Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Pro-China party wins landslide victory in Maldives parliamentary elections

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Voters back President Mohamed Muizzu’s tilt towards China and away from traditional ally India

Maldives voters have backed President Mohamed Muizzu’s tilt towards China and away from traditional benefactor India, with his party winning control of parliament in an election landslide.

Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) won 66 of the first 86 seats declared, according to the Elections Commission of Maldives, already more than enough for a super-majority in the 93-member parliament.

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Global defence budget jumps to record high of $2440bn

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For the first time, government military spending increased in all five geographical regions, Sipri thinktank finds

Global military expenditure has reached a record high of $2440bn (£1970bn) after the largest annual rise in government spending on arms in over a decade, according to a report.

The 6.8% increase between 2022 and 2023 was the steepest since 2009, pushing spending to the highest recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in its 60-year history.

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Millions at risk of floods in China’s Guangdong province after heavy rain

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Officials urge municipalities to begin emergency planning after major rivers and reservoirs threaten to overflow

Major rivers, waterways and reservoirs in China’s Guangdong province are threatening to unleash dangerous floods, forcing the government to enact emergency response plans to protect more than 127 million people.

Calling the situation “grim”, local weather officials said sections of rivers and tributaries at the Xijiang and Beijiang river basins are hitting water levels in a rare spike that only has a one-in-50 chance of happening in any given year, the state broadcaster CCTV news said on Sunday.

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Thai conscientious objector risks jail in rare refusal of military service

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Young men are forced to take part in conscript lottery, but the rich often avoid serving in army

Every April in Thailand young men take part in a lottery to determine whether they will be forced to do military service. Pull out a red card and you are drafted for up to two years. A black card means you are exempt.

When it was Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal’s turn to draw a card this month, he refused, making a rare protest as a conscientious objector. If prosecuted, it is believed he could become the first person in Thailand to be imprisoned for avoiding the draft through civil disobedience. The offence carries a maximum sentence of three years.

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Japan navy helicopters crash, leaving one dead and seven missing

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Defence minister says possibility of a collision between the two helicopters is being analysed

One person was dead and seven missing after two Japanese military helicopters crashed after possibly colliding while out to sea, officials said.

A spokesperson for Japan’s self-defence force said the crash took place late on Saturday and one person was recovered and later confirmed dead.

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Fighting rages at Myanmar’s border with Thailand as rebels target junta troops

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Thousands of civilians flee as resistance fighters fight to flush out soldiers holed up at eastern bridge border crossing

Fighting raged at Myanmar’s eastern border with Thailand on Saturday, both governments said, forcing 3,000 civilians to flee as rebels fought to flush out Myanmar junta troops holed up for days at a bridge border crossing.

Resistance fighters and ethnic minority rebels seized the key trading town of Myawaddy on the Myanmar side of the frontier on 11 April, a blow to a well-equipped military struggling to govern and facing a test of battlefield credibility.

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US House to vote on long-delayed foreign aid bills – including Ukraine support

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Ukraine aid component threatens to throw the Republican party into disarray – and endangers the speakership of Mike Johnson

The US House of Representatives will finally vote on Saturday on a series of foreign aid bills, bringing an end to a months-long standoff in Congress led mostly by Republicans who refuse to support funding Ukraine’s ongoing military defense against Russia’s invasion.

House members will hold separate votes on four bills that represent $95bn in funding altogether – including roughly $26bn in aid for Israel, $61bn for Ukraine, $8bn for US allies in the Indo-Pacific region and $9bn in humanitarian assistance for civilians in war zones, such as Gaza.

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Indonesia volcano: thousands evacuated amid spreading ash and tsunami fears

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More than 11,000 people told to leave their homes after Mount Ruang erupted at least three times since Friday afternoon

More than 2,100 people living near an erupting volcano on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island were evacuated on Friday due to the dangers of ash, falling rocks, hot volcanic clouds and the possibility of a tsunami.

Indonesia’s volcanology centre recorded at least three eruptions since Friday afternoon, with the maximum height of the eruption column reaching 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).

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Solomon Islands election: PM Sogavare retains seat as count continues

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Full results are expected in coming days to determine whether Manasseh Sogavare’s Our party can form the next government

Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has retained his parliamentary seat, results showed on Saturday, but it will be days before vote counting determines whether his Our party can form the next government.

Wednesday’s national election was the first since Sogavare struck a security pact with China in 2022, drawing the Pacific island country closer to Beijing. The move concerned the US and Australia because of the potential impact on regional security.

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FBI chief says Chinese hackers have infiltrated critical US infrastructure

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Volt Typhoon hacking campaign is waiting ‘for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow’, says Christopher Wray

Chinese government-linked hackers have burrowed into US critical infrastructure and are waiting “for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow”, the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, has warned.

An ongoing Chinese hacking campaign known as Volt Typhoon has successfully gained access to numerous American companies in telecommunications, energy, water and other critical sectors, with 23 pipeline operators targeted, Wray said in a speech at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday.

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Apple removes WhatsApp and Threads from Chinese App Store

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Company says Chinese government ordered it to remove two Meta-owned apps for ‘national security’ reasons

Apple has removed WhatsApp and Threads from its Chinese App Store after the Chinese government ordered it to do so for “national security” reasons.

