The United States has accused China of “flagrantly violating” its international commitments over a new law that disqualified four opposition lawmakers in Hong Kong, threatening Beijing with more sanctions.
Hong Kong disqualified four lawmakers on Wednesday after the Chinese parliament adopted a resolution authorizing the city to expel legislators who support independence, refuses to recognize Beijing’s sovereignty over Hong Kong.
The move prompted a mass resignation by the pro-democracy caucus in the city’s 70-seat legislature.
In reaction to the move, US national security adviser Robert O’Brien said, “Beijing’s recent actions disqualifying pro-democracy legislators from Hong Kong’s Legislative Council leave no doubt that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has flagrantly violated its international commitments.”
He threatened further sanctions on “those responsible for extinguishing Hong Kong’s freedom.”
Hong Kong has been governed under the “one-country, two-system” model since the city — a former British colony — was returned to China in 1997.
“One country, two systems’ is now merely a fig leaf covering for the CCP’s [Chinese Communist Party] expanding one-party dictatorship in Hong Kong,” O’Brien added.
Republican senator Marco Rubio and Democrat senator Jeff Merkley also threatened China with “consequences.”
On Monday, Washington targeted four Chinese officials in Hong Kong’s governing and security establishment with sanctions.
Under the bans, the officials are prevented from traveling to the US and their assets in the country are blocked.
Tensions between the US and China remain at their highest level in decades, with sharp divisions over a host of political and economic issues, including trade, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the coronavirus pandemic.
The relations between the two world powers have grown increasingly tense over the past four years, under the administration of President Donald Trump.
The United States actively supported the protest leaders and attempted to stir anti-China sentiments in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong was rocked by riots over a bill that would have reformed its extradition law last year. Violent individuals vandalized the city, destroying public and private property and attacking anyone deemed to be pro-government. Hong Kong dropped that bill, but the acts of violence continued.
Earlier this year, the city enacted a new national security law, criminalizing sedition, secession, and subversion against the mainland.
Some opposition lawmakers openly called for Western intervention to stop the law from being enacted in the city and propagated in favor of secession from mainland China.
Russia Says Sputnik V Coronavirus Vaccine 92% Effective
Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is 92 percent effective, according to initial test results, its developers said on Wednesday, as Moscow races against its competitors in the West.
The calculations were based on results from 16,000 individuals who received both doses of the vaccine, Russia’s Health Ministry, the state-run Gamaleya research center, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement.
“The Sputnik V vaccine had an efficacy rate of 92 percent after the second dose,” the statement said, after 20 of the volunteers — some of whom were given the placebo — tested positive for the coronavirus.
The adenovirus vector-based vaccine uses modified viruses of the regular flu.
Some of those vaccinated experienced “pain at the injection site, flu-like syndrome including fever, weakness, fatigue, and headache,” the statement said.
Russia in August became the first country to register a coronavirus vaccine but did so ahead of the large-scale clinical trials that are still underway.
Forty thousand volunteers at 29 medical centers are taking part in the third and final phase of Sputnik V trials.
In September, the vaccine was separately administered to medics and other at-risk people working in Russian hospitals, demonstrating an efficacy rate of “over 90 percent,” the statement said.
Regional authorities in Siberia’s Altai region said on Tuesday that at least three medics out of the 42 that received the vaccine had contracted the virus.
Wednesday’s statement added that the interim research data will be published in one of the world’s “leading peer-reviewed medical academic journals.”
Observation of trial participants will continue for six months, after which the full clinical trial report will be presented, it added.
The statement said that the RDIF, which is funding the development of Sputnik V, will provide research data to countries that are interested in purchasing the Russian vaccine.
Overseas trials are also taking place in the UAE, Venezuela, Belarus, and other countries, the statement said.
The announcement of Sputnik V’s interim results comes days after Western vaccine developers Pfizer and BioNTech said that their vaccine was more than 90 percent effective.
Source: Agenceis
