Our China affairs correspondent Vincent Ni has written about what today means for Xi and the CCP:
22:10
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Hong Kong’s acting chief executive, John Lee, said the city has returned to order from chaos since China imposed a sweeping national security law on the global financial hub last yea., the city’s acting chief executive, John Lee, said on Thursday.
Beijing imposed the security law just before midnight on 30 June last year to punish anything China deems as subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison.
The security law was Beijing’s first major step to put the global financial hub onto an authoritarian path, kick-starting a campaign dubbed “patriots rule Hong Kong,” which included moves to reduce democratic representation in the city’s legislature and various screening mechanisms for politicians.
Lee was speaking for the first time as acting city leader at a flag-raising ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule in 1997, which coincides with the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Updated
21:34
Xi has wrapped up the speech, and the people are rising for the Internationale.
We’ll bring you a wrap of the speech and the significant sections of it shortly.
The key takeaways:
Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has delivered a keynote speech to a reported crowd of 70,000 at a highly choreographed ceremony in Tiananmen Square, marking the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party.
Xi declared the Chinese Communist Party has achieved its first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society for all, eradicating poverty
The socialist system with Chinese characteristics is in a new era under his leadership, and only it can “save China”
Xi pledged to grow the military to “world class standards”, to safeguard China’s national interests at home and in the region
He pledged that China would not accept “sanctimonious preaching” by others, and it would not be “bullied, oppressed, or subjugated”. Anyone who tries “will find them on a collision course with a steel wall forged by 1.4 billion people.”
He reiterated the commitment to “restore stability” to Hong Kong through the national security law, and to “restore” Taiwan to the nation of China.
Updated
21:29
He is pledging to “root out any elements who would harm the party’s purity… or viruses which would erode its health”.
Now to Hong Kong and Macau, which he says both retain a “high degree of autonomy”.
He’s emphasising the need to implement the legal and enforcement mechanisms to safeguard national security, and ensuring social stability.
“Restoring” Taiwan to China is an unshakeable commitment of the party, he says, reiterating previous statements but emphasising that this remains a key goal which is central to his leadership.
“All of us compatriots on both side of the Taiwan Strait must come together and move forward in unison. We must take resolution action to defeat any move towards Taiwan independence and create a bright future for national rejuvenation.”
“No one should underestimate the resolve, the will and ability of the Chinese people to define their national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he says.
This also gets a huge cheer.
21:25
Some images from the scene at Tiananmen Square:
Updated
21:15
The party cares about the future of humanity, Xi says, and he wants to move forward “with all progressive forces around the world” in the realms of global development and to preserve global order, and peace.
“We will work to build a new type of international relations… and promote high quality development of the belt and road initiative… and provide the world with new opportunities”.
He says they will champion cooperation over confrontation. This section of the speech sounds a little defensive. China has become increasingly isolated on the world stage, in part because of its actions towards regional neighbours like Taiwan – which it intends to take (by force if necessary) – and to neighbours which dispute China’s claims in the South China Sea.
Xi continues. China will “uphold justice and not be intimidated by threats of force”.
“We have never bullied, oppressed, or subjugated the people of any other country, and we never will.”
By the same token we will never allow anyone to bully, oppress, or subjugate [China]. Anyone who tries will find them on a collision course with a steel wall forged by 1.4 billion people.”
This gets the biggest cheer of the speech.
21:08
Xi is now getting into the military side of things.
He says a strong country must have a strong military to guarantee the security of the nation, and the PLA has made “indelible achievements”, and is a “strong pillar” in safeguarding the country and preserving national dignity, sovereignty and development interests, not just in China but in the region “and beyond”.
The party must maintain “absolute leadership” over the military, which must be grown and elevated “to world class standards”.
21:06
“We must make sure it is our people who govern the country, uphold the rule of law… and ensure wellbeing in the course of development,” Xi says, sounding like he’s wrapping up.
“We will not accept sanctimonious preaching from those who feel they have the right to lecture us.”
For this Xi received rapturous applause.
20:59
Xi namechecks previous leaders of the CCP, including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De and Deng Xiaoping, and other “revolutionaries who contributed greatly”.
“The Chinese people are not only good at destroying an old world, but also good at building a new world. Only socialism can save China, and only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China.”
Without the party there would be no new China or national rejuvenation, he says, and the leadership is “the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and constitutes the greatest strength of the system. It is the foundation and lifeblood of the party and the country, and the crux upon which the interests and wellbeing of all Chinese people depend.”
20:52
Xi extends his sincere greetings to compatriots in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong, where there are secondary celebrations for both the CCP centenary and the anniversary of the handover of the city from the British to China in 1997…
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, is in Beijing. Her second in command, John Lee – promoted just a week ago – is delivering a speech at their ceremony instead, and delivering awards.
Two years ago on this day, mass protests filled the streets of Hong Kong. They’ve since ended, under a sweeping crackdown by authorities and the “introduction of a national security law – one year ago yesterday.
