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April
Taiwan president thanks fighter pilots as Chinese drills ebb
Written by Nur Yasmin
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday thanked fighter pilots who scrambled against China's air force during its drills around the island and pledged to keep strengthening the armed forces, as Beijing's military activities around the island ebbed.
China began the exercises, including simulated precision strikes with bombers and missile forces, on April 8 after Tsai returned from Los Angeles, where she met U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, infuriating Beijing.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a claim the government in Taipei strongly rejects, and routinely denounces high-level meetings between Taiwanese and foreign leaders and officials.
In the central Taiwanese city of Taichung, Tsai met fighter pilots who are often stationed at the front-line air base of Magong in the Taiwan Strait, thanking them for their hard work and for sticking to their posts around the clock.
"I want to tell everyone: as long as we are united, we can reassure the country's people and let the world see our determination to protect the nation," she said in a video clip provided by the presidential office.
Tsai noted that the Taiwan-made Ching-kuo Indigenous Defence Fighters (IDF), which entered service in 1997, had been upgraded to more advanced versions.
"In the future, we will continue to upgrade software and hardware facilities and strengthen personnel training," she said.
Tsai's office showed images of her talking to pilots dressed in flight uniforms and being given a briefing in front of an IDF parked in a hangar.
Visiting an army base in Taichung later on Friday, Tsai reiterated that Taiwan would neither "escalate conflict nor provoke disputes" but would protect its sovereignty, democracy and freedom, her office said.
China's three days of drills formally ended on Monday, but Taiwan has reported continued activity on a reduced scale.
On Friday morning, Taiwan's defence ministry said it had not spotted any Chinese military aircraft crossing the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary between the two, in the past 24 hours.
On Friday afternoon, the ministry said that as of 2 p.m. (0600 GMT) two Chinese drones had been seen in the Taiwan Strait area carrying out surveillance, and that four Chinese navy ships and six military aircraft were operating around Taiwan.
It did not give exact locations.
China says it does not recognise the median line and has since August, when it staged war games after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited, flown fighter jets regularly across it.
Taiwan's government says that although it wants peace and to hold talks with China, it will not bow to pressure, and that Taiwan has a right to engage with the world.
A poll published on Friday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation, which bills itself as non-partisan, found that 61% of respondents approved of the Tsai-McCarthy meeting. (Reuters)
April
Japan, South Korea to hold first security talks in 5 years, Tokyo says
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan and South Korea will hold security talks in Seoul on April 17, the first such meeting since March 2018, Japanese foreign and defense ministries announced on Friday.
The talks among Japanese and South Korean defence and diplomatic officials will discuss topics such as strategic environments surrounding the two countries, the ministries said. (Reuters)
April
Pakistan gets closer to IMF deal after UAE pledges $1 bln
Written by Nur Yasmin
The United Arab Emirates has confirmed financial support of $1 billion to Pakistan, the South Asian nation's finance minister said on Friday, removing a key hurdle to securing a much-awaited bailout tranche from the International Monetary Fund.
The commitment is one of the IMF's last requirements before approving a staff-level pact to release a tranche of $1.1 billion, delayed for months, that is crucial for Pakistan to resolve an acute balance of payments crisis.
"The State Bank of Pakistan is now engaged for needful documentation for taking the said deposit from UAE authorities," Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Twitter, referring to the central bank.
The pledge makes the UAE the third country, after Saudi Arabia and longtime ally China, to come to Pakistan's assistance, as external financing is needed to fully fund the balance of payments gap for the fiscal year that ends in June.
"The UAE deal should be helpful because the IMF has been saying Pakistan should secure financing from 'friendly' nations," said Seaport Global EM credit analyst Himanshu Porwal.
"It is still far from over though. The IMF is saying that they (Pakistan) are in breach of certain targets. The fiscal deficit for example is seen peaking at around 8.3% (of GDP), so almost double what they were expecting," he added.
Pakistan's bonds, which have slumped nearly 70% over the last year as the country's troubles have mounted, climbed for a second day running on the confirmation. The rise was almost 5% for its bond with closest payment date - April 15 next year - taking it to almost 50 cents in the dollar, compared to 46 cents a few days ago.
