SYDNEY: Australia warned on Thursday (Jun 11) it would not be intimidated by attempts at economic “coercion” after China threatened to undermine the multi-billion dollar flow of Chinese tourists and students to the country.

Beijing has issued warnings in recent days that Chinese should avoid Australia due to concerns about racist incidents targeting ethnic Asians during the coronavirus pandemic.

The comments were the latest salvo in a long-brewing diplomatic dispute between Australia and its largest trading partner.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison dismissed on Thursday allegations of racist treatment of Chinese as “rubbish”.

“It’s a ridiculous assertion and it’s rejected,” he said during a radio interview.

“We have an important trading relationship with China and I’d like to see that continue,” Morrison said.

READ: Australia rejects China’s racism warning to students

But he warned his government would “never be intimidated by threats” or “trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it comes”.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, racism toward Asians has reportedly increased, according to the New South Wales anti-discrimination commission.

Tensions have grown steadily in recent years between the two governments as Australia has moved to counter Chinese moves to build its influence both domestically and across the Pacific region.

READ: Australia says China unresponsive to its pleas to ease tensions

More recently Canberra angered Beijing by leading calls for an international probe into the origin and handling of the coronavirus pandemic in central China.

China has since taken several steps targeting trade with Australia, including the attempts to discourage Chinese travellers, who represent the biggest groups of foreign tourists, and overseas students.

The effect of Beijing’s travel advice will only be known once Australia’s borders – closed to all non-essential inbound and outbound travellers due to the pandemic – reopen.

READ: COVID-19: China warns students to think twice before choosing Australia due to racist incidents

Education is Australia’s fourth-largest export with more than 500,000 international students enrolled last year, bringing about A$37 billion (US$25.6 billion) into the economy.

After Canberra’s support for a virus inquiry, China’s ambassador in Canberra threatened a widespread consumer boycott of Australian products – a warning followed up by a bar on four major Australian beef exporters.

That was followed in May by an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley over dumping allegations, a move grain growers say will cost at least A$500 million a year.

When the average person sees the broken or boarded up windows in the old federal courthouse on Jefferson Street in downtown Lafayette, developers can point to its potential.

And just behind that four-story concrete fortress that many consider the biggest eyesore downtown is what developers say may hold the most potential. It’s the 8,000-square-foot space that once housed the Lafayette Parish Library and, more recently, AOC Community Media.

Of the three buildings involved in the old federal courthouse renovation project, that one — with its concrete walls and ceiling and the mural that still hangs over the front door from its days as home to the Lafayette Parish Libary — could be the most move-in ready space.

The only issue? Since the pandemic began, the commercial interest in the project has dwindled. Developer E.J. Krampe has plans to convert the whole project to residential, between 69 and 80 one-bedroom units.

But if a commercial tenant is interested, well….

“If anyone is interested, I will definitely take them for a tour of it,” Krampe said during a Thursday tour. “You’ve got to have a little vision of what you’re looking for, obviously, to walk in here and see it and think of what it can be. You don’t even have to take the whole space. To take something and build it new and give it this feeling would cost a fortune.”

It’s that vision that has kept this $15 million project going in the more than two years that have passed since negotiations first began on the courthouse that’s been vacant and decaying for about two decades. Now that demo work is complete and the developers have been approved for a Restoration Tax Abatement for the property, work will resume in February and could be done by mid-December, Krampe said.

And it pushes downtown Lafayette to a crossroads of sorts. Can a project of this scale — the largest renovation to date as well as the largest residential development — be successful?

If so, it could move downtown to another level, said Anita Begnaud, CEO of the Downtown Development Authority.

“When you see something for over 20 years the same way, sometimes we get blinders on and don’t realize that’s a huge piece of real estate that’s been vacant for a long time,” Begnaud said. “I think it shows people that we can do hard things, we can do big things. I think investors are watching this project to see what happens before they make a substantial investment in downtown. I think it’ll be a catalyst.”

If anything, the project is coming at a time of some momentum downtown in regard to commercial development. Despite the economy taking a hit at the start of the pandemic, several businesses that were not restaurants opened last year downtown to complement the number of eateries, and more development is starting to spill over to streets adjacent to Jefferson, Begnaud said.

Business interest in the project has trickled up in recent months, Krampe said. The building just south of the courthouse, which once housed the police station, could have a commercial tenant when work is complete.

The residential side also has momentum. Begnaud noted the 24-unit Vermilion Lofts, which opened during the pandemic, has been at 90% occupancy.

“I think there’s some momentum as far as new businesses opening up, which is super,” said Chad Ortte, commercial real estate agent with Scout Real Estate. “Normally the rooftops come first, but it’s a little different situation.

“It’s going to be all about price point. It’s a different product on the market. We like to see it as something unique — as it is — but you have to kind of zoom out and look at Lafayette as a whole. What can somebody get for $800, $900 or $1,200 a month?”

