Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
June 7, 2021
Japan accelerates vaccination rollout before Olympics
TOKYO — Japan mobilized military doctors and nurses to give shots to
elderly people in Tokyo and Osaka on May 24 as the government desperately
accelerated its vaccination rollout to curb coronavirus infections just two
months before hosting the Olympics. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is
determined to hold the Olympics in Tokyo after a one-year delay and has made
an ambitious pledge to finish vaccinating the country’s 36 million elderly people
by the end of July, despite skepticism it’s possible. Worries about public safety
while many Japanese remain unvaccinated have prompted growing protests
and calls for cancelling the Olympics, set to start on July 23. Suga’s government
has repeatedly expanded the area and duration of a virus state of emergency
since late April and has made its virus-fighting measures stricter. But with
COVID-19 cases still persistently high, Suga says vaccines are key to getting the
infections under control. At the two mass inoculation centers staffed by Japan’s
Self-Defense Forces, the aim is to inoculate up to 10,000 people per day in Tokyo
and another 5,000 per day in Osaka for the next three months. People inoculated
at the centers last month were the first in Japan to receive doses from Moderna
Inc., one of two foreign-developed vaccines now approved in Japan. Previously
Japan had used only Pfizer Inc. Japan began vaccinating healthcare workers in
mid-February while sticking to a standard requirement of clinical testing inside
Japan — a decision many experts said was statistically meaningless and only
caused delay. Vaccinations for the next group — the elderly, who are more likely
to suffer serious COVID-19 effects — started in mid-April but was slowed by
bureaucratic bumbling including reservation procedures, unclear distribution
plans, and a shortage of medical staff to give shots.
China issues total ban on synthetic cannabinoids
BEIJING (AP) — China last month said it will add all synthetic cannabinoids
to its list of banned drugs, in what it described as a first in the world, to curb their
manufacturing, trafficking, and abuse. It is the second time Chinese authorities
have imposed a class-wide ban on a substance, after all fentanyl-related drugs
were controlled in 2019. Synthetic cannabinoids are human-made chemicals
that act on the same brain receptors as the main active ingredient in marijuana.
However, they can be toxic and cause “serious side effects that are very different
from those of marijuana,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. The United States says China is a key source of synthetic drugs
which are then shipped to users in the U.S. Chinese officials said 18 other new
psychoactive substances will also be banned. The changes take effect July 1.
Authorities said 1,047 types of new psychoactive substances had appeared as of
the end of 2020, of which about 450 were found in the last five years. Between
2018 and 2020, about 300 cases of what is locally known as “Natasha” synthetic
cannabinoids were uncovered in Xinjiang, while more than 300 fluroroketamine
cases were found in the southern region of Guangxi, officials said. Last year,
Shandong narcotics authorities uncovered the large-scale manufacturing and
trafficking of synthetic cannabinoids involving 13 provinces and more than 40
cities, officials said. They said 790 pounds of synthetic cannabinoids were seized.
The ban did not specify penalties, but China regularly executes people found
guilty in drug cases.
People dying from tainted rice wine despite crackdown
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Twelve more people have died in
Cambodia from drinking cheap adulterated rice wine, a perennial problem
especially in rural areas, officials said. The Health Ministry said the victims
died in two additional deadly incidents after a drinking session at a May 10
funeral in Kandal province took the lives of 12 other people. A court in Kandal
has charged 13 people — two producers and 11 vendors — in connection with
that incident. They are accused of violating a law against misleading
representation leading to death or disability, which is punishable by two to five
years imprisonment. Two people in a nearby village who had not attended the
funeral also died from drinking tainted wine and 10 others died in a village in the
southern province of Kampot, the ministry said in a statement. Fifty-six others
were sickened but are recovering. After tests from Kampot showed the deaths
were caused by toxic wine, officials went to the affected village and barred
further production and consumption of the product. Rice wine is typically made
in small batches in homes in the countryside and is popular at events such as
weddings, funerals, and village festivals. Alcohol is sometimes added to boost
the drink’s potency, but if it is not distilled properly it can contain toxic levels of
methanol, which can cause blindness or death. Tests showed that the victims did
not have COVID-19, which has surged recently in Cambodia, it said.
