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October
New Zealand Starts New Tourism Campaign as Post-COVID Visits Lag
Written by Nur Yasmin
New Zealand is launching a new tourism campaign with Kiwi director and actor Taika Waititi to attract visitors after the sector was hammered by COVID-19 and border closures.
Tourism New Zealand on Wednesday will premiere a 3-1/2 minute promotional film featuring the Oscar winner and Jade Daniels, his stunt double in the HBO romantic comedy series "Our Flag Means Death" which is filmed in New Zealand.
Visitors from United States are a major target audience, said Rene de Monchy, chief executive for Tourism New Zealand. The film, shot in December 2022, will also play on social media platforms in Australia, Germany, the UK and parts of Asia.
"Competition is heating up and economic times are a bit tough in many parts of the world so we've got to keep being innovative and top of mind for people."
Prior to COVID and the closure of New Zealand's borders, international tourism was New Zealand's largest source of foreign exchange and accounted for about 5.5% of gross domestic product.
Tourists are returning but overseas visitors in July were still 16% lower than in July 2019.
The film, which cost NZ$689,000($409,890) to make, highlights activities like dolphin watching in Kaikoura on the South Island's east coast and wine tasting in the country's largest city Auckland.
($1 = 1.6810 New Zealand dollars)
(Reuters)
October
Thailand Shooting: Teenager Arrested After One Killed at Luxury Mall
Written by Nur Yasmin
Thailand's police arrested a teenage gunman suspected of killing a Chinese national and critically wounding five people on Tuesday in a shooting spree at a luxury Bangkok mall, the latest high-profile gun violence to rock the country in recent years.
Hundreds of people, including children, were seen screaming and racing into the streets after gunshots rang out at the Siam Paragon mall, a major shopping and entertainment venue popular with tourists in Bangkok's crowded commercial heart.
Emergency services said a woman had been killed and six others wounded, five of them critically, correcting an earlier statement that three people had died. Police said the deceased was a Chinese citizen.
National police chief Torsak Sukvimol said the suspected shooter was 14 years old and had been receiving psychiatric treatment, but had skipped his prescribed medicine on the day of the incident.
"We have spoken to his parents," Torsak told reporters.
"The suspect said that someone was telling him to shoot others."
Fleeing shoppers were ushered by security guards from the mall into torrential rain and towards a road with heavy traffic. Verified social media footage showed some rushing towards the exit of a ground-floor supermarket, screaming as a gunshot rang out.
"It happened in just a few minutes. We saw all the people run, run, run, we didn't understand what was happening," said 26-year-old Shir Yahav from Israel, who was at a designer store at the time of the shooting.
"We heard several shots, like six or seven shots."
Gun violence and gun ownership are not uncommon in Thailand and the incident comes a year after an ex-police officer killed 35 people, including 22 children at a nursery, during an hours-long gun-and-knife attack. He later shot himself dead at home.
In 2020, a soldier shot and killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned four locations around the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima.
TOURIST HOTSPOT
Emergency services shared an image of a police officer handcuffing an individual lying face down on the ground and another of an officer retrieving a handgun from the floor.
Authorities earlier posted a grainy image of the suspected gunman wearing glasses, khaki cargo pants and a baseball cap, clutching a dark object.
The incident comes as Thailand's new government seeks to stimulate its sluggish economy by boosting tourist arrivals in what is one of Asia's most popular travel hotspots, including by offering visa-free entry to Chinese nationals.
Named the world's most photographed place by Instagram in 2013, Siam Paragon is Thailand's most famous mall, drawing throngs of local and foreign shoppers daily to its high-end stores, aquarium, plush movie theatre and popular food court dining.
Susinee, a restaurant worker, said she and her colleagues bolted when they heard gunshots.
"We just ran out," she said, standing with half a dozen of her colleagues.
Police said that staff at the mall had received training in dealing with active shooters.
The mall said it had evacuated shoppers and staff immediately, stressing safety was of the utmost importance.
"Siam Paragon would like to express our deep apologies for the unexpected event," it said in a statement, adding the mall would open reopen on Wednesday.
