VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

 Taiwan will extend compulsory military service to one year from four months from 2024 due to the rising threat the democratically governed island faces from its giant neighbour China, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday.

The move, which had been well-flagged, comes as China ramps up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan to assert its sovereignty claims, including almost daily Chinese air force missions near the island over the past three years.

Tsai said Taiwan wanted peace but needed to be able to defend itself.

"As long as Taiwan is strong enough, it will be the home of democracy and freedom all over the world, and it will not become a battlefield," Tsai told a news conference announcing the decision to extend the conscription period, which she described as "incredibly difficult".

The current military system, including training reservists, is inefficient and insufficient to cope with China's rising military threat, especially if it launched a rapid attack on the island, Tsai added.

"Taiwan wants to tell the world that between democracy and dictatorship, we firmly believe in democracy. Between war and peace, we insist on peace. Let us show the courage and determination to protect our homeland and defend democracy."

Conscripts will undergo more intense training, including shooting exercises, combat instruction used by U.S. forces, and operating more powerful weapons including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles, Tsai said.

Taiwan has complained of delayed U.S. arms deliveries this year, including of Stingers, but Tsai said the situation was improving after discussions with the United States.

The de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan welcomed the announcment on conscription reform.

"The United States' commitment to Taiwan and steps Taiwan takes to enhance its self-defence capabilities contribute to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region," the American Institute in Taiwan said.

Tsai's security team, including high-level officials from the defence ministry and the National Security Council, have been reviewing Taiwan's military system since 2020, an official briefed on the matter told Reuters.

Taipei, which rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims to Taiwan, on Monday reported the largest-ever Chinese air force incursion into the island's air defence identification zone, with 43 Chinese planes crossing an unofficial buffer between the two sides.

China also staged war games near Taiwan in August following a visit to Taipei by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

CHINA A 'MAJOR CONCERN'

Taiwan's government says only the Taiwanese people can decide their future.

"China's various unilateral behaviours have become a major concern for regional security," said the official, who took part in the high-level security discussion.

Conscripts would be tasked with guarding key infrastructure, enabling regular forces to respond more swiftly in the event of any attempt by China to invade, the defence ministry said at the same press conference.

Chieh Chung, researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a Taipei-based think tank, estimated that the extension could add an extra 60,000 to 70,000 manpower annually to the current 165,000-strong professional force in 2027 and beyond.

Even after the extension, however, the period of service will still be shorter than the 18 months mandated in South Korea, which faces a hostile and nuclear-armed North Korea.

Tsai is overseeing a broad modernisation programme, championing the idea of "asymmetric warfare" to make the island's forces more mobile, agile and harder to attack.

While the United States has pressed Taiwan to modernise its military to make it like a "porcupine" - agile and hard to attack - Tsai said there had been no pressure from Washington for these reforms.

China's growing assertiveness towards the island it claims as its own, as well as the war in Ukraine have prompted debate within Taiwan about how to boost defence.

Tsai said "a few things" had been learned from that war which have been incorporated into Taiwan's defence reforms, and noted that Ukraine's ability to hold off much larger Russian forces had given the international community time to render assistance. (Reuters)

Chinese people, cut off from the rest of the world for three years by COVID-19 curbs, flocked to travel sites on Tuesday ahead of borders reopening, even as rising infections strained the health system and roiled the economy.

Zero-tolerance measures - from shuttered borders to frequent lockdowns - have battered China's economy since early 2020, fuelling last month the mainland's biggest show of public discontent since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012.

His policy U-turn this month means the virus is now spreading largely unchecked across the country of 1.4 billion people.

Official statistics, however, showed only one COVID death in the seven days to Monday, fuelling doubts among health experts and residents about the government's data. The numbers are inconsistent with the experience of much less populous countries after they re-opened.

Doctors say hospitals are overwhelmed with five- to six-times more patients than usual, most of them elderly. International health experts estimate millions of daily infections and predict at least one million COVID deaths in China next year.

Nevertheless, authorities are determined to dismantle the last vestiges of their zero-COVID policies.

In a major step towards easing border curbs cheered by global stock markets on Tuesday, China will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine from Jan. 8, the National Health Commission (NHC) said late on Monday.

“It finally feels as if China has turned the corner," AmCham China Chairman Colm Rafferty said of the imminent lifting of the quarantine rule.

There are no official restrictions on Chinese people going abroad but the new rule will make it much easier for them to return home.

Data from travel platform Ctrip showed that within half an hour of the news, searches for popular cross-border destinations on had increased 10-fold. Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, South Korea were the most sought-after, Ctrip said.

Data from Trip.com showed outbound flights bookings were up 254% early on Tuesday from the day before.

Nevertheless, ordinary Chinese and travel agencies suggested that a return to anything like normal would take some months yet, given worries about COVID and more careful spending because of the impact of the pandemic.

Once the border with Hong Kong reopens next month, mainland Chinese would be able to take BioNTech-made mRNA vaccines, seen as more effective than those available on the mainland.

