The idea behind the US virus-hunting programme was to prevent a pandemic, but after Covid-19 emerged, the fear of it accidentally triggering one instead became too real to ignore. — Freepik
For more than a decade, the US government has been funding international programmes engaged in identifying exotic wildlife viruses that might someday infect humans.
But The BMJ revealed on Sept 7 (2023) that a flagship project for hunting viruses among wildlife in South-East Asia, Africa and Latin America to prevent human outbreaks and pandemics is being quietly dropped by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) after private and bipartisan criticism over the safety of such research.
The shuttering of the project marks an abrupt retreat by the US government from wildlife virus-hunting – an activity that has also been funded by the US Department of Defense and the US National Institutes of Health, reports investigative journalist David Willman.
Risk of a pandemic
The turnabout follows warnings raised by sceptics, including officials within the Biden White House, that the US$125mil (RM584.5mil) DEEP VZN programme could inadvertently ignite a pandemic.
The misgivings continue to resonate now, as the cause of the Covid-19 pandemic – the world’s most deadly such event in a century – remains unproven.
USAID – an arm of the US State Department – launched DEEP VZN (short for Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens – Viral Zoonoses) in October 2021, succeeding an earlier, decade-long USAID programme called PREDICT, explains Willman.
The agency promoted it as “a critical next step to understand and address the risks posed by zoonotic diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans”, and said it would help the world “be better prepared to detect, prevent and respond to future biological threats”.
But in July (2023), officials at USAID quietly informed aides to Democratic and Republican members of two US Senate committees with jurisdiction over DEEP VZN that it was being shut down.
This previously-unpublicised decision comes as concerns have heightened over the many risks of working with exotic viruses, including unresolved questions about whether a research mishap or a naturally-occurring spillover of virus from an animal species to humans caused the Covid-19 pandemic.
For instance, in December 2021, two senior White House officials specialising in biosecurity and biosafety – Jason Matheny, deputy assistant to US President Joe Biden for technology and national security, and Daniel Gastfriend, the US National Security Council’s director for biodefence and pandemic preparedness – first privately shared their views with USAID Administrator Samantha Power and advised her to shut down DEEP VZN.
Later, another White House official, Dr T. Gregory McKelvey Jr, a physician and the assistant director for biosecurity with the US Office of Science and Technology Policy, also privately raised concerns with USAID staff.
Power eventually told Matheny and Gastfriend that she would initiate a review of the programme to ensure DEEP VZN could be conducted in a way that adequately managed the risks.
On Sept 6 (2023), USAID said in response to questions from The BMJ, that it had decided to “end the DEEP VZN” project.
The decision, said USAID, reflected “the relative risks and impact of our programming”.
Audit to be done
Matheny, who left the White House in mid-2022 told The BMJ: “It seems likely that the agency assessed that the risks exceeded the benefits of the programme.”
Willman also notes that in May (2023), three leaders of the Republican-controlled US House Energy and Commerce Committee asked the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to open a scientific audit to “assess the benefits and risks of conducting predictive field research programmes for viruses”.
The US GAO’s acting chief scientist Dr Karen L. Howard estimated in an email to The BMJ that the audit would likely be completed during spring 2024, but declined to discuss any preliminary findings.
Meanwhile, USAID’s funding of the DEEP VZN programme has continued to draw scrutiny behind the scenes from members and staff with both the US Senate Foreign Relations and Senate Appropriations committees, interviews and documents show, writes Willman.
The exchanges between the US Senate and USAID culminated with a brief mention of the previously-unreported termination of DEEP VZN inside the State Department’s fiscal year 2024 appropriation, dated July 20 (2023): “The Committee notes the decision by USAID to cease funding for the exploration of unknown pathogens.”
Threat of invasive alien species is increasing worldwide: International study
Attacking Aliens (IAS - Invasive Alien Species)
Spreading awareness: Azah (centre) inspecting a Jom Kenali IAS exhibit at the National Botanic Gardens Shah Alam. — MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star
2:37 / 9:07
SHAH ALAM: Beware of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) landing on Malaysian soil.
No, this is not science fiction – IAS refers to animals and plants that are introduced accidentally or deliberately into a natural environment where they are not normally found.
They will adversely affect their new environment, including plants, animals and humans.
