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PEOPLES DAILY, Thursday, January 3, 2019

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Cathay Pacific to Xi Jinping says Taiwan ‘must and will be’ reunited with Chinal when the threat to retake Taiwan honour $16,000 fares by force if necessary comes from his lips? sold for $675 China may be a rising military

athay Pacific has said it will honour firstclass and business-class tickets that it sold to some lucky passengers for a fraction of the usual price. The Hong Kong-based airline mistakenly sold business-class seats on August flights from Vietnam to New York for about $675 return. Prices on the same route in July and September cost $16,000. The airline admitted that it “made a mistake”, but said it would honour the tickets. The fares were reported by travel bloggers on 31 December and later pulled by Cathay Pacific. It was not clear how many tickets had been sold and Cathay Pacific did not immediately respond to requests from the BBC. The mistake concludes a challenging 2018 for Cathay Pacific, as it tries to return to profitability after posting its first ever back-toback annual loss in March. The airline has struggled against competition, particularly from low-cost Chinese carriers covering Hong Kong, mainland China and South East Asia. In October, Cathay Pacific was the subject of a data breach in its IT systems, jeopardising the personal information of up to 9.4 million passengers. A month earlier, it had to send one of its planes back to the paint shop after spelling the airline’s name “Cathay Paciic” on the side of the jet. Airlines often honour tickets sold in error, but practices differ from carrier to carrier and according to circumstances. Singapore Airlines, for example, honoured tickets sold for less than half price in 2014. United Airlines cancelled transatlantic tickets sold for less than $100 by a “third party software provider” the following year.

Hong Kong-based airline

Mr Xi said unification was inevitable for China’s rejuvenation

hinese President Xi Jinping has urged the people of Taiwan to accept it “must and will be” reunited with China. In a speech marking 40 years since the start of improving ties, he reiterated Beijing’s call for peaceful unification on a one-country-twosystems basis. However, he also warned that China reserved the right to use force. While Taiwan is self-governed and de facto independent, it has never formally declared independence from the mainland. Beijing considers the island to be a breakaway province and Mr Xi’s comments are in line with China’s long-standing policy towards reunification. But on Wednesday, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen said the island would never accept reunification with China under the terms offered by Beijing. “I want to reiterate that Taiwan will never accept ‘one country, two systems’. The vast majority of Taiwanese public opinion also resolutely opposes ‘one country, two systems’, and this is also the ‘Taiwan

consensus’.” Under the “one country, two systems” formula, Taiwan would have the right to run its own affairs; a similar arrangement is used in Hong Kong. In his speech, Mr Xi said both sides were part of the same Chinese family and that Taiwanese independence was “an adverse current from history and a dead end”. Taiwanese people “must understand that independence will only bring hardship,” Mr Xi said, adding Beijing would never tolerate any form of activity promoting Taiwanese independence. Instead, unification was “an inevitable requirement for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people”, he argued. He also stressed that relations with Taiwan were “part of China’s domestic politics” and that “foreign interference is intolerable”. Beijing “reserves the option of taking all necessary measures” against outside forces that interfere with peaceful reunification and Taiwanese separatist activities.

What is the view in Taiwan? In a new year’s speech on Tuesday, Ms Tsai said China must use peaceful means to resolve its differences with Taiwan and respect its democratic values. “I would like to call on China to face squarely the reality of the existence of the Republic of China on Taiwan,” Ms Tsai said, referring to the island’s formal name. China should “respect the insistence of 23 million people on freedom and democracy, and must use peaceful, on parity means to handle our differences”, she added. In November, Ms Tsai’s political party saw a heavy setback in regional elections perceived by Beijing as a blow to her separatist stance. How serious is China’s threat? The Chinese Communist Party has long spoken about unification as a matter of destiny. But President Xi is arguably the most powerful leader since Mao now unconstrained by presidential term limits - and one who has personalised, like no other, the project for “national rejuvenation”. So should we pay more heed

