G7 leaders agree to new initiative to fight economic coercion - CNA

TOKYO : Group of Seven leaders on Saturday (May 20) agreed to a new initiative to counter economic coercion, and pledged action to ensure that any actors attempting to weaponise economic dependence would fail and face consequences.

The initiative, dubbed Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion, will use early warning and rapid information sharing on economic coercion with members meeting regularly for consultations, the leaders said in a statement.

"The world has encountered a disturbing rise in incidents of economic coercion that seek to exploit economic vulnerabilities," the G7 leaders said in a statement following a meeting in Hiroshima, Japan.

The statement did not identify China, but in details released on Friday that outlined the proposed initiative, the British government pointed to attempts by China to use its economic power in political disputes with Australia and Lithuania.

In a statement posted Saturday on its website, China's embassy in Britain warned the G7 countries that any words or deeds harming Beijing's interests would be met with "firm and resolute countermeasures".

The G7 statement also committed the leaders to deepen cooperation on hardening supply chains and called for a bigger role for lower income countries in promoting economic resilience.

They urged all nations to adhere to principles of "transparency, diversification, security, sustainability, and trustworthiness and reliability" in building supply chain networks.

The group also agreed to deepen cooperation in information sharing as it looks to establish new standards for next generation technologies. 

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2023-05-20 08:32:06Z
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'War is not an option', Taiwan president says amid China tensions - CNA

TAIPEI: Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Saturday (May 20) to maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait amid high tensions with China, which has stepped up military pressure on the democratically governed island.

Taiwan will not provoke and will not bow to Chinese pressure, Tsai said in a speech in the presidential office in Taipei marking the seventh anniversary of her governance.

China, which considers Taiwan as its own and threatens to bring the island under its control if necessary, has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to force the island to accept Chinese sovereignty since Tsai took office in 2016.

Beijing has rebuffed calls for talks from Tsai, regarding her as a separatist. Tsai has repeatedly vowed to defend Taiwan's freedom and democracy.

"War is not an option. Neither side can unilaterally change the status quo with non-peaceful means," Tsai said. "Maintaining the status quo of peace and stability is the consensus for both the world and Taiwan."

"Although Taiwan is surrounded by risks, it is by no means a risk maker. We are a responsible risk manager and Taiwan will stand together with democratic countries and communities around the world to jointly defuse the risks," she said.

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2023-05-20 02:59:26Z
CBMiVGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS90YWl3YW4tdHNpLWluZy13ZW4tY2hpbmEtd2FyLW5vdC1vcHRpb24tMzUwMjU2NtIBAA

China can help Central Asian ‘brethren’ to unite, Xi Jinping tells Xian summit - South China Morning Post

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1. China can help Central Asian ‘brethren’ to unite, Xi Jinping tells Xian summit  South China Morning Post
2. LIVE: Chinese President Xi Jinping Holds Welcome Ceremony At The 2-day China-central Asia Summit  CNN-News18
3. China's Xi unveils grand development plan for Central Asia  CNA
4. Xi makes clear China is ready to take its place in new world order  South China Morning Post
5. China's Xi unveils grand development plan with Central Asia allies  The Straits Times
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2023-05-19 04:50:45Z
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'I have nothing now': Indonesians fall prey to fake shaman 'magic money' scams - The Straits Times

KARAWANG – Indonesian mother-of-three Aslem was a domestic worker in Dubai when she started wiring cash to a self-professed shaman, believing that he would honour his promise to magically multiply her hard-earned wages.

But she returned home last year penniless and in shock, saying she had been swindled out of her life savings by a trickster who now faces trial for his complex scams, and charges of murdering nine of his victims.

“I have nothing now,” Ms Aslem, 42, told AFP from her cramped, dilapidated house in a remote village in Karawang, West Java.

“I wanted to renovate this small house my parents left me. I wanted to make them happy... I didn’t manage to do that until the day they died.”

In Muslim-majority Indonesia, where nearly 10 per cent of the population live below the poverty line, some view shamans as traditional healers.

Ms Aslem is one of several Indonesians who say they were scammed by people claiming to be spiritual figures, promising to turn small investments into immense wealth.

Police say some alleged scammers turn to violence when their victims come looking for their money. The scams have circulated widely on Indonesian social media.

Just two dozen Facebook posts advertising so-called shaman investment schemes were viewed more than 1.4 million times as of this week, according to AFP.

One post, viewed 643,000 times from April 8 to May 17, claimed a Muslim sheikh would help people multiply their funds, and that the service did not violate the tenets of Islam.

AFP reporters contacted a WhatsApp number associated with one of the posts and were told to send photos of their identity cards to determine eligibility for the “magic money” scheme.

Eye-watering sums

After she moved to Dubai in 2016, Ms Aslem said she began talking to a man her friend had recommended, who claimed he was a Javan shaman named Aki Banyu.

Ms Aslem, who now sells snacks from her porch, recalled the first meeting with the man on a 2019 trip home.

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2023-05-19 03:05:00Z
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China's Xi unveils grand development plan with Central Asia allies - CNA

XIAN: China's President Xi Jinping on Friday (May 19) unveiled an ambitious plan to help elevate Central Asia to the next level of its development - from building infrastructure networks to boosting trade - while shunning "external interference" at the same time.

