Category Archives: Asia Pacific

US military has ‘no plan’ to shoot down debris from Chinese rocket

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Defense secretary is hopeful the rocket will land in the ocean; Aerospace Corp said it expects the debris to hit the Pacific near the equator

The US military has no plan to shoot down the remnants of a large Chinese rocket expected to plunge back through the atmosphere this weekend, the defense secretary said on Thursday.

Speaking with reporters, Lloyd Austin said the hope was the rocket would land in the ocean and that the latest estimate was that it would come down between Saturday and Sunday.

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Where is New Zealand’s ‘values-based’ foreign policy when it comes to the Uyghurs? | Guled Mire

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Other small nations also feel vulnerable to Chinese aggression but it hasn’t stopped them speaking out over the Uyghur genocide

After the Christchurch terror attacks, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern donned a hijab as she comforted the relatives of the 51 Muslims who were killed simply for practising their faith. The image spread across the world and she was lavished with international praise.

Yet her apparent turning away from the active erasure of China’s Uyghur Muslim minority population may undo that reputation. On Wednesday, New Zealand’s parliament backed away from calling what is happening in Xinjiang a “genocide,” opting instead for the watered-down language of “human rights breaches”.

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Beijing accuses G7 ministers of interfering in China’s affairs

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Foreign ministry responds to west’s human rights claims, saying countries should ‘face up to their own problems’

China has rejected accusations of human rights abuse and economic coercion, made by G7 foreign ministers, accusing them of “blatantly meddling” in China’s internal affairs, calling their remarks groundless.

“Attempts to disregard the basic norms of international relations and to create various excuses to interfere in China’s internal affairs, undermine China’s sovereignty and smear China’s image will never succeed,” said the foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin. “They should not criticise and interfere with other countries with a superior mentality, and undermine the current top priority of international anti-epidemic cooperation.”

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Hotlines ‘ring out’: China’s military crisis strategy needs rethink, says Biden Asia chief

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Kurt Campbell says Beijing has been increasing military activities without taking measures to reduce the chance of miscalculation

The Biden administration’s top Asia official has warned about the absence of a crisis-communications channel between the US and China at a time of rising military tensions over Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Military and leadership hotlines have been established at various points in the fraught history of the relationship, but Kurt Campbell, the White House Asia “tsar” responsible for coordinating policy across the administration, said Beijing had shown no interest in using them, out of a preference for uncertainty. The hotline simply rings out in “empty rooms”, he said.

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Fiji seals off major hospital and quarantines hundreds after Covid death

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Hospital closure comes as the Pacific country tries to contain a second wave of the virus with lockdowns

Fiji has closed its second largest hospital amid fears that a patient who died of Covid-19 may have infected multiple staff members. The 53-year-old man was only the Pacific country’s third Covid-related death since the pandemic began.

More than 400 patients, doctors, nurses and other medical staff were being quarantined at Lautoka hospital as of Wednesday, after a doctor who had treated the man also tested positive for the coronavirus.

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Judith Collins’ comments on Māori health policy are a diversion | Claire Robinson

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National leader’s warning about greater Māori self-governance are designed to deflect from her unpopularity

In October I wrote in praise of the Māori party’s Mana Motuhake policy, a 25-year plan to improve Māori outcomes based on Māori asserting their right to exercise tino rangatiratanga – roughly translated as self-management, self-determination and self-governance – over all their domains. I predicted that whether the Māori party made it back into parliament in 2020 or not (it did), this call was only going to get louder.

After a speech last Saturday by the National party opposition leader, Judith Collins, this issue has been catapulted to the middle of the political agenda. Collins’ speech drew attention to a report named He Puapua, written by an expert working group charged by the Labour-led coalition cabinet in 2019 to develop a plan and engagement process to realise the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP), which the John Key-led National coalition government signed up to in 2010.

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Falling Chinese rocket to crash to Earth on weekend as US calls for ‘responsible space behaviours’

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Communist party newspaper claims Long March 5B should easily burn up in atmosphere but expert warns pieces will reach Earth

The White House has called for “responsible space behaviours” as a Chinese rocket, thought to be out of control, looks set to crash back to Earth on Saturday, US time.

