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We provide translation of news in English from local media and other sources, for academic use.
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#PoliceState
Police escort Anti-protest Assailant to leave while hurling insults at Protesters

Netizens called for “Liberate Tuen Mum” protest on Sunday, February 23, riot police arrived and randomly intercepted civilians on the scene.

A middle-aged woman reported to the police that she was assaulted by an elderly. Instead of arresting the elderly for further investigation, she was escorted to leave, stirring up waves of dissatisfaction.

Attempted to chase after the elderly, the middle-aged woman was shoved by riot police, pointing at them with pepper-spray. Emotionally charged, one officer shouted with foul language, “give way, fxxk you”.

Source : UST editorial board
https://tinyurl.com/v9a64rn

#Feb23
#HongKongPolice #Camera
Hong Kong Police Use Professional Cameras to Capture the Faces of Protesting Civilians

On Sunday February 23, citizens protested in Tuen Mun Park" for the second day in a row.

A large team of armed riot police, geared by photographic equipment, were deployed at the scene. Among them, a police officer was sighted holding a Canon 5D Mark IV camera with a 70-200mm lens, probably for taking close-up photos of civilians.

Although the police was equipped with very professional photographic equipment, they were found not knowing well about the equipment. When a reporter was taking photos with a wide-angle lens, frontline police stopped and questioned him for taking close-up headshots of police officers. The reporter had to present a photo to prove that the wide-angle lens were for ambiance shots instead of close-ups. It seems that police officers were very concerned about their close-ups being captured by the press.

Source : USP; Stand News #Feb23
#PanicBuy #Shortage
Coronavirus Outbreak in China Triggers a Mad Rush for Face-masks Worldwide

As the coronavirus pandemic ensues in China, citizens, merchants and government officials alike are on a mad rush for face-masks. As of Feb 20, 2020, China has imported 50 million yuan worth of medical supplies, including 1.37 billion facemasks and more than 15 million protective suits.

The countrywide scramble for facemasks has caused a widespread shortage of facemasks not only in China, but also in many parts of the globe. In fact, the demand for these medical supplies has become so enormous that it has sucked up virtually every single facemask any country can offer.

According to Milano Today, the panic rush for surgical facemasks have spread to Italy. Locals have joined in the frenzy, and a rapid depletion of the local surgical facemask supply ensued in Italy. Citizens in Italy are vying for every mask that they could get their hands on.

A pharmacy depleted its stock of facemasks within a few hours. The owners claim that they have attempted to contact the facemask suppliers for more stock. Unfortunately, most suppliers have run out of stock and all they could do was to wait for a restock.

Some pharmacies do have boxes of 100 masks for sale. However, these are usually scalpers charging the poor locals $100Euros for 100 facemasks.

A supplier that specialises in surgical facemasks, Dpi di Roma, stated that they have sold 10 years worth of facemask stock in a matter of 10 days. Yet, they are still unable to meet the overwhelming demand for facemasks, with new orders for millions of facemasks being placed every single day.

Another Italian manufacturer for personal protective equipment, Cormano, stated that the total demand for facemasks in Italy in the past few years is only around 15-20 million per year. However, in the past few days, they have received orders for 10 million facemasks, equivalent to roughly 50% of the yearly Italian demand for facemasks in just days.

In order to cope with the inflated demand for facemasks, the company has sent its 40 workers in Italy and 20 workers in Spain to work in three shifts round the clock in order to boost the productivity of its factories.

Source: Apple Daily TW #Feb23
https://bit.ly/37Vrvlr

#Italy #MaskShortage
#Newspaper

Pro-democracy Activist Receives Insult Calls Allegedly from the Police

The following post was written by Lester Shum, a pro-democracy activist who had actively participated in 2014 Umbrella Movement:

"...I was distributing bleaching solution, when we received a call from someone who was unwilling to line up. The person on the phone swore to us in abusive language.

We felt inexplicable: Isn't normal to wait in line when there is a shortage of supplies? What kind of people would be that brainless to intentionally call back and swear?

