Category Archives: Asia Pacific

North Korea fires ballistic missile towards Japan

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Rocket went 1,000km, says South Korea, after Kim Jong-un’s sister threatened ‘shocking’ consequences for alleged US spy plane flights

North Korea fired a ballistic missile off its east coast towards Japan on Wednesday, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said, in a move that followed threats of retaliation for alleged US spy plane flights.

The missile flew about 1,000km (621 miles) before crashing into the water, South Korea’s military said. Japan’s chief cabinet secretary said the missile came down about 250km west of Okushiri island in Japan’s northernmost Hokkaido prefecture, after a flight taking 74 minutes that reached an altitude of more than 6,000km.

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Opioid crisis: US and China at odds over influx of fentanyl

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Antony Blinken speaks at launch of US-led coalition to address synthetic drug threats

Who is responsible for the United States’ opioid epidemic? According to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, the culprits are “transnational criminal enterprises” who need to be tackled via international law enforcement operations.

But according to Chinese state media, “the fentanyl crisis in the United States is demand-driven”, primarily by “the users themselves”.

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China delays decision on Australian barley tariffs in setback on resolving trade disputes

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Exclusive: The Albanese government says it is ‘disappointed’ Beijing’s review couldn’t be completed in the initial three months

China has asked for an extra month to decide whether to scrap hefty tariffs on Australian barley, dashing hopes of an imminent breakthrough in one of the biggest trade disputes between the two countries.

The Albanese government said it was disappointed by the delay, and warned that it was ready to revive its case at the global trade umpire, the World Trade Organization, if Beijing doesn’t scrap the measure by August.

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Police in Hong Kong raid family home of UK-based exile Nathan Law

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Relatives of pro-democracy activist taken in for questioning days after bounties issued for political exiles

Police in Hong Kong have raided the home of Nathan Law’s family, taking relatives of the UK-exiled pro-democracy activist away for questioning.

Officers from the national security department visited the housing estate where Law’s family live and took his parents and brother in for questioning in the early hours of Tuesday morning. So far no arrests have been made.

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Thai PM to retire from politics nine years after seizing power in coup

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Prayuth Chan-ocha announces resignation after his party suffered a humiliating defeat in May election

The Thai prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, has said he will retire from politics, more than nine years after the former army general seized power in a military coup.

In May, his party suffered a humiliating defeat, coming fifth, well behind an upstart opposition party that promised to remove the military from politics. He will remain as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed.

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‘Heaviest rain ever’ causes deadly floods and landslides in Japan

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Mud engulfs houses and cars as island of Kyushu bears brunt of annual rainy season that is worsening with climate change

Six people died and three others were missing after the “heaviest rain ever” triggered floods and landslides in south-west Japan.

The Japan meteorological agency warned residents in Kyushu – one of the country’s four main islands – to stay alert for more landslides, a common hazard in mountainous areas after heavy rainfall.

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Solomon Islands signs controversial policing pact with China

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Solomons’ prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, meets with leaders as part of week-long visit to China

China and Solomon Islands have signed a deal on police cooperation as part of an upgrade of their relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, four years after the Pacific country switched ties from Taiwan to Beijing.

The police cooperation pact was among nine deals signed as the prime minister of Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, met with the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, in Beijing, underlining the Solmons’ foreign policy shift.

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Why Asia matters to Nato as it looks to respond to China’s military expansion

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Beijing is source of ‘systemic challenges’ but alliance members are divided on how to engage

Nato leaders and their allies are heading to Vilnius, Lithuania, this week, for two days of meetings starting on Tuesday. Among them is Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea’s president, who will give one of the opening speeches.

The summit will be dominated by discussions about the alliance’s relationship with Ukraine. But Yoon’s attendance reflects a growing interest among members in stepping up their dialogue with countries in the Asia-Pacific.

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Six people killed in southern China knife attack at kindergarten

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A 25-year-old man has been detained after attack that also left one person injured

A man has killed six people, three of them young children, and injured a seventh in a knife attack at a kindergarten in southern China.

The 25-year-old began his rampage in the town of Lianjiang, in Guangdong province, at 7.40am local time on Monday, police said.

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Mineral-rich Mongolia is steeling itself for democratic change

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Anti-corruption protests have drawn a stream of European politicians to the country – and the man tasked with cleaning up its act is confident that he can deliver

In December, amid sub-zero temperatures, thousands of Mongolians turned up in Sükhbaatar Square in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, to protest about rampant corruption, and for a moment the Asian democracy, sitting uneasily between China and Russia, looked as though it might crumble.

That this would have mattered to the west is shown by the number of European politicians who since have travelled to the capital, including not just Emmanuel Macron, the French president, but Polish president, Andrzej Duda, the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, and her French counterpart, Catherine Colonna.

