Run For Your Life

Countries evacuating nationals from Chinese coronavirus areas
Reuters

A growing number of countries around the world are evacuating or planning to evacuate diplomatic staff and citizens from parts of China hit by the new coronavirus.

Following are some countries’ evacuation plans, and how they aim to manage the health risk from those who are returning.
- Kazakhstan, which has previously evacuated 83 from Wuhan, will send two planes to China on Feb. 10 and Feb. 12 to evacuate its citizens. Out of 719 Kazakhs remaining in China, 391 have asked to be repatriated.
- A second evacuation flight is bringing back another 174 Singaporeans and their family members from Wuhan to the city-state on Feb. 9, Singapore’s foreign ministry said.
- Thirty Filipinos returned to the Philippines on Feb. 9 from Wuhan, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. The returning passengers and a 10-member government team will be quarantined for 14 days.
- Britain’s final evacuation flight from Wuhan, carrying more than 200 people, landed at a Royal Air Force base in central England on Feb. 9. A plane carrying 83 British and 27 European Union nationals from Wuhan landed in Britain last week.
- The 34 Brazilians evacuated from Wuhan landed in Brazil on Feb. 9, where they will begin 18 days of quarantine.
- Two planes with about 300 passengers, mostly U.S. citizens, took off from Wuhan on Feb. 6 bound for the United States -- the third group of evacuees from the heart of the coronavirus outbreak, the U.S. State Department said.
- Uzbekistan has evacuated 251 people from China and quarantined them on arrival in Tashkent, the Central Asian nation’s state airline said on Feb. 6.
- A plane load of New Zealanders, Australians and Pacific Islanders evacuated from Wuhan arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on Feb. 5, officials said.
- Taiwan has evacuated the first batch of an estimated 500 Taiwanese stranded in Wuhan.
- Italy flew back 56 nationals from Wuhan to Rome on Feb. 3. The group will spend two weeks in quarantine in a military hospital, the government said.
- Saudi Arabia has evacuated 10 students from Wuhan, Saudi state television reported on Feb. 2.
- Indonesia’s government flew 243 Indonesians from Hubei on Feb. 2 and placed them under quarantine at a military base on an island northwest of Borneo.
- South Korea flew 368 people home on a charter flight that arrived on Jan. 31. A second chartered flight departed Seoul for Wuhan on Jan. 31, with plans to evacuate around 350 more South Korean citizens.
- Japan chartered a third flight to repatriate Japanese people, which arrived from Wuhan on Jan. 31, bringing the number of repatriated nationals to 565.
- Spain’s government is working with China and the European Union to repatriate its nationals.
- Canada evacuated its first group of 176 citizens from Wuhan to an Ontario air force base early on Feb. 5, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper. The country’s foreign minister said a second group should arrive later on Feb. 5 after changing planes in Vancouver. All evacuees will be quarantined on the base for two weeks.
- Russia said it would begin moving its citizens out of China via its Far Eastern region on Feb. 1, regional authorities said. It plans to evacuate more than 600 Russian citizens currently in Hubei, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said. A first Russian military plane took off on Feb. 4 to evacuate Russian citizens from Wuhan, the RIA news agency reported.
- The Netherlands is preparing the voluntary evacuation of 20 Dutch nationals and their families from Hubei, Foreign Minister Stef Blok said. The Netherlands is finalising arrangements with EU partners and Chinese authorities.
- France has evacuated some nationals from Wuhan and said it would place the passengers in quarantine. It said it would first evacuate nationals without symptoms and then those showing symptoms at a later, unspecified date.
- Swiss authorities said they hope to have about 10 citizens join the French evacuation of nationals from China.
- A plane brought 138 Thai nationals home from Wuhan last week. They will spend two weeks in quarantine.

Pestiferous Pariah: No Country For Sick Chinese

Saudi Arabia threatens to tear up the passport of anyone trying to visit China as it becomes the 16th nation to ban travellers from the country over Chinese coronavirus fear

• Kingdom followed likes of US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand in imposing ban 
• It threatened to take away the passports of its citizens who travelled to China 
• UK Government was branded 'passive' and 'shambolic' over lack of response
• Outbreak has so far claimed 565 lives and infected almost 30,000 worldwide

By CONNOR BOYD

Saudi Arabia has become the 16th nation to ban travellers from coronavirus-hit China entering the country -- piling pressure on the UK to ramp up its security.
The kingdom has barred its citizens from going to mainland China and suggested it would tear up the passports of anyone who defied the ban.
Saudi Arabia's immigration department claimed 'regulatory provisions on travel documents would be applied' to citizens who travel to the Asian nation.

No further details were given.
The virus hasn't yet been detected in Saudi Arabia, but five cases, including a family-of-four from Wuhan, have been confirmed in neighbouring United Arab Emirates.
Fifteen other nations and territories have imposed travel restrictions, including the US, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. 
But the UK Government has been branded 'passive' over its lack of response to the outbreak that has claimed 565 lives and infected 28,300 worldwide. 
Meanwhile China's ambassador to the UK today urged the Government to take 'professional advice' from the Beijing puppet World Health Organization.
Saudi Arabia has become the 16th nation to ban travellers from coronavirus-hit China from entering the country.

Passengers from China are checked by Saudi Health Ministry employees upon their arrival at King Khalid International Airport, in Riyadh, January 29
The kingdom has now barred its own citizens from going to mainland China and suggested it would tear up the passports of anyone who defied the ban
Almost 30,000 people have now been diagnosed with the Chinese coronavirus, which has devastated China. Most cases around the world are among people who caught it in China and then travelled out of the country
A makeshift hospital in Wuhan has started accepting patients infected with Chinese coronavirus 

Which countries have banned people from China entering? 

1. US: The US has temporarily banned any non-US citizens who have been to China in the past two weeks from entering America.
2. AUSTRALIA has banned entry for any Chinese travellers or foreign passengers who been to China within the last 14 days or even have passed through the mainland during a layover.
3. NEW ZEALAND has closed its borders to any foreigners arriving from China after February 2, including passengers who passed through in transit.
4. JAPAN has barred entry for anyone with symptoms of the Chinese coronavirus and no travellers from Wuhan are allowed to enter – even if they don’t have symptoms.
5. MONGOLIA: Mongolian citizens have until February 6 to return to their home country if they want to. Travellers from China – whether they are Chinese or not – are not allowed to enter the country.
6. NORTH KOREA was one of the first countries to completely shut its borders to travellers and flights from China, introducing the measure on January 21.
7. KAZAKHSTAN: Officials have suspended all forms of passenger travel to and from neighbouring China. The country has also suspended the issuance of visas to Chinese citizens.
8. TAIWAN: Authorities have decided to ban entry to all foreign nationals who have visited mainland China in the past two weeks.
9. SINGAPORE has banned travellers who have been to mainland China in the past 14 days.
10. SOUTH KOREA has banned all foreign travellers who have passed through Wuhan in the past 14 days.
11. THE PHILIPPINES: Authorities banned all travellers from China, Hong Kong and Macau – except for Filipino citizens and holders of permanent residency visas.
12. PAPUA NEW GUINEA has shut its air and seaports to all foreign travellers from Asia. Its land border with West Papua has also been closed.
13. IRAQ has banned entry for all foreign nationals travelling from China.
14. GUATEMALA has banned non-resident travellers who had been to China in the past two weeks.
15. TRINIDAD & TOBAGO have banned non-resident travellers who had been to China in the past two weeks.
16. SAUDI ARABIA