superpower, but sending an invading army across the choppy, welldefended waters of the Taiwan strait would still be a huge military gamble, with success far from guaranteed. Beyond the slightly more strident tone, Mr Xi’s speech does not appear to signal any dramatic change in those calculations, especially when you take into account the more conciliatory passages offering a further strengthening of trade links. If there is to be any warfare, it is likely to be of the cyber kind; China is reported to be stepping up its efforts to influence Taiwan’s elections to hurt the prospects of independenceleaning parties and politicians. The hope has long been that it will be China’s growing economic might, not military force, that will eventually pull Taiwan into its embrace. Why is this so contentious? Taiwan is a self-governed democracy and for all practical purposes has acted as an independent nation since 1949, when China’s nationalist government was defeated by communist forces and fled there from the mainland. China however considers the island to be a breakaway province not a country in its own right - which will one day be fully reunited with the mainland. In recent years, Beijing has become increasingly assertive over its claims and what it says is a key question of national sovereignty. China, for instance, insists that other countries can only have diplomatic ties with China or Taiwan, not both. Beijing has won over more and more of Taipei’s few international allies to cut diplomatic ties with the island and establish relations with China instead. Last year, it also forced foreign airlines and hotels to list Taiwan as part of China on their websites.

Brexit: Jeremy Hunt says UK ‘can learn lessons’ from Singapore

he UK can “learn lessons” from Singapore but is not looking to follow its economic model after Brexit, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said. Mr Hunt, who is on a visit to the Asian city-state, said Singapore’s success was grounded in long-term investment in education and infrastructure. But he said the UK would not emulate its low tax and low regulation climate, as hoped for by some Brexiteers. MPs will vote on Theresa May’s EU withdrawal deal in two weeks’ time. The UK is scheduled to leave the European Union on 29 March 2019. But it is not clear what will happen if Parliament rejects the withdrawal terms and framework of future relations, amid continuing opposition to the package among many Conservative MPs. Speaking in Singapore, Mr Hunt warned of “devastating social consequences” if the UK did not leave the EU in three months’ time, suggesting it would send a message the government was not listening to the people. He said the prime minister was still talking to her fellow European leaders about changes to ensure the UK was

not “trapped” indefinitely in a customs union with the EU. “I think she (Theresa May) will find a way to get this deal through Parliament and think that is what the British people would want,” he said. ‘Dynamism and vitality’ In a speech to business leaders, Mr Hunt said the UK had to carve out a new role for itself outside the EU and could not rely “on sentiment to stay relevant” in the 21st Century. Some Brexiteers have said the UK should aspire to become the “Singapore of the North” - copying its high-tech economy, with low levels of taxation and corporate regulation to attract foreign investment. Please upgrade your browser Mr Hunt said Singapore “exemplified the dynamism and vitality of Asia” and the UK could learn from its “strategic approach” to maintaining a competitive economic advantage. Speaking to the BBC earlier, he highlighted Singapore’s record of educational attainment, it having topped the Pisa rankings for performance in maths, science and reading by 15-year olds for several years. He suggested its focus on long-term

economic development, which has seen it lay down a fibre optic cable network across the whole country, was also to be admired. Mr Hunt said Singapore had become more “open not insular” after its independence in 1965 But he said the way that the UK funded its public services, such as the NHS, would always be different. “We do not want and do not seek to emulate the social or political model of Singapore,” he told Radio 4’s Today. “I was health secretary for nearly six years, I am a passionate defender of a health service that is free at the point of use and, if you remember, I secured quite a lot of extra money for the health service during my tenure, so those things are very different.” ‘Invisible chain’ Mr Hunt, who is due to visit Malaysia on Thursday, said he wanted the UK to become the “invisible chain” linking democracies, both established and fledgling ones, around the world utilising its cultural strengths and historical connections. Parliament will begin debating Mrs May’s Brexit deal in a week’s time, with the crucial vote - which was postponed

The UK can “learn lessons” from Singapore but is not looking to follow its economic model after Brexit, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said. from December - expected to take place around 15 January. Mr Hunt said he hoped the further assurances the PM was seeking from EU leaders on the Irish border “backstop” - a contingency arrangement which would see the UK tied to EU rules until its future relationship is sorted out - would be sufficient for MPs to back the deal. “Theresa May has been very clear this isn’t just about words but about text which has legal force,” he said.

