United News of Bangladesh

Malaysia’s graft-tainted coalition that had ruled the country for decades was losing ground to rival Malay blocs but could still return to power depending on post-election alliances, according to partial results Sunday from general elections. Among other key election losers was two-time former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who at 97 is leading a separate Malay movement. The alliance led by the United Malays National Organization, which ruled Malaysia since independence from Britain until 2018, suffered upsets in a number of seats in an apparent swing of support to former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Malay-based Perikatan Nasional, or National Alliance. Many rural Malays, who form two-thirds of Malaysia’s 33 million people, which include large minorities of ethnic Chinese and Indians, fear they may lose their rights with greater pluralism. This, together with corruption in UMNO, has benefited Muhyiddin’s bloc, especially its ally, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, that touts Sharia. PAS rules three states and has a strong Muslim base. The Election Commission’s website showed UMNO’s Barisan Nasional, or National Front alliance, with only 24 seats so far. Muhyiddin’s bloc is neck-and-neck with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s reformist bloc with about 60 seats each. Anwar’s bloc espouses greater pluralism and has strong support in urban areas. Mahathir lost his seat in northern Langkawi island in a shock defeat to Muhyiddin’s bloc. A total of 220 seats in Parliament are up for grabs in Saturday’s vote. Polling for two federal seats has been postponed after the death of a candidate in one constituency and bad weather in another. Many surveys had put Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan, or Alliance of Hope, in the lead, though short of winning a majority. This could spark a new crisis if rival blocs again join hands to block his ascent. Anwar, 75, won his seat in northern Perak state. Read more: Suu Kyi lost Malaysia’s support for her role against Rohingya: Mahathir “Malays who don’t like UMNO swung to PAS, as they could never accept Harapan, which they perceived as too liberal and accommodating to non-Malays,” said Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. PAS leader Hadi Awang earlier told reporters that he was confident Muhyiddin’s alliance could form the government. UMNO leader Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in a statement that his alliance accepted the results and is committed to ensure a stable government can be formed. In an allusion to a revival of its partnership with Muhyiddin’s bloc, Zahid said the National Front is willing to set aside differences. With vote counting underway early Sunday, there was still no clear winner. If Anwar’s bloc fails to win enough seats or seek alliance for a majority in Parliament, it may be sidelined again by the UMNO-Muhyiddin alliance. Both sides will have to court support from two states on Borneo island, which account for a quarter of parliamentary seats. The two states are traditionally aligned to UMNO. The economy and rising cost of living were chief concerns for voters, though many are apathetic due to political turmoil that has led to three prime ministers since 2018 polls. Anger over government corruption had led to UMNO’s shocking defeat in 2018 to Anwar’s bloc that saw the first regime change since Malaysia’s independence in 1957. The watershed polls had sparked hopes of reforms as once-powerful UMNO leaders were jailed or hauled to court for graft. But political guile and defections by Muhyiddin’s party led to the government’s collapse after 22 months. UMNO bounced back as part of a new government with Muhyiddin’s bloc, but infighting led to continuous turmoil. Initially confident of a strong victory due to a fragmented opposition, UMNO pushed incumbent caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob in October to call snap polls. But the UMNO campaign has been relatively muted as infighting and corruption charges against Zahid cast a shadow over its election promise of stability and prosperity. Anwar was in prison during the 2018 vote on a sodomy charge that critics say was trumped up. Mahathir led the alliance’s campaign and became the world’s oldest leader at 92 after the victory. Anwar was pardoned shortly after and would have succeeded Mahathir had their government not crumbled. His bloc has promised a reset in government policies to focus on merits and needs, rather than race, and good governance to plug billions of dollars it said was lost to corruption. Critics say the affirmative action policy that gives majority Malays privileges in business, housing and education has been abused to enrich the elites, alienate minority groups and has sparked a brain drain. Read more: Malaysia, Asean members will work to resolve Rohingya crisis: Mahathir

Armed militants ambushed and killed all six people in a police vehicle in northwestern Pakistan, officials said Wednesday. Police officer Rab Nawaz Khan said the morning attack in the Dadewala area of Lakki Marwat district came during a routine patrol in a suburban area. The attackers escaped on motorcycles. Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Islamic militants had been involved in previous attacks on security forces. Mohammad Khurasani, who said he is a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, said in a statement that the patrol was ambushed on the way to a raid and the attackers acquired five police weapons from the confrontation. Khan said reinforcement has reached the scene, moved the bodies to a hospital and started an investigation to find the perpetrators. Northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan borders Afghanistan and has seen Islamic militants largely known as Pakistani Taliban operate in the area for many years. Read more: Bus rams into fuel truck in eastern Pakistan, killing 20 The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group, but they are allies of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan more than a year ago as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban. Although the Taliban in Afghanistan have encouraged Islamabad and the TTP to reach a peace agreement through dialogue, talks amid a ceasefire between the two sides that started in May proved futile.