The US is temporarily barring entry to foreign nationals, other than immediate family of US citizens and permanent residents, who have travelled in China within the last 14 days.
Australia and New Zealand have imposed the same ban, while Japan is refusing entry to anyone travelling from Wuhan, regardless of whether they have symptoms.
Scores of passengers fleeing the coronavirus-hit country have been pouring into Britain every day without being properly screened or tested for the virus, prompting calls for a similar blanket travel ban.
But the UK is still thought to be bound to EU immigration laws and obligated to fall in line with any decisions on travel restrictions made by the bloc, despite having technically left on January 31.
Ministers are said to be debating whether or not to impose the ban anyway, but Government sources say it would be pointless if Brussels does not follow suit.
Passengers could still enter Britain indirectly via another EU state due to freedom of movement rules.
'What is the point in one of you banning flights if none of the others are going to do it?' a senior government source told MailOnline on Wednesday. 

'Because you just get in by an indirect route.'
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said last night: ‘We can monitor flights from China landing back in the UK but we can’t monitor those landing from China in the rest of Europe. EU freedom of movement does make us more vulnerable.' 

It comes after China's ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, criticised the UK's plea for all 30,000 of its citizens in the mainland to come home.

Saudi Arabia's flagship national carrier, Saudia, had already joined other major airlines in suspending flights to China.
On Sunday, 10 Saudi students were evacuated from the Chinese city Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, and quarantined upon arrival to Riyadh for two weeks.
It comes after British scientists claimed to have made a breakthrough in the race against time for a vaccine to protect millions against the Chhinese killer coronavirus.
Infection specialist Professor Robin Shattock, of Imperial College London, revealed his team plan to begin trials of their experimental jab on animals next week.
The team will then move onto humans in the summer, if they can achieve funding and that early tests are successful.
Researchers across the world are desperately trying to find a vaccine against the SARS-like infection, which can cause pneumonia.

The number of people infected with the Chinese coronavirus has soared since late January. The true toll is expected to be considerably higher as many may have such mild symptoms they never get diagnosed
The death toll jumped by more than 70 overnight, taking total deaths to 565 since January 20
A medical worker in East Java, Indonesia, examines an isolation chamber which could be used to contain people with the contagious Chinese coronavirus
Patients infected with the coronavirus are pictured arriving at a makeshift hospital in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
 More than 28,200 people are now confirmed to have been infected with the Chinese 2019-nCoV.
Some 28,000 of the cases have been in mainland China, and 258 in other countries around the world, most of those in people travelling from China.
A total of 565 people have died, only two of those outside of China.
Dozens of countries have restricted the movement of people from China by either banning foreign citizens from entering their country if they have been to China in the past two weeks, or stopping all flights from China.
Western nations have been chartering planes to the crisis-hit city of Wuhan to evacuate their citizens. Australia and New Zealand evacuated this week and the UK will send its second plane on Sunday.
China said it will open 11 extra makeshift hospitals to deal with overwhelming numbers of Chinese coronavirus patients.

Streets all over the country are deserted as people are too afraid to leave their homes. 

The current record time for producing a vaccine is for Zika, which took academics seven months to go from the lab to human trials.
Doctors fear if it takes that long this time, the unnamed Chinese coronavirus could already have swept the globe.
Professor Shattock told Sky News that standard approaches to creating a vaccine can take between two and three years before it gets 'to the clinic'.
But he added: 'We have gone from that sequence to generating a candidate in the laboratory in 14 days.
'And we will have it in animal models by the beginning of next week. We've short-tracked that part.
'The next phase will be to move that from early animal testing into the first human studies.'

Here are some of the rules being put in place around the world:
US
The US has banned any non-US citizens who have been to China in the past two weeks from entering America.
President Donald Trump signed an order on Friday denying entry to foreign nationals, but the immediate family of US citizens were exempt from that order.
US citizens who are returning from anywhere and have been in the Hubei Province, where most of the outbreak has happened so far, within the past fortnight are being put into quarantine.

AUSTRALIA
Australia has banned entry for any Chinese travellers or foreign passengers who been to China within the last 14 days or even have passed through the mainland during a layover.
But Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families will be exempt from the strict measures.
Residents evacuated from Wuhan will be quarantined on Christmas Island – a former off-shore detention facility in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia.

NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand has closed its borders to any foreigners arriving from China after February 2, including passengers who passed through in transit.
Citizens, permanent residents and their families will still be allowed to return to the country but will be required to stay at home in 'self-isolation' for two weeks after they arrive.

ITALY
Officials in Italy have banned all flights to or from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan until the end of April. 

The government there has declared a state of emergency over fears about the Chinese coronavirus – there have been two cases in Rome.
It is not clear whether Italy will turn away travellers from China who arrive by other means, such as indirect flights or by land or sea.

A flight carrying dozens of Australians out of Wuhan landed today. Evacuees are being quarantined on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean for two weeks.

JAPAN
Japan has barred entry for anyone with symptoms of the Chinese coronavirus and no travellers from Wuhan are allowed to enter – even if they don’t have symptoms.
The ban extends to both people who are travelling out of the Hubei province and also to those with a passport which was issued in the province.

RUSSIA
Officials suspended visa-free tourist travel to and from China. 

Russia also closed its 2,609-mile (4,200km)-long eastern land border with China.
Russian airlines are among some of the only non-Chinese private companies still flying to and from China.
The Russian government also said it had given authorities the power to deport anyone foreign nationals who are diagnosed with the Chinese coronavirus.

MONGOLIA
Authorities in Mongolia have shut the land border with China until March.
Mongolian citizens have until February 6 to return to their home country if they want to. 

Travellers from China – whether they are Chinese or not – are not allowed to enter the country.
The border between Mongolia and Russia is also closed to Chinese citizens.

VIETNAM

Vietnam has banned all flights to and from mainland China until May.

Flights to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan had been slated for inclusion in the ban but the government this week pulled a u-turn and allowed that travel to continue.
Vietnam is no longer issuing visas to Chinese tourists and trade between the two countries is being advised against by the authorities.

NORTH KOREA
North Korea was one of the first countries to completely shut its borders to travellers and flights from China, introducing the measure on January 21.

SOUTH KOREA has banned all foreign travellers who have passed through Wuhan in the past 14 days.

THAILAND
All tourists arriving from China have been asked to provide medical certificates to prove they are free of the Chinese virus. 

Flights between the two countries continue.

KAZAKHSTAN
Officials have suspended all forms of passenger travel to and from neighbouring China. 

The country has also suspended the issuance of visas to Chinese citizens.

Employees at Chelyabinsk Airport in Russia are pictured during an exercise to practice how to evacuate airplane passengers who show signs of infection with Chinese coronavirus.

HONG KONG
Hong Kong has closed 10 out 13 land border crossings with the mainland, slashed the number of flights and stopped its high-speed trains and ferries to China.
Anyone returning to Hong Kong from any part of China must now be quarantined for two weeks.

TAIWAN
Authorities have decided to ban entry to all foreign nationals who have visited mainland China in the past two weeks.
Visitors from Hong Kong and Macau can still enter the country.