Agriculture and Food Security Ministry deputy secretary-general (Policy) Datuk Azah Hanim Ahmad said IAS is the second biggest threat to Malaysia’s biodiversity after habitat fragmentation.
So far, IAS has cost millions of ringgit in losses to the country and its food security sector, she added.
“Some examples of the negative effects of IAS on animals are the Nipah virus, which spread in 1998 (following an outbreak at pig farms in Perak) and Lumpy Skin Disease in 2021 due to imported cows.
“For plants, 465ha of coconut plantations in Terengganu were destroyed by rhynchophorus ferrugineus (kumbang merah palma) in 2007, causing RM10mil in losses.
“And between 2003 and 2006, Papaya Dieback disease damaged over one million papaya trees, causing RM200mil in losses,” she said.Currently, she said, the Bacterial Panicle Blight, an exotic plant pest, is attacking padi fields.
“Parthenium hysterophorus (rumpai parthenium) can cause allergic reactions in humans and farm animals while Salvinia molesta (rumpai salvinia) can affect irrigation systems,” she said at the launch of the ‘2023 Public Awareness Programme: Let’s Get To Know About IAS (Jom Kenali IAS)’ at the National Botanical Gardens Shah Alam yesterday.
Currently, out of the 138 IAS identified worldwide, 64 are present in Malaysia, Azah said.
Of these, 17 are plants, 19 are animals and 28 are aquatic.
She added that due to this threat, the ministry has to continuously inspect and conduct damage control on crops and animals, which costs money and also contributes to pollution.
“This is due to the IAS management team having to use chemical pesticides and cutting down trees, which affects the productivity of the farming sector.
“This is why awareness among the public is important and we hope that today’s programme can make a big impact on the sustainability of the country’s biodiversity,” she said.
To help protect the country’s biodiversity, the government established the National IAS Committee in 2016 to manage, coordinate and prevent all IAS-related issues in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s Fisheries Biosecurity Division senior director Yeo Moi Eim said there are 28 types of aquatic life that have been gazetted and categorised as “prohibited fish species for import into Malaysia”. These include piranha, salmon, trout and dragon fish (arapaima).
She said the department is currently in the process of gazetting the Mekong red tail catfish (baung ekor merah Mekong), which is considered an apex predator in rivers and can weigh up to 40kg, as prohbited for import.
“The Mekong red tail catfish can be found in Perak, Pahang and Selangor rivers. It eats fish and prawns as well as their eggs, and this is harming our marine biodiversity.
“It originates from the Mekong River, but somehow managed to find its way here.
“We believe this was due to natural disasters such as floods where the fish can migrate from one place to another, which shows another impact of climate change,” said Yeo.
MyJPJ app is useful but needs improvement, say Malaysians
PETALING JAYA: It has been seven months since its implementation and the MyJPJ mobile application is proving to be a hit, with people finding it much more convenient to deal with their driving licence and motor vehicle licence (or road tax) renewals.
However, while the app has its benefits, there is room for improvement, say users.
Student Muhammad Farhan Baharom, 20, said that the MyJPJ app made it easy for people like him to keep digital copies of their driving licence and road tax.
“It is easy for us to use as we can always have the copies on our smartphones. I don’t have to be worried if I accidentally leave my licence at home and also, I don’t have to stick the flimsy road tax sticker on the windscreen anymore,” he said.
Muhammad Farhan, however, said it could be challenging for some groups of people, especially senior citizens.
“It could be more popular among the younger generation but for the elderly, perhaps they would find it hard. So, I think keeping both physical and digital copies should be okay,” he added.
Another user who only wanted to be known as Salma, 43, said she has been using the app since it was launched in February and found it more convenient than having physical copies of her licence and road tax.
“However, when I was renewing my licence, I was redirected to another website.
“It was not as seamless as I thought it would be.
“Maybe the authorities can consider streamlining the process without us having to go through different platforms,” she added.
Her husband, Joe, 45, said the app should also allow individuals whose driving licence had expired to renew it easily.
He said that he had to physically go to the Road Transport Department’s (JPJ) counter after his licence had lapsed about a year ago.
“I forgot to renew it on time due to a lot of commitments. When I wanted to renew it, I discovered that I had to go to the office physically.
“It would be better if we could do it via the app,” he said, adding that he had to resort to using a third-party service provider (runner) to help him deal with the government agency.
