#NewYorkTimes #PressFreedom
China Banishes The New York Times Journalist from China while Hong Kong Authorities Deny Visa Renewal
 
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#NewYorkTimes #PressFreedom
China Banishes The New York Times Correspondent from China while Hong Kong Authorities Deny Visa Renewal
 
In response to the enactment of the Hong Kong National Security Law, The New York Times announced on July 14th the relocation of their digital news business from their Hong Kong office to Seoul, Korea.  The company also revealed that some of their staff were “faced with challenges” with their work visas in Hong Kong.  Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based non-profit organisation promoting press freedom worldwide, issued a statement disclosing the Hong Kong government’s rejection to the working visa renewal of Chris Buckley, a senior journalist based in China.  The authorities, however, had yet to explain the reasons. 
 
CPJ condemned the Hong Kong government for violating the promise of freedom of press to its people and destroying the free flow of information in Hong Kong, which had been critical to the city’s success throughout the years.  CPJ had since urged the immigration department to revoke their decision. 
 
52-year-old Chris Buckley is a renowned foreign media journalist who has been stationed in Mainland China for an extensive 22 years.  His recent work includes exposés of the human rights issues in China’s Xinjiang province and reports on the coronavirus situation. This past May, mainland authorities had rejected the renewal of Buckley’s visa and demanded him to leave the country.  In early July, his visa renewal was also denied by the Hong Kong government, but according to CPJ, the authorities had not given any reasons.
 
 
Source:  Stand News  #Jul16
 

China’s Diplomatic Offensive Sees Major Setback as Discontent Grows in Europe, Says New York Times

With Sino-US relations having remained tense in recent years, Beijing has arranged for its foreign minister Wang Yi to visit Europe in August in what was said to be an attempt to show goodwill to Europe and strike a new balance in international relations. But a New York Times commentary said more and more European countries are voicing dissatisfaction at China’s trade tactics, policies towards Hong Kong and Taiwan, human rights record, and other issues. The growing discontent, it said, has seriously undermined China’s diplomatic offensive in Europe.

Steven Lee Myers, head of The New York Times’ Beijing bureau, pointed out that while China believes Europe, given its pragmatism, could play a stabilizing role as Sino-US relations deteriorate, Europe’s changing perception of China poses a major challenge for the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Myers wrote, “In the short term, it threatens to undermine the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery by stifling new investments as the United States restricts them, especially in high tech. In the longer term, it could blunt his ambitions for China to offer an alternative to the United States as the global leader dictating the rules for governance and trade.”

Myers sees China’s authoritarian system as representing very different political values from those of Europe, noting that the same goes for the new National Security Law in Hong Kong, which “has been used to crack down on dissent in the semiautonomous territory.” Janka Oertel, director of the Asian programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said similarly that “[i]t makes it really hard for [China] to convey a message of cooperation and peacefulness and harmonious society, if at the same time you see schoolgirls being beaten up by the Hong Kong police.”

Europe’s dissatisfaction at China’s policies has become even more pronounced amid the Wuhan virus pandemic. China’s attempt to conceal its mishandling of the outbreak in the beginning and its subsequent ‘mask diplomacy’, which exposed the poor quality of its protective gear and medical supplies, have had a knock-on effect on attitudes towards China, especially in the Netherlands and Spain. According to the results of last week’s ECFR poll, only 7% of Europeans see China as a useful partner in the fight against the pandemic with 62% of the respondents viewing China negatively.

Sources: Apple Daily #Sep18

#Europe #US #HK #China #NewYorkTimes #NationalSecurityLaw #NSL #WuhanVirus #Coronavirus #Pandemic #COVID19 #Diplomacy

https://bit.ly/309D5ID

UAE Claims 86% effectiveness of Sinopharm COVID Vaccine, Experts Question Failure to Account for Clinical Test Data

The UAE health authorities announced on Wednesday (Dec 9) that the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine has been tested and confirmed to be 86% effective, making it the first country in the world to certify the effectiveness of a Chinese-made vaccine. However, some academics, holding a wait-and-see attitude, believe that the UAE authorities have not provided key and detailed information, including data from the Phase 3 clinical trials.

The UAE is one of the ten countries where two of Sinopharm’ vaccines are undergoing clinical trials. UAE indicated that it had approved an interim analysis of the vaccine’s Phase 3 clinical trial data, which showed 100% effectiveness in preventing mild symptoms from turning into moderate to severe conditions. They also claimed an overall effective protection rate of 86%, adding that the vaccine poses no serious safety concerns.

The Sinopharm Group did not confirm the news or comment to the media for several hours after UAE’s announcement. The New York Times even reported that it was disconnected when it tried to reach the group on the phone. It was only at dusk on Thursday (Dec 10) that Sinopharm uploaded its vaccine registration statement for the UAE. Still, it did not provide further data on the Phase 3 tests, such as the number of people infected with the vaccine and the volunteers’ age. The group also did not make any “welcome” remarks.

#UAE #China #Sinopharm #COVID19 #Vaccines #Trials #TestData #NewYorkTimes

Source: Stand News #Dec11

https://bit.ly/3i0j9zj