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Rabu, 22 Juli 2020

Brazil sets daily record of new COVID-19 cases with nearly 68000 infections - CNA

BRASILIA: Brazil recorded a new daily record of coronavirus cases on Wednesday (Jul 22) with nearly 68,000 infections, a sign COVID-19 is still far from being brought under control in the hard-hit country.

The health ministry said 67,860 new infections and 1,284 deaths had been reported in the past 24 hours in Brazil, which has the second-biggest outbreak in the world after the United States.

The South American country of 212 million people has recorded 2.2 million infections and 82,771 deaths from the new coronavirus since confirming its first case five months ago.

Experts say under-testing means the real numbers are probably much higher.

Brazil has struggled to set a strategy for responding to the pandemic.

President Jair Bolsonaro faces criticism for downplaying the virus and attacking social distancing measures adopted by state and local authorities.

The far-right leader, who has regularly flouted such measures by hitting the streets mask-less for rallies by his supporters, has been in quarantine at the presidential palace since July 7 after contracting the virus himself.

His office announced Wednesday he had again tested positive, saying he would continue his quarantine and suspend his upcoming travel plans.

Bolsonaro, 65, argues the economic fallout from stay-at-home measures could be worse than the virus itself, and is instead pushing the unproven malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as remedies, following in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump.

Margareth Dalcomo, an expert at Brazil's leading public-health institute, Fiocruz, said Bolsonaro's hydroxychloroquine-pushing was "deplorable."

"This politicization of the drug by the US and Brazilian presidents for murky reasons has no justification, and it deceives people," she told AFP.

"It has been proven this drug has no effect against COVID-19."

Bolsonaro is on his third health minister since the pandemic reached Brazil five months ago, after falling out with two doctors who previously held the post over their recommendations on containing the virus.

The current minister, an interim, is Eduardo Pazuello, an army general with no prior medical experience.

The World Health Organization voiced optimism last week that the outbreak in Brazil had finally reached a plateau, urging the country to use the opportunity to "take control."

But though the level of daily infections and deaths has stabilised, it remains high.

The country has recorded an average of more than 37,000 infections and 1,050 deaths a day over the past week.

Its previous daily infection record was 54,771, on Jun 19.

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

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2020-07-23 00:03:50Z
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What are the main areas of tension in the US-China relationship? - CNA

WASHINGTON: The US demand this week that China close its consulate in Houston is the latest in a string of disputes that have taken the relationship between the world's two biggest economies to its lowest point in decades.

READ: Consulate closure latest salvo in US-China tussle

Here are the main points of contention between Beijing and Washington:

CORONAVIRUS

US President Donald Trump has accused China of a lack of transparency about the coronavirus, which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. He regularly refers to it as the "China virus".

Trump said Chinese officials "ignored their reporting obligations" to the World Health Organization about the virus - that has killed hundreds of thousands of people globally - and pressured the UN agency to "mislead the world".

READ: Trump willing to work with China on COVID-19 vaccine for US

China says it has been transparent about the outbreak and the WHO has denied Trump's assertions that it promoted Chinese "disinformation" about the virus. The United States plans to quit the WHO in mid-2021 over its handling of the pandemic.

TRADE

The Trump administration began increasing tariffs on imports from China, its largest trading partner, in 2018 as part of an ambitious plan to force Beijing to curb subsidies on state manufacturing and tough demands on US companies in China.

After more than a year of tit-for-tat tariffs that slowed global economic growth, the countries signed a trade deal in January 2020 that rolls back some tariffs, but does not address the core issues. Beijing has pledged to increase imports of US goods by US$200 billion over two years.

The US Commerce and State departments are pushing US companies to move sourcing and manufacturing out of China.

SOUTH CHINA SEA

The United States has hardened its position in recent weeks on the South China Sea, where it has accused China of attempting to build a "maritime empire" in the potentially energy-rich waters.

READ: US aircraft carriers return to South China Sea amid rising tensions

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam challenge China's claim to about 90 per cent of the sea. A Jul 13 statement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the first time the United States had called China's claims unlawful and accused Beijing of a "campaign of bullying".

HONG KONG

China and the United States have clashed over protests in Hong Kong, most recently Beijing's imposition of new security legislation on the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Trump this month signed an executive order to end preferential economic treatment for Hong Kong, allowing him to impose sanctions and visa restrictions on Chinese officials and financial institutions involved in enacting the law.

China has threatened retaliatory sanctions of its own.

UIGHURS

The United States has imposed sanctions on Chinese officials, companies and institutions over human rights violations linked to China's treatment of minority Muslim Uighurs in the country's western Xinjiang region.

