Tokyo
CNN
 — 

School principal Yoshiro Tobo is one of the few people left on his remote Japanese island, where the earth is constantly shaking from earthquakes, having chosen to stay behind while his family are on safer ground.

The 52-year-old said he is exhausted and frightened to sleep, as “endless” quakes rumble around Akusekijima in the Tokara Islands, which have endured more than 1,800 earthquakes in the past three weeks.

His colleagues were among 49 evacuees, about 75 per cent of the population, who were evacuated to the mainland by ferry on Sunday after the strongest quake hit on July 3, toppling furniture and making it difficult to stand, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Tobo, however, told CNN how he stayed behind as gatekeeper of the island’s only school, now an evacuation center.

“It has been shaking repeatedly for many days. I’ve been feeling very anxious and scared and it’s difficult to sleep,” he said.

“At their worst, the earthquakes seem endless. I can sense when a big one is coming. Even in my sleep, I can feel it approaching from a distance.”

In an emergency evacuation on Sunday, Tobo opened the school playground to the other 19 remaining islanders and five contractors, providing an open space away from any buildings which could be felled by the tremors. So far, the school remains unscathed.

“I evacuated at around midnight and went back to bed around 1:30 a.m., but I could not sleep enough. Some of the quakes were very strong,” he added.

But he said the responsibility comes with the job.

“As school administrator, I’ve chosen to stay on the island and support the effort by coordinating with government officials and local residents,” said Tobo, whose family live in Kagoshima city, on mainland Kyushu island.

“I stay home at night but I always feel ready to evacuate (to the school) at any moment, even in the middle of the night.”

Takashi Arikawa, an official at Toshima Village Office which manages the region, said the community is “sleep deprived” and “exhausted” from “constant earthquakes that have continued day and night.”

As well as Tobo, the people still on the island include firefighters, farmers, power company workers, one doctor and one nurse.

Tobo’s students resumed lessons on Tuesday via online classes. It follows a period where children were walking to school in helmets as a precaution, according to local media, and the school was closed for two days.

“Until then, some children were still on the island,” the principal said. “They seemed anxious and frightened by the ongoing earthquakes. I did my best to encourage and reassure them.

“We pray that those who remain on the island stay safe and that their homes are spared from damage.”

On neighboring Kodakarajima – which like Akusekijima is one of Tokara’s seven inhabited islands – local authorities confirmed 15 residents have been evacuated and 44 remain along with four contractors.

Kozo Matsuno, the island’s school principal who also stayed behind, said all supermarkets and stores were originally closed and daily necessities are still being delivered by ferry from Kagoshima.

But he expressed optimism, after days of sleepless nights, saying “the intervals between earthquakes have become longer.”

“The earthquakes seem to be subsiding gradually, and I hope this continues,” he told CNN.

Matsuno confirmed that all students are “in good health,” with half attending classes online after evacuating and the other half continuing in person.

The approximately 700 inhabitants of the 12-island archipelago appear well versed in such procedures. One school website shows children sheltering under their desks during a drill in Akusekijima last month.

In addition to the strongest quake on July 3, the region has experienced 128 level-three quakes, according to Japan’s unique, seven-level Shindo intensity scale, categorizing them as strong enough to wake sleeping people.

There have also been at least 39 at level four, felt by most people walking; four at level five, where windows could shatter; and three at upper five, where it’s difficult to move without support.

The region has experienced long periods of tremors before, with one significant event in 2023 bringing 346 recorded quakes.

Officials said there is currently no tsunami risk, but cautioned that the ground remains unstable, according to local media. Residents have been warned of the possibility of collapsing buildings and landslides.

Japan’s government on Saturday warned of more possible strong earthquakes in the area, but urged the public not to believe unfounded comic book predictions of a major disaster striking the country on July 5.

This stems from rumors inspired by the manga “The Future I Saw,” which warns of a major disaster in March 2011, a date which turned out to coincide with the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan’s northern Tohoku region that month, which caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The “complete version,” released in 2021, claims that the next big earthquake will hit this July.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, which accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s tremors of magnitude 6 or greater.

The country sits on the so-called Ring of Fire, home to 75 per cent of the world’s active volcanoes, where roughly 90 per cent of all earthquakes occur. Stretching almost 25,000 miles, the horseshoe-shaped Ring of Fire encircles most of the Pacific Ocean.

This is where many tectonic plates meet and move against each other, causing friction that releases energy and creates the shaking that is unleashed during an earthquake.

