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.

Sina Delenda Est

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Calls China’s Communist Party ‘Central Threat of Our Times’
By Marc Santora

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, in London on Wednesday with the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab.

LONDON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared the Chinese Communist Party “the central threat of our times” on Thursday, even as he sought to talk up the prospects of a United States trade deal with Britain, which rebuffed American pressure to ban a Chinese company from future telecommunications infrastructure.
The scathing criticism of the Chinese government was the strongest language Mr. Pompeo has used as the Trump administration seeks to convince American allies of the risks posed by using equipment from Huawei, a Chinese technology giant.
At the same time, Mr. Pompeo sought to reassure British officials that even though the two countries saw the issue differently, it would not undermine the strong bond between them.
Mr. Pompeo’s reassurances come at a delicate moment for the British government as it begins the process of forging new stand-alone trade deals after it formally leaves the European Union on Friday.
Speaking at an appearance with the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, Mr. Pompeo referred derisively to a 2016 warning from President Barack Obama that Brexit would place Britain at the “back of the queue” in any trade negotiations.
“We intend to put the United Kingdom at the front of the line,” Mr. Pompeo said.
Still, while Britain’s security and economy depend on a close relationship with Washington, China is a significant investor in the country and a growing buyer of British goods.
That was reflected in Britain’s decision this week to allow Huawei to play a limited role in its systems for the next generation of high-speed mobile internet, known as 5G.
With Washington pressing governments across Europe and elsewhere to ban Huawei equipment from new 5G networks, leaders have had to walk a fine line, trying not to antagonize either economic giant while not falling behind in the race to build the next generation of information technology.

Huawei’s main U.K. offices in Reading, west of London.

Mr. Pompeo said that the concerns of the United States were not about any one company, but rather, the Chinese system.
“When you allow the information of your citizens or the national security information of your citizens to transit a network that the Chinese Communist Party has a legal mandate to obtain, it creates risk,” he said.
“While we still have to be enormously vigilant about terror, there are still challenges all across the world, the Chinese Communist Party presents the central threat of our times,” he said.
While Mr. Pompeo was particularly blunt in his criticism of the Chinese government on Thursday, it was in keeping with his warnings to European leaders as he has sought to persuade them to keep Huawei out of their new networks.
“China has inroads too on this continent that demand our attention,” he told reporters in June during a trip to The Hague, in the Netherlands. 

“China wants to be the dominant economic and military power of the world, spreading its authoritarian vision for society and its corrupt practices worldwide.”
Mr. Pompeo said he was disappointed by the British decision, but said the two countries would work through the issue and reaffirmed Britain’s vital role in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance with the United States.
Still, he cautioned it could still affect the way information was shared.
“We will never permit American national security information to go across a network we do not have trust and confidence in,” he said.
Mr. Pompeo also mentions Iran regularly as a threat, but not using language as strong as what he applied to China today.
London was Mr. Pompeo’s first stop on a five-nation tour that includes Ukraine, where he will become the first United States cabinet member to visit the country since Trump’s July phone call with the newly elected Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
That call, during which Trump urged Mr. Zelensky to look into issues related to the 2016 election in the United States and to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son, Hunter Biden, provoked a whistle-blower complaint and led to Trump’s impeachment and his trial in the Senate.
Mr. Pompeo’s trip was originally scheduled to take place just after the new year, but was delayed because of concerns about escalating tensions with Iran.
In addition to the United Kingdom and Ukraine, Mr. Pompeo is scheduled to make stops in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Mr. Pompeo left the United States trailed by controversy after the State Department barred National Public Radio’s diplomatic correspondent from the trip. 

