VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

 Taiwan and Europe must work together to defend against authoritarianism and disinformation, President Tsai Ing-wen told visiting lawmakers from the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on Monday.

Lithuania has faced sustained pressure from China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, since allowing the opening of a de facto Taiwanese embassy in its capital.

Beijing has ramped up military and diplomatic pressure on Taipei to accept Chinese sovereignty claims and to limit its international participation, though Tsai says Taiwan will not bow to threats and will defend its freedom and democracy.

Tsai told the lawmakers at the Presidential Office that Taiwan and the Baltic nations - once part of the Soviet Union - share similar experiences of breaking free from authoritarian rule and of fighting for freedom.

"The democracy we enjoy today was hard earned. This is something we all understand most profoundly," she said.

"Now the world faces challenges posed by the expansion of authoritarianism and threat of disinformation. Taiwan is more than willing to share its experience at combating disinformation with its European friends. We must safeguard our shared values to ensure our free and democratic way of life."

Matas Maldeikis, leader of the Lithuanian parliament's Taiwan Friendship Group, told Tsai in response their group was in Taipei to express their solidarity with the island.

"Lithuanian government policy towards Taiwan has wide support in our society. Preserving freedom and the rules-based international order is in the vital interests for both Taiwan and Lithuania," he said.

There is much opportunity for economic and cultural cooperation, added Maldeikis, whose trip has been condemned by China.

No European Union member state has official ties with Taiwan.

The United States has strongly backed its NATO ally Lithuania in its spat with China.

Lithuania faces problems too with pressure from Russia and Belarus, with migrants on its border with Belarus. (reuters)

 South Korea said on Monday it has shelved plans to further relax COVID-19 curbs due to the strain on its healthcare system from rising hospitalisation and death rates as well as the threat posed by the new Omicron variant.

President Moon Jae-in said the crisis had deepened and called for a united response to prevent the variant from entering the country including the mobilisation of more personnel and tightening contact tracing.

"Numbers for new confirmed cases, severe cases and deaths are all on the rise and hospital bed capacity is tighter," Moon told a special COVID-19 response meeting.

This month, South Korea lifted restrictions on operating hours for restaurants and cafes. It was going to lift limits on hours for bars and clubs as well as allow parties of up to 100 people from Dec. 13 and then scrap all limits on gatherings by mid-February - but those plans are now on hold.

South Korean hospitals are treating 629 patients with severe COVID-19 and at least 1,200 are waiting for beds to free up in Seoul and its surrounding areas, Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said, urging the public to get tested and get booster shots.

South Korea has not yet detected any cases of Omicron, which is potentially more transmissible and has been described by the World Health Organization as posing a "very high" global risk. The country is restricting arrivals from South Africa and seven other nations over concern about the new variant.

There were 3,309 new COVID cases logged in South Korea for Sunday - down from a record high of 4,116 marked last week but still much greater than levels of around 2,000 before restrictions on cafes and restaurants were eased this month.

It has had 444,200 cases and 3,580 deaths since the pandemic began. Almost 80% of its population of 52 million is fully vaccinated. (Reuters)

Some would-be travellers are considering cancelling or delaying trip plans in response to fresh curbs prompted by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, travel agents said on Monday, threatening an already fragile recovery for the global tourism industry.

Southern Africa, where Omicron was discovered, accounts for only a tiny portion of the world's international travel but Israel and Japan have announced border closures to all foreign travellers and Britain and Australia have tightened rules for all arrivals in response to the new variant. read more

Some Australian travellers booked through Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (FLT.AX) have cancelled or delayed trips amid new requirements for arrivals to isolate at home or a hotel for 72 hours while awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test, a spokesperson for the travel agency said. read more

"We're not being rushed off our feet," he said of the number of changes to trips. "It is still very early days and people are generally prepared to wait and see what eventuates."

Australia's border remains closed to tourists from all countries except New Zealand and Singapore.

Jeremiah Wong, senior marketing communications manager at tour agency Chan Brothers Travel in Singapore, said some concerned customers had called to enquire about options for upcoming Australia trips due to the new isolation requirement.

"At this moment, the observation is that people are still keen to carry on with their travel plans, because they have been planning for this for a long time," he said. "We have not received any calls of concern for Europe tours."

Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIAL.SI) said it had converted some of its passenger flights to Johannesburg and Cape Town to cargo-only after Singapore put in place restrictions on travellers who had been to southern Africa.

Singapore had only recently begun a cautious reopening to foreign travel and the country on Sunday deferred plans to open its borders to vaccinated travellers from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia because those countries are transit hubs for African travel.

Singapore's Skyline Travel, which sells tour packages to Europe and South Korea, is "worried" about the situation though it has not yet seen cancellations, a spokesperson said.

"We have been making it compulsory for our clients to purchase travel insurance due to the fluidity of the situation," he said. (Reuters)

Allies of Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov appeared set to win Sunday's parliamentary election by a landslide, according to early figures, further cementing his grip on the Central Asian nation with close ties to Russia and China.

A Russian military airbase located in Kyrgyzstan allows Moscow to project power throughout the broader region and to locations such as Afghanistan.

With ballots from more than 90% of polling stations counted, opposition party Butun Kyrgyzstan had received 6.8% of the vote, with the rest split between a host of pro-presidential parties.

Japarov, 52, came to power during the turmoil that followed the October 2020 parliamentary elections, the results of which a number of political parties refused to accept.

Freed from prison where he was serving a sentence for a political stunt that involved kidnapping a provincial governor, Japarov became prime minister within days and then successfully ran for president on a nationalist and populist platform.

Aside from pushing through constitutional reforms strengthening the presidency, Japarov's major step so far has been the de facto nationalisation of the giant Kumtor gold mine operated by Canada's Centerra Gold (CG.TO), precipitating an ongoing legal battle.

Japarov has maintained the former Soviet republic's traditionally close ties with Russia and dismissed suggestions of allowing the United States to establish a military base in the country in addition to the existing Russian facility.

This week the state security service headed by Japarov's close ally said it had prevented a coup planned by a group of unnamed former senior officials and parliament members.

About 1,300 candidates from 21 political parties contested 90 parliamentary seats in Sunday's vote under a mixed system in which some seats are assigned to constituencies and others distributed between parties.

Parties needed to pass a 5% threshold to win any seats.

"I have voted for someone based on their track record, for the people whose work I have seen," Bakytbek, a 35-year-old construction engineer, said after voting at a polling station where coronavirus precautions involved voters having temperature checks from people clad in protective suits before being allowed to enter.

"In terms of what they promise, all candidates are the same." (Reuters)