Hanako Montgomery contributed to this report.

CNN
 — 

There is a “high probability” that US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will meet this year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday.

“The odds are high,” Rubio told journalists gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday. “I think both sides want to see it happen.”

Rubio said he was unable to provide a date for any potential meeting but said there was a “strong desire on both sides to do it.”

The US top diplomat met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur on Friday for the first in-person meeting between the two foreign ministers, which comes as the US and China navigate trade frictions – and compete for influence in Asia.

The roughly hour-long meeting was “very constructive” and “positive,” Rubio said on Friday evening local time.

“We’re two big, powerful countries, and there are always going to be issues that we disagree on,” Rubio said, adding “I thought it was (a) very constructive, positive meeting, and (there’s) a lot of work to do.”

Both Rubio and Wang were attending regional meetings in the Malaysian capital this week, where foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, gathered alongside regional partners including Russia, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

The US and China have endured fraught trade relations since Trump’s return to office earlier this year, escalating and then de-escalating a tit-for-tat tariff spat sparked by the US president’s global trade war and sparring over export controls.

Tensions were eased as the two sides agreed to a trade framework during talks between negotiators in London last month, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week he would meet with Chinese counterparts to continue discussions in the coming weeks. A 90-day pause negotiated between the two sides in May was set to expire in August.

Chinese officials have decried the US tariffs and threatened to retaliate if the US reaches deals with other trade partners at the expense of Chinese interests – a sign that Beijing sees the US as using agreements with other countries as a means to squeeze its economy.

But both sides signaled that the meeting between Wang and Rubio was a productive one with a positive tone – and a step toward expanding cooperation, rather than frictions, between them.

On Friday, Rubio said his meeting with Wang gave the two sides an opportunity to identify areas to work together, but he did not detail areas of possible cooperation.

“That was our message – that (we have) the opportunity here to achieve some strategic stability and identify areas where we can cooperate together on and build better communications and a working trust,” he said.

The Chinese foreign ministry called Friday’s meeting “positive, pragmatic and constructive” in a statement published after Rubio spoke to the media.

Both sides “agreed to strengthen diplomatic channels and communication and dialogue at all levels in all fields,” the statement said. It also said Wang reiterated calls for Washington to view China with an “objective, rational and pragmatic attitude” and treat it in an “equal” manner.

Trump’s trade war has added a layer of complexity to Rubio’s first trip to Asia as Washington’s top diplomat. The US in recent days sent letters to a number of countries announcing the tariff rates they would face in less than a month unless they strike trade deals with the US.

Eight of the 10 countries in ASEAN – along with South Korea and Japan – will face tariffs from the US on August 1, if the implementation deadline holds.

That’s created an opening for Chinese Foreign Minister Wang, who has looked to project a message that China remains a stable economic partner for the region. In meetings with ASEAN counterparts Thursday, Wang said China “always regards” ASEAN as a “priority” for China’s regional diplomacy.

US government officials have positioned Rubio’s trip as part of an effort to show that Washington remains committed to the region, where China is a key economic partner but also has friction with nations like the Philippines over its aggression in the South China Sea.

“In his first trip to Asia as secretary of state, Secretary Rubio is focused on reaffirming the United States’ commitment to advancing a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific region,” Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement earlier this week.

On Friday, Rubio pushed back on the idea that US tariffs could create an opportunity for China economically in the region, and said Washington is committed to addressing “tremendous trade imbalances” with countries that have accumulated over the past few decades.

“We’re resetting tariff levels with virtually every country in the world,” he told journalists, noting that such imbalances are “unfair to America and American workers.”

Last year, the US notched a $295 billion goods trade deficit with China, according to data from the US Census Bureau.

“I think countries are going to trade with multiple countries. We don’t view this as an opening for anyone. We don’t view it that way. We view it as an opportunity to reset global trade in a way that’s fair for Americans after two or three decades of unfairness,” he said.

CNN’s Anna Cooban and Shawn Deng contributed to this report.

Hong Kong
CNN
 — 

A case in which more than 200 kindergarten students in northwestern China were found to have abnormal blood lead levels is revealing a deep distrust in local government, as members of the public question the findings of an official investigation.

Authorities in the city of Tianshui in China’s Gansu province earlier this week said eight people, including the principal of the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten, had been detained after an investigation found 233 students had been exposed to lead after school kitchen staff used inedible paint containing the toxic substance as food coloring.

