The government is expected to evacuate citizens from Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak originated
South African students in China are staying behind closed doors due to the coronavirus outbreak
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry has voiced its concern to the Chinese ambassador in Seoul over violent incidents during the Olympic torch relay in the capital, and a police investigation is under way, an official said on Tuesday. South Korean newspapers ran angry editorials denouncing Chinese students who hurled rocks at groups criticising Beijing.
In the biggest pro-Beijing rally of the protest-marred Olympic torch relay, more than 10 000 Chinese Australians rallied in Canberra on Thursday, bringing a sea of red Chinese flags and drowning out Tibetan demonstrators. Protests and tight security have followed the Olympic torch around the world over the past month.
Police began an unprecedented security crackdown in Australia’s national capital, Canberra, on Wednesday to protect the Olympic flame from protests during the latest leg of the torch’s troubled journey around the world. China had hoped the torch’s progress would be a symbol of unity in the run-up to the Beijing Games.
Indonesian police dispersed about 100 anti-China protesters and detained a foreign activist on Tuesday as the Olympic torch was to make another restricted relay in Jakarta, the latest stop on its fraught journey around the world. The protesters dispersed after a 30-minute stand-off with police.
The Olympic torch was paraded through India’s capital on Thursday, along a historic thoroughfare purged of spectators, as 15 000 police officers kept protesters from the world’s largest community of exiled Tibetans far from the route. Across India, thousands of mainly Tibetans protested.
British police battled to keep pro-Tibet protesters away from the Beijing Olympics flame, making 30 arrests as the torch went on a high security tour of London on Sunday. Police on bikes and running alongside the flame escorted each member of the relay.
Hundreds of Tibetan monks have taken to the streets of Lhasa in the biggest protest against communist rule in almost two decades. The show of defiance raises tensions in the Himalayan region as the world spotlight shifts to Beijing’s often harsh rule ahead of the Olympics.
No image available
/ 31 January 2008
Dozens more people in Japan on Thursday said they fell sick after eating Chinese-made food, a day after Japanese food companies recalled pesticide-contaminated dumplings from China that made 10 people sick. The food scare has triggered a nationwide probe into possible additional cases of food poisoning.
No image available
/ 24 October 2007
Australia slapped financial sanctions on Burma’s generals and their families on Wednesday as supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi marked her 12 years in captivity with protests in 12 cities. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the measures would hit 418 people, including leader Senior General Than Shwe.
No image available
/ 21 October 2007
China’s push into Africa is prompting growing interest over Beijing’s motives in the world’s poorest continent, with opinion divided over who stands to benefit most. Speaking at the launch this week of a China research programme run by the Johannesburg-based South African Institute of International Affairs, its chief academic said China had ”changed the game of development”.