China's major-country diplomacy has shown shining performance at the G20 summit, which is good news for the region and the whole world
that are crisis-ridden.
Active: Studies have shown that users of public transport have greater health benefits, as users walk or cycle instead of sitting in a car. — Filepic
MALAYSIA has experienced an extremely eventful period since the last general election in 2018. Since then, we have seen political instability with three prime ministers and three health ministers, a global pandemic causing five million cases and 36,000 deaths in Malaysia, multiple floods, a slowing economy, and rising cost of living.
The existence of the #RakyatJagaRakyat, #KitaJagaKita, and white flag movements paint the narrative of the rakyat feeling that they must be self-reliant and must depend on one another.
This solidarity is important. What’s equally important is to choose our political leaders carefully, in the form of elections.
While a general election is not a reset button which provides an immediate solution, it does offer a chance for the rakyat to chart Malaysia’s direction over the next five years.
In an increasingly crowded political climate, every vote matters. For example, in 2018, the State Legislative Assembly (SLA) seat of Ajil in Terengganu was won by a meagre margin of only four votes. This shows every vote is important and has the potential to determine who does or does not become the rakyat’s representative to Parliament or SLAs. Therefore, all Malaysians must exercise their constitutional right (and duty) to vote.
With the 15th General Election and state elections for Pahang, Perak, and Perlis falling on 19 Nov 2022, these are what we, as health practitioners, would like to see candidates offer:
Prioritise health in all policies:Health is an important component in all public policies, not just in the Health Ministry. This is because health is affected by various factors associated with everyday living, from transport to employment rights, gender rights, poverty eradication and education. This is termed as the social determinants of health. For example, policies which make public transport safe and accessible would encourage public use of trains or buses, which could reduce stress and help address climate change.Studies have shown users of public transport also have greater health benefits, as users walk or cycle instead of sitting in a car. This not only increases the fitness level of the users, but also reduces the risk of diabetes and hypertension.
This example shows the intricate connection between policies and health. Hence, when addressing voters with their manifestos, we look forward to candidates putting forward policies which champion the health and wellbeing of the rakyat, and for elected representatives to lobby and implement good health-centric policies.
Build continuity into the health reform process:
Many Bills were presented or planned to be presented to Parliament prior to its dissolution, for example, the Generational End Game anti-smoking bill and the Health Reforms White Paper. These two bills represent long-term efforts to reform the health system to improve the health of Malaysians, introduced by the strong and capable Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
These two Bills must survive the political transition process. Therefore, the reform process must be equipped with safeguards which allow them to be carried out on “autopilot mode” by our very competent civil servants, and ongoing projects should not be scrapped without good reason.
It is our sincere hope that whoever forms the government next would minimise the delay of the health reform process and build continuity into the health reform process.
Place capable individuals in positions of leadership:
Good practices begin with good leadership and placing the right persons in the right positions has strong implications. In past years, there have been individuals being celebrated for the impact they make despite the short duration of governance. Candidates for the elections, and subsequently for ministerial positions, must be made based on competence, merit, and their qualifications.
Specifically, the appointment of the health minister is important because we need people who can understand the needs and nuances associated with the role. While there have been strong performances from ministers without a medical background, the eventual government can also appoint non-elected and well-qualified technocrats to the role.
Besides that, the appointments to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Health, Science, and Innovation are important as well. The PSC must provide strong recommendations and play an instrumental role in providing check and balance, to contribute to the strong performance of the Health Ministry in recent years.
Finally, while it is easy to forget, we are still in the middle of a pandemic. The Omicron sublineage variant of XBB has been reported to be the most antibody-evasive variant identified to date. It has been identified in over 26 countries and is spreading rapidly. In Malaysia, the seven-day average new case is nearing the 3,000 mark, which was last breached two months ago. Hence, we strongly encourage election campaigners to take necessary steps including holding virtual ceramah on social media to limit the spread of infection. Candidates being given equal airtime on mainstream media would be an efficient way to prevent the spread of infection as well.
