Dates set for long-awaited third plenum, with China to reveal policy direction - South China Morning Post

China’s ruling Communist Party elite will meet from July 15 to 18 for the long-awaited third plenary session, a gathering expected to shed light on the development direction of the world’s second-largest economy amid intense external challenges.

It is expected to be a defining moment of President Xi Jinping’s third five-year term as the party’s leader, and to cover a wide range of goals, from the economy to social development and state building.

The decision was announced at a meeting of the Politburo, the party’s 24-man decision-making body, on Thursday, signalling a consensus among the party’s upper echelon on how best to cope with China’s economic challenges given the ferocity of international competition and internal difficulties.

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Defence ministers from China and US meet on sidelines of Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore

Defence ministers from China and US meet on sidelines of Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore

The session, also known as a plenum, traditionally sets the economic strategy for the next five to 10 years and is often seen as the most important of the seven party gatherings held over the Central Committee’s five-year cycle.

The meeting will be attended by more than 370 full and alternate members of the new Central Committee.

It is also expected to endorse a wide-ranging communique that will be dissected by officials at all levels as they try to come up with ways to reach the goals set out in the document.

Over the past four decades, the third plenums have typically been held in October or November. It is the first time since 1984 that the party has not convened one in the year following the twice-a-decade party congress. The last congress was held in the autumn of 2022, the year Xi began his third term as party general secretary.

In the past, third plenums were the key opportunity to send early policy signals to the party and the public of what the party’s priorities would be for the next five to 10 years.

Beijing offered no explanation for the delay in its April 30 statement but China has been grappling with a series of formidable challenges, including a sluggish economic recovery, intense geopolitical headwinds and ongoing personnel changes in leadership.

The gathering next month will be held just months before China celebrates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.

It will also be before the end of the year and therefore meet the stipulation in the party’s constitution that it hold at least one plenum a year.

Last year was the 45th anniversary of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s reform and opening up, and the 10th anniversary of Xi’s own series of reforms – milestones that came and went without the plenum.

In addition to signalling economic policy, the third plenary session is also the usual forum to show party solidarity and offer updates on investigations into sacked high-level officials.

Beijing has said little about what prompted the removal last year of former foreign minister Qin Gang and former defence minister Li Shangfu – both of whom are members of the Central Committee.

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‘Two sessions’: China’s economic and diplomatic challenges | Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo

‘Two sessions’: China’s economic and diplomatic challenges | Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo

Qin, China’s shortest-serving foreign minister, disappeared in June last year before being stripped of his remaining titles in the government. Li, China’s shortest-serving defence minister, has not been seen since August and has also lost all his titles.

The formal expulsion of officials from the elite body requires a formal resolution during the plenum.

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2024-06-27 05:41:21Z
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Details of Blackrock's investment in Malaysia among focus in Parliament today - The Star Online

KUALA LUMPUR: The total investment by BlackRock and its affiliate companies in Malaysia will be among the highlights at the Dewan Rakyat sitting on Thursday (June 27).

According to the Order Paper published on the Parliament's official website, the matter will be raised by Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) to the Investment, Trade and Industry Minister during the Minister's Question Time session.

Lim is seeking details on where BlackRock has made investments within Malaysia and the potential economic implications if these long-standing investments were to be withdrawn.

In the same session, Datuk Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi (PN-Kuala Langat) will ask the Health Minister to state the difference between local university training programmes and the Parallel Pathway foreign training skill programmes as well as the estimated cost spent on government-sponsored specialised training.

In addition, Aminolhuda Hassan (PH-Sri Gading) will request the Foreign Minister to outline the benefits Malaysia has received following the strengthening of relations with Central Asian countries through Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's recent visit to several countries in the region in mid-May.

During the Oral Question and Answer Session, Commander (R) Nordin Ahmad Ismail (PN-Lumut) will ask the Communications Minister to detail measures taken to combat the dissemination of pornographic videos and images on social media platforms, which also serve to promote sex-related products.

In addition, Lo Su Fui (GRS-Tawau) will ask the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister to outline plans for standardising prices of goods across Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak, as well as strategies to tackle the smuggling of subsidised necessities.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (PN-Pagoh) will raise the issue of the term "Allah", seeking an update from the Prime Minister on the establishment and progress of the Special Technical and Legal Documentation Committee to review the Nik Elin case and related issues.

Following these discussions, the Dewan Rakyat will proceed with the first reading of the Audit (Amendment) Bill 2024.

Also scheduled on today's agenda are the second reading of the Limited Liability Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2024 and the continuation of debates on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2024.

The Second Meeting of the Third Term of the 15th Parliament runs 15 days until July 18. - Bernama

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2024-06-27 01:29:00Z
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WEF in China: Electric vehicles, urban mobility, climate change discussed on second day - CNA

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returns home to Australia a free man - The Straits Times

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange waving as he arrived in Canberra, Australia, on June 26, 2024. PHOTO: REUTERS

CANBERRA - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returned home to Australia to start life as a free man on June 26, after admitting he revealed US defence secrets in a deal that unlocked the door to his London prison cell.

