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March
U.S. general says North Korea might flight test new ICBM design 'in the near future'
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 17 - North Korea might begin flight testing an improved design for its inter-continental ballistic missiles “in the near future,” the head of the U.S. military’s Northern Command said on Tuesday, a move that would sharply increase tensions between Pyongyang and Washington.
The warning by Air Force General Glen VanHerck appeared based on North Korea’s October unveiling at a parade of what would be its largest ICBM yet, and not specific intelligence about an imminent launch.
Still, VanHerck made his remarks a day ahead of a debut trip by President Joe Biden’s top diplomat and defense secretary to South Korea and underscores U.S. concerns that Pyongyang may resume testing of missiles and nuclear weapons after a hiatus of more than three years.
Even during the testing lull, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for continued production of nuclear weapons for his arsenal, launched a series of smaller missiles and unveiled the ICBM.
VanHerck told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Pyongyang’s “considerably larger and presumably more capable” ICBM further increased the threat to the United States. Still, he expressed confidence in U.S. missile defenses.
The U.S. general also noted that Kim released himself from a moratorium on testing over a year ago.
“The North Korean regime has also indicated that it is no longer bound by the unilateral nuclear and ICBM testing moratorium announced in 2018, suggesting that Kim Jong Un may begin flight testing an improved ICBM design in the near future,” VanHerck said in his written testimony.
Jenny Town, director of 38 North, a U.S.-based website that tracks North Korea, said that while an ICBM test was possible “I’m not sure how likely it is.”
She speculated that instead North Korea would be more likely to restart test launches with shorter-range missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
“It seems more likely that if North Korea is going to start testing missiles again, it will start with ones where testing has been almost normalized,” Town said.
A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that while there have been indications in recent weeks that North Korea may be preparing for a missile launch, one did not appear imminent.
The White House on Monday confirmed a Reuters report that the Biden administration sought to reach out to North Korea but had received no response, extending a chill in relations that began at the end of Donald Trump’s administration.
After the White House remarks, North Korean state news reported that the sister of the North Korean leader here, Kim Yo Jong, criticized the Biden Administration for ongoing military drills in South Korea.
“If it wants to sleep in peace for coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step,” Kim said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.
The joint U.S.-South Korean springtime military drill begun last week was limited to computer simulations because of the coronavirus risk, as well as the efforts to engage with the North. (Reuters)
March
EU to sanction Myanmar military's business interests next week, France says
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 17 - France’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that the European Union would next week approve sanctions against the business interests of those responsible for last month’s military coup in Myanmar.
“The technical discussions are being finished in Brussels and we will confirm them next Monday,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told a hearing in the French Senate, referring to the next meeting of EU foreign ministers.
According to diplomats and internal documents seen by Reuters, the measures will target companies “generating revenue for, or providing financial support to, the Myanmar Armed Forces”.
While the bloc maintains an arms embargo against Myanmar, and has applied sanctions to some senior military officers since 2018, the measures would be its most significant since the coup.
“Obviously (we) will suspend all budgetary support and also there will be measures directly targeting those responsible for the military coup d’etat and hitting the individuals and their own economic interests,” Le Drian said. (Reuters)
March
APEC strives to unravel the potential of indigenous economies
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 17 - APEC senior officials, academia, and experts strive to unlock the potential of the indigenous people's contribution to the region's economy, with better data and insights, propelling APEC's endeavors to nurture inclusive growth that benefits everyone.
The Asia-Pacific is home to around 70 percent of the world's indigenous population. However, the full potential of the community’s contribution to the region’s economy remains untapped, according to a written statement -- issued by the APEC Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation -- that was received here on Tuesday.
In a policy dialog on understanding and valuing indigenous economies in APEC held virtually earlier this month, panelists from various APEC economies shared their experiences in amassing and measuring data on the indigenous economies, stressing on the importance of boosting data collection efforts and the quality of data itself.
"In Aotearoa New Zealand, indigenous economic growth is an integral part of inclusive growth and prosperity," New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta noted in her opening remarks at the policy dialog.
Minister Mahuta expounded that in the last two decades, New Zealand has borne witness to the growth of the Maori economy, from NZD16.5 billion (some US$11.84 billion) in 2006 to NZD69 billion (around US$49.53 billion) in 2019.
The minister strongly believes that good data and information is critical to gaining a better understanding of the concept of the indigenous economy and its role within the wider economy.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for reliable and timely data to aid policymakers to understand the impact on indigenous people to deliver targeted, informed, and tailored responses and also support economic resilience," Mahuta affirmed.
