Day: January 8, 2023

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida begins a weeklong trip Monday to strengthen military ties with Europe and Britain and bring into focus the Japan-U.S. alliance at a summit in Washington, as Japan breaks from its postwar restraint to take on more offensive roles with an eye toward China.

Kishida’s talks with U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday will highlight his five-nation tour that also takes him to France, Italy, Britain and Canada — some of the Group of Seven nations Japan has stepped up defense ties with in recent years. His first stop is Paris on Monday evening.

Kishida said his summit with Biden will underscore the strength of the Japan-U.S. alliance and how the two countries can work more closely under Japan’s new security and defense strategies.

Japan in December adopted key security and defense reforms, including a counterstrike capability that makes a break from the country’s exclusively self-defense-only postwar principle. Japan says the current deployment of missile interceptors is insufficient to defend it from rapid weapons advancement in China and North Korea.

Kishida said he will explain to Biden the new strategy, under which Japan is also reinforcing defenses on its southwestern islands close to Taiwan, including Yonaguni and Ishigaki, where new bases are being constructed.

“Will will discuss further strengthening of the Japan-U.S. alliance, and how we work together to achieve a fee and open Indo-Pacific,” Kishida told a NHK national television talk show Sunday, referring to a vision of national and economic security cooperation the two countries promote to counter China’s growing military and economic influence.

Under the new strategies, Japan plans to start deploying in 2026 long-range cruise missiles that can reach potential targets in China, nearly double its defense budget within five years to a NATO standard of about 2% of GDP from the current 1%, and improve cyberspace and intelligence capabilities.

The idea is to do as much as possible in a short time as some experts see growing risks that Chinese President Xi Jinping may take action against self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.

Japan’s new strategy has been well received by the Biden administration and some members of the Congress. Experts say it would also widen cooperation with their main regional partners Australia and possibly South Korea.

“This is an opportunity to rethink and update the structure and the mechanisms of the alliance to reflect a much more capable partner that’s coming,” said Christopher Johnstone, senior adviser and Japan chair for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He said, however, that Japan’s focus on the strike capability and budget is a welcome but “a daunting agenda” that will require a lot of cooperation with the United States.

Paving the way for the summit, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will fly to Washington to meet their American counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken, respectively, on Wednesday, followed by separate defense ministers’ talks on Thursday.

The Biden administration, which also adopted its security strategy in October, expects Japan to assist in the supply and storage of fuel and munitions in case of a Taiwan emergency, experts say. Japan and the United States are also reportedly considering establishing a joint command.

During the talks at the White House, the two leaders are also expected to discuss China, North Korea’s nuclear and missile development as well as Russia’s war on Ukraine, Japanese officials said.

Cooperation in the area of supply chain and economic security will be also on the table. Last week, Japanese Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo discussed in Washington the importance to work together to promote and protect critical and emerging technologies, including semiconductors, and export controls to address competitiveness and security concerns.

During his trip, Kishida will seek to further strengthen bilateral military ties with four other countries, Japanese officials say.

Japan’s joint development and production of its F-X next-generation fighter jet with Britain and Italy for a planned deployment in 2035 will be a top agenda item during his visits in Rome and London on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Japan and Britain have also been discussing a Reciprocal Access Agreement that would remove obstacles to holding joint military exercises in either country. Besides the Japan-U.S. security treaty that allows U.S. troops to station in Japan, Tokyo has a similar agreement only with Australia, and Britain would be second.

During his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, Kishida is expected to share concern over China’s growing activity in the South Pacific and confirm stepping up joint military exercise between the two sides.

 

 

Source: Voice of America

AKARTA— Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim arrived in Indonesia today, on his first official visit since taking office on Nov 24.

 

The 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia, who is known by the people and respected by community leaders here, was accompanied by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail on the two-day visit.

 

The special plane carrying Anwar and his wife landed at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 2 pm local time (3 pm Malaysia time).

 

He was received by the Indonesian Minister of Public Works and Housing Basuki Hadimuljono and Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Hermono.

 

Anwar was accompanied by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta Adlan Mohd Shaffieq.

 

The Prime Minister began his tour wearing a songkok which he often put on at certain events to uphold nation’s culture.

 

Anwar is scheduled to hold a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo tomorrow which will give Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta the opportunity to assess the progress of bilateral cooperation, explore new cooperation opportunities and encourage joint efforts to address regional and global challenges.

 

Various issues will be discussed including economic cooperation and potential investment by Malaysia in the Capital City of Nusantara, restrictions of land and maritime borders, as well as the recruitment and protection of migrant workers from Indonesia.

 

The two leaders will also exchange views on regional and global developments, especially the situation in Myanmar and joint efforts to deal with palm oil discrimination given that Malaysia and Indonesia are the world’s largest exporters.

 

During the visit, eight memorandums of understanding between the private sector of Malaysia and Indonesia will be signed with total projects estimated to be worth RM1.16 billion.

 

In addition, Anwar is scheduled to deliver a public lecture on “Malaysia-Indonesia Strategic Relations” and hold a  meeting session with the Malaysian diaspora in Jakarta.

