#Newspaper

Stanley Ng Chau-peo criticized and accused Dr. Yuen Kwok-yung after Yuen's mentioned live animal market in China again in his academic article

(15 Jun) Stanley Ng Chau-peo, the chairmen of Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU), criticized and accused Dr. Yuen Kwok-yung , Chair of Infectious Diseases for the microbiology department at the University of Hong Kong, to apply the science and "U.S. knowledge" to frame China. The latest scientific research paper released by Dr. Yuen continued to mention mainland Chinese habit of buying and eating wild animals. Yuen also warned the cases in Lek Yuen Estate Luk Chuen House may be the sign of super-spreader and advise Hong Kong not to let the guard down.

Yuen and Dr. To Kai Wah Kelvin, associated professor, published an article in "Hong Kong Medical Journal". Coronavirus can mutate quickly and because of the culture of consuming wild animals in southeast China, it was prepared and expected "severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) will happen again.

In the research article, it actively addressed not to be self-satisfied on the epidemic prevention in Hong Kong. During SARS in 2003, the incident of super spread in Amoy Gardens paralysis the Hong Kong medical system. Fortunately, it didn't happen in Hong Kong this time. However, cases in this month already alert the people in Hong Kong to examine the apartment building pipeline maintenance issue.

Yuen's article mentioned the situation at Luk Chuen House that patients were living in 6 different units at different floors. It may be the sign of super spreader. He didn't suggest to handle these cases as different cluster infection. In order to reduce super spreader risk, we should increase testing in Hong Kong. At least one out of 1000 people who is having syndrome respiratory infectious disease should be tested daily.

The article also mentioned that disease could continue to survive in the summer. The outbreak may happen again in winter due to low herd immunity. A safe and effective vaccine is still not available widely in the next 12 months.

Research team leading by Yuen published a report on 3 June in Lancet Microbe. The report mentioned 2.2 million people in China Hubei province had infected Covid-19 based on an exploration of 59 million population there. Stanley criticized Yuen a few days ago on Facebook that Yuen received substantial amount of foreign aid from the U.S and using his research data to frame against China. Stanley accused Yuen's for sidetracking the number of deaths in the U.S. during the pandemic.

Source: Stand News

Further reading:
How should we reflect upon the pandemic's spread?
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/21125

#YuenKwokyung #research #Censorship #CultureRevolutionHK #Coronavirus #LiveAnimalMarket #Academic

#Research #OpinionArticle

UK National Archives: Chinese Offices in Hong Kong Should Be Regulated by Basic Law Article 22

Image Source: Liber Research Community

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#Research #OpinionArticle

UK National Archives: Chinese Offices in Hong Kong Should Be Regulated by Basic Law Article 22

(23 Jun) The National Security Law will soon be enacted. Initial details of the "national security agency" to be established in Hong Kong [1] clearly states that it will not be restricted by Basic Law Article 22 like the other two offices [Hong Kong Liaison Office and Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office]. This means it can arbitrarily intervene without adhering to Hong Kong's laws. However, this agency will apparently conflict with extraterritorial jurisdiction, as the British ruling class had concluded based on an in-depth investigation prior to 1997. The UK is surreptitiously keeping mum on the issue, feigning ignorance, but it is worth revisiting now.

Six months ago, a British document about stationing a Chinese foreign ministry in Hong Kong [2] was declassified. It revealed that China had made plans in the 1990s to establish a Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong after 1997, which immediately alerted the UK government to discuss Basic Law Article 22. Of particular interest was whether the Chinese government had to pay rent per Hong Kong's land tenure system or if the land could be ceded rent-free because China would have owned the land and it would not be subject to the Basic Law.

This caused N.J. Cox, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office official, to specify, "Although Article 13 of the [Basic Law] provides that 'the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China shall establish an office in Hong Kong to deal with foreign affairs' there is no indication that Article 22 shall not also apply in this case." This meant that the UK knew all along that Article 22 was necessary to impose restrictions on any Chinese State Council's offices established in Hong Kong. To the UK, any authority that bypasses the Basic Law was invalid.

In fact, during the drafting of the Basic Law, a British legal advisor repeatedly took issue with the wording of Article 22 and the need to "make express provision" to "The CPG [Central People's Government] and its departments, and other executive organs the State..." [3] i.e. all official Chinese organisations and departments should be regulated under Article 22.

Moreover, the UK even proposed that "the CPG shall not interfere in the affairs which the HKSAR administers on its own in accordance with his Law", and that the "staff of Central Organizations in Hong Kong shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Hong Kong Courts" [4]. It is apparent that the UK wanted to tighter restrictions on arbitrary Chinese intervention that could undermine Hong Kong's future relative autonomy. Clearer and more detailed provisions were put in place to prevent people from playing smart. Of course, the story finishes with China paying no heed to the Basic Law amendments, which results in today's situation where Chinese agencies can exist in Hong Kong without any checks and balances.

