Missouri Sues China over Coronavirus

Eric Schmitt, Republican attorney general in Missouri is suing the Chinese government over the coronavirus. Schmitt claims China is to be responsible for lying to the world about the severity of the disease, resulting in deaths, suffering, and economic losses inflicted on the word.“The Chinese government lied to the world about the danger and contagious nature of Covid-19, silenced whistleblowers, and did little to stop the spread of the disease,” he said. “They must be held accountable for their actions.”American international law professor Chiemene Keinter doesn’t think this lawsuit will have much impact stating, “the legal problem is, it’s just not possible. with only a few exception, the act of seeing a country is basically impossible. The fact that the possibility of this actually going through the legal system leads any to believe this is just a stunt for reelection.

Wet Markets

After getting immense backlash for its part in potentially being the culprit of the virus, most Chinese wet markets have been reluctant to reopen. To the outside world, wet markets are an easy place where virus can spreed due to its unsanitary image. Selling meat outdoors where it is exposed to a variety of bacteria if not handled correctly, lures many away. But in fact, wet markets are a place where many working class Chinese people buy cheap meat, fruits, and vegetables. Recently, due to shutdown restrictions many people were left to use online grocery shopping methods. I suppose given the circumstances, this was a viable option. But now that shutdown has been lifted, many people especially the older generation who is used to going out and physically buying their groceries need wet markets to slowly opening. Closing wet markets indefinitely will be an illusion to solving animal transmitted viruses perhaps looking into the illegal trade of wildlife will get us better results.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/14/asia/china-wet-market-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html

Corona Racism

The African community in the Chinese city of Guangzhou are accusing Chinese authorities of racism related to COVID-19 prevention. Multiple Africans have admitted to have experienced some kind discrimination since the lifting of the quarantine in the country. Marginalization of africans is nothing new in Guangzhou. "I've been sleeping under a bridge for four days with no food to eat... I cannot buy food anywhere, no shops or restaurants will serve me" said an exchange student from Uganda. After being accused for this behavior, Chinese foreign minister Zhao Lijian said the "government has zero tolerance for discrimination" and that the "Guangdong authorities were working promptly to improve their working conditions". 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/13/chinese-official-claims-racial-targeting-reasonable-concerns

India Improved Pollution Levels Saving Lives

As of March 24, India had been placed on absolute lockdown. That means all markets, factories, and shops are closed. India, being the very densely populated country we all know,  has been seeing environmental improvements in the midst of this pandemic. Before the lockdown even took place, a curfew was put in place in the beginning of March  and since then the pollution levels have been steadily improving. India has the highest respiratory disease in the world, and a very high number of tuberculosis cases. This pandemic is in fact saving lives as opposed to just taking them. 

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/31/asia/coronavirus-lockdown-impact-pollution-india-intl-hnk/index.html

i know i know coronavirus again

A child was found home alone with his dead grandfather in Hubei, China. Considering the recent lockdown restrictions recently put into place in many Chinese cities, many people have been stuck in their house form now months. After witnessing his grandfather die, the the 5 year old boy was left to survive off biscuits until help finally came a couple days later. after being asked why he didn't ask for help, the boy responded "grandpa said not to go outside. There is a virus outside". Only healthcare workers and those providing essential supplies were able to be out on the streets, policed by public security. Local committee districts were to arrange food and medicine for residents. Those who broke the rules are in danger of being detained.  

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/26/china-child-found-home-alone-with-dead-grandfather-amid-coronavirus-lockdown

China's Absence This Fashion Week Season

Due to the recent Coronavirus outbreak many of China's top designers will not be able to attend this years round of fashion week's around the world. Shanghai fashion week took a direct hit, considering it is in China, and had to postpone their events due to the amount of absence they would experience. Fashion weeks around the world are also experiencing the repercussions of this virus. Because many top Chinese designers and buyers can't leave the country, the revenue and popularity of these events will experimenting significant losses. Chinese consumers are the biggest spenders in the world, and can essentially break or make brands' revenue growth.   