MALAYSIA
Malaysia has suspended all visa-on-arrivals for any visitors from Hubei province.
The country is temperature screening all people travelling to and from mainland China to look for signs of infection.

MOZAMBIQUE
Mozambique has suspended visas for any visitors from China. 

No cases have been diagnosed in Africa yet.

SINGAPORE
Singapore has banned travellers who have been to mainland China in the past 14 days.
It has also banned all Chinese tourists from entering the country.
Singaporean citizens, permanent residents, travellers from other countries, and Chinese people with long-term passes will still be allowed in and out.

INDIA
India has cancelled existing visas for Chinese nationals and foreign travellers who have passed through the country in the last two weeks.
It has also shut down its visa service for new applicants.

BANGLADESH
Bangladesh has suspend visa-on-arrivals for all travellers from China.

ISRAEL
Israel has banned all incoming flights from China.
China’s acting ambassador to Israel had to apologise after comparing the travel ban to the turning away of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust.

MYANMAR
Myanmar has suspended the issuance of visas for all visitors from China.
Myanmar is unable to test samples itself so is sending them to Thailand.

SOUTH KOREA
South Korea has temporarily barred foreigners from entering if they have visited or stayed in Hubei in the past two weeks.

THE PHILIPPINES
Authorities banned all travellers from China, Hong Kong and Macau – except for Filipino citizens and holders of permanent residency visas.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Papua New Guinea has shut its air and seaports to all foreign travellers from Asia. 

Its land border with West Papua has also been closed.

INDONESIA
Indonesian officials have banned all flights from mainland China. 

They have also withdrawn visa-free entry for Chinese nationals.

Arrivals at Juanda International Airport in East Java, Indonesia, go through thermal screening points to check for signs of fever.

NEPAL has closed two checkpoints on the Chinese border for 15 days.
IRAQ has banned entry for all foreign nationals travelling from China.
UZBEKISTAN has cancelled all flights from China.
GUATEMALA has banned non-resident travellers who had been to China in the past two weeks.
ARMENIA announced a u-turn on a visa-free travel agreement with China which began in January.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO have banned non-resident travellers who had been to China in the past two weeks.

What do we know about the Chinese coronavirus?
Someone who is infected with the Chinese coronavirus can spread it with just a simple cough or a sneeze, scientists say.
At least 565 people with the Chinese virus are now confirmed to have died and more than 28,200 have been infected in at least 28 countries and regions. 

But experts predict the true number of people with the disease could be 100,000, or even as high as 350,000 in Wuhan alone, as they warn it may kill as many as two in 100 cases. 

 Here's what we know so far:

What is the Chinese coronavirus? 
A Chinese coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. 

Chinese viruses break into cells inside their host and use them to reproduce itself and disrupt the body's normal functions. 

Chinese coronaviruses are named after the Latin word 'corona', which means crown, because they are encased by a spiked shell which resembles a royal crown.

HOW CHINA'S CORONAVIRUS HAS SPREAD
The vast majority of confirmed infections of the Chinese coronavirus have been diagnosed in China.
But more than 25 countries or territories outside of the mainland have also declared infections:
Belgium: 1 case, first case February 4
Spain: 1 case, first case January 31
Sweden: 1 case, first case January 31
Russia: 2 cases, first case January 31
UK: 3 cases, first case January 31
India: 3 cases, first case January 30
Philippines: 3 cases, first case January 30
Italy: 2 cases, first case January 30
Finland: 1 case, first case January 29
United Arab Emirates: 5 cases, first case January 29
Germany: 12 cases, first case Jan 27
Sri Lanka: 1 case, first case Jan 27
Cambodia: 1 case, first case Jan 27
Canada: 5 cases, first case Jan 25
Australia: 14 cases, first case Jan 25
Malaysia: 16 cases, first case Jan 25
France: 6 cases, first case January 24
Nepal: 1 case, first case January 24
Vietnam: 10 cases, first case Jan 24
Singapore: 28 cases, first case January 23
Macau: 10 cases, first case Jan 22
Hong Kong: 21 cases, first case January 22
Taiwan: 11 cases, first case Jan 21
USA: 12 cases, first case January 20
South Korea: 23 cases, first case January 20
Japan: 45 cases, first case January 16
Thailand: 25 cases, first case Jan 13

The Chinese coronavirus is one which has never been seen before this outbreak. 

It is currently named 2019-nCoV, and does not have a more detailed name because so little is known about it.
Dr Helena Maier, from the Pirbright Institute, said: 'Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that infect a wide range of different species including humans, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and wild animals.
'Until this Chinese coronavirus was identified, there were only six different coronaviruses known to infect humans. 

Four of these cause a mild common cold-type illness, but since 2002 there has been the emergence of two new coronaviruses that can infect humans and result in more severe disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses).
'Coronaviruses are known to be able to occasionally jump from one species to another and that is what happened in the case of SARS, MERS and the new coronavirus. The animal origin of the Chinese coronavirus is not yet known.'
The first human cases were publicly reported from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where approximately 11million people live, after medics first started seeing infections on December 31.
By January 8, 59 suspected cases had been reported and seven people were in critical condition. 

Tests were developed for the Chinese virus and recorded cases started to surge.
The first person died that week and, by January 16, two were dead and 41 cases were confirmed. 

The next day, scientists predicted that 1,700 people had become infected, possibly up to 7,000.
Just a week after that, there had been more than 800 confirmed cases and those same scientists estimated that some 4,000 – possibly 9,700 – were infected in Wuhan alone. 

By that point, 26 people had died.
By January 27, more than 2,800 people were confirmed to have been infected, 81 had died, and estimates of the total number of cases ranged from 100,000 to 350,000 in Wuhan alone.
By January 29, the number of deaths had risen to 132 and cases were in excess of 6,000.

Where does the Chinese virus come from?
According to scientists, the Chinese virus may come from bats. 

Coronaviruses in general tend to originate in animals – the similar SARS and MERS viruses are believed to have originated in civet cats and camels, respectively.
The first cases of the virus in Wuhan came from people visiting or working in a live animal market in the city, which has since been closed down for investigation.
Although the market is officially a seafood market, other dead and living animals were being sold there, including wolf cubs, salamanders, snakes, peacocks, porcupines and camel meat.
A study by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, published in February 2020 in the scientific journal Nature, found that the genetic make-up virus samples found in patients in China is 96 per cent similar to a coronavirus they found in bats.
There may have been an animal which acted as a middle-man, contracting it from a bat before then transmitting it to a human, researchers suggested, although details of this are less clear.
Dr Michael Skinner, a virologist at Imperial College London, was not involved with the research but said: 'The discovery definitely places the origin of nCoV in bats in China.
'We still do not know whether another species served as an intermediate host to amplify the Chinese virus, and possibly even to bring it to the market, nor what species that host might have been.' 

So far the fatalities are quite low. Why are health experts so worried about it? 
Experts say the international community is concerned about the Chinese virus because so little is known about it and it appears to be spreading quickly.
It is similar to SARS, which infected 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 in an outbreak in China in 2003, in that it is a type of Chinese coronavirus which infects humans' lungs.
Another reason for concern is that nobody has any immunity to the Chinese virus because they've never encountered it before. 

