Big job: Sunak greets Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson outside Number 10 Downing Street. The survey underscores the challenge Sunak’s
government has in reviving economic growth with a labour force that has shrunk since the pandemic. — Reuters
LONDON: The United Kingdom (UK) has fallen six places in the global economic competitiveness rankings because business leaders have lost confidence in the country, due in part to “government incompetence”.
The annual World Competitiveness Ranking from the International Institute for Management Development saw the UK plunge from 23rd to 29th out of 64 countries.
In a separate analysis, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warned that years of underinvestment are holding back growth and harming ambitions to build up green industries.
It estimated the nation would have received an extra £560bil (US$720bil or RM3.3 trillion) in real terms had investment from private firms and the government stayed at the Group of Seven average since 2005.
“The UK is experiencing a debilitating case of investment phobia, and the government’s aversion to investing to seize future opportunities is stopping us from getting out of the growth doom loop we find ourselves in,” said George Dibb, associate director for the economy at IPPR.
The figures underscore the challenge Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has in reviving economic growth with a labour force that has shrunk since the pandemic.
Political leaders from all parties are concerned about the UK’s stagnating productivity and sticky levels of inflation, which have undermined the confidence of investors both in stocks and in businesses.
In the competitiveness rank, the UK lost ground on all the key indicators, which is a worrying sign for the government, which wants to attract investment to boost growth.
Respondents said the country had become more bureaucratic, the government less efficient, and the workforce less productive.
Denmark held on to the top spot in 2023, and Ireland jumped nine places to second. Switzerland, the Netherlands and Singapore completed the top five.
“The dramatic drop in the survey indicators suggests a systemic pessimism about the future,” Arturo Bris, lead researcher on the rankings and director of the IMD World Competitiveness Centre, said in an interview. “The deterioration in business sentiment says executives are losing confidence in the country.”
More than 6,400 senior executives from across the world were interviewed for the report. Just 3% of respondents said the competency of the government made the UK an attractive destination for investment.
“Government incompetence, poor workplace culture, and restrictive immigration laws were among several reasons why the UK fared badly,” the report said.
The report also found that the UK is becoming increasingly bureaucratic, despite the government’s pledge to use “Brexit freedoms” to cut regulation. The UK fell 12 places in the bureaucracy sub-ranking from 15th to 27th, while France climbed from 44th to 41st, Bris said.
France remained less attractive than the UK, dropping five places to 33rd in the rankings. Germany fell seven places to 22nd.
The survey was conducted between February and May but reflected the political chaos of 2022, a year in which the UK got through three prime ministers and four chancellors.
The struggling economy, with inflation higher and the labour market tighter than other leading industrial nations, will have also affected sentiment badly, Bris said. — Bloomberg
A reporter holds a microphone with the logo of ANI during a press conference in India, on March 3, 2023. Photo: VCG
Source: EU DisinfoLab report.Graphic: Global Times
A recent report by a European organization investigating fake narratives of Indian media went viral on Chinese social media platforms recently, drawing wide attention to India's supposedly vast smear campaign against China and Pakistan.
Following reports in 2019 and 2020, the latest investigation report by independent non-profit organization EU DisinfoLab, published in February 2023, exposes more details and evidences to prove that Asian News International (ANI), an Indian news agency, has been quoting a number of non-existent organizations, journalists and bloggers to spread disinformation that attacks and smears China and Pakistan. The report further uncovered that India has long been building a huge anti-China and anti-Pakistan disinformation network and that Indian media outlets have built a sophisticated assembly line of fake anti-China and anti-Pakistan news.
On the one hand, the Indian media produces and spreads false narratives about China, and the Indian government restricts Chinese journalists' access to India and deny their rights of reporting a real India, by treating Chinese journalists in an unfair and discriminatory manner during their posting in India and visa application process.
Chinese experts said the investigation report exposes a deliberate effort by India or Indian media to shape negative narratives against China and Pakistan. The presence of such disinformation campaign aligns with India's strained relations with both countries. They pointed out that the production of fake news by Indian media can incite nationalist sentiment within the country and distract people from the real problems of the country and the poor performance of its government.
Within the complex geopolitical context of South Asia, such disinformation campaigns can have far-reaching consequences, which can exacerbate tensions, strain diplomatic relations, and hinder regional cooperation efforts, observers warned.
Bad sources
The investigation report titled "Bad Sources - How Indian news agency ANI quoted sources that do not exist," published by EU DisinfoLab, unveils "its latest investigation into anti-Pakistan/China influence operations," according to the organization.