Updated
20:46
Xi is talking through China’s history of wars and aggression by foreign powers, and the uniting of the party and people in national rejuvenation to rebuild the country through socialist revolution.
“We eliminated the exploitative feudal system that had persisted in China for thousands of years and established socialism,” he says.
After the 18th national congress, this entered a “new era”, he says. The 18th national congress is when Xi became general party secretary.
Some context via AFP: Xi has cemented his eight-year rule through a personality cult, ending term limits and declining to anoint a successor. He has purged rivals and crushed dissent – from Uyghur Muslims and online critics to pro-democracy protests on Hong Kong’s streets.
At the same time, Xi has presented a defiant face to overseas rivals led by the US, revving up nationalist sentiment and marketing himself as the champion of a newfound Chinese pride.
20:30
Xi is speaking now.
He begins by extending congratulations to all party members.
“On this special occasion it is my honour to declare on behalf of the party and the people that through the continuous efforts of the whole party and entire nation, we have realised the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects,” he says.
“We have brought a historic resolution to the problem of poverty… in China,” he says, and they are moving towards a second centenary goal of becoming a more prosperous society.
Updated
20:25
We’re now hearing from the Communist Youth League, delivering a praising speech and pledging to fight for the cause of socialism, as Xi looks on. “Rest assured, we are the ones to make our country strong”.
12.55 million members of the CCP are under the age of 30. The youth “grew up in a period of China’s continuous high economic growth, they see their own living standards and China’s gradual strengthening as inevitable,” Wu Qiang, an independent Beijing-based political analyst, told AFP.
“They have little to no memory of famine or autocracy, they even have no memory of freedom.”
20:19
Tens of thousands have gathered in Tiananmen square.
A short time ago dozens of military helicopters and jets flew in formation through the Beijing skies, trailing flags and coloured smoke over the Square, where 56 cannons – representing the 56 ethnic groups of China – were fired 100 times to open the ceremony.
The celebrations have been a highly orchestrated affair, with little prior announcement of what was on the cards. A week before the date, Chinese flags blossomed overnight in Beijing neighbourhoods. Tiananmen Square was closed to the public from last week.
Surveillance and security measures increased, as they do ahead of politically significant days in China. Reuters reported police officers doorknocking to check household registrations and the number of occupants, tightened censorship directives at Bytedance and Baidu, and bans on some online traders shipping flammable products.
Whether or not related to the centenary, authorities had been increasing their crackdown on political criticism and dissidents for months. Among those arrested were people accused of “defaming” national heroes by questioning official accounts of the border clash between PLA and Indian troops over a year ago.
Updated
20:19
China’s president Xi Jinping is preparing to take the stage in Tiananmen Square to open centenary celebrations for the Chinese Communist Party, pulling on history to remind patriots at home and rivals abroad of China’s – and his own – irresistible rise.
In the summer of 1921, 13 young men severely disillusioned by China’s post-imperial development gathered in Shanghai to form a communist party. On 23 July, they convened in Shanghai’s French Concession and held the first “national congress”.
None of them would have thought that in 30 years’ time the organisation they had founded would rule the nation, or that in 100 years’ time it would be the world’s largest political party, with nearly 92 million members – today also an enigma to many outsiders.
On 1 July, as China celebrates the centenary, the political organisation that rules nearly every aspect of life inside the country has an ambition to reshape the postwar world order.
We’ll cover the ceremony and speeches here, and you can read the background from our China affairs correspondent, Vincent Ni, here.
Cher issued another apology for her recent controversial tweet about the murder of George Floyd following some “soul searching.”
The “Turn Back Time” singer has been under fire for several days after sharing a tweet about the ongoing trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of murdering Floyd when he knelt on his neck during an arrest in May of 2020. Cher was accused of acting like a “white savior” by noting that she felt she could have stopped the death if she was there at the time of the incident.
Although she previously issued an apology for the tweet, the star took to Twitter again on Tuesday to once again note how contrite she is over her comment and vowed to do better with her social media presence going forward.
“These last days have been Hard,Soul Searching,Painful Ones. My Wording Was Wrong/Imprecise,” she wrote. “When I’m Over-emotional I Should Wait,Walk Away, Then Twt.”
LIVE UPDATES: DEREK CHAUVIN TRIAL FRIDAY TESTIMONY FROM MINNEAPOLIS POLICE OFFICER HIGHLIGHTS USE OF FORCE
Cher continued: “I Felt Sorrow,& Did Wish I Could have Helped George.Sometimes you can feel what you can’t Explain in a twt.Sorry is All I Have.”
In her original, since-deleted tweet, Cher wrote that she was talking with her mother about the trial.
“Was talking With Mom & She Said ‘I Watched Trial Of Policeman Who Killed George Floyd,& Cried,'” it read. “I Said ‘Mom,I Know This Is Gonna Sound CRAZY,But.. I Kept Thinking …..Maybe If I’d Been There,…I Could’ve Helped.”
As the backlash raged, the star addressed the controversy in a follow-up tweet noting that she resented people saying she couldn’t have an honest, emotional opinion about the trial.
