Australia wants bilateral free trade deals with Hong Kong, Indonesia and Peru to take effect early next year, the trade minister said Wednesday, adding that the Hong Kong treaty supports its unique status within China.Trade Minister Simon Birmingham introduced legislation into Parliament that would lead to Australia ratifying the three trade treaties, as part of a push to boost the economy via new export opportunities for agriculture businesses.Hong Kong student activists have called for…
How Vietnamese drug kingpins run Britain’s lucrative marijuana trade worth US$3.2 billion a year
Holed up alone in a suburban British house thousands of miles from home, cannabis farmer Cuong Nguyen spent months carefully nurturing his plants, one of thousands of Vietnamese migrants working in the UK’s multibillion-dollar weed industry.Cuong – who is now 41 – slipped into Britain illegally, hidden under a lorry before going on to grow cannabis in homes, hotels and even a stable. His dangerous journey from the poor, rough Vietnamese port town of Haiphong to Britain’s illegal cannabis farms…
After turning down Coca-Cola, Vietnamese drinks maker THP now seeking US$3bn partner
Seven years after turning down a US$2.5 billion offer from Coca-Cola, Vietnam’s biggest home-grown beverage company is seeking a strategic partner that can invest US$3 billion to help make it the next Red Bull.Tan Hiep Phat Beverage Group, known as THP locally, is open to mergers and acquisitions to become one of Asia’s top drinks makers, Tran Qui Thanh, the founder of the closely held business said. The company is looking to expand sales in neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, after…
K-pop and f (x) star Sulli, who spoke out against cyberbullying, found dead in her home
A former member of top South Korean girl group f (x), who had spoken out against cyberbullying, was found dead on Monday, police said.The body of Choi Jin-ri, better known by her stage name Sulli, 25, was discovered at her home in Seongnam, south of the capital, Seoul, police said.“Her manager visited her home after failing to reach her since their last call the night before,” police said in a statement.Sulli was grappling with severe depression, police said. They did not elaborate.How the K…
Vietnam blocks ‘Abominable’ film over depiction of Beijing’s nine-dash line in South China Sea
Vietnam has pulled the animated DreamWorks film Abominable from cinemas over a scene featuring a map which shows China’s unilaterally declared “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea, state media reported on Monday.The U-shaped line is a feature used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims over vast expanses of the resource-rich South China Sea, including large swathes of what Vietnam regards as its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions.China and Vietnam have been locked in a…
India’s concerns about RCEP remain the major obstacle to world’s largest trade deal
Not for the first time, trade ministers from the 16 Asia-Pacific countries negotiating the world’s biggest trade pact indicated this weekend they were within reach of a deal, but analysts and people with knowledge of negotiations predicted the final leg of talks will be particularly fraught.Insiders told This Week in Asia the main hurdle for finalising the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be the negotiation position of India – which has been holding out for concessions…
Could Hong Kong protests sway the Canadian election?
There’s a stereotype in Canadian politics that sees the Chinese community as apolitical and unlikely to vote. Clearly, it does not take account of people like Gloria Fung. Fung, who arrived in Toronto nearly three decades ago, is the very antithesis of the image of a vote-shy Chinese immigrant. As the founder of a non-profit pressure group, the real estate broker spends much of her free time lobbying and petitioning politicians ahead of Canada’s looming federal election. Still, if Fung doesn…
Indonesian minister Wiranto’s stab wound ‘reached his intestines’: government adviser
Indonesian chief security minister Wiranto’s wounds from a stabbing attack last week went so deep that he required surgery on his intestines, a senior government adviser has revealed.Mahfud MD, who sits on the steering committee of a government agency promoting Indonesia’s secular ideology Pancasila – that stresses national unity despite ethnic and religious diversity – said these details were given to him by Dr Terawan Agus Putranto, the head of the Gatot Soebroto Army Hospital, where Wiranto…
Duterte’s spokesman takes three-hour commute to work after accepting public transport dare
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman, Salvador Panelo, took three-and-a-half hours to get to work on Friday morning after he accepted a dare to commute the way millions in Manila do daily, but seemed to brush off the whole episode as a boyish stunt.“I really fooled you,” Panelo told the press after taking four jeepneys – passenger trucks – and a motorcycle ride to reach the presidential palace in Metro Manila.Asked what it felt like being a commuter for 210 minutes, Panelo said “it…
New Philippines military chief sees no ‘shooting war’ in South China Sea despite disputes
The new head of the Armed Forces of the Philippines has said he does not expect a “shooting war” to occur in the South China Sea, despite Manila’s diplomatic protests against China’s intrusions into its territorial waters.“I don’t think it’s going to the point that there is going to be an actual conflict, meaning a shooting war. I think there are enough mechanisms in place to prevent this from happening,” Lieutenant General Noel Clement said in a briefing with foreign correspondents on Thursday…