It came after a dust-up with a veteran reporter from the organization, Mary Louise Kelly, who questioned him about the Trump administration’s firing of the United States ambassador to Ukraine.
In an extraordinary statement, Mr. Pompeo lashed out at Ms. Kelly, and said the news media was “unhinged.”
And the decision by Britain to allow Huawei to provide some of the equipment in its 5G network, coming just days before Mr. Pompeo arrived, was a bitter disappointment.British officials sought to convince the Americans that in limiting the role of Huawei, they would keep their critical infrastructure safe.
Without naming Huawei, the British guidelines noted the dangers posed by “high-risk” vendors and said they would be limited to parts of the country’s wireless infrastructure, such as antennas and base stations, that were not seen as critical to the integrity of the entire system.
Mr. Pompeo said that while the Trump administration disagreed with that assessment, the issue would not undermine the deep bond shared between the two countries.
“The truth is it is your best friends you call up and say ‘What the heck are you doing?’” he said.
Mr. Pompeo then went on to Downing Street for a meeting with Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, which he summed up as “fantastic.”

Perfidious Albion

Using Huawei in UK 5G networks would be 'madness', US says
British told allowing Chinese firm access would put intelligence sharing at risk
By Dan Sabbagh

A special delegation of US officials presented an incendiary dossier which they said featured new evidence of the security risks of relying on Huawei technology. 

Using Huawei technology in UK 5G networks would put transatlantic intelligence sharing at risk, senior US officials have told British ministers, warning that allowing the Chinese firm access would be “nothing short of madness”.
The extraordinary American ultimatum came as a special delegation led by President Trump’s deputy national security advisor, Matt Pottinger, presented an incendiary dossier they said featured new evidence of the security risks of relying on Huawei technology in future phone networks.
The intense and public lobbying presents an immediate headache for Boris Johnson, the prime minister, who had been expected to make a final decision about Huawei shortly, having been repeatedly advised by the UK’s security establishment that any security risks can be contained.
Ahead of the UK decision the head of MI5, Andrew Parker, said over the weekend that he saw “no reason to think” that using Huawei technology should threaten intelligence sharing with the US, suggesting that Britain was poised to give the Chinese company the go-ahead.
But that assertion was flatly contradicted by a senior US official who was part of the delegation, who said: “Congress has made it clear they will want an evaluation of our intelligence sharing.”
A second member said that the US president hoped not to fall out with the UK over the issue but added: “Donald Trump is watching closely”.
Last spring, the UK had indicated it would allow Huawei to supply non-core technology such as mobile phone masts and antennas in future 5G networks, after a cabinet committee had voted by 5 to 4 in favour.
But even that would not be enough to allay Washington’s concerns, the US officials said.
Huawei has consistently denied that it has ever been asked by the Chinese government to introduce secret “back doors” into its technology, and has even offered to sign a “no spy agreement” with countries adopting it.
But the US insists there is a surveillance risk.
The officials, who had flown in specially from the US, would not spell out what the “relatively recent information” that they had shared with their UK counterparts was, but it is understood to be of a technical nature.
Although the long-standing intelligence-sharing relationship between the US and the UK would not be immediately compromised, they said that members of Congress would want to review it in future legislation.
A final decision will also be seen as a crucial early signal in how far the UK wants to move towards the US orbit as trade talks with both Washington and Brussels loom after Britain formally leaves the EU at the end of January.
As well as Pottinger, key officials in the US delegation of six included Chris Ford, an assistant secretary in the US state department, and Robert Blair, the special envoy for international telecoms.
The delegation claimed that Chinese spies, working for the People’s Liberation Army, also worked simultaneously for Huawei – and that the company “had played a role” in supporting the “re-education camps” for the country’s Muslim Uighur minority.
British sources initially said that they were only going to meet civil servants, but the US delegation said they had spoken to at least one cabinet minister.
Huawei is one of three companies that supply equipment to Vodafone, BT and other mobile phone companies for high-speed 5G networks, alongside Ericsson of Sweden and Nokia from Finland.
Its kit is recognised by UK phone companies as being cheaper and more advanced than rivals, and some believe that the Trump administration wants to weaken China’s advanced position in the market for trade reasons.

Towards the International Criminal Court for Xi Jinping's Crimes in East Turkestan?

