Newly appointed US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has called on key Asian allies to work with the United States in the Indo-Pacific, part of efforts to boost defence ties in the region as its intense rivalry with China
looks likely to continue.
Austin, who was sworn in on Friday, did not name China but said the US opposed “any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea” and reaffirmed to his Japanese counterpart Nobuo Kishi that the US military would respond to any attack on the Senkaku Islands under the US-Japan security treaty. The Senkakus are uninhabited islets in the East China Sea controlled by Japan but claimed by China and known as the Diaoyu Islands in Chinese.

@AlArabiya_Eng
 
#China has said it will conduct #military exercises in the South China Sea this week, just days after Beijing bristled at a #US aircraft carrier group’s entry into the disputed waters.

Son of Chinese coronavirus victim wants meeting with WHO experts in Wuhan
Zhang Hai has been organising relatives of Covid-19 victims in China to demand accountability from officials

“I hope the WHO experts don’t become a tool to spread lies,” said Zhang Hai, whose father died of Covid-19
on February 1 last year, after travelling to the Chinese city of Wuhan and getting infected.
 
“We’ve been searching for the truth relentlessly,” he said. “This was a criminal act, and I don’t want the WHO to be coming to China to cover up these crimes.”
 
China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The relatives have faced immense pressure from authorities not to speak out. Officials have dismissed the lawsuits, interrogated Zhang and others repeatedly and threatened to fire relatives of those who speak to the foreign media, according to interviews with Zhang and other relatives.
 
Zhang said chat groups of the relatives were shut down shortly after the WHO team’s arrival in Wuhan, and he accused the city government of trying to silence them.
 
“Don’t pretend that we don’t exist, that we aren’t seeking accountability,” Zhang said. “You obliterated all our platforms, but we still want to let everyone know through the media that we haven’t given up.”

Audio recordings of internal WHO meetings obtained by the AP and aired for the first time Tuesday show that even while the WHO praised China in public, officials were complaining privately about not getting enough information.

South China Sea: Chinese military deploys ballistic missile’s launchers for training
 

• Destinations of DF-26 missile’s launchers put India within its range and pose a threat to US naval base in Japan
• China had last year staged a drill in which a DF-26 missile was launched into the South China Sea to target a moving ship

Satellite images by Maxar Technologies showed the Chinese military
had deployed many DF-26 IRMB launchers to a training site in Shandong province in the east, according to a report by the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists (FAS) on Thursday, adding it was the first time it had seen the DF-26 operating in the area.

Military commentator and former People’s Liberation Army instructor Song Zhongping said: “China’s ultimate goal is to expel US aircraft carriers as far as possible.”

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, a longtime China skeptic, thanked Beijing on Monday for rapidly approving the export of active ingredients for local COVID-19 vaccine production, as his government scrambles to secure scarce shots.

Facial recognition is used in China for everything from refuse collection to toilet roll dispensers and its citizens are growing increasingly alarmed, survey shows
 
Almost 90 per cent of respondents said they do not want facial recognition in commercial areas, Beijing News survey shows

A survey of 1,515 anonymous Chinese residents by Beijing News Think Tank on Tuesday found that 87.46 per cent of respondents oppose the use of facial recognition technology in commercial zones.
 
And 68.64 per cent thought that facial recognition should not be used to access residential areas, while disapproval of its use in places like hospitals, schools and offices ranged between 43 and 52 per cent.
Concerns over facial recognition use in public spaces in China, such as shopping malls and scenic spots, caught public attention in 2019 when the first lawsuit challenging the use of facial recognition
in the country was filed by Guo Bing, an associate law professor at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, against a wildlife park in Hangzhou.
The lawsuit was resolved in late 2020 when a local court ruled in Guo’s favour, ordering the park to delete the professor’s facial recognition data. More pushback came in March last year when Lao Dongyan, a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, contested the introduction of facial scan locks
to enter residential complexes, citing data security concerns.

Personal information and data leaks topped concerns (96.14 per cent) with privacy the second-largest issue (90.97 per cent). High numbers of respondents also said they support strengthening legal protections against facial recognition abuse.

@WSJ

Antony Blinken was confirmed as U.S. secretary of state in a 78-22 Senate vote, after offering assurances he would preserve a tough approach to China

@SenatorRomney

Look forward to working with Sec. of State Blinken, especially on the US strategy to counter China’s ambition of becoming the global superpower. Allowing China to surpass us economically, militarily & technologically would have detrimental consequences for America and the world.

Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi confirmed Sunday in his first talks with new U.S. defense chief Lloyd Austin that the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea fall under the scope of the two allies’ security treaty.

Kishi spoke by phone with Austin, who became the first Black U.S. defense chief after being confirmed to his post Friday, with the pair also pledging to further bolster the U.S.-Japan alliance and maintain and strengthen a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” according to the Defense Ministry.
 
The teleconference was the first ministerial-level talks between Japan and the United States since President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday.
 
Austin “affirmed that the Senkaku Islands are covered by Article V of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, and that the United States remains opposed to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
 
Article 5 states that the U.S. will defend territories under Japan’s administration in the event of an armed attack.
 
China, which also claims the Senkakus and calls them the Diaoyu, has repeatedly sent government vessels near the islands in what some observers say is a campaign to test, normalize and slowly erode Japan’s response to the incursions.

“Both ministers oppose attempts to unilaterally change the status quo in the East and South China seas … and pledged to maintain a free and open maritime order based on the rule of law, including freedom of navigation and flight,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
 
Kishi called Austin’s remarks “very encouraging” and said he would aim to build a relationship of trust while further strengthening deterrence.
 
“I felt that Defense Secretary Austin has a strong interest in the security environment in Asia and attaches importance to the Japan-U.S. alliance,” Kishi said.

@AFP
 
Wuhan next-of-kin say China silencing them.
 
Relatives of Wuhan's coronavirus dead say Chinese authorities have deleted their social media group and are pressuring them to keep quiet while a @WHO
 team is in the city to investigate the pandemic's origins
 
http://u.afp.com/Uig6

Chine: le test coronavirus anal critiqué par les internautes
La mesure est également imposée aux personnes en quarantaine obligatoire dans les hôtels, notamment les voyageurs en provenance de l’étranger.

La Chine recourt de façon croissante aux dépistages Covid-19 rectaux pour tester les sujets à risque et les voyageurs arrivant de l’étranger, une méthode plus fiable mais critiquée par les internautes.

President Biden’s nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is vowing in testimony to be delivered on Wednesday to push back against China as the new administration recommits to engaging with the U.N.
 
Linda Thomas-Greenfield is expected to challenge China’s agenda while emphasizing the Biden administration's dedication to rejoining international efforts and advocating American values, according to excerpts of her opening statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee obtained by multiple news outlets.  
 
“We know China is working across the U.N. system to drive an authoritarian agenda that stands in opposition to the founding values of the institution — American values,” the a 35-year State Department veteran plans to say during her confirmation hearing, according to the news outlets.
 
“Their success depends on our continued withdrawal,” Thomas-Greenfield's statement continues. “That will not happen on my watch.”

VIDÉO - Un an après le début de la pandémie, la chaîne qatarie Al-Jazeera dévoile des vidéos inédites des tout premiers jours de l’épidémie de Covid-19 à Wuhan. Des images qui remettent en question la réponse des autorités chinoises face au virus.
 
https://www.courrierinternational.c [...] 1611759475

@AFP
#BREAKING US freezes #Saudi and UAE arms sales for review: official