Safety protocols

October 28, 2021 | 5:57 pm

If there’s anything the raging controversy over whether or not unvaccinated players should be allowed to compete at the Australian Open shows, it’s that the need to adhere to safety protocols will constantly be tested by economic realities. Clearly, authorities in Victoria want to keep in place state regulations, considered among the most stringent in the world, but whose enforcement has provided results in keeping coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) numbers down. That said, the sport’s first major spectacle of the year is a decided tourist bonanza; it’s by far the most-attended Grand Slam event, with around 800,000 spectators gracing tournament grounds every single year. And the revenues to be generated are precisely why Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants to spread the welcome mat even for those who have yet to get jabbed.

So far, Daniel Andrews, premier of Victoria, where Melbourne Park is located, has resisted pressure from Tennis Australia, who wants “to hold the Australian Open as close to pre-pandemic conditions as possible.” The governing body charged with handling preparations for the major stop is understandably pushing for the relaxation of measures so that players who have not been able, or utterly refused, to get vaxxed can compete. Current rules require that visitors to the Southeastern Australian state be fully vaccinated before being allowed in; these would automatically disqualify quite a number of racket wielders from both genders, including World Number One and three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic.

Considering the prospect of top draws being absent from the Australian Open, Morrison pushed for an alternative solution. “We want major events in this country. A lot of jobs depend on it. We want Australia to show the world that we are open,” he argued. “If there is a special exemption that is warranted for an economic reason… that can happen, but you have to follow the health rules in that state.” And then he qualified his statement, in the process underscoring where he stood. “Two weeks’ quarantine for unvaccinated people, that is sensible.”

To be sure, Victoria isn’t budging. “What I want to make very clear is that the state of Victoria will not be applying for any exemptions for unvaccinated players,” Andrews contended. “I am not going to require people sitting in the grandstand, people working at the event, to be vaccinated while players aren’t. So we’re not going to be applying for an exemption. Therefore, the issue is basically resolved.” Perhaps. Then again, there remains two whole months before the turn of the year — during which time a compromise can still be reached.

How the Australian Open ultimately unfolds remains to be seen. It may be a matter of political will, but whose will? Only time will tell.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Experts back boosters for people inoculated with Sinovac’s vaccine

October 28, 2021 | 5:35 pm

HONG KONG will soon start giving out COVID-19 booster shots to the elderly, those at higher risk of infection and people inoculated with China’s Sinovac BioTech Ltd. vaccine, following places like Singapore and the mainland which are already deep in their own third-dose rollouts.

Those over the age of 60, health workers, as well as airport, hotel and customs staff should get a third shot six months after their second dose, experts serving on panels for the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) recommended late Wednesday.

The city dispenses vaccines from Germany’s BioNTech SE and Sinovac, with anyone who received the Chinese shot advised to get a booster as well. Antibodies produced after receiving Sinovac’s vaccine were nearly undetectable eight months after it was administered, an earlier study found.

“We’ve seen the need to run booster shots, so we won’t wait for a long time before launching it,” Edwin Tsui, controller of the CHP, told reporters Wednesday.

Anyone who is immuno-compromised and got inoculated with either of the vaccines on offer should get a booster, as long as it’s been four weeks since they completed their first vaccine course. The experts said those initially inoculated with Sinovac could either get an additional dose of that vaccine or the BioNTech shot, which has been found to be more effective at preventing COVID and transmission in clinical trials.

But for most BioNTech recipients, there’s no “good scientific reason” to choose a Sinovac booster because it’s less effective at activating the immune response, said David Hui, chairman of the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases.

Hong Kong’s move comes after a raft of other places started disseminating boosters, with research indicating the efficacy of COVID vaccines declines over time. Vaccine front-runner Israel has administered millions of booster shots and is making preparations in case a fourth round is needed. The US and UK, meanwhile, started offering the extra shots widely last month, while Europe has endorsed third doses. Singapore expanded the rollout of boosters to people aged 30 and above earlier this month.

