Top Asian News 2:28 p.m. GMT
Written by on January 18, 2023
BEIJING (AP) — For seven decades, China’s Communist Party has ruled the world’s most populous country. As the nation’s population crests and begins to shrink, experts say, it will face challenges ranging from supporting the elderly to filling the ranks of its military. Population growth has been slowing for years, but the announcement Tuesday that the country’s population fell by about 850,000 in 2022 came sooner than earlier projections. “Those developments … may well feed domestic challenges at home and strategic challenges abroad. The Party, in short, may be in for a rough go,” said Mike Mazza, an analyst of Chinese military modernization at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
ZURICH (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met on Wednesday with her Chinese counterpart and pledged an effort to manage differences and “prevent competition from becoming anything ever near conflict” as the two nations try to thaw relations. Yellen’s first face-to-face meeting with Vice Premier Liu He in Zurich is the highest-ranking contact between the two countries since their presidents agreed last November during their first in-person meeting to look for areas of potential cooperation. Liu said he was ready to work together to seek common ground between China and the U.S. “No matter how circumstances change, we should always maintain dialogue and exchanges,” he said.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa and her online news company were cleared Wednesday of tax evasion charges she said were among a slew of legal cases used by former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to try to muzzle critical reporting. The Court of Tax Appeals ruled that prosecutors failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Ressa and Rappler Holdings Corp. evaded tax payments in four instances after raising capital through partnerships with two foreign investors. “The acquittal of the accused is based on the findings of the court … that respondents did not commit the crime charge,” the court said in its decision.
BEIJING (AP) — Hairdresser Wang Lidan is making an emotional Lunar New Year journey from Beijing to her hometown in northeastern China — her first in three years after the government lifted its strict “zero-COVID” policy that kept millions of people at home and sparked protests. The relaxation of restrictions let loose a wave of pent-up travel desire, particularly around China’s most important time for family gatherings. Referred to in China as the Spring Festival, it may be the only time of the year when urban workers return to their hometowns. The Chinese government expects over 2.1 billion journeys to be made during a 40-day travel period around New Year’s Day, which falls on Sunday.
TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court on Wednesday found three former utility company executives not guilty of negligence over the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster and the subsequent deaths of more than 40 elderly residents during their forced evacuation. The Tokyo High Court ruling upheld a 2019 lower court decision that also acquitted the three former top officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, saying that a tsunami of the size that hit the plant was unforeseeable and the executives could not be held negligent. The case is the only criminal trial related to the nuclear accident, in which a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami hit the plant, knocking out its cooling systems and causing three reactors to melt.
POKHARA, Nepal (AP) — Grieving relatives of plane crash victims in Nepal were growing impatient as they waited for authorities to conduct autopsies and hand the bodies for cremation. The Yeti Airlines flight with 72 aboard plummeted into a gorge on Sunday while on approach to the newly opened Pokhara International Airport in the foothills of the Himalayas. There were no survivors. “It has been four days, but no one is listening to us,” a heart-broken Madan Kumar Jaiswal said on Wednesday, as he waited outside the Tribhuvan University Institute of Medicine. He said he wanted the post-mortem to be done quickly so that the families can receive the bodies of their loved ones.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The new head of Taiwan’s ruling party who described himself as pro-independence vowed to uphold the self-ruled island’s democracy in face of China’s authoritarianism and continue with policies that have defined relations with China and the U.S. Lai Ching-te, who currently serves as Taiwan’s vice president, on Wednesday assumed the new role of the Democratic Progress Party chair. He won the internal party vote on Sunday and took over for the interim chair, after President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as party chair when the DPP suffered a big loss in the mayoral races across Taiwan in November. Lai is also expected to be the party’s candidate in the 2024 presidential elections.
MACAO (AP) — The founder of Macao’s once-biggest casino junket organizer was sentenced Wednesday to 18 years in jail after being convicted of operating illegal gaming activities, running a criminal organization and numerous other charges. Alvin Chau, former chairman of Suncity Group, was arrested in Macao in November 2021 shortly after Chinese authorities issued an arrest warrant for him based on accusations that he ran an illegal cross-border gambling syndicate with others. Macao is the only place in China where casinos are legal, and junket operators such as Suncity were a key part of its gaming industry. They helped facilitate gambling for high rollers outside the former Portuguese colony, including arranging travel services and extending credit for them.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook eastern Indonesia and southern Philippines on Wednesday, with no damage immediately reported and no tsunami warning issued. Some residents tried to escape from houses in the Indonesian town of Tobelo in North Maluku province. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred 48 kilometers (30 miles) deep under the sea, centered 154 kilometers (94 miles) northwest of Tobelo. Resident Pius Ohoiwutun said some people ran from houses when the quake shook. “I felt a little swaying as the lamps also swayed,” Ohoiwutun said. The undersea quake was also felt in several provinces and cities across the southern Philippines, but there was no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
SYDNEY (AP) — A Qantas flight traveling from New Zealand to Sydney landed safely on a single engine after it issued a mayday call over the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday. Qantas Flight 144 with 145 passengers aboard landed at Sydney Airport from Auckland, New Zealand, after a 3.5-hour flight between the neighboring nations’ most populous cities. The Boeing 737-838 “experienced an issue” with one of its two engines about an hour from Sydney, a Qantas statement said. The mayday, which is issued when a flight is in grave and imminent danger and needs immediate assistance, was downgraded to a PAN-PAN — possible assistance needed — before the flight landed.
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