The report said ANI is an Indian news agency that plays a relevant role in the country's information ecosystem, providing content for many well-established media across India, such as The Print and Business Standard. With this network, ANI acts as a purveyor of news to millions of Indians.
In the report, researchers write that ANI has been repeatedly quoting articles and reports issued by a think tank named the International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS). The think tank was previously chaired by Mario Silva, a former Canadian Member of Parliament (MP), and dissolved in 2014, according to public information provided on a Canadian government website.
However, when they checked IFFRAS' official website, the researchers found that it has kept updating information, including articles, news, books and even conferences, and that ANI has kept quoting information from the think tank's website.
For example, on December 27, 2022, IFFRAS published an article titled "Pakistan's persecution of minorities under scanner again," and on the same day, the article was quoted by ANI in a piece of news headlined "Pakistan's ill-treatment of minorities under scanner after UK sanctions Sindhi cleric," with most of the contents coming from the IFFRAS article.
ANI has quoted IFFRAS more than 200 times from May 2021 to January 2023, and "in most instances, it was not only quoting but using the IFFRAS 'reports' as the backbone of the articles," said the report.
News reports produced by ANI quoting IFFRAS can possibly get republished or reported on by other media outlets. For example, in April 14, 2022, an ANI report quoting IFFRAS was reproduced by The Statesman, an Indian daily newspaper, allowing the ANI report to reach a wider audience.
In addition, researchers of EU DisinfoLab further investigated whether the conference attendees at the think tank quoted in the articles actually exist.
To find out who was attending conferences held by IFFRAS, researchers contacted attendees of a session discussing the "Increasing presence of Muslim Brotherhood." But two of the attendees mentioned by IFFRAS responded that they had never attended such a conference and that the Muslim Brotherhood "had nothing (to do) with their field of expertise."
The investigation report also pointed out that more than 70 speakers mentioned in the fake conferences of IFFRAS did not exist at all.
Another interesting finding is that, in contrast to the frequent updates on its website, IFFRAS' Twitter account has not posted any content since 2021. Therefore, the researchers assumed that "the sole purpose of IFFRAS is to produce content that can be covered by ANI and then republished widely throughout the Indian press."
ANI's editor Smita Prakash responded to the report on Twitter on February 24, dubbing it "defamatory and false."
The Global Times has tried to contact ANI through the email address provided on its website, wanting to get a response on whether the news agency was aware that IFFRAS had been disbanded in 2014 and does not exist now. However, as of the publication of this report, there was no response from ANI.
Apart from IFFRAS, the researchers also looked into another think tank frequently quoted by ANI, the Policy Research Group (POREG), in which the researchers found no sign of the existence of three new members who had reportedly joined the group in the last two years.
For example, one of them is James Duglous Crickton, a misspelling of James Douglas Crickton, who wrote an article claiming that former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf held a secret bank account in Switzerland, which was later covered by ANI.
The researchers said that they have tried to get in touch with the three people through POREG, but have received no response. However, the three people had been quoted by ANI numerous times on topics such as Pakistan's army doctrines and China's "wolf warrior diplomacy," according to the investigation report.
The researchers also tried to get contact with Philippe Jeune, a claimed "Paris-based investigative journo with more than 10 years' experience" and sometimes a claimed "Brussels-based freelance journalist," who was quoted by ANI in a piece of news entitled "European Parliament to withdraw Pakistan's GSP+ status over abuse of blasphemy laws" - a withdrawal that did not happen, and efforts to do so again failed.
Asif Noor, founder of the Friends of BRI Forum, a Pakistan-based think tank, told the Global Times that in the investigation, ANI has been found to quote non-existent organizations, presenting them as credible sources of information. The expert noted that by attributing statements and opinions to these fictional entities, ANI creates a false impression of legitimacy and credibility for the disinformation being spread.
These fabricated figures are used as experts to provide opinions and analysis to further mislead readers and reinforce the false narratives. ANI's articles, containing the disseminated disinformation, are reproduced and shared across various well-established media outlets in India, Asif noted. "This amplification of the false narratives through multiple platforms increases their reach and potential impact, potentially influencing a wider audience and shaping public opinion."
Source: EU DisinfoLab report.Graphic: Global Times
Vast network
The IFFRAS think tank mentioned in the lab report was also found to be linked to the Srivastava Group, as the researchers found that IFFRAS has been registered by using a well-known email address from the Srivastava Group.
The latter is a notorious Indian shell corporation, and the EU DisinfoLab pointed out in its 2020 report that nominally, the group's main business is news media, with offices in Brussels and Geneva, and registrations of more than 750 media, think tanks and more than 550 domain names in 116 countries and regions around the world.
