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April
China, South Korea protest over Japanese PM's offering to war dead
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sent on Thursday a ritual offering to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, and several political leaders visited it in person, drawing condemnation from neighbouring China and South Korea.
The shrine honours 2.5 million war dead including 14 Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal. It is seen by China, South Korea and others as a symbol of Japanese aggression before and during World War Two.
Many Japanese pay respects to relatives at Yasukuni and conservatives say leaders should be able to honour the dead there. But past visits and offerings have provoked angry responses from Asian neighbours.
Kishida has recently followed the example of previous Japanese leaders by refraining from visiting in person during spring and autumn festivals to avoid stirring anger, instead sending an offering, as he did on Thursday.
Japan's top government spokesman, chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, declined to comment.
While Kishida stayed away, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and current ruling Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Sanae Takaichi did visit the shrine.
South Korea expressed "deep disappointment and regret".
"Japan's responsible leaders have once again sent offerings to and paid respects at the Yasukuni Shrine which glorifies Japan's history of war of aggression and enshrines war criminals," South Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Our government strongly urges Japan's responsible figures to look direct into their history, and show through action their humble reflection and sincere remorse of its past history."
China's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said offerings and visits to the shrine "reflect Japan's incorrect attitude towards its own history of aggression".
"The Chinese side urges the Japanese side to earnestly keep its promises, reflect and face up to its history of aggression, completely cut itself off from militarism, and win the trust of its Asian neighbours and the international community with practical actions," Wang told a regular briefing.
The neighbours' ties with Japan have long been strained by what they see as Japan's reluctance to atone for its wartime past. China and South Korea suffered under Japan’s sometimes brutal occupation and colonial rule before its defeat in 1945.
No Japanese prime minister has visited Yasukuni while in office since Abe did in 2013, a visit that sparked outrage in South Korea and China and drew an expression of "disappointment" from key ally the United States.
Abe told reporters that visiting the shrine had special resonance this year given Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"In Ukraine, many brave people are currently fighting and risking their lives to protect their country," he said, adding that he wanted to pay his respects to those who had given their lives for Japan. (Reuters)
April
Britain on Thursday added 26 new designations to its list of sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian war, including on military figures and defence companies.
Britain, which has sought to play a key role in the West's response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, has already set out hundreds of sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans on prominent Russian billionaires and politicians including President Vladimir Putin.
Among those on the updated sanctions list, published on the government website, were Colonel General Nikolay Bogdanovsky of the Russian army who holds the position of First Deputy Chief of the General Staff, manufacturer Military Industrial Company, and industrial group Promtech-Dubna. (Reuters)
April
Danish premier pledges more weapons as she and Spanish PM visit Kyiv
Written by Nur Yasmin
Denmark's prime minister on Thursday pledged to send more weapons to Ukraine during a trip to Kyiv, where she and her Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez were meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a gesture of support.
Mette Frederiksen also visited the badly damaged town of Borodyanka, which has been retaken after Russian troops pulled back from the region around Kyiv. read more
"We intend to deliver more weapons to Ukraine because that is what is most needed," Frederiksen told the Danish channel TV2 as she walked around the town surrounded by armed soldiers.
Frederiksen and her Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez both arrived in Kyiv early on Thursday, according to footage posted on Sanchez' Twitter account
Frederiksen's office said talks with Zelenskiy would focus on further support for the Ukrainians and the prosecution of "war crimes and human rights violations".
Russia calls its action a "special military operation" to demilitarise Ukraine and eradicate what it calls dangerous nationalists. The West and Kyiv accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of an unprovoked war of aggression.
Numerous European leaders have travelled to Ukraine since Russia's invasion to show support for its president and people, more especially since Russia pulled back its forces from northern Ukraine. (Reuters)
April
Putin claims victory in Mariupol, leaving Ukrainian defenders holed up
Written by Nur Yasmin
President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the biggest battle of the Ukraine war on Thursday, declaring the port of Mariupol "liberated" after nearly two months of siege, despite hundreds of defenders still holding out inside a giant steel works.
In a televised meeting with his defence minister inside the Kremlin, Putin said there was no need for a final confrontation with the last defenders who were boxed in after surviving nearly two months of Russia's siege.
"I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone unnecessary," he told Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in a televised meeting at the Kremlin. "I order you to cancel it."
"There's no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities," he said. "Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can get through."
Shoigu estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters remained inside the plant. Putin called on them to lay down their weapons and surrender, saying Russia would treat them with respect.
Asked to comment on Russia's decision to blockade the steel works rather than storm it, Ukraine's defence ministry spokeswoman said the move testified to Putin's "schizophrenic tendencies" and gave no further response.
Putin's declaration of victory lets him claim his first big prize since his forces were driven out of northern Ukraine last month after failing to capture the capital, Kyiv.
