VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of $428 million in aircraft parts for Taiwan to help its air force, which is strained from repeatedly intercepting Chinese jets operating close to the island.

Taiwan's air force is well-equipped but ageing, and is dwarfed by that of China's. Beijing views the democratically governed island as its territory and during the past three years or so has been flying daily sorties near Taiwan.

Since early August, when China staged war games around Taiwan after the visit to Taipei by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China's air force has also regularly crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which had served as an unofficial boundary.

The Pentagon, in two statements late Tuesday, said the parts would support Taiwan's F-16s, Indigenous Defence Fighter jets and all other aircraft and systems or subsystems of U.S. origin.

"The proposed sale will contribute to the sustainment of the recipient's aerial fleet, enhancing its ability to meet current and future threats while providing defensive and transport capabilities critical to regional security," it said.

Taiwan's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday the sale was expected to "take effect" within one month, and offered its thanks.

With China trying to "normalise" its military activities near Taiwan and put pressure on its airspace and seas as well as ability to train and reaction, the sale will be of great assistance, the ministry added.

It will "help maintain the proper equipment and replenishment of our air force's fighter jets, meet the needs of defence operations and combat readiness training, and ensure that our traditional combat power will not fall", the statement said.

The United States is Taiwan's most important international arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.

Taiwan's presidential office, noting this was the seventh arms sale approved by the Biden administration, said the latest approval would enhance Taiwan's combat power.

"Taiwan will continue to firmly demonstrate its determination and ability to defend itself and to firmly defend its sovereignty and protect national security," it said.

China has repeatedly demanded the United States stop selling weapons to Taiwan and has put sanctions on U.S. arms manufacturers. (Reuters)

The ruling Nepali Congress party has emerged as Nepal's single largest party after winning 89 seats in the 275-member parliament in a general election last month, and its leader, Sher Bahadur Deuba, looks set to stay on as prime minister.

A five-party alliance led by the Nepali Congress, which has been in power since July last year, won 136 seats, just two short for the 138 required for a majority, a tally of results from the Election Commission showed on Wednesday.

Party officials said leaders of the five-party alliance had sought the support of some new legislators and parties to reach the necessary majority.

Prakaksh Sharan Mahat, a spokesman for the Nepali Congress, said C.K. Raut, head of the newly formed Janamat Party, which won six seats, had met Deuba and pledged support for a new government.

Raut was not immediately available for comments.

"I have no doubt he will be the prime minister of the new government," Mahat said, referring to Deuba.

Deuba, 76, who is considered close to India, is in a better position to muster support for a majority, analysts said. The alliance led by his main rival, K.P. Sharma Oli of the Nepal Communist Unified Marxist Leninist Party (UML), won 92 seats.

Asian giants China and India jostle for influence in the Himalayan nation wedged between them. The Nepali Congress is seen as pro-India while the UML is considered closer to China.

Deuba could take the charge of a government for the sixth time in the next few days given how difficult it would be for any other alliance to cobble together a majority in parliament, analysts said.

"The present ruling alliance is most likely to form a new government because it needs the support of only a few members which could be easily won," said Krishna Khanal, a retired professor of political science at the Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu.

NEW FACES

Nepal, one of the world's poorest countries, has had 10 different governments since the abolition of a 239-year-old monarchy in 2008.

Its three major parties - the Nepali Congress, UML and the Maoist Centre - have all led different coalitions in the past but none has served a full five-year term due to power struggles and infighting.

Analysts said many younger candidates from newly formed smaller parties, or independents, had won seats in the Nov. 20 election, a sign of voter frustration with the old parties.

Younger politicians are also seeking to make their mark within the established parties.

Gagan Thapa, a young lawmaker from Deuba's party has vowed to challenge Deuba when the party deputies elect the prime minister.

Election results for the seven provincial assemblies, which were held along with parliamentary elections, showed that no party had got a clear majority.

Party officials said leaders will work out alliances in all provinces. (Reuters)

The World Bank and partners including Singapore on Wednesday launched a global tracking system to clean up the opaque market for carbon credits and help developing countries raise much-needed climate finance quickly and more cheaply.