One of the key challenges encountered in accruing data on the indigenous economy is the varying definitions of indigenous individuals, households, and businesses across different APEC economies.
"Normally, an economy comprises households, business, and the government," Chief Economist and Director of Business and Economic Research Limited (BERL) Hillmarè Schulze noted in her presentation at the policy dialog.
Schulze further expounded that the first stage of understanding the measurement of indigenous economies is identifying and measuring what constitutes indigenous economic actors, translating to those who are part of the economy, which could include data on individuals, households, and businesses.
"Once we have data on the economic actors, we can then proceed to the next step that is measuring the participation and contribution," she stated.
Minister Mahuta reiterated the importance of closer collaboration between members in advancing indigenous economic inclusion in the APEC.
"This work is important to improve the lives and well-being of all indigenous people across the Asia-Pacific," Mahuta stated.
Inclusive economic growth is a crucial agenda item under New Zealand’s leadership of the APEC this year, as its member economies join, work, and grow together to build back better.
APEC senior officials acknowledged the potential of the indigenous economy and encouraged cooperation for data gathering and the sharing of best practices in assessing the contributions of indigenous economies. (Antaranews)
March
'Troubling' signs of Myanmar food price rises since coup: U.N. agency
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 16 - The U.N. food agency said on Tuesday rising food and fuel prices in Myanmar since a Feb. 1 military coup risk undermining the ability of poor families to feed themselves.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted the elected government and detained its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, with protests and a civil disobedience campaign of strikes paralysing parts of the economy.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said food prices were rising with palm oil 20% higher in some places around the main city of Yangon since the beginning of February and rice prices up 4% in the Yangon and Mandalay areas since the end of February.
In some parts of Kachin State in the north, the price of rice was up as much as 35%, while prices of cooking oil and pulses were sharply higher in parts of Rakhine State in the west, the WFP said in a statement.
The cost of fuel had risen by 15% nationwide since Feb. 1, raising concern about further food price increases, it said.
“These rising food and fuel prices are compounded by the near paralysis of the banking sector, slowdowns in remittances, and widespread limits on cash availability,” the WFP said.
The agency’s country director, Stephen Anderson, said the signs were troubling: “Coming on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, if these price trends continue they will severely undermine the ability of the poorest and most vulnerable to put enough food on the family table.”
A spokesman for the ruling military council did not respond to telephone calls seeking comment. State media has this week reported farmers expecting good prices for their crops of onions and chickpeas.
The WFP is helping to support more than 360,000 people in Myanmar, most of them displaced by conflict over the past decade.
The agency reiterated a call from the U.N. secretary-general for the will of the Myanmar people expressed in November elections to be respected, Anderson said, adding: “At WFP we know all too well how hunger can quickly follow when peace and dialogue are sidelined.”
The military defended its coup saying its complaints of fraud in a November election won by Suu Kyi’s party had been ignored. The election commission said the vote was fair.
A total of 183 people have been killed by security forces in protests against the coup, a rights monitoring group said.
Myanmar, once Asia’s main rice basket, was among the region’s poorest countries after the military seized power in a 1962 coup and imposed an autarchic “way to socialism”.
The economy boomed after the military began to withdraw from politics a decade ago. (Reuters)
March
Malaysia charges Top Glove over poor quality of worker housing
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 16 - Malaysia has charged glove maker Top Glove Corp Bhd with 10 counts of failing to provide worker accommodation that meets the minimum standards of the labour department, state news agency Bernama said on Tuesday.
Top Glove, the world’s largest medical glove maker, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges levied by the sessions court in the northwestern city of Ipoh, the agency said.
Ten of the firm’s accommodation sites for foreign workers in the state of Perak were not certified by the labour department, it added.
Court hearings resume on April 28.
If found guilty, Top Glove could be fined up to 50,000 ringgit on each charge, a charge-sheet showed.
Top Glove was not immediately available for comment. The labour department declined comment on a case still in progress.
The charges follow authorities’ investigations into worker accommodation and hostels at several Top Glove units last November, following a coronavirus outbreak at one of its fatories near the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
That outbreak grew into Malaysia’s largest cluster, with more than 5,000 workers testing positive.
Last week, an independent consultant, Impactt, said it “no longer” found any indication of systemic forced labour at Top Glove, which was making progress on some indicators, such as living conditions. (Reuters)
March
Top U.S., Japan officials say China's behaviour inconsistent with international order
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 16 - Senior officials from United States and Japan on Tuesday raised concerns about China’s behaviour in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and other areas and said it was inconsistent with the international order.