China recently started giving boosters to high-risk people, with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) advisory group recommending those aged 60 and older who received the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines get a third dose. The shots use an inactivated vaccine technology that is less effective than the messenger RNA used in shots made by BioNTech with Pfizer, Inc., and by Moderna, Inc.

Some experts have questioned the need for the broad use of boosters, however, as existing vaccines do reduce the risk of serious disease and death. The WHO called for a moratorium on boosters for most people this year, until the available vaccines are more widely distributed and poorer nations have better access to initial doses.

Hong Kong has received Sinovac’s application to lower the age limit for inoculations to three, down from 18, but the advisers said they are yet to make a decision. Currently, children aged 12 to 17 can receive BioNTech shots.

The booster move comes as Hong Kong remains committed to Covid Zero, a strategy that countries like Australia and Singapore are moving away from but which China continues to pursue. The city’s vaccination program is yet to be tested, with hardcore restrictions making it one of the few places yet to have a domestic delta outbreak. Hong Kong has reported just three locally transmitted cases in nearly five months.

Hong Kong’s quarantine measures remain some of the toughest in the world, and have fueled concerns that it could be left behind as other places reopen their borders, accepting the virus is going to be endemic.

While some people in Hong Kong may get a booster, many are still refusing to get even one. Hesitancy is mainly concentrated among the elderly, with just 47% of those aged over 60 receiving at least one dose. Since the vaccination campaign began in February, 61% of residents have received their first shot, according to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker. That compares with 83% for Singapore, its rival financial hub in Asia.

Among the 4.6 million people who have received at least one dose, about a third opted for Sinovac and two-thirds chose BioNTech. The city also procured 7.5 million shots from AstraZeneca Plc, but plan to donate it all to Covax, the WHO-backed global vaccine program to disseminate shots to developing and middle-income countries. — Bloomberg

Biden vows to stand with ASEAN on freedom

October 28, 2021 | 5:33 pm

US-Pres-Biden — US PRESIDENT Joseph R. Biden is seen in this file photo. — REUTERS

WASHINGTON/BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — President Joseph Biden told Southeast Asian nations on Wednesday the United States would stand with them in defending freedom of the seas and democracy and called China’s actions towards Taiwan “coercive” and a threat to peace and stability.

Speaking at a virtual East Asia Summit attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Mr. Biden said Washington would start talks with partners in the Indo-Pacific about developing a regional economic framework, something critics say his regional strategy has lacked.

Southeast Asia has become a strategic battleground between the United States and China, which controls most of the South China Sea, and Beijing has turned up military and political pressure on fiercely democratic Taiwan, a self-ruled island Beijing considers its own.

Mr. Biden reiterated that the United States had a “rock-solid” commitment to Taiwan. “We are deeply concerned by China’s coercive … actions,” Mr. Biden said, charging that they “threaten regional peace and stability.”

Li Keqiang told the summit, which brought together leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with regional partners, that upholding peace, stability, freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea was in everyone’s interest. “The South China Sea is our common home,” he said.

Mr. Biden last week said the United States, which is obliged by a 1979 law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, would come to Taiwan’s defense if it was attacked by China. Those comments caused a stir because they appeared to depart from a long-held US policy of “strategic ambiguity” as to how Washington would respond to such a scenario.

The White House said Mr. Biden was not signaling a change in US policy toward Taiwan, and some analysts dismissed his comments as a gaffe.

Tensions between Taiwan and China have escalated in recent weeks as Beijing has staged repeated air missions over the Taiwan Strait, the waterway separating the island and the mainland.

China expressed displeasure at Mr. Biden’s comments last week, urging Washington “not to send the wrong signals to the forces of Taiwan independence, to avoid seriously harming Sino-US ties and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

Mr. Biden joined Southeast Asian leaders in rebuking Myanmar’s junta.

“In Myanmar, we must address the tragedy caused by the military coup which is increasingly undermining regional stability,” he said, calling for the release of political prisoners and a return to democracy.

ASEAN began three days of summits on Tuesday without a representative from Myanmar following its top general’s exclusion for ignoring peace proposals.