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Anthony Albanese announces $1bn defence deal with Germany before Nato talks

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Berlin to buy 100 Boxer heavy weapon carriers made in Brisbane by German manufacturer Rheinmetall

The prime minister has touched down in Europe, confirming a deal worth more than $1bn to sell Australian-made armoured vehicles to Germany before talks at a Nato summit.

Anthony Albanese landed in Berlin on Sunday night, German time, before a scheduled meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday.

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Ron DeSantis says he will try to revoke China’s trade status if elected president

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The Republican governor of Florida said he’d take ‘executive action as appropriate’ to revoke Beijing’s legal designation

The Republican presidential candidate and Florida governor Ron DeSantis said on Sunday he would aim to revoke China’s permanent normal trade relations status if he won the White House next year.

“I favor doing that,” DeSantis told Fox News.

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The US and China are talking again, but what happens next?

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After years of deepening economic and military mistrust between the superpowers, they were finally back in a room together

When Janet Yellen left Beijing on Sunday after four days of talks, the US treasury secretary in effect admitted that the delegation achieved its main objective simply by sitting down with top Chinese officials.

After years of dangerous and deepening separation between the people running the world’s two biggest economies, they were finally back in a room together.

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‘Bread is much easier’: how Japan fell out of love with rice

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The traditional staple is losing the battle with more convenient and cheaper alternative foods

The Dojima branch of Yoshinoya in Osaka is doing a roaring lunchtime trade. As soon as one diner vacates their counter seat, another takes their place, while staff take just seconds to assemble the next order of the restaurant’s trademark dish: gyūdon.

The Observer has joined the rush, ordering a set lunch of seasoned beef and onion on rice, and side dishes of pickled cabbage and miso soup – all for a extremely affordable ¥632 (£3.46).

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‘Ukrainian strategy has become a model’: Taiwanese beef up military to face China threat

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Conscripts will serve longer in attempt to improve current crop of ‘strawberry soldiers’ who bruise too easily

For many people in Taiwan, the threat of conflict with China is a distant prospect that has been lingering in the air for some seven decades. Concern in the west that the Chinese Communist party, led by Xi Jinping in Beijing, is moving ever closer towards attempting to realise its goal of “reunifying” China and Taiwan, by force if necessary, can seem hysterical.

The only beneficiary of the increasing tension between China and Taiwan is the US, which is making money from selling arms to Taipei, jokes one resident of Kinmen, a small Taiwanese island a few miles from China’s eastern coastline.

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K-pop megastars BTS release keenly awaited memoir

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Fans of boyband brave heavy rain to gather at Seoul bookshop for Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS

The K-pop megastars BTS have released their hotly anticipated memoir in South Korea, marking their 10th anniversary as a group.

Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS is the group’s first official book, and contains a chronological summary of their musical career as well as hints at their future endeavours.

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Janet Yellen tells China the world is ‘big enough for both our countries to thrive’

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US treasury secretary feels trip to Beijing has steadied ties and improved communication despite ‘significant disagreements’ between the powers

The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has said a four-day trip to Beijing has put ties with China on a “surer footing” and paved the way for better communication between top officials who run the world’s two largest economies.

This relatively modest outcome had been flagged by US officials and expected by analysts before Yellen arrived, and is a reflection of how fraught one of the world’s most critical relationships had become.

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South Koreans confront IAEA chief over Fukushima water release

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Rafael Grossi met with protests in Seoul during visit to try to calm fears over radioactive water discharge

Protesters have confronted the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog during a visit to South Korea in an attempt to calm fears over Japan’s plan to discharge treated radioactive water from its Fukushima plant.

Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived in Seoul on Friday to meet the foreign minister and a top nuclear safety official during a three-day visit after his trip to Japan.

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Future of deep-sea mining hangs in balance as opposition grows

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Ireland and Sweden join countries calling for moratorium on extraction of metals from seabed as UN-backed authority prepares for crucial talks

The list of countries calling for a pause on deep-sea mining continued to grow this week ahead of a key moment that mining companies hope will launch the fledgling industry, and its opponents hope could clip its wings, perhaps for good.

Ireland and Sweden became the latest developed economies to join critics, including scientists, environmental organisations and multinationals such as BMW, Volvo and Samsung. The carmakers have committed not to use minerals mined from the seabed in their electric vehicles.

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Janet Yellen urges China to boost funding to tackle climate crisis

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US Treasury secretary says Beijing could have greater global impact if it worked with global climate institutions

US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has pressed China to do more to support international climate institutions that are helping finance green initiatives around the world, urging deeper cooperation in addressing the “existential threat” of global heating.

“Climate finance should be targeted efficiently and effectively,” Yellen said on Saturday in Beijing during a meeting with Chinese and international sustainable finance experts. “I believe that if China were to support existing multilateral climate institutions like the Green Climate Fund and the Climate Investment Funds alongside us and other donor governments, we could have a greater impact than we do today.”

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