Category Archives: Asia Pacific

China collecting DNA samples from across Tibet, says rights group

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Human Rights Watch claims new evidence of a systemic DNA collection drive across Tibet as part of a ‘crime detection’ program

Chinese authorities have been gathering DNA samples across Tibet, including from kindergarten children without the apparent consent of their parents, Human Rights Watch has said.

In a new report released on Monday, the rights organisation claimed new evidence showing a systematic DNA collection drive for entire populations across Tibet as part of a “crime detection” drive.

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The ‘egregious’ history of likely new Nauru operator includes allegations of gang rape and murder in its US prisons

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A Guardian investigation reveals the firm has been accused of ‘gross negligence’ that allegedly led to gang rape, murder and mistaken solitary confinement in its US facilities

The US private prisons operator likely to take over Australia’s offshore processing regime on Nauru has previously been accused of “gross negligence” and “egregious” security failures that allegedly led to the gang-rape of a woman in detention, the murder of two retirees by escaped prisoners, and the months-long solitary confinement of a US citizen wrongfully held in immigration detention.

The Department of Home Affairs is finalising negotiations with the US-based Management and Training Corporation, which the department has announced as its preferred tenderer to provide “facilities, garrison, transferee arrivals and reception services” for Australia’s offshore regime on Nauru from next month. No contracts have yet been signed.

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US announces $1.1bn arms sale to Taiwan, angering China

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Boost to Taiwanese air defences forms biggest part of deal amid heightened tensions after Beijing’s enhanced military drills around island

The Biden administration has announced a $1.1bn arms sale to Taiwan as US-China tensions escalate over its status.

The sale included $355m for Harpoon air-to-sea missiles and $85m for Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, the state department said.

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New Zealand’s shadow foreign affairs spokesperson faces criticism for response to UN report on Uyghurs

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Gerry Brownlee says report on human rights violations in Xinjiang recognises China is ‘dealing with a terrorist problem’

New Zealand’s shadow foreign affairs spokesperson said a UN report on the human rights abuses of Uyghurs includes recognition that China is “dealing with a terrorist problem essentially”, in remarks criticised by China analysts.

“It’s good that it acknowledges that there has been a terrorism problem in the particular part of China that the report is on,” Gerry Brownlee, a lawmaker for the centre-right National party, told Radio New Zealand (RNZ) on Thursday in an interview about the UN findings.

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Weather tracker: South Korea and Japan brace for typhoon Hinnamnor

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Strongest tropical storm of the year also forecast to hit China’s mainland this weekend after winds reach 160mph

Destruction is imminent across southern Japan and South Korea as super typhoon Hinnamnor barrels northwards through the East China Sea this weekend.

The typhoon is so far the strongest tropical storm of the 2022 hurricane season and developed gradually this week out in the Pacific, edging towards the Philippines and Taiwan. By Thursday, maximum sustained winds had reached 160mph, leading to classification as a category 5 tropical cyclone, or a super typhoon.

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Taiwan tycoon to fund 3.3 million-strong army of ‘civilian warriors’ to defend against invasion

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Robert Tsao, a microchip entrepreneur, pledges $32m to train and equip civil defence force to combat threat of Chinese attack

A Taiwanese tycoon has announced his plan to train 3.3 million “civilian warriors” and marksmen to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion, using one billion Taiwan dollars ($32m) of his own money.

The announcement by Robert Tsao, a well-known Taiwanese businessman and founder of United Microelectronics Corp, a major microchip producer, comes amid increasing military activity between Taiwan and China. On Thursday Taiwan’s defence ministry announced its soldiers had shot down a Chinese drone over Taiwan’s Kinmen islands.

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Papua New Guinea PM takes out advert urging journalists to stop calling him direct

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Notice in two major newspapers asks reporters to use ministerial emails instead of contacting James Marape

The Papua New Guinean prime minister’s office has taken out a full page advertisement in the country’s two major newspapers urging journalists to stop calling and texting him directly.

“This circular is to advise all members of the media fraternity, both national and international, that the Prime Minister Hon. James Marape MP will no longer accept direct press enquiries from the date of this correspondence onwards,” said the public notice published in the Post Courier and the National on Friday.

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Japan’s hottest city to give out umbrellas to protect children from sun

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After an increase in the number of days when the mercury rose to at least 35C, 9,000 yellow fibreglass umbrellas will be handed out to children in Kumagaya

Children living in Japan’s hottest city will be given specially designed umbrellas to protect them from the heat, after a summer that saw record-breaking temperatures in many parts of the country.

Local authorities in Kumagaya in Saitama prefecture have devised an umbrella that keeps out the rain and doubles as a parasol, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.

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Lawyer criticises UN report’s failure to call Uyghur oppression ‘genocide’

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Sir Geoffrey Nice QC says outgoing human rights chief’s report on China makes it easier for international community to do nothing

The UN’s failure to mention the word genocide in its report alleging serious human rights violations by China against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province is an “astonishing” lapse, according to a leading British human rights lawyer.

The 45-page report from the outgoing UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, landed minutes before her term ended on Wednesday, outlining allegations of torture, including forced medical procedures, as well as sexual violence against Uyghur Muslims.

