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May
Philippines' Finance minister says no reason for rate hike
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Philippine central bank has no reason to raise interest rates further as domestic inflation is easing, the country's finance minister said ahead of a May 18 monetary policy meeting.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno reiterated his stance against a rate hike when he spoke to reporters. But he said he was just expressing his opinion and was only one of the seven monetary board members who will each vote during Thursday's decision-making.
"I'm for a pause, that's my opinion. Inflation is going down, huge (foreign exchange) reserves, the current account deficit has expanded but it's financially manageable and that's because of the improved economy, infrastructure spending," he said. "So over all, there's no reason why we should increase the rates."
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has raised rates by a total of 425 basis points since May last year to fight inflation, the full impact of which Diokno said had yet to be absorbed by the economy considering that monetary policy often works with a long lag.
Philippine annual inflation eased for a third straight month in April to 6.6%.
BSP Governor Felipe Medalla himself has said the month-on-month inflation trends in particular "present an even stronger argument" for keeping rates unchanged at the May 18 policy meeting.
Some economists believe the inflation downtrend and cooling economic growth have built the case for the BSP to pause in its tightening cycle.
However, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday that with risks to inflation remaining on the upside, "a continued tightening bias maybe appropriate until inflation falls decisively within the 2-4% target range". (Reuters)
May
Germany's Scholz to hold a summit with South Korean President Yoon later this month - Yonhap
Written by Nur Yasmin
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit South Korea on May 21 and hold a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol, news agency Yonhap reported on Thursday.
The report also said Scholz will visit the Demilitarized Zone separating the Koreas during his trip. (Reuters)
May
Thailand's ex-PM Thaksin shakes up election with talk of return
Written by Nur Yasmin
Adored by millions and reviled by many, Thai billionaire ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has towered over his country's turbulent politics for more than two decades - even though he's lived mostly in self-exile since the army overthrew him in 2006.
Now, Thaksin's announcement of plans to return to Thailand in July has caused a stir as voters prepare to go to the polls in a general election on Sunday, with implications for the vote and the inevitable horse-trading afterwards to form a government, analysts say.
Thaksin's daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 36, is the leading prime ministerial candidate for the opposition Pheu Thai party made up of loyalists to the populist movement that first swept her father to power in 2001.
But if her father is serious about coming home - some dismiss his latest vow as a play for votes on Sunday - it could complicate what many had presumed would be a post-election scramble by Pheu Thai to try to form a coalition with other opposition parties to end military domination of politics.
That's because any homecoming would require Thaksin - who faces prison from convictions he says were politically motivated after his ouster - to make a deal with at least some elements of the pro-military establishment that has ousted him and his family from the prime minister's office three times.
"The announcement could hint that Pheu Thai is seeking a deal that could see them join up with their former rivals in order to get Thaksin home," said Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of the faculty of political science at Ubon Ratchathani University.
Either way, Thaksin has again put himself at the centre of a political scene that has at times over the years brought bloody chaos with rival street protests between his supporters, who loved him for populist policies, and his opponents, who despised him as a brash, corrupt opportunist.
Along the way, the army has staged two coups - the latest in 2014 - and courts have intervened to remove pro-Thaksin governments and dissolve parties loyal to him. Yet, his reconstituted parties keep on winning elections - five and counting.
OPPOSITION COALITION?
In Sunday's vote, Pheu Thai is again widely expected to win the most seats in the 500-seat House of Representatives - but because of military-written rules, it could struggle to form a coalition because a 250-seat Senate appointed during military rule also gets a vote for the prime minister.
Those Senate votes were key to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha - who in 2014 seized power from a government that had been led by Thaksin's sister, Yingluck, and led a military junta for five years - retaining power in the last election four years ago, even though Pheu Thai won the most seats.
This time, Pheu Thai is polling strongly along with the progressive, youth-oriented, Move Forward party.
Together, the two opposition parties could get as many as two-thirds of lower house seats, putting them tantalisingly close to the 75% needed to overcome the Senate's 250 votes.
