简体中文
Every weekend, Asia Pacific Daily will provide you with a run-down of the latest hot news.
This week, the following hot news you should know:
Top 1 | Trump approves huge Taiwan arms deal in latest blow to China relations
Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai called on China and the U.S. to take the opportunities in 2021 to avoid "irreparable damage" to bilateral ties.
He made the remarks while addressing the U.S.-China Business Council's annual gala on Wednesday.
"This dangerous trend is still continuing. If left unchecked, it will cause irreparable damage to the fundamental interests of both countries and peoples," Cui said, adding that "efforts are needed more than ever to aim high and look far to find the correct direction for China-U.S. relations."
The ambassador highlighted that 2021 is essential for breaking new ground and sustaining new momentum for bilateral ties, saying that both countries stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation.
Stressing that shared interests always come first, Cui said that no difference justifies any conflict or confrontation though differences and disagreements do exist.
Meanwhile, he pointed out that 2021 does provide the two countries with new opportunities.
Top 2 | France Slaps Google, Amazon With a Total of 135 Mln Euros in Fines
Last year, France imposed a 3-percent digital tax, targeting big tech corporations, such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple, which resulted in a major spat between Paris and Washington.
The French data privacy watchdog CNIL has fined Google 100 million euros and Amazon 35 million euros for breaching national legislation on internet cookies - pieces of data which track users' activity online.
According to the watchdog, the banners, displayed on the sites did not provide clear information for the user on how cookies work and how to refuse them.
This is not the first time the French authorities have targeted digital corporations with major fines. Last year, France demanded that Google pay around $1 billion to settle a fiscal fraud investigation, and later fined the company €150 million for its anti-competitive activities.
Top 3 | PM Johnson to Have Face-to-Face Meeting with EU Chief In Last-Ditch Bid to Salvage Brexit Trade Deal
Another day of frantic talks on a deal that will shape relations between the UK and EU post-Brexit failed to bring breakthroughs, as a phone conversation on Monday between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen resulted in a joint statement underscoring that conditions for a deal were "not there”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to head to Brussels for talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in an attempt to avert a no-deal Brexit, as "significant differences" remain between the UK and the EU on critical issues despite the transition period's looming year-end deadline, reported the BBC.
According to the outlet, it is unclear when the PM would go, with Wednesday or Friday suggested as the "most likely" dates.
Hopes are being pinned on the face-to-face meeting between the officials, as political intervention at the highest level was called for after rounds of fruitless negotiations between the two camps failed to break a stalemate on the main sticking points.
Top 4 |Japan to Adopt New Economic Stimulus Package Worth More Than $707 Billion
Japan will adopt new stimulus measures on Tuesday including a package worth 73.6 trillion yen (over $707 billion) aimed at supporting the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said.
"These economic measures are designed to protect people's lives and livelihoods by preserving employment, continuing business operations, rebuilding the economy, and opening a window for new growth in the sphere of green energy and digitalization," Suga said, as quoted by NHK on Tuesday.
The new economic stimulus measures will include support for medical institutions, investments and green energy.
The government also announced that Japan’s economy in the July-September period grew an annualized real 22.9% from the previous quarter.
Last week, the prime minister said that Japan was going to set up a fund worth 2 trillion yen (around $19 billion) to be spent on the development of green technologies by 2030 and invest another 1 trillion yen in digitalization.
Top 5 | Japan preparing to send military nurses to areas hit hard by COVID-19
The emergence of Japan's coldest city as a COVID-19 hotspot has raised fears among health experts that it could be a sign of what the rest of the nation may face as winter sets in and more people stay indoors, raising airborne transmission risks.
The city of Asahikawa, about 140 kilometers north of Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido, is reeling from infection clusters at two hospitals and a care home. By Sunday, the number of cases recorded on the island was more than 10,000, and Asahikawa had accounted for 16 percent of the 256 deaths.
It prompted the government to announce a plan on Monday to send nurses from Self Defense Forces to the region and western metropolis of Osaka to help fight the outbreak.
"Hokkaido is a place where due to the climate conditions people tend to have the heater on very high and in very closed spaces as well," said Haruo Ozaki, president of the Tokyo Medical Association.