CIVILIAN SUFFERING
Mariupol, once home to 400,000 people, has been the scene of by far the worst fighting of the war and its worst humanitarian catastrophe, with hundreds of thousands of civilians cut off for nearly two months under Russian siege and bombardment.
Journalists who reached it during the siege found streets littered with corpses, nearly all buildings destroyed, and residents huddled freezing in cellars, venturing out to cook scraps on makeshift stoves or to bury bodies in gardens.
Two incidents in particular became symbolic of what Kyiv and the West call Russian war crimes - the bombing of a maternity hospital and, a week later, of a theatre with hundreds of civilians in the basement. Moscow denies targeting civilians, and, without evidence, says those incidents were faked.
Ukraine estimates tens of thousands of civilians have died in Mariupol. It says some have been buried in mass graves, others removed from the streets by Russian forces using mobile cremation trucks to incinerate bodies. The United Nations and Red Cross say the civilian toll is still unknowable, but at least in the thousands.
The intensified Russian campaign to seize large swathes of eastern Ukraine has further diminished the prospects of stop-start peace talks producing any rapid agreement to end the war.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was still waiting for Kyiv's response to a proposal it had handed over.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that he had not seen or heard about the document that the Kremlin said it had sent.
NO SURRENDER
Shoigu told Putin that Russia had killed more than 4,000 Ukrainian troops in its campaign to take Mariupol and that 1,478 had given themselves up. Those figures could not be verified. Two of those who surrendered are British.
Azovstal is one of the biggest metallurgical facilities in Europe, covering 11 sq km, with huge buildings, underground bunkers and tunnels.
Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said an agreed humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from the factory had not worked as planned, blaming Russian forces. She said 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers needed to be brought out immediately.
On Tuesday, a commander of the far-right nationalist Azov battalion, a former militia now incorporated into Ukraine's national guard, rejected Russia's call to surrender but urged that the civilians be rescued.
"We do not accept the conditions set down by the Russian Federation on giving up our weapons and our defenders giving themselves up as prisoners," Svyatoslav Palamar said in a video message.
Russia has blocked all efforts by Ukraine to send aid to Mariupol or to send buses to evacuate civilians to Ukrainian-controlled territory, and Kyiv accuses it of forcibly deporting tens of thousands of residents to Russia.
Moscow says Russia has taken in 140,000 civilians from Mariupol in humanitarian evacuations. Kyiv says some were deported by force, in what would be a war crime.
DONBAS PUSH
Mariupol is the link that Moscow needs to provide a secure connection between territory held by the separatists it backs in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region and Crimea, the peninsula it seized in 2014.
It is also the main port of the Donbas, two provinces that Moscow demands Ukraine fully cede to the separatists in what the Kremlin now describes as the war's main objective.
After failing to capture Kyiv last month and being forced to withdraw from northern Ukraine, Russia regrouped to launch a major new offensive this week in the Donbas, pushing from several directions to try to encircle Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine said Russian forces had failed so far to completely capture Rubizhne, a Donbas town that has been a focus of their advance. The city of Kharkiv, near the Russian supply lines into Donbas, came under heavy bombardment, its mayor said.
British military intelligence said Russian forces were keen to demonstrate significant success by May 9, the anniversary of the allied victory in Europe in World War Two.
Russia calls its incursion a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext for an illegal war of aggression.
U.S. President Joe Biden will deliver an update on Ukraine at 9:45 a.m. (1345 GMT) on Thursday as he works to complete a new arms package, which is likely to be a similar size to an $800 million one announced last week, a U.S. official said.
(Reuters)
April
S.Korea's incoming president meets U.S. envoy on North Korea
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korea's president-elect, Yoon Suk-yeol, has met the visiting U.S. envoy for North Korea, an official in Yoon's transition team said on Wednesday, as the allies coordinate North Korea policy under a new government in Seoul.
U.S. Special Representative Sung Kim arrived in the South Korean capital on Monday for a five-day visit that has included talks with the outgoing president, Moon Jae-in, and members of the new administration preparing for office.
The visit comes after North Korea restarted tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles, breaking a self-imposed 2017 moratorium, and has shown signs that it may be preparing to resume nuclear testing.
Yoon will head a conservative administration and he has already signalled a tougher approach towards North Korea after efforts by the liberal Moon to improve ties failed to make headway.
Yoon and the U.S. envoy met on Tuesday evening for dinner, their first encounter since Yoon won an election last month.
"It was a friendly get-together, not intended to discuss serious policy issues such as the North's nuclear programme," said the source in Yoon's transition team who declined to be identified, citing diplomatic sensitivity.
Yoon's nominee for foreign minister, Park Jin, met Kim on Wednesday.