UK calls for UN access to Chinese concentration camps in East Turkestan

Foreign Office responds after leaked China cables appear to confirm brainwashing centres
By Juliette Garside and Emma Graham-Harrison

A facility in Artux, one of a growing number of internment camps in East Turkestan where an estimated 1 million Muslims are detained. 

The UK has urged China to give United Nations observers “immediate and unfettered access” to concentration camps in East Turkestan, where more than a million people from the Uighur community and other Muslim minorities are being held without trial.
The call from the Foreign Office was in response to the China cables, a leak of classified documents from within the Communist party which provide the first official confirmation that the camps were designed by Beijing as brainwashing internment centres.
The documents describe how inmates are to be cut off from their families for at least a year and held behind multiple layers of security to undergo ideological transformation.

The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, in this January 16, 2019, photograph. 

The leak prompted the Foreign Office to demand “an end to the indiscriminate and disproportionate restrictions on the cultural and religious freedoms of Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in East Turkestan.”
A spokesperson added: “The UK continues to call on China to allow UN observers immediate and unfettered access to the region.”
In Brussels, the European commission condemned the use of “political re-education camps”. 

In a statement the commission said it would not comment on the details of the leak, but insisted it would continue to raise the issue of human rights abuses in East Turkestan with Chinese government officials.
“We have consistently spoken out against the existence of political re-education camps, widespread surveillance and restrictions of freedom of religion or belief against Uighurs and other minorities in East Turkestan,” a spokeswoman said.
“We as the European Union continue to expect China to uphold its international obligations and to respect human rights, including when it comes to the rights of persons belonging to minorities, especially in East Turkestan but also in Tibet, and we will continue to affirm those positions in this context in particular.”
In July, 22 countries at the UNs’ top human rights body took the unusual step of issuing an joint statement calling for China to end its arbitrary detentions and other violations against the rights of Muslims in the north-west border colony of East Turkestan.
Signatories included the UK, Australia, Canada and a number of European countries. 

The statement urged China to allow “meaningful access” to the region independent international observers, including Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights.
Chinese authorities deny they run detention camps and say the “vocational education and training centres” are part of a focused crackdown on extremism and terrorists.
However, the China cables point to the ruling party setting out a blueprint for human rights violations.
Reports of a crackdown first emerged two years ago, as hundreds of thousands of muslims in East Turkestan were rounded up into secretive, newly built and heavily guarded compounds.
Xi Jinping’s government took action following a rise in terrorist attacks. 

In 2009, nearly 200 people died during riots in the East Turkestan capital, Urumqi. 

Dozens more were then killed and hundreds injured over the following years.
The China cables contain dozens of pages of orders covering the setting up of the camps and the establishment of a vast digital surveillance operation being used to identify new detainees.
In a single week in June 2017, the digital platform flagged up 24,412 “suspicious” individuals in one part of southern East Turkestan alone. 

Of these, more than 15,000 were sent to re-education camps, and a further 706 were jailed.The cables reveal camps must adhere to a strict system of total physical and mental control, with multiple layers of locks on dormitories, corridors, floors and buildings.
Inmates could be held indefinitely – but must serve at least a year in the camps before they can even be considered for “completion”, or release. 

Weekly phone calls and a monthly video call with relatives are their only contact with the outside world, and they can be suspended as punishment.
Control of every aspect of their lives is so comprehensive that they have to be assigned a specific place not only in dormitories and classrooms, but even in the lunchtime queue.
Obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and shared with the Guardian and 16 other media partners, the documents have been independently assessed by experts who have concluded they are authentic.

Chinese State Terrorism

Former British consulate worker tells of torture by China over Hong Kong

By Simon Denyer 

A protester holds a poster at a rally in August supporting Simon Cheng, a British Consulate employee who was detained while returning from a trip to China.

