Jakarta — Indonesian President Joko Widodo will from Thursday spend the final weeks of his term in the country’s planned new capital, Nusantara, amid doubts about the continued pace of development of his flagship $32 billion megaproject.

The massive infrastructure undertaking on the island of Borneo has suffered a series of setbacks, including construction delays, land issues, and a lack of foreign investment. This June the two top officials overseeing Nusantara abruptly resigned.

Jokowi, as the outgoing leader is known, reiterated on Thursday that it could be decades before Nusantara is finished.

“It could take 10, 15, or even 20 years,” Jokowi told top military and police officials during a meeting in Nusantara’s recently completed eagle-shaped palace.

“Moving to the new capital is not only about moving to a new building, palace or location,” he added. “But is a change of mindset and working patterns.”

Intended to ease the burden on the congested, polluted and densely populated current capital Jakarta, the parliament in 2022 passed a law to move its capital.

But ahead of the Oct. 20 inauguration of president-elect Prabowo Subianto and Jokowi’s eldest son, vice president-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka, doubts have grown about Nusantara’s future viability.

Analysts say the development of Nusantara is unlikely to continue at the same breakneck speed in the next administration.

Prabowo, who ran on a platform of continuing Jokowi’s policies, is expected to prioritize his own signature $28 billion “free nutritious food program” targeting malnutrition and stunted growth in schoolchildren across the world’s fourth-most populous nation.

Jokowi told officials on Thursday that Prabowo had promised to speed up construction.

Located on the eastern side of Borneo island, Nusantara is about 1,200 km from Jakarta.

Nusantara’s presidential palace and its first hotel were recently completed, while housing for state officials, an airport and toll roads are still under way.

On Friday Jokowi is expected to hold his second cabinet meeting in Nusantara and may announce several new investments. 
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MANILA/BEIJING, — The Philippines will stick to its position on Sabina Shoal, it said on Thursday, even while exploring ways to ease tension in the area during “frank and candid” talks with China on managing disputes in the key waterway of the South China Sea.

The Southeast Asian nation’s sustained presence at the feature, aiming to monitor what it suspects to be China’s small-scale reclamation activities has angered Beijing, turning the shoal into their latest flashpoint in the contested waters.

During Wednesday’s meeting of officials in Beijing, China vowed to “firmly uphold its sovereignty” and reiterated a demand for the immediate withdrawal of a Philippine coast guard ship anchored at the shoal since April.

“I reaffirmed the Philippines’ consistent position and explored ways to lower the tension,” Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Theresa Lazaro said on X, posting a picture of her handshake with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong.

“We agreed to continue discussions on areas of co-operation, especially on hotline mechanism, coastguard cooperation, and marine scientific and technological co-operation.”

The two had a frank and candid exchange of views, the Philipine foreign ministry said in its statement.

The Sabina Shoal, which China refers to as Xianbin Reef, and Manila as Escoda Shoal, lies 150 km west of the Philippine province of Palawan, well within its exclusive economic zone.

The two nations have traded accusations of intentional ramming of each others’ vessels in a series of clashes last month, just after reaching a pact on resupply missions to a beached Filipino naval ship in the Second Thomas Shoal.

China claims sovereignty over most of the China Sea, overlapping into maritime zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

In 2016 the Hague arbitration tribunal voided China’s expansive and historical claims, a decision Beijing rejects.

The Philippine navy has said it has recently monitored 207 Chinese vessels, including ‘maritime militia boats’ within the country’s EEZ, with dozens observed near Sabina Shoal.
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the sea Thursday morning, South Korea’s military said, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to put his nuclear force fully ready for battle with its rivals. 

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a brief statement that the launch took place off North Korea’s eastern coast but gave no details, such as how far the weapon traveled. 

Japan’s prime minister’s office also alerted on its X account that North Korea had launched a suspected ballistic missile, but it did not provide details. 

The launch was North Korea’s first public weapons firing in more than two months. On July 1, North Korea claimed to have tested a new tactical weapon capable of delivering a “super-large” 4.5 ton-class warhead. 

In a speech Monday, Kim said he would redouble efforts to make his nuclear force fully ready for combat with the United States and its allies. He said North Korea faced “a grave threat” because of what he called “the reckless expansion” of a U.S.-led regional military bloc that is now developing into a nuclear-based one. 