Park said he hoped for an early summit between Yoon and President Joe Biden and vowed to expand cooperation over the North's missile launches and possible nuclear tests, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.
Kim said on Monday that the allies would maintain the "strongest possible joint deterrent" and respond "responsibly and decisively" to North Korea's "provocative behaviour".
Kim has repeatedly offered to meet North Korean officials without preconditions but North Korea has brushed off the overtures, accusing the United States of maintaining a hostile policy including sanctions and military exercises.
The United States has some 28,000 troops in South Korea.
South Korean and U.S. troops began annual joint military exercises this week. North Korea routinely denounces such drills as preparations for war on it. (Reuters)
April
Pakistan's new PM picks coalition cabinet after Khan ousted
Written by Nur Yasmin
New Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday appointed a multi-party coalition cabinet made up of what had previously been political rivals in opposition who united to oust Imran Khan.
The cabinet, including five women, immediately set to work cementing relations with China as it battles a downwards economic spiral.
It will govern the country for a maximum of 16 months, after which a national election is due.
But with divergent views among the fledgling partners on whether to hold an election sooner than August 2023, it is unclear how long the government will remain in place.
Among the key appointments was Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, 57, a businessman and economist tasked with stabilising a troubled economy and restarting talks with the International Monetary Fund. read more
Aisha Ghaus Pasha, a former provincial finance minister, will work with Ismail as a state minister for finance.
Ismail's first officially announced meeting was with the Chinese Embassy's charge d'affaires, the finance ministry said in a statement.
Beijing has pledged billions of dollars in loans and investment in Pakistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a part of its Belt and Road Initiative.
"Referring to CPEC, the Federal Minister said that the corridor will play an important role in taking Pakistan’s economy forward as well as cementing the bilateral relationship," the statement said.
The minister of state for foreign affairs role went to Hina Rabbani Khar, a member of coalition ally Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Khar held the portfolio briefly in 2011.
Sharif, the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, said the cabinet had been formed after consultations with his elder brother and three-time prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, as well as coalition partners.
"It is my fervent hope that federal ministers, ministers of state & advisers will provide leadership & resolve the problems of the people," he said on Twitter, adding "Work, work & only work is our motto".
The cabinet is comprised of 33 ministers and three advisers, newly appointed Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb told reporters. (Reuters)
April
Philippines' poll body dismisses disqualification case against Marcos Jr
Written by Nur Yasmin
Philippine presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was allowed to continue his presidential run after the nation's poll body on Wednesday dismissed the final disqualification petition against the son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator.
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) ruled that a disqualification case based on Marcos Jr.'s failure to file income tax returns lacked merit.
"Regardless of the fact that the non-filing of income tax return was done repeatedly by the respondent, there is still no tax evasion to speak of as no tax was actually intentionally evaded," the COMELEC's first division said in the ruling. "The government was not defrauded."
Five cases seeking to bar Marcos from running for president were earlier dismissed by the poll body and are now under appeal. Complainants can file an appeal with the COMELEC and escalate to the Supreme Court.
Marcos' camp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Marcos, 64, has held a persistent lead in election surveys ahead of the May 9 poll. Analysts say his good ratings in surveys are partly because of a strong social media presence aimed at the youth, who were not yet born when the senior Marcos was in power. About 42% of eligible voters are under the age of 35.
The patriarch of the Marcos family, Ferdinand Marcos, ruled for 20 years, during which time he, his family and cronies amassed an estimated $10 billion in ill-gotten wealth, a commission found. Thousands of suspected communist rebels and political foes were arrested, tortured or killed.
The family is among the country's most famous dynasties and despite its fall from grace in 1986, it has retained powerful political connections and steadfast support in the northern Philippines. (reuters)
April
East Timor's Ramos-Horta takes commanding lead in presidential vote
Written by Nur Yasmin
Independence leader and Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta has taken a decisive lead in the second and final round of East Timor's presidential election, early results of the vote showed on Wednesday.
Timorese voters headed to the polls in the half-island nation of 1.3 million on Tuesday, choosing between Ramos-Horta and ex-guerrilla fighter President Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres.
With almost half of votes counted, Ramos-Horta had a commanding lead of 59% while Lu Olo had 41%, according to data from the country's election administration body (STAE).
Ramos-Horta, 72, is one of East Timor's best known political figures and previously served as prime minister then as the country's second president from 2007 to 2012.
He was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1996 for his efforts to bring a peaceful resolution to the conflict in East Timor when the country was brutally occupied by Indonesia.
In the first round of the election in April he narrowly missed securing an outright majority. An Australian academic calculated that he needed just 30,000 additional votes to secure victory in Tuesday's second round.
Speaking after voting near his home in the capital of Dili, Ramos-Horta said he was "very confident" he would win but would honour the final results.
