Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Indonesian fisheries official criticises plan to auction pristine 100-island archipelago

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Conservationists have already raised concerns about Thursday’s auction at Sotheby’s of development rights to coral atoll network

Indonesia’s plan to auction the development rights to an entire archipelago of more than 100 tropical islands has descended into chaos, with a fisheries ministry official joining conservationists in criticising the sale.

Sotheby’s has described the uninhabited pristine Widi Reserve as “one of the most intact coral atoll ecosystems left on Earth”, and is due to open bidding on Thursday. No sale price has been stated, but prospective buyers will need to provide a US$100,000 deposit.

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Parents who refused ‘vaccinated blood’ transfusion speak out after court places Baby W in care

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New Zealand parents say they will focus on supporting their son, now in the guardianship of his doctors, through life-saving operation

The family of a baby who has been placed in his doctors’ care because his parents refused to consent to a transfusion of “vaccinated blood” in a life-saving operation have said they will prioritise time with their son before the surgery.

The parents’ lawyer, Sue Grey, said in a Facebook post on Thursday morning that the family would be prioritising “a peaceful time with their baby until the operation, and to support him through the operation”.

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Is China finally about to relax its zero-Covid policy?

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People with Covid who have mild or no symptoms can now quarantine at home, but PCR tests are still required to enter many places

In the strongest sign so far that China is rolling back on its long-running zero-Covid policy, the national health commission said that people with Covid-19 who have mild or no symptoms can quarantine at home. The directive also instructed officials to halt temporary lockdowns and ended testing and health code requirements for people entering Beijing.

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Penny Wong issues emphatic plea to US and China to ‘prevent catastrophe’ of war

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Australia’s foreign affairs minister to give speech in hope ‘nationalistic domestic posturing won’t sink efforts to build safeguards’

Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has urged China to take up a US offer to put in place “guardrails” to prevent growing tensions from spiralling into war.

Wong will use a speech in Washington DC on Thursday to hit back at claims that Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under Aukus is driving a regional arms race.

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Health officials gain guardianship of baby whose parents refused ‘vaccinated blood’ transfusion

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New Zealand high court case has become a focus of protests from anti-vaxxers

A New Zealand high court judge has ruled in favour of health authorities who sought guardianship of a baby boy after his parents refused to consent to a transfusion of “vaccinated blood” in a life-saving operation.

The landmark decision, delivered on Thursday, is expected to have wide-ranging ramifications and has become a focus of protests for anti-vaxxers who held demonstrations outside the courtroom.

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Indonesia’s sex ‘morality’ laws are just one part of a broader, chilling crackdown on dissent

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Analysis: the moralistic aspects of the new criminal code risk obscuring wider concerns about a stifling of protest and criticism of the state

Indonesia’s new criminal code limits the right to protest and participate in the public sphere, threatens the freedom of women and LGBTQ people and represents a trend of vague or “rubber” laws that are open to broad interpretation and selective implementation, experts have warned.

With provisions restoring a ban on insulting the president, state institutions and state ideology, as well as extramarital and premarital sex, the code will come into effect within three years, following Indonesia’s 2024 elections. Insults to a sitting president can lead to up to three years in jail.

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Saudi Arabia readies full state pageantry for Xi Jinping visit

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Chinese president’s three-day trip to Riyadh will lead to a ‘strategic agreement’ between the authoritarian powers

Xi Jinping will arrive in Riyadh on Wednesday on a long awaited visit to a regional ally that has readied full state pageantry and a round of agreements likely to cement ties between China and Saudi Arabia – and deepen alarm in Washington.

China’s president will meet more than 30 heads of state and business leaders during his three-day visit to the Saudi capital, which is set to lead to a “strategic agreement” between the authoritarian powers. The trip is the culmination of decades of cooperation once based on oil sales, which has grown into bilateral trade of close to $90bn a year.

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Tokyo Olympics bribery scandal threatens to derail Winter Games bid

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Japanese official says corruption claims could damage Sapporo’s chances of hosting 2030 event

More than a year after the Tokyo Olympics were held in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, their legacy has been overshadowed by a bribery scandal that threatens to derail a bid by another Japanese city to host the Winter Games.

This summer, as officials in Sapporo, on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, promoted their bid for the 2030 Games, police arrested Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Tokyo Olympics executive, on suspicion of taking bribes in return for helping companies become official sponsors for last year’s event.

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Taiwan foreign minister: China may scapegoat us over Covid protests

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Joseph Wu backs Chinese protesters but says Beijing ‘might try to create external crisis to divert domestic attention’

Taiwan’s foreign minister has backed China’s anti-Covid protesters but also expressed concerns that Beijing could seek to scapegoat Taiwan if demonstrations restarted.

Joseph Wu said Taiwan stood alongside other democracies in calling for China to “respect basic human rights” regarding the extraordinary protests that spread across China last week and the swift police response to close in on those involved.

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Humanity has become ‘weapon of mass extinction’, UN head tells Cop15 launch

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António Guterres calls for end to destruction of nature as Canada pushes proposal to protect 30% of Earth

Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction and governments must end the “orgy of destruction”, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said at the beginning of the biodiversity Cop15.

“We are out of harmony with nature. In fact, we are playing an entirely different song. Around the world, for hundreds of years, we have conducted a cacophony of chaos, played with instruments of destruction. Deforestation and desertification are creating wastelands of once-thriving ecosystems,” he said.

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Indonesia passes legislation banning sex outside marriage

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Rights groups say amended criminal code underscores shift towards fundamentalism

Indonesia’s parliament has overhauled the country’s criminal code to outlaw sex outside marriage and curtail free speech, in a dramatic setback to freedoms in the world’s third-largest democracy.

Passed with support from all political parties, the draconian legislation has shocked not only rights activists but also the country’s booming tourism sector, which relies on a stream of visitors to its tropical islands.

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Chinese students protest as university locks down over one Covid case

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Footage shows large protest at Nanjing Tech University, as rules persist despite steps to ease zero-Covid policy

Students at a university in eastern China have staged a protest against a Covid lockdown as many in the country remain under some form of restrictions despite government steps to ease its zero-Covid policy.

Videos posted on Twitter on Tuesday show large numbers of students protesting at Nanjing Tech University on Monday night, as they were placed under lockdown after one positive case was found. The Guardian phoned the university for confirmation but calls went unanswered. The posts had been geolocated by AFP and Reuters.

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Hu Jintao reappears as China comes to standstill for late leader Jiang Zemin

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Former leader who was removed from a key meeting in October attended the memorial where Xi Jinping urged country to ‘turn grief into strength’

China has paused to remember the late former leader, Jiang Zemin, with a rollcall of Beijing’s political elite attending memorial services including the former leader Hu Jintao in his first public appearances since his shocking removal from a top Communist party meeting in October.

Sirens wailed across the country on Tuesday as the Communist party eulogised Jiang on a national day of mourning, hailing him as a patriot who “dedicated his life” to the country and weathered “political storms”.

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Papua New Guinea can’t afford Australia and US standoff with China, James Marape warns

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PNG prime minister tells west ‘your enemy is not our enemy’ as he tries to steer clear of geopolitical struggle gripping the Pacific

The prime minister of Papua New Guinea has warned that his country will not be caught in a “standoff” between the US, Australia and China, as geopolitical tensions in the Pacific increase, warning the global powers to “keep your fights to yourselves”.

“Our nation is still an emerging economy, we cannot afford the standoff between our trading partners,” James Marape told the Guardian while on a visit to Sydney for a petroleum and mining conference.

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Shein admits working hour breaches and pledges £12m to improve sites

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Chinese fashion retailer responds after Channel 4 documentary alleged 18-hour days with one day off a month

The Chinese fashion retailer Shein has vowed to invest $15m (£12.2m) in improving standards at its supplier factories as it admitted working hours at two sites breached local regulations.

The online brand said an independent investigation, launched after allegations over labour abuse made in a recent UK documentary, had uncovered that employees at two of its Chinese sites were working hours that were longer than allowed.

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Nursery schoolteachers arrested in Japan over abuse allegations

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Three women held by police on suspicion of assaulting children at nursery school in city of Susono

Police have arrested three teachers at a nursery school in central Japan on suspicion they routinely abused toddlers, including hitting their heads, holding them upside down and locking them up in a bathroom, in a case that has triggered outrage and allegations of a cover-up.

Shizuoka prefectural police said they arrested three women on Sunday on suspicion of assaulting at least three children in June at a nursery school in the city of Susono, at the foot of Mount Fuji.

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Chinese security firm advertises ethnicity recognition technology while facing UK ban

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Campaigners concerned that ‘same racist technology used to repress Uyghurs is being marketed in Britain’

A Chinese security camera company has been advertising ethnicity recognition features to British and other European customers, even while it faces a ban on UK operations over allegations of involvement in ethnic cleansing in Xinjiang.

In a brochure published on its website, Hikvision advertised a range of features that it said it could provide in collaboration with the UK startup FaiceTech.

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Chinese cities ease Covid curbs in wake of protests

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Shanghai and Urumqi to reopen markets and restaurants and loosen public transport restrictions

Chinese cities, including the financial hub of Shanghai and Urumqi in the far west, have announced an easing of coronavirus curbs after unprecedented protests against zero-Covid restrictions last weekend.

Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region and centre of the first protests, will reopen malls, markets, restaurants and other venues from Monday, authorities said, ending months-long strict lockdowns.

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China accused of flooding social media with spam to cover up Covid protests

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US firm says network of bot accounts also hijacking hashtags in large-scale attempt to obscure coverage

An attempt to flood social media platforms with spam in order to drown out coverage of the lockdown protests in China was probably backed by the Chinese government, according to analysis by a US cybersecurity firm.

Recorded Future found that networks of coordinated bot accounts were targeting non-Chinese social media platforms to crowd out genuine posts about the demonstrations with spam content and by hijacking hashtags of names of Chinese cities. It said China’s government was most likely to be behind the tactic.

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Semeru volcano: 2,000 evacuated as Indonesia issues highest warning

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Eruption causes roads to close after volcanic ash rains down on Java island

A volcano has erupted in Indonesia, spewing a cloud of ash 15km into the sky and forcing the evacuation of nearly 2,000 people, authorities have said, as they issued their highest warning for the area in the east of Java island.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties from the eruption of the Semeru volcano and Indonesia’s transport ministry said air travel was not affected but notices had been sent to two regional airports for them to be vigilant.

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