Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Virus book for kids gets thumbs up from Foster
Beijing vow to take action if residents flee security laws
FIRST Minister Arlene Foster has endorsed a teaching assistant’s children’s book about the coronavirus pandemic.
Ryan Wilson, who works at Carrick Primary School in Lurgan, Co Armagh, said he is “amazed” by the response he has received for The Year The World Got Sick.
The book, which he also illustrated, tells the story of Health Harry and Sneezy Suzy, two children that live next door to each other and can no longer go to school because of the virus.
The 26-year-old had originally intended the book to be for his students but due to the response he has received, it is now going to be published and made available to the public on Amazon.
This week Ryan was invited to meet Education Minister Peter Weir at Stormont, thanks to MP Carla Lockhart, who was keen to discuss how the book could be used as a teaching tool for students.
Ryan said: “I was thrilled to meet with the minister but while I was there I also had the opportunity to meet and speak with the First Minister Arlene Foster.”
Following the meeting Arlene Foster tweeted: “Brilliant explanation of Covid-19 for our wee ones.”
CHINA has threatened to take action over Britain’s plan to give three million Hong Kong residents the right to settle here if they flee because of tough new security laws.
In an escalation of tensions between London and Beijing, Chinese officials branded the offer a breach of “basic norms of international relations”.
Hong Kong residents have already clashed with police over the rules, which came into force on Tuesday.
It gives the authorities the right to jail those carrying out activities deemed subversive, such as anti-government demonstrators. The Chinese Embassy in the UK said: “We firmly oppose this and reserve the right to take corresponding measures. We urge the British to view objectively the national security legislation for Hong Kong, respect China’s position and concerns, refrain from interfering in Hong Kong affairs in any way.”
Former first secretary in the British Embassy in Beijing Roderic Wye said possible “corresponding measures” would be high profile but without doing “too much damage to their interests”. He added they may also be looking for ways to deter British national overseas (BNO) residents in Hong Kong from applying for the passports to which they are entitled.
He said: “They may also insist the people concerned are Chinese citizens and the BNO passports are not valid travel documents.” Boris Johnson has accused Beijing of a “serious breach” of its treaty with Britain by imposing the laws.
The PM said he would allow people with BNO status to apply for visas to live and work in the UK.
Downing Street last night stood firm. The PM’S official spokesman said: “We were very clear in the action we would take if China imposed this law. We will now do exactly what we said we would do.” Around 370 people were held on Wednesday in Hong
Kong, which was handed back to China by the UK in 1997 and is now led by Carrie Lam. Ten of the arrests involved violations of the new law, police said.
China expert Professor Stephen Chan from SOAS university in London warned Beijing could extradite demonstrators. He said: “It is one thing to face punishment under the law in Hong Kong, it is another to face it in China.”
He also blamed Donald Trump’s “cack-handed” attitude towards China over trade and other issues for Beijing’s heavy-handed behaviour in Hong Kong.
Prof Chan added: “If there had been better diplomacy with China, it would have been softer-handed in terms of its diplomacy towards Hong Kong.”