COVID-19 International Developments: Daily Scan, June 05, 2020

Economic

EU and China postpone Leipzig summit due to coronavirus as Europe seeks broader scrutiny of foreign investment

A summit between China and the European Union, planned for September in the German city of Leipzig, has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the German government has said.A similar summit that was due to take place at the end of March in China was also postponed. EU states had wanted to use the summits to push Beijing to give European companies equal treatment and put an end to the practice of forcing foreign firms to share know-how when operating in China, according to Reuters. Click here to read.... [2]

Chinese premier stresses expanding employment channels for graduates

In a written instruction to a teleconference held in Beijing, Li Keqiang noted college graduates are facing grim employment prospects due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. All regions and departments are asked to strengthen the employment-first policy in a comprehensive way, boost employment for college graduates with solid and meticulous measures and promptly carry out initiatives to keep businesses and employment stable. Click here to read.... [3]

Hong Kong's separate customs status has legal basis in WTO agreements: Chinese ministry

China's commerce ministry said on Thursday that the status of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) as a separate customs territory has a legal basis in World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, rather than it being granted by any specific WTO member alone.Noting that the HKSAR's special economic status is protected by the Basic Law and recognized and respected by countries around the world, Gao Feng, a ministry spokesperson said the region has well retained a high degree of autonomy, citing growing, mutually beneficial trade and economic ties between the mainland and Hong Kong. Click here to read.... [4]

ASEAN, China, Japan, S. Korea vow to keep open markets against COVID-19 epidemic

Economic ministers of the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan and South Korea on Thursday reaffirmed the importance of open markets amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for efforts against the epidemic's adverse impact. In the joint statement, the ministers acknowledged that there is an "urgent need" for intensified and concerted efforts to address the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their people, including "economic disruptions that have affected regional supply chains, the financial markets and human capital." Click here to read.... [5]

Putin declares emergency over Siberian diesel spill

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered a state of emergency and criticized a subsidiary of metals giant Norilsk Nickel after a massive diesel spill into a Siberian river. The spill of over 20,000 tons of diesel fuel took place on Friday. A fuel reservoir collapsed at a power plant near the city of Norilsk, located above the Arctic Circle, and leaked into a nearby river.The accident is the second largest in modern Russian history in terms of volume, World Wildlife Fund expert Alexei Knizhnikov told AFP. It is only exceeded by a crude oil spill in the north-western region of Komi that took place in 1994, he said. Click here to read.... [6]

US exports, imports in April log sharpest fall amid pandemic

The U.S. deficit in trade of goods and services widened 16.7 percent in April from the previous month to $49.41 billion, with both exports and imports logging the sharpest drop on record amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Commerce Department said Thursday.U.S. exports fell 20.5 percent to $151.28 billion, while imports dropped 13.7 percent to $200.69 billion. Comparable data is available since 1992. The department said the declines in exports and imports were seen partly because "many businesses were operating at limited capacity or ceased operations completely, and the movement of travellers across borders was restricted." Click here to read.... [7]

U.S. EPA proposes changes to how clean air rules are written

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released on Thursday a proposed overhaul of how major clean air rules are written by changing the cost-benefit analysis process, a move that would affect the stringency of future regulations. The new proposed cost-benefit analysis would focus on weighing only the economic impact of a proposed rule without taking into account possible benefits such as public health to justify expanding regulations, as has previously been done, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said on Thursday. The proposal aims to correct what Wheeler described in a statement as a “dishonest accounting method the previous administration used to justify costly, ineffective regulations.” Click here to read.... [8]

Asia tourist sector blends real and virtual to lure back visitors

A growing list of leisure businesses across Asia that have embraced "virtual tourism”, giving travellers a taste of being out and about without setting foot out their front door. The experiences offer much-needed relief for people stuck at home -- and for an industry hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and measures to contain it. "Virtual tourism through live streaming is no longer just a special way of life during the pandemic situation, but the new normal," said Xu Xiang, who leads the livestreaming division of Alibaba's tourism arm Fliggy. The travel platform has hosted at least 25,000 livestreaming events since February, attracting more than 70 million viewers. Click here to read.... [9]

China to Allow Foreign Airlines to Restore Some Flights after U.S. Pressure

China made a rare concession in the face of U.S. pressure on Thursday by agreeing to allow U.S. and other foreign airlines to restore some China routes, less than 24 hours after the Trump administration had threatened to bar Chinese airlines from the U.S.The Civil Aviation Administration of China said 95 foreign airlines would be cleared to fly to one Chinese destination once a week starting June 8. While the move falls short of U.S. demands for airlines to be able to resume China flights on their own terms, it was still a partial climb-down at a moment of rising tensions that has seen the U.S. and China spar over range of issues. Click here to read.... [10]

Strategic

Tiananmen vigil in Hong Kong draws thousands despite coronavirus-related ban

Thousands flooded Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Thursday night for the annual candlelight vigil to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, defying a ban on the mass gathering imposed by the police for the first time on health protection grounds. The show of defiance came on a politically charged day as the legislature passed a law criminalising disrespect for the national anthem, amid a raging controversy over China’s top legislative body tailor-making a national security law for the city. Click here to read.... [11]

Donors pledge $8.8 billion to fund global vaccine drive

The GAVI vaccines alliance said Thursday it had raised $8.8 billion (€7.8 billion) from international donor governments, companies, and philanthropic foundations to fund its immunisation programmes through to 2025. The London-based funding summit overshot the target of $7.4 billion. The pledges from governments, companies and charities would "help immunize 300 million more children in the world's poorest countries against diseases like measles, polio and diphtheria." The association said it raised $567 million from international donors to buy future COVID-19 vaccines. Once a vaccine has been developed, GAVI aims to buy enough vaccines to immunize health workers and risk groups in poorer countries, as well as accrue a "buffer of doses" for emergency use. Click here to read.... [12]