Carbon credits - generated through activities such as planting forests or pulling climate-damaging carbon dioxide from the air - are sold to polluters to offset their emissions as a way of helping them reach net-zero emissions to limit global warming.

While governments wrangle over the rules for trading so-called compliance credits, projects are being launched to generate new credits and countries are setting up registers to track them.

Private-sector efforts also have sprung up offering credits for "voluntary" carbon markets, while a range of registries such as Verra and Gold Standard is accrediting and tracking them.

The $2 billion voluntary market has remained small. Critics cite concerns including poor market transparency, a limited supply of credits and questions over the quality of projects.

The new database - called the Climate Action Data Trust (CAD Trust) - aims to address these issues by collating all the project and carbon credit data in one place and making it free to the public.

"The goal for us was to create this global, public data layer which allows people to get a better sense of what's happening across the world, across different jurisdictions, across different programmes," Chandra Shekhar Sinha, an adviser of the Climate Change Group at the World Bank, told Reuters.

"We're able to track it, avoid double-counting (and) figure out what are the innovations that are taking place," and hopefully create a "race to the top" at the same time as lowering the barriers to entry for market participants.

The CAD Trust, co-founded with the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), will provide a platform listing various existing carbon offset registries to make it easier for companies and countries to share data.

Sonam Tashi, chief planning office at Bhutan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, told Reuters the new CAD Trust portal would allow the country to save around $1 million in initial costs for accessing the market, compared with the costs of setting up its own systems.

"It really helps us ... leapfrog the entire learning process. It brings us up to speed with what is required within the carbon markets," he said.

He said Bhutan is in discussions with possible buyers who want details about how carbon credits from its forests are being registered, verified and monitored.

"This is where the World Bank facility will help us," Tashi said. "The CAD Trust meets all the technical requirements of host countries and buyers."

Using the CAD Trust means Bhutan would likely be able to start selling credits in 2023 - a year earlier than if the country had not been able to access the facility, he said. (Reuters)

The European Commission said on Wednesday it had requested the formation of adjudicating panels at the World Trade Organization, the next step in two trade disputes with China after failing to resolve them bilaterally.

The disputes, both brought to the WTO at the beginning of the year, concern alleged Chinese restrictions on EU companies' rights to use foreign courts to protect their high-tech patents and on trade with EU member Lithuania.

The EU executive, which oversees trade policy for the 27-member European Union, said both sets of measures were highly damaging to European businesses, with those against Lithuania disrupting intra-EU trade and supply chains.

The Commission formally requested consultations with China at the WTO, the first step in a WTO challenge. Such consultations rarely resolve disputes.

The EU executive said the WTO panels would likely be formed early in 2023, noting that panel proceedings can last up to one and a half years.

China said it will handle the EU's trade disputes request in accordance with the WTO's dispute settlement procedure, according to a statement by the commerce ministry.

The panel requests come as the European Union reviews its stance towards China, seeing it increasingly as a competitor and system rival than a partner. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has also led EU leaders to express concern about economic reliance on China, which has taken a more neutral stance on the conflict.

The United States and the EU held the third ministerial-level meeting on Monday of their Trade and Technology Council (TTC), designed to enhance regulatory cooperation and present a united front against China.

An EU official said the timing of the requests was not linked to the TTC, but reflected the work required to build both cases. In the Lithuania case, many of China's actions were not published measures, which are typically the focus for WTO litigation.

One of the disputes concerns China's downgrading of diplomatic ties with Lithuania from December 2021 and pressure on multinationals to sever links with the Baltic nation of 2.8 million people after it allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in Vilnius.

The Commission said China had also placed import bans on alcohol, beef, dairy, logs and peat shipped from Lithuania on the basis of plant and food safety rules without proving the bans were justified.

In the other case, the Commission said Chinese courts had since August 2020 issued "anti-suit injunctions" that prevent European companies from seeking redress over standard-essential patents in non-Chinese courts, such as EU courts.

The Commission said Chinese manufacturers used the injunctions to pressure patent rights holders to grant them cheaper access to European technology. (Reuters)