Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on steps to be taken to support the Covid-19 home recovery system - TODAYonline

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2021-09-24 12:43:04Z
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China draws up list of 100 instances of US 'interference' in Hong Kong - CNA

BEIJING: China on Friday (Sep 24) listed more than 100 instances of what it said was US interference in Hong Kong affairs, including President Joe Biden's show of support for a pro-democracy newspaper.

US politicians and officials have denounced China over its tightening control of the former British colony of Hong Kong, especially the imposition of a sweeping national security law last year cracking down on dissent.

"The United States must not tolerate any force that is anti-China and stirs troubles in Hong Kong, or else it will only be lifting a stone to hit one's foot," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular press briefing on Friday.

The ministry posted a list on its website which detailed instances of US interference since 2019, including the signing of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act in 2020 by then-president Donald Trump.

Trump ordered an end to Hong Kong's special status under US law to punish China for what he called "oppressive actions" against the financial hub, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with a guarantee of continued freedoms.

China criticised Biden for calling the closure of the Apple Daily newspaper "a sad day for media freedom" and a sign of "intensified repression by Beijing".

The Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy tabloid founded by tycoon Jimmy Lai, who is in jail and awaiting trial on national security charges, was forced to fold following a raid by 500 police on its headquarters in June and the freezing of key assets and bank accounts.

Authorities say dozens of the paper's articles may have violated the national security law which critics say has been used to stifle free speech and erode other fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the territory's "Basic Law" mini-constitution.

Chinese and Hong Kong officials deny the charge and say the law has returned order to Hong Kong which was hit by months of sometimes violent pro-democracy, anti-China protests in 2019.

Other US officials named on China's list include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his successor, Anthony Blinken.

The foreign ministry did not explain why the list was released now or whether it would take punitive action against those named on the list.

China passed an anti-foreign sanctions law in June under which those involved in making or implementing discriminatory measures against Chinese citizens or entities could be put on a mainland anti-sanctions list.

Such individuals could then be denied entry into China or be expelled. Their assets in China may be seized or frozen.

Biden last month offered temporary "safe haven" to Hong Kong residents in the United States, allowing what could be thousands of people to extend their stay in response to Beijing's "assault" on Hong Kong's autonomy.

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2021-09-24 10:17:26Z
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China sends fighter jets to show anger at Taiwan over trade deal - The Straits Times

TAIPEI (BLOOMBERG) - China sent two air force incursions close to Taiwan on Thursday (Sept 23), underscoring its displeasure at the government in Taipei's bid to join a regional trade deal.

Twenty-four People's Liberation Army aircraft flew into Taiwan's air defence identification zone, Taiwan's Defence Ministry said in two separate statements. That was the largest number of Chinese planes to enter the zone in a day since June, when China's air force sent 28 aircraft close to Taiwan in the biggest sortie this year.

The flights came a day after Taiwan announced it had requested to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), an 11-nation group that China also applied to join last week.

In the past, Beijing has used large-scale incursions to signal its anger at Taiwan for challenging China's claims to sovereignty over the island democracy.

The dispute was not limited to military manoeuvres, with Beijing and Taipei exchanging barbs over the latter's attempt to join the CPTPP.

"We firmly oppose any official ties between Taiwan and any countries, and firmly oppose Taiwan's accession into any treaties and organisations that are of official nature," Beijing's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular briefing on Thursday.

The Foreign Ministry in Taipei responded by saying China has no right to comment on the Taiwan government's application to join the CPTPP and that the People's Republic of China does not represent the people of Taiwan on the international stage.

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2021-09-24 04:40:22Z
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What is the Pegasus spyware scandal and how is Singapore affected? - CNA

NSO has rejected the claims arising from the data leak, but said it would "continue to investigate all credible claims of misuse and take appropriate action".

The company insisted that Pegasus is only intended for use against criminals and terrorists, and that it only sells to military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies in 40 unnamed countries. These customers have been vetted for their human rights records, NSO said.

But it is not difficult for bad actors to create legitimate-looking shell companies and deceive sellers of such sensitive tools, said Mr Vitaly Kamluk, director of the global research and analysis team (APAC) at Kaspersky.

"It's possible to create someone who will just represent you and look like a legal entity that may be connected to the government," he told CNA on Wednesday (Sep 22).

