Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Fearful of overwhelmed morgues and battling lockdown protests, New Zealand faces up to Covid peak

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The country that kept the virus out for so long is now coming to terms with endemic Covid

Fears of overwhelmed morgues, record Covid cases, anti-lockdown protests – the headlines this week in New Zealand might evoke deja-vu for anyone who lived through the pandemic in Europe, Asia or America.

New Zealand has recently generated a series of news stories that could have been a year-old dispatch from the opposite side of the globe. National radio announced that hospitals had been buying portable refrigerators to prepare for the possibility of growing Covid deaths. In the capital, Wellington, a crowd of thousands of “pro-freedom” anti-vaccination protesters gathered in front of parliament – one of the first organised, medium-scale expressions of dissatisfaction from a country that had held on to extraordinarily high levels of social support for its Covid response.

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Chinese Communist party elevates Xi’s status in ‘historical resolution’

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Analysts say move is designed to put president on same level as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping

Xi Jinping’s grip on power has received a big boost after the ruling Communist party (CCP) passed a rare “historical resolution” praising the president’s “decisive significance” in the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

It is only the third resolution of its kind in the party’s 100-year history. The two previous resolutions were passed under Mao Zedong, who led the Communists to power in 1949, and Deng Xiaoping, whose reforms in the 1980s turned China into an economic powerhouse.

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Joy, toys and bumper cars as Manila’s children reclaim the city

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Malls, restaurants and arcades in the Philippines capital are packed with children as Covid curbs ease

Ten-year-old Gabriel Estrella beams as he talks about T-shirts he bought on his first day out at a shopping mall after nearly two years of staying away due to coronavirus restrictions in the Philippines.

“Before the pandemic, buying T-shirts used to be boring,” he said, sweaty after playing with his eight-year-old sister. “Now, it’s exciting! I bought four shirts. They’re anime shirts.

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Xi Jinping warns against return to Asia-Pacific tensions of cold war era

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Chinese leader urges countries in region to work together amid growing pressure from US over Taiwan

Xi Jinping has warned against a return to cold war-era tensions in the Asia-Pacific, urging greater cooperation on pandemic recovery and the climate crisis.

Amid growing tensions with the US over Taiwan, the Chinese president said all countries in the region must work together on joint challenges.

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Taiwan hits back after Paul Keating says its status ‘not a vital Australian interest’

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China’s aggression destabilises the region and threatens democratic freedoms, Taipei says

Taiwan has hit back at the former Australian prime minister Paul Keating after he said Taiwan was “not a vital Australian interest” and labelled it a “civil matter” for China.

In an appearance at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Keating dismissed global concerns about China’s aggression towards Taiwan and criticised Australia’s growing bipartisan pushback.

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China and the US announce plan to work together on cutting emissions

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In a surprise press conference, the two superpowers promised to cooperate more and hoped for the success of Cop26

China and the US announced a surprise plan to work together on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the crucial next decade, in a strong boost to the Cop26 summit, as negotiators wrangled over a draft outcome.

The world’s two biggest emitters had been trading insults for the first week of the conference, but on Wednesday evening unveiled a joint declaration that would see the world’s two biggest economies cooperate closely on the emissions cuts scientists say are needed in the next 10 years to stay within 1.5C.

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‘See these glaciers, before they melt’: living on the frontline of global heating

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From extreme weather obliterating homes to rising sea levels ruining crops, climate breakdown is a terrifying daily reality for many

Throughout the 2021 United Nations climate change conference, the Guardian will be publishing the stories of the people whose lives have been upended – sometimes devastated – by the climate breakdown.

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Hong Kong prosecutors cite Dominic Raab comments in bid to deny bail for Apple Daily boss

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Prosecutors successfully claim criticism of Hong Kong crackdown by US and UK shows Cheung Kim-hung has links to foreign political groups

A Hong Kong newspaper executive on trial for national security offences had his bail denied in part because of comments made by Dominic Raab after his arrest, which prosecutors cited as evidence of a “close association” with foreign political groups.

The ruling handed down on 5 November against Cheung Kim-hung, the former chief executive of Apple Daily’s parent company Next Digital Media, also cited the US awarding of a congressional medal to Cheung and his colleagues, and a statement by the US state department.

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Peter Jackson sells special effects studio Weta Digital for $1.63bn

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The Wellington-based studio built characters and scenes for films including Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Wonder Woman and Planet of the Apes

The special effects studio co-founded by Sir Peter Jackson, which has brought blockbusters including Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones to life, has been sold for more than $1.6bn, in the latest blow to New Zealand’s film and TV industry.

The cash and shares deal, which will see Weta Digital sold to US-based video game company Unity Software for $1.63bn, comes less than three months after Amazon made the shock decision to move its $1bn-plus development of a small screen adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (LOTR) from New Zealand to the UK after shooting just one series.

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Jacinda Ardern interrupted by daughter Neve during livestream that coincided with bedtime

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The New Zealand prime minister was trying to explain changing Covid rules when her three-year-old daughter appeared off-screen

The New Zealand prime minister has been interrupted by a persistent heckler: her three-year-old daughter, who had “escaped” and was up past her bedtime while Jacinda Ardern was trying to give a live update on the country’s Covid response.

The prime minister was conducting a livestream about shifting public health restrictions when she was interrupted by an apparently wide awake Neve.

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Chinese city offers cash for clues as Covid outbreak declared a ‘people’s war’

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Authorities announced the 100,000 yuan ($15,640) rewards for residents in Heihe, saying illegal hunting or crossing the border should be reported

Residents of a Chinese city bordering Russia have been offered major cash rewards for tips on the continuing Delta outbreak, with local officials declaring a “people’s war” on the virus.