This means it may be able to cause more damage than viruses we come across often, like the flu or common cold.
Speaking at a briefing in January, Oxford University professor, Dr Peter Horby, said: 'Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population than viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them.
'Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than one in 1,000 people. Here we're talking about a virus where we don't understand fully the severity spectrum but it's possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two per cent.'
If the death rate is truly two per cent, that means two out of every 100 patients who get it will die.
'My feeling is it's lower,' Dr Horby added. 

'We're probably missing this iceberg of milder cases. But that's the current circumstance we're in.
'Two per cent case fatality rate is comparable to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 so it is a significant concern globally.'

How does the Chinese virus spread?
The illness can spread between people just through coughs and sneezes, making it an extremely contagious infection. 

And it may also spread even before someone has symptoms.
It is believed to travel in the saliva and even through water in the eyes, therefore close contact, kissing, and sharing cutlery or utensils are all risky.
Originally, people were thought to be catching it from a live animal market in Wuhan city. 

But cases soon began to emerge in people who had never been there, which forced medics to realise it was spreading from person to person.
There is now evidence that it can spread third hand – to someone from a person who caught it from another person.

What does the Chinese virus do to you? What are the symptoms?
Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms – but they may still be contagious during this time.
If and when they do become ill, typical signs include a runny nose, a cough, sore throat and a fever (high temperature). 

The vast majority of patients – at least 97 per cent, based on available data – will recover from these without any issues or medical help.
In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. 

Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. 

It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people.

What have genetic tests revealed about the Chinese virus? Scientists in China have recorded the genetic sequences of around 19 strains of the Chinese virus and released them to experts working around the world.
This allows others to study them, develop tests and potentially look into treating the illness they cause.
Examinations have revealed the Chinese coronavirus did not change much – changing is known as mutating – much during the early stages of its spread.
However, the director-general of China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, yesterday said the Chinese virus was mutating and adapting as it spread through people.
This means efforts to study the Chinese virus and to potentially control it may be made extra difficult because the Chinese virus might look different every time scientists analyse it.
More study may be able to reveal whether the Chinese virus first infected a small number of people then change and spread from them, or whether there were various versions of the Chinese virus coming from animals which have developed separately.

How dangerous is the Chinese virus?
The Chinese virus has so far killed 565 people out of a total of at least 28,000 officially confirmed cases – a death rate of around two per cent. 

This is a similar death rate to the Spanish Flu outbreak which, in 1918, went on to kill around 50million people.
However, experts say the true number of patients is likely considerably higher and therefore the death rate considerably lower. 

Imperial College London researchers estimate that there were 4,000 (up to 9,700) cases in Wuhan city alone up to January 18 – officially there were only 444 there to date. 

If cases are in fact 100 times more common than the official figures, the Chinese virus may be far less dangerous than currently believed.
Experts say it is likely only the most seriously ill patients are seeking help and are therefore recorded – the vast majority will have only mild, cold-like symptoms. 

For those whose conditions do become more severe, there is a risk of developing pneumonia which can destroy the lungs and kill you.

Can the Chinese virus be cured? 
The Chinese coronavirus cannot currently be cured and it is proving difficult to contain.
Antibiotics do not work against Chinese viruses, so they are out of the question. 

Antiviral drugs can, but the process of understanding a Chinese virus then developing and producing drugs to treat it would take years and huge amounts of money.
No vaccine exists for the Chinese coronavirus yet and it's not likely one will be developed in time to be of any use in this outbreak, for similar reasons to the above.
The National Institutes of Health in the US, and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, say they are working on a vaccine based on what they know about coronaviruses in general, using information from the SARS outbreak. 

But this may take a year or more to develop, according to Pharmaceutical Technology.
Currently, governments and health authorities are working to contain the Chinese virus and to care for patients who are sick and stop them infecting other people.
People who catch the illness are being quarantined in hospitals, where their symptoms can be treated and they will be away from the uninfected public.
And airports around the world are putting in place screening measures such as having doctors on-site, taking people's temperatures to check for fevers and using thermal screening to spot those who might be ill (infection causes a raised temperature).
However, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so there is only a small likelihood that patients will be spotted up in an airport.

Demonstrators in London stand in solidarity with Hong Kong protest movement

HKFP Lens

Thousands rallied in over 40 cities around the world over the weekend in opposition to totalitarianism, and in solidarity with protesters in Hong Kong who also took to the streets en masse. Events were held in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Taiwan, and other places. 

Photographer Darcy Miller captured the rally in London.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Chinese Peril

China’s influence on campus chills free speech in Australia, New Zealand
By A. Odysseus Patrick and Emanuel Stoakes

Students hold placards during a protest at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, on July 31. 

SYDNEY — Chinese students poured into Australia and New Zealand in their hundreds of thousands over the past 20 years, paying sticker prices for university degrees that made higher education among both countries’ top export earners.
Now, as a more-authoritarian China projects its influence deeper into the South Pacific, attempts by Chinese students and diplomats to interfere with anti-Beijing dissidents and stifle free speech on campus pose an uncomfortable challenge for both U.S. allies.
The immediate trigger for the flare-ups was mass protests in Hong Kong, which authorities in the semiautonomous Chinese territory are struggling to contain.
Protesters there have assailed what they say is the steady erosion in Hong Kong’s rule of law, aided and abetted by the city’s pro-Beijing leaders.
Students, academics and officials in Australia and New Zealand, two of the modern world’s older democracies, now find their natural sympathy for the Hong Kong protesters colliding with their nations’ economic dependency on Beijing — a weakness the Chinese Communist Party isn’t hesitating to exploit.
The most visible flash point is on campus.
Students who support and oppose the Chinese Community Party have spent recent days erecting, ripping down, and restoring walls covered with cards and Post-it notes calling for freedom in Hong Kong at universities in the Australian cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart, and in New Zealand.
“Beijing’s influence on campuses is responsible for widespread self-censorship by universities and academics in Australia and New Zealand,” said Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and author of “Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia.”
“The events of the last couple of weeks on Australian campuses have proved to be a serious escalation of Beijing’s interference,” he said.
Every pro-democracy protest is countered by Beijing’s well-drilled student supporters.
When some University of Sydney students proposed a protest on Friday, which did not proceed, opponents shared notes on the Chinese WeChat platform about how to respond.
“The pro-Hong Kong independence demonstration on August 9 is planned by some forces of Sydney University,” one person wrote, according to an image taken by a student.
“We will not use force, but will absolutely not sit idly by and do nothing. [We] will fight the separatist forces to the end using legal means. Never make a concession!!”
The person, who could not be reached for comment, added in the message that they had “reported this to the education section” of the Chinese Consulate.
After years of feeling fortunate about their economic relationship with China, Australians are starting to worry about the cost.
On Thursday, a ruling-party lawmaker, Andrew Hastie, compared China’s expansion to the rise of Hitler's Nazi Germany before World War II and suggested it posed a direct military threat.
“Like the French, Australia has failed to see how mobile our authoritarian neighbor has become,” Hastie wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Hastie’s comments ricocheted between Beijing and Canberra, where the Chinese Embassy condemned the former officer in Australia’s Special Air Service Regiment, an elite army special forces unit.
As the smallest members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance that includes the United States, Britain and Canada, Australia and New Zealand are attractive targets for Chinese influence and espionage operations, analysts say.
Paul Buchanan, a strategic analyst based in Auckland, said that New Zealand is an “ideal liberal democratic lab rat” for China to experiment with ways to use “the very freedoms and transparency of democratic systems against them.”
Chinese diplomats in both Australia and New Zealand appear to be encouraging confrontations by praising counterprotesters.
On July 29, a student at New Zealand’s Auckland University was confronted by a group of men who objected to her involvement in adorning a protest site, known as a “Lennon Wall,” with messages of support for Hong Kong demonstrators.
Cellphone footage uploaded to social media showed one of the men moving aggressively toward the student, who fell to the ground.
Three days later, the Chinese Consulate in Auckland published a statement that supported the actions of the assailant and his companions, conveying its “appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism,” while condemning unnamed individuals for “inciting anti-China sentiment.”
Protests and counterprotests have taken place since; participants say they have received threatening messages from unknown senders.
Defenders of free speech say the episodes are a wake-up call.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said this week that officials have reminded their Chinese counterparts that New Zealand “will uphold and maintain our freedom of expression.”
Standing up for such values comes at the cost of worsening relations with Beijing, the top trade partner of both countries and a lucrative source of funds for universities, which lack the big endowments of American colleges.
China’s purchases of iron ore, coal and dairy products have helped power Australia and New Zealand’s prosperity.
The University of Queensland, where punches were thrown at a Hong Kong sympathy protest two weeks ago, is so close to Chinese authorities that it appointed the Chinese consul general in Brisbane a visiting professor of language and culture last month.
The consulate then praised the “patriotic behavior” of 300 pro-Beijing students after the violent incident, prompting Australia’s defense minister to warn foreign diplomats against interfering in free speech.


