China slams ‘unacceptable’ Covid curbs on travelers from its territory

Patients on stretchers are seen at Tongren hospital in Shanghai on January 3, 2023. (AFP)
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Patients on stretchers are seen at Tongren hospital in Shanghai on January 3, 2023. (AFP)
China slams ‘unacceptable’ Covid curbs on travelers from its territory
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This picture shows patients on wheelchairs and people in the emergency department of a hospital in Beijing on January 3, 2023. (AFP)
China slams ‘unacceptable’ Covid curbs on travelers from its territory
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Health workers guide travellers arriving from China to a Covid-19 testing centre at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul on January 3, 2023. (AFP)
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Medical workers of the intensive care unit transfer a patient of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Suining Central Hospital in Suining, Sichuan province, China December 31, 2022. (REUTERS)
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Updated 04 January 2023

China slams ‘unacceptable’ Covid curbs on travelers from its territory

Patients on stretchers are seen at Tongren hospital in Shanghai on January 3, 2023. (AFP)
  • The rules imposed affect all travelers coming from China — not just Chinese nationals — while Beijing continues to restrict inbound visitors and not issue visas for tourists or international students
  • As health workers nationwide battle a surge in cases, a senior doctor at one of Shanghai’s top hospitals said 70 percent of the megacity’s population may now have been infected with Covid-19, state media reported on Tuesday

BEIJING: China called the mounting international restrictions on travelers from its territory “unacceptable” on Tuesday after more than a dozen countries placed fresh Covid curbs on visitors from the world’s most populous nation.
The United States, Canada, Japan and France are among the countries insisting all travelers from China provide negative Covid tests before arrival, as concerns grow over a surge in cases.
China’s steep rise in infections comes after Beijing abruptly lifted years of hard-line restrictions last month, with hospitals and crematoriums quickly overwhelmed.
But Beijing has pushed ahead with a long-awaited reopening, last week announcing an end to mandatory quarantines on arrival in a move that prompted Chinese people to plan trips abroad.
“Some countries have taken entry restrictions targeting China,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular briefing.
“This lacks scientific basis and some practices are unacceptable,” she added, warning China could “take countermeasures based on the principle of reciprocity.”
The United States replied that it had taken action in response to the “lack of adequate and transparent” data from China and concerns that the heavy caseload could give birth to new variants.
“This is an approach that is based solely and exclusively on science,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington.
Asked about China’s reaction, France’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne defended the new rules.
“I think we’re performing our duty in asking for tests,” Borne told franceinfo radio.
“We will continue to do it.”
The rules imposed affect all travelers coming from China — not just Chinese nationals — while Beijing continues to restrict inbound visitors and not issue visas for tourists or international students.
China has only recorded 22 Covid deaths since December and has dramatically narrowed the criteria for classifying such deaths — meaning that Beijing’s own statistics about the unprecedented wave are now widely seen as not reflecting reality.

As health workers nationwide battle a surge in cases, a senior doctor at one of Shanghai’s top hospitals said 70 percent of the megacity’s population may now have been infected with Covid-19, state media reported Tuesday.
Chen Erzhen, vice president at Ruijin Hospital and a member of Shanghai’s Covid expert advisory panel, estimated that the majority of the city’s 25 million people may have been infected.
“Now the spread of the epidemic in Shanghai is very wide, and it may have reached 70 percent of the population, which is 20 to 30 times more than (in April and May),” he told Dajiangdong Studio, owned by the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.
Shanghai suffered a grueling two-month lockdown from April, during which more than 600,000 residents were infected and many were hauled to mass quarantine centers.
But now the omicron variant is spreading rapidly across the city.
In other major cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Guangzhou, Chinese health officials have suggested that the wave has already peaked.
In neighboring Zhejiang province, disease control authorities said Tuesday that there had been one million new Covid infections in recent days and that the province was entering a peak plateau.
Chen added that his Shanghai hospital was seeing 1,600 emergency admissions daily — double the number prior to restrictions being lifted — with 80 percent of them Covid patients.
“More than 100 ambulances arrive at the hospital every day,” he was quoted as saying, adding that around half of emergency admissions were vulnerable people aged over 65.
At Tongren Hospital in downtown Shanghai, AFP reporters saw patients receiving emergency medical attention outside the entrance of the overcrowded emergency ward on Tuesday.
The corridors overflowed with dozens of elderly patients lying on beds crammed together, hooked up to IV drips.
At another hospital, AFP witnessed an exchange between a woman and an older man, both jostling for a drip.
“I was here first,” she said. “I’m here to get a needle too.”