However, the researchers investigated and found that there was no profitable business under the Srivastava Group, and the media and think tanks related to the group basically only had a name but no actual business. For example, the researchers uncovered EU Chronicle, a fake media with fake journalists supposedly covering European affairs, which was actually serving as a platform for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to sign pro-Indian articles.
In fact, the group is a representative of the disinformation war launched by India against China. Under the lead of the Srivastava Group, which is based overseas in Geneva and Brussels, an information warfare network has been woven, with a number of fake media, think tanks and NGOs all over the world.
The fake news produced by the fake media under the group is also published and reprinted by some Indian media websites such as ANI which increases the reach of the disinformation.
For example, on September 17, 2020, an article was published in the EU Chronicle about a letter sent by several MEPs to the President of the European Council Charles Michel, asking for taking strong actions on China's Human Rights atrocities at the EU-China Summit. The article was titled "Meaningful address and strong action needed against China's human rights atrocities." In its coverage of the news, ANI changed the headline as "Members of the European Parliament urge EU to take strong action on China for Human Rights Violation." But then the coverage of ANI was distorted by the Srivastava Group's other fake media, which ran it under the headline: "EU to take strong action on China."
In the end, a simple request by individual MEPs, who are free to send any letter they want to send, was ultimately presented as an official position of the EU on China.
Represented by the EU Chronicle, fake media of India published a large number of discrediting articles on China and Pakistan in an attempt to damage the reputation of the countries internationally and win more support for India from institutions such as the EU and UN.
In addition, according to the lab's investigation, under India's vast network of fake narratives, many organizations created by the group are active in cities which host headquarters of international organizations, such as Geneva, Brussels and New York. These organizations include "South Asia Peace Forum," the "Baloch Forum" and "Friends of Gilgit-Baltistan."
In order to increase the official element and credibility of their organizations, they even paid some MEPs to make pro-India, anti-Pakistan and anti-China remarks, and organized trips for MEPs to Kashmir, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The researchers noted that "some of these trips led to much institutional controversy, as the delegations of MEPs were often presented as official EU delegations when they were in fact not travelling on behalf of the Parliament."
Responsible dissemination of accurate and verified information is crucial in fostering informed public discourse and upholding journalistic ethics, Asif noted. But India lacks the ability and is using it in favor of its own motivations, the expert said.
Beautify image
Experts noted that China and Pakistan have long been targets of India's disinformation campaign.
Topics related to the China-India border region, including the China-India border issue and China's border negotiation with Bhutan, are a major focus of the India's fabrication and smearing on China.
In addition, discrediting China's Belt and Road Initiative and the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and smearing on China's policies in Xinjiang and Xizang regions in terms of ethnic, religious, human rights and other issues are also the top agenda items set by some forces in India in the disinformation war against China, Sun Xihui, an associate research fellow with the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
With the help of these fake reports, the Indian media not only discredit China, but also try to raise the image of its own government in its community. By building the image of China with social chaos and oppression of people domestically, and deceiving internationally, the India media aimed to beautify India's image of democracy at home and friendship with its neighbors internationally, Sun noted.
The international community's perception of Pakistan and China may be swayed by the misinformation disseminated by India, affecting how these nations are viewed in terms of their policies, actions, and intentions. This can lead to biased judgments and misconceptions about Pakistan and China's contributions to regional and global affairs, Asif said.
To counter false narrative campaigns of India, experts noted that there should be a multifaceted approach involving various strategies. "It is important that China and Pakistan should promote media literacy to educate the public about identifying and evaluating misinformation and disinformation," Asif said.
"Citizens should also utilize social media platforms, official websites, and other digital channels to directly communicate with global audiences," said the expert.
Gary Machado, managing director of EU DisinfoLab, said he thought the muted reaction to the revelation of the disinformation network was partly because it was "clearly managed by Indian stakeholders."
"Imagine if the same operation was run by China or Russia. How do you think the world would have reacted? Probably with international outrage, leading to public inquiries and probably sanctions," he told BBC in an interview in December 2022.
Face to face: Blinken (second left) meets with China’s top diplomat Wang
Yi (second from right) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. — AP
BEIJING: China and the United States announced an agreement to jointly implement the consensus reached at the meeting between President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden in Bali, Indonesia, in November, and “effectively control differences and promote dialogue, exchanges and cooperation”.
The agreement was reached at the talks between State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang and visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Analysts said the meeting on Sunday was the latest positive move for repairing the relationship between the world’s two largest economies.
The ties have remarkable bilateral and global implications and mutual respect remains the key to managing differences, they said.
Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday morning for his first visit to China as secretary of state.
“The two sides had candid, in-depth and constructive talks at length on the overall bilateral ties and important issues,” the Foreign Ministry said in a release.
The two sides also exchanged views on major international and regional issues of common concern.
Qin’s meeting with Blinken was the first of its kind between the two in their current capacities.
At the talks, Beijing and Washington agreed to maintain high-level exchanges.
Blinken invited Qin to visit the US, and Qin expressed his willingness to visit the US “at a mutually convenient time”.
The two sides agreed to encourage the expansion of cultural and education exchanges between the two countries and to actively discuss an increase in passenger flights between the nations.
They both will welcome more students, scholars and businesspeople to visit one another, and will provide support and convenience.
Speaking to Blinken on Sunday, Qin said that “currently, China-US relations are at the lowest point since the establishment of the diplomatic relations”, which is not in line with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the common expectations of the international community.
The two sides should fully implement the consensus of the meeting between Xi and Biden in Bali, and “work to stabilise and steer the relations back to the right track”, he said. — China Daily/ANN
We hope that after returning to the US, Blinken will comprehensively and objectively convey the information received in China, generating new momentum for stabilizing China-US relations, and never again leaving the impression that the US says one thing and does another.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday, with
the aim of easing tensions between the two countries and helping steer the bilateral relations into a stable track.
Even as American officials, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, are pursuing talks with their Chinese
counterparts aimed at stabilizing a bilateral relationship that is at its nadir, there is growing talk in Washington of letting a landmark
bilateral science and technology deal expire later this year.
In the last decade, the US security elites seized power from Wall Street for greedily selling out American hegemonic interests. — Bloomberg
You can say that there is no clash of civilisations, but rather a clash of national praetorian guards who feel that their interests are being threatened, sometimes not just by foreign intrusion but also weak leaders who betray their interests.
EVERY empire has its grand historian to explain more its successes than failures. In 1776, when Adam Smith published his classic “Wealth of Nations”, British essayist Edward Gibbon (1737 to 1794) wrote an equally famous text, “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”.
The year 1776 was a historical turning point, when Britain lost her American colonies, even as she focused on conquering India 19 years after the 1757 victorious Battle of Plassey against the Mogul empire and their French allies.
Gibbon attributed the Roman fall to “four principle causes of the ruin of Rome, which continued to operate in a period of more than a thousand years. (I) The injuries of time and nature. (II) The hostile attacks of the Barbarians and the Christians. (III) The use and abuse of the materials. And (IV) The domestic quarrels of the Romans.”
His warnings apply even today, even though he was reminding the rising British elites what to look out for in the bid for Empire.
Interestingly, Chinese historians attribute dynastic decline and fall to “external invasion and internal troubles” .
Rome was built on conquest. Her Roman legions were legendary, but the elite core that defended consuls, procurators and emperors were the Praetorian Guard, who exercised the intelligence, logistics and national security functions of the Roman empire.
The Roman empire rose as the effectiveness of Roman military discipline and organisation overwhelmed all enemies.
The Praetorian Guard was the core staff between the consul, like Julius Caesar, and his legions.
They also supervised the intelligence functions, initially undertaken by the Frumentarii, involved in strategy, logistics, information couriers and negotiations with allies and enemies alike.
Within Rome, as the elite defending the capital, the Guardians later became king-makers, since weak emperors needed the military on their side.
They helped in assassination of at least one emperor and putting several others on the throne.
Fast forward to the First World War.
Amidst Europe’ ruinous self-destruction, German polymath Oscar Spengler (1880 to 1936) wrote The Decline of the West, positing that empires or civilisations have the same human biological cycle of birth, life and death.
He famously speculated that the West would enter into a crisis after two centuries of Caesarinspired concentration of power into one leader would lead to collapse of Western civilisation.
Indeed, he warned that the spread of Western technology to the “coloured races” would be used against the West. Sounds familiar? Spengler was discredited after the Second World War for being an inspiration behind Nazi expansion.
Thereafter, British historian Arnold Toynbee (1889 to 1975) 12-volume Studies in History gave Spengler fatalism an optimistic twist.
His study of 26 civilisations showed that empires can rise to historical challenges when their elites respond creatively with innovation and technology.
In other words, those elites, including emperors, presidents or political leaders who are guardians of empire integrity, can succeed to grow empires.
But when that elite becomes predatory through corruption and infighting, the empire or civilisation weakens and falls to a combination of internal collapse and foreign invasion.