The US Space Command is tracking debris from the Long March 5B, which last week launched the main module of China’s first permanent space station into orbit. The roughly 30-metre (100ft) long stage would be among the biggest space debris to fall to Earth.

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My father works for the company that sells weapons used in my partner’s homeland | Izzy Brown

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I had never imagined how horribly the company my father works for was entangled with the story of my West Papuan partner

​They make great trucks. That’s what my father says whenever I ask him: “What do they make? Who do they sell them to?” “Only to the good guys,”​​​​ is his standard answer, and the topic changes quickly. But what he calls “trucks”, most people call “tanks”. And ​I am always led to wonder, “What kind of ‘good guy’ drives a tank?”

My father works for Thales, one of the richest weapons corporations in the world. Before heading up security for Thales he worked for Asio, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

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Coronavirus live: two members of India G7 team test positive; Tokyo Olympics ‘to go ahead’ after test event

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Delegation self-isolating after members test positive for Covid; Seb Coe says Games in July will be ‘extremely good’ even without spectators

Staff at an Indonesian pharmaceutical company have been accused of washing and repackaging used Covid nasal swabs, which were then sold to thousands of unsuspecting travellers.

Five employees from the state-owned Kimia Farma have been arrested, while the company may also face a civil lawsuit over the claims.

Related: Workers at Indonesian pharma firm arrested over ‘re-used’ Covid swabs

Norway will introduce verifiable vaccine certificates from early June, allowing holders to use them for admittance to events held in Norway, prime minister Erna Solberg has said.

About a quarter of Norway’s population, as Reuters reports, has received a first dose of a Covid vaccine, while 6.8% has received two doses.

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Workers at Indonesian pharma firm arrested over ‘reused’ Covid swabs

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Nasal swabs allegedly washed, repackaged and sold to passengers required to take test at Medan airport

Staff at an Indonesian pharmaceutical company have been accused of washing and repackaging used Covid nasal swabs, which were then sold to thousands of unsuspecting travellers.

Five employees from the state-owned Kimia Farma have been arrested, while the company may also face a civil lawsuit over the claims.

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Japanese town spends Covid funds on 13-metre squid statue – video

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The Japanese coastal town of Noto is facing criticism after a giant squid statue was installed using emergency funding intended for coronavirus measures. Crafting the pink-and-white creature with flared tentacles came at a cost of ¥25m (£164,000), with the 13-metre-long statue installed as part of a tourism drive to help the area's virus hit economy

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New Zealand draws back from calling Chinese abuses of Uyghurs genocide

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Parliament will not debate motion and will instead discuss rights abuses in more general terms

New Zealand’s parliament will not debate a motion that would label the abuses of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, China, as acts of genocide.

Parliament opted instead on Tuesday to water down the language, and discuss concerns about human rights abuses in the region in more general terms.

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New Zealand treats animals inhumanely – but it could become a world leader in their welfare | Philip McKibbin

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Our country has already set examples on issues like women’s suffrage and anti-nuclear policy. It can do the same again

Aotearoa New Zealand is a pretty good place to live – if you’re human, that is. If you happen to be a non-human animal, chances are you’re not doing very well.

Inhumane treatment of animals is widespread. It is routinely used in farming (the dairy industry is among the worst perpetrators, as forced pregnancies, separation of calves from their mothers, and slaughter are routine practices); conservation (poison and traps are commonly used to control “pests”); scientific research (430,000 animals were used or bred for experiments last year); and entertainment (such as horse racing and rodeo).

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Hong Kong plan to force Covid vaccines on foreign domestic workers sparks alarm

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Authorities accused of ‘blackmailing’ workers over plan to make vaccine a condition of getting a job

Hong Kong’s government has sparked discrimination concerns over plans to force hundreds of thousands of foreign domestic workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or face losing their job.

Authorities have embarked on mass mandatory testing of the city’s 370,000 domestic workers after a more infectious strain was detected in the community, and flagged plans for compulsory vaccinations.

