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The latest news on what’s happening in the region

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Check out what’s hot in the region on November 17, as The Nation puts together headlines from members of Asia News Network (ANN). Click to read more:

ANN news highlights: Thur, Nov 17, 2022
Bringing Asia Closer

Visual Asia
Photo Exhibition: Life in a changing Asia | China Daily/ANN
 

G20 
Ukraine War
G-20 leaders endorse declaration deploring Russian aggression in Ukraine – Straits Times
 

Agenda Indonesia
Widodo hails 3 ‘concrete outcomes’ from G-20 summit in health, energy transition and financial sectors – Straits Times
 

Finance
G20 vows to calibrate pace of interest rate hikes, avoid spillovers – Reuters for Jakarta Post
 

Oped India
Editorial: Bali breakthrough? – The Statesman
 

Oped Japan
Editorial: Continued dialogue is way to avoid conflict – The Japan News

Apec Agenda
Officials conclude discussions on three key items on Apec agenda – The Nation
 

Apec Myanmar 
Amnesty seeks Apec discussion on bloody crackdown in Myanmar – The Nation
 

Diplomacy
China-Indonesia
Xi, Widodo vow to take ties to new level – China Daily
 

S Korea-China
Yoon-Xi summit reveals gap in approach to North Korea – Korea Herald
 

Bangladesh-Russia
Lavrov’s Dhaka visit: Dhaka to focus on food, energy supply, Rohingya crisis | The Daily Star
 

Australia-Laos
Laos, Australia to elevate ties to a comprehensive partnership / Vientiane Times

Rohingya
UN adopts resolution on human rights of Rohingya | The Daily Star
 

Geopolitics SE Asia
Opinion: Southeast Asia can leverage its geopolitical to become key global trade player – Jakarta Post
 

Politics US
Opinion: Lessons from watching US midterm elections – Korea Herald
 

Politics US
Opinion: Crisis of leaders, crisis of voters | Inquirer 

Business Asia-Pacific
German leader Call for diversification in bolstering supply chains – The Star
 

Cypto Singapore 
Temasek to write down US$275 million in FTX, says belief in Bankman-Fried appears to be ‘misplaced’ – Straits Times
 

Tech China
China’s ‘zero-COVID’ finally catches up with iPhone output – The Japan News
 

IPEF
IPEF economic framework launched without tariff reductions – The Japan News

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Fears of war spillover ease after Nato says missile on Poland was Ukrainian stray

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2022

A missile that crashed inside Poland was probably a stray fired by Ukraine’s air defences and not a Russian strike, Poland and military alliance Nato said on Wednesday, easing international fears that the war could spill across the border.

Nevertheless, Nato’s chief said that Moscow, not Kyiv, was still to blame for starting the war in the first place with its February invasion and launching scores of missiles on Tuesday that triggered Ukrainian defences.

“This is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

Nato ambassadors held emergency talks to respond to Tuesday’s blast that killed two people at a grain facility in Poland near the Ukrainian border, the war’s first deadly extension into the territory of the Western alliance.

“From the information that we and our allies have, it was an S-300 rocket made in the Soviet Union, an old rocket and there is no evidence that it was launched by the Russian side,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said. “It is highly probable that it was fired by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence.”

Stoltenberg also said it was likely to have been a Ukrainian air defence missile. Earlier, US President Joe Biden had said the trajectories suggested the missile was unlikely to have been unleashed from Russia.

Not our missile, says Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demurred, saying “I have no doubt that it was not our missile”, Ukrainian media reported on Wednesday. He said he based his conclusion on reports from Ukraine’s military which he “cannot but trust”.

He gave no evidence for his position, while saying he believed Ukraine should already have been given access to the site of the explosion as Kyiv had the right to be there.

The incident occurred while Russia was firing scores of missiles at cities across Ukraine, targeting its energy grid and worsening power blackouts for millions, in what Kyiv says was the most intense volley of such strikes of the nine-month war.

Kyiv says it shot down most of the incoming Russian missiles with its own air defence systems. Ukraine’s Volyn region, just across the border from Poland, was one of many Ukraine says was targeted by Russia’s countrywide fusillade.

The Russian Defence Ministry said none of its missiles had struck closer than 35km from the Polish border, and that photos of the wreckage in Poland showed elements of a Ukrainian S-300 air defence missile.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday some countries had made “baseless statements” about the incident, after having accused Poland of an “absolutely hysterical” reaction on Tuesday, but that Washington had been comparatively restrained.

Zelenskiy also said Kyiv had received no offer from Moscow to start peace talks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week Ukraine was not interested in such talks.

Zelenskiy’s top adviser Mykhailo Podoloyak dismissed the notion of talks. “Putin’s Russia is a key threat to the global world. Ukraine is trying to restrain Russian outrages, stop the escalation and growth of the war. Do not look for ‘compromises’ between the killer-country (Russia) and the civilized world. This is the path to a global tragedy,” Podolyak tweeted.

Relief

The news that Western officials had concluded the missile was Ukrainian brought some relief to the inhabitants of the Polish village hit by the missile, with some saying they had feared being dragged into the war.