‘Thank you, Iran!’ Trump says 'deal is possible' after Tehran releases US Navy vet

US President Donald Trump has praised Tehran for releasing US Navy veteran Michael White, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018, hinting at a breakthrough that may pave way for a new nuclear deal. “I just got off the phone with former American hostage Michael White, who is now in Zurich after being released from Iran. He will be on a U.S. plane shortly, and is COMING HOME to the United States,” Trump tweeted on Thursday evening, before giving credit to the Islamic Republic for its cooperation in the process. Click here to read.... [13]

Indonesia says China's 'nine-dash line' puts its interests at risk

Indonesia's economic interests are jeopardized by China's territorial claim covering most of the South China Sea, its foreign minister said Thursday, explaining a letter Jakarta sent recently to the United Nations. "China's claims potentially affect Indonesia's exclusive economic zone," Retno Marsudi said at a virtual news conference. "The Indonesian government remains consistent in its position." Indonesia's letter, dated May 26, says that China's "nine-dash line" demarcation for the sea lacks a basis in international law, citing the 2016 decision by a Hague tribunal. The text also rejects Beijing's historical claims on the area. Click here to read.... [14]

Saudi dips into reserves for stock-buying spree

Saudi Arabia, a country implementing austerity measures in a depressed oil market, has been dipping deep into its national reserves to fund a stock buying spree. In the span of two months, US$40 billion in reserves have been transferred to the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), according to the government. Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan assured the public in a televised interview with Al-Arabiya in early May that, “this procedure was taken after comprehensive study and taking into consideration the sufficient level for foreign-currency reserves.” Gross official reserves now stand at just over $450 billion, a comfortable cushion, but also a level not seen in Saudi Arabia since the 2008 financial crisis. At their highest point in 2017, the kingdom’s reserves reached $744 billion. Click here to read.... [15]

Russian envoy says Turkey can do what it wants with air defense system

Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Aleksei Erkhov, said on Wednesday that Turkey could do what it wanted with an air defense system purchased last year, likening it to a car that could be left in a garage or armed with a machine gun for war. Turkey’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile system angered the US, which threatened punishments under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, the Ankara director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said the ambassador’s comments were intriguing especially because the interview was with a pro-Erdogan channel. He said that while it was too easy to read Erkhov’s remarks as a green light for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to further delay activating the S-400, it could also be that Russia was confident he would in fact deploy it and strengthen his hand in terms of public opinion. Turkey has been delaying the activation of the missile system on the pretext of the pandemic. Click here to read.... [16]

Tracking Africa's coronavirus cases

The outbreak of the new coronavirus has reached every nation in Africa, a continent of 1.2 billion people. There are 163,599 confirmed infections and 70,894 recoveries, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts warn fragile healthcare systems in many African countries could be overwhelmed in the face of a severe outbreak of COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. Click here to read.... [17]

Oil & Gas Still King Despite Renewable Hype

While the unseating of coal is truly extraordinary and bodes well for the overall clean energy transition, however, renewables still lag far behind oil and natural gas in the United States energy mix. And, in fact, it wasn’t really renewables that single-handedly took down coal, but the increased use of natural gas that took away from coal’s market share. In fact, without cheap natural gas from the shale gas boom, U.S. coal consumption would still be substantially higher than U.S. renewable energy consumption.” Click here to read.... [18]

Australia and India sign joint deal on critical minerals

Australia has signed a preliminary deal to supply India with critical minerals needed for the new-energy economy, Australia’s resources minister said on Thursday. The agreement focuses on ways to increase bilateral trade, investment and research and development in critical minerals and comes after a virtual meeting at which leaders of both countries also struck accords on mutual access to military bases, and on cyber and key technology. Resources Minister Keith Pitt said in a statement that Australia has the potential to be one of the top suppliers of cobalt and zircon to India, being in the top three for global production of these minerals. Other minerals it could supply include antimony, lithium, rare earths and tantalum. Click here to read.... [19]

Medical

Coronavirus hopes and fears centre on immunity

Ever since it became apparent that children were less vulnerable to COVID-19 early in the pandemic, scientists have speculated that the regular spread of benign viruses in places like schools could have bolstered their immune response to the latest coronavirus. Now the idea of "cross immunity" among the broader population is gaining some ground.Earlier this month, an American study in the journal Cell suggested between 40 and 60 percent of the population could be immunized against COVID-19 without ever being exposed to it.Researchers put this down to the action of protective cells, known as T lymphocytes, that had been activated by other coronaviruses responsible for colds. Click here to read.... [20]

Japanese fabric zaps germs with electricity

A pair of Japanese companies have developed a novel way to be stylish and antiseptic at the same time: a clothing fabric that kills microbes with tiny electric shocks generated by the wearer's movements. Murata Manufacturing and a subsidiary of materials maker Teijin unveiled the bacteria-snuffing material on Thursday. The fabric, dubbed Pieclex, is said to be effective in preventing odours as well. It incorporates piezoelectric technology from Murata, which produces electronic components. Pieclex's germ-fighting functions eliminate the need for chemical agents, reducing environmental impact. The fabric reportedly has applications against pollen and other particulates as well. Click here to read.... [21]

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Image Source: https://www.cefni.co.uk/images/sized/images/uploads/news/Covid19-793x447.jpg [22]