4 | Thursday, April 30, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY CHINA Beijing Flying fish Court rejects appeal by med staff activist Edward Leung

By CHEN ZIMO in Hong Kong endured [email protected] Participants in the The Court of Appeal of Hong uncertainty Kong on Wednesday dismissed the riots showed a appeal lodged by local independ­ degree of By WANG XIAODONG ence activist Edward Leung Tin­kei [email protected] against his six­year jail term for premeditation in rioting in 2016, saying the sentence committing the When Chang Zhigang, a doctor of handed down to him by the Court critical medicine at Beijing Hospital, of First Instance was “reasonable” crime when they arrived at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan and supported by “sufficient evi­ attacked unarmed on Jan 26, he and his colleagues dence”. faced a difficult situation — a rapidly The court also ruled against Lo police officers with increasing number of COVID­19 Kin­man and Wong Ka­kui, who serious violence.” patients, a severe shortage of beds, a were also convicted of rioting and lack of standard negative­pressure jailed for the same incident on Feb The Court of Appeal wards for treatment of infectious dis­ 8 and 9, 2016. They filed the appeal eases and exhausted local doctors together with Leung. Chief Judge of the High Court of and nurses. In the written summary of the Hong Kong Jeremy Poon Shiu­ Patients were generally in a nega­ ruling, the court said sentencing chor, one of the three judges who tive mood. Those who could not get for the offense of rioting “must presided over the appeal case, fur­ admitted had fears they would not reflect the law’s determination to ther noted that Leung had been get treated and would infect their maintain public order, and send a present since the riot began and family members. For those lucky clear message to society and the had witnessed how the events patients who were hospitalized, they Fishermen catch bighead carp in Yueyang, Hunan province, on Wednesday. Carp is a main ingredient public that the law does not con­ unfolded with escalating violence. generally lacked confidence in their in chili fish head, a famous Hunan dish. It takes three to four years for the fish to grow to 3 to 4 kilograms, done breaches of public order by According to evidence presented recovery, Chang said. the size preferred for the dish. YANG HUAFENG / CHINA NEWS SERVICE means of violence”. by the prosecution, Leung and his “At that time, the number of new Meanwhile, the court said in a accomplices attacked traffic police cases was rising quickly, but few summary that it also took into con­ officers with wooden sticks. They were being cured and discharged sideration various factors when then took turns, using a bullhorn, from the hospital,” he said. sentencing rioting offenders. This to encourage people to charge the “Meanwhile, medical workers included whether the riot was pre­ police cordon. Masked protesters were wearing thick isolation gowns, meditated and the number of par­ were then seen tossing bricks at so many patients felt heavy psycho­ More high­speed rail ticipants in the riot and the degree police and setting trash cans on logical pressure realizing that they of violence involved. The offenders’ fire. The court also said in the writ­ had an infectious disease.” personal beliefs, however, were not ten summary that even if Leung Chang and his colleagues from a mitigating factor. claimed his aim had been to protect Beijing Hospital were also tentative, The court dismissed the appeals, local traditions and culture, this unclear of the new disease and how it arguing that the riot in which the could not “lessen his culpability for transmits. links to airports ahead trio participated was premeditat­ rioting and unjustified use of seri­ Their feelings were exacerbated by ed, the same view found by the trial ous violence towards a police offi­ the exponential increase of patients judge. Participants in the riots cer”. and a shortage of protective materi­ 11 planned projects come as demand Last year, the country’s civil avia­ showed a degree of premeditation The Mong Kok riot, which began als such as masks and isolation tion industry handled 660 million in committing the crime when they around 9:30 pm on Feb 8, 2016, saw gowns. for flights continues to grow in country passenger trips, a year­on­year attacked unarmed police officers clashes between radicals and the Despite the difficulties and uncer­ increase of 7.9 percent, and air traf­ with serious violence, the court police on Portland Street of Mong tainties, they immediately started to By WANG KEJU fic contributed 32.8 percent of pas­ said. Kok. work with local medical staff to reno­ [email protected] 660m senger turnover in China’s vate wards, formulate infectious con­ passenger trips comprehensive transport system, trol procedures and test medical A number of high­speed railways according to the administration. were handled by the country’s Kwok must resign! equipment. will be built this year to link airport civil aviation industry last year, But the existing airports, less Chang was one of the 151 medical hubs with surrounding areas, contributing 32.8 percent of than half the number of airports in workers dispatched in three groups which experts said will facilitate the passenger turnover in China’s the United States, are unevenly dis­ by Beijing Hospital to help treat seri­ coordinated development of city overall transport system. tributed throughout the country, ously ill COVID­19 patients at Tongji clusters and better meet people’s making them