Kim has made similar vows numerous times, but his latest threat came as outside experts believe North Korea will perform a nuclear test explosion or long-range missile test-launches ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. 

Last week, North Korea also resumed launches of trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea. 

Since 2022, North Korea has significantly accelerated its weapons testing in a bid to perfect its capabilities to launch strikes on the U.S. and South Korea. The U.S. and South Korea have responded by expanding military drills that North Korea calls invasion rehearsals. 

Last month, Kim had held off from missile tests or other provocative military demonstrations as the United States and South Korea conducted large-scale summertime military exercises. North Korea issued statements berating the allies for raising tensions. 
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washington — Threats from China, Russia and North Korea have fueled debate in Washington about whether the United States should consider redeploying tactical nuclear weapons to the Indo-Pacific region, with leading U.S. Senate members expressing opposing views.

Earlier in May, Republican Senator Roger Wicker, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, put forward a military spending plan that included the idea of redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear arms that were withdrawn from South Korea more than three decades ago.

Another Republican, Senator James Risch, who is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told VOA Korean last month in an email statement that the U.S. should “explore options for returning nuclear weapons to the Pacific theater for the purpose of strengthening extended deterrence.”

The term “extended deterrence” refers to the U.S. commitment to respond in kind to a nuclear attack on South Korea.

Drawing a contrast, Democratic Senator Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters Monday in a phone conference that he didn’t think that U.S. tactical nuclear weapons should be redeployed to the Korean Peninsula, adding that it could provoke a “major response from the Chinese.”

Redeployment of nukes

The U.S. government has made it clear that the U.S. does not plan to redeploy its tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula.

“We believe that the only effective way to reduce nuclear threats on the peninsula is by curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons,” a State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement to VOA last week.

In 1991, the U.S. withdrew from South Korea all of its nuclear weapons, or about 100, according to some studies.

The U.S. has been closely watching the growing military cooperation among China, Russia and North Korea, especially in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has identified the three nations as threats to stability in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

On August 22, the White House confirmed to VOA that a new “nuclear employment guidance” had been issued. The terms of the classified document are not public, but The New York Times quoted two senior administration officials as saying that it “seeks to prepare the United States for possible coordinated nuclear challenges from China, Russia and North Korea.”

“The guidance issued earlier this year is not a response to any single entity, country, nor threat,” White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in an email to VOA. “We have repeatedly voiced concerns about the advancing nuclear arsenals of Russia, PRC [China] and the DPRK [North Korea].”

Vipin Narang, who recently served as the acting assistant secretary of defense for space policy, said in an August forum held by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies that the United States may need to seek “a change in the size or posture” of nuclear forces to deal with threats from China, Russia and North Korea.

Growing threats

In South Korea, there is growing uneasiness about the U.S. capability to protect South Korea from North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile weapons.

North Korea’s state Korean Central News Agency on Sunday released a photo showing the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, inspecting a new 12-axle transporter erector launcher (TEL), which could be used to launch a new, longer missile to potentially attack the United States. The next day, in a speech celebrating the country’s founding anniversary, Kim vowed to increase the number of nuclear weapons “exponentially.”

Amid these geopolitical tensions, U.S.-based experts appear to be divided about whether the U.S. should redeploy tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula.  

Richard Lawless, former deputy undersecretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security, said the idea that South Korea would be intimidated by China, Russia or South Korea from even beginning a discussion on the subject with Washington “is failed logic.”

“Many Americans continue to fail to appreciate the threat of North Korea and China, typically playing down the latter.”

Robert Peters, a research fellow for nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the Heritage Foundation, told VOA Korean via email that he supported the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea.

“I’m concerned about the credibility of our deterrent in the face of North Korean nuclear expansion and Chinese nuclear breakout,” Peters said, adding that stationing nonstrategic nuclear weapons within the theater gives the U.S. president “far more optionality when crafting a deterrence message during times of acute crisis or conflict than if he or she could rely solely on strategic nuclear weapons.”

Opposing views

But Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, said he was against redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons.