A joint statement from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and their Japanese counterparts said they had serious concerns “about recent disruptive developments in the region such as the China Coast Guard Law.”
They said they had discussed Washington’s “unwavering commitment” to defend Japan in the East China Sea, and reiterated their opposition to China’s “unlawful” maritime claims in South China Sea. (Reuters)
March
North Korea warns new U.S. administration if it wants peace it must avoid 'causing a stink': state news agency
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 16 - The sister of North Korean leader, Kim Yo Jong, criticised ongoing military drills in South Korea and warned the new U.S. administration against “causing a stink” if it wants peace, state news reported on Tuesday.
The statement comes a day before America’s top diplomat and defence chief are due to arrive in Seoul for their first talks with South Korean counterparts.
“We take this opportunity to warn the new U.S. administration trying hard to give off powder smell in our land,” Kim said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA. “If it wants to sleep in peace for coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are travelling in Asia this week for foreign policy and security talks with allies in Japan and South Korea, among other stops.
The timing of Kim’s comments seems designed to ensure that North Korea will be at the top of Blinken and Austin’s agenda when they land in Seoul, said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a Korea expert at King’s College London.
“Until now, the discussion was focusing on The Quad, dealing with China and the North Korea policy review,” he said. “Now Kim’s statement will be central to discussions.”
North Korea has so far rebuffed entreaties from the United States to engage in dialogue, the White House said on Monday, as a chill in relations that began under then-President Donald Trump has extended into Joe Biden’s presidency.
Leader Kim Jong Un had three high-profile summit meetings with Trump and exchanged a series of letters, but the nuclear-armed state ended talks and said it would not engage further unless the United States drops its hostile policies.
There was no immediate response from the White House and State Department, or South Korea’s government. Biden’s team has been conducting a review of North Korea policy, which it expects to wrap up in coming weeks.
‘WAR DRILLS’
South Korean and American troops began a joint springtime military drill last week, which was limited to computer simulations because of the coronavirus risk as well as the ongoing efforts to engage with the North.
“War drills and hostility can never go with dialogue and cooperation,” said Kim Yo Jong, who has become a vocal critic of Seoul in state media dispatches.
She mocked South Korea for “resorting to shrunken war games, now that they find themselves in the quagmire of political, economic and epidemic crisis.”
The inter-Korean engagement that had improved in 2018 and is sought by South Korea “won’t come easily again” and North Korea will be watching to see if there is further provocations, she said.
North Korea would consider pulling out of an inter-Korean military agreement aimed at reducing tensions along their shared border, and would review whether to dissolve several organisations aimed at cooperation with the South, Kim said.
Kim Yo Jong’s statement, as colourful as it is, is generally consistent with past North Korean statements expressing frustrations at disparities between words and actions, said Jenny Town, director of 38 North, a U.S.-based website that tracks North Korea.
“How despite the agreements in place, positive actions especially on the inter-Korean agenda have been too few while actions that reinforce the ‘old’ adversarial relationship persist,” she said. (Reuters)
March
UAE agritech start-up raises $50 million in bonds to grow tomatoes in the desert
Written by Nur YasminMar. 16 - UAE agriculture technology start-up Pure Harvest Smart Farms has raised $50 million via sukuk, or Islamic bonds, the first time an early-stage company in the region has secured venture capital through debt on the market, its chief executive said on Monday.
It also raised $10 million in equity capital in January, founder and CEO Sky Kurtz told Reuters.
The combined $60 million capital will be used to build two “high-tech hybrid greenhouses” in the United Arab Emirates to produce tomatoes, currently the firm’s main product, and leafy greens in year-round warmth and sunshine.
The financing will also allow the company to retrofit an existing facility for berry production in the UAE and build a tomato production facility in Saudi Arabia in partnership with the National Agricultural Development Company (NADEC), 20% owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Pure Harvest’s overall production will be around 75 metric tonnes per week by June, up from between 10 and 14 tonnes now, Kurtz said.
The $50 million three-year sukuk issue has a coupon of 8%, with 7% payment-in-kind at maturity. It also has embedded warrants that investors can exercise, subject to certain events, to take equity in the company.
The issuance was arranged by Shuaa Capital and anchored by investments from Franklin Templeton and Sancta Capital.
“This is a company that is by far the most advanced agtech player in the region,” said Ahmad Alanani of Sancta Capital, adding it has intellectual property that is “very defensible”.
