Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Typhoon Saola: China issues highest warning as storm approaches Hong Kong and Guangdong

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Winds reaching 209km/h recorded as major train lines suspended ahead of typhoon’s expected arrival on Friday

China has issued the highest typhoon warning as Typhoon Saola crawled closer to the south-eastern coastline, threatening Hong Kong and other major manufacturing hubs in neighbouring Guangdong province.

Chinese forecasters issued a typhoon red warning at 6am on Thursday. China’s National Meteorological Centre said Saola, which lies about 295km (183 miles) south-east of Guangdong province, will move north-west across the South China Sea at a speed of about 10km/h (6mph), gradually approaching the coast of Guangdong, then slowly weaken in intensity.

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Chinese developer Country Garden reports $6.7bn loss amid fears of another Evergrande

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Group warns that if its financial performance ‘continues to deteriorate’ it faces possible default after huge half-year losses

Embattled Chinese developer Country Garden reported a 48.9bn yuan ($6.7bn) loss for the first half of the year in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday, adding to worries of a potentially catastrophic default.

Its tenuous state has sparked fears of a collapse that could have far-reaching consequences for the Chinese financial system two years after the fall of Evergrande.

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Vietnamese collector revealed as buyer of world’s biggest bottle of whisky

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Viet Nguyen Dinh Tuan bought 311-litre bottle of 32-year-old Macallan single malt for £1.1m at auction

The previously anonymous buyer of the world’s largest bottle of whisky, which at 5ft 11in is taller than the average human, has been revealed as a Vietnamese businessman who already owns a spirits collection valued at more than £150m.

Viet Nguyen Dinh Tuan bought the 311-litre bottle filled with 32-year-old Macallan single malt for £1.1m at auction in Edinburgh last year.

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Isolating China would be a mistake, says UK foreign secretary

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On trip to Beijing, James Cleverly says Britain is ‘clear-eyed’ about its disagreements with world’s second largest economy

James Cleverly has defended his meetings with senior Chinese government members, saying it would be a mistake to try to isolate China, during the first visit to Beijing in five years by a UK foreign secretary.

Cleverly said he believed China genuinely cared about UK views on human rights, following his meetings on Wednesday with China’s vice-president, Han Zheng, and foreign minister, Wang Yi. However, there was no indication of a change in Chinese policy such as the lifting of its sanctions on British parliamentarians, the test for the trip set by the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy.

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Western politicians face tough balancing act on visits to Beijing

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UK’s James Cleverly is latest to travel to Beijing hoping to improve ties and change Chinese foreign policy

The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, on Wednesday described his government’s relationship with Beijing as “complicated and sophisticated”. He said the UK’s approach was “clear-eyed” and pragmatic, neither seeking to isolate the world’s second largest economy nor shying away from raising disagreements.

The balancing act may prove difficult. Cleverly is the latest in a series of western government officials – from the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to the French president, Emmanuel Macron – to have visited China in recent months hoping to repair soured relations and trade ties. Few have had much success.

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Travel firms urged to halt trips to Uyghur region over China rights abuses

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Exclusive: Report says optics of western firms organising Xinjiang tours amid ‘crimes against humanity are disastrous’

Uyghur advocates have called on western tourism companies to stop selling package holidays that take visitors through Xinjiang, where human rights abuses by authorities have been called a genocide by some governments.

The request comes as China reopens to foreign visitors after the pandemic, and as its leader, Xi Jinping, calls for more tourism to the region.

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Gangs forcing hundreds of thousands of people into cybercrime in south-east Asia, says UN

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Organised criminals use threats, torture and sexual violence to coerce victims to work in international scamming operations

Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked and forced to work for online scamming operations in south-east Asia run by criminal gangs, according to a UN report.

Billions of dollars are being generated each year by gangs who coerce victims into cybercrime, where they are subject to threats, torture and sometimes sexual violence, said the report, published by the UN human rights office on Tuesday.

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Niece of J-Pop mogul Johnny Kitagawa should resign over abuse allegations, panel says

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Julie Fujishima, now president of Japan’s biggest boyband talent agency, had long been aware of accusations but failed to investigate, experts say

The current president of Japan’s biggest boyband talent agency, who is the niece of its late founder Johnny Kitagawa, should resign over allegations that Kitagawa sexually abused recruits for decades, a panel has said.

The panel, commissioned by Johnny and Associates to address the allegations of abuse, recommended on Tuesday that Julie Fujishima should resign because she had long been aware of the allegations but “neglected to conduct a probe”.

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UK should take China to task on human rights and Taiwan, MPs say

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Foreign select committee report published as foreign secretary, James Cleverly, travels to Beijing

Britain must take a tougher stance on China over its severe human rights abuses and help Taiwan build its defences to deter a potential attack from Beijing, an influential group of MPs says.

With the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, scheduled to land in China on Wednesday for a first official visit in five years, a report from the foreign affairs select committee says ministers have to call out the country’s transnational repression.

China’s behaviour is a threat to world security that cannot be ignored, it says.

The Chinese Communist party (CCP) is “seeking to silence criticism of its human rights abuses, and impose its foreign policy and Xi Jinping’s thought beyond its own borders”, the committee, which is Tory controlled, writes. “This is a challenge to the functioning of democracies globally.”

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Chinese migrants believe Australian media fuels hostility towards them, study shows

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Reports about China’s ‘influence’ made public more suspicious of Chinese-Australian communities, according to 70% of respondents to UTS survey

First-generation migrants from China believe Australian media reporting has fuelled unfriendly or suspicious attitudes towards them, new research shows.

