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☆ China's Wuhan finance regulator urges hundreds of firms to repay debt, local media report
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, May 27 (Reuters) - The financial regulator of China's Wuhan city publicly exposed 259 firms with debt to the government and urged them to immediately pay up, local media reported on Saturday. The rare action from Wuhan's finance bureau on Friday comes as local governments in China become increasingly pressed by higher debt and expenses. The debtors, their corresponding guarantors and successors were requested to repay their debts to the asset management firm immediately after May 26, Yicai reported. State-owned Wuhan Yangtze River Asset Management Co is a professional platform responsible for the disposal of various non-performing assets in the central city, according to its official website. Wuhan's local budget revenue slid 8.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, according to data released by local the finance bureau.

☆ China, birthplace of COVID, lays tracks for a new global health crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

Bat viruses have been the source of multiple health crises besides those related to coronaviruses, including recent outbreaks of Ebola, Nipah, and Marburg. Partners in risk The total area at high risk for bat viruses to infect humans more than doubled in size in Laos between 2002 and 2020. The animals, known to be susceptible to bat viruses, included raccoon dogs, bamboo rats and porcupines. As China boomed in recent decades, global demand for rubber also skyrocketed, leading to further development and deforestation here. Already, scientists have found local bats bearing viruses closely related to those responsible for the 2003 SARS and COVID-19 pandemics.

☆ We may never know where the COVID pandemic originated
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

LONDONIt’s the enduring mystery of the COVID-19 pandemic: Where did the virus come from? They also mostly agree that many of the earliest known infections and deaths clustered around a wildlife market in Wuhan, China. Others suspect the pathogen somehow leaked from a Wuhan laboratory, 27 km from the market, where researchers study bat viruses. One concentration of jump zones includes a region of mountains and lakes about 175 km southeast of the Wuhan market. In late 2002, the SARS-CoV-1 virus emerged in Guangdong province, in southern China, and became the SARS pandemic of 2003.

☆ Opinion | The Pandemic Threat That Hasn’t Gone Away
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Zeynep Tufekci | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

His father said the man “wanted to die at home” rather than bring shame to his lab and his country. The incident came to light only after the desperate father threatened to kill himself unless his son sought medical help. Back in 2003 her supervisor had been infected with SARS in a lab. But the abilities scientists have developed in the past few decades have increased the threat. Scientists studying animals in the wild can carry back pathogens to their lab and the densely populated areas where they may be situated.

☆ Australia’s exports to China hit record high as relations thaw
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —Australia’s exports to China hit a record high in March, as Chinese buyers snapped up Australian commodities from coal to iron ore amid a thaw in bilateral relations. Shipments of iron ore lump and iron ore fines to China also jumped 28% and 22.5%, respectively, to $380 million and $973 million. Earlier this year, Beijing removed all remaining curbs on Australian coal imports, ending an unofficial ban. For iron ore, it remained the largest supplier for China even when relations soured. Iron ore, for example, is a vital component of its steel industry.

☆ WHO declares end to Covid-19 global public health emergency
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks during a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, December 20, 2021. The spread of Covid-19 is no longer a global public health emergency, the World Health Organization declared Friday. "This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before Covid-19," Tedros said. "It's therefore with great hope that I declared Covid-19 over as a global health emergency." The WHO's decision comes as the U.S. is set to end its national public health emergency on May 11.

Hong Kong CNN —Fang Bin, a retailer turned citizen journalist who documented the early outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan, has been released after more than three years detention in China, a family member told CNN. In one video, Fang, a Wuhan resident who sold clothing, showed hospital corridors crowded with patients and their desperate relatives. Rights groups had repeatedly called for Fang’s release and information about his case and of others who were also detained after sharing information about Wuhan outbreak. Both had reported on China’s initial Covid outbreak in Wuhan in early 2020. Authorities have never confirmed how many people had been detained or prosecuted in connection with sharing information on the pandemic.

☆ Scientist Revisits Data on Raccoon Dogs and Covid, Stressing the Unknowns
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Benjamin Mueller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“I don’t think the Bloom paper changes my thinking that much.”Chinese researchers wrote about the market data last year and then made the genetic sequences available this year, allowing a team of international scientists to study them. That team wrote in a report last month that based on the data, they could not conclusively identify an animal that had passed the virus to people. Many of the earliest Covid-19 patients also worked or shopped at the market. They said the genetic data also built on other evidence, including that two early lineages of the virus had been at the market. Dr. Bloom investigated whether the amount of genetic material from the virus correlated with the amount of genetic material from susceptible animal species in the samples.