And with multiple other parties in play, and some Senate members recently showing a willingness to defy the government, the numbers could add up to a Pheu Thai-Move Forward coalition that excludes pro-military parties.
As recently as last week, Pheu Thai's Paetongtarn vowed she would never join with pro-military parties and expressed a willingness to joining with Move Forward in a coalition.
'LOOKING FOR A DEAL'
But bringing her father home may ultimately be the deciding factor for Pheu Thai, and that would force it into a deal with the establishment.
"For Thaksin to come home, there has to be a deal. He can't just walk into Thailand," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak a political scientiest at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
"Post election, Pheu Thai will be biding its time and looking for a deal. That's why I think the likelihood of Pheu Thai going with Move Forward is very slim."
As for why conservatives might be willing to make a deal and allow the man they've reviled for decades to return, Thitinan said that after so much time and turbulence, many in the establishment had concluded that it is no longer worth fighting Thaksin.
In fact, he said, the populist policies that were once seen as so radical have been mainstreamed into almost all parties including pro-military ones.
"His opponents and others will be thinking – if Thailand wants to get over this hump, if Thailand is to find peace and stability again, it has to settle the Thaksin conundrum," Thitinan said.
He said he could envision a deal that allowed Thaksin to return in exchange for minimal jail time and a promise not to run for office.
And for the pro-royalist, pro-military establishment, analyst Titipol said the threat that Thaksin had for so long represented was being replaced by Move Forward, with its even more progressive proposals that include calling for the amendment of laws against criticising the king.
"They hate Move Forward Party more. They're seeing it as more of a threat due to their reformist agendas," Titipol said. (Reuters)
May
ASEAN will not give up on Myanmar peace despite no progress - minister
Written by Nur Yasmin
Southeast Asia's ASEAN grouping will not give up trying to end violence in fellow member Myanmar even though the ruling military there has made no progress on a peace plan it agreed with the bloc two years ago, Indonesia said on Thursday.
Frustration has mounted among some members of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations with Myanmar and how to handle its bloody political turmoil that has raised questions about the group's effectiveness and unity.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo was forthright in his criticism, telling an ASEAN summit in the Indonesian town of Labuan Bajo that Myanmar's generals had made no progress on a five-point ASEAN peace plan.
He also said human rights violations in Myanmar could not be tolerated and violence there should be halted and its people protected.
Indonesia is ASEAN chair this year and its foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, told the summit that principles of democracy and the rule of law were enshrined in the ASEAN charter.
"A lack of progress not does mean that we should give up," Retno said at the closing of the summit
Myanmar has been in violent turmoil since the army overthrew a government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.
The coup triggered widespread protests that the military crushed. The army has since been fighting ethnic minority insurgents seeking self-determination and allied pro-democracy fighters.
ASEAN last month condemned the Myanmar military over one of its latest and most deadly air strikes that killed at least 100 people. The junta says it is fighting "terrorists".
As ASEAN chair, Indonesia has been talking to all sides in recent months in an attempt to get talks going but the criticism from Indonesia on Thursday underscored the absence of any results.
"I must speak candidly. On implementation of the 5PC, there has not been significant progress," Jokowi, as the Indonesian president is known, said earlier, referring to what ASEAN calls its "five-point consensus", or "5PC" for Myanmar.
Myanmar's top general agreed to the plan, which calls for an end to violence, humanitarian access and dialogue among all parties, in April 2021 at a meeting in Jakarta but the military has largely ignored it.
'NEXT STEPS'
Jokowi called for unity on Myanmar.
"ASEAN unity is required to decide on the next steps," he said, adding "engagement does not mean recognition".
ASEAN, which for years lived by the principle of not interfering in each other's internal affairs, has barred Myanmar junta leaders from attending its high-level meetings over its failure to implement the plan.
ASEAN secretary general Kao Kim Hourn told Reuters on the sidelines of the summit that the plan would still serve as the foundation for engaging with the junta.
"What we should be doing is to ensure that violence is eliminated. That is the bottom line," he said.