After years of political tensions between major parties, this election has been widely viewed as crucial to the nation's stability. Ramos-Horta has suggested he may use presidential powers to dissolve parliament and call for early elections, currently scheduled for next year.
East Timor's first president, Xanana Gusmao, is backing Ramos-Horta in this election and has described the current government as "constitutionally illegitimate." Lu Olo, the incumbent, refused to swear in several ministers from Gusmao's political party on the grounds they were facing ongoing legal investigations, including for alleged corruption.
The next president will be sworn in on May 20, the 20th anniversary of East Timor's restoration of independence. (Reuters)
April
Solomon Islands PM says security pact with China won't undermine regional peace
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Solomon Islands' decision to sign a security pact with China will not hurt or undermine peace and harmony in the region, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told parliament on Wednesday.
Sogavare confirmed the pact had been signed by foreign ministers from the two countries, a day after China announced the signing at a regular news briefing in Beijing.
The move, days before a White House delegation, including Indo Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell, is to arrive in Honiara, has heightened concerns in Canberra about the potential for a Chinese military presence less than 2,000 kilometres away. read more
New Zealand’s foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta, said on Wednesday that New Zealand had made clear to both the Solomon Islands and China its grave concerns at the pact's potential to destabilise the Pacific region.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Solomon Islands were breaching an agreement within the main regional grouping, the Pacific Island Forum, for nations to discuss defence matters with the group before making major decisions.
"We are concerned about the militarisation of the Pacific and we continue to call on the Solomons to work with the Pacific with any concerns around their security they may have," Ardern told New Zealand media outlet Stuff.co.nz.
Campbell met on Wednesday in Suva with Fiji's prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, to discuss regional security, the U.S. embassy said, and will also travel to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
The United States, Japan, New Zealand and Australia shared concerns about the Solomon Islands security pact with China "and its serious risks to a free and open Indo-Pacific", the White House said earlier in a statement, after officials met in Honolulu. read more
Solomon Islands lawmakers urged Sogavare to publicly disclose the terms of the security pact.
Sogavare said the pact would be disclosed after a "process", adding the security cooperation with China was not directed at any countries or external alliances, "rather at our own internal security situation".
"I ask all our neighbours, friends and partners to respect the sovereign interests of the Solomon Islands on the assurance that the decision will not adversely impact or undermine the peace and harmony of our region," he said.
A leaked draft included provisions for Chinese police to maintain social order, and for Chinese naval vessels to replenish in the Solomon Islands, alarming Australia.
Sogavare told parliament a day earlier the pact would not allow a Chinese military base, and said on Wednesday the security pact allows for the protection of infrastructure, after riots in November saw buildings torched and lives lost.
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison, in the middle of a national election campaign, has been criticised by the opposition Labor party over what they call the largest diplomatic failure in the Pacific since World War 2.
Opposition Labor leader Anthony Albanese said that it was clear "relationships have broken down" between Australia and Sogavare, and that the Morrison government should have been engaging more deeply for longer.
Morrison said on Wednesday that Australia had communicated its position to Sogavare clearly but hadn't sent the foreign minister because it did not want to tell Pacific islands what to do.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, leader of Morrison's junior coalition partner, warned China could use the security deal to push for a military base. "We don't want our own little Cuba off our coast," Joyce said.
Australia has provided policing support to Honiara, a Pacific island neighbour, under a bilateral security treaty signed in 2017, and an earlier regional policing mission.
Australia's Minister for International Development and Pacific Zed Seselja had met with Sogavare last week to urge him not to sign the pact with China, and in a joint statement with on Tuesday evening said Australia was "deeply disappointed". (Reuters)
April
Denmark in talks with Rwanda on transfer of asylum-seekers
Written by Nur Yasmin
Denmark is in talks with Rwanda about setting up a new procedure for transferring asylum seekers to the east African nation, mirroring a similar move by Britain announced just last week.
Denmark, which has gained notoriety in the last decade for its increasingly harsh immigration policies, passed a law last year that allows refugees arriving on Danish soil to be moved to asylum centres in a partner country. read more
But the Nordic nation, which drew the anger of human rights advocates, the United Nations and the European Commission over the move, had yet to find a partner country at that time.
"Our dialogue with the Rwandan government includes a mechanism for the transfer of asylum seekers," Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye said in an emailed statement to Reuters on Wednesday.
The deal would aim to "ensure a more dignified approach than the criminal network of human traffickers that characterises migration across the Mediterranean today," he added.
Last week, Britain said it planned to relocate thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda, in a new deal aimed at smashing people-smuggling networks and stemming the flow of migrants. read more
Denmark has not yet struck a deal with Rwanda, the minister said, but immigration speakers in parliament had been summoned to a meeting on the matter on Thursday next week. The government needs parliamentary backing for a potential deal with Rwanda. (Reuters)