Said Krampe: “Now that we have these buildings and we do give tours, there’s a lot more interest in it. I was trying to find unique people to put downtown. I realize the pandemic changed a lot, but if they’re out on Ambassador Caffery or out of town, they realize to attract the people they want, they need to be downtown. And they’ll be able to keep them long term.”

The residential part of the whole project will be geared toward young professionals — tech employees working downtown, students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette or even professors. None of the units will have more than one bedroom, and plans include a mid-sized swimming pool on the south side of the main building.

Remaining in the building on the second floor will be a courtroom, which will be used for mediation among local attorneys, Krampe said. The space between the courthouse and police station will be used for parking, and the space between the courthouse and the library will be made into a promenade.

“The demand for this kind of living is one bedroom,” Krampe said. “My partners have done these historical redevelopments in (larger markets). Their demand is one bedroom. The first one they did in Baton Rouge had some two- and three-bedrooms, and they never got leased. They went back and converted them.”

The project is counting on the growing number of tech workers downtown, he noted, with CGI planning to house 300 employees in the Versailles building by the end of this year to go with the growing number of employees at Perficient, which plans to house 245 workers at its Jefferson Street headquarters.

It can draw from the students and staff at the university, which Ortte pointed out can enhance not only downtown but the Lafayette’s greater urban core — downtown, UL, the Freetown neighborhood and even the Oil Center. There’s potential for collaboration there to kind of sew those neighborhoods together as development continues.

Much like developers behind the old federal courthouse, he sees potential with “this little urban nucleus that we have.”

“It was interesting to watch when the (bird) scooters rolled out a while back,” Ortte said. “You could watch on the map and see each day where the scooters spread out. They started downtown. I think that’s a really interesting perspective of how that little urban nucleus has some really good potential for pedestrian growth.”

SINGAPORE – Even though dining in groups of more than five was allowed for the first time in months, only a few did so, with patrons observing safe management measures as they did before, on the first day of Singapore’s third phase of reopening on Monday (Dec 28).

People in malls like Junction 8 in Bishan, The Star Vista in Buona Vista and those along Orchard Road were seen keeping to social distancing measures and logging their visits via Singapore’s digital check-in system SafeEntry.

At hawker centres in Ghim Moh and Toa Payoh, patrons were orderly as they stuck to small groups for their meals, despite being allowed to eat in bigger groups.

Groups of up to eight people can now gather socially, up from a limit of five, as Singapore moved into the long-awaited third phase of its reopening on Monday – more than eight months after its circuit breaker period meant to choke the spread of Covid-19.

But The Straits Times observed that while not many had gathered in groups of more than five, those in groups of six, seven or eight said that they were glad to be able to include more people in meals.

Eunoia Junior College student Joel Koh, 17, was queueing for lunch with five other friends at Japanese eatery Watami in Junction 8, and said that he was glad all of them could eat together.

“I’m quite happy because now we can include everyone. If your friend group is more than five, we had to all be split up, but now everyone can eat together,” he said.

At the Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre during lunch on Monday, queues formed in front of popular stalls but everyone was seen to keep a safe distance apart from one another.

There were very few groups of more than five people, despite the adjustment of seat markings to signal the increase in maximum dining group size to eight.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a statement that tables with eight seats or fewer will no longer have any seat markings, while tables with more than eight seats will have some seats marked out to ensure that dining groups remain a maximum of eight people.

“With phase three, markings on seats and tables at the dining areas of hawker centres have been revised with simplicity and flexibility in mind to accommodate the increase in dining group size from five to eight persons,” said the NEA.

The agency added that dining groups at hawker centres will still have to keep 1m from one another. Where adjacent tables are less than 1m apart, some seats may be marked out to maintain safe distancing.

Safe distancing ambassadors will continue to be deployed at hawker centres to ensure compliance with safe management measures, said the NEA.

Some like student Saiful Rahman, 22, who was buying takeaway food at Ghim Moh food centre, said that he was looking forward to having meals with bigger groups, especially to have supper.

“It used to be a case where my friends and I could all have supper late at night to hang out, but the five-person limit made it hard. My group of friends has seven people, so now all of us can meet, there’s no need to meet separately.”

Beyond having shared meals, some like housewife Rokiah Kasim, 54, are looking forward to visiting people in larger groups too. Madam Rokiah, who has three siblings with their own families, said that she will be visiting her mother this weekend.

She said: “Not much changes for me but this New Year holiday more of us will be visiting my mother. I think she will enjoy having more people around. We have been going in smaller groups of five and sticking to one family per visit; eight people is better because more people can join in.”

Mr Benjamin Seah, 55, who was in Ngee Ann City on Monday, said that while he was glad that more people can meet up to have meals together, he had no plans to eat out in large groups, as he and his family have become very used to ordering meals via delivery apps.

“I think Singapore has done very well but if a second wave happens like in Korea, which I think is inevitable, we should be ready and flexible to go back into phase two or even more.”