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.
The project has also threatened to spark a waterfront contest in the Pacific as the United States and its allies respond to China's growing regional influence. Fiame told Reuters there were more pressing needs than building a new port.
"Samoa is a small country. Our seaports and our airports cater for our needs. It's very difficult to imagine that we would need the scale that's being proposed under this particular project when there are more pressing projects that the government needs to give priority to."
"The level of indebtedness of our government to the government of China was a pressing issue for voters," said Fiame, a former deputy prime minister who joined the opposition FAST party last year. Her government would maintain good relations with both China and the United States.
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Chen said #Taiwan's outbreak is still at its peak and most of the cases can still trace back to its source. He reminded all citizens to be careful again and he is calling on those coming into Taiwan from foreign countries can delay their trips.
Taiwan's New Taipei City government released the history of movement of many confirmed #COVID19 patients and the results show that many of these people rushed to popular local supermarkets in Xinzhuang, Yonghe and Banqiao, which are some of the hotspots. udn.com/news/story/120…
May 15 was the first day that #Taiwan reported more than 100 local cases in a single day and that was also the day when almost all supermarkets across Taiwan, especially in Taipei and New Taipei City saw the "panic-buying" scenes made up by super long lines of people.
Yesterday, New Taipei City's Health bureau released the history of movement and local hotspots and the result showed that several local PX marts (one of the most popular local supermarket chains), traditional market and park are all hotspots.
One day after #Taiwan's health authorities expand the level three warning to the entire country, hundreds of people across the island are expected to be fined up to $15,000 NTD for failing to wear masks in public. focustaiwan.tw/society/202105…
Kaohsiung Mayor @chimaichen said the city will issue 633 tickets for violations of the CECC guidelines that occurred over the past 24 hours. Among those violations, 604 cases involved people who ignored the mask-wearing rule, the mayor said.
Chen was one of several local government chiefs who pledged zero tolerance for those who break the rules and granted power to officers from different government departments to issue notices to people who do not wear masks in public.
On Thursday, Lithuania's parliament becomes the latest to call #China's persecution of the #Uyghurs in #Xinjiang genocide, voting to call for a U.N. investigation of internment camps and to ask the European Commission to review relations with Beijing. usnews.com/news/world/art…
The non-binding resolution, supported by three fifths of Lithuanian parliament members, also called on China to abolish a national security law in Hong Kong, and to let observers into Tibet and begin talks with its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
"We support democracy, as we will never forget the cruel lesson of living under occupation by a Communist regime for 50 years", said Dovile Sakaliene, a lawmaker who has been blacklisted by China and who sponsored the resolution.
"I think we are struggling with the fact that China’s regime of censorship over Xinjiang is intensifying. Researchers and journalists no longer have meaningful access to the region and the United Nations has been blocked from conducting their fact-finding missions."
"We need to continue to use what resources are available to us to try to put the pieces of a very complex puzzle together, to try to understand this rather significant shift in the policy that began with the arrival of Chen Quanguo."
After #China released videos featuring #Uyghur men and women in #Xinjiang denying US accusations that #Beijing is committing human rights violations against them, a text received by @AP showed that the videos are part of China's propaganda campaign. apnews.com/article/asia-p…
The videos, which officials have insisted are spontaneous outpourings of emotion, have also featured prominently in a series of government news conferences held for foreign media.
But the text obtained by AP is the first concrete confirmation that the videos are anything but grassroots. Sent in January to government offices in the northern city of Karamay, the text told each office to find one Uyghur fluent in Mandarin ...