China says it will respond resolutely if UK sanctions officials

London, England: China will respond resolutely to any attempt by Britain to sanction Chinese officials following the imposition of a security law in Hong Kong, its ambassador in London said on Sunday, July 19.

Earlier this month Britain introduced a new sanctions regime to target individuals it says are involved in human rights abuses or organised crime. Some lawmakers in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party have said the sanctions should be used to target Chinese officials.

"If UK government goes that far to impose sanctions on any individual in China, China will certainly make a resolute response to it," Liu Xiaoming told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show. Britain says the new national security law in Hong Kong breaches agreements made before the handover and that China is crushing the freedoms that have helped make Hong Kong one of the world's biggest financial hubs.

Speaking on the same programme, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was clear the Uighur minority in China had suffered abuses of their human rights. But Liu told the BBC that most Uighurs were living happily and that ethnic minorities in China were treated as equals.

Nature's havoc: Relief work underway in China's flood-hit provinces

China: Local authorities in China's provinces hit by severe floods have been taking measures to conduct relief work as the water levels of various rivers in southern China keep rising due to continuous torrential rains.

The Huaihe River Commission under China's Ministry of Water Resources on Saturday raised the flood-control response from Level IV to Level III, as the river saw its first flood this year. Following torrential rains in recent days, the water level at the Wangjiaba hydrological station in Funan County, east China's Anhui Province, reached the alert level of 27.5 meters at 22:48 Friday, marking the first flood of the Huaihe River this year.

According to the commission, the water level of the key hydrological station on the main course of the Huaihe River keeps rising for the moment, and may reach 29 meters in the coming two days if it continues to pour in the upstream of the river.

"We will reduce the peak flow at the upstream reservoirs, continue to increase the downstream drainage to Hongze Lake, and make all-round preparations for the use of flood storage and detention basins in the middle reach," said Wang Bin, deputy director of the Huaihe Water Conservancy Commission under the Ministry of Water Resources.

Anhui raised its emergency response for disaster relief to the highest level on Saturday afternoon, as the water in the main course of the Yangtze River exceeded the warning level by almost two meters in some places and a total of 35 rivers and lakes in the province saw the water exceed warning level, according to the provincial water resources department.

The water level in Taihu Lake, one of the country's largest freshwater lakes, was still above the guaranteed water level on Saturday since it rose to 4.65 meters Friday morning. To cope with the situation, the major water conservancy projects in the basin discharged the floods at full capacity.

The water resources department of east China's Jiangsu Province also raised its flood alert level to the highest of red for the Nanjing section of the Yangtze River at 09:00 Saturday after a record-high water level was seen in the section. The water level at the Nanjing hydrological station in the provincial capital city rose to 10.26 meters at 07:50 Saturday, exceeding the previous record high of 10.22 meters in 1954.

Local public security department set up patrol teams to inspect the embankments along the Yangtze River round the clock. In east China's Jiangxi Province, a dike with a 188-meter breach caused by floods was successfully sealed on Saturday. The Zhongzhou dike, situated around China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, in Changzhou Township of Poyang County, extends 33.72 km. It protects 34,000 local residents and more than 1,400 hectares of farmland along the waterway. Heavy rains continued to batter central China's Hubei Province on Saturday.

In Yangxin County of Huangshi City, a 50-meter-long breach on a dike caused by floods triggered by days of torrential rains was successfully closed as of Saturday afternoon, thanks to the incessant repair work involving hundreds of armed police officers together with helicopters and 27 heavy-duty vehicles. In the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, one of the worst-hit areas in the province, rescuers evacuated tens of thousands from their inundated houses to safety. Floodwater also submerged some shops along street with emergency rescue operation in progress.

"We are clearing silt to facilitate residents and help businessmen sort out products. For the next step , we will conduct disinfection work to well integrate epidemic response with flood control and disaster relief," said Mou Jun, a disaster relief worker from the Shengli Street. The local government has dispatched more than 12,000 for relief work, and over 39,000 residents have been evacuated to safety.

In southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, rescuers evacuated residents and carried out relief work after continuous downpour triggered landslides. In Xinglong Township of Youyang County in Chongqing, the incessant heavy rain caused a landslide Friday morning. With debris blocking the river way, flood water damaged river embankments and houses in a nearby village. The rescuers managed to evacuate 20 villagers before the water level rose higher.

The rain-triggered landslides also caused damages to roads in Hongchiba Township of Wuxi County. Local authorities raced against time to repair the roads and as of Friday afternoon, traffic was basically restored on major roads, with power supply and communication services in the township restored.