incapable of satisfy­ Hospital, a top hospital in Wuhan, burgeoning demand for air travel. ing the vast market and fast­grow­ capital of Hubei province, during the A notice issued recently by the Situan township with Taicang of ing travel needs, said Li Xiaojin, a height of the outbreak. National Development and Reform Jiangsu province has started con­ professor of aviation economics at Wang Jianye, president of Beijing Commission said that both interna­ struction, which will include Shang­ the Civil Aviation University of Chi­ Hospital, said the first group of vol­ tional and regional airport hubs hai Pudong International Airport in na in Tianjin. unteers sent to Wuhan were mostly should be connected to the coun­ the railway network for the first Improving rail connections at air­ doctors in respiratory diseases, criti­ try’s vast railway network to extend time. port hubs will, to some degree, cal medicine and emergency medi­ their reach up to 1,000 kilometers Shanghai Hongqiao Internation­ erode the current geographical cine. Later groups consisted of and 500 km, respectively. al Airport, which is already part of a imbalance by allowing more pas­ doctors and nurses of various disci­ The notice includes a list of 11 comprehensive transport hub that sengers to save time and money plines, including heart disease, radi­ existing international and regional includes a high­speed railway sta­ going to the hubs, he said. ation, digestion, cancer and the airport hubs that are to be linked by tion and a long­distance bus station, Citing a forecast by the Interna­ immune system. new high­speed railways or urban will see itself connected by another tional Air Transport Association Due to intensive care given by rail transit systems. high­speed railway that connects that China, currently the world’s these doctors and nurses from Bei­ Among 11 projects, seven are Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and Hu­ second­largest civil aviation market, Members of the Defend Hong Kong Campaign stage a dramatic jing, all but four of the 100 seriously international airport hubs in Bei­ zhou, Zhejiang province. Already is expected to exceed the United protest against lawmaker Dennis Kwok Wing­hang outside the ill patients were cured, Wang said. jing and Shanghai, as well as Shen­ endorsed by the commission, the States and become the world’s larg­ Central Government Offices in Hong Kong on Wednesday. They Xu Xiaomao, a doctor in respirato­ zhen in Guangdong province, Xi’an railway is slated to start construc­ est by the mid­2020s, Li also noted are also displaying a banner calling for the lawmaker’s dismiss­ ry diseases and critical medicine at in Shaanxi province and Kunming tion this year. that upgrading airports into com­ al. PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY Beijing Hospital who was among the in Yunnan province. The other four The commission said in the prehensive transportation hubs 151 volunteers, said the team mem­ are regional airport hubs in Xiamen notice that efforts should be made with wider coverage and higher bers tried their best to treat patients in Fujian province, Changsha in to promote the mutual recognition speed will also raise its global com­ under their charge. Hunan province, Lanzhou in Gansu of airport and railway two­way petitiveness. “We used many kinds of antiviral province and Tianjin. security checks and simplify trans­ Feng Kui, a researcher at the Chi­ drugs, drugs that can improve the In Beijing, an intercity rail line fer procedures between the airport na Center for Urban Development Wuhan: Key measures immune system and nutrition sup­ has been approved by the commis­ and the rail transit in a bid to pro­ under the commission, agreed, add­ plements,” he said. sion to link Beijing’s two interna­ vide a convenient travel experience ing that the more integrated trans­ Chang said the average age of the tional airports — Beijing Capital for passengers and optimize flight portation network brought by these in city set minds at ease 100 patients received by medical International Airport and Beijing check­in services in the rail transit projects will benefit a more bal­ From page 1 With the epidemic under control workers from Beijing Hospital in Daxing International Airport — stations. anced regional development, espe­ in the city, all makeshift hospitals Wuhan was above 60, which created with Langfang, Hebei province. The Experts said that once completed, cially in city clusters such as the It later became clear, Zhang said, in Wuhan were closed by March 10. more challenges for the staff. rail line’s construction will kick off the 11 projects would enhance the Beijing­Tianjin­Hebei region and that setting up temporary hospitals “I felt much less worried with the “Elderly COVID­19 patients usual­ this year, according to the commis­ mainland airport hubs’ capacity to the Yangtze River Delta region. by converting large indoor facilities establishment of the temporary ly have other diseases … resulting in sion. offer fast and comfortable air traffic. The convenient transport facility like exhibition halls and stadiums hospitals, particularly after learn­ them being more likely to fall into Construction of a new railway According to the latest statistics will boost the flow of labor and was the turning point in the city’s ing about the living conditions and dangerous situations,” he said. linking Daxing airport and neigh­ from the Civil Aviation Administra­ information and inject new impe­ fight against the outbreak. medical care on the news, as I For example, Chang said one of the boring Tianjin