Day: January 9, 2021

(Global Times)14:21, July 28, 2020

A plate of Wechat Pay. (Xinhua/Li Mangmang)

Many Indian people in China said that their life in China was calm even during the border clash in May, but a ban on Chinese mobile apps, especially on WeChat, which is the latest to cease providing service in India, has severely affected their lives and businesses.

The Indian government has been targeting Chinese apps and the country reportedly banned 47 more Chinese apps on Monday, following its ban on 59 Chinese apps on June 29, including hit short video app Tik Tok. On the same day, a report by the Economic Times said that India is planning to investigate 275 Chinese apps for violation of national security and user privacy.

WeChat has been out of service among its Indian users since Saturday after its company Tencent sending a notification to its users, according to Indian media Entrackr. In the notification, Tencent explained they are engaging with relevant authorities and hope to be able to resume service in the future.

Interrupted connection

Imran Brown, a tourism practitioner who is studying Chinese language at Shenyang Normal University in Northeast Chinas Liaoning Province, told the Global Times his business plan has been ruined by the Indian governments ban on Chinese apps, especially on WeChat.

Closing WeChat is a mistake. People are in panic, which will make our life more difficult, Brown told the Global Times, adding that WeChat is a very important platform for Indian people who have business interaction with Chinese.

Brown worked in a travel agency when he was in India. He found the income of his Indian colleagues who speak Chinese and receive Chinese tourists is much higher than those who only receive Indian tourists.

So, 38-year-old Brown decided to come to China to study Chinese in a two and half year language program to boost his income.

He is supposed to return to Bombay this month, but he never expected the coronavirus to severely affect global tourism. Moreover, banning WeChat makes other Chinese-related business ideas impossible.

I shared my life here in China with my friends in India. They were all interested in visiting China, said Brown. In the last two years, he received some of his friends in China and traveled to many cities together with them, and many of them started considering doing business with Chinese. Now the connection is going to be interrupted, he said.

Disappointed toward Indian media

Shamim Zakaria, who has been working in China for three years, told the Global Times he has not experienced any hostility or antagonism from Chinese people because of his nationality.

Shamim also expressed disappointment towards some Indian media which contain really vile coverage that incites hatred mongering war which Shamim called a wrong way to provide coverage.

I feel nationalism is not about war-mongering. Some Indian politicians and also news channels are using nationalism to incite violence and hatred against other countries. But thats not what nationalism is, he said.

He suggested Chinese media coverage of the clashes has been fair since Chinese media reports are based on authentic sources coming from official Chinese government sources.

Shamim pointed out some Indian netizens who hold anti-China attitudes might be pedaling hatred or vile language against Chinese people on social media, but they are not representative of the majority of Indians who want peace with their regional neighbors.

Many anti-China tags proliferating across social media are actually part of orchestrated campaigns run by the BJP, Indias ruling party, to stoke hatred of China, he added.

I have observed that most of the Indian people learn China from a Western perspective. Thats really not fair.

Still in China, still patriotic

Dev Raturi, a Chinese-speaking Indian actor and entrepreneur who has been living in China for 15 years, told the Global Times that since Saturday, his connection with his family in India has been cut off, and some of his Indian friends who teach Chinese yoga online had to stop working.

Raturi said despite the fact the two countries are at a tense moment, neither his life nor business in China faced any disturbance until the Indian governments ban of WeChat.

I believe Chinese people and Chinese media are very mature and progressive, he said. He told the Global Times he has not faced any antagonism due to this conflict nor he has heard about Indians in China facing any challenges. This really shows the kind of respect and maturity people [in China] have, he said.

He said working in China doesnt make him unpatriotic. I love China and grateful to this nation for their support and love at every step, and choosing to stay in China with my family doesnt mean that I dont love my country or makes me unpatriotic, he said.

Raturi is planning to promote Chinese culture in India. His Chinese culture-themed restaurant was supposed to open in Delhi in May, but has been postponed for a year.

(Xinhua)09:32, August 01, 2020

BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) — Chinese people will not be intimidated by some U.S. politicians words and deeds against China and will work with people of other countries to jointly build a brighter future for humanity, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said this at a press briefing when asked to comment on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeos anti-China remarks at a hearing.

Wang said instead of focusing on international cooperation to promote American peoples health and employment, Pompeo, as U.S. secretary of state, has repeatedly slandered China to serve his own political needs amid the public health crisis caused by the pandemic and economic and employment crises.