On Thursday, the IMF's managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said the fund was also in talks with nations friendly to Pakistan to secure financial assurances vital for the programme.
Last week, Saudi Arabia also told the IMF it would provide financing of $2 billion to Pakistan.
Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves have fallen to cover barely a month of imports after the IMF funding stalled in November, hit by snags over fiscal policy adjustments after officials of the lender visited Islamabad in February for talks.
They formed part of a ninth review exercise on a bailout package of $6.5 billion agreed in 2019 whose resumption is critical for Pakistan to avoid risking default on external payment obligations.
POLICY AND FISCAL MEASURES
Pakistan had to complete actions demanded by the IMF, such as reversing subsidies in its power, export and farming sectors, hikes in the prices of energy and fuel, and a permanent power surcharge, among other measures.
These steps included jacking up its key policy rate to an all-time high of 21%, a market-based exchange rate, arranging for the external financing, and raising more than 170 billion rupees ($613 million) in new taxes.
The fiscal adjustments have already fuelled Pakistan's highest inflation ever, which climbed in March to more than 35% on the year.
A final issue to be resolved is a fuel pricing scheme meant to bring relief to Pakistan's lower middle class and poor from crippling inflation. The IMF has asked how it will be funded.
The IMF programme will disburse another tranche of $1.4 billion to Pakistan before it concludes in June.
Funds from the lender will also unlock other bilateral and multilateral financing for the cash-strapped country.
Neighbouring China has rolled over $2 billion and refinanced another $1.3 billion in recent weeks.
On Friday, Pakistan's central bank is set to receive a third and final disbursement of $300 million from the refinancing by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Dar added.
Programme loans from other multilateral agencies await completion of the IMF review, central bank governor Jameel Ahmad told investors in Washington at the spring meetings of the lender and the World Bank.
Measures such as a hike of 1,400 basis points in interest rates over the last 18 months have put the nation of 220 million on a path to macroeconomic stability, added Ahmad, who hoped for inflation to start decelerating over the next few months.
The government is pursuing a contractionary fiscal policy, with the primary balance in surplus so far compared to a deficit last year, he added. (Reuters)
April
Cyclone Ilsa hits Australia's northwest, misses iron ore export hub
Written by Nur Yasmin
A tropical cyclone smashed into Australia's northwest coast as a category 5 storm, setting new wind speed records, but has largely spared populated regions including the world's largest iron ore export hub at Port Hedland, authorities said on Friday.
Cyclone Ilsa made landfall early Friday morning with the highest intensity rating on a 1-to 5 scale and then moved inland as emergency crews urged several remote communities along the storm's path to seek shelter and remain indoors.
"Port Hedland ... escaped the brunt of the cyclone at this stage. Overnight, we received no calls for assistance," Western Australia state emergency services Superintendent Peter Sutton told ABC television. "So it appears the larger populated areas have really escaped the damage."
But Sutton said there were unconfirmed reports of "extensive damage" at some remote towns and that an aerial survey would be conducted as soon as possible.
Port Hedland, used by miners BHP Group (BHP.AX), Fortescue (FMG.AX) and billionaire Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting, was scheduled to reopen at 11 a.m. (0300 GMT) after operator Pilbara Ports Authority deemed it safe.
In a statement, the operator said it is was liaising with terminal and vessel operators to plan out the resumption of shipping.
The port was closed on Thursday morning after authorities began clearing berths a day earlier.
Ilsa set a new preliminary Australian ten-minute sustained wind speed record of 218 km per hour (135 mph) at Bedout Island, about 40 km offshore, eclipsing cyclone George's 194 km at the same location in 2007, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
The storm was downgraded by the weather bureau to a category three system early on Friday, but officials warned it could still pack gusts of up to about 170 km per hour (106 mph).
"As it moves inland and the sun comes up, we can expect it to still be a severe tropical cyclone," the weather bureau's hazard response manager Shenagh Gamble said.
