Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Former New Zealand PM John Key says he would have voted for Trump and Bolsonaro

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Influential National party figure said he had never voted ‘anything other than right’, but that some on the right were ‘getting pretty crazy’

Former New Zealand prime minister Sir John Key has suggested he would have voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 US election, and far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s 2022 elections, had he been eligible to do so.

Key, who served three terms as prime minister from 2008 to 2016, revealed his preferences in a quick-fire round of 20 questions that featured at the end of a new online series called Both Sides Now, hosted by members of the Labour and National youth wings.

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Taiwan opens borders to tourists as restrictions eased after 2.5 years

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Entry rules to island lifted to allow unfettered access, while mainland China remains one of the few places keeping borders closed

Taiwan lifted all its Covid-19 entry restrictions on Thursday, allowing tourists unfettered access the self-ruled island after more than 2.5 years of border controls.

Hong Kong and Taiwan, together with mainland China, required most visitors to complete a mandatory quarantine period throughout the pandemic, even as most countries reopened their borders to tourists.

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Graphic film of Bali bombings at Kuta memorial ‘ripped our hearts apart’, son of terror victim says

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Australian government says it will formally register concern over gruesome film shown to hundreds at ceremony in Indonesia

A graphic, gruesome film screened at Kuta’s ground zero monument marking the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings has upset and angered some friends and relatives of the dead.

The Australian government said on Thursday it would formally register its concerns with Indonesian authorities over the event.

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US will soon need to deter two major nuclear powers for first time, White House says

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New national security strategy warns of Russia as more immediate threat and China as long-term competitor

Within a decade, the US will need to deter two major nuclear weapons powers for the first time, the Biden administration has warned, pointing to the Russian arsenal that is increasingly being brandished by Moscow and an expanding Chinese stockpile.

The president’s new national security strategy (NSS) depicts China as the most capable long-term competitor, but Russia as the more immediate, disruptive threat, pointing to its nuclear posturing over Ukraine. It warns that threat could grow as Russian forces continue to suffer defeats on the battlefield.

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Shanghai says water supplies ‘normal’ after shortage scare sparks hoarding

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People rush to stockpile bottled water amid emergency measures at reservoirs after record drought

A wave of panic buying has swept Shanghai in recent days, as rumours swirled of drinking water shortages despite assurances from local authorities that supplies remained normal.

Record-breaking droughts in China dried up parts of the Yangtze River, and prompted saltwater intrusions into the estuary and depleted reservoirs feeding Shanghai, which sits at the mouth of the crucial river. Caixin media reported on Tuesday that Shanghai authorities had taken emergency measures to secure water supply after the intrusions contaminated two of Shanghai’s four primary reservoirs and forced their temporary closure.

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First Solomon Islands police head to China for training amid deepening security ties

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Thirty-four officers travel to China as part of effort to improve cooperation between the two forces

A delegation of more than 30 Solomon Islands police officers has travelled to China to undergo training for the first time, in a sign of deepening ties between the two countries, which signed a controversial security deal earlier this year.

The group of 34 officers, including a deputy and an assistant commissioner, will be in China for a month, during which time they will receive training, visit police stations and departments and learn from the expertise of Chinese police, according to a statement issued by Solomon Islands government.

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Mahathir Mohamad: 97-year-old Malaysian former leader to run for parliament

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Despite his age and a health scare this year, Mahathir will defend his parliamentary seat in upcoming elections

Malaysia’s 97-year-old former leader Mahathir Mohamad has announced he will defend his seat in the general elections expected next month, though he wouldn’t say whether he would be prime minister a third time if his political alliance wins.

“We have not decided who will be prime minister because the prime minister candidate is only relevant if we win,” Mahathir told a news conference on Tuesday.

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Families mourn victims of Thailand mass shootings and stabbings

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Mourners attend cremation ceremonies after policeman kills 36 people, 24 of them children

Hundreds of mourners and victims’ families have gathered to watch flames burn from rows of makeshift furnaces at cremation ceremonies for the young children and others who died in last week’s mass killings in Thailand’s rural northeast.

Families bid their final goodbyes at a Buddhist temple a short distance from the Young Children’s Development Centre in the town of Uthai Sawan, where a former policeman, who was fired from his job earlier this year for using drugs, barged in and shot and stabbed children and their caregivers.

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Indonesian football fans set aside fierce rivalries after stadium disaster

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After 131 lives were lost at a match, supporters have come together to offer support and seek answers

In Indonesia, football fan culture is vibrant, and its rivalries intense. Animosity between opposing teams is so strong that away fans are generally banned from attending games, as was the case at the time of the Kanjuruhan stadium disaster, when only home Arema supporters were allowed tickets.

Rivalries have descended into violence in the past. Before the Kanjuruhan disaster, 78 people had died in football-related accidents over the last 28 years, according to government figures. It is common for away players to be escorted to and from matches by armoured vehicles.

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Japan opens borders to tourists as last pandemic travel restrictions eased

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Japan removes strict Covid-19 travel curbs, fuelling hopes a tourist boom will reinvigorate the economy

Japan has fully opened its doors to visitors after more than two years of pandemic isolation.

On Tuesday, the country reinstated visa-free travel to dozens of countries, ending some of world’s strictest Covid-19 border controls. Japan has also lifted the 50,000-person entry cap and ended the requirement for tourists to travel as part of tour groups, Kyodo news agency reported.

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Malaysian PM dissolves parliament and calls early election amid political strife

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Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who becomes shortest serving PM in Malaysian history, hopes to win stronger mandate for party

Malaysia’s prime minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, has called for an early election, hoping to win a stronger mandate for his party and stabilise the rocky political landscape that has plagued the country over the last four years.

