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International News (6895)
July
Taiwan has lost a close friend, president says of Abe death
Written by Nur Yasmin
The world has lost an important leader and Taiwan has lost a friend, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Friday after former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died hours after he was shot while giving an election campaign speech.
"Not only has the international community lost an important leader, but Taiwan has also lost an important and close friend. Taiwan and Japan are both democratic countries with the rule of law, and our government severely condemns violent and illegal acts," Tsai said in a statement released by her office. (Reuters)
July
N.Korean streets flooded as heavy rains exacerbate economic crisis
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korean towns along the border with China were flooded this week after heavy rain, threatening to exacerbate an already critical food and economic situation in the country.
North Korea state broadcasters said the city of Sinuiju had reported its heaviest rainfall of the year on Thursday, with at least 132.5 mm (5.2 inches) of rain by 4 p.m.
Video footage showed buses and other vehicles driving through water that had filled intersections, while pedestrians waded nearby.
To the east, in North Hamgyong Province, officials were working to ensure water supplies remained sanitary by supervising sewage disposal and ensuring that residents boiled water before drinking, state news agency KCNA reported.
North Korea has reported an epidemic of an unspecified intestinal disease - suspected by South Korean officials to be cholera or typhoid - and has blamed foreign objects from the border with South Korea for sparking a COVID-19 outbreak.
The natural disasters and epidemics may exacerbate food shortages in North Korea, which is under international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile programmes, and has closed its borders to most trade to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
An annual United Nations report on food security released on Thursday found that the percentage of undernourished North Koreans reached 41.6% from 2019 to 2021, compared with 33.8% from 2004 to 2006.
In the south, North Korea appeared to have released water from a dam near its border with South Korea, prompting vacationers in the neighbouring country to evacuate as water levels on the Imjin River rose on Monday. (Reuters)
July
Australia seeks to stabilise China ties, says FM Wong ahead of meeting
Written by Nur Yasmin
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the country's new government wants to stabilise its relationship with Beijing but will make no concessions on national interest when she meets her Chinese counterpart on Friday.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet Wong on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Bali on Friday evening, the first meeting between foreign ministers of the major trading partners in three years.
"We all know we have our differences, there are challenges in the relationship. We believe engagement is needed to stabilise the relationship," Wong told reporters in Bali on Friday.
China is Australia's largest trading partner and the biggest customer for its iron ore but relations have deteriorated in recent years.
China imposed trade sanctions on Australian products ranging from coal to seafood and wine in response to policies and decisions such as Canberra's call for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, its 5G network ban on Huawei, and foreign interference investigations.
Beijing has called for Australia to take "concrete actions" to restart the relationship, without detailing what these would be.
"We won't be making any concessions when it comes to Australia's national interests," Wong said on Friday.
Since being elected in May, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government has said it wants China to withdraw the trade measures that it has taken against Australia. Wong has also raised concerns about two Australian journalists detained in China and awaiting verdicts in national security cases.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters on Friday "a sound and steady China-Australia relationship is in the interests of both peoples".
"A steady and healthy political relationship is the prerequisite and guarantee for practical cooperation. There is no auto-pilot mode for improving China-Australia relations," he said at a regular briefing in Beijing.
The meeting between Australia and China in Bali comes days ahead of a Pacific islands leaders' meeting in Fiji. China's push to extend its security ties in the South Pacific, which is opposed by Australia, will be discussed at the meeting in Fiji.
On Friday, Albanese said the Pacific region was in a period of strategic competition and China had become "more aggressive".
"Australia’s position is that we will continue to engage and co-operate, we want to co-operate with China where we can. But we will stand up for Australian values when we must," he told reporters in Sydney. (Reuters)
July
UN rights body seeks reversal of Taliban policies making Afghan women 'invisible'
Written by Nur Yasmin
The United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution on Friday condemning rights violations against women and girls in Afghanistan, urging the ruling Taliban to end restrictive practices described as making them "invisible" in society.
The Taliban seized power for a second time in Afghanistan last August as international forces backing a pro-Western government pulled out.
Critics say women's rights have since been undermined with new curbs on their clothes, movement and education, despite earlier Taliban vows to the contrary.
"Since August 2021, the human rights situation in Afghanistan has seriously deteriorated, especially for women and girls," said Czech ambassador Václav Bálek on behalf of the European Union, which brought the resolution.
"Restrictive measures put in place by the Taliban are making (them) ... invisible in Afghanistan society."
The council's decisions are not legally binding but carry political weight and can lead to official investigations.
Friday's resolution, backed by dozens of countries, was passed without a vote, although China's mission disassociated itself from the outcome, describing it as "not balanced". It is one of 11 draft resolutions under consideration on Friday.
Among its supporters was the Afghanistan envoy Mohibullah Taib, appointed by the previous Afghan government, who said new curbs amounted to "gender apartheid".
In rare cases, envoys of governments no longer in power can continue to address U.N. bodies until a credentials committee in New York decides otherwise.
The U.S. ambassador to the council, Michèle Taylor, also voiced concern over recent measures, mentioning a new policy to punish male family members who are not enforcing restrictions that was creating an environment of "constant fear".