Ilsa is expected to weaken to a tropical low overnight and move into the southern parts of the Northern Territory.
Heavy bursts of rain are forecast in some areas, likely triggering flash floods. Destructive winds could hit the remote inland mining town of Telfer, where Newcrest Mining (NCM.AX) operates a fly-in-fly-out gold and copper mine. (Reuters)
April
Philippines will pursue drugs war appeal with ICC, says top gov't lawyer
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Philippines will pursue its appeal questioning the International Criminal Court's (ICC) jurisdiction and authority to investigate killings during former President Rodrigo Duterte's 'war on drugs', its top lawyer said on Wednesday.
The remarks come after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said last month he would cut off contact with the ICC after it rejected the government's request to suspend a probe into thousands of killings during the brutal anti-narcotics campaign.
"The appeal will not be withdrawn. We'll pursue it," Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, who was justice minister under Duterte, told Reuters.
Guevarra said the president's remarks meant the Philippines will "disengage with the ICC after exhausting our legal remedies within the framework of the Rome Statute".
The ICC, a court of last resort, approved in September 2021 a formal investigation into possible crimes against humanity allegedly committed under Duterte's leadership, but it suspended its probe in November 2021 at the request of Manila which said it was carrying out its own investigations.
The ICC probe was reopened in January 2023.
The Philippines has said the ICC should not impose on the country, which is no longer a signatory to the international tribunal after Duterte officially pulled out of the court in 2019, accusing it of prejudice.
But the tribunal's top prosecutor Karim Khan said the ICC has jurisdiction because the country was a party at the time the alleged crimes were committed. Khan asked the court on April 4 to reject Manila's appeal and uphold its earlier decision to allow the resumption of the probe.
Khan said the alleged crimes were "extremely serious, and appear to have been at the very least encouraged and condoned by high-level-government officials, up to and including the former President."
Citing available information, Khan said as many as 30,000 civilians — including children – were killed by the police or unidentified individuals "apparently acting in coordination with police".
The Philippines will "refute the prosecutor's arguments in our reply," Guevarra said.
Police say 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations that ended in shootouts but reject accusations by human rights groups of systematic executions and cover-ups. (Reuters)
April
High Philippine inflation dents Marcos' approval ratings
Written by Nur Yasmin
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's approval ratings edged lower due to public dissatisfaction over his government's handling of inflation, but he remains popular, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday.
The Pulse Asia survey found that 78% of 1,200 respondents polled in March approved of Marcos' performance, lower than the 82% he got in November, while 80% said they trusted the president, down from 83% in an earlier poll.
Since taking office in June 2022, Marcos, the son of the late strongman ousted in a 1986 uprising, has had to grapple with inflation that has soared to levels not seen in 14 years due largely to rising food and fuel costs.
Inflation slowed for a second straight month in March to 7.6% but remained well above the government's 2%-4% target for the year.
Controlling costs of living was the top concern of 63% of respondents.
Slightly more than half, or 52%, of respondents disapproved of the government's handling of inflation, with 25% saying they approved, while the rest were undecided.
Marcos' approval ratings were slightly lower than the 83% that his vice president, Sara Duterte, got in March. Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, currently serves as education minister, while Marcos helms the agriculture department.
In the same survey, 61% percent of respondents approved of Marcos' government in terms of "defending the integrity of Philippine territory against foreigners", up from 58% in November. (Reuters)
April
Thailand's cannabis champion eyes bigger role after May election
Written by Nur Yasmin
Thailand's health minister who championed the legalisation of cannabis is hoping the reform will help deliver gains in next month's election, with expectations he could emerge as a power broker who can stitch together a coalition government.
Anutin Charnvirakul, 56, is confident his Bhumjaithai Party will be part of the next government after an election that is shaping up to be a tight contest between pro-military conservatives and their populist opponents.
The economy is the main election issue with signs of recovery despite inflation and a global slowdown, but last year's legalisation of cannabis has brought Anutin and his party more attention, both positive and negative, in the run-up to the May 14 vote.
