In view of the challenging humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, India on Saturday dispatched the first consignment of humanitarian assistance consisting of medical supplies to the war-torn country.
“These medicines will be handed over to the representatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Kabul and will be administered at the Indira Gandhi Children Hospital, Kabul,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
The assistance was dispatched on a special flight that last night brought to Delhi from Kabul ten Indians and 94 Afghans, including members of the Afghan minority community. The minority community members carried with them 2 Swaroops of Guru Granth Sahib and some ancient Hindu manuscripts.
Under “Operation Devi Shakti”, a total of 669 people have now been evacuated from Afghanistan. They comprise 448 Indians and 206 Afghans, who include members of the Afghan Hindu/Sikh minority community. Some 565 people, including 438 Indians, were evacuated from Afghanistan earlier in the month of August.
This is the first time India has sent humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after the Taliban took over in Kabul in August, dislodging the Ashraf Ghani government. The step is significant since it comes despite the fact that India has not recognised the Taliban regime. It is likely to be followed by sending a huge consignment of wheat to the embattled nation for the Afghan people.
HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Bình Minh has given the greenlight to the planned resumption of regular international commercial flights to a number of countries in Asia and the United States starting on January 1, 2022.
In the short term, flights will operate between Việt Nam and Beijing/Guangzhou (China), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea), Taipei – Taiwan (China), Bangkok (Thailand), Singapore, Vientiane (Laos), Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and San Francisco/Los Angeles (USA).
The flights will be operated based on the guidance from the Ministry of Health on medical measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and ensuring safety, efficiency and smoothness.
Minh ordered the ministry to urgently issue the medical guidance, which should be discussed with experts and businesses, for passengers entering Việt Nam on regular international commercial flights.
Earlier, during a meeting with Deputy PM Vũ Đức Đam, representatives from various ministries have raised the possibility of allowing arrivals who are fully vaccinated arrivals or recovered COVID-19 patients with negative tests to self-quarantine for seven days upon entry, without the need to undergo mandatory centralised quarantine like the current protocol.
The health ministry, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Information and Communications are told to immediately discuss and publish a medical declaration software applicable to air travel to facilitate the declaration of passengers, activities of aviation enterprises as well as medical monitoring, control and tracing of people on entry, he said.
The communications ministry is required to co-ordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, and press agencies to disseminate information so that people can clearly understand the purpose and meaning of restoring regular international commercial flights as well as ensuring safety and effectiveness in the pandemic prevention and control, he said.
The transport ministry will direct and guide airlines to restore regular international commercial flights according to the approved plan; promptly assess and make adjustments in accordance with the real situation, he said.
The foreign affairs ministry is requested to co-ordinate with the health ministry to reach an agreement with other countries and territories on mutual recognition of “vaccine passports”, prioritising the areas where international commercial flights will be restored, he said. — VNS
At the kickoff ceremony of an election committee for the main opposition party’s presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, a familiar face showed up to encourage support for the nominee, calling himself “AI Yoon Suk-yeol.”
“Hello. I am AI Yoon Suk-yeol. Are you surprised because we look alike?” the digitally-created character resembling the People Power Party’s presidential candidate said in a video clip revealed at the ceremony on Monday.
“AI Yoon Suk-yeol is a first in the political arena, and it symbolizes Korea’s new future that Yoon will create (when he is elected president),” it added.
While not perfect, presidential candidates running for the March election are bringing in advanced technologies to show off their digital engagement to appeal to voters.
The AI Yoon Suk-yeol was slightly awkward when making some gestures, but the character perfectly recreated the voice of the candidate.
The digitalized Yoon also lacked some of the distinct habits of the nominee, who has been criticized for shaking his head sideways too often and for opening his legs too wide in public events.
The People Power Party election committee is also ramping up efforts in digital canvassing, announcing that it will utilize Namuwiki, a local online encyclopedia, to collect public opinions on election pledges.
On Tuesday, Kim Dong-yeon, a former Finance Minister who threw his hat in the ring for the presidency in August, introduced an artificial intelligence spokesperson named Aidy as the first hired employee of his election committee.
He also presented an avatar character named Windy, who is his second hired employee.