Self-employed Gayathri, 32, from Puchong, said she hopes the Transport Ministry would allow for commercial vehicle permit renewals to be done digitally as well, saving a lot of time and money, especially for small-business operators.
“For now, I have to travel all the way to the JPJ office just to collect the lorry’s vehicle road tax and have to spend time and money just to renew it.
“If we can do it digitally through the MyJPJ app just like for private vehicles, it would be great,” she said when met at the JPJ branch office here yesterday.
Sales executive Muzaini Shariff agreed, saying that it would take up less time and cost if he could renew commercial vehicle licences via an app.
“I was helping my company register permits and road tax for a company vehicle here. I have been waiting for more than an hour.
“I even dozed off while waiting for my turn. If it can be done online, my company could do it remotely with just a few clicks,” he said at the JPJ office.
An insurance agent who only wanted to be known as Liew said while the department’s digitalisation efforts have been helpful in easing some processes, counter services still need a lot of improvement.
She said that she had to wait for three hours just to get a road tax for a commercial vehicle she was helping her client with.
“I waited for three hours. Thankfully, there was an app called JPJeQ that tells us how long we would have to wait.
“But the counter services were still very slow. And some self-service kiosks were not working well either. The authorities need to improve these,” she added.
JPJeQ is a mobile app through which the public can get a queue number by scanning a QR code at the branch office they visit.
The app tells users their queue position and expected waiting period to be served at the JPJ counter. A notification will be sent to the users’ smartphones when their turn comes up.
Launched early this year, MyJPJ was developed by the JPJ to allow road users to obtain JPJ-related services such as eLMM (driving licence information) and eLKM (vehicle insurance and road tax information).
PETALING JAYA: Continue issuing physical road tax stickers as many elderly vehicle owners prefer it to digital road tax, runners have urged the government.
Some runners say they have lost their livelihood as people, especially the youth, opt to use a digital road tax which enables renewal online and doesn’t require their services.
Runners are third-party service providers who also provide Road Transport Department’s (JPJ) related services such as road tax renewal, changing a car’s ownership, plate number and more.
Part-time runner Fadli Sulaiman Zulkifli, 35, said many freelance runners are facing a tough time looking for jobs and a stable income.
“Thankfully, I work for a car insurance company and have a steady stream of clients who regularly use our services so I haven’t been affected as much,” he said.
Fadli also said some JPJ centres and post offices don’t provide physical stickers when asked and expect motorists to use the app instead.
“Many elderly customers feel uncomfortable driving without a renewed licence as they aren’t digitally savvy enough to register for a digital road tax via MyJPJ.”
Part-time runner Hazbullah Hazman, 20, who does road tax collection service for an insurance company, said that the number of customers is still stable for him.
He said this was due to them being regular customers at the insurance company he is working for.
“So far, the number of customers is still stable because they regularly use our services.
“Maybe the new runners could have some difficulties because most of the motorists, especially the younger generation, are using online platforms (to renew their documents).
“Compared to the older generation, the young ones are more tech-savvy, hence they will not use runners,” the marketing student said.
On Feb 10, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said drivers can obtain digital copies of their motor vehicle licence (commonly known as road tax) or their driving licence on the JPJ portal or MyJPJ application.
Loke said Malaysian private vehicle owners will no longer need to display a physical copy of their road tax on their vehicles or carry around a physical copy of their driving licence.
On Aug 2, Loke said the digitalisation initiative will be implemented in stages and that there will come a time when road taxes will be fully digital.
While some motorists hailed Loke’s announcement, others cited concerns such as security and accessibility.
Business operator Hud Abd Samad, who hires a runner to renew his road tax, said he will continue using the services of runners.
Hud said the runners help him avoid long waiting hours at the JPJ office whenever the permit for his commercial vehicles expire.
“Renewal permits are quite a tedious process because we need to take half a day just to go to the office.
“The runners’ costs are also reasonable at around RM10 to RM15,” he said.
Hud added that the runners he has hired are honest and accommodating to requests.
Freelance runner Muhammad Aiman Muhammad Bainun, 31, who provides road tax collection services online, said the digital road tax hasn’t affected his business as his clients are mostly close family members and friends.
“Runners will always be in demand as we help clients get a physical sticker,” he said.
However, Muhammad Aiman said he supported the government’s initiative as many countries are moving towards going without physical copies of such documents.
Continuously escalating sanctions on preventing Chinese technological advancement is disgraceful
Consumers queue up to experience the new Huawei Mate 60 Pro on September 3, 2023, in Shanghai. Photo: VCG
China's Foreign Ministry on Friday slammed the US' abuse of state power in cracking down on Chinese firms, and stressed that US sanctions, containment and crackdowns won't stop China's development but will only enhance its resolve and capabilities for tech self-reliance and innovation, after the US reportedly started an investigation into Chinese-made chips used in Huawei's new phones.
The remarks came as the Chinese telecom giant started pre-sales for several new smartphone models on Friday morning, with many models sold out immediately, drawing even greater attention to Huawei, after reports of advanced chips used in its new smartphones sent shockwaves through China and abroad, particularly in the US, where officials are reportedly seeking to step up the crackdown on the company.
Chinese experts said that the growing popularity of Huawei's smartphones among Chinese consumers serves as a reminder that unilateral sanctions and crackdowns do not work and could backfire, and cooperation, not crackdown, should be the common aspiration of the world.
Breaking through barriers. Illustration:Chen Xia/GT
Crackdown won't work
At a regular press briefing on Friday, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, was asked to comment on the US government's official probe into an advanced Chinese-made chip in Huawei's latest smartphones.
"We oppose politicizing trade and technology issues and overstretching and abusing the concept of national security. The US has abused state power to suppress Chinese companies," Mao said, adding that such moves violate the principle of free trade and international trade rules, destabilize the global industrial and supply chains and serve no one's interests.
"I want to stress that sanctions and curbs will not stop China's development. They will only strengthen China's resolve and capability to seek self-reliance and technological innovation," the spokesperson said.
Reports of chips used in Huawei's latest smartphones have sparked widespread speculation. In the US, many anti-China politicians are once again beating the drum for more sanctions and crackdowns on the Chinese firm.
However, that didn't seem to affect consumers' enthusiasm for the company's new smartphones. On Friday morning, Huawei launched pre-orders for several new smartphone models, including the Mate X5, the new Mate 60 and Mate 60 Pro models, which sold out immediately. Another round of pre-orders took place late on Friday afternoon, and the phones were sold out within just a few minutes of their launch, the Global Times learned. The deposit is 1,000 yuan ($136), but the prices for some models have not been disclosed yet.
While the company did not disclose specific details about the chips used, there has been widespread speculation in media reports that the Mate 60 series utilizes the Kirin 9000S chip, featuring 7nm technology and stacking technology, with HarmonyOS as its operating system.
Huawei has not announced the processor model of its new foldable screen phone Mate X5, but it is expected to be equipped with the same Kirin 9000S as the Mate 60 series, and may even have the rumored Kirin 9100, according to media reports.
The topic of Friday's new launch has drawn billions of views and received more than 200,000 comments on China's social media platform Sina Weibo, as of press time, with many netizens unable to hold their excitement as they rush to place orders.
The company's new launch has flabbergasted some US officials, who are pledging to look into the new products with a suspicious mindset of whether any US technology may be involved, according to media reports. The US Commerce Department, which enacted a series of restrictions against Huawei and China's chip industry over the past two years, said it's working to get more information on a "purported" 7-nanometer processor discovered within the Mate 60 Pro, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
Huawei's latest smartphone has also triggered a debate in Washington about the efficacy of sanctions intended to contain China, the report said.
Some Western media outlets have also been hyping so-called "widening curbs on iPhone use by government workers." Reuters reported on Friday that such "curbs" have raised concerns among US lawmakers and fanned fears that US tech companies heavily exposed to China could take a hit from rising tensions between the countries.
Asked about the reported claims at a regular press briefing on Friday, Mao said that China has always promoted high-level opening-up. "Products and services from any country are welcome to enter the Chinese market as long as they comply with Chinese laws and regulations," Mao said.
The spokesperson further noted that "this is fundamentally different from the abuse and disguise of the so-called 'security' concept by certain countries to suppress and contain Chinese companies."
On August 29, Apple announced that it would be holding a press conference on September 13 (Beijing time), during which it is expected to unveil the iPhone 15 series and a new Apple Watch. Given the timing, many foreign media outlets have been hyping the competition between Apple and Huawei's smartphones in the Chinese market.
