Foreign
Adaptation is key characteristic of China’s Policy against COVID-19 – Envoy
Adaptation is key characteristic of China’s Policy against COVID-19 – Envoy
Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun, has said that adaptation is the key characteristic of China’s policy against COVID-19 as the country refines its policy in line with a changed landscape of viral contagion.
Cui, in a statement made available on Friday in Abuja, said the refined COVID-19 policies adapted by the People’s Republic of China was timely and science based.
He noted that with adaptation to the new policies, China was one step closer to fully opening to the outside.
He said domestic and foreign airlines would operate scheduled passenger flights, with limits on flights no longer applicable, including closed management, nucleic acid testing, and quarantine measures.
“Countries adjusting the COVID policy would invariably go through a period of adaptation. China is no exception.
“However, China’s current COVID situation on the whole remains predictable and under control, as many cities have gone through the peak.
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“This adaptation by China is also important from a strategic and long-term perspective, for effectively coordinating COVID response with economic and social development.
“American, British, German and other foreign chambers of commerce in China, commend this downgrade adaptation.”
He said this would clear the way for resumption of people-to-people exchange and business travel, and enhance foreign investors’ confidence in the Chinese market.
Cui advised that beyond the natural virus, people should be more weary of the political virus, especially the political manipulation of COVID response measures by few countries would only bring chaos to world’s solidarity.
“As many international health experts indicate that, the main variant now spreading in China is the same one prevalent in other countries, it is senseless to impose extra restrictions on travelers from China.
“Political manipulation of COVID response measures by few countries would only bring chaos to world’s solidarity.”
Cui quoted President Xi Jinping’s New Year’s address where he noted how well China had prevailed over unprecedented difficulties and challenges since COVID-19 struck three years ago.
According to Cui, President Xi said that from the very beginning of its response against the pandemic, China had always taken responsible policies on a science-based and targeted approach.
He said that It had been proved and widely recognized that China’s COVID response policies over the past three years realised the goal of achieving the best results at the least cost.
Cui said that “In the past three years, China has provided the greatest extent possible of protection to the people.
“China has made the best effort to protect the life and health of its 1.4bn people, and poured all resources into treating every patient, no matter its own nationals or foreigners living there.
“In the past three years, China has witnessed the stability of its economy and also its supply chain to the world.
“One of the key focuses of China COVID policy is to minimise the impact of the pandemic on economic and social development.
“With joint efforts of the whole country, China’s economy has managed to consolidate its resilience and maintain sound fundamentals, making it a reliable driving force of global economic growth.
“The country’s GDP expanded at an average annual rate of 4.6 per cent from the third quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2022, which is well above the world average, according to data released by the OECD.
“Besides, China has also led the world in terms of trade volume, goods production and energy production, and kept its inflation rate at a relatively low level.
“In the past three years, China has witnessed the large-scale vaccination internally.
“China’s efficient response policies have bought precious time for researching and developing vaccines and medicine, and raising the vaccination rate of the whole population.
“In the past three years, China has promoted the robust international solidarity. Since COVID-19 began, China has actively participated in international response”.
Cui said that the government of China highly commended the government of Nigeria for its science-based and proportionate COVID response measures, which had featured from the very beginning of its response.
“The light of hope on final victory over pandemic is right in front of us. Just as appealed by President Xi at his New Year address: ‘Let’s make an extra effort to pull through, as perseverance and solidarity mean victory’.
Adaptation is key characteristic of China’s Policy against COVID-19 – Envoy
South Korean president apologises over scandal involving gift to wife
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has apologised for his wife’s decision to accept a luxury handbag as a gift, revelations of which have caused a scandal.
Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, was secretly filmed by a hidden camera accepting the expensive handbag from a third party.
The ensuing controversy has also politically ensnared the conservative president himself.
Yoon said on Thursday that his wife had behaved unwisely at the time and that her behaviour had caused unrest for which he apologised.
His remarks came at Yoon’s first press conference since August 2022, and several weeks after his party was soundly defeated in April’s general election.
The scandal surrounding the first lady was also seen as one of the factors that helped determine the outcome of the election.
Yoon, who previously served as South Korea’s attorney general, rejected the political opposition’s call for additional special investigations into the handbag scandal.
There are already investigations into the incident, he said, and dismissed calls for a special prosecutor as a “political manoeuvre.”
The YouTube channel Voice of Seoul published a video in November that allegedly shows Kim accepting a designer handbag worth around three million (2. 2 thousands U.S. dollars) from the hands of a pastor in Seoul.
The pastor is said to have worked with the YouTube channel and was wearing a hidden camera on his watch during the meeting with Kim.
The channel had reported Kim on allegations that she had violated the anti-corruption law, although it remains unclear whether she actually violated the law, which would require a direct connection between her behaviour and her husband’s political office.
South Korean president apologises over scandal involving gift to wife
Helicopter crashes in India’s Maharashtra, pilot injured
A pilot was on Friday injured after a private helicopter he was flying crashed in India’s western state of Maharashtra, police said.
The PJ helicopter crashed while the pilot was attempting to land at a makeshift landing strip in Mahad of Raigad district.
This is about 170 km south of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra.
According to officials, the chopper was scheduled to pick up Sushma Andhare, a leader of the Shiv Sena political party.
Sushma was for a public rally in connection with the ongoing general elections in the South Asian country.
Helicopter crashes in India’s Maharashtra, pilot injured
King Charles III returns to public duties after cancer treatment
King Charles III is returning to public duties after the positive effect of his cancer treatment.
King Charles has been receiving care as an outpatient since early February, and sources have said that in spite of the welcome news the king still has cancer and will continue to be treated for the undisclosed form of the disease.
Charles and Queen Consort Camilla will visit a cancer treatment centre on Tuesday to meet medical specialists and patients.
The event aims to raise awareness of the importance of early diagnosis and to highlight innovative research, supported by Cancer Research UK, taking place at the hospital.
King Charles’s diary of events will not be a full summer programme, and attendance will be announced nearer the time and “subject to doctors’ advice,” with “adaptations made where necessary to minimise risk” to his recovery.
It is understood the warmer weather would allow events to be staged outside and lessen the risk posed by other people that many cancer patients face.
In January, King Charles spent three nights in hospital for a procedure on an enlarged prostate, during which his cancer – not prostate cancer – was discovered.
After his diagnosis was announced on February 6, he postponed all public engagements but continued with his duties as head of state behind palace walls, conducting audiences and Privy Council meetings.
Meanwhile, William, the prince of Wales, is to carry out engagements in the North East on Tuesday, visiting an Earthshot Prize finalist firm which makes low-carbon construction materials in Seaham, and opening James’s Place – a centre offering free, life-saving treatment to suicidal men in Newcastle.
A previously unseen portrait of the prince and Kate, princess of Wales, was released by Kensington Palace on Monday in celebration of the couple’s 13th wedding anniversary.
Kate, who is undergoing chemotherapy for an undisclosed cancer, married future king William in 2011.
The photograph by Millie Pilkington – who took the most recent picture of the King and Queen to mark Charles’s return to public duties – shows William and Kate on their wedding day.
The black and white image was posted on the Waleses’ social media accounts on Monday, captioned “13 years ago today!”
King Charles III returns to public duties after cancer treatment
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