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China is ready to deliver streamlined, safe and splendid Olympic Games to the world as it has promised, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday when meeting with Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

As the Beijing Winter Olympics will begin on Feb 4 after more than six years of preparation, Xi said that China is fully confident of guaranteeing the health of the athletes and all people involved in the Games, as well as the safety of the Chinese people.

Noting that the Games will be the first comprehensive world sports event to be held on schedule since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Xi said it is a successful implementation of the new Olympic motto which reads: “Faster, Higher, Stronger－Together”.

China’s hosting of the Games was not only supported by the Chinese people, but also won support from the international community, he said.

According to Xi, nearly 3,000 athletes from around 90 nations will take part in the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The Winter Games, which will have the most events to be contested and the most gold medals to be awarded, offer an opportunity for more athletes to make their dreams come true in Beijing, Xi said, adding that China will put the athletes first and make an all-out effort to provide comprehensive services to them.

Xi told Bach that the biggest purpose for China to bid for the Games was to engage 300 million Chinese people in ice and snow sports, and now this vision has been successfully realized after relentless efforts.

The hosting of the Games has also driven the development of the country’s ice and snow sports industry and its economy, Xi said.

He said that the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games held in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, and this year’s Beijing Winter Olympics have ignited the Chinese people’s passion for the Olympic Games, boosted the country’s sports development and played an important role in spreading the Olympic spirit worldwide.

Xi said that the spirit of being “together”, which the Olympic Games advocates, is also the most needed thing in the world today. And rather than standing on more than 190 small boats by themselves, it is better for all countries to stand on the same ship for a shared and better future, he said.

Bach praised the preparatory work for the upcoming Games, saying that he was impressed by the splendid venues, considerate pandemic prevention measures and the sustainable operation concept, according to a news release issued after the meeting.

The IOC is fully confident that China will ensure a safe, smooth and successful Games for athletes from across the world, he said.

Referring to China’s goal of involving 300 million people in ice and snow sports as an unprecedented achievement, Bach said that it is the start of a new era for global winter sports.

The IOC president also said that the international community is opposed to the politicization of sports. And the fact that some countries will for the first time send delegations to attend the Winter Olympics fully shows that the Games are widely supported by global society, he added.

By MO JINGXI

Published : January 26, 2022

By : China Daily

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SINGAPORE – When Mr Kenneth Tay, 36, heard that his six-year-old daughter could get vaccinated against Covid-19 without an appointment from Tuesday (Jan 25), he leapt at the opportunity.

His reason? To keep his family, and especially his six-month-old newborn, safe from the virus.

Mr Tay was one of the first few parents who walked into vaccination centres to get their children inoculated. Any child aged five to 11 can now walk in without an appointment for Covid-19 vaccination from Mondays to Thursdays.

The businessman, who had been waiting to make an appointment to get his daughter inoculated since the vaccination drive for children her age began in early January, was eager to skip the waiting process.

On Tuesday, he took his daughter to Hougang Community Club, one of the 15 paediatric vaccination centres for children between the ages of five and 11, after school at around noon.

Mr Tay said: “I was in a hurry to get my daughter vaccinated because, with the rising Covid-19 cases in the community, I did not want her to fall seriously ill.”

“I hope that the vaccine will be available for even younger children to keep them safe as well.”

The introduction of walk-ins for younger children comes after Singapore’s director of medical services, Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, announced last Friday (Jan 21) that children below the age of 12 were starting to form the majority of hospitalised Covid-19 cases in Singapore.

Previously, only children who were accompanying their sibling to a vaccination appointment could get a jab without booking, under the “sibling walk-in” arrangement that began on Jan 10.

With the coming Chinese New Year season, when people are likely to gather more often, parents are taking advantage of the new walk-in system to protect their children from infection.

Ms Rachel Seah, a 33-year-old housewife who took her five-year-old daughter to get vaccinated at Clementi Community Centre, said: “As Chinese New Year is coming and we will be taking her to the zoo and an exhibition, we thought that it would be safer to get her vaccinated.

“If we didn’t have those plans, we would still encourage her to get vaccinated, but we would not have been in such a rush.”

Some parents wanted their children vaccinated to drive up Singapore’s vaccination rate.

Engineer Samir Piriyev, 39, who took his daughter, 11, to Clementi Community Centre, said: “We want to be part of a safe and healthy community, and also hope to contribute to Singapore’s goals to increase the national vaccination rate.”

