China

South Korea needs more babies and immigrants
10Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, Singapore, World

South Korea needs more babies and immigrants

South Korea greeted the new year by recording its first annual population decline. Unfortunately, the go-to solutions are meeting some practical challenges in the COVID-19 era. Headcount dwindled slightly to 51.8 million last year, the Ministry of Interior and Safety said Sunday. The retreat was the product of a 10.6% slide in births, coupled with a 3.1% increase in deaths. South Korea now joins neighboring Japan in suffering an actual fall in population, as opposed to the diminishing rates of growth that characterized past years. The ministry called for “fundamental changes,” national news agency Yonhap reported, without offering details. South Korea’s demographic challenges partly stem from family-planning measures imposed by military-backed administrations in the 1960s, which aimed to...
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U.S. sends two carriers to disputed South China Sea
10Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

U.S. sends two carriers to disputed South China Sea

The U.S. sent two aircraft carrier strike groups for joint operations in the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday, the Navy said, as new President Joe Biden shows no signs of backing down from Beijing’s growing maritime assertiveness in the area. The dual carrier operations in the flash point waterway were the first there since last July and come just under three weeks since Biden was sworn into office on Jan. 20. The new administration has called China the United States’ “most critical challenge” and “most serious competitor.” Tuesday’s exercises saw the USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Nimitz strike groups conduct “a multitude of exercises aimed at increasing interoperability between assets as well as command and control capabilities,” the U.S. Navy said. Rear Adm. Doug Verissimo, comman...
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Commentary: How Tencent, that other Chinese Big Tech giant, is beating a path to a trillion dollars
10Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, Singapore, World

Commentary: How Tencent, that other Chinese Big Tech giant, is beating a path to a trillion dollars

Tencent looks set to grow to a US$1 trillion market capitalisation given its diversified revenue sources, its strong growth strategy premised on e-sports and live-streaming, says IMD Business School’s Mark Greeven. SINGAPORE: Tencent is poised to join the trillion dollar club. After a whopping 11 per cent rally in stock price and an equally whopping tumble of about 5 per cent last week, the question is whether we are seeing the global tech bubble expanding to Asia. Certainly, the Hong Kong market generally was in a positive mood on the day of the 115 per cent jump. And over this past year, Tencent’s stock price has risen by 85 per cent in value. Nevertheless, a trillion dollars is a lot of money. Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are all well into their first trillion-dollar market cap...
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Asia shares pare losses as China GDP pips forecasts
9Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, World

Asia shares pare losses as China GDP pips forecasts

Asian share markets retreated from highs on Monday as disappointing news on U.S. consumer spending tempered risk sentiment ahead of a closely-watched reading on the health of the Chinese economy. SYDNEY: Asian share markets pared early losses on Monday as data confirmed China's economy had bounced back last quarter as factory output jumped, helping offset recent disappointing news on U.S. consumer spending. Chinese blue chips edged up 0.4per cent after the economy was reported to have grown 6.5per cent in the fourth quarter, on a year earlier, topping forecasts of 6.1per cent. Industrial production for December also beat estimates, though retail sales missed the mark. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan trimmed losses and were off 0.2per cent, having hit a st...
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‘Let’s each manage our own business’: Top Chinese diplomat on US’ remarks on human rights abuses
7Feb mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

‘Let’s each manage our own business’: Top Chinese diplomat on US’ remarks on human rights abuses

In a sharp response to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling out Beijing for its gross human rights violations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, the top foreign policy aide to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Yang Jiechi has said “let’s each manage our own business.”Yang told Blinken during their Friday call that the US should “correct recent mistakes, and work with China to promote the healthy and stable development of China-US relations by upholding the spirit of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation,” according to a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.Yang said that both sides should respect the other’s core interests, as well as political systems and developmental paths of their own choosing, according to the statement.“Each side should focus ...
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Quad countries working to arrange first meeting amid China’s growing influence
7Feb mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
Asia, China, World

Quad countries working to arrange first meeting amid China’s growing influence

Amid China’s growing influence, members of the Quad countries - the US, India, Japan and Australia - are working to arrange the first meeting of their leaders, according to media reports.This comes as the US President Joe Biden’s new administration has expressed its eagerness to build on renewed attention to the grouping of the four major Indo-Pacific democracies. National security adviser Jake Sullivan even called it “a foundation upon which to build substantial American policy in the Indo-Pacific”.According to a source, the US has already proposed to other countries the idea of holding an online meeting of the Quad leaders.During the envisioned meeting, the Quad members are expected to discuss cooperation for the realisation of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” amid concerns over China’s ma...
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Taiwan accuses China of ‘bullying’ after Guyana calls off agreement
5Feb mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

Taiwan accuses China of ‘bullying’ after Guyana calls off agreement

Taipei has lashed out at China for “bullying” and “suppression” after Guyana terminated an agreement with Taiwan to set up a representative office in the South American country.Taiwan’s remarks come after the Guyanese Foreign Ministry issued a statement announcing the termination of the agreement soon after China called the accord a “mistake”.On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded to the “agreement,” urging Guyana to “earnestly take steps to correct their mistake.”There is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, said Wang.“We hope the relevant party will abide by the one-China principle, refrain from any form of official exchanges and establishment of official institutions with Taiwan, take concrete actions to correct the er...
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COVID-19 batters Asia’s already-struggling democracies
3Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Singapore, World

COVID-19 batters Asia’s already-struggling democracies

Over the past 15 years, democracy across Asia has regressed. Although the region still has strong democracies like South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, many other leading Asian democracies and countries with democratic potential have slid backwards, turning into near-autocracies or outright authoritarian states. While Thailand had been one of the freest states in Asia in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it has suffered two military coups in the past decade and now is run by a parliamentary government that took power after a seriously flawed election in 2019. Bangladesh had built itself into a shaky but increasingly vibrant democracy by the early 2010s, but in the past decade has deteriorated into a de facto one-party regime, with opposition activists, civil society leaders and journalists jailed...
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Asia’s rise doesn’t necessarily mean the West’s decline
3Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Singapore, World

Asia’s rise doesn’t necessarily mean the West’s decline

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a growing geopolitical perception of Asia’s rise and the decline of the West. To a large extent, East Asian countries have managed to control the number of infections and particularly the number of virus-related deaths proportional to population. By contrast, case totals are between 50 and 100 times higher in Europe and the United States. Even in Germany, which has put up the best fight against the virus in Europe, the COVID-19 fatality rate is almost 20 times higher than that of Japan or South Korea. While the pandemic has dealt a devastating blow to economic activity in both the East and West, East Asia has a much easier path to recovery. China is acting as an engine of growth. Japan has seen an increase in capital investment (including planned i...
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Poland President signs off on legal cooperation pact with Taiwan
2Feb mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

Poland President signs off on legal cooperation pact with Taiwan

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday announced that with the signature of Polish President Andrzej Duda, an agreement between Taiwan and Poland on legal cooperation on criminal matters will soon take effect.“The agreement was approved unanimously by both houses of Poland's parliament, before being sent to the country's Presidential Office”, MOFA said in a press statement. "MOFA sincerely welcomes the signing of the important bilateral agreement by Poland President Andrzej Duda on Jan. 28", it added.The agreement covers five major areas -- criminal matters, extradition, prisoner transfer, exchange of legal and practical insights, and sharing of information for crime prevention, the ministry said adding that it will help strengthen the transnational anti-crime efforts and judicial ...
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