An oil tanker associated with an Israeli billionaire has been struck by a bomb-carrying drone off the coast of Oman amid heightened tensions with Iran, an official told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The attack happened Tuesday night off the coast of Oman, the Mideast-based defense official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they did not have authorization to discuss the attack publicly. Read: Russian missiles cross into Poland during strike on Ukraine, killing 2 The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British military organization in the region monitoring shipping, told the AP: “We are aware of an incident and it’s being investigated at this time.” The official identified the vessel attacked as the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Pacific Zircon. That tanker is operated by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, which is a company ultimately owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer. A phone number for Eastern Pacific rang unanswered Wednesday.  

India’s Hindu nationalist, volunteer organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Tuesday (November 15, 2022) that everyone living in the country is a “Hindu” and has the same DNA. He also said that no one needed to modify their ritualistic offerings, PTI reported. He repeatedly emphasised unity in diversity as an inherent quality of India while addressing a gathering of Swayamsevak (Sangh volunteers) in Ambikapur, the administrative centre of Chhattisgarh’s Surguja district. The RSS chief also claimed that Hindutva is the only philosophy in the world that believes in “bringing everyone along.” Read more: Hijab bans deepen Hindu-Muslim fault lines in Indian state Bhagwat was quoted by PTI as saying: “We have been telling since 1925 (when RSS was founded) that everyone living in India is a Hindu. Those who consider India as their ‘matrubhoomi’ (motherland) and want to live with a culture of unity in diversity and make efforts in this direction, irrespective of whatever religion, culture, language and food habit and ideology they follow, are Hindus.” He said that Hindutva ideology values humanity and respects individual differences. Read more: Stark political, religious polarization in India making its way into US diaspora The RSS chief said, “Hindutva is the only idea in the entire world that believes in unifying diversities because it has carried such diversities together in this country for thousands of years. This is the truth and you have to speak it firmly. On the basis of it we can be united. The Sangh’s work is to build individual and national character and bring unity among people.” Read more: India recognises Bangladesh's prompt steps to keep Puja festival peaceful According to RSS Chief Bhagwat: “…We had common ancestors. Every Indian who is part of the 40,000-year-old ‘Akhand Bharat’ has common DNA. Our ancestors had taught that everyone should stick to their faith and rituals and not try to convert others’ faith. Every path leads to a common place.”

