in the country since the 2015 Southeast Asian haze crisis where haze from Indonesia affected millions of people in several countries in the region.

In 2015, 2.6 million ha of forests and peat lands were on fire.

READ: Indonesian forest fires putting 10 million children at risk, says UN

More than 900,000 people in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore reported respiratory illnesses during last year’s forest and peatland fires, according to findings from the World Bank.

At least two provinces, South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan, have declared a state of emergency as forest fires began to spread across the archipelago.

Meanwhile, thousands of officials have been deployed to combat forest fires in Sumatra, Java and the Indonesian side of Borneo, while many more are being readied.

“If forest fire rages again this year and air quality deteriorates, it will have grave impact on people’s health - not just in Indonesia but also its neighbouring countries - especially as the world still battles with the COVID-19 pandemic,” public health expert Hermawan Saputra told CNA.

“People will become more susceptible to COVID-19 because of reduced immunity. Health risk for COVID-19 patients will increase significantly and their condition might deteriorate.”

Firefighters in Riau Indonesia — Firefighters dousing flames in a forest fire in Rimbo Panjang village, Riau, Indonesia, in September 2019. (Photo: Nivell Rayda)

Dr Wiendra Waworuntu of the Ministry of Health said that the government has begun to look into the problem since May.

The ministry’s director for infectious disease prevention and control said the government has been trying to figure out ways to prevent COVID-19 patients’ conditions from deteriorating in the midst of a forest fire haze. The government was also anticipating shortages in hospital beds, respirators and face masks.

“There could be a shortage in face masks, equipment and beds if forest fire rages and haze appears, especially if they happen when COVID-19 is at its peak,” she told a press conference recently. “We are trying to address these problems.”

More than 66,000 people in Indonesia have contracted COVID-19, and at least 3,000 of whom have died, making Indonesia the worst-hit country in Southeast Asia.

JOKOWI STRESSES ON PREVENTION

During a cabinet meeting on Jun 23, President Joko Widodo told his ministers to prepare for forest and peatland fires as Indonesia enters the dry season.

“Even though we are busy fighting the pandemic, we mustn’t forget that we also have a big job to do in anticipating land and forest fires,” he said.

Jokowi visiting forest fire in Riau — Indonesian President Joko Widodo (left) and his ministers inspecting a forest engulfed by fire in Kampar regency, Riau, Indonesia, on Sep 17, 2019. (Photo: Indonesian Presidential Palace)

The president, popularly known as Jokowi, said he wanted to see officials preventing forest fires from happening in the first place.

“The littlest of fire must be put out immediately. Don’t let fire rages and then we try to put it out,” he said.

Jokowi also stressed on the importance of early detection of hotspots and identifying lands which are prone to fire.

“The ecosystem must be managed consistently. Make sure that peatlands stay wet. We have done it before. We just have to do it consistently,” he said.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

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2020-07-07 22:11:54Z
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US to withdraw visas for foreign students whose classes move online - The Straits Times

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Foreign students must leave the United States if their school's classes this fall will be taught completely online or transfer to another school with in-person instruction, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency announced on Monday (July 6).

It was not immediately clear how many student visa holders would be affected by the move, but foreign students are a key source of revenue for many US universities as they often pay full tuition.

ICE said it would not allow holders of student visas to remain in the country if their school was fully online for the fall. Those students must transfer or leave the country, or they potentially face deportation proceedings, according to the announcement.

Colleges and universities have begun to announce plans for the fall 2020 semester amid the continued coronavirus pandemic.

Harvard University on Monday announced it would conduct course instruction online for the 2020-2021 academic year.

The ICE guidance applies to holders of F-1 and M-1 visas, which are for academic and vocational students. The State Department issued 388,839 F visas and 9,518 M visas in fiscal 2019, according to the agency's data.

The guidance does not affect students taking classes in person. It also does not affect F-1 students taking a partial online course-load, as long as their university certifies the student's instruction is not completely digital.

M-1 vocational programme students and F-1 English language training programme students will not be allowed to take any classes online.

US President Donald Trump's administration has imposed a number of new restrictions on legal and illegal immigration in recent months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

In June, the administration suspended work visas for a wide swathe of non-immigrant workers that it argued compete with US citizens for jobs.

The administration has also effectively suspended the admission of asylum seekers at the southern border with Mexico, citing coronavirus-related health risks as justification.

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2020-07-07 16:06:05Z
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'At war time speed', China leads Covid-19 vaccine race - The Straits Times

SEOUL/SINGAPORE (REUTERS) - China is forging ahead in the race to develop a vaccine to help control the Covid-19 pandemic, with Sinovac Biotech's experimental vaccine set to become the country's second and the world's third to enter final stage testing later this month.

