25-10-2022

TUESdAy, OCTObER 25, 2022
7
The world faces the prospect of more tension with China over trade, security and human rights after Xi Jinping awarded himself
a third five-year term Sunday as leader of the ruling Communist Party.
Photo : Internet
World faces tension with China
under Xi Jinping's third term
BEIJING : The world faces the prospect
of more tension with China over trade,
security and human rights after Xi
Jinping awarded himself a third fiveyear
term Sunday as leader of the ruling
Communist Party.
Xi has tightened control at home and
is trying to use China's economic heft to
increase its influence abroad.
Washington accused Beijing this
month of trying to undermine U.S.
alliances, global security and economic
rules. Activists says Xi's government
wants to deflect criticism of abuses by
changing the U.N.'s definition of
human rights.
POLITICS: Xi calls for the "great
rejuvenation of the Chinese nation"
based on reviving the ruling party's role
as an economic, social and cultural
leader in a throwback to what he sees as
a golden age after the 1949 revolution.
ECONOMY: By 2035, the
Communist Party wants economic
output per person to match a
"medium-level developed country," Xi
said in a report to the congress. That
suggests doubling output from 2020
levels, according to Larry Hu and
Yuxiao Zhang of Macquarie.
Passenger ship
catches fire in central
Indonesia, rescue
operation underway
JAKARTA : A fire broke out
on a passenger ship in the
waters off East Nusa
Tenggara province in
central Indonesia on
Monday as the evacuation
of passengers and crew
members was underway,
head of the provincial
search and rescue office
said.
"Rescue operation is
underway. Our personnel
are attempting to rescue the
crew and the passengers of
the ship," Putu Sudayana
told Xinhua by phone.
The ship, named Shantika
Lestari, caught fire when it
was sailing in the waters off
Kupang city, the capital of
East Nusa Tenggara
province, according to
Richard Pelt, a senior
official of the provincial
disaster management and
mitigation agency.
The ship, which departed
from a seaport in Kupang
city, was heading to the Alor
district of the province, he
told Xinhua.
Meanwhile, however, the ruling party is
building up subsidy-devouring state
industry and tightening control over
entrepreneurs who generate wealth
and jobs.
TECHNOLOGY: Xi promised to
"build China's self-reliance and
strength in science and technology." He
gave no details, but earlier efforts to
reduce reliance on the West and Japan
by creating Chinese sources of
renewable energy, electric car,
computer and other technology have
prompted complaints Beijing violates
its free-trade commitments by
shielding its companies from
competition. American officials worry
Chinese competition might erode U.S.
industrial leadership.
SECURITY: Xi says "external and
internal security" are the "bedrock of
national rejuvenation." In a speech that
used the word security 26 times, he said
Beijing will "work faster" to modernize
the party's military wing, the People's
Liberation Army, and "enhance the
military's strategic capabilities."
FOREIGN RELATIONS: Beijing
increasingly uses its economic muscle
as the biggest trading partner for all of
its neighbors as leverage in politics and
security. China blocked imports of
Australian wine, meat and other goods
after its government called for an
investigation into the origins of
COVID-19. Beijing tried unsuccessfully
to persuade 10 Pacific island
governments to sign a security pact this
year, but is making inroads with some.
COVID: Xi gave no indication
China's severe "Zero COVID" strategy
might ease despite public frustration
with its costs. While other countries
are easing travel curbs, China is
sticking to a strategy that has kept
infection rates low but shut down
major cities.
CLIMATE: Xi promised a "proactive
and steady" approach to reducing
climate-changing carbon emissions,
but at the same time the ruling party is
increasing coal production to avert a
repeat of last year's power shortages
and blackouts. A Cabinet official said
annual coal output will rise to 4.6
billion tons in 2025. That would be
12% more than 2021. Xi said in a 2020
speech to the United Nations that
China's emissions should peak in 2030
but didn't say at what level.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday it's up to Ukraine to
decide the time and terms of peace with Russia, and he cautioned that the
end of war "can't be the consecration of the law of the strongest. Photo : AP
Macron: Ukraine to decide time,
terms of peace with Russia
ROME : French President
Emmanuel Macron said
Sunday it's up to Ukraine to
decide the time and terms of
peace with Russia, and he
cautioned that the end of
war "can't be the
consecration of the law of
the strongest."