'GREAT PRESSURE'

China's classification of COVID will also be downgraded to the less strict Category B from the current top-level Category A from Jan. 8, the health authority said, meaning authorities will no longer be compelled to quarantine patients and close contacts and impose lockdowns.

But for all the excitement of a gradual return to a pre-COVID way of life, there was mounting pressure on the healthcare system, with doctors saying many hospitals are overwhelmed while funeral parlours report a surge in demand for their services.

Nurses and doctors have been asked to work while sick and retired medical workers in rural communities were being rehired to help, state media reported. Some cities have been struggling to secure supplies of anti-fever drugs.

"Some places are facing great pressure at hospital emergency wards and intensive care units," NHC official Jiao Yahui told reporters.

While the world's second-largest economy is expected to see a sharp rebound later next year, it is in for a rough ride in the coming weeks and months as workers increasingly fall ill.

Many shops in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere have closed in recent days with staff unable to come to work, while some factories have already sent many of their workers on leave for the late January Lunar New Year holidays.

"The concern of a temporary supply chain distortion remains as the labour force is impacted by infections," JPMorgan analysts said in a note, adding that their tracking of subway traffic in 29 cities showed that many people were restricting their movements as the virus spreads.

Data on Tuesday showed industrial profits fell 3.6% in January-November from a year earlier, versus a 3.0% drop for January-October, reflecting the toll of the anti-virus curbs in place last month, including in major manufacturing regions.

Authorities said they would step up financial support to small and private businesses in the hard-hit catering and tourism sectors.

The lifting of travel restrictions is positive for the $17 trillion economy, but strong caveats apply.

Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his country would require a negative COVID test for travellers from mainland China. The government would also limit airlines increasing flights to China, he said.

"International travel ... will likely surge, yet it may take many more months before volumes return to the pre-pandemic level," said Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China.

"COVID is still spreading in most parts of China, greatly disrupting the normal work schedule. Loss in productivity is significant." (Reuters)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), on Tuesday, inaugurated Sadawarna Dam in Cibogo Sub-district in West Java's district of Subang.

"The Sadawarna Dam is the 33rd dam we have inaugurated in the past eight years. The dam construction project was started in 2018," Jokowi said at the inauguration.

Present on the occasion were First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, and West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil.

"The dam construction cost reached Rp2.065 trillion. This is not a small fund," he stated.

Jokowi stressed that with the presence of the dam, Indramayu will be able to increase its rice production.

Sadawarna dams the Cipunagara river basin area that passed through the three districts of Subang, Sumedang, and Indramayu, flowing some 137 kilometers down from Mount Bukit Tunggul in the North Bandung Mountains to the Java Sea.

"Because we know that Indramayu is the largest contributor of (rice) surplus in Indonesia, and we hope that (rice production) would not decrease but increase, from 1.3 million to 1.8 million tons in Indramayu District," the president added.

With the construction of dams across the country, rice and horticulture field productivity can be increased.

"Our food resilience, food self-sufficiency will improve. That is our main goal to build the dams in addition to its function as a tourist destination, power generator, and (source of) raw water supply," he remarked.

The Sadawarna Dam can supply irrigation water to 4,284 hectares of rice fields, supply 1.2 cubic meters per second of raw water, and generate two megawatts of electricity. It can also function as a flood controller as well as a tourist destination.

With an inundation area of 720 hectares, the dam is expected to reduce flooding in Subang, Sumedang, and Indramayu, through which the Cipunagara River passes, by up to 26.9 cubic meters per second.

The dam, measuring 933 meters in length and 40 meters in height, is constructed by PT Wijaya Karya KSO and PT Nindya Karya KSO. (antaranews)

The Jakarta provincial government plans to conduct weather modification by collaborating with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to anticipate extreme weather at the start of 2023.

"We will conduct (weather modification) in January and February, and we will cooperate with BNPB on the weather modification technology," Acting Governor of Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono stated here on Tuesday.

After discussing cooperation with BNPB on disaster mitigation in the capital city, Hartono remarked that the next step is to rework the disaster vulnerability map.

He noted that the Air Force and National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) will also be involved in the technical implementation of weather modification.

"Later, Mr Isnawa Adji (Chief of Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency) will coordinate with BRIN and the Air Force to anticipate (extreme weather) from December 28 onwards. Maybe we will break it with the weather modification technology," the acting governor stated.

Hartono said that in addition to modifying the weather, his side will dredge small rivers in Jakarta.

Moreover, the provincial government will proceed with the planned scenario as a precautionary measure against bad weather on New Year's Eve or December 31, 2022.

"We will monitor the weather development (to act on) the scenario. Today, we will gather related agencies to discuss the condition," he stated.

Earlier, President Joko Widodo had urged officials to maximize the use of weather information from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) as an early warning tool and for disaster mitigation.

Meanwhile, BNPB Chief Suharyanto said Jakarta is one of the provinces highly prone to risks of disasters, such as floods.

"With fairly high rainfall, Jakarta has the potential to face annual flood disasters that must be anticipated," he stated.

Despite no volcanoes around Jakarta, the BNPB continues to maintain vigil since there is also the likelihood of earthquakes, based on historical experience. (antaranews)