Every nation has their own praetorian guard or cohort of agencies in defence, national security, intelligence and think tanks that safeguard the national interest.
A modern parallel would be the Washington blob (national security elite) that comprises the Pentagon, State Department, intelligence community and foreign affairs think tanks.
Former US President Eisenhower called it the “military industrial complex”.
Moscow’s praetorian guard is labelled the Kremlin.
Countries like China, Russia, India, France and Japan have their own praetorian elite, who consider their mission to safeguard national integrity against all enemies, including threats to their national identity, creed and values.
You can say that there is no clash of civilisations, but rather a clash of national praetorian guards who feel that their interests are being threatened, sometimes not just by foreign intrusion but also weak leaders who betray their interests.
In the last decade, the US security elites seized power from Wall Street for greedily selling out American hegemonic interests.
As chairman Mao said, “political power comes from the barrel of a gun”, meaning that those who have the military behind them beat those who don’t.
Hence, stable governments are those that are able to keep the military in their barracks.
Those who do not keep the military happy are vulnerable to coup d’etat.
But what if the praetorian guards’ interests are not aligned with those of the masses, who only want peace and stability, including better jobs, health and less government intervention?
In this age of confusion and distorted media, the masses are rightly worried whether their praetorian guards are looking after their interests or after their own?
This is reflected in recent serious loss of public trust in elites, which feeds the populist desire to have one of their own to oversee the elites.
Donald Trump has pitched himself in that populist category.
The more the blob tries to prevent him from returning as Presidential candidate, including his recent indictment, the more Trump’s supporters will hunker down in their belief that the praetorian elites are looking after their own skin.
Ancient history therefore tells us that empires decline if their elites are feeding at the trough at the expense of the masses.
They sometimes start wars to deflect anger against them towards anger against barbarians.
Are there parallels in the current age?
By Andrew Sheng andrew Sheng writes on global issues from an asian perspective. the views expressed here are the writer’s own.
In the fifth installment of this series, the Global Times looks into how this "bullying empire" tries to stamp the world's
internet with US rules and values, and its attempts to curb China's rise in the digital sphere, through various ...
Cardiovascular diseases hitting Malaysians at an earlier age
'The most common risk factors for CVDs are uncontrolled blood sugar
levels (diabetics), hypertension and high cholesterol
(hypercholestrolaemia' - Dr Wan Azman.
“It has been estimated that CVD-related deaths will reach approximately 31,000 cases annually by 2025 if no concrete measures are put in place to reduce CVD rates,” said Dr Wan Azman, adding that this would form about 55% of all non-communicable diseases related deaths in the country.
With the arrival of Covid-19 in Malaysia in 2020, CVDs still formed a substantial part of deaths, with ischaemic heart diseases and cerebrovascular diseases combining to contribute 20.2% of deaths in 2022, as per the data from the Statistics Department.
“CVDs account for the largest share in costs for hospitalisation (47.77% or RM1.01bil) and medication (46% or RM792mil) compared to other non-communicable diseases, while resulting in annual productivity losses of approximately RM4bil,” said Dr Wan Azman.
He said the most common risk factors for CVDs are uncontrolled blood sugar levels (diabetics), hypertension and high cholesterol (hypercholestrolaemia)
While monitoring blood sugar and blood pressure are relatively straightforward things, monitoring one’s cholesterol level, especially levels of the “bad” cholesterol otherwise known as the low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), has proven to be more challenging, for a variety of reasons.
A person with high cholesterol has no symptoms, he said, adding that a comprehensive blood test was the only way to detect it.
“What makes it more complicating is that while a person’s total cholesterol (combination of high-density lipoproteins and LDL) count may be fine, the percentage of LDL in the total cholesterol count may have breached risky levels,” added Dr Wan Azman.
Health Ministry family medicine specialist consultant Dr Sri Wahyu Taher who was another member of the panel at the event said blood pressure (BP) and blood sugar could be measured easily in public health clinics or general practitioners or at retail pharmacies.
“Checking for cholesterol is not as easy as there is a need to draw a blood sample from the vein to be tested in the laboratory,” she said.
Typically, LDL testing are part of a lipid panel test (that measures total cholesterol, breakdown between HDL and LDL, as well as triglycerides) that are done in comprehensive health screenings.
The challenge includes disseminating information that cholesterol screening is readily available even at government health clinics.
“It is not necessary for a person to go to the hospital to get a cholesterol test done,” added Dr Sri Wahyu.
PETALING JAYA: As many as 85% of Malaysians claim that their level of knowledge of cholesterol-related issues ranges from “average to good,” according to a recent survey.
