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May
EU in talks for common purchase of vaccine, antiviral against monkeypox
Written by Nur Yasmin
The European Union is working on a common purchasing agreement for vaccines and antiviralsagainst monkeypox, as cases of the viral disease usually endemic to Africa gather steam in Europe and beyond.
A broad consensus was reached in principle with member states for the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) to acquire medical countermeasures on their behalf as soon as possible, a European Commission spokesperson told Reuters, confirming a report by Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.
The EU is in talks to buy Bavarian Nordic's (BAVA.CO) vaccine Imvanex as well as the antiviral, tecovirimat, developed by U.S.-based SIGA Technologies (SIGA.O), the paper said, citing Sweden's vaccine coordinator Richard Bergstrom. read more
Bergstrom said that no contract with either firm had yet been signed.
"But it will go quickly. We should have a contract ready in a week or so and maybe some limited deliveries in June," the paper quoted him saying.
A Bavarian Nordic spokesperson confirmed HERA had contacted the Danish biotechnology company regarding its vaccine.
"We've had several calls with HERA...we have no idea when there will be an agreement. It is not up to us to say when there will be an agreement - there are two parties involved," the spokesperson said.
If an agreement was in fact reached, Bavarian Nordic had enough supply to satisfy demand, he added.
The smallpox and monkeypox viruses are closely related.
Bavarian Nordic's vaccine has official European approval for smallpox, although doctors can prescribe it off-label for monkeypox.
SIGA's treatment tecovirimat - branded as TPOXX - has European approval for smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox.
Global health officials have tracked more than 200 suspected and confirmed cases of the usually mild viral infection in about 20 countries since early May.
Symptoms of monkeypox - which can include fever, distinctive rashes and pus-filled skin lesions - can last for two to four weeks, but often resolve on their own.
The variant of the virus implicated in the current outbreak is believed to kill a small fraction of those infected. (Reuters)
May
Kiribati focuses on trade not security for China visit to remote Pacific island
Written by Nur Yasmin
China's foreign minister Wang Yi stopped over in Kiribati on Friday, visiting the remote island nation as part of a Pacific tour that Beijing hopes will lay ground for a regional trade and security pact, alarming the United States and its allies.
Wang met with his counterpart and Kiribati president, Taneti Maamau, for discussions on fisheries, education and health, during the four-hour stop.
But most of the large Chinese delegation traveling with him remained at the airport, a Kiribati official said, due to COVID restrictions in the tiny nation which has a population of 120,000 spread over 33 islands.
Wang had come straight from Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, which had been the first stop on his tour.
The Solomon Islands recently signed a security pact with China despite objections from Australia, the United States, Japan and New Zealand, which fear it could give China a military presence in the region.
Kiribati was focused on trade and tourism opportunities with China, and wasn't keen on a security arrangement, according to a Kiribati official, who was not authorised to speak to media.
The official said a controversial plan to reopen a protected marine zone for fishing, and to upgrade an airstrip on Canton island, weren't among agreements due to be signed.
Since switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019, Kiribati has said it would open one of the world's largest marine conservation zones to fishing, the 400,000 square kilometre Phoenix Islands Protected Area.
Kiribati lawmakers told Reuters last year it would also consider a Chinese plan to upgrade a disused World War Two airstrip, which Western critics said would offer Beijing a foothold about 3,000km (1,860 miles) southwest of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Kiribati said it would be a non-military project designed to bolster tourism. read more
The Global Times, an English language tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, reported that a roadmap for infrastructure construction under China's Belt and Road Initiative was signed, as well as cooperation agreements on trade, renewable energy and customs inspection.
The Kiribati government said it would release details of the visit later.
Wang will host a meeting of Pacific foreign ministers in Fiji next week, where China will seek agreement on a sweeping trade, fisheries and security pact.
A draft communique and five-year action plan sent by China to 10 Pacific islands ahead of the meeting has prompted opposition from at least one of the invited nations, Federated States of Micronesia. read more
China and Australia's top diplomats are on competing visits to the Pacific islands. read more
Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong met Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama on Friday, writing in a tweet afterwards "regional unity has never been more important".
Wong told reporters she had traveled to Fiji days after being sworn in to show the priority being given to the Pacific and climate change by the new Australian government.