The ruling party’s rush for an election comes as the economy, still recovering from the Covid pandemic, has begun to feel the pinch of rising costs and a global slowdown.

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Second mass stranding means 500 pilot whales likely to die on remote New Zealand islands

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About 250 whales beached on remote Chatham Islands just days after another stranding involving similar number of mammals

Hundreds of pilot whales have stranded on New Zealand’s remote Chatham Islands just days after a nearby beaching resulted in 250 mammals dying or being euthanised.

About 250 whales came ashore at Pitt Island/Rangiauria in the second stranding, taking the total number of whales stranded on the Chatham Islands to around 500, the general manager of Project Jonah, Daren Grover, said on Monday. The project runs a stranding hotline and mobilises marine rescues.

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Taiwan’s president calls for unity against Chinese disinformation before elections

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Tsai Ing-wen compares China’s ‘bullying’ to Russian invasion of Ukraine on de facto national day

Taiwan’s president has called for domestic political unity to combat Chinese disinformation and cyberwarfare destabilising society before next month’s local elections.

Addressing crowds at Taiwan’s de facto National Day on Monday, Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan had to increase its resilience and international standing in the face of China’s growing authoritarianism. She warned Beijing that Taiwan would not give up its democracy or sovereignty, but she remained willing to restart communications – which China cut off after her election in 2016.

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Thai PM announces crackdown on drugs in wake of nursery attack

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Attack that left 37 dead was carried out by former police officer dismissed from the force for methamphetamine possession

The Thai prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, has ordered a clampdown on drugs, including an emphasis on rehabilitation, following the mass shooting and stabbing at a nursery in north-eastern Thailand that left 37 people dead, mostly young children.

The unprecedented attack has shaken Thailand, where mass killings are rare, and prompted calls for a tougher stance on drugs. It was carried out by a former police officer, identified by police as Panya Khamrab, who had been dismissed from the force for methamphetamine possession.

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‘A shift in political thinking’: many of New Zealand’s cities lurch right in local elections

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Experts say the progressive vote is disillusioned with incremental changes brought in by Ardern Labour government

Late in the campaign period of Auckland’s mayoral election came a spate of strange, oddly specific, billboard vandalism. As the race in New Zealand’s most populous city wound to its conclusion, boardings for Efeso Collins, an independent progressive candidate and mayoral frontrunner, were plasteredwith red “Labour” party logos.

Compared with the moustaches and monobrows that typically bedeck election billboards, it seemed an innocuous choice for vandals. But Collins’ campaign said it was an act of politicised sabotage. “None of our allies or volunteers have been doing it,” a spokesperson told The Spinoff. “We believe it’s an attack tactic.”

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North Korea says missile tests simulated striking South with tactical nuclear weapons

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Kim Jong-un said his forces were “completely ready to hit and destroy targets at any time from any location”

North Korea’s recent flurry of missile tests demonstrated its ability to carry out strikes with tactical nuclear weapons, its leader, Kim Jong-un, has said, adding that his forces were “completely ready to hit and destroy targets at any time from any location”.

Kim, who last month said the North’s transformation into a nuclear power was “irreversible,” said the drills were “an obvious warning and clear demonstration” to the country’s enemies.

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CNN ‘deeply regrets’ distress caused by report on Thailand nursery killings

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News broadcaster’s footage of building’s blood-stained floor sparked police investigation

CNN has said it deeply regrets any distress caused by its report on the nursery killings in north-east Thailand, after its footage of the building’s blood-stained floor sparked a police investigation and a debate over how the media should cover such tragedies.

The US network’s report, which has since been pulled, was condemned by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand and the Thai Journalists Association, while police launched an inquiry over allegations the crew entered the crime scene without authorisation.

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Taiwan’s citizen warriors prepare to confront looming threat from China

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Businessman Robert Tsao bankrolls a people’s militia on the island – inspired by the example of Ukraine – to defend against invasion

On a sleepy Sunday morning 50 anonymous young men and women have wandered into a nondescript Taipei office for training with Kuma Academy. The one-day course includes cross-strait geopolitics and strategy, invasion scenarios, and disinformation. Later, they’re taught the difference between the opposing armies’ uniforms, and how to tie a tourniquet.

The citizen warriors are being trained with a 1bn Taiwan dollar (£28m) donation from businessman Robert Tsao. He made global headlines last month when he pledged the money to train “three million people in three years” and 300,000 sharpshooters for a civilian militia. The “warrior” training would be in conjunction with the academy, a volunteer civilian training organisation that launched in 2021.

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Indonesia stadium disaster: only four paramedics were on standby inside grounds

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Local health chief says match had been deemed ‘harmless’ because away fans had been banned to prevent violence

Only four paramedics were on standby inside the football stadium in Indonesia where 131 people were killed in a crowd crush, with a further 12 nearby, the head of the local public health office has said, promising a thorough evaluation of the response.

The match was not considered to be a high-risk event because only fans of Arema, the home side, were present, said Wiyanto Wijoyo, the head of Malang regency public health office. Supporters of the opposing team, Persebaya Surabaya, who won the match, had been banned as a precaution to prevent violence between rival fans.

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North Korea fires two more ballistic missiles after South Korea and US navy drills

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Tokyo says North Korea’s seventh round of weapons tests in two weeks may have been launched from submarine

North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters, the latest of its recent barrage of weapons tests, a day after Pyongyang warned the redeployment of a US aircraft carrier near the Korean peninsula was inflaming regional tensions.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement that it detected two missile launches between 1.48am and 1.58am on Sunday local time from the North’s eastern coastal city of Munchon. It added that South Korea’s military has boosted its surveillance posture and maintains a readiness in close coordination with the US.

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