Speaking at the opening of
a three-day peace
conference in Rome,
Macron said the
international community
will be there when the
Ukrainian government
chooses that time.
"To stay neutral would
mean accepting the world
order of the strongest, and I
don't agree with this,"
Macron said at the
conference organized by a
Catholic charity with close
ties to the Vatican.
There is concern that
support from Ukraine's
allies in Europe might be
eroded due to soaring
energy costs with the
approach of winter.
Pope Francis is scheduled
to conclude the Cry for Peace
conference, sponsored by
the Sant'Egidio Community,
with a speech Tuesday at the
Colosseum.
Throughout the war that
began with Russia's invasion
of Ukraine eight months
ago, the pope has warned
against an arms buildup. But
he has said Ukraine has the
right to defend itself.
While Italy's new premier,
far-right leader Giorgia
Meloni, is a staunch backer
of helping Ukraine defend
its sovereignty, her coalition
allies have pro-Russia
sympathies.
In the evening, Meloni and
Macron met privately in
Rome for talks.
The premier's office said
the two agreed to work
together "on the big,
common challenges on the
European level and in the
respect of reciprocal
national interests." The two
discussed the need to give
"rapid and common
responses" to the problems
of high energy costs, support
for Ukraine, the difficult
economic moment and
managing migrant flows, the
statement said.
Russian warplane
falls on building in
Siberia; 2 pilots die
MOSCOW : A Russian
warplane slammed into a
residential building in the
Siberian city of Irkutsk on
Sunday, killing both
crewmembers, authorities
said. It was the second time
in less than a week that a
combat jet crashed in a
residential area in Russia,
reports UNB.
The Irkutsk region's
governor, Igor Kobzev, said
the Su-30 fighter jet came
down on a private, two-story
building housing two
families. He said that there
were no casualties on the
ground as the building's five
residents were out at the
moment of the crash.
He said the residents
would be offered temporary
accommodation and
compensation.
The cause of the crash
wasn't immediately known
and an official probe has
started. On Oct. 17, an Su-34
bomber crashed near an
apartment building in the
Sea of Azov port of Yeysk
and exploded in a giant
fireball, killing 15 and
injuring another 19.
The crashes might reflect
the growing strain that the
fighting in Ukraine has put
on the Russian air force.
The United Aircraft
Corporation, a statecontrolled
conglomerate of
Russian aircraft-making
plants, said in a statement
that the plane in Sunday's
incident came down during
a training flight before its
delivery to the air force. The
jet carried no weapons
during the flight.
38 rebels killed
in past week in
Badakhshan
province: official
FAIZABAD : Security forces
have killed 38 rebels and
arrested 78 others in the
recent cleanup operations in
Afghanistan's northern
Badakhshan province,
provincial head of the
information and culture
department Qari Maazudin
Ahmadi said Monday.
"During cleanup
operations in Shiwa,
Arghanj Khwa and Ragh
districts over the past one
week, 38 armed rebels have
been killed and 78 others
arrested," Ahmadi told
reporters.
The official added that
three members of the
security forces were killed
and five others injured in the
operations.
In the meantime, the
state-run Bakhtar news
agency reported that two
commanders of the rebels,
namely Bahrudin and Abdul
Hamid, were among those
killed during the one-week
operations.
Lebanon lawmakers
fail to name president
for fourth time
BEIRUT : Lebanon's parliament failed
Monday for a fourth time to elect a
successor to President Michel Aoun, with
lawmakers divided over a candidate
opposed by the powerful Hezbollah
movement.
Already governed by a caretaker cabinet,
crisis-hit Lebanon is hurtling towards an
imminent power vacuum, with just days
before the current president's term
finishes at the end of the month.