"They say if want to reach a destination you run, if you cannot run you walk, and if you cannot walk you crawl. As long as there is a movement forward, there is progress."
Malaysia's foreign minister, Zambry Abdul Kadir, said the bloc was serious about Myanmar "but it had to come as a force together".
"Everyone wants to find a peaceful solution, and a lasting one," he said.
While Myanmar loomed over this week's talks the group also discussed growing tensions in the South China Sea, which China largely claims despite the over-lapping claims of some ASEAN members.
Indonesia called for self-restraint in resolving territorial disputes in the strategic waterway.
"We welcomed ongoing efforts to strengthen cooperation between ASEAN and China and were encouraged by progress ... toward an early conclusion of a ... Code of Conduct," Indonesia said in a chair's statement released as the summit closed. (Reuters)
May
Campaigns against Indigenous referendum gather strength in Australia
Written by Nur Yasmin
Two Australian Indigenous leaders opposed to a proposal to constitutionally recognise the Aboriginal and Torres Island people joined forces on Thursday in an effort to strengthen their campaign ahead of a referendum later this year.
A group led by Warren Mundine, a former Labor Party national president who is Indigenous, and a group backed by shadow Indigenous Minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, will pool their resources for a joint "No" campaign to be called "Australians for Unity".
"It makes sense to merge as it makes our message sharper and more crisp," Mundine told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"It also gives us a great chance to raise more funds and to focus our funds in right direction," he added.
Australians will be asked to vote, likely between October and December, if they want to change the constitution to include a "Voice to Parliament", a committee that can advise lawmakers on matters that affect the lives of Indigenous people.
Making up about 3.2% of Australia's 26 million population, Aboriginal people were marginalised by British colonial rulers and are not mentioned in the 122-year-old constitution.
While a majority of Indigenous people support the Voice, others, like Mundine and Price, argue it is a distraction from achieving practical and positive outcomes, and that it would not fully resolve the issues affecting them.
Mundine said setting up an Indigenous body in parliament will only add another layer of bureaucracy.
"It's not going to fix some of the issues affecting the community. We need to deal with the underlying issues," he said.
A YouGov poll out last month showed 83% of Indigenous Australians would vote for the constitutional change. A wider poll by the Guardian newspaper found that 60% of Australians would support it.
Any constitutional amendment requires a national referendum.
To succeed, a referendum requires a majority of votes nationally, as well as a majority of votes in at least four of the six states.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has staked much of his political capital on the referendum in a country that has only passed eight out of 44 since it became independent.
The most recent one was in 1977.
The conservative Liberal-National opposition coalition will oppose the national vote. (Reuters)
May
In Malaysia, migrants say they are in limbo after promised jobs fall through
Written by Nur Yasmin
Stranded without work for months, hundreds of South Asian migrants in Malaysia say they are losing hope after failing to find jobs promised to them by recruitment agents in exchange for thousands of dollars in fees.
At a students' dormitory about 40 km (25 miles) from the capital, Kuala Lumpur, about 500 migrants – mostly young men from Nepal and Bangladesh who had arrived in Malaysia since December – spend their days in crowded rooms or at an open-air cafeteria.
They say they arrived in the country on a three-month work visa that was meant to be upgraded to a work permit, but never was. Because their legal status is unclear, they are afraid to leave the premises, the workers told Reuters at the facility where they are staying.
Many say recruitment agents took their passports and continue to promise them jobs.
"We are all depressed and helpless. We already paid a huge amount for the job. How can I pay that back if I do not have a job?" a Nepali migrant at the dormitory told Reuters.
The 23-year-old, who declined to be identified for fear of backlash from recruitment agents, signed a two-year contract with a Malaysian cleaning company but has not started work. He said he, like others there, had borrowed 300,000 Nepali rupees ($2,300) to pay an agent for the job. He was promised a monthly salary of 2,062 ringgit ($464.94) per month.
The workers at the facility all tell similar stories: upon arriving in Malaysia, recruiting agencies told them no jobs were immediately available and took them to accommodation facilities to wait. They were then told they would eventually be employed; in the meantime, they must pay for their own food without a salary.