However, not all parents felt the need to rush to get their children inoculated, mostly because they had already secured vaccine appointments for them.

The Straits Times found that only two out of the 10 parents who took their children to Hougang Community Club to get vaccinated were walk-ins.

The other eight were there for their children’s scheduled appointments.

The vaccination process at Clementi Community Centre and Hougang Community Club on Tuesday was smooth and quick.

The Straits Times noted that queues were short and moved quickly at both venues at around 1pm.

Madam Priyadarshini Vasudevan Mukundarajan, 38, a housewife who was with her 11-year-old daughter at Hougang Community Club, said: “The process was very simple and smooth, and took only about 15 minutes.”

By Gena Soh and Bryan Cheong

Published : January 26, 2022

By : The Straits Times

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Under the current arrangement, Singaporeans are allowed to enter Indonesia via specific ferry terminals in Batam and Bintan.

SINGAPORE – BINTAN, Singapore will discuss with Indonesia how it can make the new travel bubble for its visitors to Bintan and Batam a two-way one, hopefully, without taking too long, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday (Jan 25).

Mr Lee also said he and President Joko Widodo had agreed both sides should continue discussions to expand air and sea travel more generally, to more destinations in Indonesia.

“But we have to take into account the Covid-19 situation, in particular the outbreak of the Omicron variant, and we will do so at a pace that both sides are comfortable with, taking into account our respective public health situations,” he added.

He was speaking at a joint press conference with Mr Widodo at their Leaders’ Retreat in Bintan, a day after Indonesia announced the launch of the travel bubble to the two popular tourist destinations.

On Monday, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said the Indonesian government was prepared to launch the travel bubble, as Covid-19 cases on the two islands are under control and the required protocols for the bubble had been put in place.

Under the arrangement, travellers from Singapore are allowed to enter Indonesia via Nongsapura ferry terminal in Batam and Bandar Bentan Telani ferry terminal in Bintan.

They must be fully vaccinated and must have stayed in Singapore for at least 14 days prior to their arrival, according to a circular by Indonesia’s Covid-19 task force.

They must also show a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken within three days before departing Singapore and take another when they arrive in Indonesia, among other requirements.

Last November, Singapore launched a unilateral vaccinated travel lane (VTL) for travellers arriving from Jakarta on designated flights.

Published : January 25, 2022

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40011506

Authorities and aid agencies have long been warning about a looming natural disaster in the densely populated camps during monsoon.

DHAKA – Around 6,000 Rohingyas should be evacuated from two camps in Cox’s Bazar to avert casualties as they are living on hilly slopes that are vulnerable to landslides, said a government report.

The Department of Environment (DoE) report said the hillocks of the camps, which have been razed by 75 to 90 degrees, are at risk of landslides, especially during the heavy rain expected in the coming monsoon.

The report, prepared after a field visit on December 21, said around 6,000 people of 1,267 families are living on the slopes of hillocks at Camps 21 and 22 in Teknaf and should be evacuated from there before the next monsoon.

Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Shah Rezwan Hayat told The Daily Star that he was yet to receive the official order to act on the information but received a copy of the environmental assessment report.

“After receiving the copy and instructions, we will review the report and will take appropriate actions consulting with all stakeholders,” he said.

Hayat said Camp 21 is one of the most vulnerable to landslides among the Rohingya camps.

The Daily Star obtained a copy of the DoE report.

Md Ashraf Uddin, DoE director-general, said they have already sent letters to the authorities concerned mentioning the report findings to take action.

Local authorities and international aid agencies have long been warning about a looming natural disaster in the densely populated camps during monsoon.

According to RRRC office sources, six Rohingya refugees were killed due to landslides and flooding in the camps last year.

Over 7,00,000 Rohingyas, who crossed over into the coastal district fleeing persecution in Myanmar since August 2017, are dwelling in shacks made of thin bamboo and plastic sheets and too weak to stand heavy rains and storms.

The Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar is the world’s largest refugee camp as more than one million have been living in the 34 camps in the district since 2017.

The report said the total land area of Camp 21 is around 99.86 acres and the whole camp is located on hillocks.

A total of 16,000 families are living in Camp 21 and among them, some 5,500 people are living in landslide-vulnerable areas on the slopes of the hillocks.

