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May
China's Xi unveils grand development plan for Central Asia
Written by Nur Yasmin
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday unveiled a grand plan for Central Asia's development, from building infrastructure to boosting trade, taking on a new leadership role in a region that has traditionally been a Russian sphere of influence.
China is ready to coordinate development strategies with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and promote the modernisation of all, Xi said in an address to a China-Central Asia Summit in northwest China.
"This summit has added new impetus to the development and revitalisation of the six counties, and injected strong positive energy into regional peace and stability," Xi said later at a press conference with his Central Asian counterparts.
"We will jointly foster a new paradigm of deeply complementary and high-level win-win cooperation."
With its engagement, China has put itself at the forefront of the race for political influence and energy assets in the resource-rich region, with Russia distracted by its war in Ukraine and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan diminishing the U.S. presence in the region.
The five former Soviet republics, with a network of trade corridors, offer China alternative routes to transport fuel, food and other commodities in the event of disruptions elsewhere.
The pledges of support and cooperation at the two-day summit will present a contrast to a "negative" image of China invoked at a summit of Group of Seven leaders in Japan from Friday.
China's support for Central Asia also appear to be a counter-weight to U.S. accusations of its coercive diplomacy.
Xi said China and the Central Asian countries should deepen trust and offer "clear and strong support" on core interests such as sovereignty, independence, national dignity and long-term development.
He did not mention Ukraine, which like the Central Asian nations, was part of the Soviet Union.
"China is ready to help Central Asian countries improve their law enforcement, security, and defence capability construction," he said.
TRADE AND INVESTMENT
China would also upgrade bilateral investment agreements and increase cross-border freight volume with the region, Xi said.
It will encourage Chinese-funded businesses in Central Asia to create more jobs, build warehouses, and launch a special train service aimed at promoting tourism, he added.
"To bolster our cooperation and Central Asian development, China will provide Central Asian countries with a total of 26 billion yuan ($3.8 billion) of financing support and grants," Xi said.
Two-way trade between China and Central Asia hit a record $70 billion last year, with Kazakhstan leading with $31 billion, as China seeks deeper links in its quest for greater food and energy security.
Xi said the building of Line D of the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline should be accelerated.
He also called on China and Central Asia to increase their oil and gas trade, develop energy cooperation across industrial chains, and boost cooperation on new energy and the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
In the longer term, China supports construction of a cross-Caspian Sea international transport corridor, and would strengthen the construction of transport hubs of China-Europe freight train services, Xi said. (Reuters)
May
Indian PM Modi Says peace on border essential for normal ties with China
Written by Nur Yasmin
Peace on India's border with China is essential for normal relations, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in comments published on Friday that mark a rare articulation of New Delhi's position since ties with Beijing deteriorated in 2020.
Modi also said that the relationship between the nuclear-armed neighbours can only be based on mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest.
"India is fully prepared and committed to protect its sovereignty and dignity," Modi said in an interview to Nikkei Asia ahead of his visit to Japan to attend the G7 summit.
Modi arrived in Hiroshima on Friday as Japan's special guest for the summit that continues until Sunday.
"Peace and tranquility in the border areas are essential for normal bilateral ties with China," he said, adding normalising ties with China would benefit the wider region and the world.
Ties have been strained since the troops of the two countries clashed on their disputed Himalayan frontier, killing 24 soldiers, in 2020.
It was the deadliest clash between India and China in more than four decades.
Modi will join leaders from the United States, Japan and Australia on the sidelines of the G7 summit for a gathering of the Quad members, which aim to contain China's growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.
Asked about ties with India's arch-rival Pakistan, Modi said India wants "normal and neighbourly relations," but it is incumbent upon Islamabad to create a conducive environment free from "terrorism and hostilities".
"The onus is on Pakistan to take necessary steps in this regard," he said.
India-Pakistan relations have been frozen since 2019 when New Delhi changed the status of Jammu and Kashmir state, ended its special privileges and converted it into a federal territory.