Authorities announced the 100,000 yuan ($15,640) rewards for residents in Heihe, in the north-eastern Heilongjiang Province, as its total tally of cases in this outbreak reached 240.

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New Zealand finally welcomes godwit two months after it was blown 2,000km back to Alaska

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The bird has failed to complete the non-stop, 12,200km journey three times in the past year

A plucky migrating godwit that captured New Zealand’s attention after it was forced to make a dramatic U-turn back to Alaska after 33 hours of non-stop flight has finally touched down in the country.

Every year, the Eastern bar-tailed godwits, or kuaka in Māori, make one of the longest avian migration flights in the world, travelling from their breeding ground in the Arctic, across the Pacific, to New Zealand.

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Satellite images show China has built mock-ups of US warships

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Sighting renews concerns over Beijing’s capability and intentions as tensions rise over South China Sea

Satellite images show China has built mock-ups of a US navy aircraft carrier and destroyer in its north-western desert, possibly for practice for a future clash.

China has massively upgraded its military in recent years, and its capability and intentions are increasingly concerning to the US as tensions rise over the South China Sea, Taiwan and military supremacy in the Indo-Pacific.

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Singapore court stays execution of man with learning disabilities

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Rights groups condemned decision to execute Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, who has learning disabilities

Singapore’s high court has stayed the execution of a man convicted of smuggling heroin, following outrage among rights groups who said he had learning disabilities and the sentence was a violation of international law.

Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, a Malaysian national, was arrested in April 2009, when he was 21, for attempting to smuggle 43 grams of heroin into Singapore. The drugs had been strapped to his thigh. He was sentenced to death the following year and, having spent more than 12 years on death row, was told he would face execution on 10 November.

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Australia’s commitment to coal is directly responsible for climate crisis in the Pacific | Anote Tong

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Constant change in the climate policies of Australia and New Zealand has been a huge disappointment to Pacific island nations

When I came into office as president of Kiribati in 2003, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had released its third assessment report and, like my predecessors, I believed the report’s projected rise in sea levels posed a real threat to the survival for those of us on the frontline. Accordingly, in my first address at the UN General Assembly in 2004 I drew attention to the dangers posed by climate change, especially to small island nations like Kiribati and other Pacific island countries.

The fact that no other leader made any reference to it in their statement worried me and I wondered whether I might be making a fool of myself, especially when the focus of international attention at the time was on more real and present threats like terrorism. Thankfully by the next assembly, in 2005, other Pacific island leaders had joined the call for action. This has gathered great momentum in the years since.

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Few willing to change lifestyle to save the planet, climate survey finds

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Exclusive: poll of 10 countries including US, UK, France and Germany finds people prioritising measures that are already habits

Citizens are alarmed by the climate crisis, but most believe they are already doing more to preserve the planet than anyone else, including their government, and few are willing to make significant lifestyle changes, an international survey has found.

“The widespread awareness of the importance of the climate crisis illustrated in this study has yet to be coupled with a proportionate willingness to act,” the survey of 10 countries including the US, UK, France and Germany, observed.

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Britain owes an apology to my father and millions of other Indonesians | Kartika Sukarno

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The daughter of the Indonesian president responds to our story about the propaganda war waged against him

My father, Sukarno, the first elected president of Indonesia, was put under house arrest in March 1967 a few days after I was born. He was 67. In the months before, there had been a bloodbath in the country in which he lost many trusted friends and allies. The year before, he had sent my mother, who was pregnant with me, to Japan, her homeland, advising her to return to Indonesia when the situation improved.

It never did. Three years later, in 1970, I saw my father for the first time, on his deathbed. My mother and I had not been allowed to return to the country and we had been living in France. My father died a few hours after our plane from Paris landed. Thanks to the despotic rule of the second president – General Suharto – I was not able to see my father alive, although my mother had tried repeatedly to enter Indonesia.

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Cost of Australia holding each refugee on Nauru balloons to $4.3m a year

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Exclusive: Taxpayer cost of offshore processing regime revealed as government remains silent on where $400m went

The cost to Australian taxpayers to hold a single refugee on Nauru has escalated tenfold to more than $350,000 every month – or $4.3m a year – as the government refuses to reveal where nearly $400m spent on offshore processing on the island has gone.

Australia currently pays about $40m a month to run its offshore processing regime on Nauru, an amount almost identical to 2016 when there were nearly 10 times as many people held on the island.

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New Zealand hits Covid case record but Ardern says ‘better times coming’

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200 daily cases for the first time as PM says it is on track to have ‘amongst the highest vaccination rates in the world’

New Zealand has passed 200 daily cases of Covid-19 for the first time in the pandemic, placing it on a worrying trajectory for the summer and raising expert concerns that the growing outbreak could overwhelm the health system.

On Saturday there were 206 cases announced – 200 based in Auckland, the city at the centre of the outbreak. There were 73 people in hospital with the virus, seven in intensive care.

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Once a global conservation success story, New Zealand’s black robin in trouble again

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Down to just one breeding pair 40 years ago, the bird bounced back after extraordinary efforts – now its survival is again under threat

Forty years ago, on a remote rocky island in the Pacific, 800km east of New Zealand, a conservationist set out to bring the rarest bird in the world back from the brink of extinction.

Don Merton, wearing a check shirt and shorts, climbed 200 metres up the rockface of Little Mangere Island, part of the Chatham Islands (Rēkohu in the indigenous Moriori language and Wharekauri in Māori), and laid a soft netted trap for the black robin, also known as kakaruia and karure – a tiny endemic bird that lives up to its name, with black plumage, black eyes and a little pointy black beak. Once captured, he gently placed the bird inside a wooden box, strapped it to his back, descended the cliff and jumped on a boat to the neighbouring island – Mangere, a larger, more verdant habitat.

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