“Due to heavy rain, there is a chance of landslide in the coming monsoon … As the drainage system is not proper, there is a chance of landslide and causalities,” the report said about Camp 21.

Regarding Camp 22, the report said it is spread over 112.56 acres with around 22,200 Rohingyas of 3,339 families living there. Among them, some 500 are living on the slopes of hillocks that are vulnerable to landslides.

“In Camps 21 and 22, around 6,000 Rohingyas of 1,267 families are living riskily on the hillock slopes and need to be relocated to a safer place,” the report said in its opinion portion.

Around 74,70,000 litres of water are required every day in the two camps built on forest department land.

“Opinion of the Department of Public Health Engineering is required on the groundwater layer,” it said.

The report mentioned that during the inspection they did not find any sewage treatment plant (STP) in those camps.

The Daily Star

Published : January 25, 2022

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40011470

BEIJING — Internet giant Tencent topped the list of 500 most valuable private Chinese companies in 2021, according to a new ranking released by a Shanghai-based research institute.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), China’s leading automotive lithium-ion battery maker, made it to the top 10 for the first time in the list compiled by Hurun Research Institute.

The research institute ranked the companies on the basis of their market capitalization or valuation.

The total value of the companies on the list came in at 66 trillion yuan ($10.4 trillion).

Among the 500 companies on the list, 56 percent are B2B businesses and 77 percent of them provide physical products.

Healthcare firms grabbed the most spots on the list, while energy businesses came in the second.

Published : January 25, 2022

By : China Daily

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40011469

Viet Nam is a rising star of Southeast Asia startup scene and will become the third-largest ecosystem in the region in 2022, according to venture fund Nextrans Viet Nam.

Areport by Nextrans said that there were about 3,800 startups in Viet Nam, of which four were unicorns and 11 were valued at over US$100 million.

In 2021, investment poured into Vietnamese startups reached more than $1.3 billion. Fintech was the leading sector in terms of total deal value, with two deals worth over $100 million.

Notably, VNLife successfully raised more than $250 million in a Series B funding round in July. In December, Momo followed suit with an investment of $200 million.

After Fintech, e-commerce is the second most attractive sector to investors. Tiki made the largest contribution with a Series E funding round of $258 million led by AIA.

Undoubtedly, Viet Nam has emerged as a startup hub that is catching up with countries like Indonesia and Singapore, the report added.

Speaking at The National Startup Festival 2022, Pham Tan Cong, president of Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), noted that Vietnamese people have a strong startup spirit.

The country was ranked 44th out of 132 countries in the Global Innovation Index and 59th out of 100 regarding the startup ecosystem in 2021. It also came third in the list of most-active startup ecosystems in Southeast Asia.

He believed such achievements could be attributed to the favourable government policies on startups in recent years.

“Vietnamese government has gone great lengths to improve the business environment in favour of startups”, Cong said.

A report jointly prepared by National Startup Support Centre and BambuUp highlighted that Viet Nam was emerging as a dynamic economy and a development hub for innovative startups in Asia-Pacific.

Last year’s first nine months saw a record high number of $500K-3M deals in fundraising, 2.58 times higher than the same period of 2020.

There was a shift in the investment allocation ratio at different stages as well. The proportion of rounds $500K-3M and $3M-10M went up whereas investments in pre-seed and seed stages fell.

Nine-month Series A investments hit a record of 37 deals, the highest in years. As for Series B, the deals reached the largest average value ($13 million) since 2013.

The report also showed that the weakness facing most startups was reaching customers and generating revenues.

Stiff competition from direct and indirect competitors was the biggest concern for those involved in innovative activities.

Vietnamese startups are expecting the Government to step up investment in digital infrastructure to make business operations faster and more efficient.

The Government was also urged to supplement and clarify more detailed regulations to support domestic firms in terms of facilities, equipment and tax incentives, the report added.

At the national festival, the director of National Agency for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation Development Pham Hong Quat revealed that Viet Nam had more than 200 venture funds, 100 business promotion organisations and 130 universities and colleges that nurture innovations to date.

As the room for growth was still ample, Quat called for more favourable mechanisms that would pave the way for new innovative startups.

To this end, the Government was recommended to use public procurement as a stimulus to foster technology innovations.

The director also suggested a “startup visa” policy that would enable foreign entrepreneurs and startup founders to initiate their businesses in Viet Nam with ease.