The State of Health of the Nation perception survey conducted online nationwide in December 2022, was designed to be representative of the overall population by location, gender, and race.
Conducted by The Green Zebras on behalf of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and Novartis, a pharmaceutical company, the survey polled 500 Malaysians aged between 40 and 64 years.
The not-so-good news is that cholesterol myths are still prevalent, with 75% saying there would be symptoms if a person has high cholesterol, which is untrue.
In a statement, MMA said the survey also found other misconceptions about cholesterol, such as that cholesterol could be managed through a change in lifestyle (92%), while only 40% believe that cholesterol could only be controlled with medication.
Slightly more than half (56%) of the respondents aged from 40 to 60 assumed that cholesterol testing was needed at least every five years or more frequently, and 49% disagreed that someone within a healthy weight range could actually have unhealthy cholesterol levels.
Despite these misconceptions, most Malaysians (89%) are aware that poorly managed high cholesterol levels could lead to severe diseases such as cardiovascular diseases that include stroke and heart problems, with 84% of the respondents wishing for easier ways to manage high cholesterol.
MMA president Dr Muruga Raj Rajathurai said while the response in the survey showed that Malaysians claimed to be well-informed on cholesterol, there were some fallacies in their sentiments.
He said there were no symptoms for high cholesterol and that a blood test was the only way to detect it.
The recommended cholesterol screenings for adults between 45 to 65 years are every one to two years and should be done annually for those above 65, he added.
“Therefore, taking charge of your health and doing regular health screenings is relatively important. Do not wait to visit the doctor when you feel unhealthy or unwell, everything may be too late.
“I strongly advise them not to rely on health-related information from friends, family, and social media only as these are often skewed through the sharing process,” he said in a statement.
Mohamed ElWakil, country president of Novartis Malaysia, said many people were unaware that cholesterol was one of the silent killers, along with high blood pressure and diabetes.
“There are no obvious symptoms. However, cholesterol can be managed if it is detected early.
“Following the doctor’s recommended treatment plan and lifestyle changes may help prevent severe heart-related problems.
“In fact, there are now easier and more convenient treatment plans available. Patients should actively seek the best treatment options from their doctors.””
GEORGE TOWN: Unhealthy lifestyles have led to people suffering from cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including heart attack and stroke, at a younger age.
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) family medicine specialist Dr Mastura Mohd Sopian said CVD among young people is mainly caused by high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), commonly known as bad cholesterol.
“CVD is the leading cause for morbidity and mortality globally and Malaysians are not spared from it,” she said.
Aside from poor dietary habits, she said a largely sedentary lifestyle and stress have added to the increase in CVD and metabolic diseases.
“Too much fast food and processed food, which are cheaply available, are among the main reasons the younger generation has become more prone to these diseases,” she added.
The medical lecturer said to combat these diseases, prevention was better than cure.
Dr Mastura urged people to stick to healthy diets, and for those who smoke, to kick the habit.
She said one must move more and exercise often – as much as 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day or at least three days a week.
“We should all learn how to manage our stress, seek help and advice when needed and see the doctor yearly for a health screening,” she said, adding that getting six to eight hours of sleep each night was vital.
For those dealing with diabetes or other non-communicable diseases (NCD), Dr Mastura said these healthy habits were necessary to manage their condition.
She said the greatest visible indicator of being at risk of CVD was being overweight or worse, obese.
Public health expert Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar said too much food consumed by Malaysians now were laden with saturated and even trans fats.
This, he said, were among factors causing Malaysians, especially the younger generation, to be at risk of CVD.
Dr Zainal said it was important to maintain a healthy balance of cholesterol in the body by limiting their intake of saturated and trans fats.
LDL is the type of cholesterol that can cause build-ups and blockages in arteries that can lead to heart diseases and strokes.
As agreed upon by both China and the US, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit China from June 18 to 19, the Chinese Foreign
Ministry said on Wednesday.
Current atmosphere between China and the US is very bad, how to avoid miscalculations and conflicts?
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Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang speaks with Blinken, clarifying China’s stance on core concerns including Taiwan question
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang had a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday at the latter’s request, clarifying China's firm stance on core concerns such as the Taiwan question, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Qin pointed out that since the beginning of the year, China-US relations have faced new difficulties and challenges, and the responsibility is clear. China has always viewed and handled China-US relations following the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Qin clarified China's firm stance on core concerns such as the Taiwan question, emphasizing that the US should respect it, stop interfering in China's internal affairs, and stop harming China's sovereign security and development interests in the name of competition.