China has been widely condemned for setting up complexes in remote Xinjiang that it describes as "vocational training centers" to stamp out extremism and give people new skills.

JOURNALISTS AND CHINESE STUDENTS

The United States has started treating several major Chinese state media outlets as foreign embassies and slashed the number of journalists allowed to work at US offices of those Chinese media outlets to 100 from 160.

In response, China expelled about a dozen American correspondents with major US outlets and asked four US media organisations to submit details about their operations in China.

Washington in May introduced new rules restricting the granting of visas to Chinese graduate students believed to have links with China's military.

HUAWEI

Chinese tech firm Huawei was added to the US Commerce Department's "entity list" last year due to national security concerns, amid accusations from Washington that it violated US sanctions on Iran and can spy on customers, allegations Huawei has denied. The listing greatly reduced its access to vital parts and supplies, like chips, from US suppliers.

Huawei says Washington wants to frustrate its growth because no US company offers the same technology at a competitive price.

The United States has been successfully pushing countries around the world to drop Huawei.

Commentary: It was always going to be hard for Huawei to stay in Western markets

NORTH KOREA

China is at odds with the United States over North Korea, even though they both want the country to give up its nuclear weapons. Washington has accused China of breaching UN sanctions on North Korea, assertions Beijing has denied. China wants to lift some sanctions, but the United States disagrees.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Trump have met three times, but failed to make progress on US calls for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and North Korea's demands for an end to sanctions.

The number-two diplomat at the State Department, Stephen Biegun, said on Wednesday Washington and Beijing could still work together against North Korea's development of weapons of mass destruction despite current tensions.

READ: How hot could the US-China 'Cold War' get?

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2020-07-23 00:00:09Z
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Consulate closure latest salvo in US-China tussle - CNA

WASHINGTON: The closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston is the latest salvo in a battle between the United States and China for economic and technological supremacy that is shaping up as a new Cold War and includes a high-stakes race for a COVID-19 vaccine.

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

The United States ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in the Texas city of Houston on Wednesday, citing Chinese theft of intellectual property.

The move came a day after the Justice Department unveiled the indictment of two Chinese nationals for hacking hundreds of companies and attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, tweeted that the Houston consulate was the "central node of the Communist Party's vast network of spies & influence operations in the United States".

Houston is one of the largest centers for biotech and medical research in the world.

READ: US gives China 72 hours to shut Houston consulate as spying charges mount

Foreign policy experts said reprisals can be expected.

"The cardinal rule of diplomacy is reciprocity," said Molly Montgomery, a former diplomat now at the Brookings Institution.

"State doesn't make a decision like this lightly, since it almost certainly will result in the closure of one of our own consulates."

WHAT ARE THE US GRIEVANCES?

The accusations of Chinese economic espionage appear to be the primary motivation for the US move but it comes against a backdrop of disputes with Beijing on numerous fronts.

"There is no doubt that China represents a tremendous espionage threat for the United States," said Abraham Denmark, Asia program director with the Kissinger Institute on China and the US at The Wilson Center.

"The question here is not China's culpability - I expect it's solid - but rather if suddenly closing the consulate in Houston will address the problem," Denmark said.

US accusations that China is engaged in a campaign to steal American corporate secrets are not new.

But President Donald Trump has made it a theme of his trade war with China and made turning up the pressure on Beijing a pillar of his 2016 presidential campaign.

Besides trade, US-China relations have also been soured by the COVID-19 pandemic, China's policies in Hong Kong and against the Uighurs in Xinjiang and in the South China Sea.

FBI director Christopher Wray said earlier this month that cases of Chinese economic espionage have soared by 1,300 per cent over the past decade.

"We've now reached the point where the FBI is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case about every 10 hours," Wray said.

READ: Pompeo urges India to reduce dependence on China

WHAT ARE THE TARGETS?

US Attorney General Bill Barr recently accused China of mounting an "economic blitzkrieg" on global free markets and told US companies to stop compromising their principles to appease Chinese leaders and regulators.

"If Disney and other American corporations continue to bow to Beijing, they risk undermining both their own future competitiveness and prosperity, as well as the classical liberal order that has allowed them to thrive," Barr said.

The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated tensions between Washington and Beijing with Trump repeatedly lashing out at China for not stopping what he calls the "Chinese virus".

Since May, the United States has accused China of seeking to steal coronavirus vaccine research, an allegation also levelled against the two Chinese hackers named in Tuesday's indictment.

WHY NOW?

Barr warned not only of a Chinese "economic blitzkrieg" but an attempt by Beijing to "surpass the United States as the world's preeminent superpower".