Mr. Biden also said he would speak out for “human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet (and) the rights of the people of Hong Kong.” China denies rights abuses in its outlying regions of Xinjiang and Tibet and in the former British colony of Hong Kong.

BIDEN’S ECONOMIC INITIATIVE
Mr. Biden said Washington would begin discussions with partners in the Indo-Pacific to develop a regional economic framework.

Critics of US strategy for the region point to its lack of an economic component after former President Donald Trump withdrew from the trade deal now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2017.

The Biden administration has so far avoided any moves to return to an agreement that critics say could cost US jobs and a senior official of the US administration stressed that the initiative the president referred to “is not a trade deal.”

“What the president said … was that we will begin discussions with partners to develop an economic framework to position us well for the future — laser-focused on making life better for workers and the middle class — and that will guide our economic engagement in the region,” the official said.

A White House readout said the envisaged network would also “define our shared objectives around trade facilitation” as well as standards for decarbonization and clean energy.

Australia and ASEAN agreed on Wednesday to establish a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” a sign of Canberra’s ambition to play a bigger role in the region.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the pact would strengthen diplomatic and security ties and promised the country would “back it with substance”.

Mr. Morrison sought to reassure ASEAN that a trilateral security pact agreed last month between the United States, Britain and Australia, under which Australia will get access to nuclear-powered submarines, would not be a threat to the region. — Reuters

Singapore looking into unusual surge after record COVID-19 cases

October 28, 2021 | 5:33 pm

Singapore-skyline-720p — A VIEW of the city skyline in Singapore, Dec. 31, 2020 — REUTERS

SINGAPORE — Singapore’s health ministry said it is looking into an “unusual surge” in infections after the city-state reported 5,324 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the most since the beginning of the pandemic.

Singapore also recorded 10 new deaths from the disease on Wednesday, taking the toll to 349.

“The infection numbers are unusually high today, mostly due to many COVID-positive cases detected by the testing laboratories within a few hours in the afternoon,” the ministry of health (MOH) said in a statement on Wednesday night.

“MOH is looking into this unusual surge in cases within a relatively short window, and closely monitoring the trends for the next few days.”

Singapore extended some of its social curbs last week to contain the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) for around a month in order to ease the pressure on the healthcare system.

Authorities have reimposed curbs that include limiting social interactions and dining out to two people in order to slow virus transmission.

About 84% of Singapore’s population has been vaccinated against the virus. — Reuters

Malaysian gynecologist creates ‘world’s first unisex condom’

October 28, 2021 | 4:58 pm

SIBU, Malaysia — A Malaysian gynecologist has created what he says is the world’s first unisex condom that can be worn by females or males and is made from a medical-grade material usually used as a dressing for injuries and wounds.

Its inventor hopes the Wondaleaf Unisex Condom will empower people to take better control of their sexual health regardless of their sex or sexual orientation.

“It’s basically a regular condom with an adhesive covering,” said John Tang Ing Chinh, a gynecologist at medical supplies firm Twin Catalyst.

“It’s a condom with an adhesive covering that attaches to the vagina or penis, as well as covering the adjacent area for extra protection,” Mr. Tang said.

The adhesive is only applied to one side of the condom, he added, meaning it can be reversed and used by either sex.

Each box of Wondaleaf contains two condoms, and will cost 14.99 ringgit ($3.61). The average price for a dozen condoms in Malaysia is 20–40 ringgit.

Mr. Tang makes the condoms using polyurethane, a material used in transparent wound dressings that is thin and flexible yet strong and waterproof.

“Once you put it on, you often don’t realize that it’s there,” he said, referring to dressings made from the material.

Mr. Tang said the Wondaleaf had gone through several rounds of clinical research and testing and would be available commercially via the firm’s website this December.

“Based on the number of clinical trials we have conducted, I am quite optimistic that given time it will be a meaningful addition to the many contraceptive methods used in the prevention of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases,” Mr. Tang said. — Ebrahim Harris/Reuters

Esports talent in S. Korea gets boost from big business, easing of gaming ban

October 28, 2021 | 4:15 pm

SEOUL — South Korean teenager Yoon Ki-changets just three hours of sleep a day but spends more than three times that playing online games — with the blessing of his parents and teachers — as he dreams of becoming a top pro League of Legends player.