HONG KONG — A former employee of the British Consulate in Hong Kong said Wednesday that he was repeatedly tortured by Chinese secret police over 15 days in August and was accused of inciting pro-democracy protests in the territory on behalf of the British government.
Simon Cheng, 29, in his first public account of his treatment published on Facebook, described being handcuffed and shackled, blindfolded and hooded, deprived of sleep, made to sit absolutely still or hung in an uncomfortable spread-eagle position for hours on end, and constantly threatened during incessant interrogations.
British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said his government was shocked and appalled by the “brutal and disgraceful treatment” that Cheng said he was subjected to after being detained during a business trip to Shenzhen in mainland China in August, and said it had summoned the Chinese ambassador in London to protest.
But China said its ambassador would never accept Britain’s “false allegations.”
Cheng’s detention reflects the growing bitterness between China and the West over the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, but his treatment also reflects Beijing’s increasing willingness to flout diplomatic norms as it becomes more assertive in projecting its power worldwide.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong, police and protesters braced for a final showdown at a university in Hong Kong on Wednesday as a small group of anti-government demonstrators continued to hold out against a police encirclement.

Cheng’s account was released just a day after the U.S. Senate unanimously passed legislation aimed at protecting human rights in Hong Kong and threatening sanctions against officials who have violated human rights there.
Cheng said he was arrested at the border between Hong Kong and mainland China, accused of inciting the protests. 

He was then shackled to a steel “tiger chair” unable to move his arms or legs, and threatened with indefinite criminal detention, while being denied access to a lawyer and not allowed to contact relatives.
He was later transferred to the secret police, when he was handcuffed, shackled, blindfolded and hooded.
“I was hung (handcuffed and shackled) on a steep X-Cross doing a spread-eagled pose for hours after hours,” he wrote. 

“I was forced to keep my hands up, so blood cannot be pumped up my arms. It felt extremely painful.”
Cheng said they forced him to do “stress test” exercises for hours on end, beat him with what felt like a sharpened baton if he did not do so, including on his “vulnerable and shivering body parts,” such as his knee.
His treatment left him seriously bruised on his ankles, thighs, wrists and knees, he said.
“Sometimes, they instructed me to stand still (handcuffed, shackled, blindfolded, and hooded) for hours after hours,” Cheng wrote. 

“I was not allowed to move and fall asleep, and if I did, then I would be punished by being forced to sing the Chinese national anthem, which they said can ‘wake me up.’ This was the nonphysical torture — sleep deprivation — they used against me.”
Cheng said the British Consulate had asked him to collect information about the protests in Hong Kong, to evaluate travel alerts and ascertain whether British citizens were involved. 

That work involved joining messaging and discussion groups and establishing contacts with protesters.
However, that appeared to have drawn the attention of China’s surveillance state. 

Cheng was accused of being a British spy and an enemy of the Chinese state, and told to confess that the British government was instigating the protests in Hong Kong by donating money, materials and equipment.
Cheng said that he had a massage in Shenzhen “for relaxation” after finishing work there and that China accused him of soliciting prostitution. 

He said he was ultimately forced to record a video confession admitting to this offense, as well as a separate confession for “betraying the motherland.”
Britain’s Raab described Cheng as a “valued member” of the consulate’s team. 

“We were shocked and appalled by the mistreatment he suffered while in Chinese detention, which amounts to torture,” he said in a statement.
Since being released, Cheng has negotiated his exit from the British Foreign Service and is applying for asylum in an undisclosed location.

Police detained protesters and students who tried to flee the Hong Kong Polytechnic University campus late Tuesday. 

A diplomatic showdown was also brewing between China and the United States over the Senate bill passed Monday.
The bill would require the secretary of state to certify annually whether Hong Kong is sufficiently autonomous from China to justify its special trading status.
Failure to do so would effectively deal a massive blow to Hong Kong’s status as a global financial and trading hub, and the American Chamber of Commerce warned of possible “unintended, counterproductive” consequences that could undermine the territory’s unique place in the world.
Protesters camp out in a gymnasium at Hong Kong Polytechnic University on Nov. 20. 