“I want to be chosen by the people with a new way of campaigning that fits the new era, instead of the usual time-consuming activities that wastes taxpayer money,” Kim said in the announcement, adding that the two major political parties receive over 100 billion won ($85 million) as a state subsidy for election campaigning.
“Korean politics has been a burden to the people for a long time, costing an astronomical amount of money,” Kim said. “Adopting an AI spokesman is an attempt to cut down on the cost of campaigning.”
The AI spokesperson appeared in a short video to introduce himself.
“Hello, I am Kim Dong-yeon’s spokesman Aidy. I will be working hard to support Kim’s philosophy and for a better world,” Aidy said.
Taking on the usual task of a spokesperson, Aidy also criticized the ruling and main opposition parties for hiring campaign employees only for show and that lack genuineness.
“Kim Dong-yeon (on the other hand) is actually recruiting me and Windy as his first and second campaign employees in his attempt to introduce the right figures, in the era of the fourth industrial revolution and digitalization,” the AI spokesman added.
Kim, who served the ministerial position for the incumbent Moon Jae-in Administration, formed a new party dubbed “New Wave” in October.
According to Kim, his election camp plans to utilize Aidy and Windy to better approach voters online. Aidy will be delivering various messages from the candidate together with spokeswoman Song Moon-hee.
Windy, the avatar, would be working as “the other half” of the candidate, presenting his policies and appearing in places on behalf of Kim, he added.
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, operated an election camp headquarters inside a metaverse to communicate with the users during the party’s primary. There, he presented an AI-based chat bot, which automatically gave answers to questions.
Other candidates, including Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People’s Party and Sim Sang-jung of the progressive Justice Party, are also preparing digitalized electioneering activities, party officials said.
Amid the efforts to highlight that the candidates are “up-to-date,” there are some concerns voices that these AI and deepfake technologies may be abused to manipulate campaign efforts.
“Thinking about the political ethics, I think the People Power Party has gone too far,” Ko Sam-seog, former standing member at the Korea Communications Commission said on his Facebook on Tuesday. He served his post at the communications commission at the recommendation of the ruling Democratic Party.
“It is obvious why PPP adopted Yoon Suk-yeol’s avatar. They wanted a makeover of the candidate’s bad image, with his head-shaking, wide-legged standing and poor speaking ability,” Ko said.
“Whether it is with good intentions or bad, deep fake technology should be used sparingly, and very carefully.”
In 2017, a video showing former US president Barack Obama appearing to curse and calling then-president Donald Trump names went viral in the United States. The video turned out to be fake, created with the deepfake technology.
HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam is expected to add 36 million people to its middle class by 2030, according to a recent report by McKinsey.
The report “The new faces of the Vietnamese consumer” said that in the next decade, Việt Nam’s middle class was expected to continue to grow, spreading out geographically and becoming more diverse.
Powered by continued investments in its manufacturing sector, dynamic foreign direct investment and rising productivity, Việt Nam has been a consistent outperformer in Asia.
Việt Nam is well positioned to be a significant driver of the next chapter of Asia’s consumption story. Over the next decade, 36 million more consumers may join Việt Nam’s consuming class, defined as consumers who spend at least US$11 a day in purchasing power parity terms.
This is a major change. In 2000, less than 10 per cent of Việt Nam’s population were members of the consuming class, which has risen to 40 per cent today. By 2030, this figure may be close to 75 per cent.
New consumption power is emerging not only from those who have entered the consuming class for the first time, but from the consuming class’s sharp rise within the income pyramid.
The two highest tiers of the consuming class (those spending US$30 or more per day) are growing the fastest and may account for 20 per cent of Việt Nam’s population by 2030.
“Urbanisation is an important contributor to income growth. Việt Nam’s urban population is projected to surge by 10 million over the next decade as the share of the country’s urban population rises from 37 per cent in 2020 to 44 per cent by 2030,” the report said.
“Cities are likely to be Việt Nam’s engine of growth, contributing roughly 90 per cent of all consumption growth over the next decade. The story of Việt Nam’s urbanisation has often been centered around the populous cities of Hà Nội and HCM City, with each city home to more than 10 million people and most of Vietnam’s middle class. However, our analysis finds that over the next decade, sources of urban consumption are likely to spread to smaller cities, including Cần Thơ, Đà Nẵng and Hải Phòng.”