To support the essential contribution that rural people make to preserve ecosystems, the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will remunerate rural communities and small-scale producers for their environmental work through a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) projects. At COP27 on Tuesday, Germany pledged to contribute to the project by providing an additional EUR 15 million to IFAD's Enhanced Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP+). As the increasing speed and intensity of the climate crisis are outpacing the ability of poor rural people to cope, “we need to think out of the box and find new ways, such as this scheme, to bring justice and provide the support that rural people need,” said Jo Puri, IFAD’s Associate Vice-President, Strategy and Knowledge Department. Three PES pilot projects will be developed in Brazil, Ethiopia and Lesotho to help small-scale producers build their resilience to climate change, boost food production, better participate in markets, and improve their access to nutritious diets. Each of the three pilots will be equally funded. All the activities under the PES project aim to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and boost carbon sequestration. Read more: IFAD issues 1st bond connecting capital markets to rural poor around world “We must not spare efforts in acknowledging and harnessing the strategic contribution of rural people in low- and middle-income countries to improve food security and preserve vital environmental resources for future generations,” said Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary in Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), at the signing ceremony. Germany's financing pledge is also a way to encourage the international community to diversify financial instruments to fund sustainable climate adaptation and climate mitigation practises in the agricultural sector.  In Brazil, marginalized local communities will be paid to preserve forests by developing and marketing a wide array of non-timber forest products. Rural communities will protect forests by gathering, processing and selling forest products, activities that do not require cutting down or damaging trees. Remunerated activities align with traditional practices and are an income alternative for poor and food-insecure communities. “It is about time to reward the economic value of these essential services that rural people are carrying out. These are key activities to preserve biodiversity and ecosystems, which also provide a significant contribution to mitigate climate change. They are indeed preserving our future,” Puri added. The PES scheme in Lesotho will incentivize better water resource management in the Orange River Basin, spanning across Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, and rural communities will be able to contribute to restoring degraded soils and landscapes. Read more: Global food systems must be changed: IFAD In Lesotho and Ethiopia, as an income-generating opportunity, small-scale farmers will be connected to the voluntary credit carbon market, where companies and countries can buy credits to make up for greenhouse gases, they themselves emit. Since the establishment of IFAD in 1977, Germany has contributed US$711 million to IFAD’s work on climate action, gender equality, food and nutrition security, and establishing equitable and sustainable food systems. Germany has also provided loans for up to EUR 800 million through KfW, Germany’s public development Bank, and contributed US$89 million in supplementary funds to support inclusive sustainable value chains development, climate adaptation, and youth employment.

Japan plans to develop unmanned underwater vehicles to lay and sweep mines, aiming to attain maritime superiority in the event of a contingency near the country's southwestern Nansei Islands chain, a source close to the matter said Monday. The plan comes as the Defense Ministry seeks to ramp up the use of drones to support missions of the ground, maritime and air branches of the Self-Defense Forces. It is expected to be articulated in the National Security Strategy and two other key defense documents slated to be revised by the end of this year. Along with artificial intelligence, drones are considered a game-changing technology in contemporary warfare. They are seen as effective in reducing casualties in combat while being able to destroy adversaries' war-fighting assets at a relatively low cost. The ministry's weapons procurement arm, the Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency, is already producing an underwater drone that can detect mines while avoiding obstacles autonomously. The agency expects to start research and development at an early date on a model that can lay and remove mines. The newly developed drones are aimed at deterring adversaries from landing on the Nansei Islands, as well as sweeping mines during maritime blockades, including when important sea lanes are blocked, the source said. The island chain stretches southwest from Kagoshima Prefecture to Okinawa Prefecture. The islet group includes the Japanese-controlled, Beijing-claimed Senkaku Islands, which China calls Diaoyu, in the East China Sea. Currently, SDF vessels and planes are used to lay mines, but such mines could be removed if adversaries track the vessels and planes via satellite and other means to estimate where they laid the mines. With underwater drones, the government hopes the SDF will be able to lay mines without running such risks while at the same time making it difficult for adversaries to contemplate invasion using vessels and submarines. Besides underwater drones, the government plans to acquire small aerial drones to attack invading enemies. The ministry has requested funding for the acquisition in a new budget from April. The government is also considering developing unmanned fighters to support the country's next-generation fighter jets.  

