MELBOURNE: Australia's coronavirus hot spot state of Victoria is set to outline a plan on Sunday (Sep 6) to gradually ease its strict lockdown, with infection rates declining more slowly than hoped.
Victoria on Sunday reported 63 new COVID-19 infections and five deaths, down from a peak of 725 new cases on Aug 5, shortly after the state imposed a six-week hard lockdown in its capital Melbourne. At the time, it set an end-date of Sep 13.
The state has been the epicentre of Australia's second wave of the novel coronavirus, now accounting for about 75 per cent of the country's 26,270 cases and 90 per cent of its 753 deaths.
The country is waiting to hear how state premier Daniel Andrews plans to ease the lockdown, which has dragged on Australia's efforts to pull out of its first recession in nearly 30 years while other states have largely reopened their economies.
Concerned about community transmission, the state is looking for cases to drop to sustainably low numbers before lifting restrictions, but has yet to define the threshold.
Businesses were locked down from March to May before briefly reopening, then faced tougher restrictions from Aug 2, which has resulted in thousands of job losses.
The stage 4 restrictions imposed a night-time curfew, shut most of the economy, and limited people's movements to a 5km zone around their homes for one hour a day.
"No one wants a third wave here. But I think we have to find a practical, achievable, sustainable plan forward that also allows things to get back," Jennifer Westacott, chief executive of the Business Council of Australia, said on Australian Broadcasting Corp TV on Sunday.
SINGAPORE: It’s all too easy to forget that not so long ago, wines from Australia and elsewhere in the New World, including California’s Napa Valley, didn’t enjoy the same prestige they do presently.
“It takes time to begin making good wine,” says Wes Guild, an American sommelier who worked for chef Wolfgang Puck for a decade before taking up his current post, running Singapore’s Bistecca and Artemis restaurants.
“I don’t think they were making great wine in California coming out of the 1960s,” Guild says. With a few exceptions, the same could be said of Australia.
“But with wine, every year you get a new shot at it — and with time and trial and error, after several decades of vintages, hopefully you’ll get it right.”
Guild points out the French and the Italians have been making wine for thousands of years, on farms that have been there for generations.
They have the benefit of experience. Most of China’s aspiring winemakers, meanwhile, only planted their vines within the past 10 or 20 years.
Of course, China is an ancient civilisation and has produced intoxicating beverages since at least as far back as the Shang Dynasty, more than 3,500 years ago.
Though referred to as Chinese wine, this liquor, known as jiu, is not made from fermented grape juice like western wine but instead, is produced using a variety of grains — commonly rice, wheat or sorghum.
GRAPE EXPECTATIONS
Chinese drinkers’ tastes have broadened in parallel with the country’s economic reforms and increasing wealth. Today, the country is the world’s fifth-largest consumer of wine.
Responding to growing local demand and encouraged by government initiatives, production of western-style wine has been on the rise in China for the past 20 years.
Around 40 per cent of the mainland’s wine output comes from Shandong province on the Pacific coast. The wine made here echoes the style of famed French region Bordeaux, which sits on the same latitude as Shandong.
Polyphenols from grapes are thought to have several positive health impacts. (Photo: Unsplash/Maja Petric)
Two years ago, the owners of France’s prestigious Château Lafite Rothschild launched the first vintage from their decade-old Shandong estate, Domaine de Long Dai. Respected British wine critic Jancis Robinson described the 2017 as “suitably Lafite-like … utterly correct if not absolutely stunning.”
Well-regarded Bordeaux-style wines are also grown in the northern Chinese province of Ningxia. This arid region is one of the poorest in the country and the government has encouraged the cultivation of grapes to boost farmers’ incomes.
Despite challenging conditions — vines must be buried during winter to survive the cold — approximately a quarter of China’s wine is now derived from grapes grown in this region, with Legacy Peak and Zhihui Yuanshi among the foremost producers.
Another leading Chinese winery, Grace Vineyard, picked up a gold in the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards for its Tasya’s Reserve Cabernet Franc 2016, which sells internationally for US$31 per bottle.
EXPORT QUALITY
Most of the wine produced in China is consumed domestically. As yet, there is little demand beyond the country’s borders — even in greater Asia.