Across Asia, households are shrinking. The size of the average Vietnamese household has decreased by around 20 per cent over the past two decades, from 4.5 people per household in 1999 to 3.5 people per household in 2019.
If the experience of other Asian markets holds true in Việt Nam, the declining size of households may lead to new types of demand, including smaller homes, increased ownership of pets and new forms of entertainment.
Việt Nam remains a young country overall, with a median age of 32 in 2020. However, the number of people aged 60 and over is projected to increase by 5 million; seniors could account for more than 17 per cent of Việt Nam’s population by 2030.
Spending by seniors is expected to triple in the next decade, growing at more than double the rate for the population as a whole.
So-called digital natives born between 1980 and 2012, including members of Generation Z and millennials, are expected to account for around 40 per cent of Việt Nam’s consumption by 2030.
Members of this digitally savvy generation live online and on their mobiles. Almost 70 per cent of Việt Nam’s population in 2020 are internet users. Rapid digitisation is changing the daily channels and communication methods used by Vietnamese people, particularly in e-commerce, where regional players, such as Shopee and Lazada, and local players such as Tiki, are active.
The rapid emergence of digital consumers has fuelled innovation in retail and purchasing behaviour. — VNS
NANCHANG – A bullet train departed from Ganzhou, East Chinas Jiangxi province, for the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, on Friday morning, marking the start of official operations of the new high-speed railway.
The Ganzhou-Shenzhen high-speed railway, with a total length of 434 km and designed speed of 350 km per hour, shortens the existing train journey of more than five hours to one hour and 49 minutes at the top speed.
The railway with 13 stations is connected to China’s vertical artery of the Beijing-Hong Kong Railway.
The launch of this railway linking the old revolutionary base of Ganzhou and the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone brought an end to Ganzhou’s history of being without a high-speed train connection to the neighboring Guangdong province.
Zhong Meidi, who runs a guesthouse in Ganzhou, said that the railway is expected to boost tourism prospects in the region.
“Many of my guests are from the cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou in Guangdong. With the opening of the high-speed railway, we are confident to cash in on the development of the B&B industry,” she said, adding that she now hopes to open more business chains.
Ganzhou has rich resources of revolutionary sites and natural scenic spots, and is welcoming opportunities for rapid development.
The city is now a hub for railways, roads and shipping transportation along the Yangtze River. It has launched 19 freight train routes, connecting 26 cities in 11 countries along the Belt and Road.
HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Transport has proposed two stages for the upcoming resumption of regular international commercial flights starting December 15.
At a meeting chaired by Deputy Minister Phạm Bình Minh on Thursday regarding the plan, a representative of the ministry said the first stage, lasting for two weeks from December 15, will see the operation of flights between Việt Nam and the destinations of Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei – Taiwan (China), Bangkok, Singapore, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, and San Francisco or Los Angeles.
All international flights will land at Nội Bài airport in Hà Nội and Tân Sơn Nhất airport in HCM City, with a frequency of four flights per week. The weekly number of foreign arrivals is expected at about 14,000.
The second stage starting from January next year will last for one month and cover more destinations – Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong (China), Paris, Frankfurt, Sydney, and Moscow. More airports are suggested to join the scheme, including Đà Nẵng in the central city of Đà Nẵng, Cam Ranh in the central province of Khánh Hòa, Phú Quốc in the Mekong Delta province of Kiên Giang, and Vân Đồn in the northern province of Quảng Ninh. Flight frequency will be increased to seven per week, with the weekly number of entries estimated at some 40,000.
Participants agreed with the policy of reopening international flight routes given that Việt Nam has now basically put the COVID-19 pandemic under control. They said there are a large number of Vietnamese people wishing to return home, including workers with expired labour contracts; students and people on working trips trapped overseas; and expatriates.
The resumption will create conditions for foreign investors and experts to travel to Việt Nam to study the market and work for foreign-invested projects, they added.
Deputy PM Minh said the resumption is a practical need in the new normal situation. He required the building of a single medical declaration software applied to people on entry and good implementation of related information work.
Flight resumption must meet health requirements: FM spokesperson
The operation of flights must be done strictly for the right people and in line with Việt Nam’s medical requirements for people entering the nation, said Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lê Thị Thu Hằng while informing the press on the resumption of international flights and the recognition of vaccine passports.