Apple confirmed it had withdrawn the two apps – both owned by Meta, also the owner of Facebook – under instruction from the Cyberspace Administration of China, which regulates and censors China’s highly restricted internet and online content.

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‘Lost for words’: Joe Biden’s tale about cannibals bemuses Papua New Guinea residents

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President’s suggestion that his ‘Uncle Bosie’ was eaten by cannibals harms US efforts to build Pacific ties, say local experts

Joe Biden’s suggestion that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during world war two has been met with a mixture of bemusement and criticism in the country.

Biden spoke about his uncle, 2nd Lt Ambrose J Finnegan Jr, while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, describing how “Uncle Bosie” had flown single engine planes as reconnaissance flights during the war. Biden said he “got shot down in New Guinea”, adding “they never found the body because there used to be a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea.”

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Ram believed responsible for deaths of elderly New Zealand couple

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Police say the sheep was shot dead after confronting officers called to the property in Waitakere, west of Auckland

An aggressive ram believed responsible for the deaths of an elderly New Zealand couple has been put down by police after it was found alongside the two bodies in a paddock.

The NZ Herald reported the pair, aged in their early 80s, were found dead in a field of their rural property early on Thursday morning.

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Australia needs a plan for war to ‘focus the national mind’, Michael Pezzullo says

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Former secretary of the home affairs department recommends preparation of a ‘war book’ to allocate roles in the event of conflict

Australia needs a comprehensive national plan for war – a “war book” – to coordinate civil and military roles and “focus the national mind” on the possibility of future conflict, the former secretary of the home affairs department Mike Pezzullo has said.

In a speech to an invitation-only security seminar last week, Pezzullo said Australian leaders needed to resurrect a practice adopted in the 1930s and prepare “a war book” which clearly allocated roles and responsibilities in the event of a conflict.

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Australia plans for a ‘less certain’ future in Asia — one where the US may not remain the dominant force

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The US talks of Aukus as ‘binding’ the allies for decades to come, but Richard Marles says Australia must become more ‘self-reliant’

Australia’s defence overhaul has accelerated some projects and cut others and has already prompted a plea from China to abandon a “cold war mentality”.

But as the dust settles on a plan to increase overall military spending, the Albanese government has also sent some significant signals on how it sees the future of the Indo-Pacific region – and these aren’t exactly how Australia’s top security ally, the US, might see things.

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China sounds warning after Philippines and US announce most expansive military drills yet

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Exercises starting on Monday will be the first to be held outside Philippines’ territorial waters, and come amid a rise in tensions in the South China Sea

Philippine and US forces will carry out their first ever military exercises outside the south-east Asian country’s territorial waters, in a move China has said will only lead to greater insecurity in the South China Sea.

The annual Balikatan or “shoulder-to-shoulder” drills – which will run from 22 April to 10 May – will involve 16,700 soldiers simulating retaking enemy-occupied islands in areas facing Taiwan and the South China Sea.

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Indonesia issues tsunami alert as volcano erupts

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More than 800 people evacuated from Mount Ruang as alert level raised to four – highest in four-tier system

Authorities in Indonesia have issued a tsunami alert after a volcano erupted several times in the country’s southernmost region, spewing a column of smoke more than a mile into the sky and forcing hundreds of people to be evacuated from their homes.

Mount Ruang, a stratovolcano in North Sulawesi province, first erupted at 9.45pm local time on Tuesday and then four times on Wednesday, Indonesia’s volcanology agency said.

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Nestlé adds sugar to infant milk sold in poorer countries, report finds

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Swiss food firm’s infant formula and cereal sold in global south ignore WHO anti-obesity guidelines for Europe, says Public Eye

Nestlé, the world’s largest consumer goods company, adds sugar and honey to infant milk and cereal products sold in many poorer countries, contrary to international guidelines aimed at preventing obesity and chronic diseases, a report has found.

Campaigners from Public Eye, a Swiss investigative organisation, sent samples of the Swiss multinational’s baby-food products sold in Asia, Africa and Latin America to a Belgian laboratory for testing.

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Japan to allow divorced parents to share custody of children

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Change to civil code will bring Japan into line with other G7 countries, amid concerns existing law inflicts psychological harm on children

Divorced couples in Japan will for the first time be able to negotiate joint custody of their children after parliament voted this week for changes to laws permitting only sole custody.

Under Japan’s civil code, couples must decide which parent will take custody of their children when their marriage ends – a requirement that critics say causes children psychological harm and prevents the “left-behind” parent from playing a fuller role in their upbringing.

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Solomon Islands election: voters head to polls that could decide future of China security ties

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Election closely watched for any impact on Pacific country’s relationship with Beijing, while voters focus on struggling health and other services

Solomon Islanders have begun voting in a national election, the first since the prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, struck a security pact with China in 2022 and drew the Pacific Islands nation closer to Beijing.

The election outcome will be closely watched by the US, China and Australia for its potential impact on regional security, although Solomon Islands voters will be focused on struggling health services, education and inadequate roads, opposition parties said.

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