"We'ill win more seats than last time, for sure. Our goal is to get parliamentary seats in the three digits in this election because of what we've done," Anutin, a deputy prime minister and health minister, told Reuters in an interview.
In the last election in 2019, when electoral rules favoured small and medium-size parties, Bhumjaithai, or Proud to be Thai, won 51 seats in the 500-member parliament, becoming a junior partner in a coalition dominated by pro-military parties.
This time, new election rules favour bigger parties, and Bhumjaithai has strengthened its slate of candidates to compete with larger opponents.
Opposition parties, including the Pheu Thai Party loyal to former telecoms tycoon and ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, have criticised Bhumjaithai and the ruling coalition for what they see as the rushed and loosely regulated decriminalisation of cannabis.
But Anutin, a former chairman of one of Thailand's largest construction companies, said opening up the marijuana business was a proven vote winner.
"Last time, Bhumjaithai Party won millions of votes from people who believed in the benefits of marijuana," he said.
Two opinions polls last month showed Bhumjaithai was the most popular party in the ruling alliance but behind the favourite, the Pheu Thai opposition party that Thaksin's daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, hopes to lead to victory.
'INSPIRATION'
Political scientist Wanwichit Boonprong of Rangsit University said Anutin could emerge as a king-maker because of his party's popularity and his relationships across the political divide.
"Bhumjaithai will likely gain the most seats among the parties in the government coalition," Wanwichit said, predicting it could win more than 70, including from rural strongholds in the lower northeast.
The party has promised debt moratoriums on small loans and improvements to the health system. Anutin said he was open to working with any party and would be prepared to be prime minister if the opportunity arose.
"I am younger, more fresh and I understand politics in a democratic system," he said.
But the staunch monarchist draws the line at any suggestion of amending a lese majeste law.
A youth-led protest movement that emerged in late 2020 to oppose military involvement in politics called for changing the law that protects the monarchy, which punishes perceived royal insult with up to 15 years in jail.
Some small parties have suggested amending it and Pheu Thai has raised the possibility of discussing it in parliament.
But for Anutin the monarchy is sacrosanct. (Reuters)
April
Taliban ban on Afghan women working for U.N. an 'internal' issue
Written by Nur Yasmin
Afghanistan's Taliban administration has said forbidding Afghan women from working for the United Nations was an "internal issue," after the global organisation expressed alarm at the decision and said it would review its operations there.
In the Taliban administration's first statement on the decision since the U.N. acknowledged hearing of the new restrictions last week, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Wednesday the policy "should be respected by all sides".
The United Nations has said it cannot accept the decision as it would breach its charter. It has asked all its staff not to go into its offices while it holds consultations and reviews its operations until May 5. On Tuesday, the U.N. Mission to Afghanistan said the Taliban administration would be responsible for any negative humanitarian impacts stemming from the ban.
Mujahid, in a statement, blamed foreign governments for the humanitarian crisis spurred by sanctions on its banking sector and the freezing of Afghan central bank assets held overseas, some of which have been placed in a Swiss trust fund.
Some diplomats and aid officials in Afghanistan and around the world have expressed concerns donors may withdraw support to Afghanistan's humanitarian aid programme, the largest in the world, and that implementing programmes and reaching women in the conservative country would not be possible without female workers.
Taliban authorities in December said most Afghan female NGO workers would not be allowed to work.
The U.N. humanitarian agency has said a huge funding plan for Afghanistan for 2023 is less than 5% funded.
"If funding is not urgently secured, millions of Afghans will be staring down the barrel of famine, disease and death," it said on Wednesday. (Reuters)
April
Myanmar military justifies deadly attack on insurgent ceremony
Written by Nur Yasmin
Myanmar's military said it carried out a deadly attack on a village gathering organised by its insurgent opponents this week and if civilians were also killed it was because they were being forced to help the "terrorists".
Up to 100 people, including children, were killed in Tuesday's air strike in the Sagaing area in northwest Myanmar, according to media reports, making it the deadliest in a recent string of military air attacks.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since a 2021 coup ended a decade of tentative reform that included rule by a civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Some opponents of military rule have taken up arms, in places joining ethnic minority insurgents, and the military has responded with air strikes and heavy weapons, including in civilian areas.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the air attack in Sagaing and called for those responsible to be held accountable, his spokesperson said, adding that Guterres "reiterates his call for the military to end the campaign of violence against the Myanmar population throughout the country".