At the ministry’s regular press conference held on Thursday, the diplomat said those allowed to enter Việt Nam currently are Vietnamese citizens; people entering for diplomatic, official, or business purposes; experts; investors; skilled workers and their families; and foreign students studying in Việt Nam. People coming to Việt Nam to learn about the market, attend conferences and seminars, visit relatives; overseas Vietnamese visiting relatives; and international tourists participating in pilot tourism programmes in Việt Nam must have a certificate of vaccination against COVID-19 or recovery from the disease. Those on entry will have to comply with medical conditions and quarantine regulations during their stay in Việt Nam.
Regarding the process of recognising vaccine passports, Hằng said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs discussed with about 80 partners on mutual recognition of the passports.
The Vietnamese authorities were also urgently completing related software solutions to soon issue a vaccine passport form meeting international standards, she added.
As of early December this year, Japan, the US, the UK, Australia, and Belarus had recognised Việt Nam’s vaccination certificate with a number of specific standards on vaccine types. Indian and Canada had agreed with Việt Nam in principle, while other partners, including ASEAN, the EU, China, and the Republic of Korea, were actively considering Việt Nam’s proposals and waiting for the nation’s introduction of its vaccine passport model.
As of Wednesday, Việt Nam had recognised the vaccination certificates of 78 countries and territories, which were officially introduced to the foreign ministry.
“The recognition is the foundation for the holders of such papers to directly use it in Việt Nam and get their quarantine duration reduced to seven days in line with the Ministry of Health’s guidance on cutting quarantine time for fully vaccinated people or those who have recovered from COVID-19,” Hằng said. — VNS
Prime Minister Hun Sen on December 10 wryly thanked the US for its decision to halt the sale of weapons and military equipment to Cambodia, and ordered all units of the armed forces to shelve all US-made arms and military hardware in warehouses, or to destroy them.
Hun Sen’s remark comes two days after the US imposed an arms embargo on the Kingdom for, inter alia, what they alleged was the “growing influence of China’s military in Cambodia”.
In a Facebook post with a photo of himself shaking hands with former US President Donald Trump, the prime minister said: “I take this opportunity to thank the US for its decision to ban the sale of weapons and military equipment to Cambodia.
“This demonstrates the legitimacy of the decision I made in 1994 when I elected not to change our weapons system to a US model.
“I’ve also issued an order to all units of the armed forces to immediately review the weapons and military equipment that Cambodia currently has, and to take all US-made hardware, if any, into storage or simply smash them,” he said.
Mocking US arms, Hun Sen quipped that groups resorting to using US weapons tend to lose wars, pointing to the Lon Nol regime in the early 1970s, which imported and used loads of weapons from the US.
Their imports only brought debt to the Kingdom, which continues to this day, he said.
“Even recently, the losers of the war in Afghanistan had used US weapons. I have trust in our troops’ courage, their spirit and will to fight on the battlefront to protect territorial sovereignty, rather than on weapons alone,” the prime minister said.
Hun Sen underlined that this message is also a warning for the next generation of Cambodian leaders not to use US weapons should they want the defence industry to remain independent.
HONOLULU — Japan and the United States held a joint ceremony Thursday to commemorate the victims of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor 80 years ago on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
About 2,400 people lost their lives on the U.S. side, and 65 Japanese servicemen were killed in the surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese military on Dec. 7 (Dec. 8 in Japan) 1941.
At Thursday’s ceremony, Japanese Consul General in Honolulu Yutaka Aoki said he hoped Pearl Harbor would be remembered in the world not only as a place where a war started but also as a symbol of reconciliation and friendship.
About 60 people observed a moment of silence at the ceremony.
Kenneth Saiki, 80, a third-generation Japanese American who was born shortly before the attack, said that as a Japanese American, his heart hurts on Dec. 7.
Saiki said he remains uncertain about the future despite the good relationship between Japan and the United States, but he stressed the importance for the two countries to continue holding the ceremony jointly.
The two countries have co-hosted the annual memorial since 2016.
Because of the pandemic, no participants traveled from Japan to attend this year’s ceremony, which was held in person for the first time in two years.
