Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Ambassador barred from Beijing spy trial of Australian journalist Cheng Lei

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Canberra protests as court verdict deferred after closed-door, one-day trial

A Chinese court has deferred its verdict after the closed-door national security trial of the Australian journalist Cheng Lei lasted less than a day.

Foreign journalists and diplomats, including Australia’s ambassador, were denied entry to the courtroom on Thursday as Cheng, a former anchor for the Chinese state TV broadcaster CGTN, faced trial on charges of “illegally supplying state secrets overseas”.

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Close ties allow Russian propaganda to spread swiftly through China, report claims

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A cyber monitoring group says Chinese sources are amplifying disinformation about Ukrainian ‘nazism’

Close ties between Russian and Chinese state media along with strict government control of information have allowed Russian propaganda to spread swiftly throughout China, “nazifying” Ukraine in the eyes of some Chinese citizens and fostering pro-Russian sentiment, a new report has claimed.

Taiwan-based cyber monitoring group, Doublethink Labs, tracked state and social media from mid-February until late March. It said Chinese sources were amplifying Russian disinformation about Ukraine and linking Ukrainian nazism to the Hong Kong protests to encourage solidarity between Russian and Chinese people against “foreign forces interfering with internal affairs”.

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Security agreement with China ‘initialled’ by both countries, Solomon Islands says

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Pacific nation has batted away concerns from Australia, New Zealand and the US, saying its policy is ‘friends to all and enemies to none’

Solomon Islands has announced it is pushing ahead with a security agreement with China hours after a senior Australian defence force officer said the deal may force Canberra to change the way it conducts air and sea operations in the Pacific.

The Solomon Islands government said officials from both countries had on Thursday “initialled” elements of the proposed security agreement with China which would be signed at a later date.

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It may be too late to stop China-Solomon Islands treaty, former Australian intelligence chief says

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Coalition urged to refrain from megaphone diplomacy as it tries to persuade Honiara to change course

China’s proposed treaty with Solomon Islands is an “adverse development for Australia’s security” but it may be too late to stop the deal, a former senior Australian intelligence official has warned.

Richard Maude, head of the Office of National Assessments from 2013 to 2016 and an experienced former diplomat, urged the Morrison government not to engage in megaphone diplomacy as it tried to persuade Solomon Islands to change course.

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South Korea says it has successfully test-fired its first solid-fuel space rocket

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Test follows North Korea’s recent launch of a long-range missile amid speculation regime could soon conduct nuclear test

South Korea has said it has successfully test-fired a solid-fuel space rocket for the first time, as it attempts to ramp up its defences after North Korea’s recent launch of a long-range missile and amid speculation that the regime could soon conduct a nuclear test.

The South’s defence ministry said Wednesday’s launch, from a site 150km (93 miles) south-west of Seoul, was an “important milestone” in the country’s ability to monitor its neighbour, as it would allow it to eventually launch satellites to spy on the North.

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UK judges withdraw from Hong Kong’s court of final appeal

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Judges resign saying administration has ‘departed from values of political freedom and freedom of expression’

UK judges have withdrawn from Hong Kong’s court of final appeal, citing concerns that their continued participation would appear to endorse the current administration amid dwindling political liberties and freedom of expression in the Chinese territory.

Lord Reed, the president of the UK supreme court, the country’s highest court, said he and his colleague Lord Hodge had submitted their resignations as judges of the Hong Kong court of final appeal (HKCFA) with immediate effect.

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Man hanged in Singapore amid concern over surge of execution notices

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Families of those facing death sentence fear authorities are pushing ahead to free up space on death row

A 68-year-old man has been hanged for drug trafficking in Singapore in the first execution to be carried out in the city state in more than two years, as the UN rights office expressed concern over a “surge in execution notices”.

Abdul Kahar bin Othman was convicted on two charges of trafficking diamorphine in 2013. He was sentenced to death in 2015.

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‘Pick the shelves clean’: food shortage rap helps cut through gloom of Shanghai lockdown

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Residents in China’s largest city express growing frustration with Covid measures, as well as anger over food shortages

A rap about food shortages has become a hit in Shanghai, with the artists behind the song describing it as an attempt to “cheer up” tens of millions of residents locked down in China’s largest city amid a surging Covid outbreak and increasing restrictions.

The song, Grocery Shopping, laments empty shelves and fights in the supermarket aisles, and is set to footage of residents crowding around market stalls, or lining up for PCR tests.

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‘We have waited so long’: a cautious Tokyo celebrates cherry blossoms in shadow of Covid

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Rise in infections since quasi-emergency restrictions were lifted sparks concern that long-awaited hanami season could help fuel a resurgence

After two years of pandemic-related cancellations and restrictions, Japan is again observing the time-honoured ritual of hanami – cherry blossom viewing.

As the delicate pink flowers reached their peak, people who had previously avoided the crowds – or had their local viewing festivals called off – have turned out in large numbers to view Tokyo’s sakura petals.

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Cathay Pacific plans world’s longest passenger flight, avoiding Russia

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Airline could set distance record by rerouting its New York to Hong Kong service over the Atlantic instead of the Pacific, covering more than 16,600km

Cathay Pacific is planning the world’s longest passenger flight by rerouting its New York to Hong Kong service over the Atlantic instead of the Pacific, the airline has said, in a new path that steers clear of Russia.