Some 100 days from the November presidential election, Trump has sought to make US relations with China a central theme of his campaign, accusing his rival, former vice president Joe Biden, of being "soft" on China.

Speaking at a Senate hearing on China, Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said the United States was facing a "significant challenge in China".

"The one thing that I don't think any of us should expect are fast results," Biegun said. "We're up against a generational challenge here.

"This is a formidable challenge in virtually every dimension of our economic, political, and social and military existence."

Gerard Araud, the former French ambassador to the United States, said the Trump administration was seeking to frame the conflict in ideological terms.

"Most of the time, the US administration is not referring anymore to China but to the (Chinese Communist Party)," Araud said on Twitter. "A crude way to transform a great power rivalry into an ideological crusade."

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2020-07-22 23:37:30Z
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US gives China 72 hours to shut Houston consulate as spying charges mount - CNA

BEIJING/WASHINGTON: The United States gave China 72 hours to close its consulate in Houston amid accusations of spying, marking a dramatic deterioration in relations between the world's two biggest economies.

China's foreign ministry called the move an "unprecedented escalation" and threatened unspecified retaliation. Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the Chinese Embassy in the United States had received "bomb and death threats" because of "smears & hatred" fanned by Washington.

"The US should revoke its erroneous decision," she tweeted. "China will surely react with firm countermeasures."

Communist Party rulers in Beijing were considering shutting the US consulate in the central city of Wuhan in retaliation, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

The State Department said the Chinese mission in Houston was closed "to protect American intellectual property and Americans' private information".

The move comes in the run-up to the November US presidential election, in which President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, have both tried to look tough in response to China.

Speaking on a visit to Denmark, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeated accusations about Chinese theft of US and European intellectual property, which he said were costing "hundreds of thousands of jobs."

While offering no specifics about the Houston consulate, Pompeo referred to a US Justice Department indictment on Tuesday of two Chinese nationals over what it called a decade-long cyber espionage campaign that targeted defence contractors, COVID researchers and hundreds of other victims worldwide.

"President Trump has said: 'Enough. We are not going to allow this to continue to happen,'" Pompeo told reporters. "That's the actions that you're seeing taken by President Trump, we'll continue to engage in this."

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, described the Houston consulate on Twitter as the "central node of the Communist Party’s vast network of spies & influence operations in the United States".

Trump was due to hold a news conference at 5.30pm, the White House said.

The New York Times quoted the top US diplomat for East Asia, David Stilwell, as saying that the Houston consulate had been at the "epicentre" of the Chinese army's efforts to advance its warfare advantages by sending students to US universities.

"We took a practical step to prevent them from doing that," Stilwell told the Times.

A Chinese diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied the spying allegations and said the Houston mission acted like other Chinese consulates in the United States - issuing visas, promoting visits and businesses. The diplomat told Reuters it was not clear why Houston had become a target.

Ties between the United States and China have worsened sharply this year over a range of issues, from the coronavirus and telecoms gear maker Huawei to China's territorial claims in the South China Sea and clampdown on Hong Kong.

Jonathan Pollack, an East Asia expert with the Brookings Institution think tank, said he could not think of anything "remotely equivalent" to the deterioration in ties since the US and China opened full diplomatic relations in 1979.

“The Trump Administration appears to view this latest action as political ammunition in the presidential campaign ... It’s part of the administration’s race to the bottom against China.”

Overnight in Houston, firefighters went to the consulate after smoke was seen. Two US government officials said they had information that documents were being burned there.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the consulate was operating normally.

One of the US government officials told Reuters the decision to close the consulate was “entirely justified” by classified intelligence, which he declined to describe, noting also that some cases of alleged Chinese spying have been made public.

RETALIATION THREAT

"The unilateral closure of China's consulate general in Houston within a short period of time is an unprecedented escalation of its recent actions against China," Wang told a regular news briefing.

Abraham Denmark, a senior Pentagon official for East Asia under former President Barack Obama, said there was no doubt China represented a "tremendous espionage threat" for the United States, but questioned whether the response was helpful.

"The question here is not China's culpability - I expect it's solid - but rather if suddenly closing the consulate in Houston will address the problem," he said.

A source with direct knowledge of the matter said China was considering closing the U.S. consulate in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the State Department withdrew staff and their families early this year due to the coronavirus outbreak that first emerged in the city.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it would shut the consulate.

Wang said the US government had been harassing Chinese diplomats and consular staff for some time and intimidating Chinese students. He said the United States had interfered with China's diplomatic missions, including intercepting diplomatic pouches. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Chinese charges.