This declassified document on agencies with Hong Kong land grant issues provides a first look into the UK's clear-cut perspective on Basic Law Article 22 from official records. The original intentions of Article 22 are now distorted. Does the UK not have at least some responsibility in defending that and their original stance on the issue to maintain the integrity of the Sino-British Joint Declaration under international law?

#ThePowerCorruptingHongKong
#BasicLawArticle22
#TotalGovernmentControl
#HongKongNationalSecurityLaw
#ResearchChinaHKDocs

References:
[1] The Stand News： Tam Yiu-chung: National security agency not bound by Basic Law Article 22, mechanisms present to determine if suspects should be sent Mainland for trial
[2] 1991 FCO 40 3412 Future of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Hong Kong. The National Archives.
[3] 1990 FCO 40 2995 Future of Hong Kong Exchanges with the Chinese on the Basic Law. The National Archives.
[4] 1989 FCO 40 2643 Future of Hong Kong Basic Law General. The National Archives.

Source: Stand News

#Research #PNAS
Identifying airborne transmission as the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19

By Renyi Zhang, Yixin Li, Annie L. Zhang, Yuan Wang, and Mario J. Molina

Published by Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS) on June 11, 2020 

//Our results show that the airborne transmission route is highly virulent and dominant for the spread of COVID-19.

The mitigation measures are discernable from the trends of the pandemic.

Our analysis reveals that the difference with and without mandated face covering represents the determinant in shaping the trends of the pandemic.

This protective measure significantly reduces the number of infections. Other mitigation measures, such as social distancing implemented in the United States, are insufficient by themselves in protecting the public.

Our work also highlights the necessity that sound science is essential in decision-making for the current and future public health pandemics.//

Full Article Available in
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/10/2009637117

#PublicOpinion
HKPORI: Level of Concern over politics reached the highest in 15 years; Residents don't blindly trust the government

Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institue (#HKPORI) published research results of social situation. Ratings of civilians' concern over politics and livelihood achieved the highest score since 2005.

Dr Chung Kim-wah, Deputy CEO of HKPORI, stated Hong Kongers "do not believe other problems can be sorted out by solely imprvoing the economy", according to the statistics. Residents don't blindly trust the words from the government.

Source: InMedia HK #Jul7
#Research #Poll

#Research #COVID19

The pandemic virus is slowly mutating. But is it getting more dangerous?

Early in the pandemic, the genome of SARS-CoV-2 made a single mutation which has since spread around the world. Six months have passed and virologists are unsure if the virus would evolve to become more virulent or benign. They also question if it was already well adapted to humans when it first broke out in late 2019.

On average, the coronavirus accumulates about two changes per month in its genome. SARS-CoV-2 changes more slowly than most other viruses, giving virologists fewer mutations to study. Its sequencing helps them follow how it spreads. Most changes do not affect its behaviour but a few may change the disease's transmissibility or severity.

One of the earliest changes was the deletion of 382 base pairs in a gene called ORF8, whose function is unknown. This was first reported in Singapore and then in Taiwan. A deletion in the same gene occurred in the 2003 SARS outbreak; experiments later showed that the variant replicated less efficiently than its parent, suggesting the mutation may have slowed the SARS epidemic. This mutation does not have the same benign effect in SARS-CoV-2 but it may cause milder symptoms in patients.

A specific mutation that changes the virus' spike (i.e. its surface protein that attaches to human cells) changed the amino acid at position 614 of the spike from an aspartic acid (abbreviated D) to a glycine (G), giving its name, G614. G614 has become more common while D614 is virtually gone. This may be a sign that D614 was outcompeted by G614, or simply, a very common coincidence in biology. The COVID-19 Genomics Consortium in the UK estimated that the lineages carrying the G614 mutation grew 1.22 times faster than the D614 but the statistical significance was low. The G614 variant also appeared to be about 3-10 times more efficient at entering cells in experiments. However, this does not mean the mutation has an effect in the real world. An increased ability to infect a laboratory cell line may not translate to the billions of diverse cells in a human body. Whether G614 is more transmissible or not, it has become the dominant strain and the world is living with it.

Likely because of insufficient selection pressure from the millions of immunologically receptive people, there are fewer mutations that affect the virus' behaviour. However, this could change with the advent of vaccines or new therapies, forcing it to evolve. However, it could also indicate that the virus has been around for longer and was spreading before the first known cases in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. There is suspicion that a version of the virus may have circulated earlier in humans in southern Asia but avoided detection because it did not cause severe disease.

Source:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/pandemic-virus-slowly-mutating-it-getting-more-dangerous

#Research #COVID19 #Liver
#CUHK School of Medicine: 20% of COVID-19 patients have liver damage, and the risk of deterioration and death is 8 times more

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https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/24013

#Research #COVID19 #Liver
#CUHK School of Medicine: 20% of COVID-19 patients have liver damage, and the risk of deterioration and death is 8 times more

The study was conducted by the School of Medicine of the Hong Kong Chinese University (CUHK).The sameple covered 1,040 COVID19 patients in Honv Kong diagnosed from January 23 to May 1 this year, with a median age of 35 years.