The case initially generated new outrage in a country long plagued by food and environmental safety scandals.

But in the days since it has also become a lightning rod for public mistrust of official handling of such cases, in a system where there are few independent checks and officials are under pressure to resolve issues quickly.

Among the most glaring examples is the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in central China’s Wuhan, when local authorities detained supposed “rumormongers” who had tried to warn of the spread of a virus in the city as officials downplayed the outbreak.

On social media, many are questioning the credibility of the government report and aspects of the state media coverage. Some discussion appears to have been censored online in China’s tightly controlled media environment, though other articles exploring the situation remain active.

One mother in the city, whose child does not attend the school that’s been at the center of the official investigation, described to CNN mistrust among local families about the government’s findings.

“All the parents think (food is not the actual source of the lead poisoning). But we don’t know the exact reasons … how are we supposed to know anything?” the mother, who declined to be identified due to concerns about local government retaliation, told CNN in a phone interview.

“Ordinary folks like us probably have no clue – only the government knows what’s really going on,” she said.

CNN has repeatedly tried to contact the Tianshui government for comment and has also reached out to China’s State Council Information Office by fax. The government in its Tuesday report said the investigation was on-going and that officials from the National Health Commission and other central government departments had helped with the probe.

Among key concerns raised in online discussion are what reports suggest are serious discrepancies between the results of blood tests conducted in Tianshui and those that came back from hospitals in Xi’an, a city in a neighboring province, where some parents took their children to be tested. The Tianshui test results were never publicly disclosed.

One mother of a student at the kindergarten said a local department in Tianshui told her the blood levels of her child were normal, but a hospital in Xi’an later found her child’s blood lead levels were 528 micrograms per liter, according to a report published by China National Radio (CNR). China’s official guidelines classify this as “severe lead poisoning.”

Reports from state-affiliated media found that 70 children who were tested in Xi’an had blood lead levels surpassing the threshold of lead poisoning, with six of those cases exceeding 450 micrograms per liter. A full picture of the results from all the students with abnormal levels was not publicly available.

In the investigation report, local authorities said they had conducted sampling investigations at the kindergarten and three affiliated schools and tested food samples, water, outdoor soil and other supplies and equipment. Two food samples – of cake and a corn roll – at the kindergarten, were found to have lead levels more than 2,000 times the national food safety standard for contamination.

But that didn’t quell questions. “The children only eat three-color jujube steamed cake and corn sausage rolls once or twice a week, how could they be poisoned so seriously?” one mother, who gave her surname Wu, told CNR.

Independent blogs online looking into the case have garnered tens of thousands of views. Some discussion appears to have been censored online in China’s tightly controlled media environment, though other articles exploring the situation remain active.

Some of these accounts raised questions including about why the school, which authorities said used the paint to “attract more enrollment and increase revenue,” wouldn’t have just used simple food coloring, which ecommerce sites show is generally cheaper than industrial pigment.

Others raised questions about the credibility of an edited closed-circuit video released by state media alleging to show use of the coloring in the kindergarten’s kitchen.

Local concerns were also fueled by memory of a 2006 lead poisoning scandal in the same district of Tianshui. Then, over 200 villagers were found to have high levels of lead in their blood during tests conducted outside Tianshui city, according to a state media commentary on the incident published at the time. The source of that lead poisoning case was never officially disclosed.

The current case has caught the attention of prominent figures in China’s online ecosystem, including Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of state-affiliated media outlet Global Times.

“Questions about environmental pollution are valid, but those raising such concerns need to maintain objectivity in their analysis and should not treat these associative doubts as urgent alarms to spread in society,” Hu wrote on China’s X-like social media platform Weibo on Wednesday.

But, he also added it was “key for authorities providing ample information to strengthen public trust.”

Professor Stuart Khan, head of the University of Sydney’s School of Civil Engineering, told CNN that blood lead level concentrations as high as those cited by state media reports about this case would “typically require regular exposure for several weeks to months, unless there is a very acute poisoning episode” and that levels can rise progressively with “continuous environmental exposure.”

Potential sources of contamination, such as food, soil or water, could be ruled out by conducting assessments in the broader community and family members of the children to identify who is predominately affected, said Khan, who is not involved in this case.

Lead poisoning used to be a more widespread issue in China. In 2010, the central government for the first time allocated special funds for heavy metal pollution prevention in response to at least 12 high-profile cases the previous year that left more than 4,000 people with elevated blood lead levels, according to state media.