"In places such as Tokyo and Osaka, it will also be getting colder from now. When we add this coldness factor, it shows that we need to express a lot more caution or we could face a further spread of contagion."
Top 6 | U.S. preparing new 'sanctions' on Chinese officials over HKSAR: report
The United States is preparing to impose sanctions on at least a dozen of Chinese officials over Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) affairs, reported Reuters on Monday citing sources.
The sanctions will be imposed on up to 14 people over "their alleged role in disqualification of elected opposition legislators" in the HKSAR, according to the report.
It came a week after the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that the country decided to impose sanctions on four people with U.S. institutional links who have acted viciously on issues related to the HKSAR.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced the decision on November 30, in response to the U.S. State Department and Treasury Department's announcement on November 9 that sanctions were being imposed on four Chinese officials from China's central government and the HKSAR government.
Top 7 | US Navy official says 'uneasy deterrence' reached with Iran
The top U.S. Navy official in the Mideast said Sunday that America has reached an “uneasy deterrence” with Iran after months of regional attacks and seizures at sea, even as tensions remain high between Washington and Tehran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
Vice Adm. Sam Paparo, who oversees the Navy’s 5th Fleet based in Bahrain, struck an academic tone in comments to the annual Manama Dialogue hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He described having a “healthy respect” for both Iran’s regular navy and the naval forces of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
“We have achieved an uneasy deterrence. That uneasy deterrence is exacerbated by world events and by events along the way,” the vice admiral said. “But I have found Iranian activity at sea to be cautious and circumspect and respectful, to not risk unnecessary miscalculation or escalation at sea.”
While Iran has not directly seized or targeted a tanker in recent months as it did last year, a mine struck an oil tanker off Saudi Arabia and a cargo ship near Yemen came under assault in recent days. Suspicion immediately fell on Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for being behind both attacks. The Houthis have not commented on either.
Top 8 | Kuwait emir accepts post-election government resignation: KUNA
Kuwait’s prime minister submitted his government’s resignation on Sunday in a routine procedure after parliamentary elections that took place on Saturday, state news agency KUNA said.
Kuwait’s emir accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah and asked the cabinet to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new government is appointed.
Kuwaitis voted in legislative polls on Saturday, with the Gulf state’s worst economic crisis in decades posing a challenge for the government’s often stormy relationship with a parliament blamed for blocking reforms.
Top 9 | EU envoys urge Britain to compromise to secure Brexit trade deal
European Union negotiators have moved to “within millimetres” of the limits of their negotiating mandate at Brexit trade talks so it is up to London to compromise if a deal is to be reached, an EU diplomat said on Thursday.
Some EU envoys said earlier on Thursday that they were hopeful that a deal could be secured in days and a British minister reported “good progress”.
But the British minister also said any deal “must be right” for Britain and one EU envoy later said substantial differences remained at talks.
Britain leaves the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, when a transition period of informal membership ends following its official departure last January, and the sides are trying to secure a deal to govern nearly $1 trillion in annual trade.
“We are not hours away from a deal, what we still need to agree is quite substantial,” said the EU diplomat.
Top 10 | Moscow starts mass COVID-19 vaccination with its Sputnik V shot
Moscow began distributing the Sputnik V COVID-19 shot via 70 clinics on Saturday, marking Russia’s first mass vaccination against the disease, the city’s coronavirus task force said.
The task force said the Russian-made vaccine would first be made available to doctors and other medical workers, teachers and social workers because they ran the highest risk of exposure to the disease.
“You are working at an educational institution and have top-priority for the COVID-19 vaccine, free of charge,” read a phone text message received by one Muscovite, an elementary school teacher, early on Saturday and seen by Reuters.
Moscow, the epicentre of Russia’s coronavirus outbreak, registered 7,993 new cases overnight, up from 6,868 a day before and well above the daily tallies of around 700 seen in early September.
“Over the first five hours, 5,000 people signed up for the jab - teachers, doctors, social workers, those who are today risking their health and lives the most,” Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on his personal website on Friday.
The age for those receiving shots is capped at 60. People with certain underlying health conditions, pregnant women and those who have had a respiratory illness for the past two weeks are barred from vaccination.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