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told military broadcast channel Myawaddy late on Tuesday the attack on the ceremony held by the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow administration, for their armed People's Defence Force was aimed at restoring peace and stability in the region.
"During that opening ceremony, we conducted the attack. PDF members were killed. They are the ones opposing the government of the country, the people of the country," said Zaw Min Tun.
"According to our ground information we hit the place of their weapons' storage and that exploded and people died due to that," he said.
Referring to accusations of civilian casualties, he said "some people who were forced to support them probably died as well".
'BODY PARTS'
Zaw Min Tun said photographs showed some of those killed were in uniform and some in civilian clothes, accusing the PDF of falsely claiming civilian deaths when their forces were killed.
He also accused members of the PDF of committing "war crimes" and killing "monks, teachers and innocent residents" in the area who did not support the opposition.
U.N. Human Rights chief Volker Turk condemned the attack in a message before the junta's comment was widely reported, saying it "appears schoolchildren performing dances, as well as other civilians ... were among the victims".
Citing residents of the region, BBC Burmese, Radio Free Asia (RFA) Burmese, and the Irrawaddy news portal reported between 80 and 100 people, including civilians, had been killed in the attack by the military.
According to a PDF member, about 100 bodies, including 16 children, had been cremated.
"The exact death toll is still unclear since ... body parts are scattered all over the place," said the PDF member, who declined to be identified.
Myanmar's lightly armed opposition fighters have no effective defences against the military's air force.
In October, a military jet attacked a concert, killing at least 50 civilians, singers and members of an ethnic minority insurgent force in Kachin State in the north.
Kyaw Zaw, a spokesman for the NUG, said it believed nearly 100 people were killed in the Tuesday attack when air force jets dropped bombs on villagers and helicopter gunships then followed up, calling it "another senseless, barbaric, brutal attack by the military".
The military denies accusations it has committed atrocities against civilians and says it is fighting "terrorists" determined to destabilise the country.
The military has ruled Myanmar for most of the past 60 years saying it is the only institution capable of holding the diverse country together.
Suu Kyi, 77, is serving 33 years in prison for various offences that she denied and her party has been disbanded. (Reuters)
April
Macron comments leave senior Taiwanese official 'puzzled'
Written by Nur Yasmin
Comments by French President Emmanuel Macron on Taiwan are puzzling, a senior Taiwanese politician said, wondering whether France's founding ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity are now out of fashion.
Macron, in comments in an interview on a trip to China that was meant to showcase European unity on China policy, cautioned against being drawn into a crisis over Taiwan driven by an "American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction".
He also called for the European Union to reduce its dependence on the United States and to become a "third pole" in world affairs alongside Washington and Beijing.
Taiwan parliament speaker You Si-kun, writing on Facebook late Tuesday above a screengrab of a report about Macron's comments on Taiwan, questioned the French commitment to freedom.
"Are 'liberté, égalité, fraternité' out of fashion?," he wrote, referring to the official French motto of "liberty, equality, fraternity".
"Is it OK just to ignore this once it's part of the constitution? Or can advanced democratic countries ignore the lives and deaths of people in other countries?" added You, one of the founders of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party. "The actions of President Macron, a leading international democracy, leave me puzzled."
China has been staging military exercises around Taiwan since Saturday after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen returned from a trip to the United States, where she met U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
France, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan but maintains a de facto embassy in Taipei and has joined other U.S. allies in underscoring the need for peace in the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan's foreign ministry on Tuesday sought to downplay Macron's remarks, though said they had "noted" what he said.
"The Foreign Ministry expresses its thanks to France for expressing concern about peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait many times and in many different international venues," including, for example at the recent French-British leaders summit, spokesperson Jeff Liu told reporters. "This is a continuation of France's consistent stance and position." (Reuters)