 

In 2021, Indonesia is Malaysia’s seventh largest global trading partner and the third largest among ASEAN countries with a trade volume of RM95.31 billion (US$22.98 billion).

 

From January to November 2022, Indonesia is the sixth largest global trading partner and the second largest among ASEAN countries with an increase in trade volume of 41.7 per cent with a total of RM120.26 billion (US$27.31 billion).

 

Anwar‘s visit is highly anticipated by the people in Indonesia, especially the policy reforms that will be introduced to strengthen Malaysia-Indonesia relations.

 

 

Source: Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia

JAKARTA— Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Sunday witnessed nine memorandum of understandings (MoUs) exchange involving Malaysian companies on both projects and collaboration as well as a string of letters of intent (LOI) handover.

The MoU between ASIC Offshore and Marine Sdn Bhd and PT Dok dan Perkapalan Kodja Bahari has an estimated value of more than RM500 million over two years.

Both companies aim to capture market share for engineering, shipbuilding, ship repair, financial investment for production instrument and production facilities, onshore and offshore engineering, fabrication, and for business shipbuilding and ship repair from national shipping companies within the Indonesian region.

The Commitment of Cooperation Agreement between AIROD Sdn Bhd and PT Dirgantara Indonesia has a potential value of RM660 million for the five-year modernisation project which would be later deliberated, arranged and formalised in a separate agreement and/or purchase order between the parties.

The ministers present in the MOUs exchange were Minister of International Trade and Industry Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and Minister of Foreign Affairs Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir.

Others include Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia Retno Marsudi and Ministry of Public Works and Housing of Indonesia Basuki Hadimuljono.

Other MoUs were on Business Cooperation between Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd and Lembaga Pembiayaan Eksport Indonesia, Citaglobal Bhd and Indonesia Battery Corporation, AWC Bhd and PT GKM (Kek Maloy) and AWC Bhd dan PT Bintang Timur Investama.

There was also memorandum of collaborations (MoC) between FGV Holdings and PT Perkebunan Nusantara Indonesia (PTPN), Penjana Kapital Sdn Bhd and Indies Capital-AC Ventures as well as SIRIM Bhd and Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency.

During the same ceremony, a total of 11 LOIs were exchanged during the event involving 10 Malaysia companies that planned to participate in the development of Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara.

The companies were Success Electronics and Transformer Manufacturer Sdn Bhd, which wants to implement Smart LED Street Lighting, and Carsome keens to digitalise automotive trade in Nusantara.

Produces aluminum cable and copper cables, Olympic Cable Company (OSK Group) wants to expand its products including control cables, instrumentation cables, multicore cables and telecommunication cables.

Boustead Properties Bhd offers property development and knowledge sharing in developing and nurturing sustainable smart intelligent townships.

Berjaya Corporation Bhd offers expertise in solid waste management, drinking water supply, property and housing development and smart city technology

Pharmaniaga Bhd wants to provide affordable and quality healthcare products and services while Alliance MEP (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd aims to provide professional services.

Protasco Bhd (HCM Engineering) offers to develop infrastructure and government housing and Protasco Bhd (i2 Energy) wants to develop renewable energy and charging stations while Reneuco Bhd aims to provide sustainable energy and utilities services.

Meanwhile, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, which hopes to explore and participate in the development and operation of energy solutions, handed over its LOI to PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim arrived in Indonesia today on his first official visit since taking office on Nov 24.

 

 

Source: Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia

Authorities in some Chinese cities have lifted fireworks bans in the wake of nationwide protests and ahead of Lunar New Year on Jan. 22, while some authorities have doubled down on the ban, punishing local residents for setting off fireworks as an example, according to Chinese media reports.

Local governments in Dongying and Binzhou cities in the eastern province of Shandong have announced via their official websites that fireworks and firecrackers will be allowed to usher in the Year of the Rabbit.

And authorities in Beijing and the northeastern port city of Dalian will allow fireworks within limited hours until the first month of the lunar calendar, the government-backed news site The Paper reported.

But it added that many other places had made it clear that the original fireworks ban will remain in place.

“In the past few days, a lot of places have announced cases of [people punished for] illegally setting of fireworks as a warning,” it said, citing administrative penalties handed out by police in Wenzhou city in eastern Zhejiang province, Sihong city in the eastern province of Jiangsu and in Jinzhou city in the northwestern province of Liaoning.

It quoted county officials in the northern province of Hebei as saying that the ban would continue, and as scotching “fake news that setting off fireworks and firecrackers can disinfect the air and kill the COVID-19 virus.”

The online news service Red Star said that in the southwestern city of Ya’an alone, eight districts and counties all have different regulations on fireworks at Lunar New Year.

‘Erupted under the pressure’

New York-based political commentator Qin Peng said the mass defiance of the fireworks ban seen at New Year came after three years of zero-COVID, a grueling program of rolling lockdowns, mass surveillance and testing and forcible incarceration in quarantine camps.

“The Chinese people have so much pain and anger stored up from the past three years, that a lot of places have erupted under the pressure,” Qin said.