The research team collected liver function indexes from these patients during their hospitalization and found that 22.5% (234 people) had liver damage. In the sample, 5.1% (53 people) had been in the intensive care unit, and 2.1% (22 people) had needed equipment to assist breathing. Another 0.4% (4 people) died, of which 71% were patients with liver damage.

Professor Wong Lai-hung, specializing in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Department of Internal Medicine and Drug Therapy of CUHK, said that the patient’s liver function is impaired, which may be caused by the inflammation caused by COVID-19, excessive blood pressure and oxygen content, or the effect of drugs used in treatment, as patients treated with more types of drugs are 90% more likely to have liver function problems than other patients.This means that patients who have to take multiple drugs due to a more severe pneumonia are at higher risk.

Prof. Wong suggested that the liver function of patients should be monitored so that any illness can be detected at an early stage.

Source: InMedia #Aug5

China's Thousand Talents Plan targets research information from overseas universities

According to Australian Strategic Institute, the Chinese Talents Plan recruits leading Australian scientists for secret researches. Similar situations can be found in Australia and the US, with some receiving AUD$50000/month to work with the Chinese, without coming clean with their home universities.

One of the possible motivation for the Chinese government in doing this is to gather information regarding coronavirus vaccine researches for their own benefit, according to Michael Shoebridge from the Australian Strategic Policy Institution.

#Australia #Vaccine #research
#ThousandTalentsPlan #AustralianStrategicPolicyInstitution

Source: Sky News Australia #Aug24

https://youtu.be/j7eBKIFCteY

Medicine Professor Faces Five Years in Jail for Smuggling Research from US to China

Zheng Guosong, a Chinese American professor at the Ohio State University in the US, has been prosecuted for smuggling research funded by an American subsidy to China. He plead guilty at a court on Thursday, 12 November and faces up to five years in prison. The US Department of Justice accuses him of engaging in “a sophisticated medical research grant fraud”.

Zheng, 58, and his research team received over a fund of over 4.3 million US dollars (about 33 million HK dollars) from the National Institute of Health (NIH) for rheumatism and immunology research while concealing a second fund they had received from China’s National Natural Science Foundation. Zheng admitted that he had lied when applying for the American fund, which he intended to use to support China’s research on rheumatism and immunology. He also admitted that he had made false statements to federal investigators.

Source: Apple Daily #Nov13

#US #China #NIH #OhioStateUniversity #OhioState #OSU #Research #Espionage

https://bit.ly/3qeTdUz

#Solidarity
Hongkongers Express Gratitude to #StandNews

[Editor's notes: The following open letter to Stand News was published by Liber Research, an independent research organization in Hong Kong with a focus on local studies. Liber Research expressed gratitude to Stand News in the past years for defending the freedom of the press and information in Hong Kong.

Stand News was forced to shut down on December 29, 2021 after the Hong Kong authorities arrested 7 current and former senior staff of the news outlet on the same day.]

"Thank you so much, Stand News, for reporting local news and publishing our studies over the years.

The articles, videos, news reports, webcasts, commentaries, investigative reports, and interviews of Stand News enabled our research to be covered every few days.

With the support of Stand News, our work has become all rounded.

Stand News never neglects the burning issues in Hong Kong society. Professional investigations, in-depth interviews, local sensitivity, topical issues, and reflective discussions had defintely made Stand News a legend despite difficult times.

The sudden closure of Stand News will make civic organisations lose their key dissemination platform, impacting on how social reality could be reflected in the long run.

Following the deterioration of the media freedom in Hong Kong this year, Hongkongers can see the changes of information dissemination.

It is quite certain that the closure of Stand News will further restrict information flow with regard to public issues, especially for critical studies. Room for publication with depth and breadth is diminishing.

Regardless, let us wish best of luck to all Stand News journalists. Let us treasure what's left and keep each other in company until the very end.

'As long as local opinions persist, no one can cover the sun with one finger.'"

Source: Liber Research #Dec29

#PressFreedom #Research #Regime #PoliceState

Across 19 countries, more people see the U.S. than China favorably – but more see China’s influence growing

//In 19 countries surveyed by Pew Research Center this spring, people see the United States and President #JoeBiden more favorably than China and its president, Xi Jinping. But when it comes to perceptions of each country’s relative influence in the world, much larger shares in most nations see China’s influence growing than say the same of the U.S.

The five key findings comparing international attitudes toward the two countries are:

1. The U.S. is generally seen more positively than China.

2. Views of Biden remain much more positive than views of #XiJinPing.

3. A median of 66% across 19 countries say China’s influence on the world stage is getting stronger, while just 32% say the same about the U.S. 

4. In many countries, younger people tend to feel more positively about China than older people. 

5. People on the right of the ideological spectrum are more likely than those on the left to view the U.S. favorably, but there are no strong ideological patterns in views of China.//

Read the full report:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/29/across-19-countries-more-people-see-the-u-s-than-china-favorably-but-more-see-chinas-influence-growing/

Source: Pew Research Center #Jun29

#Research #Survey #PewResearch #US #China