The answer was revealed: The caller seemed to be a police. The police have been ignoring the laws and social ethics and regarding themselves as superiors. No wonder they were furious after having to queue up for a while.

In the evening, our office received several more calls from the same number who claimed to be "a police officer". The person swore, intimidated and mentioned about rape. In another call, the voice said that they would set fire and burn our families.

If that “gentleman” was really a police officer, he demonstrated once again how corrupt the police were; otherwise, anyone imitating the police should be brought to court as the police claim themselves "incompatible with evil forces".

Our office will actively consider reporting the case, but we are aware that the police enforce law and order selectively as always. Meanwhile, our office also advises this “gentleman” to study more by reading more books at leisure time, in a hope that he could speak something other than “F**k your mother”.

Finally, thirty thousand, thanks. Keep the change. Thank you."

Source: Stand News #Feb23
http://bit.ly/2SQaCnG

#WhiteTerror #PoliceState
#CrossStrait #Invasion
Expert Testifies in Hearing: #China likely to attack #Taiwan within five years

Source: Roll Call #Feb23

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https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/28786
#CrossStrait #Invasion
Expert Testifies in Hearing: #China likely to attack #Taiwan within five years

//China's military modernization plus US failure to build robust coalitions to counter Beijing's regional aggression could lead to a Taiwan takeover

“Cross-strait deterrence is arguably weaker today than at any point since the Korean War,” said Oriana Skylar Mastro, a fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies who specializes in Chinese military policy. She was speaking at a virtual hearing Feb. 18 before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which was examining U.S. deterrence policies aimed at preventing a future attack on Taiwan by Beijing.

“Impressive military modernization on the part of China, U.S. failure to build robust coalitions to counter Chinese regional aggression, and [Chinese President] Xi Jinping’s personal ambition, all have coalesced to create a situation for Beijing in which the benefits of using force more and more are becoming so high that they outweigh the costs,” she continued.

“I believe the greatest threat now is that Beijing will launch a military operation to force ‘reunification,’ in their words, irrespective of Washington’s or Taipei’s policies or actions,” Mastro said. She added that Chinese military leaders have told her they believe Xi will conclude that the Chinese military will have the capability to occupy and seize Taiwan in a year or two even as some Western analysts predict that it is more likely five years or more from that goal.//

Read full article here:
https://www.rollcall.com/2021/02/23/china-likely-to-attack-taiwan-within-five-years-panel-told/

Source: Roll Call #Feb23

#USCongress #StanfordUniversity #Security
Indian pharma firms go local seeking to end reliance on China

Indian drug companies are looking to local makers of so-called active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) or trying to make them in-house in a bid to end their reliance on China as ties between the two countries soured after a deadly border clash last June.

Disruption to supplies from China due to the COVID-19 pandemic was also a major factor driving them to reduce reliance on China in the supply of API.

Executives at India’s Cadila Healthcare, Cipla, Sun Pharmaceutical and ‎Biocon said they were aggressively working on reducing the dependence on the richer rival for raw materials.

Source: Reuters #Feb23

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-india-china/indian-pharma-firms-go-local-seeking-to-end-reliance-on-china-idUSKBN2AN124

#India #API #Pharmaceutical #Cipla #Cadila #Biocon #SunPharmaceutical
CCP's recklessness put the world at risk

Source: WSJ #Feb23

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CCP's recklessness put the world at risk

China neglected biosafety, destructed virus samples collected from the earliest patients, banned the release of critical data, and silenced journalists, doctors and scientists.

Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) poses a huge risk to global health. China resisted international monitoring at WIV and abrogated its promise to allow French scientists to participate in essential research in WIV, which was built with French assistance. WIV was accredited through its agency as its only level 4 facility and then was quickly approved by the National Health Commission to handle some of the world's most dangerous viruses.

