Category Archives: Asia Pacific

China and Philippines reach tentative deal to defuse tensions at South China Sea flashpoint

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Temporary deal agreed to prevent escalation of standoffs around the Sierra Madre, a Philippine ship grounded on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal

The Philippines says it has “reached an understanding” with China on resupply missions to a beached Filipino naval ship that has been a key flashpoint between the two countries in the South China Sea

The Chinese foreign ministry confirmed the “temporary arrangement” with the two sides agreeing to jointly manage maritime differences and de-escalate the situation in the South China Sea.

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Exiled pro-democracy Hong Kong activists blocked from accessing pensions

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Case raises questions about complicity of western financial institutions in persecution of Chinese government critics

Two exiled pro-democracy Hong Kong activists have been blocked from accessing their pensions, depriving them of tens of thousands of US dollars of their savings and raising questions about the complicity of western financial institutions in the persecution of Chinese government critics.

Assets, including pension savings, belonging to Ted Hui, a former pro-democracy legislator who is now based in Australia, were frozen shortly after he fled from Hong Kong in December 2020. The assets are held by HSBC, a British bank.

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Indonesians who paid thousands to work on UK farm sacked within weeks

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Exclusive: Several sent home for slow fruit picking face debts as watchdog investigates alleged illegal fees

Indonesian workers who paid thousands of pounds to travel to Britain and pick fruit at a farm supplying most big supermarkets have been sent home within weeks for not picking fast enough.

One of the workers said he had sold his family’s land, as well as his and his parents’ motorbikes, to cover the more than £2,000 cost of coming to Britain in May and was distressed to find himself unemployed with few possessions.

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Donald Trump says Xi Jinping wrote him a ‘beautiful note’ after rally shooting

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US presidential contender’s reference echoes the ‘love letters’ he received from North Korea’s Kim Jong-un as he calls authoritarian leaders ‘smart, tough’ people

Donald Trump has said China’s president wrote him a “beautiful note” after the assassination attempt a week ago, as he continued to court leaders whom Joe Biden has criticised as dictators.

In his first campaign rally since narrowly escaping the attempt on his life in Pennsylvania, Trump told a crowd in Michigan on Saturday: “[President Xi Jinping] wrote me a beautiful note the other day when he heard about what happened.”

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Chinese artefacts in repatriation row were ‘given willingly’ to British Museum

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Amid calls to return antiquities, historian finds documents that reveal many were not result of imperial plunder

The British Museum boasts one of the biggest collections of Chinese antiquities in the west, but it has faced repeated calls to return them to China. Now historical documents reveal that many of the antiquities were acquired with the full cooperation of Chinese officials in the last century.

US historian Justin M Jacobs has unearthed evidence that shows the Chinese government “willingly and enthusiastically helped them remove these treasures from their lands” because they wanted closer ties with the west and appreciated new scholarship.

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At least 11 killed and dozens missing as Chinese bridge collapses amid floods

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President Xi Jinping calls for ‘all-out efforts’ to find more than 30 people after incident in Shaanxi province

Torrential rain has caused a bridge to collapse in northern China, killing 11 people and leaving more than 30 missing, state media has said.

The bridge over a river in Shangluo, Shaanxi province, buckled at about 8.40pm on Friday “due to a sudden downpour and flash floods”, the Xinhua agency said, citing the provincial public relations department.

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Two Australians and three Indonesians survive helicopter crash in Bali, officials say

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Bell 505 Jet Ranger X helicopter came down in Pecatu village on the southern side of Bali after it was entangled in a kite string

Two Australians and three Indonesians have survived a tourist helicopter crash in Bali after it became entangled in a kite string, officials say.

The Bell 505 Jet Ranger X helicopter, owned by PT Whitesky Aviation, came down in Pecatu village in the coastal area on the southern side of Bali, a statement from Indonesia’s transportation ministry said.

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Vietnam’s Communist leader dies aged 80 creating power vacuum

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Nguyen Phu Trong was one of the country’s longest-serving politicians and known for anti-corruption drive

Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling Communist party and the country’s most powerful politician, has died aged 80, creating a power vacuum.

Trong died early on Friday afternoon “after a period of illness”, according to his medical team, state media reported.

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Japan asks young people why they are not marrying amid population crisis

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Consultation launched as surveys show people have little chance to meet partners and worry about high cost of living

The Japanese government has begun to consult young people about their interest in marriage – or lack thereof – as Japan continues to struggle with a demographic crisis that is expected to result in a sharp population decline over the next decades.

The Children and Families Agency, launched in April 2023, held its first working group meeting on Friday to support young people in their efforts to find partners through dating, matchmaking and other means. Attenders included those considering marriage in the future and experts versed in the challenges facing younger people.

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Weather tracker: Heavy seasonal rain causes widespread flooding in China

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Six people dead, thousands evacuated and transport disrupted after at least 20 floods in major rivers

China has been experiencing heavy and widespread rainfall since the start of the rainy season, which runs from May to September. It has resulted in at least 20 floods in major rivers across the country, with 31 rivers surpassing their flood warning levels.

Dianjiang county, in Chongqing, received 269.2mm in one day last week, a single-day record there. It led to six deaths, more than 10,000 evacuations, and 40,000 people being affected, as well as severe disruptions to rail services and transport caused by flooding.