At the same time, campaign managers should seek expert opinion prior to organising events as well. With the threat of the flood season, election campaigners must make sure the safety of the campaigners and the crowd are prioritised during the campaign and also on polling day. The Meteorological Department’s reports should be heeded and, should the event of disasters such as floods take place, the priority should be to save lives and ensure aid reaches affected families.
Come Nov 19, Malaysians have a chance to reset and restart the country. While the election has to take place, we must ensure it is a safe one for all involved: For voters, officials, volunteers, and candidates. We look forward to the safe execution of the 15th General Election and hope that the best of Malaysia will be elected, and not incompetent, corrupt, or divisive politicians.
DR SEAN THUM and DR KHOR SWEE KHENG
(Drs Sean Thum and Khor Swee Kheng are part of the Malaysian Health Coalition)
COVID-19
infections have been trending downward in the U.S. since August but increased about 10% over the past two weeks, according to data from the
CDC. Read more.
Some high-stakes diplomacy already in motion, ahead of the key G20 summit that kicks off tomorrow (Nov 15) in Bali. Leaders of the world's two biggest superpowers have been meeting face-to-face. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden have stressed the need to manage their differences and avoid conflict between their nations.
Xi tells Biden: We must put China-U.S. ties back on right track
;
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with US President Joe Biden upon request in Bali, Indonesia, Nov. 14, 2022. Photo: Xinhua
Current state of China-US relations is not in the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, and is not ...
Chinese President Xi Jinping, during meeting with US President Joe Biden on Monday in Bali, Indonesia, said they should chart the right course for the development of bilateral relations and push bilateral ties back to the track of healthy and stable development.
Xi said during the meeting that China and the US have braced winds and rains in their more than 50 years of engagement, from the establishment of diplomatic relations until today. There have been gains and losses, experience and lessons. History is the best textbook and China and the US should take history as a reference and look to the future.
The current situation of China-US relations does not conform to the interests of the two countries and their peoples, now does it conform to the expectations of the international community, Xi said.
As leaders of two major countries, we should hold the helm and find the right direction for the development of bilateral relations and push ties to improve. Politicians should think about both their own country's development path and how to get along with other countries and the world, said Xi.
As leaders of two major countries, we should find the right way. Politicians should think about both their own country's development path and how to get along with other countries and the world, said Xi.
Xi noted the changes of the times are unfolding in an unprecedented way and human society is facing unprecedented challenges, and the world is at a crossroads. We care, and all countries in the world care about where they are going.
The international community expects China and the US to handle our relations well. Our meeting today has attracted worldwide attention. We should work together with other countries to inject hope for world peace, confidence in global stability and momentum for collective development, Xi said.
He expressed willingness to continue candid and in-depth exchanges with the US president on strategic issues in China-US ties and key global and regional issues.
Xi said he looks forward to working with the US president to push bilateral relations back on the track of healthy and stable development so as to benefit both countries and the world.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the G20 summit to be held in Indonesia on Tuesday and Wednesday. Xi told Biden that though the two leaders have remained in communication via video-conferences, phone calls and letters, none of these can really take the place of face-to-face exchanges.
President Xi arrived at the island of Bali on Monday afternoon. As a guard of honor paid salutes alongside the red carpet, some local youths in national costume played traditional Indonesian musical instruments, while others performed a traditional Bali dance. Young students cheered in Chinese "Welcome! Welcome!" while waving the Chinese and Indonesian flags, CCTV reported.
According to CCTV, local people also gathered along the roads from the airport to the hotel where Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were going to stay, waving the Chinese and Indonesian flags to express their warmest welcome on their arrival.
