This is the first election in 15 years wherethree pairs are contesting for Indonesia's top jobs.
On Feb 14 next year, about 204.8 million eligible Indonesian voters are expected to head to the polls to choose Indonesia’s eighth president.
Current president Joko Widodo is barred from running since the constitution only allows a person to stay in power for maximum two terms.
According to the Indonesian election law, a pair must secure more than 50 per cent of the votes to win the elections.
If nobody gets at more than 50 per cent, the election will go into a second round in June and the pair with the least number of votes cannot continue the contest.
Mr Prabowo and Solo mayor Mr Gibran, who is also Mr Widodo’s son, are the front-runners with an electability rating of more than 40 per cent, according to various polls.
Meanwhile, Mr Ganjar and his running mate Mahfud MD, who’s Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, as well as Mr Anies and his partner Muhaimin Iskandar, who’s head of political party PKB, are in tight competition to make it into the second round.
The second debate will be on Dec 22, where vice-presidential candidates will challenge each other over the economy.
This includes people's and digital economy, finance, investment, taxes, trade, state or regional budget management, infrastructure, and urban areas.
The third debate will be on Jan 7, focusing on defence, security, geopolitics and international relations, which the presidential candidate must tackle.
On Jan 21, the vice presidential candidates will debate about energy, carbon tax, environment, agrarian matters, indigenous people, food security and natural resources.
The last debate on Feb 4 is for the presidential candidates to showcase their knowledge in information technology, improvement of public services, hoax, intolerance, education, health and employment.
He also told Trong that he believed relations would enter a new phase categorised by higher political mutual trust, deeper mutually beneficial cooperation and better management of risk and differences.
While Vietnam has sought to strengthen economic ties with China, it has struggled over how to resolve the countries’ long-running dispute in the South China Sea.
Ahead of his visit, Xi wrote in an article published in Hanoi’s official mouthpiece Nhan Dan that the two sides should seek a “mutually beneficial” solution to the maritime dispute and “always keep in mind our shared visions and missions”.
“Both sides need to act on the common understandings reached by the leaders of our two parties and countries, properly manage differences on maritime issues, and jointly look for mutually acceptable solutions,” he said.
It is Xi Jinping’s first visit to Vietnam in six years. Photo: EPA-EFE
China fought a brief war with South Vietnam over the Paracel Islands in 1974, about a year before its final defeat to the Communist North.
The two countries also fought a short land war in 1979 over a border dispute and there was another military skirmish in the Spratly Islands in 1988.
There have also been a number of more recent confrontations, including in May when a Chinese survey vessel and its escort ships were accused of violating Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone.
Tensions have also been rising on other parts of the South China Sea – which China claims almost in its entirety – with a number of stand-offs between Chinese and Philippine vessels in recent months, prompting frequent protests from Manila.
In Tuesday’s article, Xi also wrote of the importance of building “a community with a shared future” between the two countries, while warning against the rise of “hegemonism” in the world – language Beijing has often used towards the United States.
Hanoi has a long-standing foreign strategy of trying to build relations with a number of different major powers, rather than just relying on one.
This year it elevated its relations with the US to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” when Biden visited in September, putting it on the same level as China and other countries such as Russia, South Korea and India.
Xi said in his article that both countries “should vigorously promote cooperation, and make due efforts to build an enabling external environment for our respective development and to realise long-term stability and security in our region”.
He also highlighted the “traditional friendship” between the two neighbours, which normalised diplomatic ties in 1991. Xi described them as “vocal advocates of multilateralism” that had “always treated each other with sincerity”.
“No matter how the global environment has changed, our two parties and countries have worked together to uphold peace and tranquillity, pursue development and cooperation, and promote prosperity and progress,” Xi wrote, adding that they had found a “promising path” of cooperation.
On Monday the Chinese foreign ministry hinted that Beijing was seeking to upgrade ties with Hanoi.
“An elevated bilateral relationship is a natural result in accordance with the overwhelming trend,” ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
“Standing at a new historical point, the two sides will be guided by the high-level common understandings … and make new progress in growing our comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.”