“Placing such high-value weapons in a static, fixed bunker makes a very tempting preemptive target for North Korea,” Klingner told VOA Korean on Tuesday via email. “During a crisis, it could even lower deterrence by making Pyongyang more likely to initiate a preemptive attack on the bunker prior to the weapons being deployed on mobile launch platforms.”

Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration, said he didn’t support the redeployment of U.S. nuclear weapons to South Korea.  

“From a strictly military standpoint, the U.S. can enforce extended deterrence with nuclear-armed submarines and long-range bombers that North Korea cannot defend against,” Samore told VOA Korean on Tuesday via email.

“Politically, redeployment of U.S. nuclear weapons in South Korea would be controversial with some Korean political parties and the Korean public and would increase tensions in the region, especially with China and North Korea, and even between South Korea and Japan,” Samore said.

Sydney Seiler, who until last year was the national intelligence officer for North Korea on the U.S. National Intelligence Council, told VOA Korean via email Tuesday that “there is a consensus among [U.S. and South Korean] leaders and their senior national security advisers that such a redeployment is unnecessary at this time.”   

The Chinese Embassy in Washington told VOA in an email Tuesday that the Chinese “firmly oppose any country’s attempt to use the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue to harm China’s strategic security interests.”  

“It is hoped that the U.S. can abandon the cold war mentality and hegemonic logic, adopt a rational and responsible nuclear policy, stop nuclear sharing, extended deterrence, expanding nuclear alliance, and other negative moves, and play a constructive role in maintaining regional and global peace and stability,” Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said Tuesday in a written statement via email, responding to an inquiry from VOA Korean.
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ISLAMABAD — Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and neighboring Turkmenistan on Wednesday marked the resumption of work on a long-delayed gas pipeline designed to run through the two countries, Pakistan and India.

The estimated $10 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India, or TAPI, project is designed to annually transport up to 33 billion cubic meters of Turkmen natural gas from the southeastern Galkynysh field through the proposed 1,800-kilometer pipeline.

Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund of the de facto Taliban government traveled to the Turkmen border region of Mary and joined top leaders of the host country to inaugurate construction of a vital section of the TAPI project. It is intended to link the city of Serhetabat in Turkmenistan to Herat in western Afghanistan.

Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov joined and addressed the ceremony via video link. “This project will benefit not only the economies of the participating countries but also the entire region,” he said.

Taliban authorities declared a public holiday in Herat, the capital of the province of the same name, to mark the occasion, with posters celebrating the TAPI project plastered across the border city.

Initially signed in the early 1990s to provide natural gas to energy-deficient South Asia, the TAPI project has faced repeated delays due to years of Afghan hostilities, which ended in 2021 when the then-insurgent Taliban recaptured power as all U.S. and NATO forces exited the country.

While Turkmen leaders Wednesday pledged to enhance bilateral ties between Ashgabat and Kabul and carry forward the TAPI project, experts remain skeptical that the gas pipeline will become operational soon. They cite funding issues, U.S.-led Western economic sanctions on Afghanistan and the international community’s refusal to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government over restrictions on Afghan women’s rights.

Islamabad’s persistent diplomatic and military tensions with New Delhi are also considered a significant obstacle to the materialization of the TAPI project.

According to officials of the participating countries, Pakistan and India, each one plans to purchase 42% of the gas exports, and Afghanistan will receive the rest. Kabul will also earn around $500 million in transit fees annually.

Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan deteriorated after the Taliban takeover over terrorism concerns. Islamabad complains that Kabul shelters and facilitates fugitive anti-Pakistan militants to orchestrate cross-border terrorist attacks from Afghan sanctuaries, charges the Taliban reject.
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SEOUL/NEW DELHI — Samsung Electronics, the world’s top maker of smartphones, TVs and memory chips, is cutting up to 30% of its overseas staff at some divisions, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. 

South Korea-based Samsung has instructed subsidiaries worldwide to reduce sales and marketing staff by about 15% and the administrative staff by up to 30%, two of the sources said. 

The plan will be implemented by the end of this year and would impact jobs across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa, one person said. Six other people familiar with the matter also confirmed Samsung’s planned global headcount reduction. 

It is not clear how many people would be let go and which countries and business units would be most affected. 

The sources declined to be named because the scope and details of the job cuts remained confidential. 