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2020-07-22 18:45:00Z
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Taiwan’s foreign minister says island may be Beijing’s next target after Hong Kong - South China Morning Post

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Taiwan’s foreign minister says island may be Beijing’s next target after Hong Kong South China Morning Post
Pompeo urges 'entire world' to stand up to China Yahoo Singapore News
Commentary: To save its markets, Hong Kong needs to rely on China CNA
The Guardian view on rethinking China: right, but not because the US says so The Guardian
Confrontation with China is increasingly likely Telegraph.co.uk
View Full coverage on Google News

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2020-07-22 11:15:07Z
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China's Houston consulate closed to 'protect American intellectual property': US State Department - CNA

COPENHAGEN: The US State Department said on Wednesday (Jul 22) that the closing of China's consulate in Houston was to protect Americans' intellectual property and private information, a move that has further strained the already tense relations between the world powers.

Spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said that under the Vienna Convention, states "have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs" of the receiving country.

The comments came as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Copenhagen.

Ortagus said the US would not tolerate Chinese violations of their "sovereignty and intimidation of our people, just as we have not tolerated the PRC's unfair trade practices, theft of American jobs, and other egregious behavior."

"We have directed the closure of PRC Consulate General Houston, in order to protect American intellectual property and Americans' private information," she said, without giving any more details.

China announced earlier on Wednesday that the country had been ordered to close the Houston consulate, which was opened in 1979 - the first in the year the US and the People's Republic of China established diplomatic relations, according to its website.

"China urges the US to immediately withdraw its wrong decision, or China will definitely take a proper and necessary response," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

The move comes as the world's two biggest economies have crossed swords on a growing number of fronts, from trade to Beijing's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its policies in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the South China Sea.

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China says US ordered closure of Houston consulate - CNA

BEIJING: The United States has ordered China to close its Houston consulate, Beijing said Wednesday (Jul 22), in what it called a "political provocation" that will further harm diplomatic relations.

"China urges the US to immediately withdraw its wrong decision, or China will definitely take a proper and necessary response," said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, adding that they were told Tuesday that the consulate would have to close.

"It is a political provocation unilaterally launched by the US side, which seriously violates international law ... and the bilateral consular agreement between China and the US."

He added that China "strongly condemns" the "outrageous and unjustified move which will sabotage China-US relations."

He said the consulate was operating normally but did not reply to questions about US media reports in Houston on Tuesday night that documents were being burned in a courtyard at the consulate.

"It appears to be open burning in a container within the courtyard of the Chinese consulate facility. It does not appear to be an unconfined fire but we have not been allowed access," Houston fire department chief Samuel Pena was quoted as saying by KTRK, an ABC television affiliate.

"We are standing by and monitoring."

Houston police told FOX 26 that staff there were burning documents because they are being evicted from the building on Friday afternoon.

The closure of the consulate was directed "in order to protect American intellectual property and American's private information," spokesperson for the State Department Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

The Chinese Consulate in Houston was opened in 1979 - the first in the year the US and the People's Republic of China established diplomatic relations, according to its website.

The website says the office covers eight southern US states - including Texas and Florida - and has nearly one million people in the area registered at the consulate.

There are five Chinese consulates in the US, as well as an embassy in Washington.

READ: How hot could the US-China 'Cold War' get?

The development is another fissure in the increasingly fraught relations between the two countries. Tensions are mounting by the day, leading to a talk of a new Cold War.

US President Donald Trump's administration has increasingly gone global against China, pushing other nations to reject its strings-attached aid and telecom titan Huawei, and siding unreservedly with Beijing's rivals in the dispute-rife South China Sea.

Trump has made China a major campaign issue as he heads into the November election, but the relationship looks unlikely to change in more than tone if he loses to Joe Biden, who has accused the president of not being tough enough.

Last week, Trump signed legislation and an executive order to hold China accountable for the "oppressive" national security law it imposed on Hong Kong.

The Bill was approved by the US Congress to penalise banks doing business with Chinese officials who implement Beijing’s new national security law on Hong Kong.

The executive order is aimed at furthering punishing China for what he called its "oppressive actions" against Hong Kong.

It will end the preferential trade treatment Hong Kong has received for years - "no special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies," Trump told a news conference.

In addition, last week Washington formally declared Beijing's pursuit of territory and resources in South China Sea as illegal, explicitly backing the territorial claims of Southeast Asian countries against China's.

Washington has also infuriated Beijing by banning telecom giant Huawei and seeking the extradition from Canada of top company executive Meng Wanzhou.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the "entire world" to stand up to China on Tuesday during a visit to Britain.

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2020-07-22 09:22:30Z
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