"Some proofs can even be faked and I'm sure that if you really focus on this, you can find one way or another to become a legitimate customer of the NSO Group. And if you have enough money, you can buy these tools they offer."

NSO has attracted scrutiny since 2016, when the company's software was said to be used against a rights activist in the United Arab Emirates and a journalist in Mexico, the New York Times reported on Jul 18.

In 2018, an investigation conducted by University of Toronto research group Citizen Lab found that some of the phones suspected to be infected were in the UK, US and Singapore. Citizen Lab had also reviewed the work done by Amnesty researchers on the recent data leak.

The Singapore Government said on Sep 13 it is aware of these claims but cannot verify them as no reports have been filed.

"As our findings are based on country-level geolocation of DNS servers, factors such as VPNs and satellite Internet teleport locations can introduce inaccuracies," the Citizen Lab report said.

Because Singapore hosts a number of data centres and is a regional Internet communication hub, Mr Kamluk said, the findings could have pointed to Singapore's Internet infrastructure instead of actual victims living here.

Here's what we know about Pegasus so far:

HOW DOES PEGASUS INFECT A PHONE?

While earlier versions of the software used targeted spear-phishing attacks to gain access to a phone, it has since been made far more efficient, and is able to infect a device even if nothing is clicked on.

Mr Kamluk said Pegasus infects phones through "non-interaction" methods, which means malicious code is sent to a target and breaches the target's device "without any kind of user interactions required".

For instance, Pegasus first creates a fake WhatsApp account, then uses it to make video calls. When an unsuspecting user's phone rings, a malicious code is transmitted that installs the spyware on the phone. The software is installed even if the call is not answered.

Pegasus has apparently begun exploiting vulnerabilities in Apple's iMessage software as well, although Apple on Sep 13 released a fix to rectify this.

Still, Mr Kamluk said Pegasus will likely find new ways to continue exploiting iPhones through other backdoors.

"These vulnerabilities, they (Apple engineers) don't plant them on purpose, for sure, but it's in the fundamental code of our human nature to make mistakes," he said. "We will see new ones come and appear, and Apple will patch again the moment they find this."

When Pegasus is installed on a phone, it could gain administrative privileges on a device, allowing it to do even more things than the device owner.

"It's fully automatic," Mr Kamluk said. "They choose the target and at that moment the operator has full control of the device."

CAN PEGASUS BE IDENTIFIED AND REMOVED?

When Pegasus infects a phone, it hides itself but leaves some traces that can be spotted using specialised software, like the mobile verification toolkit published open source and free by Amnesty, Mr Kamluk said.

But to thoroughly check an iPhone, for instance, users would probably void their warranty as specialists would need to "jailbreak" the phone to check every single thing stored inside, Mr Kamluk continued.

"Of course, NSO Group will improve," he said. "So, everything that is detected right now – all these signs and traces that were picked up by Amnesty International and Citizen Lab – will be changed so that this tool will be blind to future versions of diagnosis (software)."

And because Pegasus burrows deep into parts of a device that require the highest privileges to access, Mr Kamluk said removing it will not be easy as uninstalling an app or stopping a service.

"If the phone is infected, that likely means that it will remain there for a long time. Depending on the exploits they have and the post-exploitation stages, it may actually get deeper and even survive the reboot or total reset of the (phone)," he added.

"Once the phone is breached, I would not recommend to use it to anyone who cares about privacy or security."

WHO ELSE HAS BEEN TARGETED?

Numbers on the leaked list include Mexican reporter Cecilio Pineda Birto, who was gunned down on the street, as well as journalists from CNN, the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News and the New York Times.

Two of the targeted phones were owned by Mr Szabolcs Panyi and Mr Andras Szabo, investigative reporters in Hungary who regularly cover government corruption.

Indian investigative news website the Wire also reported that 300 mobile phone numbers used in India, including those of government ministers, opposition politicians, journalists, scientists and rights activists, were on the list.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?

The Pegasus leak is likely to spur debates over government surveillance in several countries suspected of using the technology.

The investigation suggests the Hungarian government of Viktor Orbán appears to have deployed NSO’s technology as part of his so-called war on the media, targeting investigative journalists in the country as well as the close circle of one of Hungary’s few independent media executives, the Guardian report said.

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2021-09-23 22:20:00Z
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VP Harris and Indian Prime Minister Modi meet as US eyes Asia - CNA

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris met India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (Sep 23) and stressed the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific region at a time when the United States is trying to solidify its pivot toward Asia and strengthen ties with allies to take on China's growing influence in the region.

