Category Archives: Asia Pacific

John Cena apologises for calling Taiwan a country amid Chinese backlash – video

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The Fast & Furious star and wrestler John Cena has apologised for calling Taiwan ‘a country’ in an interview he gave to a Taiwanese broadcaster this month. ‘I made a mistake. I love and respect Chinese people,’ Cena said to his 600,000 fans on his Chinese Weibo account. The controversy began when he told the Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS in Mandarin ‘Taiwan is the first country that can watch’ his latest film, Fast & Furious 9. 

China sees Taiwan as a part of its own territory, and rejects any reference to the self-governed island as an independent state

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China urges New Zealand to work together and ‘rise above distractions’

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Beijing responds to Nanaia Mahuta’s concerns that New Zealand faces a ‘storm’ of anger from China amid rising Asia-Pacific tensions

China has urged New Zealand to work in “the same direction, make the pie of cooperation bigger, rise above external distractions”, in response to comments made by foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta in a Guardian interview.

Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, said that progress in relations could be achieved “on the premise that the two sides have long been committed to mutual respect, mutual trust and win-win results”. He urged Wellington to work with China to advance a “comprehensive strategic partnership”.

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John Cena ‘very sorry’ for saying Taiwan is a country

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Fast & Furious actor and wrestler apologises profusely on social media for offending Chinese fans

Fast & Furious star and wrestler John Cena began learning Mandarin Chinese nearly a decade ago. But this month, by showing off his linguistic skill in Taiwan, he got into trouble in mainland China.

On Tuesday, Cena apologised for calling Taiwan “a country” in an interview he gave to a Taiwanese broadcaster early this month, saying that it was not appropriate.

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Oxygen shortages threaten ‘total collapse’ of dozens of health systems

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Data reveals Nepal, Iran and South Africa among 19 countries most at risk of running out as surging Covid cases push supplies to limit

Dozens of countries are facing severe oxygen shortages because of surging Covid-19 cases, threatening the “total collapse” of health systems.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism analysed data provided by the Every Breath Counts Coalition, the NGO Path and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to find the countries most at risk of running out of oxygen. It also studied data on global vaccination rates.

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Covid vaccine hesitancy could see Hong Kong throw away millions of doses

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Observers say mistrust of government, disinformation and a lack of urgency mean vaccine take-up has been slow

Hong Kong could soon be throwing away millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses because not enough people are taking them before they expire, a health official has warned, saying it’s “not right” while other countries are scrambling for them.

The city of 7.5 million people has bought enough doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and China’s Sinovac, to vaccinate its entire population, but so far only 2.1 million have been administered since the vaccination programme launched in late February.

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‘A matter of time’: New Zealand’s foreign minister warns China ‘storm’ could be coming

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In an interview with the Guardian, Nanaia Mahuta says exporters must diversify to protect themselves from a potential cooling of ties with Beijing

New Zealand could find itself at the heart of a “storm” of anger from China, foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta has warned, saying exporters needed to diversify to ensure they could survive deteriorating relations with Beijing.

Mahuta’s comments come as the New Zealand government faces increasing pressure to take a firmer stance on human rights violations and crackdowns by China, putting the spotlight on the potential repercussions for countries who provoke Beijing’s ire.

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China rejects report of sick staff at Wuhan lab prior to Covid outbreak

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Spokesperson dismisses Wall Street Journal claims based on ‘previously undisclosed’ intelligence

China has vehemently denied a Wall Street Journal report citing US intelligence materials that said several members of staff at a key virus laboratory in Wuhan had fallen ill shortly before the first patient with Covid-like symptoms was recorded in the city on 8 December 2019.

Foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, said it was “completely untrue” that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) became sick in autumn 2019. The report, based on “previously undisclosed” US intelligence, said the said the lab workers staff had become sick “with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness”.

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Tokyo Olympics: anger in Japan at IOC call to make ‘sacrifices’

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Senior Games figures John Coates and Thomas Bach criticised for attitude amid calls for event to be cancelled

The International Olympic Committee’s insistence that “sacrifices” must be made to ensure the Games go ahead in Tokyo regardless of the coronavirus situation in Japan has sparked a backlash and more calls for them to be cancelled.

John Coates, an IOC vice president, drew criticism in Japan after saying the Games would proceed even if the host city was still under a state of emergency due to the coronavirus. “The answer is absolutely yes,” Coates, who is overseeing preparations, said when asked on Friday if he thought they could be delivered despite the restrictions.

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South-east Asian countries battle Covid resurgence amid lack of vaccines

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Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore race to contain clusters as experts warn jabs must be distributed more evenly

South-east Asian countries, including nations that managed to control the coronavirus last year, are struggling to contain recent outbreaks as new variants and vaccine shortages leave populations exposed.

Thailand’s cumulative caseload has more than quadrupled since 1 April, rising to almost 130,000, after infections spread in its cramped prisons, densely populated areas of the capital and construction sites.

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New Zealand hospital faces second week of disruption after major cyber attack

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It is not clear who carried out last week’s attack on Waikato hospital, which downed computers and phone lines

A major New Zealand hospital faces a second week of disruption as it struggles to fix its computer system following a massive cyber attack.