Cambodian leader Hun Sen called for unity Sunday, telling a gathering including Russia, China and the United States that current global tensions have been taking a toll on everyone. The prime minister, whose country holds the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said at the opening of the East Asia Summit that it was in the world’s common interest to cooperate to solve differences peacefully. The comments come as regional tensions remain high between the United States and China over Taiwan and Beijing’s growing regional aspirations, and while the Russia invasion of Ukraine has disrupted global supply chains, causing rising energy and food prices far beyond Europe. Without singling out any nation by name, Hun Sen said he hoped leaders would embrace a “spirit of togetherness in upholding open and inclusive multilateralism, pragmatism and mutual respect in addressing the existential and strategic challenges we all face.” “Many current challenges and tensions have been hindering our past hard-earned efforts to promote sustainable development and causing greater hardship to people’s lives,” he said as he opened the meeting, which is running in parallel to the ASEAN group’s main summit. Read: Putin won’t be at G20 summit, avoiding possible confrontation with US Participants included U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, and it comes just a day before the highly anticipated meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Bali. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was also taking part in the meetings, which also included the leaders of Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and others. On Saturday, Biden promised that the U.S. would work with ASEAN, telling leaders of the strategically vital coalition that “we’re going to build a better future that we all want to see” in the region where U.S. rival China is also working to expand its influence. He promised to collaborate to build a region that is “free and open, stable and prosperous, resilient and secure.” “I look forward to continuing our work together with ASEAN and with each one of you to deepen peace and prosperity throughout the region to resolve challenges from the South China Sea to Myanmar and to find innovative solutions to shared challenges,” Biden said, citing climate and health security among areas of collaboration. Read: Myanmar tops Asian summit’s agenda as global issues loom Li Keqiang, meantime, told a meeting of ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea that amid a “turbulent” global security situation, “unilateralism and protectionism are surging, economic and financial risks are rising, and global development is confronted with unprecedented challenges.” As major economies in East Asia, Li said the group needed to “stay committed to promoting peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region and beyond, and to improving the people’s wellbeing.”

The United States has supported India for the G20 presidency, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted on Sunday (November 13, 2022). India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also tweeted as the two leaders met in Cambodia on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia's Phnom Penh. Blinken said that he met Jaishankar “to discuss ongoing efforts to expand our partnership and mitigate the effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine.” Read more: Putin won’t be at G20 summit, avoiding possible confrontation with US “The US supports India’s G20 Presidency," Blinken continued. He made the points along with photographs of the two leaders and hashtag - #USIndiaAt75. Jaishankar wrote that they discussed Ukraine, Indo-Pacific, energy, G20 and bilateral relations. The development means India will preside over the G20 Summit from December 1. Read more: G20 Presidency: India to invite Bangladesh as guest country Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the logo, website and theme of India's G20 Presidency, according to The Hindustan Times. “Notion of universal brotherhood is being reflected via the G20 logo. The lotus in the logo of G20 is a symbol of hope in these tough times," Modi said in a virtual address. The Hindustan Times quoted Modi as saying that that G20 Presidency is not merely a diplomatic meeting for India, but it is a new responsibility and a measure of the world’s trust in India. Read more: G20 finance leaders in Bali to tackle Ukraine, inflation G20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union. It works to address major global challenges related to economy, climate change mitigation and sustainable development. G20 or Group of Twenty is composed of most of the world's largest economies including both industrialised and developing nations.  