Fiji on Friday joined U.S. President Joe Biden's Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), making it the first Pacific Island country in the plan that is part of a U.S. effort to push back on China's growing regional influence.
When asked about Fiji signing up to IPEF, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing on Friday the Asia-Pacific "should not become a geo-political chessboard".
Australia's Wong warned that there were regional consequences to the Solomon Islands' security pact with China, after her Chinese counterpart said interference in the deal would fail and China's relations with Honiara were a model for the region.
"The world has changed, there is a lot more strategic competition," she said.
"China supports Pacific Island Countries in strengthening security cooperation and working together to address regional security challenges," Wang said in Honiara a day earlier, according to details released by China's foreign ministry.
The foreign ministry spokesman Wang said on Friday China would help Pacific island countries develop their economies. (Reuters)
May
New Zealand leader plans to discuss contested Indo-Pacific with Biden on Tuesday
Written by Nur Yasmin
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she will meet with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House next Tuesday, when she expects to discuss increasing competition in the Indo-Pacific, trade and the U.S. economic role in the region.
The two countries are close allies but the meeting with Biden had been uncertain after Ardern tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month, given strict White House pandemic protocols.
Ardern, who spoke with reporters on Thursday after delivering the commencement address at Harvard University during a visit to the United States, said she would also meet with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris the same day.
She expected the agenda to include the war in Ukraine and increasing competition in the Indo-Pacific - an apparent reference to growing rivalry between the United States and its allies and China in the region.
"There are an a number of areas in which the United States and New Zealand have very similar views, a number of areas where we would wish to see their presence continue, or increase," Ardern said.
"I imagine we will discuss our region and the fact that it is becoming increasingly contested and the role of the United States in our regional economy is important."
She is in the United States seeking to boost exports and lure more tourists as New Zealand looks to fully reopen its borders after more than two years of COVID-19 restrictions.
On Wednesday, she met members of the U.S. Congress and said the United States should return to a regional trade pact it quit in 2017 if it wanted to engage economically with the Indo-Pacific. read more
Ardern's visit to Washington coincides with the start of a sweeping tour by China's foreign minister of Pacific island countries, an increasingly tense front in competition for influence between Beijing and Washington and its allies, including New Zealand.
Her visit also follows a month of intensive U.S. diplomacy focused on the Indo-Pacific, including Biden's first trip as president to the region that concluded this week. (Reuters)
May
Japan to 'drastically strengthen' military capability
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan aims to "drastically strengthen" its military capabilities, according to an economic policy draft seen by Reuters, as officials worry that Russia's invasion of Ukraine could prompt instability in East Asia.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, meeting U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday, pledged to "substantially increase" Japan's defence budget.
The draft, a long-term economic outline that is updated annually, does not gives details about spending, but says for the first time: "There have been attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force in East Asia, making regional security increasingly severe."
It also does not specify security threats in the region, but Japan's military planners have expressed repeated concern about China, with which Japan has a long-running territorial dispute, and North Korea.
Kishida's news conference with Biden was dominated by the president saying the United States would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan from Chinese aggression. read more
"We will drastically strengthen defence capabilities that will be the ultimate collateral to secure national security," the draft document says.
Former prime minister Shinzo Abe called on Thursday for defence spending of nearly 7 trillion yen ($60 billion) for next fiscal year, up from 5.4 trillion yen under this year's initial budget, in light of China's growing military spending and missile threats from North Korea, Nippon Television Network reported.
"It's natural (for the government) to secure defence spending equivalent of 2% of GDP," Abe, who still wields considerable clout as head of the biggest faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was quoted as saying.
Kishida has not said how much he wants to boost military spending for the fiscal year starting in April 2023.
Higher defence spending will strain Japan's already dire public finances.
"There's no end to spending pressure," said Takuya Hoshino, senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.
The lower house of parliament on Friday approved an extra budget worth 2.7 trillion yen, funded by bond sales, to cushion the blow to households and firms from rising fuel and raw material costs. The upper house is expected to enact the budget into law next week.
With Kishida facing a national election in July, another supplementary budget "is almost a done deal", Hoshino said. "The question is how to secure funding, other than having to rely on ultra-low borrowing costs provided by the Bank of Japan."
May
Chinese province neighbouring North Korea reports border area COVID cases
Written by Nur Yasmin
Border areas in China's northeastern province of Jilin, which shares a long frontier with coronavirus-hit North Korea, reported domestically transmitted COVID-19 infections of unknown origin, a Chinese health official said on Friday.