In a statement, Samsung said workforce adjustments conducted at some overseas operations were routine, and aimed at improving efficiency. It said there are no specific targets for the plans, adding that they are not impacting its production staff. 

Samsung employed a total of 267,800 people as of the end of 2023, and more than half, or 147,000 employees, are based overseas, according to its latest sustainability report. 

Manufacturing and development accounted for most of those jobs and sales and marketing staff was around 25,100, while 27,800 people worked in other areas, the report said. 

The “global mandate” on job cuts was sent about three weeks ago, and Samsung’s India operation was already offering severance packages to some mid-level employees who have left in recent weeks, one of the direct sources said. 

The total employees who may need to leave the India unit could reach 1,000, the person added. Samsung employs some 25,000 people in India. 

In China, Samsung has notified its staff about the job cuts that are expected to affect about 30% of its employees at its sales operation, a South Korean newspaper reported this month. 

Big challenges 

The job cuts come as Samsung grapples with mounting pressure on its key units. 

Its bread-and-butter chip business has been slower than its rivals in recovering from a severe downturn in the industry that drove its profit to a 15-year low last year. 

In May, Samsung replaced the head of its semiconductor division in a bid to overcome a “chip crisis” as it seeks to catch up with smaller rival SK Hynix in supplying high-end memory chips used in artificial intelligence chipsets. 

In the premium smartphone market, Samsung is facing stiff competition from Apple and China’s Huawei, while it has long lagged behind TSMC in contract chip manufacturing. And in India, which earns Samsung around $12 billion in annual revenue, a strike over wages is disrupting production. 

One of the sources familiar with the plans said the job cuts were being made in preparation for a slowdown in global demand for technology products as the global economy slows. Another source said Samsung is seeking to shore up its bottom line by saving costs. 

It was not immediately clear if Samsung will also cut jobs in its headquarters in South Korea. 

One of the sources said Samsung would find it difficult to lay off workers in South Korea because it was a politically sensitive issue. Conglomerate Samsung Group, of which the electronics giant is the crown jewel, is the country’s biggest employer and plays a key role in its economy. 

Job cuts could also stir labor unrest at home. A South Korean workers’ union at Samsung Electronics recently went on strike for several days, demanding higher wages and benefits. 

Shares in Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s most valuable stock, are trading at their lowest level in 16 months on Wednesday, as some analysts cut their profit estimates for the company recently, citing a weak recovery in demand for smartphones and personal computers.
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Islamabad — Gunmen in northwestern Pakistan killed an anti-polio worker and a policeman guarding him Wednesday, the second attack on healthcare teams trying to carry out a national immunization campaign against the paralytic virus.

Area officials reported that the assailants targeted a polio team providing vaccine to children in the Bajaur district, bordering Afghanistan. The attack also injured a policeman.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the deadly attack in one of the militancy-hit districts of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The start of the immunization campaign Monday was marred by a roadside bombing of a polio vaccination team in the province’s South Waziristan district. That attack resulted in injuries to at least ten people, including three vaccinators and six police personnel. 

An Afghanistan-based Islamic State affiliate known as Islamic State-Khorasan reportedly claimed responsibility for the deadly blast.  

Militants in violence-affected districts often target polio vaccinators, suspecting them of spying on behalf of Pakistani security forces. Such attacks have killed dozens of vaccinators and police personnel escorting them in past years, mostly in areas near or adjacent to the Afghan border, dealing critical blows to polio eradication efforts.

On Monday, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Program said that the country of about 240 million is facing an “intense outbreak” of wild poliovirus this year, paralyzing 17 children so far nationwide. It reported that sewage samples tested positive in 66 districts for the highly contagious virus, threatening more children.

The program noted that the ongoing house-to-house campaign aims to vaccinate more than 33 million children under five in 115 districts nationwide.

Pakistan and Afghanistan, which reported nine paralytic polio cases so far in 2024, are the only two remaining polio-endemic countries globally.

Polio immunization drives in both countries, which share a nearly 2,600-kilometer border, have long faced multiple challenges, such as security and vaccine boycotts, which have set back the goal of eradicating the virus from the globe.