After a lengthy absence from major international gatherings, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is leaving his country’s COVID-19 bubble and venturing abroad next week into a dramatically changed world marked by rising confrontation. Xi will attend the G-20 meeting of industrial and emerging market nations in Indonesia followed by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Thailand. He will meet individually with other leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday in their first in-person talks since Biden took office in January 2021. The Chinese leader has relied mainly on speeches by video to deliver China’s message at the U.N. and other forums since 2020. The period has seen a sharp deterioration in China’s relations with the West over the COVID-19 pandemic, a crackdown on civil rights in Hong Kong, military threats against Taiwan and Beijing’s tacit support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. More broadly, China and the West are moving farther apart. The U.S. and Europe are looking at China more critically, with Germany blocking investment in its companies, while China’s leaders have shown a determination to go their own route. Bruce Dickson, a Chinese politics expert at George Washington University, described a “growing fear, concern and anxiety that China doesn’t want to be a partner with other countries. It wants to push its own agenda regardless of the opposition to it.” More moderate voices in both Beijing and Washington advocating better relations are being pushed to the side. “It’s really an effort of who can come up with the toughest policy to resist China’s efforts,” Dickson said. After a state visit to neighboring Myanmar in January 2020, Xi stayed in mainland China for more than two years. He emerged first on a brief visit to Hong Kong for the 25th anniversary of its return from British rule on July 1 and a short trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in September for a regional summit. Xiong Zhiyong, an international relations professor at China Foreign Affairs University, expects Chinese leaders will make more trips abroad as the pandemic eases globally. “The current international situation is overly complex and national leaders need to have an opportunity for discussion,” he said. “Online exchanges are not enough. Meetings among leaders are important and irreplaceable.” READ: Myanmar tops Asian summit’s agenda as global issues loom Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Beijing to meet Xi earlier this month. But under China’s “zero-COVID” policy, it remains difficult to travel into China, while domestic travel is restricted wherever a serious outbreak occurs. Besides Biden, other leaders Xi will meet on this trip include Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, French President Emmanuel Macron, Senegalese President Macky Sall and Argentine President Alberto Fernández. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday that he would ask Xi to lift billions of dollars in trade barriers if they meet, while Biden said earlier this week he plans to discuss growing U.S.-China tensions over trade, the self-ruled island of Taiwan and China’s relationship with Russia. China has not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accused the U.S. and NATO of forcing Russia’s hand. It also fired missiles over Taiwan and appeared to rehearse a military blockade of the island after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August. China also cut off talks with the U.S. on a raft of issues following Pelosi’s trip including climate, an area where cooperation between the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases is crucial to efforts being discussed at ongoing U.N. climate talks in Egypt to limit the impact of climate change. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Friday that “the U.S. needs to work together with China to properly manage differences, advance mutually beneficial cooperation, avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation and bring China-U.S. relations back to the right track of sound and steady development.” READ: Imran Khan far better actor than Shahrukh and Salman, says Pakistani politician Xi is making this trip after having consolidated his hold on power in China last month at a major meeting of the long-ruling Communist Party. He was given a third five-year term as leader and the top party bodies were packed with his loyalists, signaling his approach to foreign and domestic policy will continue. China’s doubling of its defense budget over the past two decades and militarization of islands in the South China Sea have raised questions about its stated policy of a “peaceful rise.” Southeast Asian neighbors have had to tread a thin line between maintaining relations with the U.S. and incurring China’s wrath. At the APEC meeting in Thailand, Xi will deliver a speech on China’s proposals to deepen Asia-Pacific cooperation and promote regional and global economic growth, Zhao said. He is also expected to tout his Global Development Initiative, a rebranding of his signature “Belt and Road Initiative,” which has been criticized for saddling poor countries with massive debts and giving China potential control over crucial ports and other infrastructure from Southeast Asia to Europe. Though Xi has all but eliminated domestic political challenges, he faces rising threats on the economic front. China’s growth has slumped under the pressure of strict anti-virus campaigns that have disrupted trade, travel and supply chains, along with a crackdown on massive debt in the real estate industry, which has been a driver of growth. Dickson said the Xi-Biden meeting at the G-20 could help cool tensions. But, he added, “I’ve got to say right now that it’s hard to see any willingness coming from either country to try and stabilize things and keep the downward spiral from continuing.”