Mr Assange landed on a chilly Canberra evening in a private jet, the final act of an international drama that led him from a five-year stretch in the high-security Belmarsh prison in Britain to a courtroom in a US Pacific island territory and, finally, home.

His white hair swept back, the Australian raised a fist as he emerged from the plane door, striding across the tarmac to give a hug to his wife, Mrs Stella Assange, that lifted her off the ground, and then to embrace his father.

Dozens of television journalists, photographers and reporters peered through the airport fencing to see Mr Assange, who wore a dark suit, white shirt and brown tie.

Mr Assange has not spoken publicly since being released and did not appear at a WikiLeaks press conference at a hotel in Canberra, where Mrs Assange said it was too soon to say what her husband would do next.

“You have to understand, he needs time, he needs to recuperate, and this is a process,” she told reporters, apparently close to tears.

“I ask you please to give us space, to give us privacy, to find our place, to let our family be a family before he can speak again at a time of his choosing.”

She added she believed her husband would one day be pardoned.

Mr Assange’s lawyer Jen Robinson said he had spoken to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese when the plane touched down, and “told the Prime Minister that he had saved his life”.

Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has lobbied for years to free Mr Assange, said he had spoken to him by phone after his plane landed.

“I had a very warm discussion with him this evening, he was very generous in his praise of the Australian government’s efforts,” Mr Albanese told an earlier press conference.

“The Australian government stands up for Australian citizens, that’s what we do.”

Mr Assange’s long battle with US prosecutors came to an unexpected end in the Northern Mariana Islands, where a judge accepted his guilty plea on a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defence information.

The remote courtroom was chosen because of the 52-year-old’s unwillingness to go to the continental US, and because of its proximity to Australia.

As part of behind-the-scenes legal negotiation with the US Justice Department, he was sentenced to the time he had already served in London – five years and two months – and given his liberty.

“You will be able to walk out of this courtroom a free man,” the judge told him.

Mr Assange had published hundreds of thousands of confidential US documents on the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks from 2010.

He became a hero to free speech campaigners, but a villain to those who thought he endangered US security and intelligence sources.

“Working as a journalist, I encouraged my source to provide material that was said to be classified,” Mr Assange told the court.

Ms Robinson told reporters earlier it was a “historic day” that “brings to an end 14 years of legal battles”.

“It also brings to an end a case which has been recognised as the greatest threat to the First Amendment in the 21st century,” she said.

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‘Too long’

Mr Albanese earlier said he was “very pleased” by the outcome.

“Regardless of your views about his activities, and they will be varied, Mr Assange’s case has dragged on for too long,” he told Parliament in Canberra.

The UN also hailed Mr Assange’s release, saying the case had raised human rights concerns.

But former US vice-president Mike Pence slammed the plea deal on social media platform X as a “miscarriage of justice” that “dishonours the service and sacrifice of the men and women of our Armed Forces”.

The US Justice Department said after the hearing that Mr Assange was banned from returning there without permission.

The US authorities had wanted to put Mr Assange on trial for divulging military secrets about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was indicted by a US federal grand jury in 2019 on 18 counts stemming from WikiLeaks’ publication of a trove of national security documents.

The material he released through WikiLeaks included video showing civilians being killed by fire from a US helicopter gunship in Iraq in 2007. The victims included a photographer and a driver from Reuters.

In 2019, he was arrested and held in Belmarsh prison while fighting extradition to the US. He had spent seven years in Ecuador’s embassy in London to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where he faced accusations of sexual assault that were eventually dropped.

He met his wife while holed up in the embassy, and the pair married in a ceremony in London’s Belmarsh prison. They have two young children.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange hugging his wife Stella Assange after arriving at Canberra Airport in Canberra. PHOTO: AFP

“I can’t stop crying,” Mrs Assange, who was waiting for him in Australia, said on X.

“I am beyond excited,” she later told reporters as she left a Canberra hotel, together with Mr Assange’s father, to see her husband at the airport.

The announcement of the plea deal came two weeks before Mr Assange was scheduled to appear in court in Britain to appeal against a ruling that approved his extradition to the US.

Washington had accused Mr Assange under the 1917 Espionage Act, and supporters warned he risked being sentenced to 175 years in prison.

The plea deal was not entirely unexpected. US President Joe Biden had been under growing pressure to drop the long-running case against Mr Assange.

The Australian government made an official request to that effect in February and Mr Biden said he would consider it, raising hopes among Assange supporters that his ordeal might end. AFP, REUTERS

More On This Topic

Explainer: Who is Julian Assange?

Julian Assange is free and has left Britain: WikiLeaks

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2024-06-26 10:44:00Z
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Indonesian influencers arrested, civil servants being targeted in country's war against online gambling - CNA

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s war against online gambling has intensified, with the government warning that the problem runs rampant across the country’s civil service sectors even as it arrests social media influencers it alleges were promoting such activities. 

