FACTBOX - Ties and tensions between China and Japan |
- FACTBOX - Ties and tensions between China and Japan
- Taiwan mulls match-making holidays for civil servants
- Hundreds evacuate as typhoon churns toward Japanese islands
- Age, tough terrain no obstacle for Ku Li
- The main problem is bureaucratic inertia
- China, Japan begin repairing ties at Asian summit
- Indonesia battles to aid tsunami survivors as toll tops 400
- World’s big enough for India and China, Wen
- China dissidents under lockdown as Nobel tensions linger
- Thailand hit by severe flooding
- China media hits out at Nobel committee chair, laureate Liu
- Bank of China confirms 8.9 billion dollar rights issue
- Australia PM urged to press Indonesia on military torture
- Indonesia battles to aid tsunami survivors as toll tops 400
- China, Japan begin repairing ties at Asian summit
- China, Japan to improve ties, resume gas talks: Japan FM
- Myanmar Supreme Court to hear Suu Kyi appeal
- Japan recovery loses steam as output drops
- Indonesia looks at new capital controls: FT
- Tensions high on final day of UN biodiversity talks
| FACTBOX - Ties and tensions between China and Japan Posted: 28 Oct 2010 11:37 PM PDT REUTERS - Japan and China have agreed to improve ties, Japan's foreign minister said on Friday after talks with his Chinese counterpart likely to set the stage for fence-mending between the leaders of Asia's biggest economies. 
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| Taiwan mulls match-making holidays for civil servants Posted: 29 Oct 2010 12:03 AM PDT TAIPEI, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - A Taiwanese lawmaker has proposed "match-making" holidays for government employees in a bid to boost the island's falling marriage and birth rates, his office said Friday.
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| Hundreds evacuate as typhoon churns toward Japanese islands Posted: 29 Oct 2010 12:02 AM PDT TOKYO, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - Flights were cancelled and hundreds of people sought refuge in storm shelters as a powerful typhoon churned toward far-southern Japanese islands Friday, officials said.
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| Age, tough terrain no obstacle for Ku Li Posted: 28 Oct 2010 11:22 PM PDT The wet and slippery dirt road into the interior made travel difficult, even in four-wheel-drive vehicles.
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| The main problem is bureaucratic inertia Posted: 28 Oct 2010 11:17 PM PDT The planning and management problems in the public sector are a kind of inertia problems, instead of a capability problem of the public servants.
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| China, Japan begin repairing ties at Asian summit Posted: 28 Oct 2010 03:03 PM PDT By Harumi Ozawa HANOI: China and Japan began repairing their serious rift at an Asian summit today, agreeing to improve ties and resume talks on a disputed gas field as the prospects of talks between their leaders brightened.Asia's two big powers have been embroiled in their worst diplomatic row in years, sparked by a territorial dispute that has escalated into protests, scrapped meetings and allegations China is freezing exports of vital minerals. All eyes at the East Asian Summit in Vietnam's capital are on the sparring match and whether the rival leaders, China's Wen Jiabao and Japan's Naoto Kan, will hold highly anticipated direct talks. Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said today after a meeting with his China counterpart which yielded agreement on key issues, said the two-way summit would now "probably take place in Hanoi". Chinese authorities, while not ruling out the possibility, said earlier today that there had been no arrangement so far for the talks. Maehara said he and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi had agreed to improve ties and resume negotiations over the development of a disputed gas field in the East China Sea. "We agreed that we will make efforts to improve the ties between Japan and China and press forward the strategic, mutually beneficial relationship. The Chinese side also agreed on it," Maehara told reporters. "We also agreed that we will resume the negotiations on the gas field development in the East China Sea," he said. Japan has previously called for an early resumption of the stalled talks over the disputed gas field -- called Shirakaba by Japan and Chunxiao by China -- which have been a casualty of the simmering territorial row. Tokyo suspects Beijing has started drilling in the field, which lies in an area where both countries' claimed exclusive economic zones overlap. The neighbours have been rowing since the September 8 arrest of a Chinese trawler captain after a collision with Japanese coastguard vessels near a disputed island chain in the resource-rich East China Sea. Seeking common ground While Japan is trying to patch up the relationship with China, it is also seeking common ground with Southeast Asian nations who have their own territorial beefs with their giant neighbour in the South China Sea. The 10 Asean members, which met yesterday, will consult today with their dialogue partners before the summit broadens Saturday into the 16-nation East Asia Summit which US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will also attend. Prospects for Kan and Wen to meet were clouded when talks scheduled for Friday among economy ministers from China, Japan and South Korea were scrapped. Japanese