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri called
for another vote on Thursday in the hope
of overcoming long-running arguments.
A total of 50 lawmakers in Lebanon's
128-seat parliament left their votes blank,
many from the Iran-backed Hezbollah
and its allies.
Their rivals mostly backed lawmaker
Michel Moawad, whose father Rene
Moawad was a former president.
He has emerged as a frontrunner since
parliament first met to name a president
last month.
But Moawad, who won 39 votes on
Monday, was still was far short the 86
ballots needed-two-thirds of seats-to win.
University professor and activist Issam
Khalife took 10 votes, cast by independent
lawmakers who emerged from a mass
2019 anti-government protest movement,
as well as others.
But the required quorum was lost
before a second round could be held, after
some lawmakers walked out-a recurring
scenario in past votes.Moawad's
supporters accused Hezbollah and its
allies of obstructing a second round of
voting to negotiate with other blocs,
effectively preventing the election.
"No bloc in parliament can impose a
president, not Hezbollah nor anyone
else," said Elias Hankash, a lawmaker
from the Kataeb Party that supports
Moawad.
Hankash accused lawmakers who left
parliament of "systematic disruption",
because there were not enough
lawmakers to make a vote legitimate.
Under Lebanon's longstanding
confessional power-sharing system,
the presidency is reserved for a
Maronite Christian.
Aoun was elected in 2016 after a
more than two-year vacancy at the
presidential palace, as lawmakers
made 45 failed attempts to name a
candidate.
Since late 2019, Lebanon has been
crippled by an economic crisis, dubbed
by the World Bank as one of the worst
in recent history.
Economic meltdown has pushed
most Lebanese into poverty.
Talks with the International
Monetary Fund to unlock billions of
dollars in loans have stalled, as
Lebanese leaders have been unable to
enact substantial reforms demanded by
the lender and donor countries.
A Russian warplane slammed into a residential building in the Siberian
city of Irkutsk on Sunday, killing both crewmembers, authorities said. It
was the second time in less than a week that a combat jet crashed in a residential
area in Russia.
Photo : Internet
Aid slowly reaches Nigerian
flood victims
AHOADA : Along a highway
engulfed by dark waters,
Nigeria residents load dozens
of boats full of food to bring
assistance to the victims of
the country's worst floods in a
decade.
Waiting by the waterside,
past the many halfsubmerged
trucks, Bolaji
Phillips looks on next to his
vehicle, which is filled with
cassava flour, rice and
noodles.
"My wife and I consulted
and decided to withdraw our
savings, the little we have, to
do something for the people,"
the 40-year-old said.
Aid is slowly coming to
southern Nigeria after the
biggest floods since 2012
killed more than 600 people
and affected nearly three
million others, according to
official figures.
Many have fled their
homes, including to
overcrowded displacement
camps. The others,
completely cut off from the
world, remain in
communities swallowed by
the waters.
Efforts now focus on
passing the damaged and
partly impassable highway
linking Rivers and Bayelsa
states-among the two most
devastated regions.
Near the town of Ahoada,
volunteers and NGOs are
doing vital work until official
aid slowly reaches the most
destitute.
"The damage is enormous.
The government has not
done much so far. We are
totally alone," said Winner
Written, a 32-year-old
entrepreneur among those
helping out.
"We are just individuals
trying to help one another."
Over the weekend,
volunteers loaded precious
fuel in yellow jerrycans onto
the boats heading to flooded
villages.
Rivers State authorities
have allocated one billion
naira ($2.3 million) to help
victims, especially around
Ahouda, one of the worst hit.
The United States said it
has donated $1 million in
humanitarian aid.
Rescue officials said they
have started delivering
12,000 tonnes of food across
the country after the aid was
approved by President
Muhammadu Buhari.
But on the ground, few
have seen the results of these
efforts so far.
Supplying food is almost
impossible, hampered by
strong currents or waters that
are strewn with obstacles or
choked with vegetation, and
aid coordination is hindered
by lack of mobile coverage in
remote areas.