The flight path will cover “just under 9,000 nautical miles” (16,668km, or 10,357 miles) in 16 to 17 hours, Cathay said in a statement to Agence France-Presse.

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Hong Kong hospitals will no longer separate Covid-infected children from parents

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U-turn comes after health policy caused outrage among families and campaigners in city

Hong Kong hospital authorities have made a U-turn to allow parents of Covid-positive children to accompany them in paediatric wards, regardless of their own Covid status, as the city’s “fifth wave” of the virus eases.

Many toddlers were hospitalised during the Omicron-fuelled outbreak, which peaked this month, government data showed. But until recent days, only parents who also tested positive were allowed to remain in the same ward as their children.

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Singapore appeal court upholds death sentence for intellectually disabled man

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Outcry over drug smuggling case of Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, who has IQ of 69 and could be executed in days

A man with learning disabilities who has spent more than a decade on death row could face execution within days after Singapore’s top court dismissed his last-ditch appeal, in a case that has drawn global condemnation.

Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, a Malaysian national, was arrested in 2009 for attempting to smuggle 43g of heroin – about three tablespoons – into Singapore.

Nagaenthran, who was 21 at the time of his arrest, has said he was coerced into carrying the package, which was strapped to his thigh, and did not know its contents at the time.

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Redspice: budget ushers in Australia’s ‘biggest ever’ cybersecurity spend

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Pledge of $10bn will see electronic spy agency ASD double and ramp up ability to launch offensive cyber operations

Australia’s electronic spy agency will double in size and ramp up its ability to launch its own offensive cyber operations as part of a $10bn national security budget pledge curiously dubbed Redspice.

But the funding is spread over 10 years and only $4.2bn will be spent in the first four-year budget cycle. Given the government is partly offsetting the package with savings from other parts of the defence portfolio, the cyber pledge is worth only $588.7m in new money in the first four years.

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Solomon Islands prime minister says foreign criticism of China security deal ‘very insulting’

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Manasseh Sogavare says it is ‘utter nonsense’ that China’s presence is a threat to regional stability

Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has dismissed foreign criticism of the country’s security negotiations with China as “insulting” and called those who leaked the draft agreement “lunatics”, in his first comments to parliament on the proposed treaty.

“We find it very insulting, Mr Speaker, to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs,” Sogavare said on Tuesday.

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Australia’s lost influence in Pacific on display in Solomon Islands-China deal, Anthony Albanese says

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Labor leader says inaction on climate change and cuts to foreign aid have broken trust, forcing Pacific nations to turn elsewhere

Australia has lost influence in the Pacific by failing to act on climate and cutting foreign aid, Anthony Albanese says, amid concerns about China’s proposed security deal with Solomon Islands.

Australia and New Zealand are worried the draft agreement could jeopardise regional stability, with China having the opportunity to base navy warships in the Pacific less than 2,000km off the Australian coast.

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Shanghai begins locking down millions as China’s Covid cases surge

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China will shut down city in two stages as it sticks to a ‘zero-Covid’ strategy amid growing outbreaks

Shanghai has begun its phased lockdown as an Omicron-fuelled Covid-19 wave spreads through mainland China’s most significant financial hub, resulting in the highest caseloads in the country since the early days of the pandemic.

The eastern side of the Huangpu River, which divides Shanghai, would be under lockdown between Monday and Friday, officials said, followed by similar restrictions across its western side from 1 April. Massing Covid testing across the city is also under way.

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‘A striking work of nature’: the search for a rare flower in the Philippines jungle

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Chris Thorogood had to venture deep into the Luzon rainforest to set eyes on the extraordinary Rafflesia banaoana

It was after travelling 6,600 miles and battling through the tropical assault course of the Luzon rainforest that Chris Thorogood set his eyes upon the rare and extraordinary flower that ignited his childhood imagination 30 years ago.

Thorogood, 38, last month became the first westerner to see the Rafflesia banaoana – an otherworldly-looking red spotted species that spans half a metre across – in an experience that reduced him to tears.

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North Korea may be preparing for nuclear test soon – report

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‘Shortcut’ tunnel at Punggye-ri nuclear testing centre could see it operational within a month, sources tell South Korean news agency

North Korea may be making rapid preparations to carry out a nuclear weapons test for the first time in more than four years, according to a South Korean media report.

The Yonhap news agency, quoting government sources, said North Korea appeared to be digging a “shortcut” to Tunnel 3 at its previously closed nuclear test site in Punggye-ri.

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China Eastern plane crash: both black boxes found, all 132 on board dead

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Searchers find flight data recorder buried 1.5 metres underground by impact, after earlier recovering cockpit voice recorder

Both flight recorders or “black boxes” have been recovered from the crash of a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 that killed all 132 people on board, Chinese state media has said.

Searchers found the second box, the flight data recorder, on a mountain slope, buried about 1.5 metres underground by the impact, the state broadcaster CCTV said. The impact of the crash scattered debris widely and created a 20-metre deep pit in the side of the mountain.

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Shanghai rules out full lockdown despite sharp rise in Covid cases

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Concern about economy leads city to try targeted approach with rolling restrictions of individual neighbourhoods

Shanghai has recorded a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, but officials have ruled out a full lockdown over the damage it would do to the economy.

Millions of Chinese in affected areas have been subjected to city-wide lockdowns by an Omicron-led outbreak that has sent daily case counts creeping ever-higher, though they remain insignificant compared with other countries.

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