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April
China says U.S. to blame for tensions over Taiwan
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Beijing blamed the United States on Thursday for tensions over Taiwan after a U.S. warship sailed close to the Chinese-claimed island, asking rhetorically whether China would sail in the Gulf of Mexico as a “show of strength”.
The democratically-run island has complained of repeated military activities by Beijing in recent months, with China’s air force making almost daily forays into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone.
On Monday, China said an aircraft carrier group was exercising close to the island, and on Wednesday a U.S. warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait that separates the island from its giant neighbour.
Speaking at a daily news briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said U.S. ships engaging in “provocations” “send a seriously wrong signal to the forces of Taiwan independence, threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”.
“Would a Chinese warship go to the Gulf of Mexico to make a show of strength?” he added.
In 2015, five Chinese Navy ships sailed in international waters in the Bering Sea off Alaska, in an apparent first for China’s military that came as then-U.S. President Barack Obama toured the U.S. state.
The U.S. Navy has been regularly conducting what it calls “routine” transits of the Taiwan Strait.
Washington has expressed its concern about a pattern of Chinese intimidation efforts in the region, including towards Taiwan, reiterating that the U.S. commitment to Taiwan is “rock solid”.
China believes the United States is colluding with Taiwan to challenge Beijing and giving support to those who want the island to declare formal independence.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen says they are already an independent country called the Republic of China, the island’s official name.
Taiwan is China’s most sensitive territorial issue and a major bone of contention between Beijing and Washington.
The widely-read Chinese state-backed tabloid the Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, said on Thursday China’s carrier group had been drilling near Taiwan “amid U.S. provocations”.
It published what it said was a conversation between a Chinese fighter pilot and a Taiwanese one, who was warning China’s aircraft to turn around.
“This is China’s airspace,” the Chinese pilot says, in a recording the paper said was made on Tuesday while he was on duty cruising southwest of Taiwan. (Reuters)
April
New Zealand suspends entry for travellers from India due to high COVID-19 cases
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. New Zealand on Thursday temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks following a high number of positive coronavirus cases arriving from the South Asian country.
The move comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive coronavirus cases at its border on Thursday, of which 17 were from India.
“We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a news conference in Auckland.
India has recorded 12.8 million COVID-19 cases, the most after the United States and Brazil. It is now battling a deadly second wave of infections, and this week the number of daily new cases passed the peak of the first wave seen last September.
The suspension will start from 1600 local time on April 11 and will be in place until April 28. During this time the government will look at risk management measures to resume travel.
The suspension applies to anyone who has been in India during the past 14 days. It is the first time that New Zealand has extended any bar on entry to its own citizens and residents.
“I want to emphasize that while arrivals of COVID from India has prompted this measure, we are looking at how we manage high risk points of departure generally. This is not a country specific risk assessment...,” Ardern said.
New Zealand has virtually eliminated the virus within its borders, and has not reported any community transmission locally for about 40 days.
But it has been reviewing its border settings as more infected people have been arriving recently, most of them from India.
Pre-departure testing requirements reduced the number of positive cases coming from other countries but that’s not been the case with India, Ardern said.
“We have looked into whether or not we have issues with accuracy of the pre-departure tests. That has not demonstrated that that’s where the problem lies. So this suspension gives us the time to look at the problem more generally,” she said.
New Zealand on Thursday also reported one new locally infected case in a worker who was employed at a coronavirus managed isolation facility. (Reuters)
April
Australia recommends the use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to people under 50
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Australia said on Thursday it now recommends the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine over that produced by AstraZeneca. for people under the age of 50.
Europe’s drug regulator on Wednesday found a possible link between AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine and rare blood clotting issues in adults who had received the shot and said it had taken into consideration all available evidence.
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said that while the risk is extremely low, the country’s experts have changed their advice for those at greatest risk.
Australia will continue to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine to people over 70. (Reuters)
April
Japan, UAE to collaborate on hydrogen technology, supply chain
Written by Nur YasminJakarta. Japan and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday agreed to work together on technology to produce hydrogen and create an international supply chain, Japan’s industry ministry said.
The collaboration, marked by a memorandum of cooperation between the oil-producing UAE and energy-importer Japan, reflects mounting enthusiasm for investment in hydrogen, which offers potential to help fight climate change.
Japan’s government set a goal in December to boost its annual hydrogen demand to 3 million tonnes by 2030, from about 2 million tonnes now, and to 20 million tonnes by 2050, as part of a green growth strategy to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The aim of Thursday’s agreement is that Japan should be able to import hydrogen produced in the UAE, which may be produced from fossil fuel but whose emissions are captured and used in industry.