will also start this tion of China, the nation had 238 tus to less­developed cities sur­ That not only ensured all knew we could get proper treat­ COVID­19 patients Chang and his year. Upon completion, the line will civil airports by the end of 2019, rounding the hub and thus further patients could be admitted to ment even if we were infected,” said colleagues received was a 92­year­ be the fourth high­speed railway including 39 each with annual coordinate the development of cit­ proper medical facilities to cut off 38­year­old Wuhan resident Li Li. old man who also had hypertension, connecting Beijing and Tianjin. throughput exceeding 10 million ies and bridge the development gap possible transmission routes, but Large­scale screening of those diabetes and depression. In Shanghai, a rail line linking its passengers. in many areas, he added. also helped set people’s minds at infected or suspected of having been To cure the patient, he and his col­ ease that everyone would be able infected through door­to­door visits leagues held a meeting every day to to receive proper medical treat­ in communities in Wuhan also discuss treatment and put him ment, he said. played a key role in slowing the epi­ under close observation, which led to In Wuhan, the construction of demic’s progress in China, said Jiao his recovery, he said. Sessions: Health issues high on agenda such hospitals started on Feb 3, Yahui, who is responsible for medi­ Within two months of the lock­ with the first three being com­ cal administration and supervision down in Wuhan in late January, more From page 1 coordinating the preparation of the demic­related topics, including how pleted in 29 hours. In total, 16 at the National Health Commission. than 42,000 medical workers from CPPCC annual session with epi­ to better prevent infectious diseases temporary hospitals with about On Feb 6, the central work group across China participated in the treat­ At a meeting of the Chairperson’s demic prevention and control work. and manage medical donations. 14,000 beds were set up. They guiding anti­epidemic efforts in ment of patients in the city, according Council of the CPPCC National Many NPC deputies anticipated “I’m also concerned about the took in more than 12,000 patients Hubei, headed by Vice­Premier Sun to the National Health Commission, Committee, Wang Yang, chairman an unusual meeting this year. personal safety of teachers and with mild symptoms, accounting Chunlan, pushed Wuhan’s govern­ which greatly contributed to the con­ of the committee, said it was a With the background of battling doctors, especially after some tra­ for about a quarter of all the ment to ramp up screening. In the tainment of the outbreak there. major decision of the Communist COVID­19, there will be more dis­ gedies last year,” she said. “I’m plan­ 50,333 infected patients in the city, 6,326 confirmed or suspected Xu, who has returned to Beijing, Party of China Central Committee cussion on related issues such as ning to submit suggestions in the city, officials said. COVID­19 patients were found said he was proud to have participat­ with Xi Jinping at the core to con­ public health and how to resume upcoming session on giving more The temporary hospital set up at among the 4.21 million households. ed in fighting the epidemic in Wuhan vene the two sessions now that the normal social and economic life, legal protection to those working Wuhan Living Room Exhibition “By doing so, we could ensure and was also moved by the compli­ country has regularized its COVID­ said Li Zongsheng, an NPC deputy in hospitals and schools.” Center is visible from Jinyintan that no patient was left unattended, ance of epidemic control measures 19 epidemic response measures. and lawyer from Liaoning province. Both Li and Fu said they think Hospital. “About 60 patients at the and sources of infection were isolat­ shown by residents. He emphasized focusing on key “The epidemic has made me the postponement of the NPC ses­ hospital were transferred to our ed,” said Jiao, who arrived in Wuhan “When I was in the streets of tasks of the Party and the country, think more about how to better deal sion shows that the country makes hospital as soon as their conditions on Feb 2 and left the city on Sunday. Wuhan, I saw that the city, with a providing valuable advice and good with infectious diseases through the people’s health and safety a top pri­ worsened,” Zhang said. “Also, the decision to lock down res­ population of more than 10 million, plans on issues like epidemic pre­ rule of law,” he said, adding that he ority, and China having basically “Unlike previous seriously ill idential areas allowed us to carry was suddenly motionless, except for vention and control, the building of will submit suggestions on amend­ controlled the outbreak demon­ patients, those transferred from out thorough screening in commu­ occasional business vehicles. I was a moderately prosperous society in ing laws when the session begins. strates its capability to handle such temporary hospitals were very nities more effectively and quickly.” deeply touched,” he said. “I want to all respects, poverty alleviation and Fu Yuhang, a national legislator urgent public health emergencies. calm and recovered sooner, know­ applaud the residents of Wuhan for the making of the 14th Five­Year from Sichuan province, said she is ing that they were going to get Contact the writers at their strong sense of discipline.” Plan (2021­25). He also called for looking forward to discussing epi­ Xinhua contributed to this story. proper support,” he said. [email protected]