ADMIRABLE ASCENT. Chinese climber Zhang Hong, 44, who became the first blind Asian to scale Mount Everest,
sat for an interview with The Associated Press at a hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal, on May 31, 2021. Zhang says he aims to
climb the highest peaks on all seven continents and then travel to the North and South Poles. (AP Photos/Bikram Rai)
Chinese climber becomes first
blind Asian to scale Everest
By Binaj Gurubacharya
The Associated Press
ATHMANDU, Nepal — A Chinese
climber who became the first blind
Asian to scale Mount Everest says he
aims to climb the highest peaks on all seven
continents and then travel to the North and
South Poles.
Zhang Hong, 44, is also the third blind
climber internationally to reach the world’s
highest peak.
Following his guides and Sherpas, he
reached the summit on May 24 and returned
safely to Kathmandu.
He said he was inspired by a blind American
climber, Eric Weihenmayer, who scaled
Everest in 2001. A climber from Austria was
the second blind person to reach the peak.
“Personally I plan to try the ‘grand slam’ in
the next few years — the seven summits
around the world on seven continents and the
North and South Poles,” Zhang said.
“Today I sit here and think about Eric
(Weihenmayer), who inspired me to have such
a dream and work all the way, and eventually I
achieved it,” he said. “So, I would think there
are so many other visually impaired people
K
China reports human case of H10N3 bird flu, a possible first
BEIJING (AP) — A man in eastern China
has contracted what might be the world’s first
human case of the H10N3 strain of bird flu, but
the risk of large-scale spread is low, the
government says.
The 41-year-old man in Jiangsu province,
northwest of Shanghai, was hospitalized April
28 and is in stable condition, the National
Health Commission said on its website.
No human case of H10N3 has been reported
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Foreigners arrested on Bali for alleged drug possession
DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — A British hotel owner and an Italian tourist
were arrested for alleged possession of narcotics on Indonesia’s resort island of
Bali, according to police. The two men, dressed in orange, were shown to
journalists at a news conference. Kenneth Daniel Kutsch, a British man who has
a hotel business on neighboring Lombok island, and his Indonesian partner, Ni
Ketut Dewi Seniwati, were arrested in the parking lot of a restaurant in Bali in
May after residents reported narcotic transactions in the area, police said.
Badung police chief Roby Septiadi said officers seized 7.9 ounces of marijuana
from Kutsch and his partner. “We are still deepening the investigation. But
judging from the evidence, it could lead to him being a dealer,” Septiadi said at
the news conference. Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws, and convicted
dealers are sometimes executed by firing squad. More than 150 people are
currently on death row, mostly for drug crimes. About one-third are foreigners.
around the world and also in Asia, and I hope
what I did can be an inspiration for them.”
Zhang became blind at age 21 due to
glaucoma. He has been working as a masseur
at a hospital in Tibet, where he lives with his
wife.
He trained for five years before climbing
Everest, carrying bags packed with 66 pounds
of weight up the staircase of the hospital where
he works. He also climbed several smaller
peaks in China.
On the Everest climb, it was difficult
navigating the slippery trails and moving
around blocks of ice because of high winds on
the mountain.
Hundreds of people attempted to climb
Everest from the Nepal side in May after the
government opened the mountain to foreign
climbers this year. The northern side of the
mountain in China is closed because of
concerns about COVID-19.
Zhang said all of his team was vaccinated
before the expedition and had a separate camp
on the mountain to distance themselves from
other climbers. Nepalese authorities have
denied any coronavirus outbreak on Everest,
but a prominent guide said there were more
than 100 cases on the mountain.
Please call us for
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elsewhere, the commission said.
“This infection is an accidental cross-species
transmission,” the statement said. “The risk of
large-scale transmission is low.”
The news comes amid heightened
awareness of the threat of emerging diseases
as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to claim
lives around the world.
But unlike with coronaviruses, there are
Continued on page 4
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84.05
4077.4
6.3945
2.0235
7.7566
72.869
14241
42025
109.42
9435.3
4.126
117.2
154.3
3.504
47.648
72.805
3.7499
1.324
1112.0
197.97
27.664
31.18
23046