While a laggard in the global vaccine industry, China, where the new coronavirus is thought to have originated, has brought state, military and private sectors together in a quest to combat a disease that has killed over 500,000 people worldwide.

Many other countries, including the United States, are coordinating closely with the private sector to try to win the vaccine development race, and China faces many challenges.

Its success in driving down Covid-19 infections makes it harder to conduct large-scale vaccine trials, and so far only a few other countries have agreed to work with it.

After past vaccine scandals, Beijing will also have to convince the world it has met all safety and quality requirements.

But China's use of command economy-type tools is so far yielding results.

A state-controlled entity, for example, completed two vaccine plants at what it called the "war time speed" of a couple of months, while state-owned enterprises and the military have allowed experimental shots to be used on staff.

The People's Liberation Army's (PLA) medical research unit, which has been a driving force in China's efforts to fight infectious diseases, is also working with private firms including CanSino to develop Covid-19 vaccines.

Challenging the West's traditional dominance of the industry, China is behind eight of the 19 vaccine candidates in human trials, with Sinovac's experimental shot and one jointly developed by the military and CanSino among the front runners.

It is also focused mainly on inactivated vaccine technology - a technology that is well known and has been used to make vaccines against diseases such as influenza and measles - something which could raise the chances of success.

By contrast, several Western rivals such as US-based Moderna and Germany's CureVac and BioNTech are using a new technology called messenger RNA that has never before yielded a product approved by regulators.

'TRIED AND TRUE'

"It's a tried and true strategy," said Dr Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Centre at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, about inactivated vaccine technology.

"If I had to pick a vaccine that I think would be the most likely to be safe and effective, it would be that one," he said.

Dr Offit is also co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, manufactured by Merck & Co Inc.

Four of the Chinese candidates in human trials are inactivated vaccines, including Sinovac's and two vaccines from China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a unit of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).

There are currently only two experimental Covid-19 vaccines in final Phase III trials - one from Sinopharm and another from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Sinovac's is set to become the third later this month.

To speed up the process, China allowed Sinopharm and Sinovac to combine Phase I and Phase II trials for their vaccine candidates.

For CanSino's experimental vaccine, the PLA research institute played a key role, with the two working on a method using an adenovirus - a similar approach to AstraZeneca's.

The PLA has its own approval process for "military specifically-needed drugs", and approved the military use of the candidate developed by its research unit and CanSino last month.

PLA lead scientist Chen Wei, who has been the face of its vaccine development effort, was among the first to take the experimental Covid-19 shot developed by her team, as well as its potential Sars treatment years before, according to state media.

CHALLENGES

China has challenges, though, as the epidemic has petered out in the country, hampering efforts to conduct large trials.

It has since shifted its focus overseas, but only a handful of countries have shown willingness to collaborate - UAE, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico.

Neither major European countries nor the United States have shown interest in China's Covid-19 vaccines as they focus on their own projects.

China must also address concerns over its vaccine quality and safety issues following several scandals over substandard vaccines in recent years.

"The Chinese national regulatory authority has been improving its oversight," said Dr Jerome Kim, head of the International Vaccine Institute, a non-profit agency established as an initiative of the UN Development Programme.

China introduced a law last year to regulate the vaccine industry, with heavier penalties for selling and making fake or low-quality vaccines than other drug products.

What are Hong Kong police's new powers? - CNA

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's government has expanded police surveillance and enforcement powers using Beijing's sweeping new national security law.

The changes were spelled out in 116-pages of guidelines released late on Monday (Jul 6) that form part of a new law targeting subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion.

Below are some of the key powers granted authorities when conducting national security investigations.

WARRANTLESS SEARCHES

Police can now raid premises without a court-granted warrant in "exceptional circumstances", the government said.

The guidelines specifically stated this would apply if it "would not be practicable to obtain" a warrant. The rules also apply to searches of vehicles or electronic devices.

INTERNET CENSORSHIP

Police now have the power to remove online content - a move that embeds unprecedented control over the Internet in a city outside of China's "Great Firewall".

If police decide an Internet user's online post is likely to constitute or cause "an offence endangering national security", they can order the user to delete the post, order the platform on which it was posted to remove it, or order the platform's web host to pull the message.

READ: TikTok says it will exit Hong Kong market within days

READ: Tech companies suspend processing Hong Kong government data requests

This applies whether the message was posted in Hong Kong or elsewhere.

If users or providers do not follow the police order, officers can apply to a magistrate for a warrant to seize relevant electronic devices and take action to remove the message.

Recent legal changes have broadened police powers in Hong Kong. (Photo: AFP/Isaac Lawrence)

They can also apply for a warrant ordering people and businesses to hand over a message's identification record or help decrypt messages.

Individuals who do not obey the order are liable to be fined up to HK$100,000 (US$12,900) or jailed for up to a year. Jail terms for service providers are capped at six months.