Officials at the World Health Organization have reported an improvement in Afghan vaccination efforts since the Islamist Taliban retook control of the country three years ago, ending years of nationwide hostilities and enabling polio teams to inoculate children in previously inaccessible areas.
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KARAWANG, Indonesia — Rahmat Hidayat lost his job when the shoe factory he worked for closed down last year in the industrial town of Karawang in Indonesia’s West Java.  

The 44-year-old now earns less than half of what he used to make by selling grilled meatballs. Unable to afford his wife’s diabetes medication, Rahmat picks herbs to make a tonic instead. 

Like Rahmat, millions of working to middle class Indonesians have become poorer, largely due to an increase in layoffs and a drop in the number of job opportunities since the pandemic. 

This trend bodes ill for the outlook for Southeast Asia’s biggest economy — household consumption accounts for over half of gross domestic product — as well as the widely held investment thesis that an expanding middle class will drive Indonesia’s ambition to become a high-income nation by 2045. 

It also poses a challenge for the incoming administration of President Prabowo Subianto, who won a February election by a landslide on promises to boost economic growth and create 19 million of jobs. Prabowo takes office on Oct. 20. 

“Pushing the economy to grow higher with weak consumption is difficult,” said Mohammad Faisal, an economist at the Jakarta-based Center of Reform on Economics. 

The government classifies those who spend between $132 to $643 a month as middle class, based on a World Bank criteria. This group is key to economic growth as their spending accounts for nearly 40% of private consumption, and more than 80% if combined with the aspiring middle class, who spend $57 to $132.  

The size of the middle class, however, has dropped from 21.5% of the total population in 2019 to 17.1% in 2024, according to official data released last month. 

Even though Indonesia’s economy has bounced back after the pandemic, with growth of around above 5% a year since 2022 amid generally low inflation, this shrinking middle class is likely to pressure future growth, as the government will have to contend with lower tax revenues and a possibly more subsidies, said Jahen Rezki, an analyst from the University of Indonesia.  

“In the long run, if the middle class dwindles, it will certainly be a big burden for the state,” he said. 

Big state spending 

One of the main reasons for the demise of the middle class is the changing labour market. 

A large portion of the foreign investment coming into Indonesia has targeted industries such as mining, which are becoming much less labour intensive as more cutting-edge technology is deployed. 

Also, stronger competition from lower cost destinations such as China, especially in the textile sector, has squeezed factories, leading to lay offs that the textile association said were the worst in the last decade.  

Prabowo’s brother and adviser Hashim Djojohadikusumo said the incoming government will help the middle class by creating millions of new jobs from projects like the $28 billion free meals programme and the building of millions of homes.  

“We want to create a lot of small, medium and micro entrepreneurs, for example through our housing program. We want to build 3 million units of houses, in villages and cities. That’s to create middle class,” he told Reuters recently.  

However, how much the next government is able to spend on welfare schemes might be limited, especially next year when a large amount of government debt is due to mature, said Teguh Yudo Wicaksono, an economist at Islam Internasional Indonesia University. 

For former factory worker Rahmat, the best help the government can give is a handout he can use to expand his food business, as it has become increasingly difficult to find a job. 

His wife Fatimah said her children often ask for their favorite spicy meat dish, but she can only afford to feed them instant noodles with eggs most of the time. 

“I could only tell my kids to please wait until dad got his fair compensation from the factory, we will cook a delicious meal again,” she said.  
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HANOI, VIETNAM — Typhoon Yagi severely damaged a large number of factories and flooded warehouses in northern Vietnam’s export-oriented industrial hubs, forcing plants to shut, with some expected to take weeks to resume full operations, executives said.

The typhoon, the strongest in Asia this year, made landfall in Vietnam’s northern coast on Saturday and was still causing deadly floods and landslides on Wednesday, killing dozens and ravaging key infrastructure, including power networks and roads.

The disruptions could affect global supply chains as Vietnam hosts large operations of multinationals that mostly export their products to the United States, Europe and other developed countries.

In the coastal city of Haiphong, one of the areas worst hit by the typhoon, 95% of businesses were expected to resume some activities on Tuesday, the body managing Haiphong industrial zones said on its website.

“Many businesses had their roofs blown off, some walls were torn and collapsed, gates, fences, signs, camera systems, garages and sliding metal doors were overturned, water flooded into factories,” said a report on its website.