WIV was conducted secret bioweapons research with The People's Liberation Army (PLA)

In 2011, China informed the International Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention Review Conference that its military experts were working on creating synthetic pathogens, genomics laying the foundation for pathogen transformation, population-specific genetic markers, targeted drug-delivery technology, making it easier to spread pathogens.

The world must hold CCP accountable and punish Beijing if it fails to uphold global biosafety standards and fulfil basic transparency requirements.

Source: WSJ #Feb23

https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-reckless-labs-put-the-world-at-risk-11614102828

#WuhanVirology #China #PLA #WIV
China Faces European Obstacles as Some Countries Heed U.S. Pressure

Source: WSJ #Feb23

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China Faces European Obstacles as Some Countries Heed U.S. Pressure

Some European countries are starting to block Chinese involvement in their economies, drawing closer to positions advocated by the U.S. amid growing anxiety in Europe over China’s increasingly aggressive geopolitical posture.

Romania and Lithuania are taking broad measures to exclude Chinese companies from certain public procurements. Slovenia, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Romania have suspended public tenders involving Chinese companies for work on nuclear-power plants, highways, rail lines, security scanners and a shipping-container terminal. Greece is debating whether to allow a Chinese shipping company to increase its majority stake in the country’s largest port.

The shift is largely taking place in smaller European countries, adding to tensions within the European Union, where big countries still largely favour maintaining business links with China.

Source: WSJ #Feb23

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-faces-european-obstacles-as-some-countries-heed-u-s-pressure-11614088843

#China #EastEurope #EU #ChineseInvestment #BRI
#MassSurveillance #FacialRecognition
Hong Kong Governmemt Amends Privacy Policy: Airport Passengers’ Personal Data Can be Assessed by Third Party Supplier

Since Jan 2021, a new facial recognition system has been added to every boarding gate (called the "e-security gates") at the Hong Kong International Airport.

This was one of Hong Kong Airport’s 9 billions renovation projects. However, just one day before the deployment of the new system, the Airport Authority Hong Kong amended the privacy policy of the e-security gates.

Compared with the previous version from June 28, 2019 found in the Internet Archive, passengers’ privacy became less protected. Some articles of the “Passengers’ agreement” and one part which mentioned “only anonymous data would be collected” were removed in the new version.

Passengers personal data could also be sent to the third party supplier. The Authority has refused to disclose the identity of the system supplier.

Source: Radio Free Asia #Feb23

#BigData
China has tried to intimidate Hong Kong activists in Germany, Berlin says

China has tried to intimidate Hong Kong residents living in Germany since pro-democracy protests broke out in the city two years ago.

The letter to the head of parliament’s human rights committee mentioned the increasing attempts by Chinese state actors in Germany to influence public opinion in favour of the Chinese government since the start of the protests in Hong Kong. Also, it citied that the Chinese pro-government counter-demonstrators filmed and photographed participants “presumably for the purpose of intimidation” in the protest of supporting Hong Kong activists in Hamburg on Aug. 17, 2019.

Jensen, a member of the liberal FDP party said it was about time that the German government realised that actors for the Chinese government could pose a threat to exiled Hong Kongers.

Source: Reuters #Feb23

https://reut.rs/2ZGgUsC

#Germany #China #HongKongActivist #ChinaIntimidate
Hong Kong plans to make politicians swear oath of loyalty to Beijing

Hong Kong’s government has announced electoral changes requiring office-holders to pledge and maintain an oath of loyalty to Hong Kong and Beijing, or face disqualification and a five-year ban on running for re-election.

The announcement came a day after a top Beijing official signalled that the significant changes would be coming to ensure Hong Kong was run by “patriots”. It is a clear sign that China intends to no longer tolerate dissenting voices after taking over Hong Kong only 23 years.

Government critics and western leaders have accused Beijing of going back on its word and effectively ending the “one country, two systems” framework for governing the financial hub.

Source: The Guardian #Feb23

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/23/hong-kong-plans-to-make-politicians-swear-oath-of-loyalty-to-beijing?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

#HongKong #HongKongElection #China #DeathOfOneCountryTwoSystems
Can China Change the Definition of Human Rights?