Compared with China, US has little resonance in developing world: Martin Jacques
G20 Indonesia Photo:VCG
The forthcoming G20 meeting reflects both positives and negatives in the current global situation. That it is being held in Indonesia, one of the largest developing countries, sends a positive signal to the world. As does the fact that ASEAN, of which it is a member, is non-aligned, opposed to blocs, and hugely engaged with China. But then there are the negatives. The US, supported by its closest allies, could seek to hijack the meeting for an anti-Russian tirade, poisoning the atmosphere and dividing the G20 at a time when the world faces the worst economic outlook since the 2008 financial crisis.
The first G20 summit in Washington DC in 2008 stands in stark contrast. It adopted, with overwhelming support, the largest fiscal and monetary stimulus ever undertaken, thereby averting the worst depression since the 1930s. In contrast to this remarkable display of unity, Bali will be a forceful reminder of how divided the world now is. In 2008, China and the US were on the same page. In 2022, the US now regards China as its sworn enemy. The meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden is likely to remind us of this.
Although the US has hitherto refrained from calling the present US-China relationship a cold war, this is patently the American playbook. The aim is to contain and isolate China, to undermine its links with the rest of the world, and thereby reverse the tide of China's rise. The attempt to cut China off from American semi-conductor technology is the latest example. Be that as it may, the US is finding it far more difficult to isolate China than it anticipated. The world is very different from what it was during the Cold War when it was divided into two hostile and hermetically sealed blocs.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict is a very good example of how things have changed. The US sought to erect an economic blockade around Russia by means of economic sanctions. Europe went along with this but most of the world did not, a classic example being India. Economic sanctions haven't worked in the way intended. If the US can't economically isolate Russia, then there is zero chance that it could isolate China, which, as the world's largest trading nation, is hugely more important to the global economy than Russia.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict proved to be a highly successful recruiting sergeant in Europe for a closer US-Europe relationship. Since the end of the Cold War, there had been a gradual process of distancing between Europe and the US. This now came to a screeching halt, replaced by a new enthusiasm for the Atlantic alliance, combined with increased hostility toward China, with China and Russia portrayed as identical. But, in a crucial intervention, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently spelt out the importance of China to Germany's future. He went to China and met with Xi, the first Western leader to do so since the pandemic. He publicly rejected the idea of decoupling.
He then reaffirmed Germany's opposition to dividing the world into rival blocs. This goes against the grain of post-Ukraine trends in Europe, exemplified by Britain, the US' ever-willing and reliable lapdog. Scholz has drawn a line and indicated an important degree of continuity with Angela Merkel's previous approach to China. It will be interesting, in this context, to hear what French President Emmanuel Macron says in Bali during his meeting with Xi. The signs are that Europe's commitment to strategic autonomy has not been erased, but is now being quietly reasserted, that its relationship with China will continue to grow, and that it will keep its distance from America's cold war aspirations.
Europe will remain an important weathervane of geopolitical alignments. But, however autonomous it might or might not become, it will, for manifold reasons, tend to lean toward America. ASEAN is very different from Europe, but at least as important. It is a template for a new kind of international order. With extraordinary skill, it has managed to remain aloof from US-China divisions, pursue relations with both, while, given its regional proximity to China, being transformed by China's economic rise. It is the most interesting example of how a group of countries can negotiate a new kind of close and harmonious relationship with China. The US has wisely sought to develop a closer relationship with ASEAN, but, barring a huge misstep by China, it will never displace China's importance for them.
So what does the future hold? America will not be able to contain China. The latter will remain deeply connected with the world. China's greatest strength is the close relationship it has built with the developing world. America's alliance system, in contrast, dates back to the postwar world. It is rooted in the past. It is composed essentially of a bunch of declining developed countries, mainly European, plus Japan, Canada, and Australia. Compared with China, the US has little resonance in the developing world. This is an enormous strategic weakness. These are some of the parameters which will shape the future. How that future might actually evolve in practice, of course, is another matter. We live in very unpredictable times.