“She has also been very straightforward about this - the EU has agreed the backstop is temporary and that’s a word they have agreed. “So what we’re saying, very simply, is we’re not asking for anything new but we are asking you to define what temporary means, so we can have confidence we’re not going to be trapped in the customs union for ever against the wishes of the British people.” Source: BBC

PROPERTY

PEOPLES DAILY, Thursday, January 3, 2019

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BY Mashe Gwamna

Ifeanyi Okowa beckons on federal government to reduce housing deficit I n its bid to reduce housing gap, Delta State government, Thursday launched the D’Height Estate with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa calling on government and the private sectors to be committed to reducing the housing deficit in the country. Governor Okowa who spoke at the estate construction site in Asaba, said, “this housing project is expected to bridge the housing gap in our state and our nation.” The 108 housing units of D’Height Estate is located within the premises of Low-Cost Estate for Civil Servants in Asaba and are

being constructed by the Delta Development and Property Authority (DDPA). “The housing gap is very high nationally and in our state,” the governor stated, adding that, ‘together, with partnership, we can bridge the housing gap and build the Delta State of our dream. He observed that apart from housing challenges, there are lots of other challenges facing the country and called for prayers for God to intervene in the affairs of the country. The governor urged DDPA to ensure

that civil servants are in the first line of consideration while allocating the houses, disclosing that his administration had to make the houses at the Low-Cost housing Estate on owner-occupier bases to cater for the needs of the occupiers of the houses. He assured Deltans of his administration’s desire to leave office meritoriously at the end of eight years, asserting, “at the completion of my two terms in office, I want to leave office seeing the people clapping the way you are clapping right now.”

Earlier, Chairman of the DDPA, Mr Paul Osaji had in an address said, “the focus of this gathering is to officially launch one of the efforts of DDPA in housing provision – D’Height Estate; a development of 108 housing units which is the pilot scheme of our grand development of four hundred units of two and three bedrooms flats at the central business district of Asaba.” “The development has progressed and the sales have since commenced,” Mr. Osaji said. Source :Nigeriarealestatehub

Igbu Ewu Ukwu celebration in Aboh Mbaise

mong Africans, child bearing brings great joy and happiness and different traditional festivities go with it. For example, the birth of a team child of a woman among the people of Aboh Mbaise in Imo State, South-east of Nigeria calls for a greater celebration of fruitfulness traditionally called Igbu Ewu Ukwu. The words Igbu Ewu Ukwu literally mean killing of goat for the waist. It is as old as the people and it is believed that the essence of the practice is to appease or calm the waist of the woman, viewed as a goddess of some sort for the disturbances it has suffered as a result of harbouring several pregnancies. It is also done in order to thank the Almighty God for the gift of children and for seeing the woman through many pregnancies and their attendant problems. So while God gives children, the waist harbours them until they are delivered and nurtured by the woman. Failure to perform lgbu Ewu is believed to cause some indescribable ailments after a woman’s tenth pregnancy. And so keeping accurate record is so important in order not to incur the wrath of the waist with the ultimate penalty of untimely death. ITEMS NEEDED FOR - IGBU EWU UKWU There are four basic items needed for lgbu ewu ukwu. They are: 1) A She goat (2) A special kitchen stool known as Ekwere (3) A hen and (4) Native chalk (nzu) PRELUDE TO IGBU EWU UKWU Before a woman qualifies for this ceremony, she must have given birth to ten children or more. Before this time a1so she is expected to have notified a group of women (i.e. ndom gburu ewu) who have had lgbu ewu ukwu of her intention to become a member. This she does by presenting the group with palm wine and specially prepared oil bean salad (ugba). Early in the morning of the agreed day, this group of women gathers at the would-be member’s house for the initiation. No Man is allowed there as the woman to be initiated or admitted will almost be naked with just her under wear on. In fact, this part of the ceremony is carried out in the woman’s inner room. The oldest among the initiated women performs the ritual. She starts by rubbing the woman’s waist with [nzu] clay made into powder. She taps the waist with white chalk saying words of appeasement and praise thus: “We thank you oh beautiful fruitful waist that has given us noble sons and daughters”. May you never be wary of giving us more! The other women from time to time give shouts of excitement. The