CHER BASHES TRUMP OVER CORONAVIRUS PLAN: ‘I’M BEYOND HIS SELL BY DATE’
Cher issued a second apology for her controversial tweet about the murder of George Floyd. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
“Wrestled With This Twt, Because I Thought some ppl wouldn’t understand, Or Believe an Entertainer Could have Honest emotions about a human Being,suffering & Dying,even if It’s Only Shown On tv. You Don’t Know What I’ve Done,Who I Am,Or What I Believe.I CAN,I HAVE,& I WILL..HELP,” she wrote.
Hours later, though, the star took to Twitter again to issue an unequivocal apology to anyone she upset in the Black community with her words. She said that the apology was sparked after talking to a friend about the issue.
“I Just got off phone With Friend Karen.Told her what Happened,& Realized,You Can Piss Ppl Off,& Hurt Them By Not Knowing Everything That’s”NOT Appropriate”To Say.I know Ppl Apologize When They’re In a Jam,BUT🤚🏼TO GOD🙏🏼,IM TRULY SORRY If I Upset AnyOne In Blk Community.I Know My❤️,” she wrote.
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Cher seems to have been following the trial closely and tweeting her thoughts on it throughout last week. In a tweet from March 31, 2021, the star praised the witnesses who testified about what they saw during the more than 9 minutes in which Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck.
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“Feel So Unbelievably Sad For The Brave Ppl Who Stood Their Ground To Bear Witness,& Chronicle The Murder Of George Floyd For All The World To See,” she wrote Wednesday. “These Were Americans Who Didn’t/Couldn’t Walk Away From a Fellow Human Being Having His Last Breath…Crushed Out Of His Body.”
Piers Morgan has vowed to reveal what he calls, ‘MY truth,’ in a one-hour TV special, following his explosive Meghan Markle debate and subsequent exit from Good Morning Britain.
The TV host, 56, quit the ITV show and walked off set in March after he clashed with weatherman Alex Beresford over the validity of Meghan’s shocking accusations towards the Royal Family during her Oprah Winfrey interview.
And now, Piers is getting ready to set the record straight on Fox Nation’s Tucker Carlson Today show on Monday.
Tell-all: Piers Morgan has vowed to reveal what he calls, ‘MY truth,’ in a one-hour TV special, following his explosive Meghan Markle debate and subsequent exit from Good Morning Britain
The journalist will unpack the events leading up to his dramatic departure in his first tell-all interview.
Confirming the news to his Twitter account on Saturday, Piers wrote: ‘Time for America to hear MY truth….’
In another update shared on Friday evening, Piers poked fun at Meghan, 39, as he referenced the moment when Oprah, 67, asked whether she was ‘silent or silenced?’ to which the wife of Prince Harry, 36, accused the Royal establishment of ‘silencing’ her.
Casting doubt over the authenticity of her accusations once more, Piers used Oprah’s question to make light of his GMB exit.
Eagerly-awaited interview: The TV host, 56, is getting ready to set the record straight on Fox Nation’s Tucker Carlson Today show on Monday
Shock: Piers quit the ITV show and walked off set in March after he clashed with weatherman Alex Beresford over the validity of Meghan’s shocking accusations towards the Royal Family during her Oprah Winfrey interview
He jested: ‘UPDATE: On Monday, I will give my first interview since leaving Good Morning Britain to @TuckerCarlson on his new @foxnation show, with highlights that evening on his @FoxNews show.
‘Was I silent, or was I silenced? (crying laughing emoji).’
Tucker, 51, also confirmed the news to social media as he shared an exclusive clip from the interview and said: ‘So, Piers Morgan was banished from television for asking a simple question, how is it that the most privileged people in our society get away with posing as the most oppressed?
‘For asking that they crushed him – they took his job away. On Monday we will speak to Piers Morgan for his first wide-ranging on-camera interview since he was cancelled.’
‘Timer for America to hear MY truth’: The journalist will unpack the events leading up to his dramatic departure in his first tell-all interview as he confirmed to Twitter on Saturday
Revealing: In another update shared on Friday evening, Piers poked fun at Meghan, 39, as he referenced the moment when Oprah, 67, asked whether she was ‘silent or silenced?’ to which the wife of Prince Harry, 36, accused the Royal establishment of ‘silencing’ her
‘First TV interview’: Presenter Tucker, 51, also confirmed the news to social media as he shared an exclusive clip from the interview
Last month, Morgan announced he had quit GMB after co-star Beresford challenged his comments about Meghan and her interview with Oprah.
The outspoken GMB host left the daytime series after he insisted he ‘didn’t believe a word’ of Meghan’s account of suffering suicidal thoughts and experiencing racism at the hands of the royal family.
Piers then walked off set after a fierce debate with Alex, in which the weather presenter accused Piers of unfairly ‘trashing’ Meghan, and branded him ‘diabolical’.
When Piers walked off screen, Alex continued: ‘I’m sorry but Piers just spouts off on a regular basis and we have to sit there and listen.’
Piers, who refused to apologise, later announced his resignation and tweeted his thanks to the GMB team, praising them for their ‘hard work and dedication’ that led to them beating their main breakfast TV rival.
Backlash: Piers dismissed Meghan’s (pictured) account of suffering suicidal thoughts and experiencing racism at the hands of the Royal Family as he insisted he ‘didn’t believe a word’
And the presenter shared his own reflections on the events of that fateful week in a piece for the Mail On Sunday last weekend.
Piers called Alex ‘GMB’s occasional stand-in weatherman’ and ‘uptight’ in the telling account, adding that the presenter hasn’t messaged him since his exit unlike others on the show.
Reflecting on their now infamous encounter on GMB, which ended in Piers leaving the studio, Piers said he wasn’t going to sit there and be ‘whacked’ by one of his own team.
He wrote: ‘I don’t mind outside guests trying to make a name for themselves by whacking me like this, but I wasn’t going to sit there and take it from one of my own team, especially someone who I’ve gone out of my way to help whenever he’s asked me for advice about his career.
‘Realising I might say something I’d regret, I decided to leave the studio to cool down.
‘As I walked off, Alex doubled down: “This is pathetic. Absolutely diabolical behaviour. I’m sorry but Piers spouts off on a regular basis and we all have to sit here and listen. From 6.30 to 7am yesterday, it was incredibly hard to watch.
“He has the ability to come in here and talk from a position that he doesn’t fully understand…”‘
Clash: Last month, Morgan announced he had quit GMB after co-star Beresford challenged his comments about Meghan and her interview with Oprah
Piers continued: ‘I didn’t hear any more of his diatribe, as I was out the door and heading for my dressing room.
‘I knew it wasn’t a good look, the great snowflake-basher running away from confrontation. And on reflection, I shouldn’t have done it. But in the heat of the moment, in my rather strained state of mind, this seemed the less worse option.’
Since Piers’ exit from the show he has received messages from several stars, naming Jeremy Clarkson and Bear Grylls, who have said he had a ‘right’ to say his mind.
Sharon Osbourne also voiced her support for Piers during an appearance on The Talk, though she has since parted ways with the CBS show.
Friends: Sharon Osbourne also voiced her support for Piers during an appearance on The Talk, though she has since parted ways with the CBS show
Duckworth’s promised opposition — which she said would not include “diversity nominees” like those backed by the Congressional Asian Pacific American, Hispanic, or Black Caucuses — comes as Asian American lawmakers and advocates have expressed frustration about their lack of representation in Biden’s Cabinet. Members of the Hill’s Asian Pacific American Caucus had pushed for nominees like Vivek Murthy and Julie Su to be appointed as Cabinet secretaries, but Murthy ended up nominated as Surgeon General and Su as the deputy labor secretary.
Although none of Biden’s Cabinet secretaries are of Asian American or Pacific Islander descent, U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai is of Chinese American descent and technically occupies a Cabinet-level position. Asian American Neera Tanden’s nomination to become Biden’s budget chief fell apart after opposition from Republican senators and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
Most Biden nominees set for Senate consideration this week are of diverse backgrounds, including assistant health and human services secretary Rachel Levine, deputy treasury secretary Adewale Adeyemo, and deputy budget director Shalanda Young. Duckworth’s declaration could be tested once, during the vote on deputy secretary David Turk, but Turk’s confirmation is not expected to falter given his level of GOP support.
One beleaguered Biden Pentagon nominee, Colin Kahl, could see his fortunes affected by Duckworth’s promised blockade if it persists. The Senate Armed Services Committee has yet to advance Kahl’s nomination.
Another Asian American Democratic senator, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, said later Tuesday that “I am prepared to join” Duckworth in pushing back on Biden’s nominees until senior posts in his administration incorporate better Asian American representation.
“This is not about pitting one diversity group against another,” Hirono said on MSNBC. “I think this is a well-articulated, focused position.”
Asked what appointments the Biden administration could consider an Asian American nominee for, Duckworth suggested the FCC, the Office of Management and Budget or a future Cabinet secretary spot.
“There’s nothing to it,” Feinstein told CNN on Tuesday about Democratic governor’s remarks. “No,” she said when asked if she would retire before the end of her six-year term, which is set to expire at the end of 2024. “I have not discussed that with anybody, nobody has asked me any questions about it.”
“We’re very good friends. I don’t think he meant it the way some people thought,” Feinstein said when asked about the governor’s comments. The senator added, “You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”
As she walked into the Senate chamber on Tuesday, Feinstein said “you’ll have to ask him” why Newsom said he already has names in mind to replace her.
Despite her stature within the party, Feinstein has faced growing questions about her ability to do her job, losing her post as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee after her Democratic colleagues privately complained about her performance during the confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court last year. Had she held onto that post, she would have been the first woman to ever chair the Senate Judiciary Committee. But after discussions with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Feinstein instead agreed to step aside from the powerful post, paving the way for the ascension of Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois to the chairmanship.
Feinstein rejected suggestions she’s not fit to do her job, telling CNN on Tuesday that she feels “absolutely” able to serve fully in her position, adding: “I think that’s pretty obvious.”
