China is not participating in a UN project to survey Asian wet markets and other facilities at high risk of spreading infectious diseases from wild animals to humans, despite long-running talks with Beijing, a UN official said.
China’s hesitancy to join the UN project involving other Asian nations might compound frustration by global researchers, who have been pressing Beijing to share information about the origins of COVID-19, as they seek to prevent future pandemics due to animal-to-human disease transmission.
Four Asian countries — China, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos — were initially selected for the survey by the scientific advisory committee of the project, called the Safety across Asia For the global Environment (SAFE), because they host multiple facilities presenting risks of animal-to-human disease transmission, the UN official said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The selection for the project, launched in July 2021, was also made after major wildlife trafficking cases were detected, investigated and prosecuted in those countries, which increased zoonotic risks, the official said.
“China was initially in discussions to be part of the project,” the official said, declining to be named as the information was deemed sensitive.
The official said discussions with China are still ongoing, but did not clarify with which state institution the UN project is holding talks.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese National Forestry and Grasslands Administration, which oversees the management of wildlife and was involved in initial talks with the project organizers, did not respond to requests for comment.
The official said the forestry agency initially showed interest in the project, but eventually declined to join, saying it was not under its remit.
The agency did not indicate which government agencies would be responsible for the matter, the official said.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which monitors illegal wildlife trafficking and coordinates the SAFE project, did not immediately comment.
After COVID-19 first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, many researchers suspected it spread in a live animal market there.
China has since banned the sale and consumption for food of wild animals.
Despite the ban, experts warn that risks still remain.
“There are glaring holes in the restrictions that still pose a zoonotic disease risk,” said Peter Li, a China policy specialist at Humane Society International, a US-based nonprofit organization.
He said China still allows wildlife breeding on a massive scale for the fur trade, traditional medicine, pet trade and entertainment or display in low-welfare conditions.
China’s public security agencies handled more than 70,000 criminal cases involving wild animals from 2020 to last year, confiscating 1.37 million wild animals in the process, Xinhua news agency reported.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
RSS