The two countries will also cooperate to boost hydrogen demand in the UAE.
Hydrogen, mostly extracted from natural gas or coal production, has long been used in applications ranging from rocket fuel to making fertilisers.
But as goverments seek to address climate change, the goal is to shift to emissions-free green hydrogen produced using renewable power and to broaden its use to include replacing fossil fuel energy in industrial processes and using it as transport fuel. But there are still many hurdles involving cost and infrastructure. (Reuters)
April
Russian foreign minister visits Pakistan in search of Afghan peace
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday met Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and the country’s army chief for talks on the troubled peace process in Afghanistan, where both countries have long histories of involvement.
It was the first time a Russian foreign minister had visited Pakistan in nine years and comes at a sensitive time for neighbouring Afghanistan with peace talks making little headway and a deadline looming for the United States to withdraw its forces.
Khan highlighted the importance of a negotiated political settlement to the war in Afghanistan during the meeting, according to a statement from his office.
“Pakistan appreciated Russia’s efforts in promoting the Afghan peace process through the hosting of the recent meeting...in Moscow,” the statement said, referring to a recent summit on the peace process that Pakistan attended.
They also discussed economic relations, the COVID-19 pandemic and progress on a major gas pipeline project.
Lavrov also met Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, at army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi, according to a statement from the military.
“During the meeting, matters of mutual interest including enhanced defence and security cooperation, regional security, particularly Afghan Peace Process were discussed,” the statement said.
In the 1980s, Pakistan and the United States were the main supporters of the Islamist fighters who battled occupying Soviet forces.
Now, Russia is concerned about Afghan instability spilling over into central Asia as the United States seeks to extricate itself from a war in Afghanistan against the Islamist Taliban.
Russia hosted an international conference on Afghanistan in Moscow last month at which the participants, including the United States, China and Pakistan, issued a statement calling on the warring Afghan sides to reach a peace deal and curb violence.
“A common concern is the situation in Afghanistan,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Lavrov’s visit to Pakistan.
“We look forward to an early finding of a constructive solution in order to end the civil war in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan through agreements on the formation of an inclusive government with the participation of the Taliban movement.”
The United States signed an agreement with the Taliban last year allowing it to withdraw its forces in exchange for a Taliban guarantee to prevent international terrorism.
But fighting between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Taliban still rages.
The United States is pushing for an interim Afghan government between the two sides as a May 1 deadline approaches for it to withdraw its forces under the pact.
President Joe Biden has said that date will be hard to meet despite Taliban threats of more violence if it is not. (Reuters)
April
Scientists call for new probe into COVID-19 origins: with or without China
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. A joint China-World Health Organization (WHO) study into COVID-19 has provided no credible answers about how the pandemic began, and more rigorous investigations are required - with or without Beijing’s involvement, a group of international scientists and researchers said on Wednesday.
The joint study, released last week, said the likeliest transmission route for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, involved bats and other wildlife in China and southeast Asia. It all but ruled out the possibility it had leaked from a laboratory.
In an open letter, 24 scientists and researchers from Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan said the study was tainted by politics.
“Their starting point was, let’s have as much compromise as is required to get some minimal cooperation from China,” said Jamie Metzl, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, who drafted the letter.
The letter said the study’s conclusions were based on unpublished Chinese research, while critical records and biological samples “remain inaccessible”.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus said last week China had withheld data.
Liang Wannian, China’s senior COVID-19 expert, denied this and appeared to rule out any further joint investigations in China, saying the focus should shift to other countries.
Metzl said the world might have to “revert to Plan B” and conduct an investigation “in the most systematic way possible” without China’s involvement.
China has rejected allegations that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a research laboratory in Wuhan, the city where COVID-19 was first identified.
The joint China-WHO study said the lab leak was “extremely unlikely”, saying there was “no record” that any laboratory had kept SARS-CoV-2-related viruses. Tedros said more research was required to “reach more robust conclusions”.
Metzl said China should disclose information that would allow the lab hypothesis to be disproved.
“China has databases of what viruses were being held... there are lab notes of the work that was being done,” he said, “There are all kinds of scientists who are actually doing the work and we don’t have access to any of those resources, or any of those people.” (Reuters)
April
Philippine leader cancels address as coronavirus spreads among staff
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte cancelled a weekly televised address and meeting with his coronavirus task force on Wednesday, following dozens of COVID-19 cases among his staff and security detail, government officials said.
The Philippines is battling one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Asia, with hospitals in the capital overwhelmed amid record daily infections, while authorities face delays in delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.
The country has seen new daily cases surge in recent weeks, surpassing 15,000 on April 2, most of those in the congested capital, Manila.
“The physical safety of the president remains our utmost concern,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement.