Chinese officials are now readying for a virus wave to hit the country’s under-resourced rural interior, as millions of people prepare to travel to their hometowns for the weeklong Lunar New Year public holiday beginning January 21.
National Health Commission official Jiao Yahui admitted that dealing with the expected surge in rural areas would be an “enormous challenge.”
“What we are most worried about is in the past three years nobody has returned home for Lunar New Year but they finally can this year,” Jiao told state broadcaster CCTV on Monday.
“As a result, there may be a retaliatory surge of urban residents into the countryside to visit their relatives, so we are even more worried about the rural epidemic.”

 


Taiwan president welcomed, denounced by Chinese community as she arrives in New York

Taiwan president welcomed, denounced by Chinese community as she arrives in New York
Updated 11 sec ago

Taiwan president welcomed, denounced by Chinese community as she arrives in New York

Taiwan president welcomed, denounced by Chinese community as she arrives in New York
  • China has threatened reprisals if Tsai meets with US House speaker Kevin McCarthy
  • Tsai is stopping over in the US en route to Guatemala and Belize to shore up ties

NEW YORK: Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen arrived in New York Wednesday for a visit that has triggered threats of reprisal by China if she meets with House speaker Kevin McCarthy — and US warnings for Beijing not to overreact.
Tsai is stopping over in the United States en route to Central America, where she will meet with the leaders of Guatemala and Belize to shore up ties with those diplomatic allies. On her way back to Taiwan she will stop in California, where McCarthy had said he would meet her.
China claims the democratic island as part of its territory to be retaken one day and, under its “One China” principle, no country may maintain official ties with both Beijing and Taipei.
Beijing warned Wednesday that it was vehemently opposed to any meeting between Tsai and McCarthy and vowed to take “resolute measures to fight back” if it goes ahead.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen acknowledges well-wishers in New York on March 29, 2023. (AP Photo)

The United States responded by saying China should not use Tsai’s stopover as a pretext to act aggressively around the Taiwan Strait.
Tsai was seen arriving at her hotel in New York, where dozens of pro-Beijing demonstrators waving China’s red flag gathered boisterously while nearby a similarly sized group of pro-Taiwan people cheered and waved their banner and the US stars and stripes.
Xu Xueyuan, the charge d’affaires at the Chinese embassy in Washington, said she had spoken directly to US officials numerous times and warned them that Tsai’s trip would violate China’s core interests.
“We urge the US side not to repeat playing with fire on the Taiwan question,” she told reporters, alluding among other things to last year’s visit to Taiwan by then House speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Tsai’s trip follows Honduras’s decision this month to open diplomatic relations with Beijing, leaving Belize and Guatemala among just 13 countries that have official ties with Taipei.
After first visiting New York, Tsai will meet her Guatemalan counterpart Alejandro Giammattei and Belize Prime Minister John Briceno in their respective countries, her office said.
She will then stop in Los Angeles on her way home.
McCarthy has said he will meet Tsai in his home state, although the talks are yet to be confirmed by Taiwanese authorities.
Pelosi’s visit triggered an angry response from Beijing, with the Chinese military conducting drills at an unprecedented scale around the island.

A supporter holds a sign welcoming Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen as she arrives at the Lotte Hotel in Manhattan, New York City, on March 29, 2023. (Reuters)

Analysts say the US stopover comes at a key time, with Beijing having ramped up military, economic and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan since Tsai came to power in 2016, poaching nine of its diplomatic allies.
“Beijing’s attempts to poach Taiwan’s diplomatic partners will lead to Taiwan developing closer ties with the United States,” said James Lee, a researcher on US-Taiwan relations at Academia Sinica.
The United States remains Taiwan’s most important ally — and its biggest arms supplier — despite switching its diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979.
“The loss of official relations with third countries will be offset by a deepening of Taiwan’s unofficial relations,” Lee said.
Recent visits by a Czech delegation and a German minister were met with rebukes from Beijing.
One of Tsai’s most prominent domestic opponents, ex-president Ma Ying-jeou, was in China on Wednesday, the first such trip by a former Taiwanese leader.

China has increased investment in Latin America, a key diplomatic battleground between Taipei and Beijing since the two sides split in 1949 after a civil war.
Taiwan accused China on Sunday of using “coercion and intimidation” to lure away its allies after Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina and his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang officially launched relations in Beijing.
Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the region, made the switch due to economic necessity, Reina had said earlier.
The move continued a trend in Latin America, with Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica all switching diplomatic recognition to Beijing in recent years.
In addition to Guatemala and Belize, Taiwan still has official ties with a handful of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Paraguay and Haiti.


UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda

UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda
Updated 30 March 2023

UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda

UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda
  • Home Office: Because veteran did not enter Britain via legal route, his asylum claim may be denied
  • Ex-international development secretary: Govt ‘shirking’ its responsibilities toward Afghans who fought alongside UK

LONDON: Senior military chiefs, politicians and diplomats in the UK have urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to prevent the deportation of an Afghan veteran to Rwanda, The Independent reported on Wednesday.