media reports said China had axed the meeting because of a row over rare earth minerals, while Beijing blamed scheduling problems. Japan, citing its industry sources, says that China has halted the exports of the minerals, a group of 17 elements vital for producing high-tech goods from mobile phones to hybrid engines. Earlier today Maehara, who is known as a China hawk, met Clinton in Hawaii en route to Hanoi. The allies stressed the importance of finding alternatives to China for supplies of rare earths used in high-tech products. "We have to diversify the sources of rare earth minerals, and here again Japan and the United States will closely cooperate with each other in order to engage in more diversified rare earth minerals diplomacy," Maehara said. Clinton meanwhile welcomed remarks from officials in Beijing that China will not use its near-global monopoly on the rare earths trade as a "bargaining tool". A Japanese foreign ministry official who attended the ministerial talks today said that Maehara had expressed Japan's concerns over the rare earths issue. "The minister said this issue relates not only to the Japanese and the global economies but also the economic activity of China itself," he said. "The China side said about rare earths that it has no intention to use this as a means for a deal, that it never did, and that the government is handling the issue as part of its environmental conservation and resources management." On the prospects of leaders' talks, the Japanese official said there was "no clear prospect" but that both ministers would now report to their premiers. - AFP
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| Indonesia battles to aid tsunami survivors as toll tops 400 Posted: 28 Oct 2010 02:59 PM PDT
NORTH PAGAI: Indonesia battled today to deliver aid to remote islands where a tsunami has killed over 400 people, as bodies lay strewn on beaches and buried in debris days after the wave hit. Disaster response officials believe the final death toll from the huge wave that hit the Mentawai island chain off the west coast of Sumatra on Monday could pass 500, with many of the victims sucked out to sea as the tsunami receeded. Almost 13,000 people are living in makeshift camps on the islands after their homes were wiped out in the wave, which was triggered by a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake. Elsewhere in the disaster-prone archipelago, the nation's most active volcano, Mount Merapi, was spewing lava and ash, threatening residents who may have returned to their homes after an eruption on Tuesday killed 34 people. "It shot heat clouds at 6.10am as far as 3.5km (over two miles) down its southeastern slopes and followed this with ash rain," volcanologist Heru Suparwoko said. He said the heat clouds were "definitely dangerous" for people who had refused to obey orders to evacuate the danger zone on the island of Java or who had Some 50,000 people have fled to temporary shelters but officials expressed frustration that many were returned to their homes on the volcano's slopes during the day, despite the threat of another deadly eruption. "It's very difficult to convince people here that the volcano's threat is serious," health ministry crisis centre head Mudjiharto said. On the Mentawais, a picturesque destination for foreign surfers but an otherwise poor and neglected part of Indonesia, bodies were being found buried on beaches and even stuck in trees. Disaster management official Agus Prayitno said the death toll had risen to 408, as hopes dimmed for another 303 still listed as missing after the wave flattened villages and homes. "When we flew over the area yesterday (Wednesday) we saw many bodies. Heads and legs were sticking out of the sand, some of them were in the trees," another disaster official Ade Edward said Thursday. Multitude of emergencies Indonesia initially refused offers of foreign aid but Australia yesterday announced that Jakarta had accepted a million dollars worth of assistance for both disasters. The United States and several Asian countries have also offered help. The European Commission released 1.5 million euros in aid and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations stood ready to assist in any way.
The European money will help around 65,000 people in the Mentawais and another 22,000 affected by the volcano. Bad weather has hampered efforts to ferry aid such as tents, medicine, food and water to the islands by boat from the nearest port of Padang, which is more than half a day away even in the best conditions. Indonesia has dispatched troops and at least five warships to the region but there is believed to be a need for more helicopters and boats to reach the most isolated communities, some of which lack roads and wireless communications. "Our staff have been waiting in Padang since Monday night to reach the remote area. They are now still in Padang," World Vision emergency response director Jimmy Nadapdap said. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited the area Thursday, having cut short a visit to Vietnam to attend a regional summit, telling distraught survivors that aid was on its way. Indonesia and foreign donors have spent millions of dollars on an elaborate tsunami warning system since the 2004 wave which killed more than 168,000 people on Sumatra and nearby islands. But survivors of Monday's disaster said the only warning they received was the roaring sound of the wave itself as it sped towards them shortly before 10pm.