(Reuters)
October
Pakistan Orders Illegal Immigrants, Including 1.73 Million Afghans, to Leave
Written by Nur Yasmin
Pakistan on Tuesday ordered all illegal immigrants, including 1.73 million Afghan nationals, to leave the country or face expulsion after revealing that 14 of 24 suicide bombings in the country this year were carried out by Afghan nationals.
It was not immediately clear how Pakistani authorities could ensure the illegal immigrants leave, or how they could find them to expel them.
Islamabad's announcement marks a new low in its relations with Kabul that deteriorated after border clashes between the South Asian neighbours last month.
"We have given them a November 1 deadline," said Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti, adding that all illegal immigrants should leave voluntarily or face forcible expulsion after that date.
Bugti said some 1.73 million Afghan nationals in Pakistan had no legal documents to stay, adding a total of 4.4 million Afghan refugees lived in Pakistan.
"There are no two opinions that we are attacked from within Afghanistan and Afghan nationals are involved in attacks on us," he said. "We have evidence."
Islamabad has received the largest influx of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Kabul in 1979.
Bugti was speaking in Islamabad after civil and military leaders met the prime minister and army chief to discuss law and order after a recent spate of militant attacks.
The violence has seen an unusual uptick since local Taliban militants known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of hardline Sunni Islamist militants, revoked a ceasefire with the government late last year.
The TTP wants to overthrow the Pakistani government to replace it with its strict rule under Islamic law.
Two suicide bombings targeted religious gatherings in Pakistan last week, killing at least 57 people. The TTP denied involvement. Bugti said that one of the suicide bombers had been identified as an Afghan national.
Islamist State also operates in the Afghan border regions and has been involved in attacks in Pakistan.
The Pakistani military has conducted several offensives against Islamist militants, mainly in the rugged mountainous region along the Afghan border, which it says forced them to flee to Afghanistan.
Islamabad alleges that the militants use Afghan soil to train fighters and plan attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies, saying Pakistani security is a domestic issue.
There was no immediate response from Kabul to Bugti's comments.
(Reuters)
October
Schumer Confirms U.S. Senate Trip to China, Japan, South Korea
Written by Nur Yasmin
A bipartisan U.S. Senate delegation will visit China, Japan and South Korea in October, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office said on Tuesday.
The six-senator group will be co-led by Republican Mike Crapo, whose office said earlier the trip is planned for next week and that the senators hope to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Schumer has repeatedly urged the United States to take a harder line on China, and urged lawmakers earlier this year to begin new legislation aimed at addressing concerns about the world's second-biggest economy. The trip will follow visits by a series of Biden administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in August.
Schumer's office said the trip's goal is to advance U.S. economic and national security interests in the region and will feature meetings with government leaders and business leaders from each country and from U.S. companies operating in each country.
Schumer "will focus on the need for reciprocity in China for U.S. businesses that will level the playing field for American workers, as well as on maintaining U.S. leadership in advanced technologies for national security," his office said.
Other senators on the trip include Republicans Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy and Democrats Maggie Hassan and Jon Ossoff. The Chinese Embassy declined to comment Monday on the planned trip.
Raimondo said in August that U.S.companies had complained to her that China has become "uninvestable," pointing to fines, raids and other actions that made it risky to do business in the country.
"For U.S. business in many cases, patience is running thin, and it's time for action," she said, adding that companies face "exorbitant fines without any explanation, revisions to the counterespionage law, which are unclear and sending shock waves through the U.S. community; raids on businesses – a whole new level of challenge and we need that to be addressed."
(Reuters)
October
Philippines, Allies Kick Off Naval Drills Amid Asia-Pacific tension
Written by Nur Yasmin
Forces from Manila, Britain, Canada, Japan and the United States kicked off on Monday two weeks of joint naval exercises in Philippine waters as a "show of force", amid flaring regional tension.
With more than 1,800 participants, the drills follow last week's move by Beijing to block Philippine fishermen from Asia's most contested maritime feature, the Scarborough Shoal, held by China in the South China Sea.
This year's "Sama Sama" drills are being held in the southern part of the island of Luzon, featuring naval exercises in areas such as anti-submarine warfare, air defence and search and rescue, the Philippine navy said.
