DIPLOMACY IN TIME OF VIRUS CEMENTS TIES

The COVID-19 pandemic may have pressed the "pause" button on interaction between countries, but China's diplomacy led by President Xi Jinping, in the form of phone calls, correspondence and videoconferences, has helped to further enhance the country's relations with the rest of the world amid the pandemic, officials and experts said.

The intensive interactions between Xi and other world leaders in the first half of this year have contributed to jointly working out ways to effectively respond to the public health crisis and offset the impact of the pandemic on the world economy, they said.

Since the start of the outbreak, Xi has engaged with more than 50 foreign leaders and heads of international organizations through phone calls and meetings, and advanced international cooperation in fighting the novel coronavirus. On June 22, he met with the European Union's new leadership−European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen−via video link to strengthen China-EU cooperation.

He also attended a series of virtual multilateral events, including the Extraordinary G20 Leaders' Summit and the opening of the 73rd World Health Assembly, and hosted the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity Against COVID-19 via video link.

In addition, Xi sent letters to foreign leaders to extend his sympathy to the people of epidemic-affected countries, express China's support to them for their efforts in curbing the virus and strengthen bilateral ties.

Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress, the nation's top legislature, on May 24, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that in all of Xi's diplomatic engagements in what was called "cloud diplomacy", in the form of phone calls, correspondence and video conferences, the president underscored China's unequivocal commitment to global solidarity and cooperation against COVID-19.

More than 170 foreign leaders, 50-plus heads of international and regional organizations and more than 300 political parties or organizations have expressed their sympathy over the outbreak and their support for China's efforts to curb the virus through phone calls, letters or making statements, the Foreign Ministry said.

China has also provided aid in medical supplies and expertise to other countries while sharing information and anti-epidemic experience with them. By the end of May, China had exported anti-epidemic materials such as masks and protective clothing to over 200 countries and regions, the ministry said.

Vice-Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said at a news conference last month that China's relations with the majority of countries have been improved and strengthened amid the epidemic and its circle of friends has been expanded.

China's cooperation with the international community in the fight against the virus has significantly enhanced its ties with other countries and promoted pragmatic cooperation with them, Ma said.

LAW TAILORED TO BOOST HK DEVELOPMENT

The promulgation of the national security legislation for Hong Kong by the special administrative region's government on Tuesday will end the violent activities of anti-government demonstrators while plugging the national security loopholes in the SAR.

At the core of Hong Kong's problems were, are and will be internal and external political issues and political wranglings. Externally, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Taiwan and other regions have long interfered in Hong Kong's affairs and used it as a base for anti-Beijing activities in a bid to contain Beijing's rise.

Containing the peaceful rise of China seems to have become a political consensus in the US. In fact, the US House of Representatives has passed the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and Hong Kong Autonomy Act and is expected to continue interfering in the SAR.

Ever since the novel coronavirus pandemic broke out, the US administration has been desperately trying to isolate Chinese people, products and services from the rest of the world, ostensibly as part of its "stress test" to evaluate the US market's endurance, and prepare for a possible "decoupling" of the US and Chinese economies. Which shows the US will continue using Hong Kong to attack Beijing, especially to conduct more "stress tests" leading to "financial decoupling".

The national security law is designed to maintain Hong Kong's political, economic and social stability. And while helping maintain Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, the central government will also assist the SAR government in addressing the deep-seated problems ignored or neglected for years. The central government will also take measures to ensure Hong Kong returns to the track of development after the social unrest and violence.

CHINA'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY REVEALS ITS RESILIENCE, DYNAMISM

Strong economic recovery momentum reflects resilience and dynamism of the Chinese economy, CRI Online reported on Thursday.

China's factory and service sector activities expanded in June as the economy continued to recover from the shocks generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday, the last day of the first half of the year.

The country's purchasing managers' index for the manufacturing sector stood at 50.9 in June, up from 50.6 in May. The PMI for the non-manufacturing sector came at 54.4 in June, rising from 53.6 in the previous month, according to the NBS.