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Hadi Tjahjanto on Tuesday (Jun 25) said that those involved in online gambling come from diverse backgrounds, including members of the police and the military as well as other civil servants from different ministries and institutions. 

"(They come) from ministries, there are members of the military, the police, and others (that are engaged in online gambling). We have submitted the names to the heads of institutions," Mr Hadi - who is also chairman of the Online Gambling Eradication Task Force - was quoted as saying by Tempo. 

Meanwhile, seven social media influencers were arrested in Banten and Lampung provinces for allegedly endorsing online gambling websites. Eighteen others were arrested following investigations into three online gambling websites: WNX Bet, W88, and Ciputra League. 

"From the suspects, we gathered evidence of 4.7 billion rupiah (US$291,000) in cash, three cars, 114 mobile phones, 96 account books, 145 ATM (cards), nine laptops, and five (digital) tokens," Mr Hadi said, adding that the authorities had already blocked some 6,000 bank accounts related to online gambling. 

The figure is an increase from the 5,000 bank accounts that authorities said they had blocked last week. 

Mr Hadi on Tuesday stressed that his task force’s priority is the well-being of Indonesians, with concerted efforts made to dismantle online gambling networks. 

"The important thing is to save the Indonesian people first, then we will jointly cut off the bookies," he said.

A report by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center on Jun 22 found that the total accumulated transactions for online gambling in the first quarter of 2024 reached 600 trillion rupiah (US$36.5 billion) and involved some three million players. Among these, around 2.19 million are low-income citizens.

Meanwhile, Minister of State Apparatus Utilisation and Bureaucratic Reform Abdullah Azwar Anas told local media that comprehensive measures were needed to deal with civil servants involved in online gambling. 

"I don't know how many (civil servants are involved in online gambling). But I think the police have done a good job at combating (the problem), though we need comprehensive measures," he said, according to The Jakarta Globe.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Mr Mohammad Averrouce, said that they will continue to take disciplinary action against civil servants to curb the spread of online gambling. 

He said that if a civil servant is arrested and found guilty, the legal process will proceed alongside disciplinary actions. 

"So they can also be sent to jail. The legal process can run parallel with disciplinary actions," Mr Averrouce said as reported by Detik.

Another ministry, meanwhile, has announced plans to reveal a list of state civil servants involved in online gambling, starting with those within its own ranks. 

"On Thursday, we will announce employees from the Ministry of Communication and Informatics who are also exposed," said its Minister, Mr Budi Arie Setiadi.

According to local media, online gambling has become widespread in Indonesia and this has led to an increase in criminal behavior, including family-related violence. 

In early June, a policewoman was charged with murdering her husband, a fellow cop, by allegedly burning him to death because of his gambling addiction, in a case which has cast the spotlight on online gambling in Indonesia.

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Anwar jokingly says he may have to reshuffle cabinet to boost WCR ranking - New Straits Times

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1. Anwar jokingly says he may have to reshuffle cabinet to boost WCR ranking  New Straits Times
2. Cabinet reshuffle 'to save the PM' if Malaysia doesn't improve WCR ranking, jokes Anwar  The Star Online
3. Anwar acknowledges flaws, pledges to improve IMD ranking  Malaysiakini
4. PM: Subsidy holdup a key factor in competitiveness dip [WATCH]  New Straits Times
5. Anwar had 'urgent matters' to discuss with Zafrul about Tuesday's Parliament session, says Miti sec-gen  The Edge Malaysia

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Blackrock entity chosen after agreeing to appoint Malaysian citizen as airport operator chairman, CEO, says Anwar - CNA

This was in response to a supplementary question from Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal (PN-Machang) who asked about the rationale behind the decision to choose GIP as part of the consortium in the exercise to privatise MAHB.

Earlier on in reply to a question from Mohd Shahar Abdullah (BN-Paya Besar) who asked Anwar to explain the decision to sell MAHB’s shares to GIP, the Prime Minister had emphasised that this issue did not arise because the majority ownership of shares remains with domestic players.

“This is different from the outside narrative that suggested a sale, whereas this was not the case. All the while, foreign ownership of MAHB’s shares stood at around 27 per cent and this was what was taken over by GIP and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

“Does it entail any sale of airports? No. MAHB is just the company that manages the airports. The Malaysian government continues to be the owner of the airports," he said.

Anwar also saw the pressing need for the significant RM10 billion (US$2.1 billion) investment resulting from the MAHB privatisation exercise.

This would allow Khazanah and the EPF to invest their funds in other significantly critical sectors.

GIP has been collaborating with the EPF and other Malaysian companies since 2012.

It has several decades worth of experience in managing and operating airports through its investments in Sydney Airport, the London Gatwick Airport, Edinburgh Airport, Signature Aviation, and previously, the London City Airport.

Meanwhile, Blackrock has interests in Bursa Malaysia shares worth RM24.7 billion and RM7.9 billion in Malaysian government and corporate bonds.

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2024-06-25 07:09:41Z
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