India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in full but rule it in parts. They have gone to war over it three times since independence from Britain in 1947. (Reuters)
May
South Korea's Yoon meets Hiroshima survivors for the first time
Written by Nur Yasmin
President Yoon Suk Yeol met some South Korean survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on the sidelines of a G7 summit on Friday.
The meeting comes as Yoon pushes to close a chapter on historic feuds that have dominated ties with Tokyo for decades.
"As President, I deeply apologize that your homeland could not be there while you were suffering from pain and sadness," Yoon said at the meeting.
Yoon is the first South Korean president to meet with the survivors, a presidential spokesperson said.
As many as 100,000 Koreans suffered during the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, half of them dying that year while about 43,000 returned to the South and 2,000 went to the North, the Korea Atomic Bombs Victim Association says.
Of the 2,261 victims registered with the association, fewer than 2,000 were still alive by late 2021.
During his three-day trip at the invitation of Japan, Yoon will join the summit as an observer and hold talks with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, among others.
This month, Kishida became the first Japanese leader to visit the South Korean capital in 12 years, saying his "heart hurt" when thinking of suffering and pain during Japan's colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, in a rare nod to wartime atrocities.
Japan conscripted many Koreans during its occupation for forced labour in Japan, Manchuria and the Russian Far East.
A plan to compensate victims of forced labour will use funds from South Korean corporates, rather than those of Japanese firms, as courts had ruled.
At a news conference in Hiroshima on Thursday, some members of the Korea Atomic Bombs Victim Association called for a world without nuclear weapons and warned Russia against using an atomic bomb to attack Ukraine.
It welcomed a plan by Yoon and Kishida to visit a memorial in Hiroshima on Sunday and together pay tribute to Korean victims. (Reuters)
May
Ukraine's first lady asks South Korea for non-lethal military aid
Written by Nur Yasmin
Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, met South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday and asked for non-lethal military assistance for her country, South Korea's presidential office said.
Zelenska, the wife of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is visiting South Korea to participate in a media conference.
Zelenska, meeting Yoon in the role of a special presidential envoy, told him that she hoped to get support for Ukraine in the form of non-lethal military equipment such as mine detectors, Yoon's spokesperson, Lee Do-woon, told a briefing.
Yoon said South Korea would actively help the Ukrainian people, Lee said.
In an interview with South Korea's Yonhap news agency published on Tuesday, Zelenska raised the possibility of Yoon visiting Ukraine, saying a visit would be "very supportive".
She also called for "more radical" support for Ukraine to fight against Russian aggression.
South Korea, a major producer of artillery shells, has said it was not providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, citing its relations with Russia.
But Yoon said in an interview with Reuters last month his government might not "insist only on humanitarian or financial support" if civilians in Ukraine come under a large-scale attack or due to a "situation the international community cannot condone". (Reuters)
May
Chinese warships return to West Pacific for live-fire drills
Written by Nur Yasmin
Two Chinese warships have ventured into the Western Pacific for live-fire exercises, the military said on Tuesday, shortly after one of China's two aircraft carriers returned from a patrol, in its latest projection of force into more distant waters.
The destroyer Dalian and guided-missile frigate Huangshan sailed to an unidentified area of the West Pacific "not long ago" and conducted attack and defence drills, the Southern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army said in a statement.
"The joint training in unfamiliar and complex waters is of great significance in exploring the boundaries of new equipment effectiveness, testing the practical application of new warfare method," the command said, citing a training officer.
The exercises in more distant seas in the West Pacific came soon after a carrier group led by the Shandong, one of China's two operational aircraft carriers, returned to its home port this month after sailing around Taiwan and into the Western Pacific.
China is modernizing its military and its formidable missile forces and navy fleet, with new vessels such as cutting-edge cruisers, are posing a concern for the U.S. and its allies.
"China's aircraft carrier is not a homebody and cannot just stay at home," Song Zhongping, a military commentator with Hong Kong's Phoenix TV, told Reuters, referring to the Shandong.
"There will be more and more of these distant sea travels in future. Also China has quite a lot of warships."
In March, China's first domestically produced amphibious assault ship, the Hainan, along with a destroyer, a frigate, and a supply ship completed their first distant sea training after a 30-day trip into the South China Sea and the Western Pacific, the Southern Theatre Command said.