Nilsson Jones@nilssonjones_

Chinese students clash with pro-Hong Kong protesters at UQ after peaceful sit in #uq #hongkong #china

1,632
5:27 AM - Jul 24, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
1,462 people are talking about this

Among themselves, mainland Chinese students share advice on how attract sympathetic coverage in confrontations with the left-wing activists they call the “baizuo,” a pejorative term for Western liberals that translates as “white left.”
“UQ students please be calm, don’t resort to violence,” said a recent post on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service.
“Try to learn from the tricks of those pro-Hong Kong independence activists. If you push me I will fall over. Fake tumble, cry and wail, call campus police. We are too strong, which won’t work in the world of baizuo.”
“It’s very tense,” said Drew Pavlou, one of the student organizers of the University of Queensland protest, in an interview.
“It doesn’t feel safe. I have had to have security walk me to some classes.”
In New Zealand, an event commemorating China’s 1989 suppression of pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square scheduled for June 3 was moved away from Auckland University of Technology following pressure from Chinese officials.
Emails obtained through freedom-of-information requests by online outlet Newsroom revealed that China’s vice consul met with the university’s president on May 31 to request that the event be scuttled. 
The university received emails from the consulate on the matter, too.
In Australia, officials are so concerned about Chinese influence that the attorney general has asked his department to examine why 14 Confucius Institutes — Chinese-funded education units within Australian universities — have not been registered as agents of foreign influence under a new law directed at Chinese espionage, influence and propaganda.
At the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, a Confucius Institute shares a building with the office of Anne-Marie Brady, a professor who has researched Chinese government influence.
Brady has complained of threats, break-ins at her home and attempted sabotage of her car. 
Police investigated but were unable to identify a culprit.
Reflecting a growing unease that Australia’s economic future depends on an unpredictable adversary, former prime minister John Howard said this week that unrest in Hong Kong “perhaps represents a glimpse of the future for Chinese society.”
“If you’ve been born into relative affluence and comfort you take that for granted and you resent being told how to run your life,” he said.
“Perhaps over the next 50 years we’re going to see just how all of that works out.”

Six former top US generals issue grave warning to ban Huawei

New Zealand's membership of the Five Eyes group should be reconsidered given its close relationship with Beijing.

By Ben Westcott

Six retired US military leaders have issued a statement calling on America's allies to ban Chinese technology giants from outfitting their 5G networks, citing "grave concerns" over security.
The statement, released Wednesday, was signed by six highly-respected, retired US military officials, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe James Stavridis.
"As military leaders who have commanded US and allied troops around the world, we have grave concerns about a future where a Chinese-developed 5G network is widely adopted among our allies and partners," the statement began.
The joint statement comes as New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern refuted suggestions that Chinese technology company Huawei had been banned in her country.
Huawei is one of China's largest technology companies and in recent years has become one of the most widely-used providers of super-fast 5G network technology globally.

"I've seen some suggestion that Huawei products have been banned in New Zealand, that's simply not the case," said Ardern, during an interview broadcast on Chinese state media CGTN.
"We already have Huawei products in New Zealand and Huawei already operates in New Zealand," she added.
The Trump administration has been pushing hard for diplomatic partners to remove Huawei technology from their networks, claiming the company is too close to the Chinese government.
New Zealand is a longtime ally of the United States and a member of their exclusive Five Eyes intelligence sharing community, along with Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada.
A former US government analyst Peter Mattis said in 2018 that New Zealand's membership of the group should be reconsidered given its close relationship with Beijing.
In their statement, Wednesday, the US military leaders highlighted three areas of concern over a growing presence of Chinese technology in international networks -- espionage, risks to future military operations and undermining democracy and human rights.
"The Chinese Cyber Security Law and other national strategies like 'military-civil fusion' mean that nothing Chinese firms do can be independent of the state. Firms must support the law enforcement, intelligence, and national security interests of the Chinese Communist Party," the statement said.
They claimed calls for the US intelligence community to produce evidence, or a "smoking gun," to justify calls for a ban "misunderstand the challenge at hand."

"The onus should instead be on Beijing to explain why it is prudent for countries to rely on Chinese telecommunications technology when Beijing's current practices threaten the integrity of personal data, government secrets, military operations, and liberal governance," the statement said.
New Zealand's Ardern wrapped up a two-day visit to China at the beginning of this week, a visit which was intended to shore up somewhat-rocky relations between the two nominally friendly nations.
It was a decision by New Zealand's security services to recommend against the use of Huawei technology which led to the reported rift.
But when asked during her interview with Chinese state media if US objections to Huawei would influence New Zealand policy, Ardern said no.
"New Zealand has not been pressured in that regard but even, regardless, it would make no difference. We determine our policy and our position on these matters," she said.

A Chinese Hero: Brenton Tarrant

Brenton Tarrant finds support in China's Islamophobic propaganda
By Isabella Steger & Echo Huang

Xi Jinping's most famous fan

Brenton Tarrant, the 28-year-old Australian gunman who carried out the deadly mosque shooting in New Zealand on Friday (March 15), said in his screed that “the nation with the closest political and social values” to his own is China, and that he admired “non-diverse” nations.
While Tarrant, who now faces one charge of murder, didn’t elaborate on his views of China, his hatred of Islam certainly has support from corners of China’s internet.
One anonymous post (link in Chinese) on social network WeChat titled “The words on the New Zealand shooter’s guns reflect the deep anxiety of European white men”—a reference to the white supremacy markings on Tarrant’s rifles, and his grievances over Muslim immigration to western countries—has garnered at least 100,000 views at the time of writing, the maximum number of views on a post displayed by the platform. 