Mr. Yoon and his peers are the next generation of gamers in South Korea, a fast-growing esports powerhouse whose players have won Riot Games’ League of Legends World Championship six times since the most-watched esports event began in 2011.

They will also benefit from the country’s announcement in August that it would abolish a decade-old law which bans those below the age of 16 from playing online games on computers from midnight to 6 a.m., over a growing consensus that youths are increasingly using their mobile phones instead.

“I suffered a lot from the shutdown law. I typically don’t sleep a lot, so I studied different things during the shutdown hours. If it weren’t for the law, I could have been a better player by now,” said Mr. Yoon, who says he can game at least four hours more now since turning 16 this year.

South Korea’s move is in contrast to that of China, the world’s biggest esports market, which in late August drastically limited the amount of time under-18s can spend on video games to a mere three hours a week.

Esports will also feature as a medal sport for the first time at the Asian Games in Hangzhou next year.

“China’s game regulation could be a rather good opportunity for us to build strength and regain the esports initiative,” said Park Se-woon, vice president at Seoul Game Academy that offers programs to nurture pros.

Mr. Park said the private academy has seen a 30-fold jump in daily consultations since it started this program in 2016.

GOVERNMENT APATHY?
Despite the growing international status and interest among prospective professional players, government support for the esports industry, estimated in 2020 to be worth around 17.9 trillion won ($15.2 billion), has been lackluster, experts say.

Esports and the gaming sector received 67.1 billion won of the 604.4 trillion won national budget for next year.

But the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism wants to do more, especially ahead of organized competitions such as the Asian Games, an official said without giving details. In the meantime, the space has been filled with investments from big businesses and private educational institutes.

Instant noodle maker Nongshim Co. Ltd. launched its professional League of Legends gaming team, Nongshim RedForce, late last year, joining other South Korean conglomerates that have seen potential in the industry.

Among them are SK Group’s SK Telecom Co. Ltd., Hyundai Motor Co. affiliate Kia Corp, Hanwha Group’s Hanwha Life Insurance and KT Corp.

“The esports industry continued growing, but the state-led support measures have been weak, with corporate sponsorships and private academies mainly having driven the industry,” said Oh Ji-hwan, CEO of Nongshim E-Sports.

Mr. Oh said businesses consider the esports scene as a platform to reach younger generations and improve their brand image.

SK Telecom-backed team T1, on which “Faker,” the most famous League of Legends gamer of all time, plays, opened its esports academy last month. The 20-week program costs 5.6 million won, but applications are flooding in, it said.

As yet, there is only one school in South Korea with esports on its academic curriculum aimed at fostering professional gamers. Teenager Yoon makes a two-hour round trip to Eunpyeong Meditech High School every day to bolster his pro gamer chances.

Nongshim’s Mr. Oh says support for gaming talent from both the government and the private sector is paramount as South Korea’s market will never be as big as that of the United States or China.

“Focusing on talent is the key,” he said. “The buildup of talent development knowhow should be our strength.” — Joori Roh/Reuters

In Japan, efforts afoot to win hearts, and votes, of the alienated young

October 28, 2021 | 2:58 pm

TOKYO — Momoko Nojo’s campaign for Japan’s upcoming election revolves around social media and T-shirts, but she’s not running for office. Instead, the activist is fighting a different battle — against the apathy that keeps young voters away from the polls.

It’s no wonder the young don’t vote, with many of them saying candidates are overwhelmingly male, old, and disconnected from their concerns.

Only 10% of lawmakers in the just-dissolved lower house were women; the representation of female candidates in the ruling coalition is even lower. The average age of male and female candidates is 54, with more than a third aged 60 and above. A handful are over 80.

Women’s rights are not debated, and other issues such as gender equality, support for young families, the dire labor shortage and dysfunctional immigration system are also barely on the agenda.