Seoul decides to participate in democracy summit, G-7 ministerial meeting
High-profile international meetings attended by the South Korean president and diplomat this week are mainly aimed at countering China’s influence, increasing the difficulty of Seoul’s diplomatic balancing act amid the growing US-China rivalry.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday took part in a global democracy summit hosted by his US counterpart Joe Biden, and Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong is set to join the meeting of G7 foreign ministers this week.
The US President hosted the two-day Summit for Democracy to rally the world against the backsliding of democracy and the resurgence of autocracy, gathering leaders and officials from over 100 countries, including India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Ukraine.
Notably, the South Korean president is one of the 12 world leaders, including Indian and Canadian prime ministers, who attended the closed-door Leaders’ Plenary Session hosted by Biden.
In his opening speech, Biden warned that democracy and freedom have been in retreat across the world, calling on the world’s leaders to join Washington’s democracy promotion efforts.
Biden underscored that the trends of democratic regression had been compounded by global challenges, including autocrats’ efforts to “advance their own power, export and expand their influence around the world, and justify their repressive policies and practice.”
“Democracy doesn’t happen by accident. We have to renew it with each generation. And this is an urgent matter on all our parts, in my view,” Biden said. “In my view, this is the defining challenge of our time.”
At the summit, the US President sought to enhance the US global leadership and to establish a broad coalition of the democratic governments against rising anti-democratic tides spearheaded by China and Russia. But Biden did not point the finger at China and Russia, with which the US has experienced increasing tensions.
The South Korean presidential office Thursday said Moon also delivered a speech at the Leaders’ Plenary Session.
Moon pledged that Seoul would “actively join and contribute to efforts to promote democracy based on its successful experience in simultaneously achieving democratization and economic development” in Asia, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said.
The Cheong Wa Dae also assessed that Moon’s participation in the democracy summit showed South Korea’s “strong commitment to contributing to the international community’s solidarity and cooperation in promoting democracy.”
But in his speech, Moon did not target China, which South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun previously described as a “strategic partner.”
The Moon Jae-in government has maintained strategic ambiguity amid the growing US-China rivalry. But this week, South Korean high-ranking officials continue to attend international events led by the US and its allies, whose major goal is to counter rising challenges by China.
Chung to attend G7 summit with ASEAN, Australian leaders South Korea’s Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong is set to attend the G7 Summit of Foreign and Development Ministers, which will be held from Friday to Sunday in Liverpool, England.
G7 countries consist of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, US, and UK, and also include the EU.
The minister will “discuss a range of global issues, including economic resilience post-COVID, global health, and human rights,” according to the UK Foreign Office.
But the China challenge in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to be one of the top agenda topics for the ministerial meeting.
Especially, the UK’s major goal is to build a “worldwide network of liberty” at the meeting. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss previously explained the network aims to advance “freedom, democracy, and enterprise” and encourage “like-minded countries to work together from a position of strength.”
Notably, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN will attend the meeting for the first time as guests, the UK Foreign Office confirmed, underscoring that the participation is a “sign of the UK’s growing Indo-Pacific tilt.”
Amid Washington and Beijing scrambling to win over the ASEAN, Beijing would view the invitation as the US allies’ attempt to extend their influence on the regional bloc and have broad support for the AUKUS trilateral security pact.
Australia, who signed the AUKUS with the UK and US, was invited along with India, South Korea, and South Africa.
The meeting comes at a critical juncture when member countries of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance (US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) have joined the US-led diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Games. But South Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday said the government was not considering a diplomatic boycott for the Olympics.
The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 14.34 million across Southeast Asia, with 27,074 new cases reported on Friday (December 10). New deaths are at 338, bringing accumulated Covid-19 deaths in Asean to 296,404.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport has proposed two stages for the upcoming resumption of regular international commercial flights starting December 15. The first stage, lasting for two weeks from December 15, will see the operation of flights between Vietnam and the destinations of Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei – Taiwan (China), Bangkok, Singapore, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, and San Francisco or Los Angeles.
The second stage starting from January next year will last for one month and cover more destinations – Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong (China), Paris, Frankfurt, Sydney, and Moscow.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s Health Ministry on Friday announced lifting a stay-at-home order in eight more townships as fewer Covid-19 infections were recently seen in the townships. The stay-at-home order will be removed in townships in Magway region, Kachin, Chin, Mon and Shan states on Saturday, the announcement said.
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