Despite China's military expansion, it could be more than a decade before it can mount a credible carrier threat far from its shores, defence analysts say. (Reuters)
May
Canada's Trudeau to visit South Korea; focus on minerals, security
Written by Nur Yasmin
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will arrive in South Korea on Tuesday for a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol as the two countries seek to boost cooperation on security and critical minerals used in batteries.
Yoon and Trudeau are scheduled to hold a summit and joint press conference on Wednesday, followed by an official dinner, said Yoon's deputy national security advisor, Kim Tae-hyo.
Trudeau's visit, the first in nine years by a Canadian leader, marks the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations, and both sides will issue a joint statement mapping out their partnership for the next 60 years, Kim said.
The two U.S. allies have been exploring ways to deepen cooperation on critical minerals used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries and step up intelligence sharing.
"The two leaders will discuss intensively on ways to build a norms-based global order including on North Korea's human rights issues, launching a high-level economic and security dialogue, strengthening cooperation on key minerals," Kim told reporters.
Yoon and Trudeau will sign an agreement on key mineral supply chains, clean energy conversion and energy security cooperation, a South Korean government official told Reuters, requesting anonymity as the deal was not finalised.
Canada has been trying to scale up EV production, with ample mineral reserves, including lithium, cobalt and nickel, which are used to make batteries for those vehicles.
The two leaders agreed to deepen cooperation on minerals supply chains when they met last September, as part of efforts to cut emissions to fight climate change.
The two countries have also sought to step up security cooperation including intelligence sharing, while navigating an intensifying rivalry between the United States and China.
Diplomatic tensions between Canada and China have been running high since the detention of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018 and Beijing's subsequent arrest of two Canadians on spying charges.
Last week, China expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai in a tit-for-tat move after Ottawa told a Toronto-based Chinese diplomat to leave.
Yoon has trodden cautiously with China, South Korea's largest trade partner, but he has been more vocal over tension in the Taiwan Strait. Last month Seoul and Beijing exchanged harsh words over Yoon's comments in an interview with Reuters. (Reuters)
May
Hong Kong leader says public libraries must ensure books don't violate laws
Written by Nur Yasmin
Hong Kong's leader said on Tuesday public libraries needed to ensure books don't violate local laws, amid criticism that many books and videos related to China's Tiananmen Square crackdown have now been removed from library shelves.
"These books are accessible by people in private book shops. If they want to buy, they can buy," Hong Kong's chief executive John Lee told reporters when asked about the removal of June 4 literature and documentaries from public libraries.
"What libraries need to do is to ensure that there's no breach of any laws in Hong Kong, including of course, copyrights etc, and also if they spread any kind of messages that are not in the interests of Hong Kong," Lee added, without elaborating.
Hong Kong, which returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of wide-ranging freedoms, has in recent years curbed individual liberties under a sweeping China-imposed national security law.
Chinese authorities, however, say the security law has brought stability after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Public memorials and commemorations of China's bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 were once allowed in Hong Kong, unlike mainland China where it is a taboo and censored topic.
In the past three years, however, Hong Kong authorities have barred an annual June 4 candlelight vigil from taking place on COVID social distancing grounds, and public monuments including a "goddess of democracy" statue have been dismantled from 3 universities.
With the scrapping of COVID restrictions this year, some activists have called for the June 4 vigil to resume.
Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper reported that more than 40 percent of video materials and books involving "political themes" had been removed from public libraries since 2020.
A government backed Audit Commission said in an April report that a two year government review of library materials had almost been completed of "library books which are manifestly contrary to the interests of national security and removed them from the library collections".
The national security law, which punishes acts including subversion and collusion with foreign forces with possible life imprisonment, has been criticised as a tool of repression by some countries including the United States. (Reuters)
May
China launches projects to build 'new-era' marriage, childbearing culture
Written by Nur Yasmin
China will launch pilot projects in more than 20 cities to create a "new-era" marriage and childbearing culture to foster a friendly child bearing environment, the latest move by authorities to boost the country's falling birth rate.