Source: The Diplomat #Feb23

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Can China Change the Definition of Human Rights?

A Chinese government official addressed for the first time at the 46th of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. The speech of Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister, included that Beijing’s attempt to remake the very concept of human rights to suit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) better.

The CCP has been accused of large-scale human rights abuse since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, including the crackdown in Tibet in 1959, the bloodshed of the Cultural Revolution,  Tiananmen Square massacre 1989 and ongoing genocide in Xinjiang.

Wang’s proposition of “people-centered” human rights posits “people’s sense of gains, happiness and security” as “the fundamental pursuit of human rights.” He reformulated human rights that economic prosperity and the nebulous concept of “happiness” replaced racial and gender equality or freedom of religion, and security.

Source: The Diplomat #Feb23

https://thediplomat.com/2021/02/can-china-change-the-definition-of-human-rights/

#UNHumanRightsCouncil #UnitedNations #ChinaRedefineHumanRights #China
Canadian school offering Nova Scotia diplomas operating in China’s fraught Xinjiang region

A Canadian school program has kept its doors open in China’s Xinjiang region for nearly a decade, collecting tuition and issuing Nova Scotia diplomas to students in the area where large numbers of local...

Source: TheGlobeAndMail #Feb23

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-canadian-school-offering-nova-scotia-diplomas-operating-in-chinas/

#Canadian #Nova #China #Xinjiang
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#WuhanPneumonia #HumanitarianCrisis
COVID19 Quarantine Center in Hong Kong, a Torture to Patients: "No One would Remember Us"

#FailedState #PennysBay #Quarantine

Source: Facebook; Channel C HK; #Feb23

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#WuhanPneumonia #HumanitarianCrisis
COVID19 Quarantine Center in Hong Kong, a Torture to Patients: "No One would Remember Us"

A video of a distraught woman inside Hong Kong's COVID-19 quarantine center has gone viral on social media on Feb 22.

The video shows the woman in her flip flops at Penny's Bay, Hong Kong's main quarantine facility, breaking down in tears and yelling in desperation as she frantically looked for a way out.

Several staff members, clad in protective gear, tried unsuccessfully to calm her down and persuade her to return to her room. She eventually lashed out and kicked at a staff member who was apparently trying to approach her.

Online media Channel C interviewed another patient, Ms. P, who is also undergoing quarantine in the Penny’s Bay Center. Ms. P said that she totally understood the woman’s desperation, adding that she was also feeling very depressed during her stay.

In fact, distressed patients crying, shouting, yelling in their rooms or along the walkways are a daily occurrence in the center, she said.

A man even attempted suicide by drinking a bottle of disinfectant, Ms. P added.

“The worst thing here is you're easily forgotten,” Ms. P said. When she was admitted into the facility, she made tens of phone calls and waited for 4 days before her initial test bottle was delivered. No one came back to pick it up until she made another round of phone calls, until she finally reached medical staff.

When her quarantine period ended on Feb 19, the facility did not arrange for her to leave, and she spent another 3 days on the phone trying to contact staff - again, receiving no reply. She was elated when staff finally notified her on Feb 21 that she could leave.

However, just before she boarded the bus, she was turned away because she was not given a doctor's note. She watched all the buses leave before being sent back to her room.

"We were all very scared," she said on the interview, her voice breaking, "Once we're back in our rooms, no one would remember us."

However, she was sympathetic to the medical staff and other supporting staff members on the site. “They are suffering just like us. The staff member who came to deliver my documents was soaked in the rain.”

Ms. P questioned the purpose of putting Hong Kong people in quarantine centers where they are not properly taken care of.

She stressed that the costs and suffering inflicted upon so many citizens grossly outweigh any foreseeable benefits.

Source: Facebook; Channel C HK; #Feb23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42SwTQPrtF8

#FailedState #PennysBay #Quarantine