Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

JAKARTA, Feb 23 (NNN-Bernama) — Competition in the Indo-Pacific is inevitable and even welcome, but all countries must avoid such competition from becoming an open conflict, says Indonesia’s top diplomat.\

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi exchanged the views at a Ministerial Forum for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific meeting in Paris on Tuesday, which aims to showcase the European Union initiative for the region.

According to Retno, for Indonesia, the region is a sea of opportunities, and it is too large for any single country to dominate.

BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Through joint efforts from compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, China's national reunification must be and will surely be realized, noted a mainland spokesperson Wednesday.

Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks at a press conference when replying to a media query about opinions on promoting national reunification voiced recently by scholars.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean health officials on Wednesday approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, expanding the country’s immunization program in the face of a massive omicron outbreak that is driving up hospitalizations and deaths.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — As South Korea enters a bitter presidential race, Hong Hee-jin is one of many young women who feel that the country’s politics has become dominated by discrimination against women, even outright misogyny.

“Women are being treated like they don’t even have voting rights,” the 27-year-old office worker in the capital, Seoul, said.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong residents are becoming increasingly annoyed with the administration’s insistence on sticking to China’s “zero-COVID” strategy as the city posted another record number of cases Wednesday, bristling at ever-stricter regulations and a plan to test everyone for the virus.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, marking his 62nd birthday on Wednesday, called on people to keep “the fire of hope” burning in their hearts and support each other to overcome the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Naruhito said his heart aches thinking about people who have lost their jobs, struggled financially or felt isolated due to the pandemic.

BEIJING (AP) — The Olympics have said goodbye to Asia after a star-crossed run, and it’s unclear when they’ll be back after the continent hosted four of the last eight Games.

The earliest the Summer Games could return is 2036, and the favorite could be the world’s most populous country — not China, as you might expect, but India.

India’s population is expected to overtake China’s 1.4 billion in the next decade, and it is lobbying for the western city of Ahmedabad to be the host city for 2036, with events elsewhere, including New Delhi, the capital.

TOKYO (AP) — World leaders sought Wednesday to back up their tough words over Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, announcing financial sanctions, trade and travel bans and other measures meant to pressure Moscow to pull back from the brink of war.

Even as they ramped up penalties, however, nations in Asia and the Pacific also prepared for the possibility of both economic pain, in the form of cuts to traditional energy and grain supply lines, and retaliation from Russian cyberattacks.

Tokyo, Feb 23 (AP) Japan's prime minister has announced sanctions targeting Russia and two separatist Ukrainian regions recognised as independent by Russian President Vladimir Putin, joining an international effort seeking to pressure Russia to return to diplomatic solutions.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that his government will ban new issuance and distribution of Russian government bonds in Japan in response to the actions Russia has been taking in Ukraine.

SINGAPORE, Feb 22 (NNN-Bernama) — Singapore is gravely concerned at the escalation of tensions at the Ukraine-Russia border and the Russian decision to recognise two breakaway Ukrainian regions, according to the republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Ukraine must be respected,” the ministry’s spokesperson said in a statement here.