"With this show of force and active engagement of our allies and partners, 'Sama Sama' transcends mere military exercises," Philippine navy chief Rear Admiral Toribio Adaci said at the opening event.
"It is a symbol of our enduring partnerships and our shared commitment to security and stability in the Asia-Pacific region."
In his remarks, Vice Admiral Karl Thomas, the commander of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet, said, "It is important that all nations have a right to sail and operate in the West Philippine Sea, free from ... being coerced, free from being intimidated."
The West Philippine Sea refers to the portion of the South China Sea claimed by Manila.
Five vessels, two from the United States, and one each from Britain, Canada and Japan, joined the Philippine-hosted drills that will run until Oct. 13.
The navies of Australia, France, Indonesia and New Zealand also joined in by sending observers and experts.
"I am confident that no potential aggressor should be under any illusion other than this is a strong team of nations, a strong team of navies ... one navy sailing and operating together," Thomas added. (Reuters)
September
After Xi's G20 absence, China says willing to play role in APEC's success
Written by Nur Yasmin
China is willing to play a "constructive" role in the success of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, its top diplomat said on Tuesday, after President Xi Jinping's absence at the annual Group of 20 summit in India.
"As the world's largest developing country and an important member of APEC, China is willing to comply with the expectations of the international community and play a constructive role in the success of APEC this year," said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Xi, with no official explanation, did not go to the G20 summit in New Delhi this month, with the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, attending in his place. That prompted the United States to say China was "giving up" on the G20 and was building an alternative world order.
"Of course, we and all parties hope that the United States will recognise its responsibility as the host, demonstrate openness, fairness, inclusiveness, and responsibility, and create better conditions for the smooth holding of the meeting," Wang said at a news conference, when asked whether Xi would attend APEC.
China is in communication with the relevant parties, and will make an announcement in due time, Wang added.
Dialogue between China and the United States has been gradually resuming despite tensions between the two superpowers, especially over Taiwan. Expectations are building that Xi would meet with Biden on the sidelines of APEC, after missing a chance for a face-to-face meeting at G20 in India.
At the same news conference, Wang said, without naming any country, that China opposed "wanton" expansion of military alliances that squeeze the security space of other countries.
Beijing has been critical of Washington's continued attempts to deepen military alliances in the Asia-Pacific region. It has particularly disapproved of bases that the U.S. military is building in the north of the Philippines facing democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory.
China has long advocated partnerships rather than alliances, and is not part of any military bloc. Its sole remaining ally after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 is North Korea, to which China is bound by a 1961 treaty to come to its defence if it is attacked. (Reuters)
September
South Korea, Japan, China agree to hold summit at 'earliest convenient time'
Written by Nur Yasmin
Senior diplomats from South Korea, China and Japan agreed on Tuesday that their countries' leaders would meet at the "earliest convenient time", Seoul's foreign ministry said after a rare meeting aimed at kickstarting trilateral exchanges.
The three countries had agreed to hold a summit every year starting in 2008 to foster regional cooperation, but that initiative has been frayed by bilateral feuds and the COVID-19 pandemic. The last summit was in 2019.
Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement that specific dates remained under discussion and that the countries' foreign ministers would meet "in a couple of months".
South Korea is this year's host for three-way meetings and has proposed a summit in late December, Japanese broadcaster TBS reported.
Japan's foreign minister, Yoko Kamikawa, said the three countries share the need to restart high-level talks, including summits, "as soon as possible".
"I believe it is very valuable to discuss the various challenges the region faces," she told a briefing in Tokyo.
The latest meeting was seen partly intended to assuage Beijing's concerns over the two U.S. allies' tightening cooperation after Seoul and Tokyo agreed this year to end legal, diplomatic and trade disputes over issues dating to Japan's 1910-45 occupation of Korea.
"We unanimously believe that carrying out cooperation is in the common interests of the three parties," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday. "We should work together to strengthen practical cooperation ... and make new contributions to regional peace, stability, and prosperity."
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have taken steps to mend ties and in August held a historic trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, where the three vowed to boost cooperation, including on defence and economic security.
