Asia News fra SCMP

Chinese authorities in September detained a Japanese professor from Hokkaido University, it was learned on Friday from sources familiar with bilateral ties.The professor, who is in his 40s, was taken into custody in Beijing, with the authorities saying he “violated domestic laws”, indicating that he may have been suspected of spying, according to the sources.Since 2015, at least 13 Japanese citizens have been detained in China on various charges including espionage. All of them are civilians,…

Nearly 20 pro-Pyongyang South Korean students broke into the US ambassador’s residence in Seoul on Friday, displaying banners demanding Harry Harris leave the country in an embarrassing security breach.The students broke into the compound in the centre of the capital by climbing over the wall, pictures they posted on Facebook showed.One image showed a group standing on the veranda of a hanok – a traditional Korean house – holding up banners reading “Harris leave this land”, among others.They…

A 34-year-old woman who supposedly arranged for the export of 20 Styrofoam boxes to Hong Kong that had heroin hidden among frozen durians has been detained by the Malaysian customs department.Selangor customs assistant director general, Zulkarnain Mohamed Yusuf, said the suspected heroin weighing 6.13kg and valued at RM953,529 (US$ 227,762) was discovered at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah airport in Subang during a raid on a cargo company on Monday.The operation was conducted by a team from the central…

Traders in India are avoiding Malaysian palm oil imports in favour of purchases from Indonesia amid growing fears that New Delhi is weighing retaliation against the Southeast Asian nation for its criticism over Kashmir and sheltering of wanted Islamic preacher Zakir Naik. At least three importers said the uncertainty in bilateral relations had forced them to consider alternatives, while a government source who handles India’s trade ties with Southeast Asia struck a note of caution despite…

A Sydney man charged over allegations he was a sanctions-busting “economic agent” of the North Korean regime attempting to sell ballistic missiles overseas has been refused bail.Choi Han Chan, 60, is the first person ever charged under Australia’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (Prevention of Proliferation) Act.Police have alleged Choi attempted to broker the sale of North Korean missiles and missile components internationally, and to sell coal and other resources from North Korea to entities in…

Bangladeshi border forces shot and killed an Indian border guard on Thursday when an altercation erupted over an Indian fisherman the Bangladeshis had detained, in a rare clash between the two sides.The Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) said it had fired in self-defence after Indian border guards intruded into Bangladesh to try to take away the detained Indian fisherman.One Indian guard was also wounded, Indian officials said.Rescued from sex slavery, red tape traps Bangladeshi girls in IndiaThe…

A Singaporean man became the first of the country’s citizens to be jailed for financing terrorism after he was convicted of sending money to a radical Islamist preacher.There have been a steady stream of arrests in Singapore related to support for Islamist extremism, and the affluent city state’s leaders have warned it is a prime target for an attack.Ahmed Hussein Abdul Kadir Sheik Uduman was jailed for two-and-a-half years for donating S$1,146 (US$840) to Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, an Islamist…

Ezra Vogel, the famed US expert on Japan and China and professor emeritus at Harvard University, believes Empress Masako will prove an effective communicator for Japan on the world stage due to her diplomatic experience and command of languages.“She’ll be able to do it effortlessly,” said Vogel, a long-time friend of the empress’ family, in a recent interview.Masako will on Tuesday take part in the Sokuirei Seiden no gi ceremony, in which her husband Emperor Naruhito, who ascended to the throne…

As the dust settles on the “informal summit” at the weekend between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping, attention turns from the impressive seaside optics created in Mamallapuram to the actual takeaways. What did the two-day meeting on the seashore achieve? The verdict among India’s community of political strategists appears somewhat divided. Just as with the first informal summit at Wuhan in April last year, when Modi travelled to China barely eight months…

The number of reported cases of bullying at schools across Japan reached the highest level on record in the 2018 financial year, according to an education ministry survey released on Thursday.The country’s schools saw a total of 543,933 bullying cases, up 31.3 per cent from a year earlier.A total of 80.8 per cent of the schools surveyed said they had identified at least a single case of bullying in the reporting year, up 6.4 percentage points, said the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,…