Category Archives: Asia Pacific

HSBC shareholders urged to vote against break-up of business

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Bank warns spinning off more profitable Asia business would be complex and would lower dividends

HSBC’s board has urged shareholders to vote against a proposed break-up of its business at its annual meeting, arguing that a split would result in a “material loss” and lower dividends.

In response to calls for the split from its largest shareholder, the Chinese insurer Ping An, HSBC warned on Wednesday that spinning off its more profitable Asian business from the rest of the bank would also require approval from regulators in approximately 25 jurisdictions, and force it to make changes to customer services.

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Australia would be ‘naive’ to think China’s new Antarctic station not for surveillance, analyst says

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National security experts express concern over resumed construction of a Chinese station which could be used for intelligence operations

Australia should be concerned about the prospect of China using a new research station in Antarctica to assist surveillance operations in the southern hemisphere, according to national security experts.

Satellite imagery collected by Washington-based thinktank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), shows construction of the station on Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea has resumed for the first time since 2018.

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India’s population set to overtake China’s by June, UN figures show

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UN population officials say it is not possible to pinpoint a date because of uncertainty about data

India is expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country with almost 3 million more people by the middle of this year, according to UN figures.

The State of World Population 2023 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates India’s population will be 1.4286 billion by the end of June, compared with China’s 1.4257 billion.

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Twelve people arrested over Beijing hospital fire that killed 29

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Director of Changfeng hospital among those detained after deadliest fire in China’s capital since 2002

Chinese authorities have said they have detained a dozen people over a hospital fire in Beijing that left at least 29 dead and forced desperate survivors to jump out of windows to escape.

The fire, which broke out on Tuesday afternoon at the Changfeng hospital in China’s capital, killed mostly patients, and left scores of other people injured.

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Severe heatwave engulfs Asia causing deaths and forcing schools to close

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Extreme temperatures described as ‘worst April heatwave in Asian history’ as records threatened in India, China, Thailand and Laos

A severe heatwave has swept across much of Asia, causing deaths and school closures in India and record-breaking temperatures in China.

Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian, described the unusually high temperatures as the “worst April heatwave in Asian history”.

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Cyclone Ilsa: 11 shipwrecked fishers rescued off WA coast after six days, nine others feared dead

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Makeshift camp of Indonesian crew spotted by a surveillance plane in the Rowley Shoals, about 300km west of Broome

Eleven Indonesian fishers have been rescued from a remote island off Western Australia after their vessel was destroyed by Cyclone Ilsa.

The men were shipwrecked without food and water for six days on a remote island in the Rowley Shoals, about 300km west of Broome.

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At least 29 people killed in Beijing hospital fire

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Some managed to escape from multi-storey building by fashioning bedsheets into makeshift ropes

A fire at a hospital in Beijing has killed at least 29 people and forced dozens to evacuate, a Chinese government official has said.

As clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky late on Tuesday, people trapped in the multi-storey building apparently tied bedsheets into makeshift ropes and escaped by climbing out of windows, as seen in videos circulating on social media.

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UK should not ‘pull the shutters down’ on China, says James Cleverly

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Exclusive: British foreign secretary says failing to engage ‘closely and regularly’ with Beijing would be ‘really counterproductive’

Britain should not “pull the shutters down” on China, as it would be counterproductive to the national interest, the foreign secretary has told the Guardian.

In a warning to Conservative hawks, James Cleverly insisted there was not a binary choice to be made between treating China as either a threat or an opportunity, and said the UK’s approach needed to be more nuanced.

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Chinese-Australians face fewer racist insults than at height of diplomatic tensions with Beijing, survey finds

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Lowy Institute poll indicates one in five Chinese-Australians were called offensive names in 2022, down 10 points from 31% in 2020

Chinese-Australians have continued to experience racist insults but at a lower rate than when diplomatic tensions between Canberra and Beijing erupted in 2020, a new study has found.

Polling commissioned by the Lowy Institute indicates one in five Chinese-Australians said they were called offensive names because of their heritage in 2022.

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FBI arrests two New Yorkers accused of running covert Chinese police station

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The station, in New York’s Chinatown, was allegedly run by Beijing’s ministry of public security to track Chinese dissidents

The FBI has arrested two men accused of running a covert station for China’s police force in New York, and using it as a base to track Chinese dissidents living in the US.

The station, in Manhattan’s Chinatown, was allegedly set up in February 2022 and operated by Beijing’s ministry of public security (MPS) as part of a campaign of transnational repression against Chinese pro-democracy activists and other political opponents around the world.

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India heatwave: temperatures hit 40C

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Indians warned to stay vigilant during spell of very hot weather. Elsewhere, sandstorms plague China

The heatwave that has been plaguing the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in India is forecast to continue through the coming week. Daytime temperatures of 40C have been recorded for several consecutive days in these regions, about 5C above the seasonal average.