A senior South Korean official said China has been proactive in seeking trilateral cooperation and arranging meetings since bilateral ties soured over the deployment in 2017 of a U.S. THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea.
"I'm sure there should be some discomfort on their side regarding our increasingly close trilateral security partnerships with the United States and Japan," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. "There seems to be a view there that they need to properly manage bilateral ties with us, as they saw how their THAAD responses backfired and fuelled anti-China sentiment to serious levels."
Beijing will most likely look to leverage trilateral trade ties to counterbalance the U.S. friend-shoring strategy, promote people-to-people exchanges, and enhance communication and dialogue with Seoul and Tokyo on security and defence matters, said Tong Zhao, senior fellow at the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Japan and South Korea have an interest in avoiding conflicts and maintaining a stable security relationship with China, and Beijing's assistance in slowing down, if not halting, North Korea's extensive nuclear development program, he added.
"These shared interests open up new avenues for strategic communication, confidence-building, and measures to prevent crises," Zhao said.
China's premier has traditionally attended the trilateral summits, and South Korea is also pushing for a separate visit by President Xi Jinping.
The latest meeting involved South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won, Japanese Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Takehiro Funakoshi, and Nong Rong, China's assistant minister of foreign affairs. (Reuters)
September
Philippines vows not to back down as China warns against 'trouble' at disputed shoal
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Philippines vowed on Tuesday not to back down in the face of a Chinese effort to block its fishermen from a fiercely contested shoal in the South China Sea, while Beijing warned the Southeast Asian nation not to "provoke and cause trouble".
The comments came a day after Manila cut a floating 300-m (980-ft) barrier installed by Beijing at the shoal, one of Asia's most contested maritime features, making use of coastguard personnel posing as fishermen in a small boat.
The move, which the Philippines called a "special operation", could further strain ties that have deteriorated this year.
"They might still return the floating barrier once again, they might still do shadowing and dangerous maneouvres once again," Philippine coastguard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela told CNN Philippines.
Earlier he said four Chinese vessels were in the area when a Philippine ship approached and were "not that aggressive", adding it was clear media were on board the Philippine ship.
He said China's coastguard had even removed remnants of the severed ball-buoy barrier and had been measured in its response to the presence of its vessel, which reached its closest point to the strategic atoll since China seized it in 2012.
"We have shown the world the Filipino people will not back down and we're still going to consistently carry out whatever is necessary for us to maintain our presence," Tarriela said.
The Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing spot about 200 km (124 miles) off the Philippines and within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), has been the site of decades of on-off disputes over sovereignty.
China, which calls the rocky outcrop Huangyan Island, has accused the Philippines of "intruding" in what were indisputably Chinese waters. On Tuesday, it warned Manila to steer clear of provocations.
"China firmly upholds the sovereignty and maritime rights of Huangyan Island, and we advise the Philippines side not to provoke and cause trouble," foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular press briefing.
SOURED RELATIONS
The Philippines and China have repeatedly sparred over the shoal but tension had ebbed under the previous pro-China administration in Manila.
Ties have soured this year, however, as new President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who authorised the cutting of the cordon, seeks to strengthen relations with ally the United States.
Such efforts included giving the U.S. military expanded access to Philippine bases, a move criticised by China as provocative and liable to stoke regional tension.
Vessels of the two countries have faced off several times this year elsewhere in Philippine EEZ.
Manila has accused Beijing's coastguard of dangerous and aggressive acts such as using a military-grade laser to deter a resupply missions to troops stationed on a rusty, grounded warship.
China says that occupation is illegal.
On Monday Chinese nationalist tabloid the Global Times quoted an expert as saying Philippine decision-makers were acting under the influence of a United States bent on instigating conflicts to contain Beijing.
Control of the shoal, about 850 km (528 miles) off mainland China, is a sensitive issue for Beijing, which for the past decade has maintained a constant presence of coastguard ships and fishing vessels there.
The shoal figured in a case the Philippines took to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, which ruled in 2016 that China's claim to most of the South China Sea had no basis under international law.
China does not recognise the ruling. (Reuters)
September
North Korea tells UN: No choice but to accelerate building its self-defense
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korea's United Nations envoy accused the United States and South Korea on Tuesday of pushing the Korean peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war, telling the U.N. General Assembly that as a result his country had no choice but to further accelerate a build-up of its self-defense capabilities.