China stands ready to synergise development strategies with the five Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and make joint efforts to promote the modernisation of all six countries, said Xi in an address at the China-Central Asia Summit in northwest China.

"The world needs a Central Asia that is stable, prosperous, harmonious, and well-connected," Xi said.

At the same time, the six countries should oppose "external interference" in the internal affairs of regional countries and attempts to instigate "colour revolutions", and maintain a zero-tolerance stance against terrorism, separatism and extremism, Xi warned.

"China is ready to help Central Asian countries improve their law enforcement, security, and defense capability construction," Xi said.

The two-day summit in the historic Silk Road city of Xian has been portrayed by Chinese state media as a triumph of China's regional diplomacy, with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan earlier pledging support for Beijing and vowing deeper bilateral cooperation.

The display of solidarity from China's Central Asian neighbours is expected to contrast sharply with the "negative" image of Beijing to be presented at the summit of Group of Seven leaders in Hiroshima over the weekend.

The high-profile expression of trust by China's neighbours will serve to counter US accusations of Beijing's coercive diplomacy. Xi's gathering of five heads of state on Chinese soil without Russian President Vladimir Putin also ostensibly pulls Central Asia closer to the Chinese sphere of influence as Moscow's focus remains locked on the war in Ukraine.

China and Central Asian countries should deepen strategic mutual trust, and always offer "clear and strong support" for each other on issues of core interests such as those involving sovereignty, independence, national dignity and long-term development, Xi said, without mentioning war-torn Ukraine, which like the Central Asian nations, was a former Soviet state.

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2023-05-19 03:45:00Z
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'Unified' G7 hits Russia with new sanctions - CNA

Economists are divided about just how much G7 and other sanctions have hurt the Russian war effort.

The Russian economy contracted 2.1 per cent in 2022, a trend that continued early this year.

But Moscow has adapted quickly, introducing strict capital controls, diverting trade to allies like China and reportedly borrowing evasion techniques from much-sanctioned countries like Cuba, Iran and North Korea.

The International Monetary Fund has projected a modest 0.7 per cent economic rebound in 2023.

G7 leaders will also use the summit to woo invited leaders from India and Brazil, two regional powers that have sometimes been reluctant to criticise Moscow, or China.

PEACE PARK VISIT

Talks will officially open Friday afternoon after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida takes leaders to Hiroshima's peace park memorials and museum, where they will see evidence of the suffering and devastation caused by the 1945 atomic bombing of the city.

In a moment heavy with symbolism, they will lay wreaths at the Hiroshima cenotaph, which commemorates the estimated 140,000 people killed in the attack and its aftermath.

Kishida, who comes from Hiroshima, has tried to move nuclear disarmament up the agenda.

"I hope that here in Hiroshima, the G7 and leaders from elsewhere will show their commitment to peace, which will be remembered in history," he said Thursday.

However, there is little appetite to reduce stockpiles at a time when Moscow has made thinly veiled threats to use the weapons, and while North Korea is stoking fears of a new nuclear test with a barrage of missile launches.

Eighty-two-year-old Masao Ito survived the bombing as a small child. If given the chance, he said, he would warn leaders: "As long as there are nuclear weapons in the world, there is a possibility that your city could become like Hiroshima."

"Is that really something you are willing to accept?"

CHINA "DE-RISKING"

Apart from Ukraine, China will dominate the three days of meetings.

There the focus will be on diversifying crucial supply chains away from China and insulating sectors from "economic coercion".

But European countries insist that doesn't mean breaking ties with China, one of the world's largest markets.

"Not a single country" is pursuing "decoupling", German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters in Hiroshima.

"However, we want to organise global supply relations, trade and investment relations, in such a way that the risks are not increased by dependence on individual countries," he said.

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2023-05-18 21:00:00Z
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In symbolic Hiroshima, US allies size up an ascendant China and unpredictable Russia - CNA

TIGHTEN SANCTIONS

The G7 will aim to tighten sanctions on Russia to prevent it skirting measures already in place, Germany's leader, Olaf Scholz, said on Thursday.

The US will have a package of sanctions associated with a G7 statement that will centre on such an issue of enforcement of Russian sanctions, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on board Air Force One.

Kishida later said he and Biden had agreed to continue "strict sanctions against Russia as well strong support for Ukraine".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will join one G7 session via teleconference on Sunday, Kishida said. There had been some speculation he might travel to Hiroshima but Kishida said while he was aware of such talk, the schedule "is as announced".

Kishida and Biden also shared understanding on the importance of protecting strategic technologies, a Japanese government spokesperson said.

Earlier on Thursday, Kishida met with the heads of some of the world's top chip companies, asking them to invest more in Japan and sending a clear sign of the deepening security importance of advanced technology and supply chains at the G7.

Kishida told the executives, including those from Micron Technology, Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, that stabilising supply chains would be a topic of discussion.

"I am very pleased with your positive attitude towards investment in Japan, and would like the government as a whole to work on further expanding direct investment in Japan and support the semiconductor industry," Kishida said.

An industry ministry official later said Kishida wanted to foster cooperation to strengthen semiconductor supply chains, while Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said Japan would use ¥1.3 trillion (US$9.63 billion) of the supplementary budget from the last fiscal year to support its chip business. 

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2023-05-18 16:26:00Z
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