Heavy Rain-triggered floods cause 29,000 evacuated in central China

Hubei, China: Heavy rains continue to batter Hubei Province in central China, with one area, Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, being particularly badly hit.

Local authorities in Enshi City, capital of the prefecture, raised its emergency response to the highest level on Friday, as the flooding was measured at two to three meters deep across downtown areas.

Large areas of the city have been flooded, with cars stuck in the water and homes inundated or even damaged. Data show some 29,000 residents have been evacuated to safety as to 17:00 Friday.

Meanwhile, the water level in Enshi section of the Qingjiang River surpassed 418.5 meters, almost approaching the highest warning mark, at a speed 3,670 cubic meters per second for most of the time as to Friday afternoon. However, forecasters have issued a red alert for more torrential rains to come.

In Yangxin County of Huangshi City, also in Hubei, a 50-meter-long breach on a dike caused by days of torrential rains has been successfully closed as of Sunday afternoon, thanks to the around-the-clock repair work involving hundreds of armed police officers together with helicopters and 27 heavy-duty vehicles.

The large breach on the dike posed a great safety threat to the surrounding residents, causing evacuation of residents nearby.

As least 20.27 million residents have been affected by heavy floods in 24 provincial-level regions across China since the start of July, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

Floods in these areas, including the provinces of Jiangxi, Anhui and Hubei, have left 23 people dead or missing, and forced the emergency relocation of around 1.76 million people.

About 89,000 houses were damaged, and direct economic losses amounted to 49.18 billion yuan (about 7 billion U.S. dollars).

The number of people dead or missing due to the floods is 53.1 percent lower than during the same period of last year, while direct economic losses rose by 11.2 percent, according to the ministry.

Since June, continuous downpours have lashed large parts of southern China, and the water in many rivers in the affected regions has exceeded warning levels.

Australia to continue to support freedom of navigation in South China sea: scott morrison

Canberra: Australia will continue to advocate "very strongly" for the freedom of navigation through the South China Sea, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday.

"Australia has played a very constructive role in relation to the South China Sea. We had an observer status when the matter was being considered and we've continued to advocate very strongly for freedom of navigation through those waters and we've been very supportive whether it's been of Indonesia or I remember standing next to Prime Minister Phuc in Vietnam and commending him on the strong position that he has taken when it is in relation to their interests being compromised in relation to the South China Sea." Morrison told a media briefing in Canberra when asked if the country backed the position of the United States on the contested waterway.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday (June 15) the United States would support countries that believed China has violated their maritime claims in the South China Sea, but stressed doing so in multilateral and legal forums.

Scott Morrison said, "So look Australia will continue to adopt a very supportive position of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. We back that up with our own actions and our own initiatives and our own statements. But we'll say it the Australian way, we'll say it the way that it's in our interests to make those statements and we'll continue to adopt a very consistent position. It is a matter that is frequently raised when we have dialogue with our colleagues, whether it's been at several East Asia summits or other opportunities I have at bilaterals with my counterparts in the region. It is an issue of keen interest and it is one that Australia has taken a keen interest in. But we've engaged respectfully and we've engaged proactively and we've engaged practically."

China claims most of the energy-rich South China Sea, within a U-shaped "nine-dash line" on its maps that is not recognised by its neighbours, several of whom have overlapping claims.

ECONOMY: China's GDP declines 1.6% in first half of 2020, up 3.2% in Q2

Beijing: China's economy declined 1.6 percent year on year in the first half of 2020, but grew by 3.2 percent in the second quarter, according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday. Liu Aihua, spokeswoman of the NBS, released the data and explained the overall trend at a press conference in Beijing.

"China's epidemic prevention and control continues to improve and the resumption of work, production, business, and market have been accelerating. As a result, the economy shifted from slowing down to rising in the first half of 2020 with economic growth in the second quarter changing from negative to positive and main indicators showing recovering growth.The economy recovered gradually, the basic livelihood was ensured effectively, market expectation was generally good, and the overall social development was stable," she said.

The world's second-largest economy grew by 3.2 percent in April-June from a year earlier, reversing a 6.8-percent decline in the first quarter. "According to the preliminary estimates, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 45,661.4 billion yuan in the first half of 2020, a year-on-year decline of 1.6 percent at comparable prices. The GDP for the first quarter declined by 6.8 percent year on year and that for the second quarter grew by 3.2 percent. The value added of the primary industry was 2,605.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 0.9 percent; that of the secondary industry was 17,275.9 billion yuan, down by 1.9 percent; and that of the tertiary industry was 25,780.2 billion yuan, down by 1.6 percent," she said. 