In the DEEP C industrial zones, which host factories in Haiphong and the neighboring province of Quang Ninh, 20 out of 150 investors’ plants will be out of service for at least a few weeks, said Bruno Jaspaert, head of DEEP C industrial zones.

Based on a review of his clients, he expected power consumption at those facilities would remain one-third below normal for weeks or months because many companies were busy rebuilding their damaged factories.

Goods ready for export or delivery to clients were flooded in warehouses in the area, companies said.

In another industrial park in Haiphong, South Korea’s LG Electronics said it had partly resumed work on Tuesday, although the factory’s walls were crushed on Saturday and a warehouse with refrigerators and washing machines had been flooded.

“Many of them are gone with the wind,” said Calvin Nguyen, head of Vietnamese logistics firm WeDo Forwarding Co., referring to products that were to be delivered to the United States and the European Union, without specifying which goods.

The company’s three warehouses in Haiphong had their roofs blown off and on Wednesday were still flooded, he said.

The industry ministry did not reply to a request for comment.

Power cuts

Power outages were still affecting several areas in the north, as Vietnam’s state-owned power distributor EVN worked to restore dozens of damaged electricity lines.

In Quang Ninh, along the coast north of Haiphong, many factories still had no electricity or water service, Jaspaert said.

Chinese solar panel maker Jinko Solar’s factory in Quang Ninh was severely damaged, one of its workers said, noting on Tuesday work had not resumed as windows had been smashed and the roof had been blown away.

Jinko was not immediately available for a comment.

Far from the coast, the industrial hubs of Thai Nguyen and Bac Giang which host large factories of multinationals such as Samsung Electronics and Apple supplier Foxconn were also facing severe flooding.

Samsung’s large facilities in Thai Nguyen had not been visibly affected on Tuesday evening, according to a Reuters witness.

Water was receding on Wednesday in the province, about 60 kilometers north of Hanoi, but more rain was expected.
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JAKARTA, INDONESIA — During his three-day visit to Indonesia last week, Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, urged Indonesians to live up to the promise represented by the nation’s own motto — “Unity in Diversity.”

While praising Indonesia’s constitution, which guarantees religious freedom, Francis also warned in an address following a meeting with President Joko Widodo that the diversity of the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation can also lead to conflict.

Francis emphasized the importance of interfaith dialogue to eliminate prejudices and build mutual respect. “This is indispensable for meeting common challenges, including that of countering extremism and intolerance, which through the distortion of religion attempt to improve their views by using deception and violence,” Francis said.  

Indonesia’s statistical agency says that 87% of the country’s 280 million people are Muslim. However, 2.9% of the total population is Catholic, making its Christian community the third largest in Asia after the Philippines and China.

Indonesia’s struggle against religious intolerance

Despite legal guarantees of religious freedom, which includes a Religious Harmony bill signed into law in 2016, research by Human Rights Watch indicates a flare-up of religious intolerance.

Examples include the imprisonment of Jakarta’s Christian governor for blasphemy in 2016, violence against religious minorities; and problems faced by some Christian groups seeking to secure building permits for churches.

Novi from Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, a Catholic, who traveled to Jakarta to witness Pope Francis’ visit to Istiqlal Mosque, hopes the visit can encourage a revival of religious tolerance in the country.

“I’m really sad when I hear news reports saying that churches faced difficulties in setting up a church and require approval of the majority from the surrounding community and municipal and provincial office,” she said. 

In 2006, a group of religious and community leaders established the Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB), dedicated to protecting religious harmony, including making recommendations to the mayor or regent on the construction of any new house of worship. [

But according to Andreas Harsono, a senior Indonesian researcher at Human Rights Watch, the forum has been politicized over the years.

In hopes of quelling religious intolerance, Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said a new presidential regulation is being developed that will no longer allow the FKUB to recommend the establishment of a house of worship. That right will remain with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Andreas Harsono of the Human Rights Watch sees this as a “step in the right direction.”

“The FKUB recommendations are proven to be the most damaging of the 2006 regulations on religious harmony. The religious harmony regulation basically makes the so-called majority have veto power over the minorities in Indonesia. It’s turning Indonesia into an intolerant Muslim-majority country,” he said.

