Live Streaming
Program Highlight
Company Profile
International News (6891)
February
White House to hold talks with Taiwan officials in Washington, Financial Times reports
Written by Nur Yasmin
The White House will meet senior Taiwan officials next week in Washington for talks meant to be private to avoid an angry reaction from China, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, at a time of heightened tensions between Taipei and Beijing.
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and National Security Adviser Wellington Koo will lead the delegation, the newspaper said, citing five people familiar with the talks whom it did not name.
The Taiwanese team will meet U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, the FT said.
"I'm not able to comment on that and I'm not able to confirm that," Wu told reporters in Taipei.
The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan but is its most important arms seller and international supporter, to Beijing's consistent anger.
The Pentagon's top China official, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Chase, has arrived in Taiwan, two sources familiar with matter said on Friday, beginning a visit that could exacerbate Sino-U.S. strains.
China and the United States are involved in a bitter dispute over the U.S. military's shooting down of what it called a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina this month. China says the balloon was for monitoring weather.
China staged war games near Taiwan in August to express its anger at a Taipei visit by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Chinese military activities near the island have continued on an almost daily basis. (Reuters)
February
Japan, China to hold security talks next week, Japan foreign minister says
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan and China will hold security talks next week, Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said after meeting his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
The agreement to hold the security talks, the first to be held in four years, came after Hayashi and China's top diplomat Wang Yi spoke ahead of the conference.
"It is important for us to have frank discussions precisely because there are a number of pressing matters in our relationship", Hayashi said to reporters, highlighting a territorial spat in the East China Sea and increasing Chinese and Russian military presence around Japanese waters as some of the issues that need to be discussed.
The disputed East China Sea islets claimed by both China and Japan have long been a sticking point in bilateral relations. China calls the islands Diaoyu, while Japan calls them Senkaku.
Japan and China will hold talks on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a statement released by Japan's foreign ministry.
Hayashi said he also discussed the identification of surveillance balloons in Japan's skies with his Chinese counterpart, telling Wang that "whatever country the balloons may belong to, entering a foreign country's airspace without permission constitutes an airspace violation".
Japan "strongly suspects" Chinese surveillance balloons had entered Japanese territory at least three times since 2019, and is considering relaxing requirements on the use of weapons to defend against intrusions, Kyodo news agency reported. (Reuters)
February
New Zealand's cyclone death toll at 11, thousands still missing
Written by Nur Yasmin
The death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand climbed to 11 on Sunday as thousands of people remained missing a week after the storm struck the country's North Island.
The cyclone hit the island's northernmost region on Feb. 12 and tracked down the east coast, inflicting widespread devastation. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has called Gabrielle New Zealand's biggest natural disaster this century.
On Sunday, police said two more people had died in hard-hit Hawke's Bay in circumstances related to the cyclone.
More fatalities are possible, Hipkins told reporters, saying 3,216 people had been determined to be OK, while police were trying to ascertain the status of more than 3,000 others.
Lives had been "turned upside down" by the disaster and recovery was a "steep mountain ahead", he said, pointing to disrupted telecommunications, shortages of fresh water and damaged roads still restricting access to some areas.
Supply chains were disrupted causing problems moving goods, many crops had been destroyed, and 28,000 homes were still without power, he said.
"The true extent of the devastation and loss become clearer with every passing day," the prime minister said.
A team from Fiji would leave for New Zealand in coming days to assist with recovery, one of 12 offers of international aid received so far, Hipkins said. Twenty-seven emergency workers from Australia are assisting with the relief effort.
Recovery efforts continued on Sunday, with teams from Auckland Council carrying out rapid building assessments on damaged homes in the coastal areas of Muriwai and Piha, about 60 km (40 miles) west of the nation's largest city, Auckland.
Emergency authorities and the military have been dropping critical supplies via helicopter to communities stranded since the cyclone, which washed away farms, bridges and livestock and inundated homes.
Police have sent an extra 100 officers to Hawke's Bay and nearby Tairawhiti, including to isolated areas, amid reports of looting.
“The police are working to maintain law and order," Hipkins said. (Reuters)
February
Japan, South Korea foreign ministers meet on sidelines of Munich Security Conference
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan's foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi met his South Korean counterpart Park Jin on Saturday and reiterated the need for continued communications between the two countries to return to a "healthy relationship".
Meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the two foreign ministers agreed to "close communications between the two countries on each diplomatic level to resolve issues of concern", a statement released by the Japanese foreign ministry said.
They also had a "frank" discussion about wartime labour issues, an issue that worsened relations after a South Korean court ordered the seizure of assets of Japanese companies accused of not compensating some of their colonial-era labourers, the ministry said.
Tokyo says the issue of compensation was settled under a 1965 treaty normalizing diplomatic ties and providing South Korea with economic assistance, and has warned of serious repercussions if the orders are enforced.