Driven by Cold-War mentality and selfishness, Pompeo and some others are forcing the international community to oppose communism and China, Wang said.

Wang underscored that ignorance, arrogance, short-sightedness and hatred cannot be the basis of foreign policy.

He added that some U.S. politicians anti-China remarks and moves will only bring the Chinese people closer together around the Communist Party of China, striving to realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation and exploring a brighter future.

(Xinhua)09:05, August 01, 2020

BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) — Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has stressed advancing the modernization of the national defense and armed forces.

Xi made the remarks while presiding over a group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on strengthening the modernization of the national defense and armed forces, which was held on Thursday.

To uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics and achieve national rejuvenation, Xi underscored ensuring both development and security, and ensuring that efforts to make the country prosperous and efforts to make the military strong go hand in hand.

The modernization of the national defense and armed forces must be in step with the countrys modernization process, and the military capabilities must fit national strategic needs, Xi said.

Xi said the CPC has always been striving to build strong national defense and powerful military forces, and has made great achievements in this regard.

In this year, China will achieve the targets and missions of strengthening the national defense and armed forces for 2020, and embark on a new journey to basically complete the modernization of the national defense and armed forces, and to transform the Chinese military into world-class forces, Xi said.

Xi called for efforts to implement the strategic plans and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission on the modernization of the national defense and armed forces, to make sure that the targets and missions in this respect are achieved.

Noting that the world today is undergoing profound and fast-evolving changes unseen in a century, and that the COVID-19 pandemic is exerting a far-reaching influence on the international landscape, Xi said Chinas security situation faces growing uncertainties and destabilizing factors.

He called for a stronger sense of mission and urgency and more efforts to achieve leapfrog development in the modernization of the Chinese military.

Xi underscored implementing the military strategic guideline for the new era, formulating the 14th five-year (2021-2025) plan for building the military, drawing a scientific road map, and cultivating a new type of high-caliber and professional military talent.

Stressing joint civil-military efforts in advancing the modernization of national defense and armed forces, Xi called on central Party and state institutions, as well as Party committees and governments at all local levels, to strengthen their awareness of national defense and carry forward the development of national defense and the armed forces.

(Xinhua)15:44, July 31, 2020

A COVID-19 candidate vaccine developed in South Australia (SA) has cleared the first phase of testing, according to local medias report.

The Australian reported on Friday that the vaccine developed by Nikolai Petrovsky from Flinders University is the first Australian candidate to pass phase one trials after it was found to be safe and generated an immune response in human subjects.

Dubbed Covax-19, the vaccine was administered to 40 volunteers in the first phase of trials. Phase two, which will begin in September, will include up to 500 volunteers.

We have confirmed that the Covax-19 vaccine can induce 颅appropriate antibody responses in human subjects, said Petrovsky, the founder of biotechnology company Vaxine.

We now have preliminary safety data showing there were no significant systemic side-effects in any of the subjects.

We also have permission to immunise subjects who have 颅already had COVID-19 to see if we can further boost their immunity and prevent them getting re-infected.

Petrovsky said he has offered to dose aged care residents at risk of contracting COVID-19 with his vaccine in Victoria, the hardest-hit state in the country.

Obviously our vaccine is still under testing, it would have to be done within a clinical trial but theres no reason you couldnt enroll people in Victorian nursing homes into the trial and give them the vaccine which would hopefully then protect them, he said.

Were certainly very open to talking to the Victorian government about doing that, which would hopefully have a benefit even if its within the context of a clinical trial. We know its not going to hurt because we now know that the vaccine is completely safe.

None of the 40 volunteers in phase one developed significant side-effects or a fever, and if Covax-19 passes phase two, Vaxine would have to enroll up to 50,000 volunteers from around the world for phase three, according to the report.

(Xinhua)09:23, August 01, 2020

QINGDAO, July 31 (Xinhua) — A China-Europe freight train loaded with anti-epidemic materials Friday departed the port in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao for Madrid to assist Spain in its fight against COVID-19.

The train carrying 82 TEUs of cargo, including more than 58 million medical masks, will arrive in Madrid in 21 days, covering a total distance of 14,133 km, said Zhang Xiao, assistant manager of DSV Air Sea Co., Ltd., Qingdao, which operates the train.

The number of China-Europe freight trains rose significantly during the first half of this year, with a total of 5,122 trains being put into operation, up 36 percent year on year, according to the China State Railway Group.

The cargo train services have also become an important logistics channel to ensure smooth trade as air and sea transportation have been disrupted by the epidemic.