As crowdfunding was becoming a norm in the world, this practice of fundraising should be piloted in Vietnamese startups to test its feasibility, Quyet added.

“Many countries in the region have introduced trading floors for the startups that are not eligible for Initial Public Offering. We should do likewise”, said the director.

Ivo Sieber, the Swiss ambassador to Viet Nam, stressed that a favourable legal framework was the key to the success of innovative startups. Education was another factor that would play a major role in startup incubation.

“Entrepreneurial spirit and startup spirit should be nurtured in the educational system”, said the Swiss ambassador.— VNS

Published : January 25, 2022

By : Vietnam News

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South Korean contents enjoyed robust demand overseas in 2020, defying the overall decline in exports and tepid growth in the domestic market, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism data showed on Monday.

A2021 research study on the cultural content industry which encompasses 11 sub-areas showed that the exports in 2020 jumped 16.3 percent to $11.92 billion from the previous year.

“Exports of cultural contents have been setting a new record each year, but this time it is worth noting that the increase was achieved while the overall exports were down,” Kang Yeo-won, senior deputy director of the Cultural Industry Policy Division of the Culture Ministry told the Korea Herald on Monday.

The 16.3 percent growth in the cultural content industry compares to the 5.5 percent decline in the overall exports in 2020 in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also reflects the growing popularity of Korean contents on global content platforms, according to Kang.

The culture industry consists of publications, comics, music, game, movie, animation, broadcasting, advertising, character design, knowledge information and content solution, according to the Framework Act on the Promotion of Cultural Industries.

Among these sectors, the game industry accounted for more than half of the exports, selling about $8.2 billion worth of products and services in 2020, up 23.1 percent from 2019.

The highest growth was seen in the publication sector, whose exports soared 61.1 percent to $346 million during the aforementioned period, followed by movies that recorded a 43 percent jump.

Since the research began in 2005, South Korea’s cultural content exports has seen a consistent upward movement, data showed. In particular, between 2015 and 2020, the figures more than doubled from $5.6 billion to $11.92 billion. The ministry said it expects exports in the industry to set another record in 2021 with a 6.8 percent growth to $12.7 billion.

Meanwhile, the growth in the cultural content industry’s total revenue also highlighted that exports outperformed domestic growth.

The total revenue of the cultural content industry in 2020 stood at 128.28 trillion won ($107 billion), inching up only 1.2 percent from the previous year. The unenthusiatic growth was partly due to a 53.6 percent decline in the movie industry that was hit hard by the COVID-19-related social distancing measures.

Even though the cultural content industry has managed to maintain a modicum of growth through the offsetting of downward pressure on the movie and music industries by the growing popularity of digital content, the number of businesses and workers within the industry shrank. The number of cultural content businesses was 98,551 in 2020, 4.4 percent lower than the previous year, while the number of people employeed in the industry dropped 5.9 percent to 642,086.

By Park Ga-young

Published : January 25, 2022

By : The Korea Herald

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40011467

President to chair summit that is set to put forward blueprints for future cooperation

President Xi Jinping is set to chair a virtual summit on Tuesday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and five Central Asian countries－a move that shows China’s commitment to strengthening trade, investment and security cooperation for regional prosperity and stability, analysts said.

The five Central Asian countries are the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

As the first heads of state meeting between China and the Central Asian countries, the summit is crucial because the leaders will take stock of achievements and experiences in developing relations, and draw up blueprints for future cooperation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a news conference on Monday.

During the summit, the leaders are also expected to adopt and release a joint statement on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the five Central Asian countries, Zhao said.

He said the development of relations between China and the five nations over the past three decades has seen ties reach a historical high.

Cooperation between China and the five countries in various fields has yielded “historic, landmark and groundbreaking” results that have set an example for building a new type of international relations and made contributions to advancing the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, Zhao said.

China will continue to intensify political mutual trust and expand all-around mutually beneficial cooperation with the Central Asian countries in order to upgrade their relations to a new stage, he added.

Over the past 30 years, China has upheld the principles of good neighborliness, equality, mutual trust and mutual benefit in developing ties with the Central Asian countries. Experts said the development of good relations between China and the five nations has delivered tangible benefits to people in the region and also made important contributions to regional peace, stability and prosperity.