The author was until recently a senior fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University. He is a visiting professor at the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University and a senior fellow at the China Institute, Fudan University. Follow him on twitter @martjacques. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn
EXERCISING in the afternoon or evening may be better for blood sugar control than spreading activity throughout the day, research suggests.
A new study published in the journal Diabetologia found that exercising between noon and midnight could cut insulin resistance by up to a quarter.
Insulin resistance is when cells in the muscles, fat and liver struggle to respond to insulin and cannot easily take up glucose from the blood.
This results in the pancreas making more insulin to help the glucose enter cells.
Blood glucose stays in the healthy range as long as the pancreas can make enough insulin to overcome the cells’ weak response, but sometimes the glucose levels rise too high and sugar stays in the bloodstream.
This can lead to pre-diabetes (the stage before diabetes is diagnosed) or diabetes.
The new study was carried out by Dr Jeroen van der Velde and colleagues at Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
Previous studies have demonstrated that exercise is linked to better sensitivity to insulin, thereby cutting the risk of developing diabetes.
The team used data from the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity study, which included men and women aged between 45 and 65 years with a body mass index (BMI) of 27 or more (putting them in the overweight or obese category).
A separate group of people were used as a control group, meaning the overall study included 6,671 people. Those taking part underwent a physical examination during which blood samples were taken to measure blood glucose and insulin levels when people were fasting and after eating.
People were also asked about their lifestyles and some were randomly selected to have their liver fat content measured using MRI scans.
A random group of 955 people were also given a combined accelerometer and heart rate monitor to wear for four consecutive days and nights to monitor movement and activity levels.
Some 775 people with complete data were included in an analysis.
The results showed that spending time on moderate to vigorous physical activity reduced liver fat content and also reduced insulin resistance.
Doing exercise in the afternoon or evening was linked to reduced insulin resistance, by 18% and 25% respectively, compared to an even distribution of activity throughout the day.
There was no significant difference in insulin resistance between morning activity and activity spread evenly over the day, the study found.
The researchers concluded: “These results suggest that timing of physical activity throughout the day is relevant for the beneficial effects of physical activity on insulin sensitivity.
“Further studies should assess whether timing of physical activity is indeed important for the occurrence of type 2 diabetes.” -dpa
Take a deep breath: A health worker administering a dose of CanSino Biologics inhalable Covid-19 vaccine in Lianyungang in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. — AFP
BEIJING: Residents in the capital can start making appointments for an inhalable Covid-19 booster made by CanSino Biologics, media reported, while those in Tianjin city can now get it as the Chinese pharmaceutical firm distributes more supplies.
CanSino’s vaccine, called Convidecia Air, is an aerosol version of an inactive shot and was approved as an emergency-use booster by Chinese health authorities in September.
The financial hub of Shanghai and 13 cities in the eastern province of Jiangsu have already introduced the CanSino vaccine as a booster, the company had said.
Appointments for the vaccine in the capital can be booked on a mobile phone app for residents of one district, the official Beijing Business Daily reported yesterday.
Increasing the uptake of vaccinations is vital for China, which is sticking resolutely to its strict zero-Covid policy that aims to prevent large-scale outbreaks and fatalities, especially among the elderly.
China has relied on domestically produced, inactivated shots and has yet to import, or introduce its own version of an mRNA vaccine.
According to official data, more than 90% of China’s population has been vaccinated.
StarPicks
Tired of smudges, dirt and scratches on your lens getting in the way of clear vision?
Regarding the efficacy of its vaccine, Hong Kong-listed CanSino said in a statement on Wednesday that studies showed “using Convidecia Air as a heterologous booster generated much stronger immune responses than those induced by a homologous inactivated vaccine booster”.
The vaccine will be available in Tianjin from Thursday, it said.
The Hong Kong shares of CanSino rose as much as 11.8% to HK$119.80 on Thursday, their biggest gain since Nov 4. — Reuters
%20Dashboard%20With%20Vaccination%20Data.png)