The resolution foresees a debate in September or October at the next council session, in which Afghan women's rights activists will have the chance to participate.
Marc Limon of the Universal Rights Group think-tank said the Taliban were unlikely to change course as a result of the condemnation but suggested the U.N. could have leverage if it tied women's rights to international assistance in the future. (Reuters)
July
Chinese embassy in Japan voices condolences on death of ex-Japanese PM Abe
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Chinese embassy in Japan expressed condolences over the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday in a shooting attack.
"Former Prime Minister Abe made contributions towards improving China-Japan relations during his term. We express our condolences on his death and send our sympathies to his family," an embassy spokesman said on the embassy website. (Reuters)
July
Taiwan slams 'provocative' China for sending fighters across Taiwan Strait
Written by Nur Yasmin
Chinese fighter jets crossed the median line of the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Friday in what the island's government slammed as a provocation, as a senior U.S. senator visited Taipei for a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen that China condemned.
China claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and has ramped up military and political pressure to try and force the island to accept Chinese rule.
Taiwan's Defence Ministry said the Chinese aircraft "intentionally crossed the median line of the strait in a provocative move, which has seriously damaged regional peace and stability".
It said Taiwan's air force "forcefully expelled" the Chinese aircraft and deployed ground-to-air missiles to "monitor" the situation.
The median line is an unofficial buffer between China and Taiwan and normally military aircraft stick to their respective sides, but on occasion China's air force crosses over it, as happened in 2020 when U.S. officials were visiting Taiwan.
Several Chinese fighter jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Friday in the northern part of the waterway, a Taiwan source briefed on the matter told Reuters, adding the aircraft did not enter Taiwanese airspace.
The source said it was rare for Chinese aircraft to cross the unofficial buffer, especially from Taiwan's northwest.
The aircraft "flew straight across" the median line and then "circled around" carrying out tactical operations, the person said, adding that Taiwan scrambled fighter jets to intercept the Chinese planes.
"It was a clear message of provocation," the person said, citing Friday's visit to Taipei by U.S. Senator Rick Scott, a senior Republican who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee and sits on the Senate's Armed Services Committee.
Earlier on Friday, China's military said it had held joint combat readiness exercises, patrols and combat drills in the sea and airspace around Taiwan.
The exercises, announced by the Eastern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army, were organised in response to "collusion and provocations" by the United States and Taiwan, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in a statement.
'THWART INTERFERENCE'
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, bristles at any form of official interaction between U.S. and Taiwanese officials and routinely describes Taiwan as the most sensitive and important issue in its relations with Washington.
Chinese spokesman Wu said Scott's visit to Taiwan had seriously undermined Sino-U.S. relations and escalated tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
"The Chinese People's Liberation Army is ready for war at all times, and will take all necessary measures to resolutely thwart the interference of external forces and the secessionist attempts of 'Taiwan independence'."
After meeting with President Tsai in Taipei on Friday, Scott told reporters he believes that "the world has changed" following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"We all have to put ourselves in a position that we can make sure we defend the freedom we all believe in," he said. "I do think it would be helpful if Taiwan participated in RIMPAC and I hope that's what happens in the future."
The Rim of the Pacific exercise, known as RIMPAC, is billed as the world's largest international maritime exercise, with the latest one kicking off late last month with 26 nations participating in drills around Hawaii and southern California.
Taiwan's government has denounced Chinese pressure, saying only its 23 million people can decide their future.
U.S.-China tensions are high over a number of issues including Taiwan, the South China Sea, trade tariffs and Beijing's refusal to openly criticise Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is due to meet with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Saturday at the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali. (Reuters)
July
Russian envoy: UK has made little effort to free men sentenced to death in eastern Ukraine
Written by Nur Yasmin
Russia's ambassador to Britain said he was surprised London has not made more of an effort to secure the release of two British citizens sentenced to death for fighting in eastern Ukraine.
While fighting with the Ukrainian army, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were captured by Russian-backed forces in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a territory recognised only by Russia and Syria.
After a hasty court hearing - decried as a Stalin-era show trial in a pop-up courtroom - a separatist court sentenced the pair to death, saying they were mercenaries and were trying to violently seize power.
"We had a formal request here in London and in Moscow about these two guys - that they exist - and a phrase like 'we put all responsibility on Russia for them,'" Russian Ambassador Andrei Kelin said in an interview with Reuters.
"There was no demand for mediation, no demand for their release or anything like that. 'Let's talk about their fate and what can be done in this situation'. Nothing," he added.
Responding to the suggestion that Moscow could easily put pressure on DPR officials to release the two men, Kelin said: "And so what? Has anyone from London asked us to do this? No."
Britain's foreign ministry did not respond to a Reuters request to comment.
The Russian ambassador also vowed that Moscow would defeat Ukrainian forces in the whole of the eastern Donbas region and is unlikely to withdraw from a vast swathe of land across Ukraine's southern coast. (Reuters)
July
In mostly gun-free nation, Japanese stunned by Abe killing
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan struggled with shock and sadness on Friday, trying to come to terms with the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a nation where firearms are strictly regulated and political violence extremely rare.