Japan is considering easing curbs on shipping high-tech materials, which it imposed in 2019 on South Korea over a dispute about Japan's wartime forced labour by Korean workers, as the neighbours hold a series of talks aimed at solving the dispute, the Sankei newspaper reported in late January. (Reuters)
February
Exclusive: Daughter of Thaksin Banking On Nostalgia To Win Thailand Election
Written by Nur Yasmin
Touting her billionaire family's legacy of populism and massive election victories, Thailand's Paetongtarn Shinawatra is emerging as the candidate to beat in upcoming polls, betting that nostalgia can win millions of working class votes.
Paetongtarn, 36, is campaigning hard in the vote-rich rural strongholds of the Shinawatra family's Pheu Thai political juggernaut, hoping to reignite the kind of fervor that swept father Thaksin and aunt Yingluck to power in unprecedented landslides.
Political neophyte Paetongtarn is promising Pheu Thai will complete unfinished business from three stints in office since 2001, all of which were cut short by court rulings and military coups that it says were orchestrated by Thailand's conservative establishment.
"We managed to fix everything in the first year but then four years later we were ousted by a coup, so there are things that we have not achieved," Paetongtarn told Reuters in her first formal interview with foreign media ahead of the election, expected in May.
"So we go on each stage to tell people how our policies can change their lives. And only through stable politics can people's lives change in a sustainable manner," she said, while campaigning in the northeast.
Thaksin and Yingluck were toppled by the army in 2006 and 2014 respectively, despite overseeing big economic growth. Both live in self-imposed exile to avoid prison convictions their allies say were designed to prevent their political comebacks.
OLD PLAYBOOK
The baton has passed to Paetongtarn, Thaksin's youngest daughter, who is using the same playbook in offering minimum wage hikes, utilities subsidies and long-promised high-speed rail systems and infrastructure to manage floods and droughts.
Pheu Thai's slogan is "Think Big, Act Smart", taking aim at incremental reforms by the military-backed governments of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha since he seized power in 2014.
"The picture has to be big and we must be able to address longstanding problems that festered. These must be completely dealt with," said Paetongtarn.
Though yet to be named as Pheu Thai's prime ministerial candidate, Paetongtarn is far ahead in opinion polls for premier, with twice the support of Prayuth.
Pheu Thai is expected to win most votes, but could struggle to lead a government given the military's influence over an appointed Senate, which together with the elected lower house chooses the prime minister.
Paetongtarn said she consults regularly and remains close with her father, who lives mainly in Dubai. His chief worry, she said, was her campaigning while nearly seven months pregnant.
"But I'm OK," she said. "This is my second pregnancy. I am aware of myself. I won't go too hard."
Despite their electoral popularity, the Shinawatras are loathed in Thailand as much as they are loved.
They have long been accused by opponents of cronyism to enrich business friends and of buying off the poor with wasteful populist policies. The Shinawatras deny the charges.
Thailand's election is shaping up to be another grudge match between warring elites in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
Paetongtarn said she remains concerned about the impact of the country's intractable power struggle involving her family, including coups, which she said makes Thailand "go backwards".
"It also makes the world see our country in a different light. They don't want to trade with us. It reduces the opportunities for everyone," she said.
"Our country has been frozen for so long. So a coup should not take place again. The country must progress and people deserve to have better livelihoods." (Reuters)
February
South Korea, U.S. stage combined air drill in response to North Korea missile launch
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korea and the United States held a combined air drill involving a U.S. strategic bomber on Sunday in response to North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday, South Korea's military said. (Reuters)
February
U.S. to push debt relief, Ukraine aid at G20 finance meeting in India
Written by Nur Yasmin
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to India next week for G20 finance meetings that will focus on unblocking distressed-country debt restructuring, boosting support for Ukraine and reforming multilateral development banks, a Treasury official said.
Yellen will join fellow G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Bengaluru on Feb. 23-25, spanning the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The senior Treasury official told reporters on Friday that Yellen would take every opportunity to criticize Russia's actions and to work with allies to try to mitigate spillovers that the conflict has caused, including addressing food insecurity and high energy prices.
Yellen will also emphasize the need to increase financial support for Ukraine, including a new International Monetary Fund loan program, the official said.
"I wouldn't expect her to engage with Russian counterparts in any way other than to forcefully refute any incorrect statements they make during the meetings," the official said. "And to be very direct in her criticism of Russia and Russia's war."
The official said Yellen had no meetings with Chinese counterparts to announce at present. Yellen said last week that she hopes to travel to China for high-level economic meetings, but the timing would be up to the State Department and the Pentagon after of the recent downing of a Chinese surveillance balloon that floated over the continental United States.
PRESSING FOR DEBT RELIEF
At the G20 meetings, Yellen will press China to "quickly deliver" on debt relief for distressed low- and middle-income countries, the official said.
China is due to participate in a debt roundtable discussion organized by host India, the IMF and the World Bank that will focus on broader issues that are creating roadblocks to debt relief deals for Zambia, Sri Lanka and other countries. Among the sticking points is China's insistence that World Bank and other multilateral lenders share in the pain of taking debt "haircuts."