China's Family Planning Association, a national body that implements the government's population and fertility measures, will launch the projects to encourage women to marry and have children, state backed Global Times reported on Monday.
Promoting marrying, having children at appropriate ages, encouraging parents to share child-rearing responsibilities, and curbing high "bride prices" and other outdated customs are the focus of the projects, the Times said.
Cities included in the pilot include the manufacturing hub Guangzhou and Handan in China's Hebei province. The association already launched projects in 20 cities including Beijing last year, the Times said.
"The society needs to guide young people more on the concept of marriage and childbirth," demographer He Yafu told the Times.
The projects come amid a flurry of measures Chinese provinces are rolling out to spur people to have children, including tax incentives, housing subsidies, and free or subsidised education for having a third child.
China implemented a rigid one-child policy from 1980 until 2015 - the root of many of its demographic challenges that have allowed India to become the world's most populous nation. The limit has since been raised to three children.
Concerned about China's first population drop in six decades and its rapid ageing, the government's political advisers proposed in March that single and unmarried women should have access to egg freezing and IVF treatment, among other services to boost the country's fertility rate.
Many women have been put off having more children or any at all due to the expense of child care and having to stop their careers, with gender discrimination still a key hurdle. (Reuters)
May
Malaysia says firms that hired stranded migrant workers to face action
Written by Nur Yasmin
Malaysia said on Monday it would sanction firms and strip away licences from recruitment agencies involved in hiring migrant workers who later found themselves stranded without jobs in the country.
Reuters reported last week that hundreds of South Asian migrants, mostly from Bangladesh and Nepal, had been left in limbo after arriving in Malaysia, where they were told that jobs promised to them in exchange for steep recruitment fees were no longer available. Malaysia announced a probe last month.
The plight of the migrants - many of whom say they have not been paid salaries for months - comes amid concerns over workplace abuses in Malaysia, with several companies facing U.S. bans for forced labour in recent years.
In response to Reuters' queries, Malaysia's Labour Department vowed to take action against recruitment agencies and companies found to have misused government quotas and licences for hiring migrant workers.
The department said in an emailed statement it would conduct a thorough investigation, and would not compromise on any unlawful activities that could "lead to any form of forced labour".
The department said it had moved some of the stranded workers to government-registered quarters, and compelled some companies to pay for their accommodation and salaries.
It did not say how many workers in a similar plight it had identified, or how many firms or agencies it was investigating.
The department also denied reports that two Nepali citizens had died by suicide at a workers' accommodation facility.
It cited police investigations that determined only one death - that of a Nepali recruitment agent, who had travelled to Malaysia to oversee the cases of workers stranded.
The police would conduct a further probe into the death, the department said. (Reuters)
May
South Korea lifts power prices by 5.3% in delayed move
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korea said on Monday it will raise electricity prices by 5.3% to partly reflect increased generation costs, a move delayed more than a month because of the likely effect on already high inflation and the cost of living.
It is the second increase in power prices this year after a sharper 9.5% hike that took effect at the beginning of the year. The price adjustment had been due on April 1 but was delayed after a public outcry about the increased cost of living.
The government of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who marked his first anniversary in office last week amid low approval ratings, faces conflicting pressure from utilities hit by mounting losses and households hurt by the rising cost of living.
Reflecting the political burden facing the government, Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang started his announcement on the decision by saying he was "heavy-hearted about the burden and concern coming from the price increases".
Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO), the state-run electricity powerhouse, suffered an operating loss of 6.2 trillion won ($4.69 billion) for the first quarter after a huge 32.6 trillion won loss for the whole of last year.
The ministry also announced a 5.3% increase in city gas prices for households. Both price hikes take effect on Tuesday.
South Korea's inflation has been easing since peaking at a near 24-year high of 6.3% in July last year, but is still hovering around 4% in comparison with the central bank's target of 2%.
With parliamentary elections some 11 months away, the latest opinion poll by Gallup Korea showed last Friday the disapproval rating on President Yoon stood at 59%, far outpacing the approval rating of 35%. ($1 = 1,320.9300 won) (Reuters)