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 Tin-kei [email protected] against his six-year 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 COVID-19 Kin-man and Wong Ka-kui, who serious violence.” patients, a severe shortage of beds, a were also convicted of rioting and lack of standard negative-pressure 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 high-speed 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 year-on-year 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 high-speed 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 COVID-19 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 fast-grow- 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 high-speed railway sta- going to the hubs, he said. ation, digestion, cancer and the airport hubs that are to be linked by tion and a long-distance bus station, Citing a forecast by the Interna- immune system. new high-speed railways or urban will see itself connected by another tional Air Transport Association Due to intensive care given by rail transit systems. high-speed 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- second-largest 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 Wing-hang 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 mid-2020s, 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 two-way 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 check-in 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.