Abe was shot while giving a campaign speech on a street corner and taken to hospital by helicopter. His death was announced late on Friday.
From Abe protege Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to ordinary people on social media, there was an outpouring of grief in a nation where political violence is so rare the last time a former or sitting prime minister was killed was nearly 90 years ago.
"I am incredibly shocked," Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told a regular news conference before Abe's death was announced, fighting back tears and sniffling audibly. "No matter the reason, such a heinous act is absolutely unforgivable. It is an affront against democracy."
Koki Tanaka, a 26-year-old IT worker in downtown Tokyo, voiced a similar view: "I was simply astonished that this could happen in Japan."
Japan's gun-ownership restrictions do not allow private citizens to have handguns, and licensed hunters may own only rifles. Gun owners must attend classes, pass a written test and undergo a mental health evaluation and a background check.
Shootings, when they occur, typically involve "yakuza" gangsters using illegal weapons. In 2021, there were 10 shooting incidents, eight involving gangsters, according to police data. One person was killed and four wounded.
Japan has had mass killings, but they usually have not involved guns.
In 2016, 19 residents of a facility for mentally disabled people were murdered in their beds by a knife-wielding assailant, while in 2019 34 people were killed in an arson attack on an animation studio.
Attacks on politicians, though, are unusual. There have been only a handful in the last half century, most notably in 2007 when the mayor of Nagasaki was shot and killed by a gangster - an incident that resulted in still further tightening of gun regulations.
The last time a former prime minister was killed was in 1936 during Japan's pre-war militaristic buildup, one of a series of similar assassinations.
The man arrested for allegedly shooting Abe is a former member of the Japanese military who fired a homemade firearm, according to media reports. Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, Abe's brother, declined to comment on those reports.
Responses to the shooting flooded social media, with "Abe-san" the top-trending topic on Japanese Twitter by afternoon.
"I can't stop shaking. This is the end of peaceful Japan," wrote Twitter user Nonochi.
"There's plenty of politicians I'd like to see disappear, but assassination is inconceivable. It's the beginning of the end of democracy." (Reuters)
July
Moscow gives British Embassy new address on 'Luhansk People's Republic Square'
Written by Nur Yasmin
Moscow's city replaced a street sign outside the British Embassy on Friday with one that read "Luhansk People's Republic Square", in honour of an east Ukrainian breakaway territory seized by Russian forces.
Russia recognised the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics as independent entities shortly before sending troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, saying it was compelled to defend the Russian-speakers there against persecution.
Ukraine and Western countries say this is a baseless pretext for a war of aggression. Only Russia and its ally Syria recognise the two republics
The British Embassy, which has not changed its address on its website, said on Friday it would continue to use the address on Smolenskaya Embankment that it had before the name change -- "Smolenskaya Naberezhnaya 10".
"The British government, like the entire international community, does not recognise the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republic," it said in a statement ahead of the change.
"The renaming of streets is the responsibility of local authorities but this, of course, will not in any way affect the position of the British government on Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine."
Britain and the United States have been prominent among members of the U.S.-led NATO alliance in supplying weaponry to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia's invasion.
Moscow authorities have already renamed an intersection near the U.S. Embassy "Donetsk People's Republic Square".
On its website, the U.S. Embassy lists its geographical coordinates instead of its street address. (Reuters)
July
U.S. counterintelligence warns of China stepping up influence operations
Written by Nur Yasmin
A U.S. counterintelligence agency on Wednesday warned state and local officials that China is intensifying influence operations aimed at manipulating them into pressing the federal government to pursue more Beijing-friendly policies.
China "understands that U.S. state and local leaders enjoy a degree of independence from Washington and may seek to use them as proxies to advocate for national U.S. policies Beijing desires," the National Counterintelligence and Security Center said in a bulletin sent to state and local officials.
The warning comes amid sharp tensions between Washington and Beijing over a raft of issues. They span from U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and China's human rights record to Beijing's military activities in the South China Sea and alleged espionage operations against the United States.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman on Thursday rejected the accusation and said cooperation between both sides is totally "above board".
"We Chinese have a saying: He who lost his axe suspects his neighbor for stealing it," spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a press briefing in Beijing.
"This describes the U.S. mentality, which is filled with Cold War mentality and ideological bias."
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration views China as a strategic competitor. But it says it is determined to avoid conflict and seeks Beijing's adherence to international rules and institutions on peace and security.
The new counterintelligence bulletin said that Beijing is using a variety of means to manipulate state and local officials into pressing Washington for policies that are more friendly to China.
"PRC (Peoples Republic of China) influence operations can be deceptive and coercive, with seemingly benign business opportunities or people-to-people exchanges sometimes masking PRC political agendas," it said.
China's approaches include using front groups like the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, which cultivates "sister" relationships between Beijing and U.S. localities, the bulletin said.
Another group, the National Association for China's Peaceful Reunification, promotes Sino-U.S. friendship, but advocates Beijing's views on Taiwan in letters to members of Congress and others, it continued.
The Chinese communist government says it seeks "peaceful reunification" with democratic Taiwan. But it reserves "other options" for the island that it regards as a Chinese province. (Reuters)