The company aims eventually to export its produce, but Kurtz said it had a “long way to go” before it covers imports in the Gulf, where around 80-90% of fresh produce is currently imported.
Pure Harvest is planning to return to capital markets in less than three months with an instrument to complete a 39 million euro ($47 million) multi-crop project in Kuwait.
The company has raised total commitments of $216 million, of which $151.5 million is in various forms of debt and the rest is equity, including incentives from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), which Kurtz said were “substantial”, without specifying.
Pure Harvest expects to enter markets outside the region next year or in 2023 and is in discussions to build projects in Southeast Asia in partnership with a wealthy individual from the Philippines, Kurtz said. (Reuters)
March
Australia's Cormann to lead OECD, climate activists dismayed
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 16 - Australia’s former finance minister Mathias Cormann on Friday announced he won the race to lead the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), disappointing climate activists who said he has blocked efforts to reduce emissions.
Cormann takes over as the OECD enters the final stretch of one of its highest profile missions: steering global talks to rewrite rules for taxing cross border commerce for the first time in a generation.
Cormann won a tight race, narrowly beating the Swedish politician and former European Union trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, who went into the final vote with broad support from most European countries.
“Earlier today I learned that the Selection Committee will recommend to the OECD Council that I be appointed as next Secretary-General of the OECD,” Cormann said in a statement.
He said the OECD would stay focused on maximising the strength of the economic recovery from COVID-19, to promote ambitious action on climate change and work on finalising a multilateral approach to digital taxation.
Born in Belgium before migrating to Australia in 1996, Cormann has said the OECD must provide leadership on climate change, adding that the targets set in the 2015 Paris Agreement were a foundation to build upon.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the election of Cormann demonstrated Canberra’s global standing.
“This is a great honour for Mathias who has worked tirelessly over several months to engage with leaders, senior ministers and officials of OECD member nations from Europe, Asia and the Americas,” Morrison said in an emailed statement.
Environmental activists expressed bitter disappointment at his victory.
Last week, campaign groups sent a letter to OECD noting that as Australia’s finance minister, Cormann abolished the country’s carbon pricing scheme, failed to commit to a net-zero emissions target, and maintained fossil fuel subsidies.
At that time, the Australian government “persistently failed to take effective action to reduce emissions at home and has consistently acted as a blocker within international forums”.
“We have little confidence in Cormann’s ability to ensure the OECD is a leader in tackling the climate crisis, when he has an atrocious record on the issue,” Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, said. (Reuters)
March
Afghan peace talks should rotate among countries, envoy says amid stall
Written by Nur Yasmin
Mar. 16 - Afghan peace talks, now stalled in Qatar, should be rotated to other venues, Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates said, indicating the Qatari hosts had not pushed hard enough for the Taliban to reduce violence.
Talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have been held in Qatar since last year, after the United States agreed to withdraw its troops. But violence has increased and the government accuses the militants of failing to meet obligations to reduce attacks.
Ambassador Javid Ahmad said peace talks should not be held in one fixed location, but rotate among venues in Europe, Asia, the Middle East or Afghanistan itself. He later told Reuters his comments reflected his personal view and not that of the Afghan government.
The Taliban, which opened an office in Qatar in 2013, were too “comfortable” there, he said. “We want the Taliban to get out of their comfort zone.”
“The Qataris could have used its role as a host to play a more active and decisive role in pushing the Taliban to reduce violence or declare a ceasefire,” Ahmad said. “They have not properly used their leverage, as a host to the Taliban ..., to push the group’s leaders to declare a ceasefire or to visibly reduce violence.”
Qatar’s government communications office said Doha was committed to supporting Afghans by hosting the talks, and would like to see a reduction in violence leading “to continued peace and security in the country”.
“The fact that representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban are still at the table shows that the negotiations are working,” it said.
Russia will hold a conference on Afghanistan this week, while Turkey hosts talks next month as the United States seeks to shake-up the process, proposing an interim administration.
Ahmad said Afghanistan’s “participatory government” had “the capacity to absorb the Taliban and ex-combatants” but that the only way to achieve a transition of power was through elections.
The Taliban have said they are committed to the peace negotiations.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration signed a troop withdrawal deal with the Taliban in February 2020 under which all international forces were expected to leave the country by May 1.
However, violence has risen and NATO officials say some conditions of the deal, including the Taliban cutting ties with international militant groups, have not been met, which the Taliban disputes. (Reuters)