There were 45 active COVID-19 cases in the Presidential Security Group (PSG), Duterte’s guard unit, most of which were personnel manning the gates of the presidential palace, PSG chief Brigadier General Jesus Durante told state television.
“We will minimise all possible exposures that may jeopardise our president’s safety,” he said.
Before the pandemic, Duterte, 76, maintained a busy schedule, at times attending multiple public events and delivering several speeches each day, often past midnight.
His public activities have since been replaced by a weekly nighttime address.
Duterte’s known ailments include back problems, migraines due to nerve damage and Barrett’s oesophagus, which affects his throat. He also suffers from Buerger’s disease which can cause blockages in the blood vessels.
Duterte has yet to be vaccinated against the coronavirus and is awaiting his doctor’s advice having expressed a preference for Sinopharm’s vaccine, which has yet to be approved locally.
Christopher Go, a sitting senator and Duterte’s closest aide, reassured the public the president was in good health.
“Nothing to worry about,” Go said. “In fact, we are together and he continues working.”
April
Global growth hopes keep shares near record high
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. World stocks took a well-earned rest near record highs on Wednesday, as an International Monetary Fund forecast of the strongest global growth since the 1970’s this year and steady bond and FX markets kept risk appetite buoyant.
While rising global COVID case numbers and geopolitical tensions between China and Taiwan and between Russia and Ukraine ensured it was by no means a fairytale, markets certainly had a Goldilocks feel again.
Europe’s STOXX 600 perched just below the first record high it had hit in over a year on Tuesday. MSCI’s 50-country world index was grinding out a sixth day of gains and Wall Street futures were pointing higher too.
In the bond markets, there was little sign that the benchmark government yields that drive global borrowing costs were gearing up to shoot higher again. The dollar was sitting quietly at a two-week low.
The IMF raised its global growth forecast to 6% this year from 5.5% on Tuesday, reflecting a rapidly brightening outlook for the U.S. economy.
If realized, that would be the fastest the world economy has grown since 1976, albeit after the steepest annual downturn of the post-war era last year when the COVID pandemic brought commerce to a near stand-still at times.
“Even with high uncertainty about the path of this pandemic, a way out of this health economic crisis is increasingly visible,” IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said.
Overnight, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares had started on a firm footing, going as high as 208.46 points, a level last seen on March 18.
However, it succumbed to selling pressure and ended flat as China’s blue-chip CSI300 index dipped 1% and Hong Kong eased 0.9%.
Geopolitical tensions in the region added to the jitters. Taiwan’s foreign minister said on Wednesday it will fight to the end if China attacks, adding that the United States saw a danger that this could happen amid mounting Chinese military pressure, including aircraft carrier drills, near the island.
Other Asian markets managed to stay positive. Japan’s Nikkei closed higher; Australian shares rose 0.6% and South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.3%.
PEPP TALK
Wall Street futures pointed to a 0.1% rises for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial and Nasdaq. The S&P 500 and the Dow had hit record levels on Monday, driven by a stronger-than-expected jobs report last Friday and data showing a dramatic rebound in U.S. services industry figures. [.N]
The upcoming earnings season is expected to show S&P profit growth of 24.2% from a year earlier, according to Refinitiv data, and investors will be watching to see whether corporate results further confirm recent positive economic data.
All eyes will also be on minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s March policy meeting when they are published later.
Ten-year and five-year Treasury yields, were down at 1.6455% and 0.874% respective in Europe from as high as 1.776% on the 10-year on March 30.
The five-year Treasury yield especially is seen as a major barometer of the faith investors have in the Fed’s message that it doesn’t expect to raise U.S. interest rates until 2024.
Europe’s bond yields also eased, with southern European debt markets stabilising after a selloff the previous session as traded braced for a 50-year bond from Italy.
The European Central Bank meanwhile will release monthly data on its conventional asset purchases and a bi-monthly breakdown of its PEPP pandemic emergency bond purchases which it has vowed to increase to keep borrowing costs low.
The dollar circled a two-week low of 92.246 against a basket of world currencies.
The euro was flat at $1.1871, sterling was weaker at $1.3795. The Japanese yen was a touch lower at 109.92.
In commodities, Brent crude futures were nudging lower at $62.67 a barrel. U.S. crude was up at $59.51 and both gold and copper were off at $1,736.4 an ounce and 8,980 a tonne respectively.
“A large share of the hopes of a U.S. growth boom supported by state aid and rapid vaccination progress has already been priced in,” Commerzbank FX and EM analyst Esther Reichelt wrote in a note to clients.