The meeting between the most prominent Indian American and the Indian Prime Minister, who has close ties with former President Donald Trump, assumed greater significance as the Biden administration takes steps to deepen its relationship with one its most important allies in Asia.

"The United States, like India, feels very strongly about the pride of being a member of the Indo Pacific, but also the fragility and importance ... of those relationships, including maintaining a free and open Indo Pacific," Harris told Modi during the meeting.

The meeting was also a celebratory moment for the 4 million strong Indian diaspora in the United States and Indians back home who take pride in Harris's Indian roots and her ascent.

Modi praised the vice president referring to her as an "inspiration," a leader who is like "family" and called her a "real friend" who has had India's back during the COVID-19 crisis.

"The oldest democracy and the largest democracy ... we are indeed natural partners, we have similar values," Modi said.

During the meeting, Harris also welcomed India's decision to resume exports of the COVID-19 vaccine and said both countries must work together to protect democracies around the world.

India, the world's biggest maker of COVID-19 vaccines, announced recently that it would resume vaccine exports later this year. India stopped exports in April to focus on inoculating its own population as infections exploded.

"When India experienced the surge of COVID-19 in the country, the United States was very proud to support India in its need and responsibility to vaccinate its people, and I welcome India's announcement that it will soon be able to resume vaccine exports," Harris said.

Harris and Modi were expected to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, greater cooperation in technology, space and other sectors, and supply chain issues, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Modi's three-day Washington trip will be capped by a meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday.

Biden and Modi will also hold a "Quad" summit with the leaders of Australia and Japan, aiming to boost cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region amid China's growing dominance in the area.

Modi on Thursday also met the chief executives of Qualcomm, Blackstone, Adobe, First Solar and General Atomics, the sources said.

Modi, former chief minister of Gujarat before his 2014 national election win, was banned from traveling to the United States for a nearly a decade, following the massacre of 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, in the state in 2002.

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2021-09-23 23:29:13Z
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China says it opposes Taiwan's bid to join CPTPP trade pact - CNA

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2021-09-23 13:44:13Z
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Why the AUKUS, Quad and 'Five Eyes' pacts anger China - CNA

WHAT IS THE QUAD

It brings the US, Japan, India and Australia together in an informal alliance of democracies with shared economic and security interests that span the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Formed to coordinate tsunami relief efforts, it lay dormant for years afterward until 2017, when it was revived under then-US President Donald Trump as his administration sought to challenge China from every angle.

Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, organised the first-ever gathering of the Quad leaders in March, at which they pledged to accelerate production of COVID-19 vaccines and distribute them across Asia.

Although their statement does not mention China, the talks came amid a flurry of US diplomacy designed to build a common approach to dealing with Beijing.

WHAT IS FIVE EYES

It is a decades-old intelligence-sharing arrangement among the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

It is so good at keeping secrets that its existence was not publicly revealed until the mid-2000s.

It is not clear how much intelligence is shared, but most of whistle-blower Edward Snowden’s vast 2013 dump of classified US National Security Agency data, for instance, was marked FVEY, meaning it was available to other Five Eyes members.

Advocates say the collaboration was used to positive effect in the Afghanistan war as well as in counter-terrorism operations in the Philippines and East Africa. Snowden attacked it as unanswerable to democratic oversight by national governments.

Cracks emerged this year over China, when New Zealand distanced itself from moves to broaden the group’s remit and take positions on issues such as Beijing’s human rights record.

WHY SO MUCH FOCUS ON CHINA 

Its rise has steadily become one of the biggest foreign policy challenges not just for the US, but for almost every Chinese neighbour and democracies around the world.

China’s rapid military development is a particularly acute threat to neighboring countries such as India and the Philippines, which have active maritime or border disputes. But it also threatens the US military presence that has underpinned Asia’s security architecture for decades.

Researchers at the University of Sydney, for example, warned last year that China’s growing missile arsenal could wipe out America’s bases in Asia during the “opening hours” of any conflict.

China’s global economic reach has also greatly expanded as state-owned companies buy up strategic assets such as ports around the world that could be harnessed in times of war.

Its statecraft - spearheaded by “wolf warrior” diplomats - has also grown more aggressive, particularly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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2021-09-23 11:05:00Z
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