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Chengdu locks down 21 million people in fresh Covid outbreak

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Authorities impose sweeping restrictions as China holds fast to zero-Covid policy

About 21 million people in the Chinese city of Chengdu have gone into lockdown as authorities raced to snuff out a new Covid-19 outbreak.

China is the last major economy wedded to a zero-Covid policy, stamping out virus flare-ups with snap shutdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines.

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Five key points from the UN report on Xinjiang human rights abuses

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Damning report cites human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims in north-west Chinese province

China has committed “serious human rights violations” against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province which may amount to crimes against humanity, the outgoing UN human rights commissioner has said in a long-awaited and damning report.

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Rights groups call for inquiries into Uyghur abuses in China after damning UN report

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Governments urged to launch formal investigations after UN findings on treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang

Governments around the world should establish formal independent investigations into human rights abuses in Xinjiang, victims and human rights groups have said, after the 11th-hour release of a long-awaited UN report.

The report by the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) was published minutes before Michelle Bachelet ended her tenure.

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Wife of Malaysia’s jailed ex-PM handed 10 years in prison for bribery

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Rosmah Mansor convicted of receiving over £1m to help a firm get a schools business contract

The wife of the former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for soliciting and receiving bribes in exchange for government contracts, one week after her husband was sent to prison for corruption linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.

Rosmah Mansor, 70, had pleaded not guilty to three charges of soliciting bribes and receiving 6.5m ringgit (£1.3m) in exchange for helping a company secure a contract to provide solar power to schools.

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Taiwan shoots down drone off Chinese coast for first time

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Action near islet comes after Taipei vowed to take tough measures to deal with increase in such intrusions

Taiwan’s military has shot down for the first time an unidentified civilian drone that entered its airspace near an islet off the Chinese coast, after the government vowed to take tough measures to deal with an increase in such intrusions.

Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own against the objections of the Taipei government, has held military exercises around the island since early last month in reaction to a visit to Taipei by the US House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

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US blocks sales of some AI chips to China as tech crackdown intensifies

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Ban on Nvidia and AMD sales marks a major escalation of US efforts to restrict China’s military technology capabilities as tensions bubble over Taiwan

Chip designer Nvidia said that US officials told it to stop exporting two top computing chips for artificial intelligence work to China, a move that could cripple Chinese firms’ ability to carry out advanced work like image recognition.

The company on Wednesday said the ban, which affects its A100 and H100 chips designed to speed up machine learning tasks, could interfere with completion of developing the H100, the flagship chip Nvidia announced this year.

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Suez Canal briefly blocked again after another ship, Affinity V, becomes stuck

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Tanker blocked canal for hours, close to where Ever Given container ship became stuck, disrupting supply chains for a week

A tanker getting stuck used to be more the domain of niche business news, but that was before the Ever Given, so all eyes were soon on the Affinity V tanker’s plight in the Suez Canal.

On Wednesday, the 250-metre long Affinity V tanker was bound for Saudi Arabia when it ran aground close to the same spot in the narrow southern section of the canal in Egypt where the Ever Given container ship caused a week-long halt to traffic in March 2021, dominating global headlines and paralysing supply chains.

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South Korea considers survey on boyband BTS members’ military service

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K-pop band’s oldest member, Jin, faces enlistment in December when he turns 30

South Korea may conduct a public survey to help determine whether to grant exemption to the mandatory military service to members of the K-pop boy band BTS.

The question of active military service for the band’s seven members has been a hot-button topic in South Korea as its oldest member, Jin, faces his enlistment in December, when he turns 30.

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Japan’s PM cuts ties to Unification church after Shinzo Abe death

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The church had built close ties with Fumio Kishida’s ruling party and a host of conservative lawmakers

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has announced that his ruling party will cut ties with the Unification church after a widening scandal caused by the assassination of the party’s former leader Shinzo Abe last month. Kishida also apologised for causing the loss of public trust in politics.

Cozy ties between members of Kishida’s governing Liberal Democratic party, many of them belonging to Abe’s faction, and the South Korean-born church have surfaced since Abe was shot to death while giving a campaign speech in July.

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Xi Jinping poised to further consolidate power at party congress

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Analysts say announcement of a date for gathering suggests any in-party disputes have been reined in

The announcement of a Communist party meeting that is expected to cement Xi Jinping’s agenda for the coming years shows the strength of Xi’s “ultimate authority”, analysts have said.

The CCP’s twice-a-decade meeting will begin on 16 October and is likely to run for several days. Xi, considered the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, is expected to further consolidate his political power, which he has wielded with increasing authoritarianism since taking charge of the party in late 2012.

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Papua New Guinea hopes to have Australia security deal signed by end of year

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Country’s foreign minister says China’s interest in the Pacific required a ‘strengthened’ PNG-Australia treaty

Papua New Guinea hopes to sign a security deal with Australia, as well as possibly New Zealand and the US, by the end of the year, the country’s foreign minister Justin Tkatchenko has said.

Tkatchenko said the security treaty with Australia has been in the works since 2019, but that the recent security deal struck between China and Solomon Islands would require Australia and Papua New Guinea to strengthen the treaty.

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