The disconnect means that in elections over the past decade only a third of young voters turned out, and some analysts fear participation in the upcoming Oct. 31 poll could be the lowest in post-war history.

“In this situation, young peoples’ voices won’t be reflected in politics,” said Ms. Nojo, 23 and a graduate student.

“By not going to vote, life will become more difficult for this generation. Whether it’s problems with raising children, or other issues, to get politics to turn to our generation you have to vote, you have to take part.”

Japan’s situation contrasts with that of the United States, where, according to the US Census Bureau, voter turnout of those aged 18–24 was 51% in the 2020 Presidential election.

Ms. Nojo, who developed an interest in activism while studying in Denmark, is not easily discouraged and has already triumphed against huge odds. Early this year she shot to fame with a campaign that ousted octogenarian Tokyo Olympics head Yoshiro Mori after he made sexist remarks.

But apathy among young voters is deep-seated and reflects long-term systemic issues in Japanese politics, often dominated by families who have been elected through generations, analysts said.

That the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which is on track to suffer hefty losses in this election, has held power for all but a brief period over the last six decades also creates a sense change is impossible.

“I don’t go to vote because there’s just no feeling it’s connected to my life,” said Takuto Nanga, 22 and a comic illustrator. “Even if the top changes, there’ll still be problems like in the past.”

SOCIAL MEDIA
For women, things are especially bad. Only 9.7% of LDP candidates are women, with 7.5% for coalition partner Komeito.

“Even elected, women lawmakers don’t get a chance at the important cabinet portfolios. There are only a handful in the cabinet, and there should be so many more. Then women would have the sense they’re taking part,” said Airo Hino, a Waseda University professor.

While emphasizing issues such as climate change, cutting university fees and gender equality would help lure younger voters, the process also has to be appealing, Mr. Hino argues.

That means rejecting traditional campaigning in newspapers, stump speeches and turgid political appeals on NHK public TV for social media — which some politicians, such as Taro Kono, often cited in polls as a top choice for premier, have used to good effect.

“Almost nobody reads those massive party campaign platforms, and for young people it’s impossible, a facilitator’s needed,” Mr. Hino added.

Voter matching apps, where people answer questions and find out which political party comes closest, are also handy.

“It’s mainly a game, but that’s fine. In a lighthearted way you find a party you like, then you go vote,” said Mr. Hino.

Aside from her online campaigns for “No Youth No Japan,” Ms. Nojo has taken a similar tack, partnering with a clothing firm to produce a series of T-shirts with quirky designs emphasizing issues — life, peace, equality and the planet — and voting.

“Clothes are worn daily, it’s a form of expressing your opinion and showing yourself,” Ms. Nojo said, with the hope being they’d become conversation starters and spur wearers to vote.

That something must be done is painfully clear.

“With a larger population and higher voting rates, inevitably the voice of the older generation is stronger,” said Ayumi Adachi, 20 and a student.

“To get what we want, we need to speak up. We need to vote.” — Rikako Maruyama and Elaine Lies/Reuters

World should shut nearly 3,000 coal plants to keep on climate track — study

October 28, 2021 | 2:38 pm

SHANGHAI — The world will need to shut down nearly 3,000 coal-fired power plants before 2030 if it is to have a chance of keeping temperature rises within 1.5 Celsius, according to research by climate think tank TransitionZero.

In a report published days before the United Nations COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, TransitionZero said there are currently more than 2,000 GW of coal-fired power in operation across the world, and that needs to be slashed by nearly half, requiring the closure of nearly one unit per day from now until the end of the decade.

The need to close nearly 1,000 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity would put the onus on China — the world’s biggest source of climate-warming greenhouse gas and owner of around half of the world’s coal-fueled plants — to accelerate its shift toward cleaner electricity.

“The logical conclusion is that half of the effort will need to come from China,” said Matt Gray, TransitionZero analyst and author of the report.

China has reduced the share of coal in its total energy mix from 72.4% in 2005 to 56.8% last year, but absolute consumption volume has continued to rise. President Xi Jinping vowed earlier this year that China would start to cut coal use, but only after 2025.