This excessive heat is linked to a north-westerly flow of air, which is also bringing much drier than usual conditions. The authorities have advised people to be vigilant about their health by staying hydrated, wearing breathable clothing and avoiding street food, which could easily go off in these conditions. They have also closed schools and universities for a week in response to schoolchildren complaining about headaches.

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Penny Wong and Paul Keating spar as minister warns against ‘frenzied’ Taiwan war speculation

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Wong also hits back at former prime minister saying his comments diminish ‘his legacy and the subject matter’

Penny Wong has warned politicians and media against playing “the most dangerous of parlour games” by adding to “frenzied” speculation about a war over Taiwan.

The Australian foreign affairs minister said on Monday that such a conflict would be “catastrophic for all” and there would be “no real winners” – but the warning was quickly overshadowed by a fresh war of words with Paul Keating.

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Japan’s PM gives G7 security pledge after pipe bomb attack

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Security tightened ahead of summit in Hiroshima next month after incident on Saturday

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has vowed to ensure the safety of politicians and officials attending this year’s round of G7 meetings, days after he escaped unharmed after apparently being targeted in a pipe bomb attack.

The incident on Saturday came as foreign ministers began three days of talks in Japan, this year’s G7 president, that will be followed by other high-level meetings culminating in the leaders’ summit in Hiroshima in May.

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China’s defence minister and Putin vow to strengthen military cooperation

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Li Shangfu travelled to Moscow where he said ties between the countries ‘surpass military-political alliances of the cold war era’

Vladimir Putin and China’s defence minister Li Shangfu have vowed to deepen military cooperation between China and Russia after the men met in Moscow over the weekend.

Li, who met the Russian president on Sunday on his first trip overseas in the role, said China was willing to work with Russia to have close strategic communications between their militaries.

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Six soldiers killed, 30 missing in attempt to rescue kidnapped pilot in West Papua

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Separatist rebels confronted Indonesian army troops as they searched for New Zealander who was taken hostage in February

Separatist gunmen attacked Indonesian army troops who were deployed to rescue a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the rebels in Indonesia’s restive Papua province, leaving at least six dead and about 30 missing, officials said on Sunday.

Initial information from army reports said there were about 36 soldiers at a post in the hilly district of Nduga, when attackers from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, opened fire on Saturday.

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James Cleverly in Japan for G7 as UK tilts towards Pacific post-Brexit

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Foreign secretary says ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ is ‘critical to UK’ and releases manga-style cartoons to mark his visit

James Cleverly has arrived in Japan for a G7 foreign ministers’ summit to promote a “free and open” Indo-Pacific, as the UK government steps up its focus on the region after Brexit.

The foreign secretary and his counterparts from countries including the US and France will hold high-level talks on closer security and defence ties in the face of China’s growing assertiveness in the Pacific.

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Penny Wong dismisses Paul Keating’s claim that the military has taken over Australian foreign policy

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Minister says foreign and defence policies are both essential for making the country stronger and more influential

Penny Wong will dismiss Paul Keating’s claim that the military has taken over foreign policy in Australia, as she insists the defence department and diplomats are working together to “keep the peace”.

In a speech on Monday, the foreign affairs minister will say countries across the Indo-Pacific region want to “choose their own destiny” and not have the rules “dictated by a single major power to suit its own interests”.

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China likely to rapidly achieve air superiority over Taiwan, US leaks say

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Documents among those shared by alleged leaker raise questions over island’s military readiness

China would probably establish air superiority very rapidly in any attack on Taiwan, according to leaked US intelligence assessments that raise disturbing questions about the self-ruled island’s military readiness.

The documents, part of a series allegedly leaked by the US air national guardsman Jack Teixeira, emerged as G7 foreign ministers met to discuss a common China strategy and Beijing briefly halted flights over part of the East China Sea on Sunday.

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Japan’s PM escapes explosion unharmed after suspected attack

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Man detained after what looked like a smoke bomb was thrown at Fumio Kishida just before speech

The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has escaped unhurt after he was apparently targeted by an explosive device on Saturday morning. It comes less than a year after the country’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was shot dead while making a campaign speech.

Kishida was safely evacuated after the incident, while a suspect – named by Japanese media as Ryuji Kimura, 24, a resident of Hyogo prefecture – was arrested at the scene, reports said.

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US looks to boost ties in Vietnam as China reportedly stalls Blinken visit

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Secretary of state to break ground on new US embassy while Hanoi reluctant to antagonise its powerful neighbour

China has reportedly refused to reschedule a visit from the US secretary of state, as Antony Blinken kicked off a trip to Vietnam, a crucial South-east Asian trade partner that Washington is looking to bolster ties with as it works to balance Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the region and beyond.

In his first visit to the country as the top US diplomat, Blinken will meet with top Vietnamese officials, including Vietnam’s general secretary, Nguyen Phu Trong, and formally break ground on Saturday on a new US embassy compound in Hanoi. On Sunday he travels to Japan for a meeting of the Group of Seven wealthy nations.

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