All posts tagged: Asia Pacific

Watchdog warns reliance on nuclear weapons rising amid global tension | Nuclear Weapons News

Watchdog warns reliance on nuclear weapons rising amid global tension | Nuclear Weapons News

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The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says Russia and the US possess ‘almost 90 percent of all nuclear weapons’. The world’s nine nuclear-armed states have raised their reliance on nuclear weapons, a watchdog has said. A report released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Monday said the states increased their spending on modernising their atomic arsenals by one-third last year. The watchdog pointed to the contribution of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to the deterioration of international security. Wilfred Wan, director of SIPRI’s weapons of mass destruction programme, said nuclear weapons have not been seen “playing such a prominent role in international relations since the Cold War”. The report found that the effects of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are “visible in almost every aspect of the issues connected to armaments, disarmament and international security examined”. The nine nuclear armed states – the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel – modernised their nuclear arsenals and several “deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems …

‘Elimination’ of Taiwan is China’s great national cause, Lai says | Politics News

‘Elimination’ of Taiwan is China’s great national cause, Lai says | Politics News

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Taiwan’s president tells military academy cadets that the main challenge they face is the strong rise of Beijing. China views the “annexation” and “elimination” of Taiwan as its great national cause, Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te said, telling cadets at the military’s premier academy they must know their enemy and not give in to defeatism. Lai has faced sustained personal attacks from China, which views Taiwan as its own territory. Since assuming office last month, Beijing has branded him as a “separatist”. China also deployed aircraft in Taiwan’s airspace and staged a major military drill around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration. In a speech on Sunday, Lai said only Taiwan’s people can decide their future and has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing but has been rebuffed. Speaking in Kaohsiung in the south of the island on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Whampoa Military Academy, Lai said today’s cadets must recognise the challenges of the “new era”. “The biggest challenge is to face the powerful rise of China, [which is] destroying the status quo in the …

Why is the EU imposing new tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles? | News

Why is the EU imposing new tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles? | News

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China accuses Brussels of protectionism, EU says Chinese subsidies are unfair. The European Union plans to impose harsh new tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, which Beijing has said is pure protectionism. There is division, too, in the EU about the plan among German and other automakers highly exposed to the Chinese market. So, what’s behind the dispute – and could it lead to a wider trade war? Presenter: Tom McRae Guests: Andy Mok – senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer – director at the Center for Automotive Research Vicky Pryce – chief economic adviser at the Centre for Economics and Business Research Source link

China seeks detention of foreigners in disputed South China Sea | South China Sea News

China seeks detention of foreigners in disputed South China Sea | South China Sea News

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Philippines files new legal submission before the UN, asserting its own entitlements while challenging China’s claim. New maritime rules issued by China that allow its coastguard to detain foreigners for trespassing in the disputed South China Sea have taken effect – but their international legitimacy is being questioned by neighbouring countries. China claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, brushing aside competing claims from several Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines and a 2016 ruling by an arbitration tribunal in The Hague, which declared that its stance had no legal basis. The Chinese government has been deploying the country’s coastguard and other boats to patrol the waters it claims as its own, and has turned several reefs into militarised artificial islands. In recent years, Chinese and Philippine vessels have had a series of confrontations in disputed areas that have raised fears of a wider conflict. From Saturday, China’s coastguard can detain foreigners “suspected of violating management of border entry and exit”, according to the new regulations published online. Detention is allowed for up …

Rare elephants twins delivered in dramatic birth in Thailand that left carer injured

Rare elephants twins delivered in dramatic birth in Thailand that left carer injured

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An elephant in Thailand has delivered a rare set of twins in a dramatic birth that left a carer injured after he tried to rescue one of the newborns. Issued on: 11/06/2024 – 07:29Modified: 11/06/2024 – 08:19 2 min The 36-year-old Asian elephant named Jamjuree gave birth to an 80-kilogramme (176-pound) male at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal north of Bangkok on Friday night. But when a second, 60-kilogramme female calf emerged 18 minutes later, the mother went into a frenzy and attacked her new arrival. “We heard somebody shout ‘there is another baby being born!’” said veterinarian Lardthongtare Meepan. In a momentous occasion for Thailand, a pair of fraternal twin elephants (one male, one female) ,the first of their kind for the country and the third in the world, has been born at the Phra Net Luang Elephant Village in Ayutthaya Province. This remarkable news has brought… pic.twitter.com/Sd30QxO9hR — Bangkok Post (@BangkokPostNews) June 11, 2024 An elephant keeper, also known as a mahout, moved in to prevent the mother from attacking her …