“Everyone has in the back of their head that we are right near the border and that an armed conflict with Russia would expose us directly,” said Grzegorz Drewnik, the mayor of Dolhobyczow, the municipality to which Przewodow belongs.

“If this is a mistake of the Ukrainians, there should be no major consequences, but I’m not an expert here.”

Some Western leaders at a summit of the G-20 big economies in Indonesia suggested that whoever fired the missile, Russia and President Vladimir Putin would ultimately be held responsible for an incident arising from its invasion.

G-20 leaders issued a closing declaration saying “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine”, although it acknowledged that “there were other views”.

Moscow carried out Tuesday’s missile volley just days after abandoning the southern city of Kherson, the only regional capital it had captured since the invasion.

The barrage echoed a pattern of Moscow lashing out with longer-range missile salvoes after losses on the battlefield to a continuing Ukrainian counter-offensive in the east and south.

However, the top US general played down the odds of any near-term, outright military victory by Ukraine, cautioning that Russia still had significant combat power inside Ukraine despite a string of setbacks.

“Politically, there may be a political solution where, politically, the Russians withdraw. That’s possible,” Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference in Washington.

Russia “right now is on its back”, Milley added.

Reuters

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Germany looks to Asia-Pacific to strengthen economy

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Diversification, however, will not mean decoupling, the German Chancellor said.

Germany is keen on strengthening its economic ties with the Asia Pacific region, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in his opening address during the 17th edition of Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business (APK) held in Singapore on Monday.

Scholz noted the consequences left in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war; hunger, energy shortages and inflation are global, despite the fact that the conflict might be far away geographically.

“Reducing risky, one-sided dependencies when it comes to certain raw materials or critical technologies will play an important role in the National Security Strategy that we are currently working on. Our view of the matter is clear: the best way to achieve more resilient supply chains is to diversify our trade relations,” he said.

The German chancellor is making his rounds in the Asia-Pacific region. Having visited China on Nov 4, Scholz also touched base with Vietnam and Singapore last weekend, before proceeding to the G20 summit hosted by Indonesia.

The APK is jointly organised by the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action, and the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad in Asia-Pacific.

“The Asia-Pacific region is much more than China. The Asia-Pacific Conference has been looking at the entire region for over 30 years now, and that is precisely why my government has decided to strengthen our support for this conference,” said Scholz.

Earlier this year, Scholz also met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, Japan. Moreover, India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi paid the chancellor a visit in May.

Condemning Russia’s war aggression whilst stressing the need to intensify partnerships with Asia, Scholz’s approach to these visits is to prepare Germany to be more shockproof in dealing with crises.  

According to current forecasts, Asia will contribute around half of global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2050.

German Asia-Pacific Business Association regional manager Asean, Daniel Mueller stated it is a well-known and accepted fact in Germany that Asia will be the heart of the new world order both politically and economically.

“Germany does not want to stand back and tries to increase its engagement in the region. The signal is that we have understood the importance of the region and are willing to defend our interests. It is also a subtle signal to China that there are many opportunities beyond the People’s Republic,” he told StarBiz.

Mueller also stated that Asia-Pacific countries should also, like Germany, actively diversify their markets in order to strengthen economic capabilities.

“Asia-Pacific countries should also take into account the imperative of risk mitigation in an uncertain geopolitical environment and consider “economic security” and likewise further diversify their external economic relations.

In regards to Malaysia’s progress in building resilience across supply chains, Mueller opined that it is well on track.

“Malaysia is already relatively well positioned in this regard, both in terms of the various sources of economic growth and the various export markets,” he said.

Russia has been a reliable natural gas supplier to Germany for decades. When the war broke out, Germany found itself in a quandary as it struggled to either be weaned from Russia or seek an alternative source.

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Director of Media Programme Asia, Ansgar Graw concurred and told StarBiz, “Following the energy crisis, Germany is now trying to avoid becoming entirely dependent on China for the manufacturing and production of goods. While Germany does not intend to decouple from China, it sees the need to seek for alternative markets in other countries.”

Scholz added that diversification does not mean decoupling, which he warned could be protectionism in disguise.

Among the German delegation, it could also be heard that German business leaders would resist heavily if Germany attempted to decouple China.

“As long as China is not doing something like attacking Taiwan, the government cannot stop German businesses from investing in China. The government may only be able to resort to decline providing investment guarantees for German businesses.

“This was the case with carmaker Volkswagen AG when credit insurance to invest in Xinjiang, China was denied due to allegations of human rights violation in the Chinese province.”

Meanwhile, vice chancellor and federal minister for economic affairs & climate action Robert Habeck noted leaving China out of the equation will only backfire as it will lose out on the opportunities the second largest global economy brings.
 
“In the past, Germany invested a lot of money to build up the battery industry in Germany. We thought that by doing so, we would be able to be independent of China in the sector. The truth is we are not, as the raw materials that we use for that development are from China,” he said.

He further elaborated that the exchange of goods between Germany and this region is 550 billion euros. Out of which, more than half of the goods exchanged are with China.

“China’s exchange of goods with the European Union is decreasing, or at least not increasing. This means that while China is orientated to the whole world, Europe is orientated to China. Hence, we need to continue to find ways to trade and do business with China,” he said.

By Elim Poon

The Star

Asia News Network