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/fashion-weeks-impact-china-coronavirus/index.html

Carlos Ghosn Lawsuit

Former Nissan executive, Carlos Ghosn, has been served a $90 million dollar lawsuit. The once successful businessman has been accused of financial wrongdoings for the company. Ghosn has been convicted of spending company money to throw extravagant half million dollar parties, pay for his children's tuition, pay for his own wedding, and cover many other personal expenses. After being convicted in Japan, Ghosen hopped on a private plane and fled to his home country Lebenon. The International Police Organization was able to find him and continue with the prosecution. Currently Ghosn is in Lebenon and refuses to begin trial in Japan where the conviction rate is 99%. Since the allegations, Nissan stock has plummeted substantially and looks to restore some of the companies losses through this lawsuit.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/business/nissan-carlos-ghosn-lawsuit.html

Coronavirus Comedic Relief

Due to the recent Corona Virus scare people living in China have undergone, media outlets in the area have took an interesting take. Led by communist president Xi Jinping, China has called for positive propaganda in a time of stress. Chinese state media has been pushing out a series positive messages over the last couple of days, including a number of patriotic videos about the country's attempts to fight the virus. One of the more notable ones is a short video showing people walk past inferred temperature sensors recently installed in airports and train stations to monitor temperature of passengers aimed Corona Virus outbreak can screen them all. an accompanying video shows inferred images of people monitoring by temperature set to slapstick music complete with farting sounds.


positive propaganda video:
 https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-02-02/Wuhan-we-will-stand-with-you-NKVu8F4UJa/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/04/from-gassy-passengers-to-viral-anthems-beijing-seeks-to-lighten-mood-amid-crisis

Coronavirus Forcing China to Cut Transportation

Due to the thousands of Coronavirus cases popping up in mainland China, some of the countries leaders have stoped the transportation to and from the country. The virus has slowly spread across the world, cases being seen as far as the United States, Australia, and France to name a few. As of January 28, 2020, 106 people have been killed by this virus. Transport to the city where the virus began, Wehan, have been completely cut and hospital in the area have been extremely overwhelmed. Considering the virus is beginning to escape China, countries that trade with China are beginning to temporarily cancel transportation of goods in order to protect themselves from the disease. According to Rebecca Ratcliffe, witter for The Guardian, "China has encouraged citizens to reconsider the timing of overseas flights, and introduced sweeping domestic travel restrictions in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease.". This shows the level of precaution the world is taking in order to minimizes the spread if this virus. 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/28/wuhan-evacuation-us-and-japan-to-fly-out-citizens-as-coronavirus-deaths-rise

China's Birthrates

China's low birthrates have been a hot topic discussion of recently. Their infamous one child policy has not only controlled its once overwhelming overpopulation issues, but in-fact have posed threats to the future success of the countries economy. The one child policy made it difficult for rural families to have more than one child without having to hide a child or come up with money to work around the system. Joshua Berlinger, writer for CNN, states " Chineses mothers gave birth to 14.65 million children last year, a birth rate of 10.48 babies per 1,000 people, according to figures from the National Bureau of statistics.".  The Chinese Communist party encourages families to produce more children but parents fear they are not financial competent enough to provide for a child considering China's low working class wages. Economically, China fears that its current low birthrates will not be enough to sustain the older retired population in the future. In order for the country to continue producing similar economic success, birthrates will need to double current numbers.

Source:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/17/asia/china-birthrate-intl-hnk/index.html

North Korea may be Open to Solo Travel

Throughout the last couple months government officials in South Korea have been open to negotiating policy that might make it accessible for South Korean citizens to visit North Korea. Under this new policy, South Koreans will be granted visas by their government that will allow them to travel to North Korea, but only with the permission of North Korea as well. According to CNN Travel, "The ministry's deputy spokesman, Kim Eun-han, said individual tourism was not subject to sanctions and that "the government is actively reviewing to allow South Koreans to visit North Korea individually as long as the safety for the citizens can be guaranteed.". This leaving only the concern of South Korean's safety the last barrier present in the way of allowing South Koreans into their neighboring country. Considering rising tensions with the North Korea and the rest of the world, these threats to safety are not easy to look past. It's not likely these negotiations will go smoothly, but obvious progress is being made in the quest to open North Korea to the rest of the world.