Newsom, who is facing a recall campaign, told MSNBC on Monday that he had “multiple names in mind” of Black women he would appoint to replace her until a special election was scheduled.
Newsom recently appointed former California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill Vice President Kamala Harris’s Senate seat, choosing the first Latino in state history for the role. The governor had been under intense pressure to choose a Black woman to replace Harris in light of the lack of diversity in the US Senate.
Prominent Black officials advocated for Newsom to pick either California Rep. Karen Bass, the then-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, or Rep. Barbara Lee. Some social justice groups, including Black Lives Matter, have continued to press Newsom to not pick Rep. Adam Schiff for state attorney general, expecting that Health and Human Services secretary nominee Xavier Becerra will be confirmed.
Newsom said on ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday that he has “no expectation” that Feinstein will be “stepping aside,” and said that she is “lucid and focused” and “committed to the cause of fighting not only for our state as a representative and the senior senator of California, but this nation.”
In December, Feinstein defended her service, telling CNN when asked if she feels she’s still able to carry out her duties, “I do. I work hard. I have good staff. I think I am productive. And I represent the people of California as well as I possibly can.”
CNN’s Daniella Diaz and Alex Rogers contributed to this report.
Joe Biden has vowed to strengthen the US’s alliance with Japan to counter growing Chinese military activity in the volatile Asia-Pacific region, including a commitment to defend the Senkakus, a group of islands in the East China sea administered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing.
The US president and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga agreed during a phone call that their countries’ security alliance was “the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in a free and open Indo-Pacific”.
Biden’s vow to strengthen security arrangements in the region contrasted with the approach taken by Donald Trump, who publicly mulled withdrawing troops from Japan and South Korea, both key US allies.
Trump also complained that Tokyo and Seoul were not paying enough towards their own security and called on them to buy more US-made defence equipment.
“We managed to have substantial exchanges,” Suga said after his 30-minute call with Biden. “We agreed to strengthen our alliance firmly by having more phone calls like this.”
Biden reaffirmed the US commitment to provide “extended deterrence” to Japan, a reference to the US nuclear umbrella, the White House said in a statement.
They also agreed on the need for the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, as speculation mounts over how Biden intends to engage with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, over his nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Japan is particularly concerned about frequent incursions by Chinese vessels into waters near the Senkaku islands, which are known as the Diaoyu in China.
Biden’s “unwavering commitment” to defending the Senkakus was expected, but has taken on extra significance, coming a week after Beijing passed legislation authorising coast guard vessels to use weapons against foreign ships deemed to be involved in illegal activities around the uninhabited island chain.
The two did not discuss the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, whose future is in doubt as the world continues to battle the Covid-19 pandemic, officials said.
Suga’s predecessor, Shinzo Abe, established a rapport with Trump during rounds of golf in Japan and the US, and was the first world leader to meet him after his 2016 election victory.
Suga said he hoped to “deepen my personal relationship with President Biden”, adding that he planned to visit Washington as soon as the coronavirus pandemic allowed.
Media reports in Japan said the two leaders had agreed to call each other Joe and Yoshi.
Biden’s secretary of state, Antony Blinken, had earlier told the Philippine foreign minister, Teodoro Locsin, that the US rejected China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea beyond what is permitted under international law.
Blinken said Washington stood with the Philippines and other south-east Asian countries resisting pressure from Beijing, which has laid claim to wide areas of the South China Sea.
“Secretary Blinken pledged to stand with south-east Asian claimants in the face of PRC [People’s Republic of China] pressure,” the state department said in a statement.
China claims almost all of the energy-rich South China Sea, which is also a major trade route. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims.
The US has accused China of taking advantage of the distraction created by the coronavirus pandemic to advance its presence in the South China Sea.
Blinken, who joined Biden’s administration this week, “underscored that the United States rejects China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea to the extent they exceed the maritime zones that China is permitted to claim under international law”, the statement said.
US-China relations deteriorated under Trump over a host of issues, including trade, the pandemic, Beijing’s crackdown on the Hong Kong democracy movement and its persecution of Uighur Muslims.
Seattle police will start cracking down on rioters who damage businesses, the city’s interim police chief warned Saturday.
Chief Adrian Diaz’s pledge came days after anti-Biden rioters left Pike Place Market’s original Starbucks coffee shop with its windows smashed and numerous downtown business owners feeling abandoned by the city, according to reports.
Like his predecessor, Carmen Best — who departed last September, claiming a lack of support for police from some city officials — Diaz said he doesn’t believe rioters who smash windows and tag businesses are promoting a cause.
“On January 20th, the events at a variety of locations had no meaning. There was no discussion about what they were fighting for, or what type of social justice message. That cannot happen,” Diaz told reporters at a news conference, according to the Seattle Times.
SEATTLE ANTIFA RIOTER CLAIMS DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY ISN’T VIOLENCE
He added that rioters seeming more focused on “lighting fires” and “breaking windows.”
“These are things we need to work on,” he added.