Earlier this month Foreign Minister Wang Yi co-chaired a meeting in Hanoi, where he met Thuong and “reached a new consensus on strengthening cooperation and promoting the sound and steady development of China-Vietnam relations in all fields”, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Xi also touched on cultural exchanges in the article, pointing to the popularity of Chinese literature, film and television productions in Vietnam, and the success of Vietnamese pop stars in China.
“The small creeks of ever closer people-to-people interactions are converging into a mighty river of friendly ties between China and Vietnam,” he said.
Besides Trong, Xi will also meet Thuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, as well as National Assembly chairman Vuong Dinh Hue during this visit, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
FUKUSHIMA: A court in Japan found on Tuesday (Dec 12) three ex-soldiers guilty of sexually assaulting a female colleague and gave them suspended jail terms, bringing to a close a rare case for a country where victims rarely come forward to speak out against abuse.
The court in Fukushima sentenced Shutaro Shibuya, Akito Sekine and Yusuke Kimezawa to two years in prison, but suspended for four years, for their "forced indecency" on Rina Gonoi during a military drill in 2021.
In a socially conservative country where the #MeToo movement failed to gain much ground, Gonoi, 24, took to YouTube last year to share her account of the assault after an internal military probe into it was dropped for lack of evidence.
The public attention from the viral video and a petition signed by more than 100,000 people forced the defence ministry to acknowledge the assault and apologise.
This March, prosecutors reversed an earlier decision and charged the three men, who have been dismissed from the military.
Gonoi, who was in court on Tuesday for the verdict, told AFP in an interview in February that her decision to go public was "desperate rather than brave".
She said that after fulfilling a childhood dream and enlisting in 2020, she experienced daily harassment.
"When walking down the hallway, someone slaps you on your hip, or holds you from behind," she told AFP.
"I was kissed on the cheek, and my breasts were grabbed."
Then, during a drill in 2021, she says three colleagues pressed her to the ground, forced apart her legs and each repeatedly pressed their crotches against her while others watched and laughed.
Mr Xi is expected to push for the building of a China-Vietnam community with a shared future, which involves bringing Hanoi closer to Beijing's orbit.
“The last visit by Xi Jinping was (in) 2017, and he actually suggested that. But Vietnam disagreed,” said Emeritus Professor Carlyle Thayer of the University of New South Wales Canberra.
“But China is pushing for common destiny, common security, (and) common development. This is the platform and programme of China's new world order, in which the US would just be relegated to being one of the players.”
TRADE, INFRASTRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC TIES ON THE AGENDA
The talks in Hanoi will also touch on trade, infrastructure and economic ties.
KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia announced a major Cabinet reshuffle on Dec 12, with new ministers being appointed to key portfolios including in finance, foreign affairs and health.
Amongst the key changes is the appointment of Finance Minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan, who will assist Datuk Seri Anwar, who is also Finance Minister. Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah was the former chief executive officer of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the national pension fund.
Speaking to the media after the announcement, Mr Anwar said that a second finance minister was required to address the country’s economic issues.
“My personal view… is that the Ministry of Finance must have a strong and professional team to ensure that we are on the right track and the focus on the economy.
“And he (Mr Amir) has shown enough competence, ability, and has managed the EPF in a very impressive and satisfactory manner,” he said.
Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad returns to the Health Ministry, taking over from Dr Zaliha Mustafa. An MP from Parti Amanah Negara, Dr Dzul, as he is popularly known, served as health minister from May 2018 to Feb 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Dr Zaliha has been appointed as the new Federal Territories Minister.
Human Resource Minister V Sivakumar has been replaced by Mr Steven Sim Chee Keong, who had assisted Mr Anwar as his Deputy Finance Minister II, prior to his new appointment.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to fire a second top member of his cabinet and as many as three ruling party officials, the Asahi newspaper said, as a scandal over slush funds threatens the viability of his government.
Among those to be replaced is Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who has helped to drive Japan’s plans to regain its lost status as a world-class chipmaker. Two senior officials in Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party are set to be replaced and a third may be added to the list, the paper said, a day after reporting Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno was on his way out.