It is unclear how the workers ended up without jobs despite arriving in Malaysia with employment contracts and promises that their temporary work visas would become permanent on arrival. Malaysia last month launched an investigation.
Puncak Jupiter Management Services and Star Domain Resources, listed as employers on some of the workers' travel documents, did not respond to requests for comment. Amial International, one of the recruitment agencies the workers used, did not respond to requests for comment.
Malaysia's Human Resources Ministry and the labour department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The ministry has promised to find jobs for a separate group of 226 stranded workers from Bangladesh and Nepal.
Migrants form the backbone of Malaysia's export-reliant economy, making up about 15% of the country's 15 million workforce. Malaysian companies have faced U.S. bans in recent years over use of forced labour.
Rights activists say migrant workers have been at greater risk after Malaysia eased recruitment processes this year in a bid to fill a 1.2 million job shortage across its plantation, manufacturing and construction industries.
"It's a bigger problem now," said Adrian Pereira, the executive director of migrant rights' group North South Initiative, adding that his team had received reports of about 1,200 other workers across Malaysia caught in a similar plight.
The Bangladesh embassy in Kuala Lumpur last month called for more transparency by Malaysia to prevent its citizens from being cheated of jobs.
A Bangladeshi official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, told Reuters a "few hundred" of its citizens were stuck in Malaysia without jobs.
The Nepal embassy has also said it received such complaints.
At the facility visited by Reuters, the migrants lived four to six in small rooms with bunk beds and one shared bathroom.
Two workers - Nepali citizens aged 43 and 46 – died by suicide between February and April at the facility, the Nepalese embassy in Kuala Lumpur said, citing reports from the Malaysian police and hospitals. Reuters could not determine why the two men killed themselves.
Without income, the migrants find it difficult to buy food and pay back loans back home.
"We still don't know whether we will get a job or not. The agent keeps asking us to wait... it's been three months," one Bangladeshi worker said. (Reuters)
May
China completes warship deliveries to Pakistan as military alliance grows
Written by Nur Yasmin
China has delivered two frigates to Pakistan's navy, completing a four-warship deal inked in 2018, Chinese media reported, amid deepening military cooperation between the two nations in one of the world's most complex geopolitical regions.
The vessels - two Type 054A frigates - will be used to safeguard the seas of the China-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC), state-backed Chinese newspaper Global Times reported late on Wednesday.
CPEC is an ambitious infrastructure project that links Xinjiang in west China to Pakistan aimed at offering an alternative transportation route in the future for goods including gas. Part of the network is Pakistan's Gwadar port, located on a key waterway in the Arabian Sea.
Economic and military ties between the two neighbours have deepened against a shifting geopolitical backdrop, evident from Pakistan's increasing military procurement from China and joint military exercises to safeguard assets and trade routes. For China, Pakistan and its access to the Arabian Sea is key in the event of a maritime blockade in the Strait of Malacca.
China delivered the first batch of six J-10 fighter jets to Pakistan in March last year. Eight Hangor Class submarines that Pakistan ordered from China are expected to be delivered before 2028.
Earlier this week, China's defence minister told Pakistan's navy chief that their militaries, including their navies, should "expand into new fields of cooperation" to bolster their capability in safeguarding regional security.
"The prospects for cooperation between the two sides, in my opinion, is getting stronger and stronger," Song Zhongping, a military commentator with Phoenix TV, told Reuters.
In South Asia, China's ties with India, with whom Pakistan has frosty relations, have deteriorated in recent years, and the withdrawal of U.S. troops in nearby Afghanistan has raised geopolitical uncertainty in the region, pushing China and Pakistan to seek a stronger alliance.
"Maintaining the peace and stability of South Asia fits with both countries' actual interests," Song said. (Reuters)
May
Hong Kong restricts foreign lawyers from national security cases
Written by Nur Yasmin
Hong Kong's legislature passed a legal amendment on Wednesday to prevent foreign lawyers working on national security cases, a restriction critics say will undermine fair trials and the right of defendants to choose their lawyers.