The first Starbucks location was damaged during an anti-Biden protest in Seattle on Wednesday. (Seattle Police Department)
On Wednesday, left-wing militants vandalized numerous buildings, used smoke canisters and moved objects into the roadway to create barriers, authorities said. At one point, a group dressed in all black set a large American flag ablaze and smashed several windows. The first Starbucks at the famous Pike Place Market also had its windows smashed.
Three rioters were arrested for crimes that included burglary, assault and property damage.
“Over Wednesday’s events, it doesn’t matter who is in the presidential office, it really is a matter of understanding that people are just out there for destruction,” Diaz said, Q13 FOX reported.
While he said around 600 protesters and rioters have been arrested since the unrest started last summer, many of the misdemeanors haven’t been prosecuted mainly out of concern of spreading the coronavirus, the Times reported.
“I have been in conversation with the city attorney’s office, Pete Holmes, and he will be prosecuting these cases, from now on,” Diaz said. “He has actually allowed us to have the support of his staff, to assist and review of those cases as they occur, so they can be prosecuted to the fullest extent.”
SEATTLE ANTIFA RIOTERS DAMAGE FIRST STARBUCKS IN BIDEN PROTEST
However, Holmes, in a statement, said the city attorney’s office wasn’t aware of the new policy and said through a spokesperson that misdemeanor policies would stay the same, the Times reported.
He said the department will take an especially hard line with vandals arrested more than once.
“When we don’t have any form of accountability for people — and many of them that are coming from outside the city — they will continue to do that destruction, and we can’t have that,” he said.
Downtown residents and business owners had voiced their frustration over the lack of consequences for vandals.
“To me, it’s a complete mystery why we’re not having more response,” Stephanie Tschida, of the East Precinct Advisory Council, told KOMO-TV.
Diaz’s news conference came before a planned protest at a nearby park that ended up being peaceful.
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He said the new policy would go into effect Saturday.
In September, then-Chief Carmen Best stepped down, following incidents that included a hole being blown into a wall of a police precinct by an explosive device.
“What we saw today was not peaceful,” Best said at the time, according to the Seattle Times. “The rioters had no regard for the public’s safety, for officers’ safety or for the businesses and property that they destroyed.”
MARYSVILLE, Wash. — Steve Jahn stood on the top of his driveway watching the final ambulance pull out. The first took his wife of 32 years two days before. The second took his father-in-law. The third, his mother-in-law.
It was eight weeks after the first known U.S. case of COVID-19 was reported in his homeof Snohomish County, Washington.
He closed his eyes and prayed on the asphalt.
“The whole thing was surreal,” said Jahn, 62, who sells ambulances and fire trucks. “It was the one, two, three succession of having all three of them go in a matter of three days.”
For his wife, Peggy Jahn, 62, memories of that day are blurry – except for one. In the middle of the night, hours after she was rolled into a small isolation room at Providence Regional Medical Center, a doctor came in to deliver the news.
“You’re not going to survive this,” Peggy recalled him saying. “Call your family. Let your family know that you’re not going to make it.”
Snohomish County natives Steve and Peggy Jahn met on a blind date in 1988. He was a single dad raising his son while working as a volunteer firefighter and emergency vehicles salesman. She was working for a marketing company in downtown Seattle.
“I found myself saying, ‘I think I’m in love with you,’ like a few weeks down the road,” Steve said last week, as he sat clutching Peggy’s knee and casting her a sidelong grin on their back patio. “We think it was inspired from above, to be honest with you, because there’s no other logical explanation for it, as is her recovery.”
They barely spoke on their first date, but they felt the chemistry instantly. Steve invited Peggy over with a couple of friends and cooked hamburgers before taking her out to see “Die Hard.” Within six months, they were married.
Peggy and Steve raised four kids together in Steve’s childhood home on the Tulalip Tribes Reservation, overlooking Tulalip Bay in Snohomish County, just north of Seattle. Four years ago, they moved into a house further inland, in Marysville, so that Peggy’s 95-year-old mom, Lillian Wattum, and her husband, Howard Stiles, 90, could move in with them.
When their local hospital admitted the first known U.S. coronavirus patient on Jan. 20, 2020, Peggy and Steve read about it in the newspaper. It was “weird,” Steve said.
Peggy fell sick in early March after a long day of running errands. She went to bed that night, exhausted, and didn’t leave for 10 days. When Steve returned from a business trip, they scheduled a telehealth appointment for Peggy, and the doctor said she likely had the flu.
By March 11, Peggy still wasn’t better, and Howard was feeling ill, too.
“Of course, there was more news about the virus at that point, so I took him up to a nearby clinic and we had him tested,” Steve said. “On Friday the 13th of all days, his test came back positive for COVID. At that point, I’m like, oh my gosh, this seems to be the real deal.”
Doctors said she wouldn’t survive COVID-19. After 25 days on a ventilator, she’s back home
After a year of COVID-19, that left Snohomish County resident Peggy Jahn on a ventilator for 25 days, she was able to come home to her family.