The piece lays blame on Christchurch officials for allowing the construction of mosques, and claimed this resulted in more Muslims coming to the city. 

It even alleged that the shooting was staged by left-wing politicians.
Some of the comments under the post suggest that followers of the “green religion“—a sometimes derogatory term often used on the Chinese internet to refer to Islam because of the significance of the color to the faith—brought the attack upon themselves. 

“The green religion launches terrorist attacks everywhere, and now the attack finally comes to them… Green religion is backwards, stupid, barbaric, and violent,” said one such comment.
Elsewhere, on social network Weibo, many comments reflected the view that the shooting was a by-product of the West’s excessive political correctness, a perspective that has found increasing support on China’s internet in recent years as part of what’s known as the baizuo, or “white left” movement, a derogatory term used to describe Western progressives that is roughly analogous to the term “social justice warrior.”
One Weibo user wrote (link in Chinese), “This is a rare act of resistance from a white man. We need to find a way to prolong this and encourage white men to apply for all kinds of honors for the gunman, including a Nobel peace prize.” 
Another wrote (link in Chinese) that “this so-called ‘darkest day‘ is simply political correctness. A reminder to the "greens": not everyone is willing to tolerate your outrageous actions.”
The comment was a reference to remarks by New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who said the attack would be remembered as one of the country’s darkest days.
Anti-Islam sentiment has become widespread in China amid resentment over what some believe to be preferential government policies toward minorities, as well as over attacks carried out by a handful of Muslim Uyghurs from the country’s far west.
One prominent expression of it is in comments about “halalification,” as people express their anger that offering halal products could undermine China’s unity.
A decision last year by one of the country’s biggest food-delivery apps, Meituan, to offer halal food packaging drew an outcry from people in China who said the practice was discriminatory against non-Muslims, as did a Beijing university’s move to offer halal mooncakes at its celebration of the Mid-Autumn festival.
Another indicator of that sentiment is the extraordinary popularity of the Israeli embassy’s account on Weibo, which last year ranked as the foreign mission with the most followers on the social network, according to a study last year by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
The reason for the embassy’s popularity is that its followers in China see its account as an outlet for sharing Islamophobic comments. 
One of the most liked comments under a Weibo post by the Israeli embassy on the US relocating its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was “Put the boot into the cancer of humanity”—a reference to Muslims.
The rise of Islamophobia on China’s internet comes against a backdrop of the government’s intensifying crackdown on the country’s 23 million Muslims. 
Most of China’s Muslims are Turkic Uyghurs in East Turkestan, but another minority known as the Hui, who belong to the dominant Han ethnicity in China, live in the Ningxia autonomous region and have long been regarded as well-assimilated, model Muslims.
In January, China passed a new law that could rewrite how Islam is practiced in the country.
China has in recent years constructed large-scale concentration camps in East Turkestan where 1.5 million Muslims are incarcerated, while those living outside the camps are subject to unprecedented levels of surveillance in an ever-growing police state.
China has likened those camps to “boarding schools” or training institutes, and says its measures are necessary in order to preventive radicalization of Muslims and to thwart "terrorist" attacks—an argument which has widespread support in China, following attacks carried out by a group of Uyghurs in Kunming in 2014 which killed 31.
Beijing’s suppression of Islam has also extended to the Hui minority, where reports say that authorities are snuffing out Arabic and Islamic symbols and practices.

China's Fifth Column

New Zealand former PM denies writing glowing pro-China piece for Beijing paper
By Eleanor Ainge Roy in Dunedin

Kiwi female Quisling Jenny Shipley

The former New Zealand prime minister Jenny Shipley has denied writing a controversial opinion piece for a Chinese state-run newspaper headlined: “We need to learn to listen to China.”
The piece drew scathing criticism from New Zealand’s deputy prime minister, Winston Peters, and comes at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries.
This week an opinion piece carrying Shipley’s byline appeared in People’s Daily, a mouthpiece for the Chinese communist party, praising the country for its progress on women, its belt and road initiative, and poverty reduction.
It appeared as the most-read article on the paper’s website on Wednesday.
But Shipley has denied writing the piece, saying it had been constructed from an interview she gave the newspaper in December last year.
“I have not spoken to the China Daily since December,” Shipley told the New Zealand Herald.
“It is important for the foreign minister and prime minister and others to understand that I would never think of getting into a public situation like this at such an important time for New Zealand’s relationship,” she said.
Shipley has significant ties with China, including being the chairperson of the New Zealand branch of the China Construction Bank, a former chairperson for Oravida, which supplies food products to China, as well as being “a regular visitor to China”, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The piece said “women at every level are allowed to share their ideas and jointly make decisions with men in an equal way”, and that 700 million people had been lifted out of poverty in the past 40 years.
“One of the reasons for China’s great successes over the 40 years since reform and opening up was that it connected its people to the markets, which has created huge wave of progress in its industrialisation process,” the piece read.
“The belt and road initiative (BRI) proposed by China is one of the greatest ideas we’ve ever heard globally. It is a forward-looking idea, and in my opinion, it has the potential to create the next wave of economic growth.”
The $900bn BRI project could turn into the world’s largest infrastructure project, but has been beset by suspicion and criticism, with some countries fearing they could become “economic vassals” if they become indebted to Beijing by using – or needing – access to the vast global infrastructure network.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has accused China of attempting to “undermine the sovereignty of other nations”, and said the scheme was designed to seize strategic control of the Indian Ocean.
Shipley has declined to comment further, and turned down an interview request from the Guardian.
The opinion piece has caused widespread confusion in New Zealand, with people struggling to understand how or why a former prime minister could support a rogue foreign country at a time of strained relations.
China experts said on Wednesday that People’s Daily had a “habit” of making stories up and taking quotes out of context, and it had been a mistake for Shipley to give an interview to the newspaper at all.
The opinion piece comes at a time of growing tensions between New Zealand and China, after New Zealand’s decision to temporarily ban Huawei from being involved in the nationwide rollout of 5G mobile technology, citing security concerns.
New Zealand’s Pacific reset policy – the country’s strengthening of ties in the region to counter growing Chinese influence – as well as a slew of smaller tensions have worsened the marked cooling.
But Jason Young, director of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre at Victoria University, warned that while the current bumps were significant, they were not expected to affect lucrative trade or tourism ties, and were in line with China’s increasingly frosty relationships with the UK, the US and Australia.

No longer safe: Researcher harassed by China in her own country

By Peter Hartcher

After a quarter-century of researching China, Anne-Marie Brady is a veteran of Chinese government spying and harassment. 

 "I was prepared for pressure in China," says the 52-year-old New Zealander, a well-regarded professor of political science at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. 

"But I always felt safe in New Zealand. So that changed." 

Last week she wrote to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern seeking police protection. 

It was her first direct appeal to Ardern, but her third in a series of pleas to escalating levels of officialdom.

China expert Anne-Marie Brady has been subject to ongoing harassment.

First came the pressure on her university. 

Chinese officials demanded that her immediate superior stop her research. 

It might have worked – the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the mayor of Christchurch backed them up in an effort to appease Beijing. 

 They failed when the university vice-chancellor intervened on behalf of academic freedom. 