The Chinese diplomat said he hopes that the US will take practical actions to implement the important consensus reached between the two heads of state at the G20 Bali meeting and the relevant commitments made by the US, move toward China, effectively manage differences, promote exchanges and cooperation, and get China-US relations back on track to healthy and stable development.
Washington continued hyping China-related topics ahead of a reported trip by Blinken to China as the Biden administration said it has "taken diplomatic steps" that slowed China's intelligence presence overseas following its recent hype over an alleged "Cuba spy base." The latest US move was criticized by China on Tuesday as "taking the same page" of the US' playbook.
Hype over China-related topics 'taking the same page' from Washington's playbook
Cartoon: Carlos Latuff
Washington continued hyping China-related topics ahead of a reported trip by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China as the Biden administration said it has "taken diplomatic steps" that slowed China's intelligence presence overseas following its recent hype over an alleged "Cuba spy base." The latest US move was criticized by China on Tuesday as "taking the same page" of the US' playbook.
Chinese experts also warned that the senior US official may use this trip and some topics of concern as a bargaining chip while continuing to hype the so-called China threat. Considering the recent words and deeds emanating from the US side, the trip, if it happens, would be ill-intentioned, some experts said. They said they believe there is a strong opposition force within Washington against the possible improvement of US-China relations, as any positive signs could make the Biden administration appear to be too soft.
The Biden administration has taken "diplomatic steps" that have slowed down a Chinese effort to "project military power" around the world, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, as the Reuters reported.
Washington's top diplomat was asked at a press conference about Washington's response to a Wall Street Journal report last week that cited US officials as saying a new "spying effort" was underway on Cuba, according to the media report.
China has already refuted the US' groundless accusations that China uses a secret base in Cuba to spy on the US. And some Chinese experts warned that the US' groundless accusations could become another "spy balloon incident" that may once again drag on Washington's plan to reengage with China.
"I've stated China's position on similar questions several times. The US has been taking the same page from its playbook and people are already quite familiar with it," Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a routine press conference on Tuesday.
We hope the US will take a hard look at itself, stop propagating rumors and smears, and stop being a champion of hacking with its indiscriminate surveillance on other countries, Wang said.
Despite both the National Security Council spokesperson and Pentagon press official had said that reports about the so-called spy base in Cuba are inaccurate, senior US officials, congressmen and media continue to fuel the speculation, showing their malicious intent, Ma Hui, Chinese Ambassador to Cuba, told the Global Times on late Tuesday.
“The US’ claim that China is committed to expanding its military presence globally is a complete misrepresentation,” Ma said.
In the eyes of Chinese experts, there has been a growing contradiction between the US' actions and the continual signals it sends indicating a desire for engagement with China, which only fuels more doubts about the US' sincerity and its true intention.
"Blinken may include some of topics of concern in the visit and use it to continue hyping the 'threat of China,' this indicates the visit would be ill-intentioned," Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Whether the trip could be realized or not, it won't slow down the US containment against China, and although Washington claimed to have tried to seek communication with China, its true intention is smearing and suppressing China, Li said.
On Monday, the US Commerce Department announced to put 43 entities into its so-called Entity List, including 31 Chinese entities as it restricted exports to entities that it says recruited Western pilots to train Chinese military personnel and help develop hypersonic weapons.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry slammed the US act on Tuesday, saying that the US abused state power to go after Chinese companies, trampled on international trade order and global trade rules and destabilized global industrial and supply chains hysterically by all kinds of means.
Besides targeting the Chinese companies, the US continued hyping the Taiwan question, as some US media reported on Monday that the US government is preparing "evacuation plans" for American citizens living in Taiwan due to concerns over the escalation of the situation in the Taiwan Straits.
Before the US started its recent push to engage with China, there have been "some little tricks," making others doubt its credibility, and they are likely to leverage those topics as bargaining chips in talks with China, Diao Daming, an associate professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
“The US should cherish a possible positive trend for the US-China engagement and not waste any goodwill to stabilize bilateral relations,” Diao said.
If China does not help the United States, the United States will once again experience the 2008 financial crisis.
If
the United States extends its financial crisis to other countries, they
will allow the United States to become a second-rate country.
The
United States relies on alliances to suppress other non alliance
countries. When the United States cannot meet the interests of alliance
countries, other countries will begin to unite to suppress the United
States.
The
EU economy has been basically stagnant since 2008, and the
proliferation of the US dollar and inflation will make American allies
believe that the United States cannot become the appropriate leader.
The Middle East, Latin America, and Africa will not trust the United States. These places have had enough of the United States.
Eastern
Europe believes more in Russia, Southeast Asia believes more in China,
and South Asia believes less in the United States.