ASSET SEIZURES AND TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

Once someone is suspected of endangering national security, police can apply to a magistrate for a warrant ordering them to surrender their passport.

The city's security chief can also freeze any assets deemed to be related to an offence against national security, and the justice chief can apply to the courts to order the property's confiscation.

FOREIGN POLITICAL ORGANISATIONS

The city's police chief can - with the security minister's approval - compel political groups or agents from abroad, including Taiwan, to hand over certain information.

That includes their activities, personal details, and details on their finances and sources of income.

READ: 'We're next': Hong Kong security law sends chills through Taiwan

Any agent or group that fails to hand over the information is liable on conviction to a fine of HK$100,000 and six months in prison - or two years in prison if they give information which proves false.

COVERT SURVEILLANCE

The city's chief executive - a pro-Beijing appointee - will have final approval on all applications for interception of communications and covert surveillance operations to do with national security cases.

Less intrusive surveillance can be approved by senior police officers.

"The authorising authority," the government said in its statement, "has to ensure that the covert operation concerned satisfies the proportionality and necessity tests before granting the authorisation."

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2020-07-07 12:27:47Z
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TikTok quits Hong Kong as US giants suspend processing data requests - CNA

NEW YORK/HONG KONG: Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok announced on Tuesday (Jul 7) it would pull out of Hong Kong within days, as global tech giants struggle to figure out how to operate in the city under sweeping new security rules imposed by Beijing.

Major US internet companies including Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Twitter and Zoom have all announced they have suspended the processing of requests for user data from the Hong Kong authorities while they study the new law.

The US companies' social media platforms are generally banned in China, where access is blocked by Beijing's "great firewall". Most have operated freely in Hong Kong, but will now have to determine how to comply with new rules for the city, which rights groups say threaten freedoms enjoyed for decades.

Facebook , which also owns WhatsApp and Instagram, said in a statement on Monday it was pausing reviews of user data requests for all of its services "pending further assessment of the National Security Law."

Google and Twitter said they had suspended their reviews of data requests from Hong Kong authorities immediately after the law went into effect last week. Zoom and Microsoft's LinkedIn issued similar statements on Tuesday.

Apple said it does not receive requests for user content directly from Hong Kong, but requires authorities there to submit requests through the US department of justice under a legal assistance treaty.

"We're assessing the new law, which went into effect less than a week ago, and we have not received any content requests since the law went into effect," Apple said in a statement.

Tuesday's announcement by TikTok of its plan to quit Hong Kong is notable because the short-form video app is owned by a Chinese company but operates only outside of mainland China.

Its parent company, ByteDance, runs a separate, similar service inside China, while saying TikTok is intended to appeal to users worldwide. Its exit means Hong Kong users, like those in mainland China, will now be cut off from the global version.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday Washington was considering banning TikTok in the United States. Asked if Americans should download it, he told Fox News: "Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party."

A source familiar with TikTok's decision to exit Hong Kong said the city was a small, loss making market for the platform.

RADICAL CHANGES

China's parliament passed the national security legislation last week, 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.

Hong Kong late on Monday published more details about how the new law will strengthen police powers over the internet, including the ability to ask publishers to remove information deemed a threat to national security.

Asked about the moves by the US tech firms, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam told a news conference on Tuesday: "Ultimately, time and facts will tell that this law will not undermine human rights and freedoms."

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, in response to a question on TikTok's plan to exit Hong Kong, said the business environment would improve after the law was established.

"We hope the relevant sides will view China’s rights in safeguarding its sovereignty and safety in a fair, objective and reasonable manner, to speak and act cautiously on the Hong Kong issue, to not selectively create barriers and politicize the issue," he said.

King-wa Fu, an associate professor at The University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre, said he expected Hong Kong to introduce measures to regulate media and the Internet, with a system of censorship similar to that in mainland China.

"That’s why (the platforms) are 'suspending' and evaluating the situation. I don’t have a crystal ball. But I believe the national security office wouldn’t tolerate a free Internet in Hong Kong to continue and further restrictions would be imposed," he said.

Some Hong Kong residents say they are reviewing their social media posts, deleting ones that could be viewed as sensitive.

"It's not safe anymore if the government really does this," said Richard Lai, 26, a former medical worker. "I'll keep using the social media platforms but will just use it for obtaining information but will not post anything."

Messaging app Signal, which promises end-to-end encryption, has seen a surge in sign-ups by Hong Kong residents.

"We'd announce that we're stopping too, but we never started turning over user data to HK police. Also, we don't have user data to turn over," it said on Twitter on Monday.

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2020-07-07 11:14:48Z
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Selasa, 07 Juli 2020

'TRIED AND TRUE'

CHALLENGES

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