Month: September 2023

Indonesian ban on social media transactions deals TikTok major blow

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Receive free TikTok Inc updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest TikTok Inc news every morning. TikTok’s ecommerce ambitions have taken a major hit after Indonesia, one of its largest and most promising markets, banned transactions on social media platforms. Indonesian trade minister Zulkifli Hasan on Wednesday said the regulations, which apply to all social networks, aim to ensure “fair and just” competition and protect user data as well as offline small and medium-sized vendors in south-east Asia’s biggest economy. TikTok’s app is not…

North Korea returns detained US soldier Travis King

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Receive free North Korea updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest North Korea news every morning. The American soldier who dashed into North Korea across its heavily militarised border with South Korea in July has been returned to the custody of his home country, US officials said on Wednesday. Army private Travis King was transferred out of North Korea across the border with China, where the US received him. He was being moved to an American military installation and would later head back to…

Why you will never hear an Australian leader call out Indonesia on West Papua

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As reported by the Guardian, Australia is seeking to strengthen its defence relationship with Indonesia, despite well-documented human rights abuses by the Indonesian military in West Papua. As tens of thousands of West Papuan civilians are turned into refugees in their own land and innocents are allegedly tortured and gunned down by Indonesian soldiers, Australia is embarking on further training and support for the Indonesian military and its counter-terrorism police. Human rights considerations appear to have been pushed down the list of diplomatic priorities. Indeed, it is an open secret…

Sri Lanka fails to reach agreement to unlock next IMF bailout tranche

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Receive free Sri Lanka updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Sri Lanka news every morning. Sri Lanka and the IMF have failed to reach an agreement that would pave the way for the next tranche of funds under a $3bn lending programme designed to steer the country out of its economic crisis. An IMF team concluded a two-week visit to Sri Lanka on Wednesday without securing the so-called staff-level agreement that is required to unlock the next $333mn disbursal under the deal, which…

Did India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft really land near the moon’s south pole?

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Ouyang, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told its official Science Times newspaper that “the landing site of the Chandrayaan-3 was not at the moon’s south pole, not in the polar region of the moon’s south pole, nor was it ‘near the Antarctic polar region’”. The rover landed at a latitude of around 69 degrees south. Ouyang told the news site it was within the moon’s southern hemisphere but not in the polar region, which he considered to be “between the latitudes of 88.5 and 90 degrees”. The…

Construction in ancient city of Bagan goes unchecked under junta

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When Chinese conservation teams began working on the That Bin Nyu Temple in Myanmar’s ancient city Bagan, local residents noticed something out of place. Less than 300 meters (yards) away, they also began constructing an office. “We can only see it but we don’t exactly know what they are doing,” one local, who declined to give their name for fear of reprisals, told Radio Free Asia. “A civilian can’t know that much. We just see the maintenance work there.” In the last two years, much of the oversight in Bagan’s…

Alibaba’s Cainiao, one of founder Jack Ma’s grand projects, to heat up China’s logistics industry after US$1 billion IPO in Hong Kong, analysts say

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Although the word cainiao is slang for rookie in Mandarin, Ma showed he was no newbie in leading the creation of the logistics unit in 2013 – months after stepping down as Alibaba’s chief executive – to strengthen the foundation of his e-commerce empire. “For e-commerce firms, the three most important infrastructure items are information flow, cash flow and delivery,” Ma said at the time. Autonomous delivery vehicles for Cainiao are seen near Alibaba Group Holding’s headquarters in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, on August 2, 2022. Photo: Bloomberg…

North Korea orders diplomatic staff to donate $100 each for new subs

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Kim Jong Un has submarine envy, so every North Korean attached to diplomatic missions abroad has been ordered to “donate” US$100 to a new fund that will go toward the construction of “cutting-edge” submarines and other warships, sources in China told Radio Free Asia. The donation mandate was the first order of business after Kim returned from his summit in Russia with President Vladimir Putin, where the two countries agreed to strengthen ties.  During that trip, Kim toured military facilities including a naval base for Russia’s Pacific Fleet and was…

South China Sea: Beijing hits back at Manila over Scarborough Shoal barrier ‘farce’

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Later on the same day, the Philippine Coast Guard announced it had removed the buoys on the orders of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin dismissed the move on Wednesday and repeated that the Scarborough Shoal – known as Huangyan Island in China – was Chinese territory and Beijing would always defend its sovereignty and maritime interests over the area. “This so-called action by the Philippine side is purely a farce for its own amazement,” Wang said. 03:09 Philippine coastguard removes Chinese barrier at disputed Scarborough Shoal in…

US soldier released by N Korea is on way home

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UPDATED AT 2:25 p.m. EDT on Sept. 27, 2023. Travis King, the American soldier who suddenly sprinted into North Korea from a border area in South Korea, is on his way home and “appears to be in good health and spirits,” U.S. officials said on Wednesday.   State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said King was met on China’s border with North Korea by U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns after being expelled by Pyongyang after two months in the country. He was then transferred to the Osan Air Force base in South Korea.…