The war pilot flew 30 combat missions against the Taliban and was forced to flee to Britain. Because he could find no safe and legal route, he traveled on a small boat to reach the country. He was praised by his coalition forces supervisor as a “patriot to his nation.”

However, the Home Office said because he traveled through Italy, Switzerland and France in order to enter England, his claim for asylum in the UK may be denied. 

The Home Office informed the pilot that he “may also be removable to Rwanda,” and that his personal information could be shared with Rwandan authorities, The Independent reported.

Former International Development Secretary Rory Stewart called the pilot’s story “profoundly shocking” because it contradicts the government’s promises made to those in Afghanistan. 

“We are shirking our responsibilities towards Afghans who risked their lives to fight alongside us and who are now at risk of their lives,” he told The Independent. 

Sir Laurie Bristow, who was British ambassador to Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul, said the lives of Afghans who fought for the UK “are at risk as a result.”

He told The Independent: “Many of our own service people owe their lives to Afghans who worked and fought alongside them in Afghanistan.”

Sir Richard Barrons, a former chief of joint operations who served in Afghanistan, said the pilot’s route to Britain should not impact his asylum claim “considering the mess the government made with the evacuation process.”

When confronted on Wednesday about the Afghan veteran’s threatened deportation to Rwanda during the “Today” program, British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said the government is determined to crack down on “criminal gangs who feed the illegal asylum trade” by bringing people to the UK on small boats.

But Col. Simon Diggins, who served as a defense attache in Afghanistan, told The Independent: “We shouldn’t accept the terminology that he got here ‘illegally’; that is not the right language for people like him who have no other means of getting here safely. It is appalling that this man who was in our allied forces is being treated in this way.”

Maj. Gen. Tim Cross, who served in Iraq, the Balkans and Northern Ireland, said: “If this man was a member of Afghan forces fighting alongside the coalition then the risks to him are obvious.

“The whole Afghanistan withdrawal was terribly done, and cases like these are the human consequences of mistakes we made in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Former Defense Minister Kevan Jones told The Independent: “We have a huge debt to these people. This is no way to treat them. It’s a stain on Britain’s great reputation of supporting its friends.

“We always stick by our friends. We should continue to do that. This government is clearly not doing that in this case and many others.”

Sunak has promised to review the veteran’s case. On Monday, he asked the Home Office to look further into his situation.


Fate of Russian girl separated from father over Ukraine unclear

Fate of Russian girl separated from father over Ukraine unclear
Updated 29 March 2023

Fate of Russian girl separated from father over Ukraine unclear

Fate of Russian girl separated from father over Ukraine unclear
  • Maria was taken away from him in early March and placed in a local "rehabilitation centre" for minors, with the pair denied contact
  • The case has garnered national attention, as Moscow cracks down on criticism of the offensive in Ukraine

MOSCOW: The fate of a Russian child who drew a pro-peace sketch was unclear Wednesday, a day after her father fled house arrest to avoid prison time over criticism of Moscow's assault on Ukraine.
Single father Alexei Moskalyov fled house arrest just before a court in the town of Yefremov south of Moscow handed him a two-year sentence for "discrediting" the Russian army.
Since early March Moskalyov has been separated from his 13-year-old daughter Maria as punishment for his criticism of Kremlin policies, a first in modern Russia, experts say.
Maria was taken away from him in early March and placed in a local "rehabilitation centre" for minors, with the pair denied contact.
The case has garnered national attention, as Moscow cracks down on criticism of the offensive in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Moskalyov's lawyer Vladimir Biliyenko said he had visited the "rehabilitation centre" the day earlier but the girl was not there.
"It seems that they are hiding Masha," he told AFP, referring to the girl by her diminutive name. He said a lot of supporters wanted to see her, too.
The lawyer also said he was not aware of her 54-year-old father's whereabouts.
"I hope he's alive and well," he added.
Biliyenko said it was now "difficult to predict" what will happen to Maria.
Moskalyov is at risk of losing parental rights in a separate trial set to begin on April 6.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday defended Moskalyov's sentencing, describing the father's parenting as "deplorable".
But in a letter published on social media Maria called her father "the bravest person in the world".
"I love you very much and know that you are not guilty of anything," the letter read.
"Everything will be ok and we will be together. You are my hero," the letter said.
Moskalyov's lawyer confirmed the authenticity of the letter.
The lawyer also criticised Russia's children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova and rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova for not getting involved in the case.
"The fate of a child is being decided here and they are not interested," he said.
A local rights activist, Yelena Agafonova, said she was prepared to take the girl in.
"We will apply for custody of Masha, we are preparing the documents," she told AFP.
She believed the case was a "show case to demonstrate what will happen to those who do not agree" with Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.
Russia's top human rights organisation Memorial, which has been outlawed by the authorities, said it considered Moskalyov a "political prisoner".
Memorial said that his case was "an attempt to intimidate all opponents" of the conflict.