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Outpouring of grief after alleged murder of leading Tongan LGBTQI activist

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Police have charged a man for the killing of Polikalepo Kefu, a lifelong advocate for the queer community across the Pacific

Police in Tonga are investigating the death of one of the country’s leading LGBTQI+ activists after his body was found on a beach near his home in Tongatapu, Tonga’s main island.

A 27-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Polikalepo Kefu, 41. Kefu, who was affectionately known as “Poli”, was the president of Tonga Leitis Association, an organisation dedicated to the country’s LGBTQ+ communities, providing support services, advocacy, and education on HIV-Aids.

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Ardern’s speech was not an attack on China, or even a shift away from Beijing | Bryce Edwards

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Her words might have sounded tough to a domestic audience but in fact they’ll go down fine in China

Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government is achieving something no other western country has done – staying on side with China. Her latest speech on relations with China once again shows the west how deft diplomacy is done – with a carefully choreographed message that reiterates New Zealand is not joining the western aggression against the country’s biggest trading partner, while at the same time voicing some necessary hard words about human rights abuses.

The prime minister gave a highly anticipated keynote speech at the China Business Summit in Auckland on Monday, which clarified her government’s orientation to China following a controversial speech two weeks ago by the foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta. Mahuta had said that New Zealand won’t simply follow the Five Eyes security alliance’s condemnation of China. Today, Ardern essentially endorsed Mahuta’s distancing from western allies, arguing her government would make its own decisions on how to communicate its concerns about human rights abuses. Then speaking in a Q and A session she used a sporting analogy, saying “I’m often asked which lane are we swimming in. We swim in New Zealand’s lane.” This is a very clear rebuff to the increasing pressure from western allies for her government to take a harder line.

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New Zealand fires nine border workers who refused Covid vaccine

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PM Jacinda Ardern had previously said workers who declined to be vaccinated would be moved to other roles

New Zealand’s customs agency has fired nine border workers who refused to get the Covid-19 vaccine. The country has required all frontline border workers to be vaccinated by the end of April.

In February, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the government would not be making the vaccine compulsory for frontline staff, and that those who declined the vaccine would be moved into backroom roles.

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New Zealand’s differences with China becoming ‘harder to reconcile’, Jacinda Ardern says

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Prime minister has been coming under pressure from allies to take a tougher approach towards country’s largest trading partner

New Zealand’s differences with China are becoming “harder to reconcile,” the prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said, as she called on China “to act in the world in ways that are consistent with its responsibilities as a growing power”.

Ardern’s comments were made as New Zealand’s government comes under increasing pressure, both internally and from international allies, to take a firmer stance on concerns over human rights abuses of Uyghur people in China’s Xinjiang province. Last week, the Act party presented a motion for New Zealand’s parliament to debate whether the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang constitutes genocide – a motion that Labour will discuss this week.

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Sorcery-related violence should be thought of as profoundly modern | Miranda Forsyth

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The attacks in Papua New Guinea may look like a barbaric relic from the past but have to do with poverty, inequality and the normalisation of violence

News broke last week about the horrific attack on two women in Port Moresby after they were accused of sorcery.

Senior leaders and police in Papua New Guinea expressed outrage that such violence was occurring in the nation’s capital. But as a researcher who investigates this type of attack, these stories are frustratingly familiar and predictable.

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Biden and Xi talk of a clash of civilisations. But the real shared goal is dominance | Richard McGregor

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The US president has challenged the idea that the ‘east is rising, the west declining’. Instead, he insists that America’s day is far from done

Finally, we have arrived, not at a clash of civilisations, but at the clash of civilisations. Or so President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress would have you believe. The US versus China. The west versus the east. Democracy versus autocracy. Biden’s speech last week was rich in laying down markers for Washington in the contest of the century.

“They’re going to write about this point in history,” Biden told a gathering of US television news anchors before his speech, in remarks later released by the White House. “Not about any of us in here, but about whether or not democracy can function in the 21st century.”

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