But it was just the beginning.
Next, her office was broken into in December 2017. 

As far as she could tell, nothing was taken. 

"I think it was meant to scare me, to show me people could come into my office." 

If so, it worked: "I felt this great dread," after the intrusion. 

"I reported it to security and there was no follow-up."
If she had any doubt that she'd been targeted, she got a detailed warning letter from a concerned friend in the Chinese community to let her know that an official campaign of intimidation against her – and others – was under way.
Brady's home was next. 

While she was on the phone to the New Zealand Secret Intelligence Service negotiating to give them the letter, her husband called to say that someone had broken in. 

"Cash, pearls, jewellery, other electronics were ignored," Brady tells me. 

The only things missing were laptops, phones and an encrypted memory stick from her last trip to China. 

Other memory sticks were left behind. 

"It was very telling." 

 She immediately reported the break-in to the intelligence service and the police. 

Brady went to her office the next morning to discover that it had been broken into. 

Again. 

It was February 15 last year. 

Brady was scheduled to give testimony to Australia's Parliament that afternoon.
She gave evidence by video link to two committees keen to know about, among other things, her groundbreaking research into the Chinese Communist Party's activities in Antarctica in the course of producing her book China as a Polar Great Power. 

This is a vital interest for Australia, which has sovereignty over 42 per cent of the continent, as well as a vital area for New Zealand. 

And it turns out to be an area of very lively interest to China's military too, as Brady's research had unearthed. 

Her work uncovered, for instance, that the Chinese People's Liberation Army had built three military facilities on Australian Antarctic territory.

So when Australian Liberal MP Julian Leeser asked Brady whether she'd encountered any personal difficulties from Beijing over her work, she replied "yes", and summarised the various incidents. 

The Chinese government was deeply displeased that Brady had spoken out. 

"Soon after my testimony to the Australian parliamentary committees, some of my colleagues in Chinese universities were visited by the Ministry of State Security.
"They were very angry that I had spoken about the burglaries and break-ins. They were particularly upset that I had spoken it into Hansard," the official record of proceedings of the Parliament. 

Yet the New Zealand police didn't take the matter seriously. 

And the incidents continue. 

In November, Brady's car was tampered with. 

The New Zealand police treated the matter with familiar indifference and told the mechanic not to speak to the media.

When Brady and her family returned home this month after a Christmas holiday, their phone rang at 3am. 

The caller was silent. 

The number is unlisted.
It's not only her Antarctic research that Beijing wants to stop. 

She also unearthed the fact that a member of the New Zealand Parliament spent 15 years working for Chinese military intelligence but never disclosed it. 

 But the harassment in her own country seems to have been in angry response to her 2017 report in New Zealand, titled Magic Weapons: China's Political Influence Activities Under Xi Jinping.
The title is a reference to the fact that Xi named three "magic weapons" of Chinese Communist Party power – the People's Liberation Army, the party's program to strengthen and build itself, and the party's United Front Work Department that covertly spreads party influence through the overseas Chinese diaspora and elements of Chinese culture and business. 

This is the same Chinese Communist Party agenda that the Turnbull government sought to address with its foreign influence laws, which are just now about to take full effect.

The power of Brady's work is that she meticulously reads original Chinese documents in the original Chinese. 

It is her own "secret weapon". 

Australia's John Garnaut, a Mandarin-speaking former Beijing correspondent for this newspaper, says: "Professor Brady is a first-rate scholar who has led the global conversation and almost single-handedly woken up New Zealand." 

The chair of the Australian Parliament's security and intelligence committee, Andrew Hastie, says that after listening to her evidence and other conversations, "it appears that she's a target of interest for the Chinese Communist Party or apparatchiks of the Chinese state as a way of silencing her and intimidating her."

Unfortunately for Brady, her country's government is more interested in appeasing China's rulers than protecting her, or protecting New Zealand's democratic freedoms. 

"It's very clear," says Brady, "that my country's government wants this story to go away. The Chinese Ministry of State Security operates in our societies unhindered and our governments just watch. It's happening in Australia, too."
John Garnaut, who was commissioned by Malcolm Turnbull to write the classified report that informed his government's foreign interference laws, confirms: "It would be naive and also reckless to assume that similar activities are not happening here."
In the meantime Brady and her family are left to defend themselves. 

"It's an uneven contest," she says. 

"We are just an ordinary family facing down the Chinese Communist Party." 

She is continuing her work regardless: "I haven't changed. China's changed."

China's State terrorism: Anne-Marie Brady living in fear of Beijing

Chinese intimidation tactics she has studied are now being used against her

By Eleanor Ainge Roy in Christchurch

Anne-Marie Brady, professor at the University of Canterbury. Chinese harassment has put a strain on her family life.

It’s just gone midday at Canterbury University and Professor Anne-Marie Brady is rock-hopping across a crystal clear stream.
The life-long academic takes an overgrown bush track to reach the Okeover community gardens, her eyes scanning the sky for native birds. 

It’s the height of summer in Christchurch and the garden is filled with rhubarb plants, clumps of chewy spinach and spring onions whose tips have turned white in the sun.
“I used to spend a lot of time here,” says Brady, 52, examining the beds, ploughed by academic staff and students wanting to unwind. 

“I don’t any more.”
Brady has spent more than 25 years researching the Chinese Communist party (CCP), using her base in New Zealand as a refuge to work on her books, cook elaborate meals for her family and tend her vegetable and flower gardens.

But since the publication of her 2017 paper Magic Weapons, which details the extent of Chinese influence in New Zealand, Brady’s life has been turned upside down, becoming the target of a campaign of intimidation and psy-ops directed by Beijing towards her and her family. 

The Chinese government has not responded to requests for comment.
Beginning in late 2017, Brady has had her home burgled and her office broken into twice. 

Her family car has been tampered with, she has received a threatening letter (“You are the next”) and answered numerous, anonymous phone calls in the middle of the night, despite having an unlisted number. 

The latest came at 3am on the day her family returned home after a Christmas break. 

“I’m being watched”, she says.
A self-described “stoic”, Brady has had to draw on her experience of PTSD after the 2010 Christchurch earthquakes to help her handle the harassment.
“I have already protected myself in terms of all my information, and the rest is a mind game. It is meant to scare me… to cause mental illness or inhibit the kinds of things I write on – to silence me,” says Brady, her voice quavering slightly. 

“So I win by not being afraid.”
Close associates of Brady’s have also been visited by the Ministry of State Security in China.
Brady’s employer, Canterbury University, recently hired a security consultant to protect her office. New locks were fitted, CCTV introduced, and encryption software installed.
Despite three requests for expert government assistance, Brady and her husband – an artist from Beijing – have had to learn on the hoof how to protect their home, a suburban spot where they raise three teenage children, whose unease about the situation occasionally “manifests”, Brady says.

China scholar Anne-Marie Brady in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

“New Zealanders have a deep sense of complacency about their security and feel that they’re very far away from the problems that we are seeing unfold in other parts of the world – that’s just not true any more,” says Brady, sitting on a bench in the gardens, where her interview with the Guardian cannot be overheard.
“We are part of the international environment too, and what happened to me – having my home and workplace invaded – is a wake-up call for people.”