To become law, the measure must be combined with a separate bill passed by the House, and then President Trump must sign it.

Police terrorism

As a protester is shot in the street, this is how Britain could make good on its obligations to the Hong Kong people
By Johnny Patterson

This week has seen a dramatic escalation of police violence in Hong Kong. 

While Britain remains endlessly distracted by Brexit, the rest of the world was watching its former colony as a teenage pro-democracy protestor was shot by Hong Kong police.
Confrontations flashed throughout the city just as the 70th anniversary of Communist China sent fireworks sparkling into the Beijing sky. 

During one of these confrontations, a sixth-form student was shot from point blank range with a live bullet and left in a critical condition.
Police brutality is being normalised in Hong Kong. 

A recent Amnesty International report confirms “an alarming pattern of the Hong Kong Police Force deploying reckless and indiscriminate tactics” in their arrests, as well as beating and torturing people in detention. 

The police have consistently responded to a minority of violent protestors disproportionately: targeting protestors indiscriminately, and sometimes even civilians taking no part in the protests.
The press now appears to be an acceptable target. 

A journalist for an Indonesian-language publication was recently shot with a rubber bullet, despite being clearly identifiable as a member of the press. 

The Foreign Correspondent’s Club reported that over the weekend, journalists were hit by tear gas canisters and rubber bullets, targeted with pepper spray, verbally threatened by the police, and blocked from documenting the arrests of protestors. 

Buzzfeed’s Rosalind Adams live-tweeted herself being hit with batons while trying to film one arrest.
“Police terrorism”, as it is dubbed by many Hong Kongers, has been on the frontpages of the newspapers on an almost daily basis for months. 

The result has been a total collapse of public trust in both the government and the police force.

Hong Kong protesters "day of grief" on communist China anniversary



Any lasting solution to the political crisis will need bold actions for reconciliation to be taken by the Hong Kong government and their counterparts in Beijing. 

But there is little sign of this.
The Hong Kong government have refused to agree to what look like moderate and reasonable demands from protestors – including calls for the police force to face an independent inquiry into their actions. 

Instead it has doubled-down and given the police licence to act with impunity.
And so, in the meantime, we must stand with the people of Hong Kong.
The UK has a special duty to the people of Hong Kong. 

Not only are Hong Kongers at the forefront of the global battle for freedom and democracy, but we have a historical duty to stand with them.
When the UK handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997, the arrangement was made on the basis that the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong would remain unchanged until 2047. 

The handover agreement, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, writes into international law a moral and legal obligation for the UK to stand up for the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong.

The integrity of this agreement is gravely threatened by the events of recent weeks. 

Dominic Raab issued a statement condemning the “disproportionate” use of force by the police force yesterday, but we must prove that our support for Hong Kong is more than just empty words.
Here are three ways we can do this. 

First, the government should consider adopting legislation which will ensure that there are consequences if the Hong Kong government continues to trample on people’s freedoms. 

Magnitsky sanctions, targeted at the individual violators of human rights, could be applied to officials who are deemed to be responsible for breaches of the Joint Declaration.

Second, post-Brexit, any trade agreement with Hong Kong or China must include a Hong Kong human rights clause. 

Trade law is more strongly enforceable than other types of international law, and so it is critical that we do not betray our commitment to Hong Kong in any future negotiations.

Finally, many parliamentarians have signalled their support for various campaigns which would provide an insurance policy by extending the rights applicable to holders of British National (Overseas) passports.
Unlike in other British colonies, Hong Kong citizens were not allowed to maintain their British citizenship after the handover. 

Instead they were fobbed off with second tier “BNO” passports which the late-Lord Ashdown claimed were a scandal rivalling Windrush. 

Even soldiers who had served in the British army were not given the right to retain their British citizenship.
It would be easy for the government to expand the rights held by BNO passports, and the Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Tugendhat has argued that this would provide many Hong Kongers with the “confidence to stay in Hong Kong”, knowing that they have a possible way out.
During the handover negotiations, prime minister John Major declared that “Hong Kong will never walk alone”. 