The outbreak had shown a trend of spreading from border areas to inland areas, Lei Zhenglong, of China's National Health Commission, told a news briefing.
Jilin province also shares a short border with Russia and Lei did not specify which border he was referring to or say how many cases had been found.
This month, isolated North Korea announced its first COVID outbreak since the pandemic emerged in China more than two years ago, declaring the "gravest national emergency" and imposing a national lockdown. read more
Jilin's daily tally of new cases for the past five days has been in the single digits. Many of the cases reported in recent days were in places near North Korea.
The province has not confirmed COVID patients among international travellers recently.
Jilin emerged from widespread COVID lockdowns weeks ago after getting its worst outbreak under control.
China's zero-COVID strategy has been tested by infections leaking across its long land borders, including its southwestern border with Myanmar.
Late last month, China suspended cross-border freight train services with North Korea because of COVID. (Reuters)
May
North Korea stockpiled Chinese masks, vaccines before reporting COVID outbreak
Written by Nur Yasmin
In the months before it acknowledged its first official COVID-19 outbreak, North Korea suddenly imported millions of face masks, 1,000 ventilators, and possibly vaccines from China, trade data released by Beijing showed.
Two weeks ago state media revealed the outbreak, fuelling concerns about a lack of vaccines, medical supplies and food shortages. Chinese data show that even before that announcement, the North had begun stocking up.
North Korea is not known to have conducted any significant COVID-19 vaccine campaign. In February, however, China exported $311,126 worth of unidentified vaccines to its neighbour, according to the data released this month. China reported no other vaccine exports to North Korea for any other month this year, or all of last year.
From January to April, the last month for which data is available, the North bought more than 10.6 million masks from China, having bought none in December 2021.
In those four months, China also exported nearly 95,000 thermometers, more than 33 times than the total amount of 2021. read more
China exported 1,000 non-invasive ventilators to North Korea in April, worth $266,891, as well as laboratory supplies that could be used in COVID-19 test kits. Other medical imports included rubber gloves and protective clothing.
Overall China’s exports to North Korea hit $98.1 million in April, the highest since January 2020 when the figure was $186.8 million.
North Korea shut its borders to nearly all trade for most of the pandemic, only recently allowing a trickle of supplies and products into the country on trains and ships from China.
Three aircraft from North Korea's Air Koryo arrived in China and returned to Pyongyang last week carrying medical supplies, a diplomatic source said. (reuters)
May
Resurgent east Congo violence displaces 72,000 in one week
Written by Nur Yasmin
Fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo over the past week between the army and M23 rebel group has forced more than 72,000 people from their homes, the United Nations said on Friday.
The M23, a rebellion claiming to represent the interests of ethnic Tutsis in eastern Congo, is staging its largest offensive since a 2012-2013 insurrection that captured vast swathes of the countryside. read more
There has been heavy fighting as near as 20 km (12 miles) to eastern Congo's main city of Goma, and the rebels briefly captured the army's largest base in the area. read more
Of the 72,000 who have fled, about 7,000 reportedly crossed into neighbouring Uganda, the U.N. Refugee Agency said in a statement. Others have headed to Goma or taken shelter in sites built to house people fleeing a volcanic eruption last year.
Eastern Congo has experienced near constant conflict since 1996, when Rwanda and other neighbouring states invaded in pursuit of Hutu militiamen who had participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Congo has 5.6 million internally displaced persons, the most in Africa, according to U.N. figures. There are at least 1.9 million in North Kivu, the province where the current fighting is taking place. (Reuters)
May
White House welcomes Fiji to its Indo-Pacific economic plan
Written by Nur Yasmin
Fiji is joining U.S. President Joe Biden's Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), the White House said on Thursday, making it the first Pacific Island country in the plan that is part of a U.S. effort to push back on China's growing regional influence.
The announcement came as China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi began a sweeping tour of Pacific Island countries – including Fiji – a region that is becoming an increasingly tense front in the competition for influence between Beijing and Washington.
Wang arrived in the region this week seeking a 10-country deal with island nations on security and trade that has unnerved the United States and its Pacific allies. read more
The White House welcomed Fiji as a founding member of IPEF, which it said now includes countries from Northeast and Southeast Asia, South Asia, Oceania and the Pacific Islands.