The attack on Waikato district health board (DHB), which began on Tuesday, has been described by its chief executive, Kevin Snee, as “probably the biggest cyber-attack in New Zealand’s history”.

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‘A ticking time bomb’: Timor-Leste begins to reckon with alleged Catholic church sex abuse

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The trial of defrocked priest Richard Daschbach, charged with sexual abuse of 14 girls, is dividing the small, deeply Catholic country

Lita grew up in a poor family in a hamlet surrounded by the spectacular mountains of Oecusse in Timor-Leste. When she was 11 years old she went to live in Topu Honis shelter home, in the mountainous, forest-encircled village of Kutet.

The shelter was run by Richard Daschbach, a now-defrocked 84-year-old US priest who founded the facility in 1992.

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Children with Covid: why are some countries seeing more cases – and deaths?

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The perceived wisdom has been that children do not suffer severely from the virus. Yet they are now in Brazil, Indonesia and India

Emergency physician and leading epidemiologist in Brazil, Dr Fatima Marinho, is seeing symptoms of Covid-19 in children that starkly contrast with the message that has been relayed globally throughout the pandemic that children do not appear to suffer severely from the virus.

Severe muscle aches, diarrhoea, coughing, abdominal pain and hospitalisation – all of these are happening to children with Covid-19 in Brazil, Marinho says.

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Two Chinese provinces hit by earthquakes, with two reported dead

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Over 20,000 people evacuated after Qinghai in north-west and Yunnan in south-west struck on same day

A series of strong earthquakes has rattled north-west and south-west China, leaving at least two people dead.

Both Qinghai province in the north-west on the Tibetan plateau and Yunnan province in south-western China are prone to earthquakes. And both tremors were shallow, which generally means they cause more damage.

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New Zealand’s budget made progress on poverty, but it’s not mission accomplished yet | Max Rashbrooke

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There is only one way to really make a change in New Zealand is to raise the bottom more rapidly than the middle

“Today, we close a chapter on our past.” So said New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, on Thursday, as she launched a budget that included the largest increases to benefits since the 1940s. But although she should be congratulated for finally taking concrete steps to attack poverty and inequality, there is a real danger of celebrating too soon.

Child poverty is one of our much-lauded prime minister’s signature issues, and she has committed herself to ambitious targets that require hardship rates to be cut by as much as two-thirds by 2028. If achieved, this would be an exceptional feat, a rapid reduction that would place New Zealand among the world’s best performers.

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Bytedance boss exits at time of uncertainty for Chinese tech firms

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Analysis: political undercurrents cannot be ignored as Zhang Yiming stands down to ‘daydream’

In the latest retreat by a leading figure in China’s booming tech sector, the chief executive of TikTok’s parent company has said he will step down to focus on long-term strategy, saying he prefers “reading and daydreaming” to the challenge of running a multinational firm.

Zhang Yiming, the 38-year-old boss of Bytedance, set out the reasons for the move in an unusually candid memo addressed to the company’s staff. “The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager,” he confessed.

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Australian writer detained in China on espionage charges to face trial

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Foreign minister Marise Payne says China has provided no evidence against Yang Hengjun, who has been held for more than two years

The detained Australian writer Yang Hengjun will be tried on charges of espionage in a closed Chinese court next week after being held in Beijing for more than two years.

The foreign minister Marise Payne’s office said the government had been notified by Chinese authorities that Yang would face trial next Thursday, 27 May.

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Japan bullet train driver disciplined for leaving controls to go to toilet

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A conductor, who was not qualified to drive the train, sat in the driver’s seat during his three-minute absence, in breach of the rules

A driver on one of Japan’s shinkansen bullet trains is facing disciplinary measures after he abandoned his cab to go to the toilet while the train was carrying passengers and travelling at 150km/h.

The 36-year-old driver, who has not been named, reportedly had a stomachache and asked a conductor to take his place while he went to the toilet.

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‘Not a lot of trust’: Taiwan wrestles with home working in wake of Covid surge

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Work culture of presenteeism sees some staff told to switch on GPS location tracking by distrustful managers

When Amanda asked a colleague to bring her laptop home from their tech-company office, anticipating that Taipei was about to join the ranks of global cities suddenly working remotely, managers refused to release it. She told him to grab it anyway, and soon enough the Taiwanese capital was placed under restrictions amid a shock coronavirus outbreak. Her company soon sent an office-wide email saying that 50% of staff would be staying home.

“But it still had reminders that working from home means you are working at home and your equipment must be connected at all times, and you’re expected to work eight hours and this is not a holiday,” she says.

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New Zealand’s budget needed to allocate more than small change to the climate crisis | Robert McLachlan and Paul Callister

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Climate politics is a long game but people must see more positive changes to really appreciate the benefits of ending fossil fuels

The New Zealand emissions trading scheme (ETS), now in its fourteenth year of operation and much criticised for (so far) failing to cut emissions, is the centrepiece of the government’s climate action. Judging from Budget 2021, it will remain that way for years to come.

Auctioning of emissions units began in March, and 2022 will see the introduction of a falling cap on net emissions of long-lived greenhouse gases. (The precise level of the cap will be announced later in the year.)

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