Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20220830

A30 WORLD NEWS
Diamars 30 augustus 2022

Chinese think tank: Virus curbs must change to help economy

BEIJING (AP) — A Chi- panies and neighborhoods is
nese think tank issued a more severe than last year,
rare public disagreement the think tank said. It said
Monday with the ruling that "freezing effect" might
Communist Party's severe be even worse than when
"zero COVID" policy, say- the outbreak began in 2020
ing curbs that shut down and the whole economy shut
cities and disrupt trade, down temporarily.
travel and industry must On Monday, the southern
change to prevent an "eco- city of Shenzhen, a center
nomic stall." for technology and finance
that borders Hong Kong, an-
The Anbound Research nounced a three-day closure
Center gave no details of pos- of some residential areas to
sible changes but said Presi- contain an outbreak and shut
dent Xi Jinping's government down the world's biggest
needs to focus on shoring up electronics market.
sinking growth. It noted the
United States, Europe and Also Monday, the govern-
Japan are recovering eco- ment of Shenyang, the most
nomically after easing anti- populous city in the north-
disease curbs. east, postponed the start of
in-person classes this week
Even such mild public dis- for primary and high school
agreement with official policy students.
is almost unknown in a polit- himself a third five-year term virus out of China by isolat- Group and provided research
ically sensitive year when Xi, as leader. ing every case, is unsustain- to government agencies and China needs to "focus on eco-
China's most powerful leader Economists warn that China able. Officials respond that financial institutions. nomic recovery and gradually
since at least the 1980s, is needs to boost growth that they have no alternative be- integrate with the world," the
expected to try to extend his sank to 2.5% over a year ear- cause letting the virus spread Its report gave no indication Anbound report said.
time in office. lier in the first half of 2022, would overwhelm Chinese whether it might represent
less than half the official an- hospitals. the thinking of officials who Travel curbs keep out most
The report, dated Sunday, nual target of 5.5%, after are unhappy with the soaring foreign visitors. The govern-
was posted on the Anbound Shanghai and other industrial A Shanghai physician with 3 economic and human cost of ment has stopped replacing
Research Center's accounts centers shut down starting in million followers on social "zero COVID." passports that expire and has
on the popular WeChat mes- late March to fight virus out- media, Zhang Wenhong, was China's policy has kept deaths called on the public to avoid
saging platform and the Sina breaks. shut down by official criti- and infection numbers low going abroad.
Weibo microblog service but cism and targeted by a pla- but led to a wave of business
was deleted from both on The economy also is under giarism investigation in 2021 failures. Last week, the U.S. govern-
Monday afternoon. pressure from a plunge in after he suggested China's ment canceled 26 flights by
real estate activity after Bei- strategy could change and the News reports say local gov- Chinese airlines to China
The anti-virus curbs are jing tightened controls on the world "needs to learn how to ernments are cutting public from the United States in a
widely expected to stay in industry's use of debt. coexist with the virus." services and wages for civil dispute over Beijing's anti-
place at least until after a servants to pay for virus test- virus controls. China earlier
Communist Party meeting Economists and public health Founded in 1993, Anbound ing and anti-disease mea- forced American carriers to
in October and November experts have warned since says it has served the Com- sures. cancel the same number of
at which Xi is likely to break mid-2021 that "zero COV- munist Party's Central Finan- The economic impact of re- flights after some passengers
with tradition and award ID," which aims to keep the cial and Economic Leading peated shutdowns of com- tested positive for the virus.

Iran president: No way back to nuclear deal

if probe goes on

tention on the deal as talks in weapons program until 2003. IAEA surveillance cameras
Vienna hang in the balance, it Iran long has denied ever and inspectors. Then-Presi-
took Raisi well over an hour seeking nuclear weapons. dent Donald Trump unilater-
before fully acknowledging ally withdrew America from
the ongoing negotiations. As a member of the Nucle- the accord in 2018, setting
Tehran and Washington have ar Nonproliferation Treaty, the stage for years of rising
traded written responses in Iran is obligated to explain tensions.
recent weeks on the finer the radioactive traces and to
points of the roadmap, which provide assurances that they As of the last public IAEA
would see sanctions lifted are not being used as part of count, Iran has a stockpile of
against Iran in exchange for it a nuclear weapons program. some 3,800 kilograms (8,370
restricting its rapidly advanc- Iran found itself criticized by pounds) of enriched urani-
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — In a rare news conference ing nuclear program. the IAEA's Board of Gover- um. More worrying for non-
Iran's president warned marking his first year in of- nors in June over its failure profileration experts, Iran
Monday that any road- fice, President Ebrahim Raisi The International Atomic to answer questions about now enriches uranium up to
map to restore Tehran's also issued threats against Is- Energy Agency for years has the sites to the inspectors' 60% purity — a level it never
tattered nuclear deal with rael and tried to sound upbeat sought for Iran to answer satisfaction. reached before that is a short,
world powers must see in- as Iran's economy and rial questions about man-made Under the 2015 nuclear deal, technical step away from
ternational inspectors end currency has cratered under uranium particles found at Tehran could enrich uranium 90%. Those experts warn
their probe on man-made the weight of international undeclared sites. U.S. intel- to 3.67%, while maintain- Iran has enough 60%-en-
uranium particles found sanctions. ligence agencies, Western na- ing a stockpile of uranium of riched uranium to reprocess
at undeclared sites in the tions and the IAEA have said 300 kilograms (660 pounds) into fuel for at least one nu-
country. Despite the international at- Iran ran an organized nuclear under constant scrutiny of clear bomb.