"Across geography, we are united in our commitment to a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement, underscoring Fiji's valuable perspective in the fight against climate change.
With Fiji's addition, IPEF now represented the full regional diversity of the Indo-Pacific, he said.
Biden officially launched IPEF earlier this week during his first trip as president to Asia, which has craved further U.S. economic engagement.
Fiji is the 14th country to join IPEF talks, which exclude China.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, asked about Fiji signing up to IPEF, told reporters in Beijing on Friday that the Asia-Pacific "should not become a geopolitical chessboard". read more
Washington has lacked an economic pillar to its Indo-Pacific engagement since then-President Donald Trump quit a multinational trans-Pacific trade agreement, in part out of concern over U.S. jobs.
U.S. officials have said IPEF will include enforceable agreements, though trade experts have expressed skepticism about the plan, particularly over concerns that the United States is unlikely to offer increased market access. (Reuters)
May
Beijing says U.S.-backed Asia plan seeks to 'decouple' countries from China
Written by Nur Yasmin
China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday a U.S.-backed economic plan for Asia seeks to decouple countries from the Chinese economy, but many countries are worried about the "huge cost" of doing so.
Speaking at a regular press briefing, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the Indo Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) serves U.S. interests and seeks to exclude other countries.
U.S. President Joe Biden launched this plan on Monday. Initial founding countries include Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States, but not China. (Reuters)
May
UN rights chief speaks with Xi amid criticism of China trip
Written by Nur Yasmin
Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on Wednesday via video link with U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who is on a visit that has drawn criticism from rights groups and which the United States has called a mistake.
While Bachelet's six-day trip will include a visit to the western region of Xinjiang, where her office said last year it believed mostly Muslim ethnic Uyghur people had been unlawfully detained, mistreated and forced to work, there was no mention of it in either side's public remarks.
Xi told Bachelet that China's development of human rights "suits its own national conditions", and that among the various types of human rights, the rights to subsistence and development were primary for developing countries, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.
"Deviating from reality and copying wholesale the institutional model of other countries will not only fit badly with the local conditions, but also bring disastrous consequences," Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.
Bachelet said that her meetings with Xi and other officials had been a valuable opportunity to speak directly about human rights issues.
"For me, it is a priority to engage with the government of China directly, on human rights issues, domestic, regional and global," she said at the beginning of her meeting with Xi.
"For development, peace and security to be sustainable – locally and across borders – human rights have to be at their core," she said.
Critics have said they doubted Bachelet would be granted necessary access to make a full assessment of the rights situation in Xinjiang.
Bachelet has called for unfettered access in Xinjiang, but China has said her visit would be conducted in a "closed loop", referring to a way of isolating people within a "bubble" to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
China denies all abuses.
GERMAN PRESSURE
On Tuesday, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said his country would give higher priority to human rights issues in dealing with China, following new media reports on mass detention of Uyghurs between January and July of 2018.
Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China opposed the use of "false information" to smear it and said economic cooperation between China and Germany was mutually beneficial.
"I hope that the German government and politicians will look at it correctly and will not mislead the public to the detriment of their own interests," Wang said.
'A MISTAKE'
Bachelet's China visit has been fraught since its inception, largely over concern among rights groups and western governments that it could lead to endorsement rather than scrutiny of China's rights record.
On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said it was "a mistake to agree to a visit under the circumstances".
The United States has described China's treatment of Uyghurs as genocide.
On Monday, Bachelet told Beijing-based diplomats that her Xinjiang trip was "not an investigation" into China's rights record but about longer-term engagement with Chinese authorities, three Western diplomats told Reuters.
Some diplomats voiced concern that she would not be given "unhindered and meaningful" access.
"I'm a grown woman," she responded to those concerns, two diplomats briefed on the call said. "I'm able to read between the lines."
Bachelet explained that although her access was limited because of COVID, she had set up some meetings with people independently of Chinese authorities. Her office did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
China initially denied the existence of any detention camps in Xinjiang but in 2018 said it had set up "vocational training centers" necessary to curb what it said was terrorism, separatism and religious radicalism in Xinjiang.
In 2019, Xinjiang Governor Shohrat Zakir said all trainees had "graduated".
On Monday, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi presented Bachelet with a book of Xi's quotations on human rights.(Reuters)