Its coal strategy has also come under added scrutiny in recent weeks as regulators try to find the extra volume required to resolve an energy crunch that has forced factories to shut and put winter heating and electricity supply at risk.

Mr. Gray said while coal consumption will rise in the short term, the crisis is forcing China to accelerate reform that will eventually help the country reduce its fossil fuel reliance.

A recent policy aimed at forcing operators of coal-fired power generators to sell electricity via the wholesale market will expose them to competition from renewable sources and further underscore their lack of competitiveness, he added.

“I think it is fair to say that keeping the lights on and keeping buildings warm will be the exclusive priority of the Chinese government coming into winter,” he said.

“But our hope is for this crisis to be seen as a wake-up call for being reliant on coal-fired power.” — Reuters

BW Insights | Protecting Health & Wealth

October 28, 2021 | 2:28 pm

The world currently grapples with health and economic crises due to COVID-19, which then stressed the need to protect our health and finances. But given the uncertain times, how can we assure that our finances would keep up with our healthcare needs? Where can we find financial support to manage and recover from health issues that could cost us more than medical bills?

Join BusinessWorld Insights, together with experts, in a discussion of the topic, “Protecting Health & Wealth: Managing Medical Bills in Critical Situations.”

This session of #BUSINESSWORLDINSIGHTS is made possible by InLife, with the support of British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Management Association of the Philippines, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and The Philippine STAR.

Philippines remains worst place to be amid pandemic

October 28, 2021 | 2:07 pm

lockdown-PPE — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

The Philippines remains bottom of Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking of the best and worst places to be amid the pandemic in October, as vaccinations and reopening lag despite its outbreak easing.

While other Southeast Asian nations also continue to be ranked low among the 53 economies tracked, the Philippines fares among the worst on vaccine coverage, with just 26% of the population covered amid challenges in bringing shots to areas outside of the big cities.

In comparison, Indonesia and Vietnam — ranked 48th and 52nd respectively this month — have distributed enough vaccines to cover more than a third of their populations. Ranked 50th, neighbor Malaysia has given out shots covering 76% of its population, the highest in the region except for Singapore.

Ongoing curbs on movement domestically, including a ban on kids in malls and other public spaces, along with restrictions on international travel also drag on the Philippines’ score, a reflection of the country’s conservative approach to reopening the economy amid concerns about its fragile healthcare system.

The capital Manila has allowed more businesses to open their doors again, including gyms and cinemas, but it’s still behind neighbors like Thailand and Indonesia which are back to embracing tourists.

The good news for the Philippines is that virus infections have ebbed after hitting a record high last month, driven by the spread of the more contagious delta variant.

The percentage of those testing positive for the virus has declined significantly from nearly one in three in September to about 12%, indicating the Philippines has a better handle on its outbreak than before and is catching cases. That could pave the way for more reopening going forward. — Bloomberg

Top US general confirms ‘very concerning’ Chinese hypersonic weapons test

October 28, 2021 | 1:26 pm

1280px-200304-D-BN624-0150_(49618959848) — US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark A. Milley. -Image via US Secretary of Defense/Flickr.

WASHINGTON — The top US military officer, General Mark A. Milley, has provided the first official US confirmation of a Chinese hypersonic weapons test that military experts say appears to show Beijing’s pursuit of an Earth-orbiting system designed to evade American missile defenses.

The Pentagon has been at pains to avoid direct confirmation of the Chinese test this summer, first reported by the Financial Times, even as President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., and other officials have expressed general concerns about Chinese hypersonic weapons development.

But Gen. Milley explicitly confirmed a test and said that it was “very close” to a Sputnik moment — referring Russia’s 1957 launch of the first man-made satellite, which put Moscow ahead in the Cold War-era space race.

“What we saw was a very significant event of a test of a hypersonic weapon system. And it is very concerning,” Gen. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Bloomberg television, in an interview aired on Wednesday.

Nuclear arms experts say China’s weapons test appeared to be designed to evade US defenses in two ways. First, hypersonics move at speeds of more than five times the speed of sound, or about 6,200 kph (3,853 mph), making them harder to detect and intercept.