Watcher becomes the watched
In the past few months Brady has begun using humour to counter the fear, has seen a counsellor on police advice, and consciously “lives in the moment”.
Brady has studied the Chinese government’s propaganda and intimidation tactics for decades, so there is a level of irony to seeing it in her own life. 

The watcher has become the watched.
Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, China academics around the world are experiencing increasing intimidation. 

Some refuse to speak publicly for fear of reprisals or being refused visas to China.
“Kill the chicken to scare the monkey” – Brady says, quoting a Chinese idiom.
Dr Kevin Carrico, a lecturer at Macquarie University, has had sensitive segments of his lectures in Australian classrooms reported back to Beijing, whose officials have then visited the China-based parents of some students.
“People have come to realise that there’s no longer any kind of great firewall between academic practice in China and academic practice outside of China,” Carrico told Inside Higher Ed.

China a ‘challenge to our sovereignty’
Brady and her husband rejected overseas job offers to stay in New Zealand and raise their children in a “high-trust society”. 

That belief is slowly souring.
“We are so proud that we punch above our weight internationally, that we have a moral authority on the world stage.But in the last year I have really wondered about that,” says Brady.
“Here is an actual challenge to our sovereignty – and a New Zealand family who have had their safety threatened – and our government is not defending them.”
New Zealand police say they continue to investigate the malicious acts against Brady and that the case remained of “strong interest”.
A spokesperson for prime minister Jacinda Ardern said she “has not received any reports that there is an issue attributable to China”.
Since the intimidation started, Brady has pinned an image of New Zealand world war two spy Nancy Wake above her desk, and sought courage in the writings of George Orwell.
“My main job is to look after myself and keep doing what I’m doing, because it must surely matter if so much attention has been directed at me” she says, chuckling.
Brady has repeatedly been encouraged by government insiders to keep reading, digging, and publishing. 

“I know the research I do is valued by our government, and my courage in speaking up is valued as well,” says Brady.
“But I am part of a changing geopolitical situation and my family is, too. And I have to handle that at the same time as be a mum, an academic, a colleague, a person who is at the supermarket … I have to be normal as well.” 

Evil Company

Huawei terror: New Zealand bars Chinese firm on national security fears

BBC News

New Zealand has become the latest country to block a proposal to use telecoms equipment made by China's Huawei because of national security concerns.
Spark New Zealand wanted to use Huawei equipment in its 5G mobile network.
However, a NZ government security agency said the deal would bring significant risks to national security.
The move is part of a growing push against the involvement of Chinese technology firms on security grounds.
5G networks are being built in several countries and will form the next significant wave of mobile infrastructure.
Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecoms equipment, has faced resistance from foreign governments over the risk that its technology could be used for espionage.
Telecoms firm Spark New Zealand planned to use equipment from the Chinese firm in its 5G network.
The head of NZ's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) told Spark the proposal "would , if implemented, raise significant national security risks", the company said.
Intelligence services minister Andrew Little said Spark could work with the agency to reduce that risk.
"As the GCSB has noted, this is an ongoing process. We will actively address any concerns and work together to find a way forward," Huawei said.

What other countries have concerns?
The move follows a decision by Australia to block Huawei and Chinese firm ZTE from providing 5G technology for the country's wireless networks on national security grounds.
The US and UK have raised concerns with Huawei, and the firm has been scrutinised in Germany, Japan and Korea.
Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that the US government has been trying to persuade wireless providers to avoid using equipment from Huawei.
In the UK, a security committee report in July warned that it had "only limited assurance" that Huawei's telecoms gear posed no threat to national security.
Only one country is standing by Huawei: Papua New Guinea said this week it would go ahead with an agreement for Huawei to build its internet infrastructure.
The Pacific nation has seen a surge in investment from China over the past decade.

What are the fears?
Experts say foreign governments are increasingly worried about the risk of espionage by China, given the close ties between companies and the state.
Tom Uren, visiting fellow in the International Cyber Policy Centre at Australia's Strategic Policy Institute, said the Chinese government had "clearly demonstrated intent over many years to steal information".
"The Chinese state has engaged in a lot of cyber and other espionage and intellectual property theft," he said.
Links between firms and the government have fueled concerns that China may attempt to "leverage state-linked companies to be able to enable their espionage operations", Mr Uren said.
Those concerns were exacerbated by new laws introduced last year that required Chinese organisations assist in national intelligence efforts.
The laws enable the Chinese state to compel people and companies to assist it, Mr Uren said.
The combination of new rules and a history of espionage have increased the perceived danger of using companies like Huawei and ZTE in critical national infrastructure.
"It's hard to argue that they don't represent an elevated risk," Mr Uren added.

Chinese Espionage

Japan effectively bans China’s Huawei and ZTE from government contracts, joining U.S.
By Simon Denyer

China’s ZTE will effectively be denied official government contracts in Japan under new rules. Numerous countries, including the United States, have already made similar rules affecting Huawei and ZTE over concerns about security. 

TOKYO — Japan’s government issued instructions Monday effectively banning China’s Huawei and ZTE from official contracts, while the country’s top three telecom operators plan to follow suit, Japanese media reported Monday.
The news is another setback for Huawei after its chief financial officer was arrested in Canada at the behest of the U.S. government for trying to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Japan’s government guidelines are designed to prevent leaks of sensitive information and do not mention the Chinese companies by name, the Nikkei newspaper reported.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Congress passed a law that will largely ban Huawei and ZTE from use by the U.S. government and contractors. 

Nikkei reported that Washington had given Tokyo information about the security risks involved in using Chinese-made equipment.
Australia and New Zealand have also blocked Huawei from building fifth-generation (5G) networks because of concerns over its possible links to the Chinese government.
The Japanese ban will cover purchases of personal computers, servers and telecommunications equipment by the government and Self-Defense Forces over concerns that viruses embedded in the equipment could cause systems to fail or could leak sensitive information, including military operations, to China, Nikkei reported.
But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the new rules were not targeting any particular company.
“In order to secure cybersecurity, we are aware that it is extremely important to make sure we would not procure equipment with functions of malicious intention,” he told a news conference Monday.
“Accordingly those ministries and agencies related to this issue met today to ensure cybersecurity related to IT procurement within the government,” he said. 

“The purpose is to stipulate at each ministry and agency what system and procurement procedures should be protected, and it is not to eliminate specific companies or equipment.”
Japan’s relations with China have been improving in recent years, and Abe visited China in October vowing to take their relationship in a “new historic direction.”
But the controversy about Huawei could become an irritant.
In response to the announcement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang maintained that Chinese investment in Japan is on a “win-win” basis and warned against “discriminatory treatment” of its companies.
Kyodo News reported that Japan’s big three telecom operators, NTT Docomo, KDDI and SoftBank, also planned to follow the government’s lead by not using equipment from the two Chinese companies in their current networks and upcoming 5G gear. 

But the three companies told the Reuters news agency they had not made any decisions yet.
While Docomo and KDDI use little or no equipment from the two Chinese companies, SoftBank does use Huawei equipment in its network, and the Japanese company’s shares fell 3.5 percent Monday on concerns this would be hard to replace.
Huawei has two research and development centers in Japan, attracts Japanese graduates by offering large salaries and procures supplies worth more than $4.3 billion from Japan, Nikkei reported, arguing Japan is not immune from Huawei’s woes.