Japan PM to axe ministers over fundraising scandal - CNA

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday (Dec 13) announced he would make changes to his cabinet as he seeks to stem the fallout from a fundraising scandal that has further dented public support for his embattled administration.

The premier told a press conference he would make the changes on Thursday, just three months after a previous cabinet overhaul.

"I will take the lead in fighting to rebuild the ways of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to restore trust in politics," he said referring to his ruling LDP party.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, a powerful figure who coordinates policy across government on his behalf, is among four ministers and several deputy ministers expected to go, according to media reports.

Kishida said the changes were still being finalised.

The shake-up comes as prosecutors investigate whether some lawmakers in the ruling party received thousands of dollars in fundraising proceeds missing from official party accounts, according to media reports.

But analysts say a cabinet clearout is unlikely to draw a line under a scandal that has raised serious questions about Kishida's leadership and thrown his government into disarray.

Koichi Hagiuda, a high-ranking official from the LDP who oversees budget proposals, has decided to resign, broadcaster NHK and Kyodo news agency reported. Kishida is also considering shelving a planned trip to Brazil and Chile next month, the Mainichi newspaper said.

"The most Mr Kishida can hope for is to arrest the current decline in his personal support. Increasing it, however, will require more than cosmetic changes to personnel," said Corey Wallace, a political science scholar at Kanagawa University.

"There's only so many times this tactic works over a short period until diminishing returns set in."

Public support for Kishida's administration has slipped as low as 23 per cent in recent polls, the lowest since he came to office in 2021. He has twice reshuffled his cabinet, replacing ministers linked to a previous scandal in late 2022, and again in September as he looked to shore up his sagging ratings.

Support for his ruling LDP has fallen below 30 per cent for the first time since 2012, when it returned to power after a blip in its near total post-war dominance of Japanese politics, an NHK survey on Tuesday showed.

The prime minister does not need to hold an election until October 2025, and a fractured and weak opposition has historically struggled to make sustained inroads into the LDP's hold on power despite its at times fractious factional politics.

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2023-12-13 11:14:07Z
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Japan PM Kishida to Fire Ministers Over LDP Political Scandal Over Funds - Bloomberg

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he would reshuffle his cabinet, following reports he would fire four ministers as a wide-spread scandal raised questions about how long he would be able to stay in power.

“From the perspective of restoring trust in politics, and avoiding delays in government business, I will make personnel changes,” Kishida told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday. He added he was still considering the content of the reshuffle, which would be announced Thursday.

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2023-12-13 09:35:36Z
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Japan PM Kishida to Fire Ministers Over LDP Political Scandal Over Funds - Bloomberg

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he would reshuffle his cabinet, following reports he would fire four ministers as a wide-spread scandal raised questions about how long he would be able to stay in power.

“From the perspective of restoring trust in politics, and avoiding delays in government business, I will make personnel changes,” Kishida told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday. He added he was still considering the content of the reshuffle, which would be announced Thursday.

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2023-12-13 06:22:30Z
CBMic2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJsb29tYmVyZy5jb20vbmV3cy9hcnRpY2xlcy8yMDIzLTEyLTEzL2phcGFuLXMta2lzaGlkYS1mYWNlcy1iaWdnZXN0LXBvbGl0aWNhbC1zY2FuZGFsLWluLXRocmVlLWRlY2FkZXPSAQA

Yemen's Houthis warn ships in Red Sea to avoid travel to Palestinian territories - CNA

CAIRO: A senior official from Yemen's Houthis on Tuesday (Dec 12) warned cargo ships in the Red Sea to avoid travelling toward the occupied Palestinian territories after the Iran-aligned group claimed an attack on a commercial tanker earlier in the day.

The Houthis earlier said they hit a Norwegian commercial tanker with a missile in their latest protest against Israel's bombardment of Gaza, underlining the risks of a conflict that has shaken the Middle East.

In addition to avoid heading toward the Palestinian territories, ships that pass Yemen should keep radios turned on, and quickly respond to Houthi attempts at communication, Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen's Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said in a message on the X social media platform.

Al-Houthi also warned cargo ships against "falsifying their identity" or raising flags different from the country belonging to cargo ship owner.

The Iran-aligned group attacked the tanker, the STRINDA, because it was delivering crude oil to an Israeli terminal and after its crew ignored all warnings, Houthi military spokesperson Yehia Sarea had previously said in a statement.

The Houthis have waded into the Israel-Hamas conflict - which has spread around the region - attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel more than 1,000 miles (1,609km) from their seat of power in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

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2023-12-13 01:14:36Z
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China's Xi meets Vietnam leaders in second day of state visit to Hanoi - CNA

HANOI: China's President Xi Jinping will meet Vietnamese leaders on Wednesday (Dec 13) on the second day of a state visit to Hanoi, during which dozens of deals have been announced, including on diplomatic ties, railways and telecommunications.

His first trip to Vietnam in six years came after the visit of US President Joe Biden in September, in a sign of the increasing importance of the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub amid trade tensions between the two global powers.

On Wednesday Xi will pay tribute to the mausoleum of the founding leader of Communist Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh. He will then meet the chairman of Vietnam's parliament, Vuong Dinh Hue, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President Vo Van Thuong, according to a schedule from Vietnam's foreign ministry.

During the day, a China-Vietnam joint statement on diplomatic relations is expected to be formally signed after its text was shown to reporters on Tuesday.

Xi will meet students before departing in the afternoon from the Vietnamese capital, whose central roads had been festooned with China's and Vietnam's red flags for his visit.

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2023-12-13 02:18:01Z
CBMiaWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9jaGluYXMteGktbWVldHMtdmlldG5hbS1sZWFkZXJzLXNlY29uZC1kYXktc3RhdGUtdmlzaXQtaGFub2ktMzk4NTAwNtIBAA

Indonesian presidential candidates spar in first live debate, promise to enforce law and eradicate corruption - CNA

This is the first election in 15 years where three 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. 

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2023-12-12 13:52:00Z
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Chinese leader Xi Jinping tells Vietnam it is a ‘diplomatic priority’ - South China Morning Post

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.

In Vietnam, a ‘shared destiny’ and the US are likely to be high on Xi’s agenda

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.

South China Sea: China’s envoy to Philippines protests over weekend clashes

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.

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2023-12-12 13:35:35Z
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