Beijing closed city parks and imposed other restrictions as the country faces a new wave of COVID-19 cases, even as millions of people remained under lockdown Friday in the west and south of China. The country reported 10,729 new cases on Friday, almost all of them testing positive while showing no symptoms. More than 5 million people were under lockdown Friday in the southern manufacturing hub Guangzhou and the western megacity Chongqing. With the bulk of Beijing’s 21 million people undergoing near daily testing, another 118 new cases were recorded in the sprawling city. Many city schools switched to online classes, hospitals restricted services and some shops and restaurants were shuttered, with their staff taken to quarantine. Videos on social media showed people in some areas protesting or fighting with police and health workers. “It has become normal, just like eating and sleeping," said food service worker Yang Zheng, 39. “I think what it impacts most is kids because they need to go to school.” Demands for testing every 24 to 48 hours are “troublesome,” said Ying Yiyang, who works in marketing. “My life is for sure not comparable to what it was three years ago," said Ying. Family visits outside of Beijing can be difficult if the smartphone app that virtually all Chinese are required to display does not green-light travel back to the capital, Ying said. “I just stay in Beijing,” Ying said. Read more: Biden to meet China's Xi on Monday for Taiwan, Russia talks Numerous villages on the capital's outskirts that are home to blue-collar workers whose labor keeps the city running were under lockdown. Many live in dormitory communities, which taxi and ride-sharing drivers said they were avoiding so as not to be placed in quarantine themselves. Lockdowns in Guangzhou and elsewhere were due to end by Sunday, but authorities have repeatedly extended such restrictions with no explanation. Chinese leaders had promised Thursday to respond to public frustration over its severe “zero-COVID” strategy that has confined millions to their homes and severely disrupted the economy. The government said Friday it was reducing the amount of time incoming passengers would be required to undergo quarantine. The U.S. Embassy this week renewed its advisement for citizens to avoid travel to and within China unless absolutely necessary. Incoming passengers will only be quarantined for five days, rather than the previous seven, at a designated location, followed by three days of isolation at their place of residence, according to a notice from the State Council, China's Cabinet. It wasn’t immediately clear when and where the rules would take effect and whether they would apply to foreigners and Chinese citizens alike. Relaxed standards would also be applied to foreign businesspeople and athletes, in what appeared to be a gradual move toward normalization. Airlines will no longer be threatened with a two-week-long suspension of flights if five or more passengers tested positive, the regulations said, potentially providing a major expansion of seats on such flights that have shrunk in numbers and soared in price since restrictions were imposed in 2020. Those flying to China will only need to show a single negative test for the virus within 48 hours of traveling, the rules said. Formerly, two tests within that time period were were required. “Zero-COVID” has kept China’s infection rate relatively low but weighs on the economy and has disrupted life by shutting schools, factories and shops, or sealing neighborhoods without warning. With the new surge in cases, a growing number of areas are shutting down businesses and imposing curbs on movement. In order to enter office buildings, shopping malls and other public places, people are required to show a negative result from a virus test taken as often as once a day. With economic growth weakening again after rebounding to 3.9% over a year earlier in the three months ending in September, forecasters had been expecting bolder steps toward reopening the country, whose borders remain largely closed. Read more: China launches Covid-19 vaccine inhaled through mouth President and ruling Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is expected to make a rare trip abroad next week, but has given little indication of backing off on a policy the party has closely associated with social stability and the avowed superiority of his policies. That has been maintained by its seven-person Politburo Standing Committee, which was named in October at a party congress that also expanded Xi’s political dominance by appointing him to a third five-year term as leader. It is packed with his loyalists, including the former party chief of Shanghai, who enforced a draconian lockdown that sparked food shortages, shut factories and confined millions to their homes for two months or more. People from cities with a single case in the past week are barred from visiting Beijing, while travelers from abroad are required to be quarantined in a hotel for seven to 10 days — if they are able to navigate the timely and opaque process of acquiring a visa. Business groups say that discourages foreign executives from visiting, which has prompted companies to shift investment plans to other countries. Visits from U.S. officials and lawmakers charged with maintaining the crucial trading relations amid tensions over tariffs, Taiwan and human rights have come to a virtual standstill. Last week, access to part of the central city of Zhengzhou, home to the world’s biggest iPhone factory, was suspended after residents tested positive for the virus. Thousands of workers jumped fences and hiked along highways to escape the factory run by Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group. Many said coworkers who fell ill received no help and working conditions were unsafe. Also last week, people posted outraged comments on social media after a 3-year-old boy, whose compound in the northwest was under quarantine, died of carbon monoxide poisoning. His father complained that guards who were enforcing the closure refused to help and tried to stop him as he rushed his son to a hospital. Despite such complaints, Chinese citizens have little say in policy making under the one-party authoritarian system that maintains rigid controls over media and public demonstrations. Speculation on when measures will be eased has centered on whether the government is willing to import or domestically produce more effective vaccines, with the elderly population left particularly vulnerable. That could come as soon as next spring, when a new slate of officials are due to be named under Xi's continuing leadership. Or, restrictions could persist much longer if the government continues to reject the notion of living to learn with a relatively low level of cases that cause far fewer hospitalizations and deaths than when the pandemic was at its height.