At this pivotal hour in Hong Kong’s history, we must not forget our unique ties to the people of Hong Kong. 

We must stand with them in their fight for freedom. 

They must not walk alone.

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.

Hong Kong protests: calls grow to give citizens right to live and work in UK

Campaigners say it is time to extend the right of abode previously denied to British National (Overseas) passport holders

By Tania Branigan

Anti-government protesters in Hong Kong call on the British government to declare the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1997 invalid. 

Calls for the UK to restore the right of abode to people in Hong Kong are growing as the political crisis in the former British colony escalates.
As fears of direct intervention by Beijing grow, veteran pro-democracy campaigners have argued that Britain has a responsibility to protect residents who hold the passports it issued ahead of the handover.
Several hundred protesters rallied outside the British consulate on Sunday to demand they receive a full British passport, the Financial Times reported.
In the run-up to Hong Kong’s handover in 1997, Britain replaced the British Dependent Territories Citizens passports held by three million people with the British National (Overseas) passport, which grants the right to vote in the UK, but not the right to live or work here. 

A passionate campaign for holders to be granted the right of abode, particularly in light of 1989’s brutal crackdown on Tiananmen Square’s pro-reform protests, was dismissed – earning the BN(O) the nickname “Britain says No”. 

Craig Choy, a lawyer who has helped to lead the campaign for equal rights for BN(O) holders has compared the treatment of people in Hong Kong to the Windrush scandal.
The passports are available only to those who registered before 1997, and holders are not able to pass their status to their children, but the documents can be renewed at any time. 

The number of valid passports at the moment is thought to be in the tens of thousands, but renewals appear to have risen sharply in years when political tensions have run high.
Anson Chan, formerly the second highest official in the city, said the UK should consider the issue again: “You promised Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and basic rights and freedoms – when those are taken away from them, surely Britain has a legal and moral responsibility to deal with the consequences.”
Martin Lee, the veteran Hong Kong campaigner nicknamed its “father of democracy”, said it was all the more pressing to revisit the right of abode and related issues in light of the protest movement and the fact that the “one country, two systems” arrangement which underpins the Sino-British joint declaration was no longer working.
“That’s the obligation of the British government, being the only other signatory to the joint declaration,” he said.
Last month Tom Tugendhat, chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said that Britain should grant Hong Kong citizens with BN(O) passports full UK nationality. 

He told the FT that “a few” cabinet ministers were supportive of the decision.

People gather to call on the British government to declare the invalidity of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Sunday. 

Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong before the handover, unsuccessfully urged the UK to give the right of abode to all those holding British Dependent Territories passports.
The late Lord Ashdown, who as Liberal Democrat leader campaigned on the issue, said last year that Britain was “urgently in need of some soul-searching enquiry about our neglect of duty towards our former colonial subjects” which should include considering the rights of BN(O) in Hong Kong.
A government spokesperson said: “We continue to believe that the best solution for Hong Kong, and the British National (Overseas) passport holders that live there, is full respect for the rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Sino-British Joint Declaration.”
Last year, declassified files revealed that Britain even pressured Portugal repeatedly not to grant rights to citizens of Macau before it handed the region back to China, fearing that it would increase the pressure to grant Hong Kong similar rights.
Lisbon granted passports, with full citizenship rights, to anyone born before late 1981 and allowed Portuguese nationality to be passed to their children.
One protester told the Guardian she was planning to renew her BN(O) passport in case of a crackdown by Beijing, even though she did not want to leave her home. 

She added: “I don’t expect Britain to give me residency, but it might help me to get somewhere else.”

UK warns China of serious consequences if Hong Kong rights not honored

By Alistair Smout

Jeremy Hunt, a leadership candidate for Britain's Conservative Party, delivers a speech on his Brexit plan, in London, Britain, July 1, 2019. 