The beverage manager of the St Regis Singapore, Raquel Alcantara says although jiu is popular with guests, the hotel’s restaurants have seen few requests for new, western-style Chinese grape wines. “We are working to introduce some to our wine list, notably Ao Yun,” she says.
Ao Yun is the headline-grabbing Chinese red wine that has been developed over the past 12 years. Derived from primarily cabernet sauvignon grapes and grown in the Himalayas in some of the world’s highest vineyards, it's one of the more popular high-end brands.
David Fiori, head sommelier at the Fairmont Singapore and Swissotel The Stamford, believes interest in Ao Yun is driven in no small part by its novelty, as an LVMH-owned winery situated in the mountains near Tibet.
But the product bears up to scrutiny, he says, and the response from customers who’ve tasted the wine has been overwhelmingly positive.
Luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy sourced for ideal vineyard locations and settled in the Yunnan province. (Photo: Ao Yun Winery)
A great deal of time, effort and resources have gone into creating a world-class winery in China.
LVMH spent several years scouring the vast Middle Kingdom in search of the perfect location, before eventually settling upon a series of neighbouring villages situated at altitudes between 2,200m and 2,600m, on the mountainside by the Mekong River in the UNESCO-protected wilderness of Yunnan province.
The vineyards’ proximity to the city of Shangri-La (immortalised in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon and its movie adaptations) sounds romantic.
But the location was chosen for entirely pragmatic reasons, providing not only excellent soil but the ability to regulate sunlight, rainfall and temperature more effectively than elsewhere in China, where grapes often fall prey to extremes of heat, cold, precipitation and humidity.
Winemaker Maxence Dulou explains that while he initially faced scepticism, today Ao Yun is warmly embraced by critics and consumers alike.
“In 2016, when we introduced the 2013 vintage, our first, it was difficult to keep some people engaged. At tastings, we would hear them saying, ‘Oh, I prefer my Petrus’ or whatever French wine,” says Dulou, who previously practiced his art in Bordeaux.
Conferring recognition upon the brand, Ao Yun won the best Chinese red wine category at the inaugural Wine Pinnacle awards hosted by Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore last year.
More broadly, connoisseurs around the world are starting to take note of the wines coming out of China. Chinese reds and whites won seven gold medals in the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards, the world’s largest wine competition.
PASSING THE TASTE TEST
Judges at wine competitions normally try wines "blind", unaware of what they are appraising. This prevents preconceptions or bias from affecting their evaluations.
To ensure the wine is judged solely on its merits, Dulou often hosts blind tastings, where Ao Yun is compared incognito against France’s finest wines.
“The result is usually very positive,” he says. “It usually shows people consider Ao Yun to be at the level of the top fine wine in the world.”
Retailing at around S$500 per bottle, a price as lofty as its Himalayan terroir, Ao Yun is well beyond the regular wine drinker’s budget. Fortunately, Dulou sends me a bottle of the 2014 vintage to try.
(Photo: Unsplash/Camille Chen)
I double-decant the bottle as directed and two hours later, serve it with a lightly seasoned fillet steak and garlic sautéed green beans.
My first taste of (western-style) Chinese wine does not disappoint. In fact, it is very good indeed. Deep garnet in colour, with notes of black cherry, aniseed, green pepper, leather and rainforest floor, it’s fresh yet bold, sophisticated but muscular.
Velvety tannins and a meaty, savory quality make Ao Yun ’14 an outstanding complement for beef, though I can see how it would be a fine match for sashimi with soya sauce, a pairing Dulou suggests.
My experience with Ao Yun leaves me convinced that China is capable of making wine every bit as good as France, Italy, the US or Australia.
While many persist in the prejudiced belief that the "Made in China" appellation is synonymous with low quality, certain Chinese wines just might move people to re-evaluate these assumptions.
And as more wine drinkers have their curiosity piqued, it’s safe to say we’ll see Chinese bottles become a common sight on restaurant wine lists and in the cellars of collectors in years to come.
Christian Barker is a Singapore-based journalist and editor who covers luxury, travel, business, culture, and men’s style.