The data send positive signals and indicated the country's economic recovery continues to gather momentum as supportive and precise government policies have helped the country to resume production smoothly and overcome difficulties amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Group's production and operation have been stable and improved positively since the resumption of production.

The shipbuilding group has not only delivered a 308,000-ton super-large crude oil vessel but also signed two super large crude oil ship construction contracts on the cloud.

This is the ship owner's additional order after signing four super-large crude oil vessels with the group in November last year, Zhu Ping, project manager of the big ship group, said.

"Busy" companies are the epitome of China's economic recovery and a series of data in May indicate that production is continuously improving.

The data include the added value of industries above designated size has been increasing for two consecutive months, the profit growth rate of industrial enterprises has changed from negative to positive, and the production index of service industry has increased from falling to increasing.

The lit-up cities are also a witness of China's economic recovery and more positive factors are seen as resumption of production, business and market with normalized epidemic prevention and control of COVID-19.

The US Consumer News and Business Channel website quoted economists as saying that the Chinese economy is improving and there may be "impressive" growth in China's economic development.

Strong and precise government supports, including tax and fee deduction and employment stabilization, to enterprises especially the small and micro businesses have helped many industrial and commercial households overcome difficulties.

Half of 2020 has passed, the "first half" is extremely difficult, and the "second half" needs to be forged ahead with results of a series of micro-polices to hedge the impact of the epidemic expected.

China's economy has strong resilience and growth potential. The huge domestic market demand and perfect industrial chain will provide a solid foundation for China's economic development; a number of incentive policies are being launched and will help the Chinese economy regain growth momentum, Lothar Herrmann, president and CEO for Greater China, Siemens AG, said.

LUO NAMED NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER TO HK

China's State Council on Friday announced the appointment of Luo Huining as national security adviser to the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

Luo is current the director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR.

The committee,which is chaired by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor,is a new local government agency set up to handle national security affairs as requested by the recently enacted national security law for Hong Kong. The law was passed unanimously on Tuesday by China's top legislature.

The law also stipulates that the central government shall establish an office for safeguarding national security in Hong Kong to investigate special criminal cases, collect intelligence and exercise jurisdiction over a small number of criminal cases under specific circumstances.

The State Council announced on Friday the appointment of the central office's leading staff. Zheng Yanxiong, currently serving as the member of the Standing Committee of Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, was appointed head of the office.

The State Council also named Li Jiangzhou and Sun Qingye as deputy heads of the office. Li is the minister of the police liaison department of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

SEWAGE MAY OFFER CLUES TO VIRUS ORIGIN

Like mini time capsules, frozen sewage samples can provide a wealth of information about the health and habits of people living within the catchment areas of wastewater treatment plants.

Levels of illicit drug use as well as pharmaceuticals and other chemical compounds are monitored in communities around the world through techniques in the field known as wastewater epidemiology.

Experts are now calling for more rigorous detection of the novel coronavirus in sewage systems, as evidence mounts that the pathogen was already widely circulating the globe well before the first known cases of infection in China.

Recent retrospective analysis of sewage from Spain, Italy and Brazil have returned positive tests for the novel coronavirus in samples taken as far back as March last year, well in advance of the first documented instance of COVID-19 in China in late December.

On Monday, Brazilian researchers announced they had found fragments of genetic material from the virus in a sewage sample collected on Nov 27 in the city of Florianopolis. The finding predates the first case of COVID-19 in Brazil by 91 days and is also ahead of the initial confirmed infections in the United States which came in late January.

Italian scientists announced similar results on Thursday for samples collected in Milan and Turin on Dec 18, and analysis of Barcelona sewage retrieved on March 12 also showed signs of the virus, according to a study published in mid-June.

The findings have paradoxically shed light on and further complicated what we know about the origins of the novel coronavirus pandemic. They have also provoked calls for more project funding and increased international collaboration among researchers involved in the unglamorous yet valuable field of sewage science.