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Chip stocks fall further after Trump’s remarks on Taiwan defence

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Semiconductor and related tech shares hit hard by former US president’s calls for Taipei to pay for US protection

The stocks of some of the world’s largest chipmakers have fallen further after comments by Donald Trump that Taiwan, which is central to the global industry, should pay for its own defences against China.

Shares in semiconductor and related tech companies had already plunged on Wednesday after the former president’s comments, as well as a report that suggested Joe Biden’s administration was considering the strictest controls on the trade of chips to China.

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Wall Street Journal fires new chair of Hong Kong Journalists Association

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Selina Cheng says she believes her termination is linked to her taking up the position at the embattled union

The chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association has been fired by her employer, the Wall Street Journal, weeks after being appointed as the head of the embattled union.

Selina Cheng said she was “appalled” that her first press conference as HKJA chair was to announce that she had been “fired for taking up this position in a press union”.

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Cyanide found in teacups shared by six found dead in Bangkok hotel

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Victims at Grand Hyatt Erawan drank poison-laced beverage in murder-suicide plot, Thai police believe

Police investigating the deaths by poisoning of six people found in the room of a luxury hotel in central Bangkok believe one member of the group took their own life and murdered the rest by lacing cups of tea with cyanide.

Tests detected the deadly chemical that interferes with the body’s ability to use oxygen in a tea flask and six cups, with the signs of its poisoning revealed in autopsies of the six bodies . Based on interviews with a relative, police believe the deaths could be related to a business dispute.

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South Korean airport authorities crack down on Trader Joe’s bagel seasoning

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Travellers say the popular seasoning mix by the US brand has been the subject of increased confiscation by authorities, because it contains poppy seeds

A popular US food seasoning mix created for “yummifying the tops of bagels” is the subject of an intensifying crackdown in South Korea, where poppy seeds – one of its key ingredients – are banned.

Trader Joe’s Everything But the Bagel seasoning blend – a crunchy mix of sesame seeds, salt, dried garlic, dried onion and poppy seeds – has been on South Korea’s list of restricted foods since 2022, but travellers say it has been the subject of increased confiscation in airports in recent weeks.

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Suspect in deaths of Australians at Philippines resort is former pool cleaner allegedly sacked by hotel

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The bodies of Sydney man David Fisk, his partner Lucita Cortez and a relative of Cortez were found tied up in a hotel resort south of Manila

The suspect in the killings of two Australians and their Filipina companion at a hotel in a popular resort city south of Manila was a former pool cleaner who allegedly wanted to retaliate against the hotel for firing him.

The suspect claimed that he randomly barged into the victims’ room last week because its window was open, Philippine officials said on Wednesday.

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Chinese business tycoon convicted of defrauding followers in $1bn scheme

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Guo Wengui, who gained fans for criticizing Communist party in China, found guilty in US of nine criminal counts

Guo Wengui, a self-exiled Chinese business tycoon whose criticism of the Communist party won him legions of online followers and powerful friends in the American conservative movement, was convicted by a US jury on Tuesday of engaging in an enormous multi-year fraud that ripped off some of his most devoted fans.

Once believed to be among the richest people in China, Guo was arrested in New York in March 2023 and accused of operating a racketeering enterprise that stretched from 2018 through 2023.

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Six people found dead in Bangkok luxury hotel in suspected poisoning

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Bodies of three men and three women, two of whom were US citizens, discovered in locked suite at Grand Hyatt Erawan

Six people have been found dead at a luxury hotel in central Bangkok, in what authorities say could be a case of poisoning.

The bodies of three women and three men were found inside a hotel suite on the fifth floor of the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel by a hotel worker late on Tuesday afternoon.

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North Korea diplomat flees to South in highest ranking envoy defection since 2016

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Ri Il-kyu was responsible for political affairs at Pyongyang’s embassy in Cuba, the Chosun Ilbo daily has reported

A senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba defected to South Korea in November, becoming the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to escape to the South since 2016.

Without giving any further details, South Korea’s spy agency the National Intelligence Service confirmed an earlier report by the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, which said that a counsellor responsible for political affairs at the North Korean embassy in Cuba had defected.

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Parts of Tonga without internet after cables damaged and Starlink ordered to cease operations

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The island networks of Vava’u and Haʻapai were cut more than two weeks ago following damage to the undersea cable

Parts of Tonga have been without internet for more than two weeks after an undersea cable was damaged in an earthquake, leaving a third of the country’s population in the dark and causing chaos for local businesses.

The crisis has been further compounded after the government ordered the Starlink internet satellite company to cease operations in Tonga until it was granted a licence.

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China’s emissions of two potent greenhouse gases rise 78% in decade

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Figure represents 64-66% of global output of tetrafluoromethane and hexafluoroethane, MIT study finds

Emissions of two of the most potent greenhouse gases have substantially increased in China over the last decade, a study has found.

Perfluorocarbons are used in the manufacturing processes for flat-panel TVs and semiconductors, or as by-products from aluminium smelting. They are far more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2, and can persist in the Earth’s atmosphere for thousands of years, unlike CO2 which can persist for up to 200 years.

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