Even while retail activity appears to be slowly recovering as the economy reopens, businesses previously frequented by migrant workers in areas like Chinatown and Little India continue to bleed, with workers choosing to shop and eat closer to where they stay instead, causing shops in central areas to shutter as a result.
Checks last week found empty premises and shop owners wondering when things will go back to normal, if ever.
A visit to People's Park Complex on Wednesday and Friday revealed six to seven units closed on every floor with signs they were for rent. They included a money remittance outlet, two mobile phone and SIM card top-up stores and sundry shops.
Tenants at People's Park Complex, Hong Lim Complex and other locations in Chinatown said they had been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic and business had not picked up even after progressive reopening in phases one and two.
"We thought footfall would increase but our customers are mainly migrant workers from China and many of them don't come by any more," said Mr Chris Tan, in his 30s, who runs a mobile phone shop at People's Park Complex.
A former business owner in his 60s, who wanted to be known only as Mr Wong, told ST he had closed his provision shop in Chinatown after a decade there because it was "too hard to survive".
"You can't do business when there's no one coming to buy anything. Every day, you bleed money," said Mr Wong, who said many of his customers were from different parts of China who came for cheap sundries and household products he imported directly from China.
Property agent Victor Han told ST he had seen an "unprecedented" five units in Chinatown being vacated in the last month alone.
"It's a difficult situation. I'm not sure I can find tenants fast because even with landlords being able to accept slightly lower rents, it's not like people are lining up to set up physical shops during a pandemic," Mr Han said.
A check by ST in Little India found that workers are still staying away even if they have been cleared of the virus. The popular Mustafa Centre was close to empty on a weekday night, while grocery stores and food outlets had only one to two customers.
"All this produce might end up rotting if it's unsold," said Mr Raju Ravichandran, 31, who runs a store selling fruit and vegetables.
He said his stall was once well-patronised by migrant workers, but business had not bounced back to pre-Covid-19 levels. He now counts himself "lucky" if he gets 10 customers a day.
"I'm not sure how long we can stay open if the crowds don't come back."
ST also spoke to hawkers and operators of food outlets near Geylang where migrant workers used to go for good, cheap food.
"We now close several hours earlier because we don't see the crowds that we used to," said a porridge stall owner in Geylang, who gave her name only as Madam Tong, 68. "We used to have groups of migrant workers come in to eat. It was good business, but because they have been cooped up in the dormitories, we've lost that customer base for now."
But the losses in the central areas have been the gain of small businesses providing similar essential services in heartland areas close to dormitories for migrant workers. These reported a welcome uptick in business with workers choosing to shop nearer the dorms.
Staff at provision shops, food outlets and SIM card shops near dormitories in Kaki Bukit, Tai Seng, Bukit Batok and Jurong East told ST that since announcements last month that migrant workers would be allowed to leave dorms to run errands, business had picked up.
"Some of the workers told me that they would rather go to a store near their dormitories than go all the way to Mustafa Centre or Chinatown, since the prices are comparable and they can find the spices they need at my shop," said Mr Ramesh Singh, in his 50s, who runs a provision shop in Jurong West. He said his shop has seen a 20 per cent increase in sales to foreign workers, particularly from Bangladesh.
"If I can cater to them and keep my business going, it's a win-win."
Migrant worker Xu Yujie, 35, from Guangxi in southern China, told ST he is now patronising a money remittance service in the Jurong area and buying sundries from neighbourhood provision stores near his dormitory, instead of going to Chinatown.
"Even though we can now leave the dormitories for personal errands, I am very afraid of exposing myself to the virus," he said.
"The main reason for going to Chinatown was to socialise and spend time with friends over a meal, but it will be a long time before we can do that again."
NEW DELHI (AFP) – India has become the world’s third country to pass four million coronavirus infections, setting a new record daily surge in cases on Saturday (Sept 5) as the crisis shows no sign of peaking.
The 86,432 new cases took India to 4,023,179 infections, third behind the United States, which has more than 6.3 million, and just trailing Brazil on 4.1 million.
While the government has eased restrictions in a bid to revive the economy, India now has the world’s fastest-growing number of cases, at more than 80,000 a day, and the highest daily death toll, at more than 1,000.
The country’s caseload has gone from three million to four million in just 13 days, faster than the US and Brazil.