Seven jailed in Belgium terrorism probe: prosecutor

Seven jailed in Belgium terrorism probe: prosecutor
Updated 29 March 2023

Seven jailed in Belgium terrorism probe: prosecutor

Seven jailed in Belgium terrorism probe: prosecutor
  • The seven, five Belgians as well as a Turk and a Bulgarian, were charged with participation in the activities of a terrorist group
  • Five of them were also charged with "preparation of a terrorist offence", the prosecutor said

BRUSSELS: Seven people were imprisoned in Belgium Wednesday in two investigations into “possible terrorist attacks,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.
The seven, five Belgians as well as a Turk and a Bulgarian, were charged with participation in the activities of a terrorist group.
Five of them were also charged with “preparation of a terrorist offense,” the prosecutor said.
Raids were conducted late Monday on homes in the capital Brussels, the port city of Antwerp and the border town of Eupen, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.
Eight were arrested in the raids, but one of the suspects arrested in Antwerp has since been released.
These were in relation to two inquiries — one led by federal police in Brussels and the other by an investigating magistrate in Antwerp.
The parallel investigations triggered a raid in Molenbeek, an inner-city Brussels district that has been the focus of some previous terror probes.
More details of the potential targets of these attacks have not yet been released.
The investigations in Antwerp and Brussels had initially focused on “two young adults suspected of violent radicalism,” state broadcaster RTBF reported.
The country’s biggest ever criminal trial of nine suspects accused of taking part in the March 2016 suicide bombings that killed 32 people is underway in Brussels.


Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died

Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died
Updated 29 March 2023

Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died

Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died
  • Child’s father has filed a formal complaint against the hospital
  • Allegations also include standard of care his son received as patient

LONDON: The parents of 5-year-old Muhammad Ayaan, who passed away on March 15 in Sheffield Children’s Hospital, claim they heard medical staff laughing as their son’s life support machine was turned off.

Ayaan had a history of respiratory difficulties as well as a rare genetic condition that causes developmental delays, The Independent reported on Wednesday. He was admitted to the hospital on March 5 with breathing difficulties and died just over a week later. 

“When the machine was switched off at 2:30 a.m., we had a lot of family members there. There was laughter coming from staff members. We were so upset,” Ayaan’s father Haroon Rashid told The Independent.

“There was no one else on the ward apart from the staff and one other small child behind the curtain from us,” he added.

“Surely the staff knew Ayaan’s machine was about to be turned off. They continued laughing after my relative asked them to stop.

“A child’s life was coming to an end. It was highly insensitive. We are living with our son’s loss, but we are very, very angry about how the staff behaved.”

Ayaan’s mother Fakhra Dibi also described a similar incident when she was told that her son’s condition was deteriorating a few days before his death, The Independent reported.

Dibi claims she was given the news in a ward full of laughing staff, with children and other parents in the background.

“My wife rang me crying after the doctor broke the news,” Rashid said.

“They should have taken her to a private room, not told her like that in front of everyone. It’s hugely insensitive,” he added.

Rashid, a taxi driver and father of four, has filed a formal complaint, which also includes allegations about the standards of care during Ayaan’s time in the hospital as well as a claim that he was contacted for a follow-up appointment for his son 10 days after he died.

The 41-year-old further claims that hospital staff had been “dismissive” to some of the concerns he raised about his son during his care, The Independent reported.

“Every day in the treatment of my son, something went wrong. They didn’t listen to my years of experience in caring for my children,” he said.

“I’m not a doctor, but I know my son’s history. From past experience, I knew what treatment my son needed from the outset, but no one listened to me.”

However, Rashid emphasized the previous treatment that his son received as an outpatient from Sheffield Children’s Hospital had been faultless and that his consultants had supported the family throughout.

Rashid said: “We don’t know how we will live without him now our son is gone.

“We worry about what happened to him. We don’t want this to happen to any other child or any other family.

The hospital has promised a “thorough” investigation into the family’s claims.

Dr. Jeff Perring, medical director at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, told The Independent: “I wish to express my deepest condolences to Ayaan’s family for their loss.

“The death of any child is tragic, and I know that my colleagues who treated, and came to know, Ayaan during his short life will share in expressing these condolences.

“The loss of a child while they are a patient at Sheffield Children’s is something we take very seriously.

“Our colleagues pride themselves on providing the best clinical and pastoral care for all children and young people who need it.

“We have received Rashid’s complaint, which is very detailed and complex.

“There will be a thorough internal investigation of the care and treatment Ayaan received at the hospital between 5 and 13 March, which will cover the concerns raised in Mr. Rashid’s complaint.”