Category Archives: Asia Pacific

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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Canada and China prepare to open Cop15 biodiversity summit despite rifts

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Ministers and experts say disputes between co-hosts unlikely to disrupt efforts to reach deal on protecting natural world

More than 10,000 scientists, government officials and activists will gather in Montreal this week for the world’s most important biodiversity conference, eager to hammer out a deal to stem habitat loss around the world and preserve sensitive ecosystems.

The UN Cop15 biodiversity summit opens on Tuesday, and will see countries negotiate this decade’s targets for protecting nature after more than two years of pandemic-related delays and just over two weeks since the end of the Cop27 climate meeting in Egypt.

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Fears of deadly infection surge as China abandons zero-Covid policy

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Dramatic U-turn following widespread unrest leaves country ill-prepared for Omicron

The portable PCR testing booth dangled in the air over a dark Beijing street, captured on camera as it was winched away by a crane in the middle of the night. The image spread rapidly across Chinese social media, the perfect symbol of the bewilderingly rapid end of a draconian era.

In the face of the most widespread national protests since the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square demonstrators in 1989, the Chinese government has abruptly abandoned its flagship zero-Covid policy.

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Indonesian island of Java hit by earthquake of at least 5.7 magnitude

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No immediate reports of casualties or major damage after tremor shakes town of Cianjur that was devastated last month

A 5.7-magnitude earthquake has hit Indonesia’s main island of Java, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, shaking the same town devastated by another quake last month that left more than 330 people dead.

The quake struck on land at a depth of 112km (70 miles) and the epicentre was located 18km south-east of city of Banjar, according to the USGS. There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.

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Zero-Covid policy is costing China its role as the world’s workshop

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Beijing’s endless lockdowns are causing shortages for western firms such as Apple, and it may not be long before they move their supply chains elsewhere

The anti-lockdown unrest gripping China has forced the authorities in Beijing to respond by easing some restrictions in big manufacturing centres, as they map out a “new stage and mission” in the country’s deeply unpopular zero-Covid policy.

There are concerns that more freedom of movement could allow the virus to rip through a population where immunity is lower than in the west. Those health risks mean the “world’s workshop” is heading for a difficult winter, casting a shadow over the prospects for international trade.

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China’s easing of Covid curbs does not solve Xi Jinping’s dilemma

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Loosening controls further could spark a devastating outbreak, but tightening the rules again could trigger unrest

At the end of October, Xi Jinping had secured his position as China’s most powerful leader in decades, his grip on the country cemented by a norm-breaking third term in office.

At the end of November, he faced the most widespread protests China had seen in decades, mostly focused on Covid restrictions but also featuring unprecedented calls for Xi to step down.

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China continues lifting Covid restrictions despite near-record case numbers

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Testing booths removed in Beijing as cities across China ease commuter rules following unprecedented protests

Covid-19 testing booths were removed in Beijing on Friday, while Shenzhen followed other cities in announcing it would no longer require commuters to present their test results to travel, as an easing of Covid restrictions in China gathered pace.

As daily cases hovered near all-time highs, some cities took steps to loosen coronavirus testing requirements and quarantine rules as China looks to make its zero-Covid policy more targeted amid an economic slowdown and public frustration that has boiled over into unrest.

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Vaccines are key to China’s zero-Covid exit but scepticism poses challenge

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Backing down from existing policies remains a political problem of the first order

China’s government looks to be starting to roll back its zero-Covid policy. But after three years of saying the resource-intensive, economically damaging elimination strategy is the only way to go, experts say it will be a medical and political challenge to end it.

Much of China’s exit strategy is riding on vaccinations, but this is where Beijing has great challenges. China’s elderly population is disproportionately unvaccinated, leaving tens of millions of vulnerable people at far greater risk from the ravages of Covid-19. About 90% of China’s population is vaccinated, but among those over 60 only about 69% have had at least three doses. Above 80 years of age, the figure drops to about 40%.

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Families sue Indonesian government after 199 deaths from syrup medicines

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Since August, 199 people have died of acute kidney injury, prompting an inquiry and ban on some medicines

A dozen families, whose relatives died or fell ill after consuming cough syrup medicines, have sued the Indonesian government and companies accused of supplying the products.

At least 199 people, many of them young children, have died as a result of acute kidney injury since August, prompting the government to ban some syrup medicines and launch an investigation.

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Hundreds of Indonesian fruit pickers in UK seek diplomatic help

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Exclusive: More than 200 people have approached Indonesian embassy since July to report difficulties faced

More than 200 Indonesian fruit pickers have sought diplomatic help since July after facing difficulties working in Britain this season, the nation’s embassy has revealed.

The Guardian has spoken to a pair of workers sent to a farm in Scotland that supplies berries to M&S, Waitrose, Tesco and Lidl. They claim pickers were sent back to the caravan if they could not work fast enough and left with large debts to repay.

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Winnie the Pooh joins Chinese Covid lockdown protests

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Disney merchandise shows frowning bear looking at blank sheet of paper – a symbol of opposition to censorship

Years after he became character non grata in China, Winnie the Pooh is exacting quiet revenge against the country’s government in the form of Disney souvenirs.

In what appears to be a case of incidental resistance, Disney stores in Japan are selling a line of merchandise featuring a frowning Pooh looking at a blank sheet of white paper – a symbol of ongoing protests in China against censorship and Covid-19 restrictions.

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Indonesia set to make sex outside marriage punishable by jail

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MPs expected to pass new criminal code that will also make insulting the president a crime

Indonesia’s parliament is expected to pass a new criminal code this month that would criminalise sex outside marriage and outlaw insults against the president or state institutions, prompting alarm from human rights campaigners.

The deputy justice minister, Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej, said in an interview with Reuters that the new criminal code was expected to be passed on 15 December. “We’re proud to have a criminal code that’s in line with Indonesian values,” he said.

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China brings in ‘emergency’ level censorship over zero-Covid protests

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Crackdown launched on virtual private networks, which protesters and other citizens had used to access banned non-Chinese news and social media apps

Chinese authorities have initiated the highest “emergency response” level of censorship, according to leaked directives, including a crackdown on VPNs and other methods of bypassing online censorship after unprecedented protests demonstrated widespread public frustration with the zero-Covid policy.

The crackdown, including the tracking and questioning of protesters, comes alongside easing of pandemic restrictions, in an apparent carrot and stick approach to an outpouring of public grievances. During an extraordinary week in China, protests against zero-Covid restrictions included criticism of the authoritarian rule of Xi Jinping – which was further highlighted by the death of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin.

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