“The authorities know very well that they have provoked public anger, and that it’s not just among a minority group, but that it runs right through all of China’s cities and villages,” he said.

Qin suggested that the ruling Chinese Communist Party could even have a superstitious aversion to explosives designed to scare away evil spirits.

“They say of course that it’s for reasons of safety or cleanliness, but … but [firecrackers] have another meaning, which is exorcizing evil spirits, and the party knows itself to be evil,” he said.

That awareness appeared to be behind a directive from police chiefs in the northern city of Xi’an, who issued an urgent reminder to police forces following the Henan protests on Jan. 2.

“The desire to set off fireworks and firecrackers during the festive season is particularly strong among the general public … and they continue to appeal to the government via online platforms to allow the setting off of fireworks and firecrackers during the Lunar New Year,” the statement said.

It called on police officers to “enforce the law in a civilized and flexible manner, and not to get into direct conflict with the public, and not to trigger negative public opinions about the police.”

‘Cannot control mass incidents’

Veteran democracy activist Wang Juntao, now settled in the United States, said there is an uneasy stalemate between popular anger, Communist Party leadership and local governments.

“This is a forced compromise between Xi Jinping and local governments, because Xi Jinping can control the elite, but he cannot control mass incidents at the edges of the political system,” Wang said.

“If he won’t delegate more power to local governments, then they can’t stamp out [protests], and have to make concessions instead,” he said. “If he delegates any more power to local governments, they could use it to turn on Xi Jinping rather than the general public.”

“So all he can do is compromise, given the situation,” Wang said.

Qin said both the fireworks protests and the “white paper” movement of late November that was followed by an abrupt end to Xi’s zero-COVID policy in early December had shaken the Communist Party’s system of governance.

“The Communist Party wants to make [temporary] concessions, because they imagine it’s a way of releasing the pressure of public anger and resentment,” he said.

But he said the approach could backfire.

“Firstly, any concessions made by the Communist Party will encourage ordinary people, and help them realize that resistance is valuable and can force the government to compromise if it is successful,” he said.

“[They then believe that] they should keep up their resistance if there is a problem.”

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

As another bitter winter grips North Korea, authorities are ensuring that its bullocks – working cows that pull plows and do other chores – are getting fed, even though it’s not doing the same for its citizens, sources in the country say.

Sources told RFA that caretakers are receiving plenty of feed for the bullocks on collective farms, while annual rations for farmers have been halved, owing to a poor harvest. The move seems to be aimed at boosting harvest production.

A source from South Pyongan province who declined to be named told Radio Free Asia that grain distribution for the winter at collective farms in Maengsan county ended in December. “This year’s distribution received by the farmers is only about half a year’s worth of food,” the source said.

“However, 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of corn kernel and corn stalks were supplied to the working cows of the cooperative farm,” he said. “As a result, farmers complained that cows were treated more favorably than people, and that cows are more important than people.”

Sources in North Korea say temperatures have dropped far below freezing in the country and, as food becomes more scarce, large numbers of people have gone missing, believed starved or frozen to death.

RFA received reports of homeless beggar children, known as kotebji, dying on the street, while even the employed have been deserting their homes to subsist on hunting and fishing in remote areas because they cannot afford to buy food.

Speaking on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal, a farmer in the province confirmed to RFA that local cadres delivered year-end feed rations last week for “working cows” at the 22 cooperative farms in Kimjongsuk county.

“I work in Team No. 4 of Agricultural Group No. 1 in Wondong village, and our team has 5 cows,” said the farmer. “Each working cow is raised in a barn adjacent to the house of the cow’s manager. The cow manager receives the food for the working cow.”

Each cooperative farm in Kimjongsuk employs 300-400 farmers in four to six work groups. Each work group is divided into five to six teams, each of which raises three to six working cows, the farmer said. While the size of collective farms varies in the county, each raises around 100 cows.

The farmer told RFA that at the end of this year, cow managers were provided 100 kilograms, or 100 days’ worth, of grain in addition to the year-end grain all farmers receive for their daily labor. 

A poor harvest this year saw regular farmers receive only half their grain, frustrating those who say the government prioritizes the nation’s cows over its people. “Due to the lack of harvest this year, farmers who went to work 365 days … only received 200 days worth of grain,” the farmer said.

North Korea stopped providing rations for cows at collective farms during the country’s economic crisis in the 1990s. The first source told RFA that, until this year, cow managers had been required to foot the bill for feed, in addition to medicine and shoes for hooves, forcing them to earn additional money as porters at train stations and in the marketplace.

“The fact that corn kernels and corn stalks were supplied as feed to working cows for the first time [since the 1990s] seems to be an attempt to increase food production by mobilizing all working cows for farming,” the source said. “But it remains to be seen whether working cows will increase grain production as a result.”

According to the “2022 North Korean Crop Production Estimate” recently announced by the Rural Development Administration, North Korea harvested 4.51 million tons of food this year, a decrease of 180,000 tons from 2021.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh. Edited by Josh Lipes and Malcolm Foster.