LONDON -- Britain warned China on Tuesday there would be serious consequences if Beijing broke its promises to protect freedoms in Hong Kong, after police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters.

Officers moved in after crowds stormed and trashed the legislature in the former British colony on Monday, the anniversary of its return to Chinese rule, protesting against proposed legislation allowing extraditions to mainland China.
British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt condemned violence on both sides but said China needed to stick to commitments it made when it took back Hong Kong to allow freedoms there not enjoyed in mainland China, including the freedom to protest.
“There will be serious consequences if that internationally binding legal agreement were not to be honored,” said Hunt, who is a candidate to replace Theresa May as British Prime Minister.
“The UK signed an internationally binding legal agreement ... that enshrines the ‘one country, two systems rule’, enshrines the basic freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and we stand four square behind that agreement, four square behind the people of Hong Kong,” he told the BBC.
China said on Monday Britain no longer has any responsibility for Hong Kong and needed to stop “gesticulating” about the city.
It has denied interfering in Hong Kong affairs, though protesters have said the extradition bill is part of a relentless move toward mainland control.
Hunt said many supporters of the Hong Kong demonstrators would have been dismayed by footage of Monday’s protests.
“But we urge the authorities not to use what happened as a pretext for repression, but rather to understand the root causes of what happened which is a deep-seated concern by people in Hong Kong that their basic freedoms are under attack,” he said.
The protests have created a fresh crisis for Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, who is already grappling with a trade war with Washington, a faltering economy and tension in the South China Sea.
China and Britain signed a Joint Declaration in 1984 on the terms of the return of Hong Kong.
Monday marked the 22nd anniversary of the actual handover in 1997, and some protesters hung a colonial flag in a chamber of the Legislative Council building after getting in.

Call for UK to ban patients travelling to China for 'organ tourism'

Forty MPs back effort before inquiry into China's forced organ harvesting
By Owen Bowcott 

UK patients should be banned from travelling to China for transplant surgery, the government has been told, before an inquiry into allegations of forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience.
The call has so far been backed by 40 MPs from all parties before the next session of the independent China tribunal, which is investigating claims that detainees are being targeted by the regime. 

Opening a Westminster Hall debate last week, the DUP MP Jim Shannon urged the UK government to consider imposing an organ tourism ban like those already enacted by Italy, Spain, Israel and Taiwan.
“It is wrong that people should travel from here to China for what is almost a live organ on demand to suit themselves,” Shannon, the MP for Strangford in Northern Ireland, said. 

“It is hard to take in what that means – it leaves one incredulous.
“It means someone can sit in London or in Newtownards and order an organ to be provided on demand. Within a month they can have the operation.
“We need to control that structurally, as other countries have, not simply because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is necessary to protect UK citizens from unwittingly playing a role in the horrifying suffering of religious or belief groups in China.”
The China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC who was formerly a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, has been taking evidence about mispractices from medical experts, human rights investigators and others.
It will hold a second round of hearings on 6 and 7 April in London. 

Its final judgment will be published on 13 June. 

China has been asked to participate but has declined to do so.
In an interim judgment released last December, the tribunal said: “In China forced-organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience has been practised for a substantial period of time involving a very substantial number of victims... It is beyond doubt on the evidence presently received that forced harvesting of organs has happened on a substantial scale by state-supported or approved organisations and individuals.”
Among those killed are members of religious minorities such as Falun Gong, Tibetans, Uighur Muslims and Christian sects. 

In 2014, China announced that it would stop removing organs for transplantation from executed prisoners.
It is not clear how many UK citizens have travelled to China for transplants. 

Waiting times for operations are said to be far shorter than in the west. 