The amendment enshrines in law a ruling from China's top lawmaking body last December that Hong Kong courts must get the approval of the city's leader before admitting a foreign lawyer without Hong Kong qualifications for national security cases.
The use of foreign lawyers by both prosecutors and defence has long been part of the rule of law traditions in the former British colony and in recent years some have become involved in defending critics of the Beijing-backed city government.
The December ruling by China's National People's Congress Standing Committee followed an appeal to it by city leader John Lee after the city's Department of Justice had tried unsuccessfully to block British lawyer Timothy Owen from defending media tycoon and China critic Jimmy Lai.
Lai, 75, founder of now shut pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, faces a total of four charges under the security law and a colonial-era sedition law.
Under Wednesday's amendment, a foreign lawyer can not get involved in national security cases unless the city's leader has sufficient grounds for believing that the lawyer's involvement is not contrary to the interests of national security. It will be decided case-by-case.
Defending the amendment, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam told the city's Legislative Council that Hong Kong had more than 100 senior counsels and 1,500 barristers, so defendants could choose suitable legal representatives among them.
"The bill complies with ... the Hong Kong National Security Law on respecting and protecting the human rights and freedoms, nor does it deprive any people’s legal rights," Lam said.
The bill was passed unanimously.
British-based legal scholar Eric Lai said the amendment allowed for a broad government interpretation of what constituted a national security case, and therefore who might be allowed to get involved in it.
It would also discourage some foreign lawyers from getting Hong Kong restricts foreign lawyers from national security cases
involved, he said.
"The vague definition of 'cases concerning national security' in the bill implies that the government can arbitrarily use the new powers to allow or prohibit foreign lawyers from taking up local cases, whatever civil or criminal, on the over-broad ground of 'national security'," Lai said.
Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 after months of anti-government protests. It punishes acts of subversion, terrorism, collusion with foreign forces and secession with up to life imprisonment.
Jimmy Lai's legal team filed a legal challenge last month after Hong Kong's national security committee advised the Immigration Department to refuse Owen a new visa. A decision will be handed down by a High Court judge. (Reuters)
May
G7 Hiroshima Summit 2023: when is it, who will attend and what's on agenda?
Written by Nur Yasmin
Leaders of seven of the world's richest nations meet next week at the G7 summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima to discuss geopolitical, economic and climate issues as the war in Ukraine drags on and tensions rise between China and the United States.
WHAT IS THE G7 SUMMIT?
The G7 is an informal grouping of wealthy Western nations. It has no permanent secretariat or legal status. Each year, a different member country assumes the presidency of the group, sets priorities and organises a leaders' summit and ministerial meetings throughout the year.
Italy will take over the presidency from Japan in 2024. Russia was included in what became the G8 in 1997 but was suspended in 2014 after annexing Crimea from Ukraine.
WHEN AND WHERE IS IT?
This year's meeting will be held from May 19-21 in Hiroshima, Japan, which in 1945 was the first city to be bombed with an atomic weapon.
WHO IS ATTENDING?
The G7 comprises the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Representatives from the European Union also attend.
In recent years it has become customary to invite other nations to help bring to the fore key topics.
This year, the leaders of Australia, Brazil, Comoros for the African Union, Cook Islands for the Pacific Forum, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam are among those invited.
The G7 and other Western states are seeking to shore up alliances, reach out to the Global South and defend their shrinking influence as China and Russia make economic inroads and push an alternative to the existing international order.
HOW LONG HAS THE G7 BEEN AROUND?
The G7 was founded following the 1973 OPEC oil embargo as a forum for the richest nations to discuss global economic issues. Its countries have a combined annual GDP of $40 trillion - just under half the world economy.
FROM RUSSIA, CHINA TO NUCLEAR: WHAT'S ON THE AGENDA?
The G7 will hold broad discussions on climate change, the health of the global economy, inflation and global food security as they assess the impact of the Ukraine war.