"The year 2023 has been recorded as an extremely dangerous year," Ambassador Kim Song told the last day of the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders. "The Korean peninsula is in a hair-trigger situation with imminent danger of nuclear war breakout."
"Given the prevailing circumstances, the DPRK (North Korea) is urgently required to further accelerate the build-up of its self-defense capabilities to defend itself impregnably," Kim told the 193-member General Assembly.
North Korea has tested dozens of ballistic missile in the past 18 months. The United States has long warned that Pyongyang was ready to carry out a seventh nuclear test.
Pyongyang says it is exercising its right to self-defense with its ballistic missile tests to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests from military threats.
"The DPRK remains steadfast and unchanged in its determination to firmly defend the national sovereignty, security interests and well-being of the people against the hostile threats from outside," Kim said.
North Korea - formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) - has been under U.N. Security Council sanctions for its missile and nuclear programs since 2006. The measures have been steadily strengthened over the years.
However, for the past several years the 15-member Security Council has been divided over how to deal with Pyongyang. Russia and China, veto powers along with the United States, Britain and France, have said more sanctions will not help and want such measures to be eased.
China and Russia say joint military drills by the United States and South Korea provoke Pyongyang, while Washington accuses Beijing and Moscow of emboldening North Korea by shielding it from more sanctions. (Reuters)
September
Philippines urges fishermen to keep up presence at China-held shoal
Written by Nur Yasmin
The coastguard of the Philippines urged the country's fishermen on Wednesday to keep operating at the disputed Scarborough Shoal and other sites in the South China Sea, pledging to step up patrols there despite an imposing Chinese presence.
On Monday, the Philippine coastguard cut a 300-m (980-ft) floating barrier installed by China that blocked access to the Scarborough Shoal, a bold response in an area Beijing has controlled for more than a decade with coastguard ships and a fleet of large fishing vessels.
Philippine vessels were unable to maintain a constant presence but were committed to protecting the rights of fishermen inside the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), coastguard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said.
"We're going to increase patrols in Bajo de Masinloc and other areas where Filipino fishermen are," he told DZRH radio, referring to the shoal, one of Asia's most contested maritime features, by its Philippine name.
The Philippines has said China's response at the shoal, which Beijing calls Huangyan Island, has so far been measured.
China's foreign ministry had earlier advised the Philippines to avoid provocations and not cause trouble, but on Wednesday its spokesperson Wang Wenbin took a more critical view.
"I would also like to reiterate once again. Huangyan Island is China's inherent territory," he told a regular briefing.
"The so-called operation of the Philippine side is a purely self-indulgent farce."
STRATEGIC LOCATION
Philippine Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said the Philippines' cutting of the cordon was not a provocation.
"We are reacting to their action," he said during a senate hearing on Wednesday.
The rocky, mid-sea outcrop is the site of numerous diplomatic rows. Both countries claim sovereignty over the shoal, a prime fishing spot about 200 km (124 miles) off the Philippines and 850 km (530 miles) from mainland China and its southern island of Hainan.
The shoal is close to shipping lanes that transport an estimated $3.4 trillion of annual commerce, and control of it is strategic for Beijing, which claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.
Those claims complicate fisheries and offshore oil and gas activities by its Southeast Asian neighbours.
Coastguard official Tarriela said the Philippine fisheries bureau had successfully anchored a vessel just 300 m (980 ft) from the Scarborough Shoal's lagoon, its closest point to the atoll since China seized it in 2012.
It was not clear whether China's use of a barrier represented a change to a status quo that has existed since 2017 in which Beijing's coastguard allowed Filipinos to operate there, albeit on a far smaller scale than Chinese vessels.
It comes amid soured relations, with the Philippines increasingly assertive over the conduct of China's coastguard in its EEZ, as it strengthens military ties with ally the United States by expanding access to its bases.
"The Scarborough Shoal is closer to the Philippines," said fisherman Pepito Fabros who had come ashore in the province of Zambales between trips to sea.
"Why are they stopping us from entering?" (Reuters)