Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Boeing agrees to pay $51m over export violations in China and other countries

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Company accused of violations including Chinese employees improperly downloading files relating to Pentagon programs

Boeing said on Thursday it had reached a $51m settlement with the US state department for numerous export violations including Chinese employees in China improperly downloading documents related to US Pentagon programs.

The state department said from 2013 through 2017 three Chinese employees at Boeing facilities in China downloaded technical data involving programs including the F-18, F-15 and F-22 fighter jets, the E-3 airborne warning and control system, the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and the AGM84E cruise missile.

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First North Korea spy satellite is ‘alive’ and being controlled, experts say

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Changes in orbit of Malligyong-1 suggest Pyongyang is successfully maneuvering the satellite

North Korea’s first spy satellite is “alive”, space experts have said, after detecting changes in its orbit that suggested Pyongyang was successfully controlling the spacecraft – although its capabilities remain unknown.

After two fiery failures, North Korea successfully launched the Malligyong-1 satellite into orbit in November. Pyongyang’s state media claimed it has photographed sensitive military and political sites in South Korea, the US and elsewhere, but has not released any imagery. Independent radio trackers have not detected signals from the satellite.

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Indonesia activists condemn four-star general rank for presumed president

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Outgoing president confers honour on presumed successor, Prabowo Subianto, who is accused of human rights violations

Human rights experts have condemned a decision by Indonesia’s outgoing president to award the rank of honorary four-star general to his presumed successor, Prabowo Subianto, a controversial figure accused of human rights violations.

Prabowo, 72, a former son-in-law of the dictator Suharto and a special commander under his regime was dismissed from the military over allegations he was involved in kidnapping and torturing pro-democracy activists in 1998.

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Tuvalu to revisit deal that gives Australia control of island nation’s security agreements

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Incoming prime minister Feleti Teo has indicated he will review details of the landmark pact that effectively gives Australia veto power over future agreements with other nations

Tuvalu’s new government has questioned the “absence of transparency” in a security and migration pact the country signed with Australia last November, throwing the landmark deal into doubt.

While the government expressed support for the “broad principles and objectives” of the Tuvalu-Australia Falepili Union in a “statement of priorities” posted to X by member of parliament Simon Kofe, it also acknowledged “the absence of transparency and consultations in socializing and informing the public in Tuvalu of such an important and groundbreaking initiative”.

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South Korea’s fertility rate sinks to record low despite $270bn in incentives

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Average number of births per woman falls to 0.72 in country that already has the world’s lowest rate, and has spent billions since 2006 to reverse the trend

South Korea’s demographic crisis has deepened with the release of data showing its birthrate – already the world’s lowest – fell to a new record low in 2023, despite billions of dollars in government schemes designed to persuade families to have more children.

Reports that South Korea’s population had shrunk for the fourth straight year came soon after neighbouring Japan reported a record decline in its population last year, along with a record fall in the number of births and the lowest number of marriages since the end of the second world war.

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Congress ‘gradually destroying’ US relations with Pacific ally, Marshall Islands president warns

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Hilda Heine says US funding delays damage relationship with the Pacific nation as lawmakers say hold-up delivers a ‘gift’ to China

Hilda Heine, the president of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, has warned relations with the US are “gradually being destroyed by party politics” as Congress delays approval of crucial funding for the Pacific nation.

US lawmakers have not yet passed funding packages agreed in 2023 with the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), in a move some argue is opening the door to China to build its influence in the Pacific region.

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Births in Japan hit record low as government warns crisis at ‘critical state’

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Birthrate continues to fall as young people increasingly reluctant to have children due to bleak job prospects, cost of living and work culture

The number of babies born in Japan last year fell for an eighth straight year to a new low, government data has shown, and a top official says it is critical for the country to reverse the trend in the coming half-dozen years.

The 758,631 babies born in Japan in 2023 were a 5.1% decline from the previous year, according to the Health and Welfare Ministry on Tuesday. It was the lowest number of births since Japan started compiling the statistics in 1899.

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Rare copy of Mao’s Little Red Book expected to fetch more than £30,000

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Early editions of the book of quotations will be sold at an auction of Cultural Revolution artefacts

The Little Red Book, a talisman of 20th-century Maoism, may have fallen out of favour in China after the Cultural Revolution, but its popularity with collectors shows no sign of abating.

The book, officially entitled Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, was given its popular name due to the bright red cover of mass-produced editions. A rare prototype version is about to resurface in a sale by a west London auction house of hundreds of artefacts from the Cultural Revolution, where it is expected to fetch more than £30,000.

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Vogue China’s Margaret Zhang, youngest person appointed as an editor at magazine group, to step down

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Australian Chinese former fashion blogger, whose appointment in 2021 was met with controversy, announces she is leaving the magazine

Three years after becoming the youngest person to hold an editor title at Vogue, Margaret Zhang is leaving her position as editorial director of Vogue China.

The Australian Chinese creative director announced her exit on Instagram on Monday, writing: “As we kick off a transformative Year of the Dragon, I’m excited to announce that I have decided to wrap up with Vogue and jump into the next chapter of my career.”

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Japan’s moon lander survives two-week lunar night after wonky landing

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Unmanned Slim spacecraft responds to signal from Earth after touching down at awkward angle in January

Japan’s moon lander has responded to a signal from Earth, suggesting it survived the two-week lunar night, the country’s space agency has said.