Techniques to measure drugs and chemicals in sewage have been perfected over the last two decades, while those that monitor potential outbreaks of disease are more recent.

Scientists in several countries began testing for the novel coronavirus in wastewater in the spring, after it was confirmed the virus could be detected in feces and urine. In March, researchers in the Netherlands found the virus in samples collected at a wastewater plant near Utrecht, weeks before the city's first confirmed case of COVID-19.

CHINA LAUNCHES HIGH-RESOLUTION REMOTE-SENSING SATELLITE

China successfully sent a high-resolution multi-mode imaging satellite into the planned orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi province Friday.

The satellite was launched by a Long March-4B carrier rocket at 11:10 am (Beijing Time), according to the China National Space Administration.

Friday's launch was the 337th by the Long March rocket series.

CDC DIRECTOR: MORE VIRUS OUTBREAKS LIKELY, BUT NATION CAN CONTROL THEM

More COVID-19 outbreaks in China similar to the ongoing one in Beijing are likely because the pandemic has yet to be contained globally, but they will be brought under control quickly, a senior public health expert said.

"With the massive global pandemic going on, it is very natural that the outbreak occurred in Beijing, and it would be no surprise if a similar outbreak happened accidentally in another area in China," said Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"However, I am confident that such local outbreaks will be effectively suppressed once they are identified, as we have experience in COVID-19 epidemic control in Wuhan and competent public health professionals, including community health workers and CDC workers."

As of Wednesday, the outbreak in Beijing, which is linked with a major wholesale food market in the city, had resulted in 329 confirmed cases over the past three weeks.

The outbreak has been brought under control, with just one new confirmed case reported on Wednesday. Before the outbreak, Beijing had reported no new domestically transmitted cases of novel coronavirus infection for 56 days.

In a report published last week, China's CDC said the virus strain that caused the outbreak in Beijing originated in Europe, based on genetic analysis of virus samples collected from the Xinfadi wholesale food market.

Gao said the virus that caused the outbreak was likely carried to Beijing from overseas via contaminated products shipped to the market or by an infected person, with the latter scenario much more probable.

"An asymptomatic case may have entered China via air or land and ended up in Beijing," he said. "The person may have visited Xinfadi and caused the spread of the virus there. The virus may also have been spread by meat vendors in the market, who became infected while transporting goods from other areas such as Heilongjiang province."

There is still much about the Beijing outbreak and the coronavirus strain responsible for it that remains unknown, Gao said. The virus strain seems to be less infectious than previously thought, and researchers are still trying to find out why it may have lurked in Xinfadi market for some time before causing an outbreak, he said.

Vaccines would be a major weapon to bring the pandemic under control, but Gao said people should not be too optimistic about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, even though research and development is progressing rapidly.

Four of the five candidate vaccines under development in China have been put into clinical trials, he said. Some vaccines for the disease have produced antibodies for the coronavirus, but it is still unclear if they will give recipients adequate immune protection, or how long the protection will last if they do.

Despite uncertainties, the vaccines could be used for some key groups, such as health workers, including doctors and nurses, the elderly and people from high-risk areas, in case of a major emergency, he said.

"Without the presence of effective vaccines and drugs for the coronavirus, the most effective measures for prevention still are wearing masks, maintaining social distance and washing hands frequently," Gao said.

With the global COVID-19 pandemic showing no signs of abating anytime soon, China cannot close its doors entirely as the cost would be too great, Gao said, and it must be well prepared for any other local outbreaks caused by imported infections.

"The global COVID-19 pandemic is still rising, and it is foreseeable that similar outbreaks could happen in other areas in China, although their scale will be determined by how the strategy of early identification, reporting, isolation and treatment of cases is carried out," Gao said.

"If we can identify cases early and take prevention and control measures promptly, such outbreaks will be brought under control."

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The best things and best people rise out of their separateness; I'm against a homogenized society because I want the cream to rise - Robert Frost