The official said the Treasury would "love" to see a deal struck on Zambian debt at the meetings, but the roundtable's main purpose is to make sure that a range of creditors and borrowers, including private sector creditors, all understand the types of, and how to define, common treatment of creditors.
"I wouldn't say the sovereign debt roundtable is about China specifically. It's about trying to make sure that we have a functioning common framework and a functioning way to get to that treatment," the official said.
WORLD BANK REFORMS
Yellen will also press for consensus on reforming multilateral development banks to vastly expand their lending to tackle pressing global challenges such as climate change and conflict, while maintaining their core missions of reducing poverty, the official said.
The issue was drawn into sharper focus this week by World Bank President David Malpass' surprise early departure announcement.
The Treasury official said that the bank's evolution would be a major topic of discussion and that the entire department was focused on ensuring that multilateral development banks were "fit for purpose in the 21st century."
The Treasury said Yellen will hold a news conference on Feb. 23 and will hold bilateral meetings in Bengaluru with the finance ministers of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, and Britain, Jeremy Hunt. (Reuters)
February
South Korea PM says will increase flights from China by end of month
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korea will increase the number of flights into the country from China to 80 from 62 per week by the end of this month, South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Friday, in Seoul's latest step to ease curbs on travellers from China.
"We will gradually expand the flights to 100 per week from next month as was agreed by the two countries and will review an additional increase," Han said, speaking during a meeting on responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The remarks come days after China announced it will resume issuing short-term visas for travellers from South Korea starting Saturday, following South Korea's lifting of similar visa curbs last week.
South Korea had imposed a number of border measures on travellers from China after Beijing's decision to lift stringent zero-COVID policies, but has been easing some of them citing an improved COVID situation in its neighbour.
Seoul will decide next week whether to drop remaining border restrictions, including mandatory COVID tests for arrivals from China, Han said.
South Korea's finance ministry said in a monthly economic report that the number of Chinese tourists arriving in January was 30,648, more than triple the number in the same month a year earlier, after more than doubling in December last year compared with December 2021. (Reuters)
February
India's BJP slams Soros for saying Adani's troubles will weaken Modi
Written by Nur Yasmin
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party accused billionaire financier-philanthropist George Soros of trying to undermine India's democracy on Friday by predicting that the Adani group's woes would loosen the Hindu nationalist leader's grip on power.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Thursday, 92-year-old Soros said “Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies; their fate is intertwined” and the conglomerate’s troubles would “significantly weaken Modi’s stranglehold on India’s federal government” and “open the door to push for much needed institutional reforms”, the Financial Times reported.
The seven listed companies of the apples-to-airports Adani group have together lost about $120 billion in market value since a Jan. 24 report by Hindenburg Research alleged the conglomerate improperly used offshore tax havens and manipulated stock, and flagged concerns over its high debt levels.
Modi’s opponents say he has longstanding ties with Gautam Adani, the founder of the group, going back nearly two decades to when Modi was chief minister of the western state of Gujarat. They also accuse the government of favouring the group in business deals, charges the government has rejected as “wild allegations”.
“A foreign power at the centre of which is a man named George Soros has announced that he will hurt India’s democratic structure. He has announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be his main target. He has also announced that he will help build a system in India that will protect his interests, not India’s,” Smriti Irani, the federal minister for women and child development, told reporters at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office.
“This is not just an attempt to hurt India’s image, if you listen to him carefully, he talks of regime change,” she said. “India has always defeated foreign powers whenever it was challenged and will continue to defeat them in the future too.”
Modi has not referred to Adani by name since the crisis triggered by the Hindenburg report but last week he told parliament that the "blessings of 1.4 billion people in the country are my protective cover and you can't destroy it with lies and abuses", as opposition lawmakers chanted "Adani, Adani". (Reuters)
February
Russia summons Dutch ambassador over MH17 probe
Written by Nur Yasmin
Russia said on Friday that it had summoned the Dutch ambassador over what it called "obsessive attempts" by the Dutch authorities to hold it responsible for the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine in 2014.
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the joint investigation team set up to establish who was responsible of being "politicised".
Prosecutors said last week at The Hague they had found "strong indications" that Russian President Vladimir Putin had approved the use in Ukraine of a Russian BUK missile system used to shoot down the plane over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
The summoning of its ambassador would not change the determination of the Netherlands to bring those who were responsible for downing the plane to justice, Dutch vice Prime Minister Sigrid Kaag said.
"We are looking for international justice, and we aim for the finding of the truth for victims and their relatives," Kaag told reporters in The Hague.
"This is all part of the game of diplomacy, but we know what we stand for. The ambassador will listen to their message and relay it to us, and that will be that."
MH17 was shot down by a Russian BUK missile system as it flew over eastern Ukraine from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew, including 196 Dutch citizens. (Reuters)