SUPPORTING UKRAINE
More than a year after Russia invaded Ukraine, the conflict will take centre stage.
The G7 will want to show unity ahead of a likely Ukraine counter-offensive, underscoring the need for more weapons deliveries, political support and financial assistance. How much help the G7 is willing to provide in the coming months will play a large part in determining how the conflict pans out.
That will be coupled with promises to intensify sanctions, and in the immediate term a focus on forcing countries which help Moscow circumvent sanctions to comply with them.
But behind the scenes the G7 countries differ in their approaches to issues such as how and when to bring both sides to the negotiating table, China's role and whether to ban exports to Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy will address the G7 via video link.
DETERRING CHINA
The United States has been pushing its closest allies for a stronger deterrence strategy towards China.
The G7 in Japan will be the forum to define that, and from Washington's perspective to allay doubts among some allies on how to slow China's technological advance, reduce the West's economic and supply chain dependency on it, and counter Beijing's belligerence towards Taiwan.
NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION
Japanese Prime Minister's Fumio Kishida's symbolic choice of Hiroshima, his hometown, as host location highlights his desire to put nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation at the top of this year's agenda.
The post-World War Two nuclear security architecture is being shaken by Russia's veiled warnings it could use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, North Korea's repeated ballistic missile tests and Iran's expansion of its nuclear programme.
"I can't say that the G7 will resolve these non-proliferation crises, but without a coherent position from the G7 we have no chance," said a senior G7 diplomat.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Not originally on the agenda, the rapid ascendancy of generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT has meant G7 leaders could no longer ignore it.
In April, Kishida met the CEO of OpenAI, which developed the ChatGPT service, and EU lawmakers urged G7 leaders to find ways to control its development.
G7 digital ministers agreed in April they should adopt "risk-based" regulation on AI.
QUESTIONS FOR BIDEN
The allies will no doubt quiz U.S. President Joe Biden over how serious the risk is of a debt default by the world's biggest economy. Biden said on May 9 he could cancel his trip if the debt ceiling talks went down to the wire.
Underscoring differences amongst the group, European Union partners will want to bring up the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, which offers $369 billion of green subsidies that often only apply to products made in North America. (Reuters)
May
Coronation travel cost prompts public backlash in Papua
Written by Nur Yasmin
Papua New Guinea has witnessed an online backlash over the cost to taxpayers of around 30 officials travelling to London for the coronation of King Charles, with the governor general's office denying media reports the bill was close $1 million.
Media and online news sites in PNG, a Pacific island member of the Commonwealth, have been running hot with insults and criticism of the cost of travel since Saturday's coronation in Westminster Abbey, with many saying the money would have been better spent on hospitals.
"Insane number of delegates for overseas trips, for so called meetings, yet no funds for basic human rights services," wrote Esther Kila on the PNG Post Courier website.
In a statement, Government House official secretary Bill Toraso denied media reports the governor general's office had spent 3 million kina ($825,000), but confirmed to Reuters 10 of its staff had travelled to London, in addition to 10 guests.
This was in addition to the governor general, Grand Chief Sir Bob Dadae, his wife and Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko.
Whenever the governor general travelled there were always 10 staff, he said, including a valet, lady-in-waiting and two protocol officers.
"Everybody is included to ensure the governor general doesn't embarrass the country," Toraso said by telephone from London.
Security and a car were provided by Buckingham Palace.
The governor general's delegation cost was less than half a million kina, he said, noting Australia had provided transport on a military aircraft when they went to the Queen's funeral.
PNG values its "close and historical ties we as a nation share with the monarch, as our head of state," he said.
Tkatchenko said he was asked by Prime Minister James Marape to attend the coronation, and his invitation from Buckingham Palace had included a spouse and he had taken his daughter in her place.
Two staff travelled to London, where he held meetings with British ministers. "It was a very productive and historical visit," he said.
Driving up costs was the strength of the pound, worth four-times the kina, he added.
Five PNG soldiers travelled to take part in the military parade.
The British High Commission in Port Moresby was monitoring the public backlash, an official said. (Reuters)