The
U.S. manufacturing industry only accounts for 10% of GDP, and the U.S.
cannot produce enough goods to supply 300 million people.
If the United States wants to regain control of manufacturing, it must have started preparations at least 20 years ago.
The scale of China's manufacturing industry is equal to the sum of the United States + the European Union.
Latin
America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Africa, these
countries exchange raw materials for euros and dollars.
The
currencies of the European Union and North America depreciated,
resulting in these countries being unable to exchange more goods.
What people in most countries of the world want is a normal life.
Ordinary people in these countries find that the harder they work, the less Western goods they get.
The western model cannot provide normal life for other countries.
If you remove the US medical and lawyer GDP, you will find that China's GDP is stronger than that of the US.
Legal
fees, rent, and medical care, these three are cancer cells, and they
eat up a large number of savings of ordinary Americans.
The
price is that the life expectancy of Americans is lower than that of
China, and there are more homeless people in the United States than in
China, and the endless lawsuits intensify social internal friction.
Therefore,
I said that the problems in the United States are self-inflicted, but
no leader in the United States will solve the problems in the United
States, and many interest groups will hinder the reform of the United
States.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI (right), delivers an online speech at the conference held by the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence in Beijing on June 10, 2023. Photo: Shen Weiduo/GT
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has called for a global cooperation in setting up the regulatory guardrails for powerful artificial intelligence (AI) systems at an industry forum held in Beijing on Saturday, noting that China can play a significant role with some of its "best AI talent in the world."
"China has some of the best AI talent in the world... given the difficulties solving alignment for advanced AI systems requires the best minds from around the world," Altman said at an industry forum hosted by the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence （BAAI） on Saturday.
Altman predicted that in the next decade, artificial general intelligence systems, commonly called AGI, may surpass human expertise "in nearly every domain," and could eventually exceed the collective productivity of some of the largest companies.
"The potential upside here isn't one. AI revolution will create shared wealth and make it possible to dramatically improve the standard of living for everyone. We must manage the risk together in order to get there," Altman said.
At present, a new round of AI boom triggered by ChatGPT is sweeping the world including China. While people have been thrilled for the productivity improvement that AI can bring, they are increasingly aware of the huge risks, with governments slowly stepping in to harness the powerful yet dangerous tool.
In May, hundreds of industry leaders, including Altman himself, have signed a letter warning that "mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war." Altman made a point to reference the IAEA, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, as an example of how the world came together to oversee nuclear power.
"We need international cooperation to build global trust in the safe development of increasingly powerful AI systems. In a verifiable way, I have no illusions that this will be easy. We will need to devote significant and sustained attention as an international community to get this right," Altman said.
In a possible indication to the current geopolitical conflict's impact on the global AI cooperation, Altman noted that "great powers may have their share of differences." This is true today, as it has been before. But even during the most difficult times, great powers have found ways to cooperate on what matters. "We see great potential for researchers in the US, China, and around the world to work together to achieve the shared goal."
Altman used an ancient Chinese proverb, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," in describing how the world should start on the difficult but necessary cooperation.
In talking about the next frontier that OpenAI is engaging on in a later Q&A session, Altman said OpenAI is discussing about opening source more models in the future, but does not have a specific model or timetable.
"Certainly, at some point, we'll try to do a GPT-5 model in the sequence, but not anytime soon and we don't know exactly when," Sam said, adding that he's hoping someday the company can get to return to robotics - a sector the company has worked on at the very start.
The two-day conference hosted by the BAAI has invited leading figures in the industry such as AI "godfather" Geoffrey Hinton and Turing Award winner Yann André LeCun. Apart from exchanging on AI frontiers and technology progress, this year's conference placed a special focus on AI regulation and alignment.
Industry players and experts at the forum have also emphasized on the importance of global cooperation in harnessing the "double-sword" technology, which is especially urgent as the large models are development "too fast."
"We are fully aware of the urgency of AI regulation, but under the current global situation, as some in the US are hyping China threat with AI as a key battleground, global cooperation and an international rule could be hard, though some cooperation might be achievable in certain areas,"Wang Peng, a research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Saturday at the sidelines of the event.
Looking ahead, the development of large models and major technological breakthroughs is clearly be related to the life and death of human society, Wang said, noting that it's critical for some nations to drop closed and retrogressive minds of "small courtyards and high walls," join forces together with the rest of the world, and concentrate on overcoming difficulties for the benefit of all mankind.
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company iFlytek unveiled its generative language model SparkDesk on Saturday, joining other Chinese counterparts
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