Harrison Hill, USA TODAY
Quarantined at home with Steve and her parents, Peggy had a second telehealth appointment. This time, doctors advised her to come in. She wanted to take a shower before heading to the hospital, but she never made it to the bathroom. The room turned blurry: all she could see was grey.
Steve watched in horror as Peggy bent over and gasped for breath. He shifted into first responder mode and called 911.
By the time staff took her vitals at the hospital, Peggy’s oxygen levels were dangerously low. It was late that night when the pulmonologist told her she wasn’t going to make it.
“It didn’t register with me. I tried calling my daughter, but she didn’t have her phone on. And I got a hold of my son, but he was trying to be positive,” Peggy said. “I texted my friends, the ones that I wanted to let know. I said, ‘I love you. I’m not supposed to survive this.'”
Steve got a call, then a selfie of Peggy with her oxygen mask on, “looking like death on the edge.” The two decided she would go on a ventilator that day, March 15.
“We texted pretty much non-stop until 6:59 a.m., and that’s when she said I’m in ICU now and they’re going to vent, and then, boom,” Steve said. “That was the last communication I had with her until nearly the first week of April.”
As the medical staff prepared to sedate Peggy to intubate her, she recalls hearing two final words before weeks of silence: “Let’s go.”
The first US case. The first death. The first nursing home outbreak: A year after COVID-19 arrived in the US, the front line staff in Washington are still holding on
As the sun rose that interminable day on March 15, Howard took a turn for the worse. His oxygen levels were starting to drop, and he was having greater difficulty breathing. Steve called for the ambulance again and the same archaic, “ratty-old bone box came,” he said.
Lillian had a low-grade fever. When Peggy’s two brothers arrived, the group decided Lillian might as well go to the hospital, too, due to her age. With his brother-in-laws, their wives and kids, Steve prayed on the driveway.
“We just prayed for a miracle,” he said. “Oddly enough, within four or five hours, the hospital called and said, hey, you need to come and get your mother-in-law, she’s not sick enough to stay here.”
Lillian Wattum, 95, stands with her husband, Howard Stiles, 90, in their home in Marysville, Washington, on Jan. 13, 2021. “I’m a cougar because he’s… Lillian Wattum, 95, stands with her husband, Howard Stiles, 90, in their home in Marysville, Washington, on Jan. 13, 2021. “I’m a cougar because he’s four years younger than me,” Lillian said with a chuckle. They were married 10 years ago.Grace Hauck, USA TODAY
Steve picked Lillian up at the hospital that evening. Isolated and missing their partners, the pair clung to one another, and to their community. As word spread of the family’s situation, members of their church began to leave food at the door, and some gathered to sing hymns in the backyard. Steve opened the sliding glass door and sang along from a distance as Lillian sat with her eyes closed and hands raised.
“It was one of the most blessed yet hardest times of my entire life,” Steve said.
Meanwhile, Steve was calling the hospital several times a day. He wanted to know if Peggy or Howard was eligible to receive remdesivir, an antiviral drug originally developed to treat Ebola. Howard received the treatment and was discharged March 25, after 11 days in the hospital. Peggy was too sick to get the drug through the trial but finally received it through compassionate use.
As Peggy remained in the hospital, the youngest kids, Peter, 30, and Heidi, 29, came to stay with their dad. They kept friends and relatives – including some as far as Norway – updated on Peggy’s situation through a Facebook page, where the group shared photos, messages and music.
Steve tried to stay busy. He did laundry, swept, vacuumed, mopped, mopped again. When his kids put down their cups, he’d place them in the dishwasher before they were even done with them.
Steve Jahn
And I just looked up and said, God, either give her back or take her.
“They’d say, ‘dad!’ And I’d say, I have to maintain some order. It’s all I can do,” Steve said. “I’ve run a company. I’ve been a fire chief. I’m used to making decisions and making stuff happen. And I couldn’t do anything, and that was the hardest thing.”
Steve couldn’t bring himself to enter his bedroom. Most nights he slept on a downstairs recliner, next to the home phone, staring at it before he went to sleep around 2 a.m.
“It was like a hand grenade with the pin pulled, and I’m just waiting for it to explode,” he said. “I felt if that house phone rang … I was going to get the news that I didn’t want to get. So every morning I’d say ‘thank you, God,’ that phone didn’t ring last night.”
Steve began wearing Peggy’s rings on a gold chain, clutching them like rosary beads. One night, in late March, he glanced in the mirror and saw the rings on his chest.
“I just kind of lost it. That’s the first time I actually lost it,” Steve said. “And I just looked up and said, God, either give her back or take her.”
Days later, the grenade exploded.
Two doctors were on the phone, asking Steve to come in to discuss “Peggy’s transition.” Steve was escorted up to the sixth floor of the hospital on April 6.
The doctors stopped Steve just outside Peggy’s room. They had placed a trach in her throat, and she was going to need a feeding tube. She may never again be the Peggy he knew, they told him: Did he want to put her through that?
Steve got 10 minutes in the room with Peggy. He knelt down beside her bed. “Hey, honey, I’m here. I’m here,” he said. Her eyes moved just a hint, and Steve walked around the other side of her bed.