☆ Ex-Harvard Professor Sentenced in China Ties Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Gina Kolata | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

For his work on nanotechnology, he had been seen by some as a contender for the Nobel Prize. But he also secretly accepted money from China, which had established a government initiative, the Thousand Talents program, to gain access to scientific knowledge and expertise, often paying scientists lavishly. When questioned about his involvement with Thousand Talents in 2018 by federal investigators, he denied it. Why It MattersDr. Lieber’s conviction in December 2021 resulted from the China Initiative, an effort launched in 2018, under the Trump administration, to identify scientists suspected of sharing sensitive information with China. But critics said that the China Initiative had unfairly targeted academic researchers of Asian descent.

REUTERS/Katherine Taylor/File PhotoWASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - A former Harvard University professor was sentenced on Wednesday to six months' house arrest for lying about his ties to a China-run recruitment program, prosecutors said, in one of the highest-profile cases resulting from a crackdown on Chinese influence on U.S. research. Lieber was sentenced to two days in prison - time that he had already served following his arrest - and half a year of house arrest with a fine of $50,000, prosecutors said. He was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and a restitution to the Internal Revenue Service of $33,600, according to prosecutors. The failed cases included another one in Boston in which prosecutors in January 2022 dropped charges against Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Gang Chen for concealing his ties to China when seeking grant money. Prosecutors said Lieber failed to report his salary on his 2013 and 2014 income tax returns and for two years failed to report the bank account.

☆ Factbox: Lu Shaye: Chinese envoy who questioned Ukraine's sovereignty no stranger to controversy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Yew Lun Tian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

It is not the first time Lu Shaye, 58, a prominent practitioner of China's abrasive 'wolf warrior' diplomacy, has courted controversy since taking up his post in Paris in 2019. A transcript of Lu's remarks posted on the Chinese embassy's official WeChat account were subsequently deleted. Asked about Lu's comments on Monday, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing respects the sovereignty of all former republics of the Soviet Union, which was dissolved in 1991. Lu said that Taiwanese people had been brainwashed by ideas about independence, and that they can become patriots after being "re-educated". Beijing repeatedly criticised western countries for mismanaging the COVID-19 pandemic by not doing enough to prevent the virus from spreading.

☆ Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +55 min

Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’ In his most extensive interview yet, Anthony Fauci wrestles with the hard lessons of the pandemic — and the decisions that will define his legacy. But when people say, “Fauci shut down the economy” — it wasn’t Fauci. But somehow or other, the general public didn’t get that feeling that the vulnerable are really, really heavily weighted toward the elderly. We also had a public-health system that we thought was really, really good. But it was really, really antiquated.

April 14 (Reuters) - The United States has charged leaders of the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel with running a fentanyl trafficking operation fueled by Chinese chemical and pharmaceutical companies, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday. Federal prosecutors unsealed three separate indictments charging more than two dozen defendants based in Mexico, China and Guatemala, eight of whom are in custody. Among those awaiting extradition is Ovidio Guzman Lopez, one of El Chapo's sons, who was arrested in Mexico earlier this year. Prosecutors also charged four owners of Chinese companies that allegedly provided precursor chemicals to the cartel. "The PRC government must stop the unchecked flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals that are coming out of China," he said, referring to the People's Republic of China.

☆ U.S. imposes sanctions on Chinese companies in action over fentanyl
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Treasury said it also designated five people based in China and Guatemala in the action targeting fentanyl production. "Illicit fentanyl is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans each year," the Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement. The Treasury in the statement said it slapped sanctions on China-based chemical companies Wuhan Shuokang Biological Technology Co Ltd and Suzhou Xiaoli Pharmatech Co Ltd, as well as four Chinese nationals. Also targeted was a Guatemala-based broker of fentanyl precursor chemicals, who the Treasury said buys fentanyl precursor on behalf of Mexico-based drug traffickers. Mexico and the United States on Thursday agreed to ramp up the fight against fentanyl trafficking.

☆ China could start building a moon base with lunar-soil bricks in 5 years, amid NASA fears of a moon territory dispute
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Marianne Guenot | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

China could be ready to start building its lunar base within five years, scientists said. China has made major strides in space exploration, recently launching its own crewed space station. "We will be using real moon soil to make the first brick right there on the moon," he added, per SCMP. These could be used to make habitats on the moon using traditional Chinese building techniques, he said. The agency wants to build its own station orbiting the moon, as well as an Artemis lunar base.

"China was initially in discussions to be part of the project," the official said, declining to be named as the information was deemed sensitive. China has since banned the sale and consumption for food of wildlife animals. China's public security organs have handled more than 70,000 criminal cases involving wild animals from 2020-2022, confiscating 1.37 million wild animals in the process, state news agency Xinhua has reported. SLOW STARTThe SAFE project surveys only began in October last year, when the project's assessors visited Khao Kheow zoo and a cafe in Thailand. The wet markets targeted are markets where wild animals are sold alongside fresh meat and vegetables.

