China risks being left behind as South Korea and Japan signal a shift away from financing overseas coal power in response to growing criticism over their support for the dirty fossil fuel.The three countries are the top global lenders for coal energy infrastructure, bankrolling projects beyond their borders through export credit agencies and developing new markets to export coal plant technology.But there are signs that Japan and South Korea may be preparing to scale back official support amid…
India’s Independence Day highlights rift between ‘Howdy Modi’ supporters and critics in US
For the first time, members of the Indian diaspora in the United States will hoist the Indian flag in New York’s famous Times Square on August 15 to mark the country’s 74th Independence Day. But this grand event has once again cast the spotlight on a widening rift between Indian-Americans, many of whom support the nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and “progressives” unhappy at policies which marginalise minorities and go against the secular constitution. “The flag…
Philippines bans chicken imports from Brazil after Chinese reports
The Philippines on Friday imposed a temporary ban on poultry meat imports from Brazil after two cities in China found traces of the new coronavirus in cargoes of imported frozen food, including chicken wings from the South American country.Shenzhen city authorities identified the chicken as originating from a plant owned by Aurora, Brazil’s third-largest poultry and pork exporter.Brazil has the world’s second-worst Covid-19 outbreak after the United States, recording more than 3.2 million cases…
India offers Maldives half a billion reasons to distance itself from China
India on Thursday pledged US$500 million to build bridges and causeways in the Maldives, as New Delhi seeks to counter growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.The Maldives borrowed billions of dollars from Beijing and hired Chinese firms for infrastructure projects under previous President Abdulla Yameen.India and the US over China: Maldives picks a side in Indian OceanThis stoked concerns in India and the West that China was saddling countries in Asia and beyond with unsustainable debts…
Lee family feud: Lee Suet Fern’s legal misconduct case goes to appellate court
A special panel of senior Singapore judges on Thursday heard arguments in the legal misconduct case against the daughter-in-law of the country’s late independence leader Lee Kuan Yew, in a matter that is seen as a key issue in the bitter public quarrel among the late patriarch’s heirs.The Court of Three Judges, led by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, was convened to hear an appeal lodged by Lee Suet Fern, the wife of Lee Kuan Yew’s youngest child Lee Hsien Yang, following a disciplinary tribunal…
As India celebrates Joe Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris, a question over China and regrets over Namaste Trump
A wave of excitement and a ripple of anxiety went through India when the US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden announced Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. The excitement is because Harris, who is of Indian-Jamaican origin, is the first Asian-American to appear on a major party’s presidential ticket; the anxiety is about the fate of India-US ties under a Biden presidency. Harris’ family history has made her popular with the Indian public, with celebrities, industrialists and…
China’s exports to show ‘remarkable’ rise despite coronavirus and US decoupling threat, customs chief says
China will eventually gain a bigger share of total global exports regardless of the impact of the coronavirus on foreign demand and threats of decoupling from the United States, according to the head of the country’s customs administration.Having seen its global exports rise by 0.1 percentage points in the first four months of 2020, according to General Administration of Customs Minister Ni Yuefeng, China’s share of global merchandise exports is expected to rise further even though global trade…
China-India border talks stall, sparking calls for Modi to get tough on Beijing
As the border stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops in the Himalayan region of Ladakh enters its 15th week, with little indication of a breakthrough in talks, criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is brewing in New Delhi.Unhappy at what they see as India’s overly cautious approach, a group of military veterans and analysts are increasingly calling for the Modi administration to get tough on Beijing.The prolonged stand-off could end up “constricting” India’s military…
Singapore begins destroying US$13 million of ivory ahead of World Elephant Day
Singapore started crushing nine tonnes worth of elephant ivory on Tuesday, in what authorities said was the biggest such event globally in recent years and signalled the island nation’s fight against illegal trade in wildlife.The city state, a nautical way point in shipments of banned animal products between Africa and Asia, is destroying tusks worth an estimated S$18 million (US$13 million), including a record 8.8-tonne seizure last year which authorities said came from nearly 300 African…
South China Sea: Philippine navy chief warns of Chinese ‘provocation’
The Philippine navy chief has called for a diplomatic protest to be filed against the presence of two Chinese research ships in a disputed area of the South China Sea.Vice-Admiral Giovanni Bacordo told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on Monday the Chinese vessels had been near the Reed Bank for “about a week already” and that due to their speed of “about three knots” the navy had concluded they were “conducting surveys”.Explained: South China Sea dispute“We have…