“She slowly turned her head my way. So I’m like OK, she’s responding. She hears us,” he said.
Steve walked out of the room knowing that Peggy was going to make it. That night, he got a call from a nurse telling him that Peggy had wiggled her toes on command, twice.
“That was the first thing I remember was wiggling my toes,” Peggy said.
It was the beginning of her recovery. And the start of her delirium.
Peggy finally came off the ventilator on April 8, after 25 days.
A few days later, Steve received a FaceTime call around 3 a.m. It was Peggy. She couldn’t speak with the trach in her throat, but she was flailing around and trying to communicate something. Steve dialed the hospital.
“I’m like, good gosh, I’m going to see her die on FaceTime in the hospital,” he said.
A nurse finally rushed into the room and checked Peggy’s vitals. Everything was normal, but Peggy was trying to mouth words. She handed Peggy a dry erase board.
“So she writes and the nurse holds it up: ‘Come get me.’ And I’m like, oh, honey, I wish I could come get you,” Steve said.
Doctors say it’s common to experience delirium in the ICU. But the sensation was “freaky weird,” Peggy said.
She spoke to her family again for the first time the day after Easter, Peter’s 30th birthday, babbling on about how her phone had been hijacked and the nurses were plotting against her.
Peggy Jahn
I don’t remember much. I just remember a mom has to talk to their kid on their birthday, and I missed his birthday.
“I don’t remember much,” Peggy said. “I just remember a mom has to talk to their kid on their birthday, and I missed his birthday.”
Peggy spent 42 days in the hospital. She lost her hair and had to learn to walk again after losing muscle while in paralysis on the ventilator.The first time she worked with physical therapists, Peggy could barely lift her toes. Before she was discharged, she had to walk 25 steps.
Her goal, Peggy told the physical therapists, was to be able to hold a weed wacker and do her own yard work again. But the physical therapists couldn’t promise her that, or that she’d ever drive again.
‘I’m really fighting a storm’: Snohomish, King communities describe year since COVID-19 arrived there
Steve picked Peggy up from the hospital April 24. On the drive home, Steve showed Peggy the empty hotel parking lots and barren malls. When she had gone to bed in her room in early March, life was normal. She emerged from the hospital to what Steve called “the apocalypse.”
As the two pulled into the driveway, Peggy saw posters of support lining both sides of the asphalt. “It was very overwhelming,” she said.
Friends gather in Marysville to show signs of support for Peggy Jahn while she was at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington.Provided by Steve Jahn
As Peggy continues her recovery at home, she’s walking. She’s weed wacking. She’s remodeling the bayside home where she and Steve raised their children. Last week, Peggy hopped in the car and drove the 20 minutes out to the house.
Days after a historic windstorm wiped out power to the county, the water was still. Peggy roamed the house, ripping up carpet and sharing memories. She propped up a ladder in her daughter’s old room and began covering the chipped paint with a fresh coat.
Steve stood on the back deck, watching two seals bobbing in the water and pointing to two bald eagles that had landed in their tree. He’s still processing the trauma of what happened. After 20 years in the fire department, he never had PTSD. Now he does.
Steve said the experience, as stressful as it was, has helped him break down some walls with his kids that he didn’t even know were there. For Peggy, her kids are finally answering her phone calls.
Peggy Jahn makes it up the 16 steps to the upper floor of her home in Marysville, Washington. “I’m not going to stop,” Peggy said last week. “Now, I’m doing up to 10,000 steps a day because I can. Because I can. It’s a gift I’ve been given back.” Peggy Jahn makes it up the 16 steps to the upper floor of her home in Marysville, Washington. “I’m not going to stop,” Peggy said last week. “Now, I’m doing up to 10,000 steps a day because I can. Because I can. It’s a gift I’ve been given back.” Peggy Jahn makes it up the 16 steps to the upper floor of her home in Marysville, Washington. “I’m not going to stop,” Peggy said last week. “Now, I’m doing up to 10,000 steps a day because I can. Because I can. It’s a gift I’ve been given back.” Courtesy of the Jahn family
“I think the kids appreciate mom a whole lot more,” she said with a wink. “I can get away with a lot more.”
This week, as staff at Providence Regional Medical Center paused and the nation observed a moment of silence for the 400,000 souls lost to COVID-19 in the U.S., Peggy and Steve celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary. On Sunday, they’re renewing their vows outside their church.
Steve had re-proposed on April 15, as Peggy was leaving the ICU after 32 days.
Her hand shook as she held it up to her face in her hospital bed.
In their living room 15 miles away, Steve got down on one knee, dressed in a T-shirt and pajama pants.
“I clearly feel like I’ve been given a second chance to share what’s already been an amazing 31 years,” he said into his phone. “I just want to say, Peggy Jahn, would you remarry me at your earliest convenience?”
Peggy cracked a smile: “Come and get me.”
Reach reporter Grace Hauck at ghauck@usatoday.com or on Twitter at @grace_hauck.
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