The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) touched down last month at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way. But as the sun’s angle shifted, it powered up for two days and carried out scientific observations of a crater with a hi-spec camera.

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Tuvalu names Feleti Teo prime minister after pro-Taiwan leader Kausea Natano ousted

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Taiwan ambassador says ties remain ‘rock solid’ amid rumours island nation could switch allegiance to Beijing

Lawmakers in Tuvalu have selected Feleti Teo as the Pacific island nation’s new prime minister, weeks after an election that put ties with Taiwan in focus.

Former attorney general Teo secured the support of lawmakers who were elected last month, government secretary Tufoua Panapa told Agence France-Presse on Monday.

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‘Reality remains tough as ever’, says Japan PM as extra $660m pledged for Noto earthquake rebuild

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The earthquake hit parts of the Ishikawa region on New Year’s Day killing 241 people and sparking a major fire, water remains cut off to some areas

Japan will spend an additional $660m rebuilding areas ravaged by a devastating New Year’s Day earthquake, prime minister Fumio Kishida said, taking the total amount of relief to $1.7bn.

The new financial aid was announced by the prime minister on Saturday as he visited the quake-hit areas.

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Apartment block fire in China’s Nanjing city kills at least 15, officials say

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The blaze started on the first floor where electric bikes had been placed, according to officials, but the cause is still unknown

At least 15 people were killed and 44 injured in a fire at a residential building in eastern China’s Nanjing city, local authorities said.

The fire broke out early Friday morning, officials said at a press conference, with a preliminary investigation suggesting the blaze started on the building’s first floor, where electric bikes had been placed.

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Weather tracker: Contrasts in cold and heat break records in China

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Xinjiang in north-west recorded minus 52.3C, while Badu in south recorded 38C – the largest temperature contrast recorded in a single country

China’s Xinjiang region, in the far west of the country, experienced record-breaking low temperatures of -52.3C on 18 February, surpassing a 64-year-old record for the region. The figure was just shy of the lowest national temperature of -53C, which was recorded in the Heilongjiang region in January last year.

The extreme weather has caused big disruption after the lunar new year celebrations, with blizzards and ice leaving people stranded on roads and railways. On the same day, Badu in the south of China recorded a maximum temperature of 38C, meaning there was a staggering temperature difference of 90.3C across the country. This is the largest temperature contrast ever recorded for a single country, surpassing the US in January 1954 by a whole degree Celsius.

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Huge cybersecurity leak lifts lid on world of China’s hackers for hire

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Leaked files shows range of services offered and bought, with data harvested from targets worldwide

A big leak of data from a Chinese cybersecurity firm has revealed state security agents paying tens of thousands of pounds to harvest data on targets, including foreign governments, while hackers hoover up huge amounts of information on any person or institution who might be of interest to their prospective clients.

The cache of more than 500 leaked files from the Chinese firm I-Soon was posted on the developer website Github and is thought by cybersecurity experts to be genuine. Some of the targets discussed include Nato and the UK Foreign Office.

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Expensive toilets cause a stink at Japan’s world expo

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Row over £1.05m amenities block comes amid growing concern over the cost of the event, which is taking place in Osaka in 2025

Visitors to next year’s world exposition in Japan could find themselves spending a penny in toilets that cost more than £1m to build, with recent construction estimates for restrooms sparking a row over the event’s spiralling costs.

Japanese media reported this week that some of the 40-plus bathrooms being built at the site in Osaka, a port city in the west of the country, will cost as much as ¥200m (£1.05m).

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Boss of Japan crime syndicate conspired to traffic nuclear material, say US prosecutors

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Takeshi Ebisawa is being charged over a conspiracy to traffic uranium and plutonium from Myanmar, believing Iran would use it to make weapons

The head of a Japanese crime syndicate conspired to traffic uranium and plutonium in the belief that Iran would use it to make nuclear weapons, US prosecutors have alleged.

Federal officials said Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, and others showed samples of nuclear materials that had been transported from Myanmar to Thailand to an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] agent.

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‘I hope he got the extended warranty’: US jokes about Russian car Putin gave to Kim Jong-un

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State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington he ‘didn’t know there was such a thing as a Russian luxury car’

A US spokesperson has mocked president Vladimir Putin’s gift of a Russian car to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as he accused Moscow of violating UN resolutions.

North Korean state media said on Tuesday that Kim was “presented with a car made in Russia for his personal use by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, president of the Russian Federation.”

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Growth in CO2 emissions leaves China likely to miss climate targets

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Carbon intensity of the country’s economy remains high, despite rapid improvements in clean energy output

China is off track on all of its core 2025 climate targets, despite the fact that clean energy is now the biggest driver of the country’s economic growth, analysis has found.

After years of extraordinarily rapid growth, China is now grappling with a slowdown that is causing ripples internally and internationally. The government has supercharged the growth of the renewable energy industry but it has simultaneously poured stimulus funds into construction and manufacturing, and continues to approve coal power.

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Cost of raising children in China second-highest in world, thinktank reveals

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Expense and challenge of balancing work and family life key factors in declining birthrate and shrinking population

China is one of the most expensive places in the world to raise a child, outstripping the US and Japan in relative terms, a prominent Chinese thinktank has said.

A report released on Wednesday by the Beijing-based YuWa Population Research Institute found that the average cost of raising a child in China until the age of 18 is 538,000 yuan (£59,275) – more than 6.3 times as high as its GDP per capita, compared with 4.11 times in the US or 4.26 times in Japan.

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