The report, published by the University of Technology Sydney, explores the hopes and fears of members of Chinese Australian communities, including a parent whose child came home from school asking: “Mum, is China going to invade us?”

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Meta closes nearly 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to Chinese ‘Spamouflage’ foreign influence campaign

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Company says users targeted in Australia, UK, US and elsewhere by political spam network across more than 50 platforms

Meta shut down close to 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts, groups and pages associated with a Chinese political spam network that had targeted users in Australia and other parts of the world, the company has revealed.

Meta began investigating in 2019 and its research aligned with several research groups, including the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Aspi), who coined the term Spamouflage.

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New Zealand: bill to allow under-18s to vote in local elections passes first hurdle

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Bill that would also allow 16- and 17-year-olds to stand as candidates passed its first reading in parliament

A bill that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote and stand as candidates in New Zealand’s local elections has passed its first reading in parliament, nine months after a landmark ruling by the country’s supreme court that the existing age of 18 was inconsistent with human rights law.

The measure passed its first hurdle on Tuesday by 74 votes to 44, supported by all leftwing lawmakers, with the rightwing opposition parties rejecting it. However, the proposal could face a steep uphill battle to pass its final legislative hurdles, and it would not extend voting rights to under-18s in national elections as urged by the young campaigners who brought the supreme court case.

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UK foreign secretary to challenge China over support for Russia in Ukraine war

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James Cleverly to say during visit to Beijing this week that China has ‘a responsibility on the global stage’

The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, will challenge Chinese officials in Beijing on Wednesday over their growing military support for Russia, but is intent that his meetings are seen as the revival of a political dialogue that eventually revives UK trade with China.

Ahead of the meetings, he said that no major international issue could be solved without China but added that the country had to live up to its international commitments and obligations.

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China continues coal spree despite climate goals

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World’s biggest carbon emitter approving equivalent of two new coal plants a week, analysis shows

China is approving new coal power projects at the equivalent of two plants every week, a rate energy watchdogs say is unsustainable if the country hopes to achieve its energy targets.

The government has pledged to peak emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2060, and in 2021 the president, Xi Jinping, promised to stop building coal powered plants.

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Evergrande shares plunge further amid China economy fears

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Property developer’s value fell by more than $2bn as stock resumed trading after 17-month suspension

Shares in Evergrande fell a further 13% on Tuesday after more than $2bn was wiped off the Chinese property developer’s market value when it resumed trading for the first time in almost 18 months on Monday.

Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property firm with liabilities of $328bn (£260bn), has lost more than 99% of its share market value over the past three years.

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Hong Kong: Cantonese language group shuts down after targeting by national security police

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Fears that China’s crackdown on dissidents is expanding into cultural sphere after linguistic group closes over a fictional essay about erosion of liberties

A Cantonese language group has shut down after Hong Kong national security police raided the founder’s home over a fictional essay submitted to the group’s literary competition three years ago.

Andrew Lok Han Chan, who created and convenes the Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis (SLHK) group, said in a Facebook post that the officers from a police division set up to enforce the 2020 national security law, visited a home where some of his family members live last week when he was out of town. The officers, who did not have a search warrant, asked that he remove the essay from his group’s website immediately, he said.

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China region offers cash ‘rewards’ for newlyweds if bride is under 25

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China’s eastern county of Changshan has made the offer in an effort to promote ‘age-appropriate marriage and childbearing’

A county in eastern China is offering couples a “reward” of 1,000 yuan ($137) if the bride is aged 25 or younger, the latest in a series of measures to incentivise young people to get married amid rising concern over a declining national birthrate.

The notice, which was published on Changshan county’s official WeChat account last week, said the reward was to promote “age-appropriate marriage and childbearing” for first marriages. It also included a series of childcare, fertility and education subsidies for couples who have children.

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Papua New Guinea killings: what’s behind the outbreak in tribal fighting?

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Up to 150 killed in Enga Province as experts say weaker legal systems, weapons access and ‘loss of hope’ fuel deadly clashes

An outbreak of violence has killed up to 150 people in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, local police said, in what one expert described as a “bushfire that has got out of control” as more forces are sent to calm clashes in the region.

While tribal fighting is not unusual in parts of Papua New Guinea, the issue attracted international attention last week after disturbing footage appearing to show three naked men, tied-up and dragged behind a truck as onlookers cheered, circulated on social media.

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Foxconn founder Terry Gou announces run for Taiwan presidency, pledging to fix China ties

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The billionaire has touted his business experience, saying it was the ‘era of entrepreneurs’ rule’

The billionaire founder of tech giant Foxconn, Terry Gou, has announced he will run for president of Taiwan as an independent candidate, pledging to fix cross-strait relations and boost Taiwan’s economy.

At a press conference on Monday, Gou – a well-known and outspoken businessman – announced what he called “the era of entrepreneurs’ rule”.

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Drivers in Japan plied with alcohol to show drink-driving dangers

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Initiative in Chikushino honours three children killed by drink-driver, with motorists learning first-hand how badly alcohol makes you drive

Police and driving instructors in Japan have adopted an unorthodox approach to road safety in the hope of reducing incidences of drink-driving – by allowing drivers to consume alcohol before getting behind the wheel.

Chikushino driving school in the south-western city of Fukuoka recently began offering controlled drink-driving experiences as part of a police campaign to convince “overconfident” motorists never to drink and drive.

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