woman being admitted intermittently sits on the kitchen stool until the end of the initiation. With the ritual over, the she-goat is killed and skinned by the woman’s husband and his kinsmen. The goat skin is allowed to dry in the sun. The waist of the goat is carefully cut out, cooked and reserved for the women while the remainder is added to the meat to be used for the occasion. From midday, friends and relations start taking their seats under thatch boots made in front of the family house. The high point of the occasion is when the celebrant, splendidly dressed, is ushered into the arena by some members of her new group amidst shouts of excitement and praise. As the woman dances to traditional music which mainly sings her praise, friends, relations and her husband spray money on her. After the dance, the woman is led to her new group’s stand where she is officially welcomed with great shout of praise before she finally takes her seat among these “accomplished” women. Cannon guns could be sounded at this point to add colour to the occasion. Various kinds of delicacies are served at this ceremony. They include fufu, pound coco yam to go with specially prepared melon, oha, okazi and bitter leaf soup containing sizeable pieces of stockfish, beef, etc. Oil bean salad (ugha) and palm wine are never in short supply.

Special kind of melon cakes (mgham) is also served. Members of the woman’s group are served specially as theirs come in large quantities which they in turn share among themselves and even take away. One significant item, the waist of the goat is cut in pieces and shared by members of the group. Absent members shares are taken to them at home. This is believed to be a bond of unity among the initiated. From this time on, the new member has every right to attend the group’s meetings being a bona-fide member. The dried goat skin serves as one of the major symbols of the woman’s new status. For example, she gracefully ties or hangs it on her arms as she attends functions. She may even use it in covering her wares in a basket when going to the market. Anybody that sees her, immediately acknowledges, praises and accords her due respect. Another symbol of the woman’s new status is the ekwere (kitchen stool) that she sat on the during the initiation. This stool is reserved for her. As she grows older, the woman may decide to bequeath this stool to her favourite daughter or daughter in-law. The tenth child is often pampered and referred to as “nwa a muru gbuo ewu”, that is the fortunate one whose birth has brought about the celebration. Favours could easily be curried from this “fortunate” child once he or she is flattered as such.

Every woman in Aboh mbaise looks forward to recording a tenth pregnancy or child which ultimately translates to lgbu Ewu Ukwu. It is usually a grand occasion especially if her husband is rich. Not only does the celebrant receive numerous gifts from friends and relatives, before, during and after the occasion, her husband also spoils her with gift items which must include special new wrappers and other accessories that will compliment her dressing for this great occasion in which her fruitfulness is celebrated. In thanking the Almighty God for his mercies on the woman and her family, a thanksgiving service is usually held in her honour. Igbu ewu ukwu celebration is fast going into extinction as it is only being practiced now by die hard custodians of the tradition and not too educated members of the community. Bearing as many as ten children is no longer fashionable considering education and the economic situation in the country as major reasons. Modernity and Christianity have combined to take their toll on the practice as Christians now prefer only church thanksgiving irrespective of the number of children. Alika Cecilia Ngozi Is a staff of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja.