Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Malaysia’s TikTok election: under-21s head to polls for first time

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Saturday’s poll is first since voting age was lowered to 18, meaning there are 6m more voters than in 2018

Malaysians will vote in a tightly contested general election on Saturday, after two weeks of fierce campaigning in which politicians have sought to woo millions of young voters by embracing Instagram and TikTok trends.

Saturday’s election is the first since constitutional changes lowered the voting age to 18 and automatically registered voters, meaning there are 6 million more voters than at the previous election in 2018. It is believed to be the first time people under 40 make up the majority of the electorate.

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Anthony Albanese calls for emergency UN meeting to condemn North Korean missile launch

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Australia’s prime minister joined forces with Kamala Harris, Fumio Kishida, Jacinda Ardern, Han Duck-soo, and Justin Trudeau, on issue at Apec summit

Anthony Albanese has called for an emergency session of the UN security council to condemn North Korea’s provocative launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone on Friday.

Australia’s prime minister joined the vice-president of the United States, Kamala Harris, the prime minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, South Korea’s prime minister, Han Duck-soo, and the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, in a huddle on the sidelines of the Apec summit in Bangkok on Friday.

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North Korean ICBM had potential range to reach US mainland, Japanese officials say

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The intercontinental ballistic missile landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone

A North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile that landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone on Friday had the potential range to strike the US mainland, Japanese officials say.

The US, Japan and South Korea condemned North Korea for launching the missile, which landed about 200 km (124 miles) west of Oshima-Oshima island in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido. There were no reports of damage to ships or aircraft.

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FBI director ‘very concerned’ by reports of secret Chinese police stations in US

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Christopher Wray says the FBI is investigating the existence of stations in New York, which could violate sovereignty

The United States is deeply concerned about the Chinese government setting up unauthorised “police stations” in US cities to possibly pursue influence operations, FBI director Christopher Wray has said.

“I’m very concerned about this. We are aware of the existence of these stations,” Wray told a US Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee hearing, acknowledging the FBI’s investigative work on the issue but declining to give details.

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Asia must not become arena for ‘big power contest’, says China’s Xi ahead of Apec summit

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Amid race for influence in Asia-Pacific region, Chinese president says no attempt to ‘wage a new cold war will ever be allowed by the people or by our times’

The Asia-Pacific is no one’s back yard and should not become an arena of big power rivalry, China’s president, Xi Jinping, has said, warning against cold war tensions in a region that is a flashpoint of competition between Beijing and Washington.

Xi’s remarks on Thursday came ahead of Friday’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Bangkok, and were an apparent reference to US efforts with regional allies and partners to blunt what they see as China’s growing coercive economic and military influence in the region.

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Ardern says she must be able to raise concerns in Xi Jinping meeting without ‘retaliatory acts’

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Ahead of first meeting with China’s president in three years, New Zealand PM calls for environment where differences can be discussed

Jacinda Ardern has said she must be able to raise concerns with Beijing without prompting “retaliatory acts”, on the eve of her planned meeting with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.

The pair’s first in-person bilateral meeting since 2019 is due to take place on Friday evening on the sidelines of the Apec forum. It comes during a strained time in New Zealand-China relations, where ideological differences – and New Zealand’s economic reliance on China as an export market – have continued to grow.

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North Korea launches ballistic missile, threatens ‘fiercer’ military response

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The latest missile test comes on the back of expanded military exercises between the US and South Korea

North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile Thursday toward its eastern waters, South Korea’s military said, hours after the North threatened to launch “fiercer” military responses to the US bolstering its security commitment to its allies South Korea and Japan.

South Korea’s military detected the launch from the North’s eastern coastal Wonsan area at 10:48am local time, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It said South Korea has boosted its surveillance of North Korea while maintaining a military readiness and a close coordination with the United States.

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New Zealand smoking rates fall to lowest on record, but vaping on the rise

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Overall smoking rate falls to 8% as country pursues goal of becoming smoke-free by 2025, but many may be switching to vaping instead

The number of people smoking in New Zealand has fallen to a historic low, as the country pushes forward with ambitious plans to wipe out smoking in a generation.

Data released on Thursday showed the number of people smoking daily had fallen to 8%, the lowest rates since records began, and down from 9.4% last year.

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Anthony Albanese seeks ways to boost Australia’s defence capability as G20 ends

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Flurry of face-to-face talks with the leaders of US, UK and France could lead to more deals for military equipment

Anthony Albanese has confirmed he canvassed interim solutions to boost Australia’s defence capability with Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron in a flurry of private meetings on the sidelines of the G20 and East Asia summits.

After meeting the French president in Bali on Wednesday, Australia’s prime minister flagged he was actively pursuing closer defence and security cooperation with Macron, given France is a significant Pacific and Indian ocean power.

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Xi Jinping’s cordial tone at G20 does not herald softer foreign policy

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Apparent rapprochement with western leaders does not mean China is about to ditch its ‘wolf-warrior’ diplomacy

Fresh from consolidating power with a third term at home, Xi Jinping struck a largely cordial tone at the G20 summit in Indonesia, but don’t expect a change in China’s often aggressive “wolf-warrior” diplomacy.

While laying down a hard line on Taiwan, the Chinese president’s three-hour meeting with Joe Biden was described by the US president as “candid and clear” on subjects ranging from Taiwan to trade. After China accused the US of breaching the “One China” policy in its pledge to protect Taiwan, Biden reassured Xi that the US remained committed to the policy and “a new cold war” could be avoided.

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‘China can play mediating role’: Macron to visit Xi Jinping over war in Ukraine

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French president believes China can help push Russia to de-escalate Ukraine war

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said he intends to visit Beijing in the new year and believes his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, can play a mediating role that prevents a resumption of large-scale land fighting in Ukraine in February.

Speaking at the close of the G20 in Bali, a summit dominated by the Russian attack on Ukraine and its implications for the world economy, he said he believed China could take a mediating role in the conflict.

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Xi angrily rebukes Trudeau over ‘leaks’ to media about Canada-China relations

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Chinese president’s testy remarks about briefings on earlier conversation captured by media pool at G20 summit in Indonesia

Xi Jinping has angrily rebuked Justin Trudeau after Canadian officials shared details of a previous meeting, highlighting the frosty relationship between the two leaders.

In a clip recorded by the media pool at the G20 summit in Indonesia, a visibly frustrated Xi pulls the Canadian prime minister aside and says it was “not appropriate” for details about a previous conversation between the two leaders to have been shared with media, suggesting Trudeau lacked “sincerity” in his approach.

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South Korea cuts funding to broadcaster as concern over press freedom grows

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TBS set to have most of its funding cut starting in 2024 after a decision by Seoul city government, led by president Yoon’s party

A popular South Korean broadcaster accused of political bias is set to lose its city funding amid concern press freedoms are being restricted under the Yoon Suk-yeol government.

TBS, which operates two radio stations and a television channel, receives 70% of its funding from the Seoul city government.

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Trudeau raises ‘serious concerns’ about Chinese interference in talks with Xi

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Canadian prime minister met China’s president at G20 summit in Bali amid tensions over aggressive interventions by Beijing

Justin Trudeau has raised “serious concerns” over suspected domestic interference by China in his first talks with President Xi Jinping in more than three years, amid growing frustration over increasingly aggressive interventions by Beijing.

Trudeau discussed his concerns about Chinese “interference activities” in Canada on the sidelines of a Group of 20 meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali, a government source told AFP.

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G20’s dysfunctional family show little sign of working together in a crisis

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Communique unlikely to stretch beyond usual platitudes despite the need for a global plan for recovery

The Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen, was struck down by Covid, the Argentinian prime minister, Alberto Fernández, had gastroenteritis and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, either did or did not have chest pains that sent him to hospital. Given that Indonesia’s G20 slogan plastered all around Bali says: “Recover Together, Recover Stronger”, it was not an auspicious performance by the world’s leaders.

Unfortunately, there is precious little sign of recovery at the G20, either at a political or economic level.

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Chaotic scenes in southern Chinese city as Covid curbs fuel unrest

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People break barriers and argue with workers in hazmat suits in Guangzhou amid zero-Covid policy

Crowds of people in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou crashed through Covid barriers and marched down streets in chaotic scenes on Monday night, according to videos posted online, in a show of public resentment over government restrictions.

Among the latest outbreaks in China, Guangzhou has the biggest caseload, with new daily infections of Covid-19 exceeding 5,000 for the first time and fuelling speculation that localised lockdowns could widen.

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Rishi Sunak calls China ‘systemic challenge’, in sign of softer UK stance

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PM’s remarks at G20 summit suggest shift away from Liz Truss pledge to redesignate Beijing as a ‘threat’

Rishi Sunak has rowed back from officially recategorising China as a “threat”, saying he views the country as a “systemic challenge”, despite concerted pressure from Conservative MPs.

The prime minister’s remarks are likely to draw ire from the large group of China sceptics on the Conservative backbenches, including former leader Iain Duncan Smith and others such as Alicia Kearns, who chairs the foreign affairs select committee.

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Biden says unclear if China can stop another North Korea nuclear test

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US president says he told Xi Jinping that Beijing had an ‘obligation’ to tell Kim Jong-un to avoid a seventh test

Joe Biden has said he told Xi Jinping that China has an obligation to try to talk North Korea out of conducting a seventh nuclear test, although the US president said it was unclear whether Beijing had the ability to do so.

Biden met Xi for more than three hours on Monday, ahead of the G20 summit in Bali, their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took power. At a press conference after the meeting, Biden said he told Xi “that I thought they had an obligation to attempt to make it clear” to North Korea that it should not go ahead with a test.

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New Zealand ‘suitcase’ murders: suspect to be extradited from South Korea within 30 days

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Justice minister approves extradition of woman arrested on suspicion of the murder of two children whose bodies were found in suitcases in Auckland

A woman arrested in connection with the death of two children who were found dead in suitcases in Auckland will be extradited from South Korea within 30 days.

South Korean justice minister Han Dong-hoon issued the order on Monday for the extradition of the woman to New Zealand, the ministry said in a statement.

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Canada charges electric vehicle battery researcher with espionage for China

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Yuesheng Wang, a worker at Quebec’s power utility, is accused of sending trade secrets to China

Canada’s federal police have charged an electric vehicle battery researcher at Quebec’s power utility with espionage, alleging the worker was covertly sending trade secrets to China.

The arrest of Yuesheng Wang, 35, comes as Canada grapples with a barrage of accusations of Chinese interference, including allegations of meddling in its federal elections, as well as reports of secret “police stations” in the country’s largest city.

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