The GDP in the second quarter grew by 11.5 percent quarter on quarter, Liu added.

Hong Kong reporter upsets Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit with Tiananmen question

HONG KONG—A Hong Kong reporter briefly threw Chinese President Hu Jintao's tightly scripted visit to the semiautonomous city off course Saturday by asking about the 1989 military crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square.The reporter for the Apple Daily newspaper said he was detained for about 15 minutes after the incident by three to four security officers, who told him he was too noisy and had broken rules. Other reporters also shouted questions to Hu, but they weren't detained. Hu was touring a new cruise ship terminal when the reporter shouted out a question to him from behind a security cordon.

"President Hu, have you heard that Hong Kong people hope to reverse the verdict of June 4?" the reporter, Hon Yiu-ting, asked. "Have you heard?" Many in Hong Kong have long called for Beijing to overturn its condemnation of the weeks-long 1989 pro-democracy protests that the military crushed on the night of June 3-4, killing hundreds, possibly thousands. On mainland China, dissidents, intellectuals, relatives of the victims and even ordinary citizens also have called for a reassessment of the incident, though their voices are usually muffed because of government censorship.

Hu did not respond to the reporter's question and it's not clear whether he even heard it. The encounter was shown on local television. Saturday's incident was one small flaw in a carefully orchestrated visit by Hu that underscores the widening tensions between Hong Kong and its mainland rulers 15 years after the end of British rule. Hu is on a three-day visit to the southern Chinese financial hub to mark the handover's anniversary on Sunday.

While the visit is aimed at emphasizing strengthening ties and coincides with a raft of measures to boost Hong Kong's economy with the mainland's help, stark differences remain. Hong Kongers have grown increasingly uneasy about life under Beijing's rule and the mainland's growing influence on the territory.

Under Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the city is guaranteed until 2047 a high degree of autonomy and Western-style civil liberties not seen on the mainland, such as freedom of speech. Hu's visit is also intended as a sign of support for Hong Kong's incoming leader, known as the chief executive. Pro-democracy protesters are planning to rally Sunday outside the venue where Hu will oversee Leung Chun-ying's inauguration, but heavy security means it's unlikely he'll see them.

New York Times To Launch New Website in China

The New York Times is making a business move towards China, opening a Chinese language news website and a Sina Weibo account.Unlike its American version, the Chinese edition of the New York Times will have no paywall. Eileen M. Murphy, vice president of corporate communications for the New York Times, told Mashable that offering an unpaid site, at least in the beginning, is “consistent with what we do when we start new ventures.”

“We want this new site to be found,” she said, while adding that there are no current plans to put up a paywall in the future.New York Times’ Chinese site will launch in beta on Thursday morning local time. Its URL will be http://cn.nytimes.com/ “The goal of the new site is to provide China’s growing number of educated, affluent, global citizens with high-quality coverage of world affairs, business and culture,” said the New York Times in a statement. “The site will be edited specifically for readers in China, presenting translations of the best of The Times’s award-winning journalism alongside original work by Chinese writers contributing to The Times.”

The site will cover global affairs, business and culture with about 30 articles per day, all in Chinese. About two-thirds of the content will be translated pieces and one-third will be content from local reporters, although that model could change over time. It will be advertising supported, with luxury brands including Ferragamo, Bloomingdales and Cartier signed up to appeal to the Chinese New York Times‘ audience.Content will be hosted on servers located outside of China, which Murphy pointed out is how other non-Chinese news website also operate. Using foreign servers gives websites the ability to work around local laws in the censorship-heavy country.
“The Times will dictate the content on the site,” said Murphy. “We’ve made no deal with the Chinese government, we’re aware that there’s that kind of history and they may block stories or sites,” adding they hope that’s something they won’t have to contend with.China’s access to information on the Internet is tightly controlled by its government. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are not allowed in the country due to the “Great Firewall of China.” But that doesn’t mean citizens don’t want to access this information. When the country’s firewall crashed in 2011 for less than two days, citizens logged on to Google+ to complain that their government “doesn’t represent the Chinese people.”
Typically, people in countries with restrictive access to the Internet use VPNs, Virtual Private Networks, to access blocked sites while keeping the user undetected. Chinese Internet users using VPNs can tunnel under the national firewall and use banned sites as if they were in another country that allows those sites. Traffic is encrypted so the Chinese government’s censors cannot see what content users are viewing.Last year, Internet users in China reported poor connectivity while visiting sites such as Google while using a VPN, the Guardian reported. It was suspected that the Chinese government was involved. Do you think the Chinese government will attempt to stop citizens from accessing the New York Times’ new site? Tell us in the comments.