“Further and more pronounced USD gains would only be justified if this boom also caused rising inflation rates to which the Fed would have to react with higher interest rates.” (Reuters)
April
Philippines allows use of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine for senior citizens
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Philippine health authorities on Wednesday allowed the use of Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine for some senior citizens after initially limiting coverage to people aged 18-59 years, as the country battles one of Asia’s worst coronavirus outbreaks.
The Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration said they made the decision after receiving the recommendation of the Department of Science and Technology’s vaccine expert panel.
Senior citizens can now receive CoronaVac shots provided there is stringent evaluation of the person’s health status and exposure risk, they said in a statement.
The Southeast Asian country has seen new daily cases surge, mostly in the capital Manila, and its inoculation drive is being hampered by delays in vaccine deliveries.
A total of 922,898 doses of Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines have been administered so far to healthcare workers, senior citizens, and people with comorbidities, or just a third of the total local stocks, health ministry data showed.
Last week, the chair of a World Health Organization panel said Sinovac and another Chinese vaccine maker, Sinopharm, had presented data indicating levels of efficacy that would be compatible with those required.
The Philippine health authorities said that even though efficacy data for senior citizens from Phase III trials of the Sinovac vaccine, known as CoronaVac, was not yet sufficient “the benefits of using the vaccine for this particular group outweigh its risks”.
The Philippines has also negotiated vaccine supply deals with other manufacturers, aiming to inoculate up to 70 million people, or two thirds of its population. (Reuters)
April
European countries may have to mix COVID-19 shots amid AstraZeneca crisis
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Several European countries are considering mixing up COVID-19 vaccines for citizens who received a first dose of AstraZeneca’s shot, an unprecedented move that highlights challenges for governments struggling to tame fresh rises in infections.
Vaccination programmes have been upset after a small number of reports that recipients of the AstraZeneca inoculation have suffered extremely rare blood clots, leading some countries worldwide to suspend its use out of caution.
A senior official for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in an interview published on Tuesday there was a link between the vaccine and rare blood clots in the brain but the possible causes were still unknown.
The EMA later said in a statement that its review of the vaccine was ongoing. It will give an update on its investigation on Wednesday afternoon.
AstraZeneca has said previously its studies have found no higher risk of clots because of the vaccine, millions of doses of which have been administered worldwide.
While many countries have resumed using the shot, some have imposed age restrictions.
In many instances, this has left officials scratching their heads over what to do for people who received a first dose of AstraZeneca but are no longer eligible under the new rules.
While the numbers are small compared with the tens of millions being inoculated across the region, the decision is significant because it has not been tested in late-stage human trials.
Any divergence to the EMA’s marketing authorisation would also be considered as “off label use”, meaning it would not be approved by the regulator and leave individual countries responsible for any possible side-effects.
The EMA had no immediate comment when asked about mixing and matching vaccines and referred to the briefing later on Wednesday.
Some experts say that, because all of the vaccines target the same outer “spike” protein of the virus, they could work together to train the body to fight off the virus. There is no evidence it will be as effective.
Germany was the first European country to recommend on April 1 that people under 60 who have had a first AstraZeneca shot should receive a different product for their second dose.
Norway will decide whether to resume using AstraZeneca’s vaccine or rely on alternatives by April 15.
“The outcome is either you get one vaccine, the AstraZeneca vaccine ... or you get a booster vaccine with other types of vaccines,” Sara Viksmoen Watle, a senior physician at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, told Reuters.
Norwegian authorities are also waiting for the results of a British trial launched in February to explore mixing doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines. The timing of the data is not known.
Britain said late last year it would allow people to be given shots of different COVID-19 vaccines on rare occasions, but it has not yet had to do so.
Finland, which resumed using the AstraZeneca vaccine from March 29, but will only give it to people aged 65 and over, said it would wait for the EMA’s conclusions before making a recommendation. It will have to start giving second doses by mid-April.
In France, where the vaccine can now only be used for those aged 55 or older, the issue affects hundreds of thousands of people.
A top health advisory body in charge of defining the use of vaccines, the Haute Autorité de la Santé (HAS), is also contemplating deploying a messengerRNA (mRNA) vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna as a second dose, according to two sources aware of the organisation’s plans.
A formal decision has not been yet taken, however, as experts await more data, notably from Britain, one of the sources added. France has until early May, which marks 12 weeks after the first doses were administered.
The HAS had no comment.
Back in February, it said there was no data to assess interchangeability of AstraZeneca’s vaccine and therefore advised that those who had already received a first dose should not get a different shot when vaccinated for the second time.
“We are left guessing and that makes me and other colleagues feel very uncomfortable,” said Charlotte Senechal, a 52-year-old hospital nurse working in Strasbourg, eastern France. (Reuters)