The pandemic is now spreading through rural areas, which have poor health facilities, but is also resurging in big cities like Delhi and Mumbai.
Maharashtra state, which includes Mumbai, has been at the centre of the crisis in India since a nationwide lockdown was imposed in March. It still accounts for nearly a quarter of the new daily cases across the country of 1.3 billion.
Dr Shamika Ravi, an economics professor and former government adviser who has closely followed pandemic trends in India, said that India is “nowhere close” to a peak and Maharashtra must become the “focus” of the campaign against the coronavirus.
“There is no controlling Covid-19 in India without controlling the outbreak in Maharashtra,” she said on Twitter.
“Given its economic significance, Maharashtra will continue to influence the spread of infection elsewhere in the country.”
BANGKOK (THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Two foreigners were arrested in Bangkok on Friday (Sept 4) for allegedly possessing guns and ammunition with the intent to sell.
Singaporean national Bink (last name withheld), 26, and Indonesian Aiden (last name withheld), 32, were arrested in a condominium in the Sutthisan area of Huay Khwang district by officials of Patrol and Special Operation Division, also known as 191 Police.
Police said they were tipped off about illegal gun sellers, which led to a red Mercedes-Benz car owned by one of the suspects. The licence plate and registration turned out to be fake.
Police reportedly found seven handguns, 584 bullets, an M67 grenade, a KM18 smoke grenade and two flash bangs in their room.
The suspects reportedly confessed that they sold guns and explosives to foreign customers via Line and WeChat applications, while customers paid in bitcoin.
After the arrest, police found that a customer in Singapore had just called Bink's phone and ordered him to destroy the guns in exchange for a 100,000 baht (S$4,350) fee.
Investigation of the suspects' travel histories revealed that they had entered Thailand on student visas in 2019 and had been renting the room since June at 13,000 baht per month.
They were charged with possession and selling of guns and explosives without licence, while Bink was additionally charged with falsifying official government documents for the car that he owns.
Both were sent to Sutthisan Police Station for processing while police are investigating the call from Singapore to track down the customer.
WASHINGTON: Melania Trump on Friday (Sep 4) defended her husband against allegations that he referred to US Marines buried in a WWI cemetery in France as "losers" and "suckers".
In a rare public statement, the US first lady rejected as "not true" the accusations made in an article published in The Atlantic magazine.
"It has become a very dangerous time when anonymous sources are believed above all else, & no one knows their motivation. This is not journalism - It is activism. And it is a disservice to the people of our great nation," she tweeted.
On Thursday The Atlantic reported - citing four anonymous sources who said they had firsthand knowledge of the discussions - that President Donald Trump had referred to US Marines buried in a World War I cemetery in France as "losers" and "suckers" for getting killed in action.
When visiting France in November 2018 for the centenary of the end of the Great War, Trump did not visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris as originally planned - officially because bad weather grounded his helicopter.
But the magazine disputed that version of events.
The backlash was swift, and Trump sent a barrage of tweets to defend himself.
"The Atlantic magazine is dying, like most magazines, so they make up a fake story in order to gain some relevance," wrote the president, who went on to assail the report as "a disgrace" in a briefing to White House reporters.
WASHINGTON: The United States is ready to help resolve the dispute between India and China over the mountain border running through the western Himalayas, President Donald Trump said on Friday (Sep 4).
Trump told reporters the situation was "very nasty," adding that the two countries were "going at it much more strongly than a lot of people even understand."
Both sides deployed additional forces along the frontier after a clash in June, during which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand fighting.
The defense ministers of India and China were due to hold talks in Moscow on Friday, the highest level face-to-face political contact since tensions flared along the disputed mountain border in May.
A US government source told Reuters in Washington the US assessment is that neither China nor India are interested in pushing the dispute to the point that they would engage in war.
Trump, asked about the dispute at a news briefing in the White House, said Washington was talking with both countries about what it could do to help defuse the situation.
"We stand ready to help with respect to China and India. If we can do anything, we would love to get involved and help," he said.
Trump has offered to mediate between the two nuclear-armed nations in the past. China has said that there is no need for a third party to mediate and India has also appeared cool to the idea.