The Belt and Road Initiative－proposed by President Xi when visiting Kazakhstan and Indonesia in September and October of 2013 respectively－has helped China and the Central Asian countries strengthen their relations, said Sun Xiuwen, an associate professor of international relations at Lanzhou University’s Institute for Central Asian Studies in Gansu province. The initiative has also elevated all-around bilateral and multilateral cooperation to a new stage.

Trade volume between China and the five Central Asian countries has increased by over a hundredfold to around $50 billion over the past 30 years, and China’s direct investment in the countries has exceeded $14 billion over the period, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

For the future development of ties between China and the five countries, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said both sides should jointly solidify their strategic mutual trust and consistently uphold open and mutually beneficial cooperation.

In an article published in the People’s Daily on Dec 30, Wang also called for the countries to jointly forge relations featuring intensified good neighborliness and friendship, more peaceful and stable situations for regional security, and strengthened international cooperation for fairness and justice.

By CAO DESHENG

Published : January 25, 2022

By : China Daily

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The Jan. 15 eruption of an undersea volcano off Tonga marked the first time since modernized observation began in the 1980s that peculiar atmospheric waves were observed from a volcanic eruption, according to researchers at the Earthquake Research Institute of the University of Tokyo.

Atmospheric waves are a type of strong air vibration that circles the Earth.

The ones observed this time are called Lamb waves, which may have increased the atmospheric pressure and generated tsunami.

The Lamb waves are thought to have been generated by the expansion of the air around the volcano due to the heat of the massive eruption.

These waves travel at about 310 meters per second (1,116 kph), a little slower than the speed of sound, and are characterized by the fact that they are hardly attenuated and can reach a long distance.

These waves, which can arise from large-scale eruptions, are believed to have occurred during the 1883 eruption of Krakatau in Indonesia.

■ Circling Earth in a day

After the Tonga eruption, Associate Prof. Kiwamu Nishida of the institute analyzed data from microbarometers at about 500 locations around the world and found that Lamb waves were circling the Earth. The waves spread out in concentric circles from the volcano in the South Pacific, circling the Earth in about a day and a half, and were repeatedly observed, including those that came from the opposite direction.

The eruption took place at around 1 p.m. Japan time on Jan.15. The atmospheric pressure was observed to have increased by about 2 hectopascals around Japan from 7 to 9 p.m. the same day. The rise in pressure is believed to have been caused by the passage of the Lamb waves, and the rise in tide levels began to be observed in many places around this time.

It is believed that the Lamb waves pushed the sea surface, creating small waves as it moved, and that these waves accumulated near Japan to generate tsunami. Tsunami were observed in Japan about 2½ hours earlier than the Japan Meteorological Agency’s expected arrival time. Tsunami became even higher after 11:30 p.m.

“It is likely that tsunami caused by atmospheric waves, including Lamb waves, reached Japan first,” said Kenji Satake, director of the institute. “Then tsunami caused by changes in the seafloor topography seem to have arrived and overlapped.”

Published : January 25, 2022

By : The Japan News

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The deal was made during President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Cairo, during a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

SEOUL – Beginning next year, South Korea will work on the restoration of the pylon and the access road of the Ramesseum, a mortuary temple of Pharaoh Ramses 2, located across from the modern city of Luxor in Upper Egypt, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration on Sunday.

Kim Hyun-mo, head of the Cultural Heritage Administration and Mostafa Waziry, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, signed a memorandum of understanding for exchanges and cooperation on the two nations’ cultural artifacts, in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday.

The deal was made during President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Cairo, during a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, as part of his three-nation trip to the Middle East, which also included stops in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Along with the restoration of the gateway of an ancient temple, the council of Egypt also requested research assistance on yet-discovered ruins of the Thutmose 4’s temple.

The CHA plans to restore the access road of the Ramesseum beginning in 2023, working closely with the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage, who took charge of the project to restore Mireuksaji pagoda in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, which was completed in 2019.

It will also push forth a project to archive artifacts owned by six museums and research institutes across Egypt, including the Egyptian Museum, the Coptic Museum and the Museum of Islamic Art, using digital technology to build a research database.

The CHA, in turn, asked for the country’s cooperation in the listing of the Gaya Tumuli at an upcoming meeting of the World Heritage Committee, expected to be held in June.

“With Egypt’s initial request to sign an agreement on the protection and preservation of cultural properties last year, [our cooperation] came to fruition after relevant field investigations today,” an official from the CHA said.

Kim Hae-yeon

The Korea Herald

Published : January 24, 2022