Second, sources tell Reuters that the United States believes China’s test involved a weapon that first orbited the Earth. That’s something military experts say is a Cold War concept known as “fractional orbital bombardment.”

Last month, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall alluded to his concerns about such a system, telling reporters about a weapon that would go into an orbit and then descend on a target.

“If you use that kind of an approach, you don’t have to use a traditional ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] trajectory — which is directly from the point of launch to the point of impact,” he said.

“It’s a way to avoid defenses and missile warning systems.”

Fractional Orbital Bombardment would also be a way for China to avoid US missile defenses in Alaska, which are designed to combat a limited number of weapons from a country like North Korea.

Jeffrey Lewis at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies summed up fractional orbital bombardment this way: “The simplest way to think about China’s orbital bombardment system is to imagine a space shuttle, put a nuclear weapon into the cargo bay, and forget about the landing gear.”

Mr. Lewis said the difference is that the Chinese re-entry system is a glider.

China’s foreign ministry denied a weapons test. It said it had carried out a routine test in July, but added: “It was not a missile, it was a space vehicle.”

US defenses are not capable of combating a large-scale attack from China or Russia, which could overwhelm the system. But the open US pursuit of more and more advanced missile defenses has led Moscow and Beijing to examine ways to defeat them, experts say, including hypersonics and, apparently, fractional orbital bombardment.

The United States and Russia have both tested hypersonic weapons. — Phil Stewart/Reuters

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are now worth almost half a trillion dollars

October 28, 2021 | 12:41 pm

The combined net worth of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos approached $500 billion on Wednesday, fueled by the unrelenting rally in Tesla Inc. shares and a broad surge in tech stocks that sent the Nasdaq 100 to an intraday record.

The value of the two fortunes — a sum bigger than the market value of Johnson & Johnson and about equal to that of America’s biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co. — is yet another watershed moment in what’s shaping up to be a historic week for billionaires.

A groundbreaking proposal from Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden to tax billionaires on unrealized gains was released in detailed form Wednesday morning only to be dropped in negotiations hours later. Mr. Wyden insists the billionaires’ tax plan isn’t dead, but talks have instead moved on to a possible 3% surcharge — on top of the highest income tax rate — for those earning more than $10 million.

While such a plan would draw in a larger number of taxpayers than the billionaires’ tax and help pay for a Democratic social-spending plan that could approach $2 trillion, it would take a far smaller bite from the wealthiest Americans, such as Messrs. Musk and Bezos.

Under the billionaires’ tax proposal, Messrs. Musk and Bezos collectively would have been hit with a $100 billion one-time tax bill, payable over five years, if the proposal had been approved, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The plan explicitly targeted appreciated public shareholdings, which have been a main driver of billionaires’ steep wealth gains in recent years.

Mr. Musk, co-founder of publicly traded Tesla and closely held rocket company SpaceX, has added $122.3 billion to his fortune this year, pushing his net worth to $292 billion, according to the Bloomberg index. Amazon.com Inc. founder Mr. Bezos is worth $196.3 billion.

The 10 richest Americans, including Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, are worth a total of $1.4 trillion, according to the index.

Mr. Musk was dismissive of Mr. Wyden’s plan, saying taxing billionaires would only make a “small dent” toward paying off the U.S. national debt.

“Spending is the real problem,” Mr. Musk said in a tweet that also included a link to an online clock that estimates the country’s debt. Even if the super-wealthy were taxed at “100%,” the government would need to turn to the “general public” in order to make for the short-fall, the Tesla Chief Executive said.

“This is basic math,” he said.

Mr. Musk’s wealth has ballooned partly because he hasn’t sold any of his Tesla stock for years, instead tapping banks for loans using his stake in the electric-vehicle maker as collateral. Pledging shares is a way to monetize equity without actually selling it.

Mr. Musk has $515 million in personal loans from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp., according to a regulatory filing from December 2020, the most recent one available with this information. Mr. Musk has also said some of his shares in SpaceX are pledged, but hasn’t disclosed details about how many. — Bloomberg