☆ China wants to start using moon soil to build lunar bases as soon as this decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, April 12 (Reuters) - China wants to start building a lunar base using soil from the moon in five years, Chinese media reported, with the ambitious plan kicking off as soon as this decade. Ding Lieyun, an expert from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said a team is designing a robot named "Chinese Super Masons" to make bricks out of lunar soil, according to Changjiang Daily. China previously retrieved soil samples from the near side of the moon with its Chang'e-5 mission in 2020, state media reported. The country has stated that it wants its astronauts to stay on the moon for long periods once it establishes a lunar research station. Reporting by Ethan Wang, Bernard Orr and Ryan Woo; Editing by Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Taiwan faces choice of 'peace and war', ex-president says after China trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou arrives at Taoyuan international airport after concluding his 12-day trip to China in Taoyuan, Taiwan April 7, 2023. Ma is the first former Taiwanese president to ever visit China. Since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists, no serving island leader has visited China. The future is a choice between peace and war," Ma told reporters at Taiwan's main airport after arriving from Shanghai at the end of his 12-day visit to China. Ma said Taiwan could share a "common political basis" with China, which would be in the best interests of the people of Taiwan.

☆ China holds the key to understanding COVID-19 origins: WHO chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Without full access to the information that China has, you cannot say this or that," said Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in response to a question about the origin of the virus. That's WHO's position and that's why we have been asking China to be cooperative on this." Data from the early days of the COVID pandemic was briefly uploaded by Chinese scientists to an international database last month. The WHO's Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19, said the latest Chinese information offered some "clues" on origins but no answers. She added WHO still did not know whether some of the research required had been undertaken in China.

☆ Cash-strapped Chinese cities are cutting medical benefits for seniors
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Censors removed hashtags for “Wuhan health insurance” from Weibo’s hot topics section after the demonstrations began in January. State media reported at the time that some other regions had already spent public money on mass testing. CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty ImagesCovering the shortfallChina’s health insurance scheme is a key part of its limited social safety net. To protesters, however, it looked like local governments were dipping into their individual accounts to cover the shortfalls of the collective pool. “There has to be some resolution of the financial capacity of local governments to meet current, and prospective, age-related costs,” Magnus said.

☆ Taiwan, China must do 'everything possible' to avoid war- former president Ma
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou meets the head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Song Tao, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China in handout picture released March 30, 2023. Ma Ying-jeou's Office/Handout via REUTERSTAIPEI, March 30 (Reuters) - Taiwan and China must do everything possible to avoid war and it is the responsibility of both sides' leaders to ensure peace, former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou told a senior Chinese official on Thursday. Ma arrived in China on Monday, the first time a former or sitting Taiwanese president has visited the country since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists. "The two sides must maintain exchanges, cooperate together, and do everything possible to avoid war and conflict." Ma, who was in office from 2008-2016, met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore in late in 2015 shortly before current Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was elected.

☆ Baidu's smart car business to test autonomous vehicles in Shanghai
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] The Apollo logo is seen on a car of Baidu's driverless robotaxi service Apollo Go, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China February 24, 2023. REUTERS/Josh Arslan/File PhotoHONG KONG, March 22 (Reuters) - Apollo, Chinese tech giant Baidu's (9888.HK) smart car business, has received approval to be among the first companies to test fully autonomous vehicles in Shanghai, China's largest city, it said on Wednesday. The business currently operates driverless robotaxi services in specially designated areas of Wuhan, Chongqing and Beijing. Reporting by Twinnie Siu and Eduardo Baptista Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

International researchers published a pre-print report based on their interpretation of the data on Monday, after leaks of their findings in the media last week and a meeting with the World Health Organization involving both the Chinese and international scientists. The data comprised new sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and additional genomic data based on samples taken from the Huanan market in Wuhan in 2020, according to the international researchers who accessed it. "This adds to the body of evidence identifying the Huanan market as the spillover location of Sars-CoV-2 and the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic," said the report. As of March 11, it was no longer accessible on the database, where it was found by the international scientists, their report said. "Other raw sequencing data from environmental samples from the Huanan market exist and could contain further clues," Debarre told Reuters.

☆ Biden signs legislation to declassify certain intelligence on Covid pandemic origins
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

President Joe Biden on Monday signed legislation requiring the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information on any possible links between a lab in China and the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines now has 90 days to declassify all information on possible links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of Covid. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also concluded that the pandemic likely began with a lab incident in Wuhan, China, the agency's director Christopher Wray told Fox News. The pandemic began three years ago in Wuhan, China, though it's still unknown how Covid spread to people. The intelligence community was divided in a 2021 report ordered by Biden that reviewed information on the pandemic's origins.

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday signed a bill that requires declassification of information related to the origins of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the White House said. Biden said he shared Congress' goal of releasing as much information as possible about the origin of COVID-19. The bill sailed through the Senate and House of Representatives without opposition before being sent to the White House. The FBI has also assessed that the pandemic likely originated from a lab leak. China said claims that a laboratory leak likely caused the pandemic have no credibility.

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