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Coronavirus: Hong Kong confirms 13 new cases; 300,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shots land in city Hongkongers get tested in Sai Ying Pun. Photo: Nora Tam
Hong Kong has confirmed 13 new coronavirus cases, while the city s BioNTech vaccination programme has been boosted by the arrival of 300,000 more doses.
Three of Tuesday s Covid-19 cases were locally transmitted, one of which was untraceable, and the other 10 were imported from India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Japan.
Eight of those imported cases involved a mutant strain of the coronavirus, taking the total number of variant-strain infections identified in Hong Kong to 210.
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Is India planning to spy on Chinese submarines from the Andamans, with a little help from Japan? An aerial view of some of the 524 islands that make up the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. Photo: AFP
India s move, with a little help from Japan, to develop a strategically located island chain near the mouth of Southeast Asia s main shipping lane is part of a broader plan by New Delhi to keep a closer watch on China s naval assets, say analysts and former Indian officials - especially its submarines.
The Andaman and Nicobar archipelago of 524 islands, only 38 of which are inhabited, stretches across some 1,000km (620 miles) of Indian Ocean by the western entrance to the Malacca Strait, through which an estimated 80 per cent or more of China s seaborne trade passes.
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South China Sea, Diaoyus and North Korea to top agenda as Japan and Germany’s foreign, defence ministers meet with China on their mind Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi, right, attend a video conference with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on Tuesday. Photo: Pool via AFP
Japan and Germany s first 2-plus-2 meeting between their respective foreign and defence ministers opened via live video link on Tuesday, with security and a shared concern over China s increasingly aggressive approach to regional territorial issues set to top the agenda.
Tesla, recharge: can China’s EV brands dethrone Elon Musk? Start-ups Li Auto, Nio and Xpeng are going global with cheaper electric cars for all The Nio EP9, one of the fastest electric cars in the world and a another sign of China’s growing presence in all segments of the EV market. Photo: AFP
Can China produce a car to take on Tesla? Last year saw two models account for 20 per cent of sales for plug-in electric cars, or what China calls new energy vehicles (NEV). The made-in-China Tesla Model 3 went on sale right at the beginning of 2020, and went on to claim 11 per cent over the year. The ultra-compact Wuling Hongguang Mini EV, released in the middle of the year, took second place, with retail prices starting as low as 28,800 yuan (YS$4,400) helping it eclipse Tesla sales in several calendar months.
American Rescue Plan: US stimulus seen widening trade deficit that sparked Trump’s trade war with China The US$1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan is poised to attract more Chinese imports. Photo: Reuters
The US$1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan is poised to attract more Chinese imports, and analysts expect it to widen the United States contentious trade deficit with the world s second-biggest economy.
The stimulus will add about US$30 billion to US imports from China this year, estimates Derek Scissors, chief economist at China Beige Book International, a data-collection platform tracking the Chinese marketplace. And if all of the stimulus dollars were to be spent rather than saved, Societe Generale estimates it would pull in as much as US$40 billion in additional Chinese imports.