Cooperation should be pursued
The US is undoubtedly uneasy about Huawei's new phone release and reportedly pledged to launch an investigation into it, but since Huawei is confidently announcing it, both the company and its suppliers seem prepared and unintimidated, Ma Jihua, a Beijing-based senior industry analyst, told the Global Times on Friday.
The US' frustration is also a clear indication that the US' blocks against the Chinese company have failed, and they do not have any better cards to play, Ma said, adding that such sanctions only prompted Chinese companies to reduce their reliance on the US and come up with their technologies and products.
"As technical containment has proven ineffective, for the US, the most practical strategy is to move away from zero-sum games and toward a cooperative path for win-win outcomes," the expert said.
US crackdown measures have and will continue to damage the interests of US companies, analysts noted. Meanwhile, some US industry insiders have also called for cooperation.
US view of China’s technology progress arrogant, shortsighted
Breaking through barriers. Illustration:Chen Xia/GT
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) published an article on Wednesday saying two physicists at Stanford University had expressed pessimism over the future of the US-China Science and Technology Agreement (STA), given the intense anti-China political sentiment in Washington.
The physicists, who collected signatures from 1,000 scientists and scholars at US universities, have called on the US government to renew the deal. We can only hope that their "petition" will awaken some people in Washington.
The US government extended for six months the symbolic agreement to cooperate with China in science and technology, which was due to expire on August 27. However, this "does not commit the US to a longer-term extension," a State Department spokesperson told Reuters in August. According to the SCMP report, some US lawmakers opposed an extension, citing fears such as intellectual property theft.
What those US lawmakers are not aware of is that renewal of the deal would be beneficial to the US. They should reflect on their shortsightedness.
The distorted US view of China's technological progress is the main culprit in undermining bilateral scientific and technological cooperation. For example, Huawei's latest flagship mobile phone, Mate 60 Pro, recently shocked American politicians who didn't understand how the country would have the technology to make high-end chips after sweeping efforts by the US to restrict China's access to foreign chip technology.
Many politicians in Washington follow this ridiculous logic. They believe China cannot make high-end chips on its own. Therefore, if these cutting-edge technologies can't be legally imported from the US or its allies, then they are "stolen." It's a bit ironic that after the release of Huawei's mobile phone, some US politicians failed to reflect on the futility of US export bans on China, but instead focused on finding loopholes in export restrictions and trying to prevent Chinese companies from using them to "steal" US technology. This reflects the arrogant mentality of US political elites, who ignore the progress of Chinese technology.
How does the US academic community view the issue of China's so-called intellectual property theft? In an August 24 letter, Peter Michelson of Stanford University and his colleague Steven Kivelson told US President Joe Biden that "cutting off ties with China would directly and negatively impact our own research."
Kivelson was quoted by the SCMP as saying that "in my field, which is the study of quantum materials, China has invested more than the US," so many of the experiments that his colleagues conduct will benefit from the discoveries made in China and freely available. "We benefit directly from that when lines of communication are open," he said.
One thing is clear: China-US technology cooperation is beneficial to the US. However, some politicians in Washington are addicted to hyping so-called intellectual property theft, using national security as an excuse to wantonly undermine technology cooperation, which will harm US technological development and innovation capabilities.
The US-China STA serves as an umbrella agreement for the science and technology relationship between the US and China. Renewing the STA is in the interests of the US. We hope that politicians in Washington can view China-US technology cooperation from an objective perspective, as well as its positive impact on the US economy, and abandon their arrogance and geopolitical mentality.
The US-China STA, signed in 1979, has been renewed every five years or so ever since. In the 1970s and 1980s, China's technology strength was relatively weak, so the US-China STA may have been more advantageous for China.
But today, with the rise of China's technological power, China-US technology cooperation has shifted toward being beneficial to the US. Technology cooperation is a big cake for the US economy. For example, without the US chip export ban, Huawei could have become an important buyer of US chips, driving the development of the US chip industry.
China is an important market for US technology products. Any behavior that disrupts China-US technology cooperation is a very shortsighted move.
China's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that products and services from any country are welcome in China as long as they are in line with Chinese laws and regulations, responding to US media reports claiming that China is “restricting” use of Apple's iPhones by government officials.
The newly released iPhone 15 series will face fiercer competition in the Chinese market as consumers have a wider range of choices, Chinese experts said on Wednesday, noting that technological innovation is the key to remaining competitive.