An official responsible for the warnings dismissed reports that the system was faulty and blamed local authorities on the Mentawais for failing to pass on the alert. The Indonesian archipelago is studded with scores of active volcanoes and stretches from the Pacific to the Indian oceans, spanning several tectonic plates meeting on a so-called "ring of fire". According to the US Geological Survey, Monday's earthquake was "the latest in a sequence of large ruptures along the Sunda megathrust" including the 2004 quake. - AFP
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| World’s big enough for India and China, Wen Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:56 PM PDT HANOI, Oct 29 — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today the world was big enough for their two countries to develop and co-operate, sounding a positive note ahead of a visit planned for later this year. The world's most populous countries have engaged in repeated diplomatic sparring over the last two years, ...
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| China dissidents under lockdown as Nobel tensions linger Posted: 28 Oct 2010 11:03 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - Dozens of Chinese dissidents and human rights activists remain under house arrest as a wary government seeks to stifle support for jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, a New York-based human rights group said. 
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| Thailand hit by severe flooding Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:54 PM PDT More than three million people have been affected by flooding which has hit Thailand.
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| China media hits out at Nobel committee chair, laureate Liu Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:36 PM PDT BEIJING, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - China's state media on Friday accused the Nobel committee of using the Peace Prize as a "political tool" -- the latest in a barrage of complaints after the award went to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo.
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| Bank of China confirms 8.9 billion dollar rights issue Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:35 PM PDT HONG KONG, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - Bank of China on Friday confirmed plans to raise almost nine billion dollars in a rights issue in Shanghai and Hong Kong to strengthen its capital base.
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| Australia PM urged to press Indonesia on military torture Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:34 PM PDT SYDNEY, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - A leading rights body Friday urged Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to press Indonesia for a full investigation into torture by its military when she visits next week.
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| Indonesia battles to aid tsunami survivors as toll tops 400 Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:34 PM PDT NORTH PAGAI, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - Indonesia battled Friday to deliver aid to remote islands where a tsunami has killed over 400 people, as bodies lay strewn on beaches and buried in debris days after the wave hit.
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| China, Japan begin repairing ties at Asian summit Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:31 PM PDT HANOI, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - China and Japan began repairing their serious rift at an Asian summit Friday, agreeing to improve ties and resume talks on a disputed gas field as the prospects of talks between their leaders brightened.
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| China, Japan to improve ties, resume gas talks: Japan FM Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:29 PM PDT HANOI, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - China and Japan have agreed to improve ties and will resume talks on a disputed gas field, Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Friday after talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.
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| Myanmar Supreme Court to hear Suu Kyi appeal Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:28 PM PDT YANGON, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - Myanmar's Supreme Court is on Friday due to hear opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's final appeal against her house arrest, due to end days after controversial elections next month.
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| Japan recovery loses steam as output drops Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:27 PM PDT TOKYO, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - Japan's export-led recovery showed further signs of losing steam Friday, with industrial production falling for the fourth month running in September as consumer prices slid anew.
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| Indonesia looks at new capital controls: FT Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:25 PM PDT JAKARTA, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - Indonesia's central bank is looking at new steps to control a surge of capital that is threatening to destabilise emerging economies around the world, the Financial Times reported Friday.
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| Tensions high on final day of UN biodiversity talks Posted: 28 Oct 2010 10:24 PM PDT NAGOYA, Friday 29 October 2010 (AFP) - UN talks aimed at sealing a global pact to protect the world's ecosystems entered their final day on Friday amid high tensions, with negotiators yet to agree on a make-or-break deal over money.
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By Bayu Ismoyo
returned to tend to their livestock and property.
"Indonesia is currently addressing a multitude of emergencies, whose cumulative impact is putting local capacity under severe strain," European aid chief Kristalina Georgieva said.
Many felt the earthquake but a tsunami alert issued minutes later in Jakarta failed to reach the villages in most danger.
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