North Korea sends more rubbish balloons to South after Kim sister’s threat | Conflict News

North Korea sends more rubbish balloons to South after Kim sister’s threat | Conflict News

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Kim Yo Jong had warned of a ‘crisis of confrontation’ if South Korea did not halt propaganda broadcasts. North Korea has floated hundreds more refuse-carrying balloons into South Korea after Kim Jong Un’s influential sister warned Seoul to halt propaganda broadcasts across their tense border. Pyongyang sent more than 300 waste-loaded balloons across the inter-Korean border overnight, South Korea’s military said on Monday, after Kim Yo Jong warned earlier that the loudspeaker broadcasts risked provoking a “crisis of confrontation”. “This is a prelude to a very dangerous situation,” Kim said in a statement carried by state media on Sunday. The latest balloons carried only scrap paper and plastic, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, unlike previous batches that carried unsanitary material such as manure, toilet paper and cigarette butts. Military officials said they did not detect any balloons floating in the air as of 8:30am. South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts hours earlier in response to the North sending more than 1,000 rubbish-carrying balloons in recent weeks. The broadcasts have in the past included international …

Indians have raised ‘a voice for democracy’ online and in the polls in historic vote

Indians have raised ‘a voice for democracy’ online and in the polls in historic vote

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Despite the heightened anxieties over the conduct of a free and fair election, India’s democracy rallied in the 2024 election, with voters denying Prime Minister Narendra Modi a landslide win. Much of the fight occurred online as independent journalists and influencers challenged the government narrative echoed on mainstream media. The night before the 2024 Indian election results were to be announced, Dhruv Rathee released a “final message” YouTube video that was a cry from the heart. The 29-year-old vlogger and social media activist is a cyber sensation in India, adored by his fans, reviled by his detractors, and acknowledged as one of Time magazine’s 2023 Next Generation Leaders. During the mammoth, six-week election this year, Rathee emerged as a powerful voice of dissent against Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist policies and the democratic backsliding the prime minister spearheaded for a decade. As India awaited the Modi “landslide” victory – as the mainstream media exit polls had forecast – Rathee’s 25-minute video, released late Monday, sounded like the last words of a man facing the gallows. The …

Modi-led alliance wins India’s general election

Modi-led alliance wins India’s general election

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The alliance led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured a parliamentary majority, figures from the election commission showed late Tuesday. Issued on: 04/06/2024 – 08:12Modified: 04/06/2024 – 19:47 4 min With a few constituencies still left to declare, it had secured 272 seats, enough for a majority in the 543-seat parliament, results on the commission website showed. Modi had earlier claimed election victory for his party and its allies, but the opposition said they had “punished” the ruling party to confound predictions and reduce their parliamentary majority. Commentators and exit polls had projected an overwhelming victory for Modi, whose campaign wooed the Hindu majority to the worry of the country’s 200-million-plus Muslim community, deepening concerns over minority rights. But for the first time in a decade Modi’s BJP failed to secure an overall majority of its own, figures from the election commission showed. India has placed its faith in the ruling coalition “for a third consecutive time”, Modi wrote on social media platform X, referring to the BJP …

Malaysia’s chip industry falls in crosshairs of US sanctions on Russia | Technology

Malaysia’s chip industry falls in crosshairs of US sanctions on Russia | Technology

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Bangkok, Thailand – The United States’ efforts to cripple Russia’s war machine in Ukraine have ensnared an unlikely target far from Moscow: Malaysia’s multibillion-dollar semiconductor industry. Malaysian semiconductor maker Jatronics SDN BHD is among nearly 300 entities that Washington slapped with US sanctions last month over their alleged links to Russia’s military suppliers. Jatronics, based in Kuala Lumpur, is accused of shipping electronic parts and components to Russia that Moscow needs to sustain the conflict. Russian customs data shows that one of the Russian companies Jatronics has supplied since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 was already sanctioned by Western governments for its alleged ties to Russia’s defence industry. The latest sanctions, announced on May 1, freeze any US assets held by the targeted entities and bar anyone under US jurisdiction from dealing with them, effectively shutting them out of the US financial system. US officials have not said that they know for certain that components shipped by Jatronics have actually been used in military equipment. “Jatronics supplied these components to companies based in Russia …