US House Speaker @SpeakerPelosi called for a US diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, criticizing #China for human rights abuses and saying global leaders who attend would lose their moral authority. channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/pel…
"What I propose - and join those who are proposing - is a diplomatic boycott," Pelosi said, in which "lead countries of the world withhold their attendance at the Olympics. "Let's not honour the Chinese government by having heads of state go to China," she added.
"For heads of state to go to China in light of a genocide that is ongoing - while you're sitting there in your seat - really begs the question, what moral authority do you have to speak again about human rights any place in the world?" she said.
Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu told Reuters that US attempts to interfere in China's domestic affairs over the Olympics were doomed to fail.
"I wonder what makes some US politicians think they actually have the so-called 'moral authority'? On human rights issues, they are in no position, either historically or currently, to make wanton groundless criticism against China," Liu said.
Republican Congressman Chris Smith, who led the hearing, said corporate sponsors should be called to testify before Congress and be "held to account".
"Big business wants to make lots of money, and it doesn't seem to matter what cruelty - even genocide - that the host nation commits," Smith said.
Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern added the Games should be postponed to give the International Olympic Committee time to "relocate to a country whose government is not committing atrocities".
"If we can postpone an Olympics by a year for a pandemic, we can surely postpone the Olympics for a year for a genocide," McGovern said, referring to the decision by Japan and the IOC to delay the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo due to COVID-19.
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Breaking: #Taiwan reported 295 #COVID19 cases, 286 local cases and 9 imported.
New Taipei City: 157 (Zhonghe: 40) Taipei: 87 (Wanhua: 40) Taoyuan: 17 Yilan: 8 Changhua: 6 Keelung: 5 Kaohsiung: and Taichung 2 each
There are 63 without clear sources of infection. Wanhua travel history: 84
There is another death case, a woman in her 70s who works in Wanhua.
The lady who unfortunately died refused to go to the doctor in the beginning and was later found dead at home. She lived alone. Her family members have been hospitalized.
After reporting more than 200 cases four days in a row, new #COVID19 cases continue to emerge in #Taiwan and there are signs that the virus has spread beyond the initial hotspots. One nurse at Hualien's veteran hospital becomes the latest confirmed case ...udn.com/news/story/120…
... after taking care of her uncle at Far Eastern Hospital in New Taipei City. Far Eastern Hospital reported an internal cluster case just two days ago.
Additionally, an ER doctor at Cathay hospital in New Taipei City's Xizhi was also tested positive after he allegedly came into contact with a confirmed case and was then infected.
Samoa's new prime minister is expected to shelve a $100 million port development project backed by #China. She calls the project excessive for the small Pacific island that is already heavily indebted to China. usnews.com/news/world/art…
Fiame Naomi Mataafa, the opposition leader set to become Samoa's first female prime minister after a weeks-long political impasse, said she intended to maintain good relations with China but she had more pressing needs to address.
The proposed construction of the wharf in Vaiusu Bay has been a divisive issue in Samoa, playing a part in April elections where long-serving leader Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi lost his parliamentary majority.
Breaking: #Taiwan held its first nationwide #COVID19 prevention meeting across the central government and all local governments. All local governments are now being asked to identify their #COVID19 hotspots and they need to set up rapid testing stations.
The central health authorities will now also lay out a very clear protocol for placing all infected patients as well as the flows to handle all new cases and share them with all local governments.
The central government will now immediately share necessary medical resources that are requested by local governments.
As the US remains isolated at the UN due to its stance over the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, #China seizes the chance to burnish its multilateral leadership credentials. usnews.com/news/world/art…
"The U.S. position is a gift to China, frankly. The U.S. has been trying to put pressure on China to back U.N. action over situations like Myanmar, and now Washington is stopping the Security Council speaking on the Middle East," said @RichardGowan1.
"This is hurting the Biden team's reputation at the U.N., and leaves China looking like the responsible power."
"Taiwan has done well since the beginning of the outbreak by strictly guarding the border while domestically following a strict guideline of mask-wearing and maintaining social distancing. This allowed Taiwan to have no local cases by mid-April 2020."
"From then until December 2020, Taiwan had no domestic coronavirus cases. The successful control quickly led Taiwanese people into what I called post-pandemic mode, largely living a very normal life.