One inquiry suggested that a liver transplant could be arranged privately at a Chinese hospital for $100,000.
Fiona Bruce, the Conservative MP for Congleton, who is also leading the campaign for a ban said during the Westminster debate: “Our government could inquire about the numbers of organ removals and their sources … They could reduce demand by banning organ tourism … This is not a case of a few voluntary organ transplants; it is a case of mass killings through forced organ removal, of religious persecution, of grave allegations of crimes against humanity.”
Mark Field, the Foreign Office minister, acknowledged that there was a growing body of research, much of which was “very worrying” but he believed relatively few people in the UK chose to travel to China for organ transplants.
Introducing a travel ban, he said, would be difficult to police since it would be hard to establish whether people had travelled there for that purpose. 

Field said: “But, it is important that we make them aware that other countries may have poorer medical and ethical safeguards than the UK, and that travelling abroad for treatments, including organ transplants, carries fundamental risks.”

UK vulnerable to Chinese interference, report says

It would be naive and irresponsible to allow Huawei to access the UK's telecommunications system.
By Gordon Corera

Huawei threat

The report, written by Charles Parton, a former British diplomat, said that Huawei install a hidden backdoor, giving the Chinese government access to the system.

The UK is vulnerable to Chinese influence and interference, according to a defence and security think tank.
A report from the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) said it would be naive and irresponsible to allow Chinese tech giant Huawei to access the UK's telecommunications system.
The UK is currently reviewing whether to allow the company to build new 5G phone networks.

The report, written by Charles Parton, a former British diplomat who spent most of his 30 year career working on China, said that if Huawei was allowed to participate in the rollout of the new 5G mobile networks it could install a "hidden backdoor", giving the Chinese government access to the system.
It also warned of the risk of interference in other areas including academia, politics and technology.
While there has been "widespread debate" about Chinese interference in countries such as the US and Australia, Mr Parton told the BBC that the UK's response had been characterised by "silence".
"We need it out in the open," he said.
The report describes how the Chinese Communist Party has tried to place its people as advisers to Western politicians.
It also highlights what it calls "elite capture" -- the appointment of former politicians, civil servants and businessmen to lucrative jobs after they leave office in which they promote Chinese interests.

University interference
Mr Parton admitted that distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate interference was a challenge. 

"It's a spectrum," he said.
While Russia seeks simply to disrupt, China, he said, primarily seeks to maintain the legitimacy of Communist Party rule in the country and limit dissent against it, as well as build support for its policies overseas.
"In many fields of interference what lies behind it is Chinese funding and that creates dependencies and either the overt threat or perhaps even just the fear that funding would be jeopardised," Mr Parton said.
He argued this can lead to self-censorship, for instance in academia.

Theresa May held trade talks with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping on a visit to Beijing last year

Prof Steve Tsang, director of the Soas China Institute at the University of London, told the BBC he was aware of cases of Chinese pressure on other UK universities.
"In one Russell Group University a pro-vice chancellor was spoken to by someone in the Chinese embassy and as a result he stood a speaker who was already invited down," Prof Tsang said.
"I am also aware of a vice-chancellor again under pressure from the Chinese embassy asking one of his senior academics not to make political comments on China at a specified period of time."
Prof Tsang said it was hard to know how widespread the problem is since academics are cautious about speaking out.
Mr Parton argued there needs to be more transparency about Chinese influence and especially funding when it comes to universities, think tanks and public life.
There has been a shift in recent years in the UK's posture towards China, according to former national security officials.
Under David Cameron -- who now works for a China investment fund -- and his Chancellor George Osborne, economics tended to trump security and values, whereas under Theresa May, the balance has shifted back towards security.
China itself is also evolving under Xi Jinping, with the potential for greater divergence over values.
And under President Donald Trump, the US-China dispute has raised the temperature, with Washington also putting pressure on allies over the role Huawei in their infrastructure.
The imminent approach of Brexit potentially complicates the issue since it could lead to the UK looking towards China more for trade and investment.
But Mr Parton argued there was no reason relations cannot still be strong if they are based on clarity of the boundaries of what constitutes unacceptable interference.
"We need to be mature about our relationship," Mr Parton said.
"In this whole Chinese Communist Party interference debate let's not lose sight of the fact that it is very much in our interest to build up good relations with China -- just realistic ones."