China

LONDON: Britain's government is urging people to return to their offices and workplaces to help the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, transport minister Grant Shapps said on Friday (Aug 28). "Our central message is pretty straightforward: We are saying to people it is now safe to return to work," he told LBC radio. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will launch a campaign extolling the virtues of returning to the office while a new online tool will help people avoid the most crowded trains and buses, a report in The Telegraph newspaper said. According to the Centre for Cities think tank, only 17 per cent of workers in British cities had returned to their workplaces by early August. Last month Johnson encouraged people working from home to get back to their workplaces to help th...

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia must ensure it is not “dragged and trapped” in a geopolitical tussle between superpowers in its efforts to resolve disputes over the South China Sea, its Minister for Foreign Affairs Hishammuddin Hussein said on Wednesday (Aug 5). Mr Hishammuddin was speaking in parliament, answering questions from Members of Parliament (MPs) on the status of China’s demands for territory in the South China Sea and how this impacts Malaysia’s security and sovereignty. He outlined that his ministry is keen on resolving the dispute constructively through “appropriate diplomatic negotiations”, and highlighted two main issues facing Malaysia. “Firstly I do not want Malaysia to be dragged and trapped in a geopolitical tussle between superpowers,” said Mr Hishammuddin. “We must preven...

SHANGHAI: China must build an "impregnable fortress" to maintain stability in Tibet, protect national unity and educate the masses in the struggle against "splittism", President Xi Jinping told senior leaders, state media said on Saturday (Aug 29). China seized control over Tibet in 1950 in what it describes as a "peaceful liberation" that helped the remote Himalayan region throw off its "feudalist" past. But critics, led by exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, say Beijing's rule amounts to "cultural genocide". At a senior Communist Party meeting on Tibet's future governance, Xi lauded achievements made and praised frontline officials but said more efforts were needed to enrich, rejuvenate and strengthen unity in the region. Political and ideological education needed to be streng...

PORT MORESBY: China faced demands on Thursday (Aug 20) to explain why a state-backed firm claimed it had vaccinated dozens of staff against the coronavirus before sending them back to work at a mine in Papua New Guinea. The China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) - which controls a major nickel mine in the country - warned local authorities that 48 staff who returned from China this month may test positive for the virus because they had received a vaccine. In response, Papua New Guinea authorities called for "immediate clarification" from Beijing and blocked a charter flight full of Chinese workers that was due to land on Thursday. The pandemic has disrupted operations at several lucrative mines in Papua New Guinea, one of the Pacific's poorest nations. While moving its staff i...