Halili Hasan, executive director of the SETARA Institute, agrees with abolishing the FKUB’s right to recommend. He added that FKUB has not been able to prevent and handle various violations of freedom of religion and belief.

SETARA Institute is a think tank that advocates for democracy and human rights in Indonesia and releases an annual report on the condition of freedom of religion and belief.

The report in 2023 listed at least 65 places of worship that experienced disturbances throughout that year, ranging from objections to the construction of a house of worship to the sealing off of places of worship. That compares to 50 such incidents in the previous year.

Still, the Ministry of Religious Affair’s Religious Harmony Index survey for 2023 found a steady increase in religious harmony from 2020 to 2023. The index was scored from 0 to 100, with 100 being the most harmonious. The national score for 2023 was 76.02, the highest score recorded in the last five years. 

Eli Trisiana is a Muslim and government civil servant who came to see Pope Francis.

“We need to hold a heart-to-heart dialogue with those deemed religious intolerant,’’ Eli Trisiana said. ‘’We cannot deal with them using violence. I think that is the best method to solve differences of opinion. In Islam there are verses taught to us that reconcile with non-believers, which is “unto you your religion and unto me my religion.”

Interfaith dialogue

During an interfaith dialogue at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, 87-year-old Pope Francis met with representatives of Indonesia’s six officially recognized religions — Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Protestantism and Catholicism — along with a representative for traditional beliefs.

Francis and the grand imam of the Istiqlal Mosque, Nasaruddin Uma,r signed a ‘Human Fraternity” document declaring their commitment to interfaith harmony. The document calls for religious leaders to overcome two serious crises faced by the world: dehumanization and climate change.

The grand imam said he won’t let this signing be in vain and that he plans to follow up with a future plan of action that supports interfaith dialogue and true religious harmony. 
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In the Himalayan mountains of northern India, thousands of dairy farmers face a crisis during winter due to shortage of fodder. Now an affordable animal feed developed by scientists is helping them tide over the months when the land is snowbound and raise the productivity of their cattle. Anjana Pasricha has this story. Videographer: Rakesh Kumar
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Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir  — New political parties formed after the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomy five years ago appear to be bleeding support ahead of the first regional elections since then. Analysts see perceived ties to the central government in New Delhi as a factor.

Typical of the trend is former lawmaker Noor Mohammad Sheikh, who recently resigned from the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party, or JKAP, a political group he had joined a few years ago in Indian-administrated Kashmir.

Established in 2020 by Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, a businessman-turned-politician, and Ghulam Hassan Mir, a veteran politician from north Kashmir, JKAP aimed to build a bridge between the local population and New Delhi after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reduced the Himalayan region to a federally controlled territory in August 2019.

Bukhari and Mir successfully recruited over 50 politicians, including Sheikh, from various pro-India parties, giving JKAP a promising start. The party was expected to reshape the political landscape of the region by challenging the dominance of the two main parties — the National Conference, or NC, and the People’s Democratic Party, or PDP.

“Bukhari took the initiative to engage with the government of India during a time of complete silence in the Kashmir Valley,” Sheikh told VOA. “I chose to join the party because I believed I could represent my people when no one else was doing so.”

JKAP, however, suffered an abrupt downfall after a disappointing performance during Indian general elections held earlier this year. With the announcement of the first assembly elections since Indian Kashmir became a union territory scheduled to begin September 18, JKAP began to unravel. Core members of the group started leaving one after another, causing the party to fragment.

“My workers did not support me, so I chose to leave the [JKAP] after three years,” Sheikh said. “My supporters and I held a protest on August 5, and on that very day I decided to contest the election as an independent candidate.”

Noor Ahmad Baba, a prominent Srinagar-based political analyst and professor, told VOA that the central government tried to reshape the politics in Kashmir from above by promoting new political groups in the region, but they couldn’t push aside traditional parties, especially the NC.

“It’s hard to achieve such goals in a country like India. Even a dictator wouldn’t be able to do it. Over time, people have become more politically aware and can analyze things and respond accordingly,” Baba said. “The parliamentary elections indicated that building a new political party takes time and sacrifices and cannot be imposed from above.”

Multiple parties that formed after the region lost its semiautonomous status have faced similar challenges. The Democratic Progressive Azad Party, established by former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in September 2022, has lost over a dozen lawmakers, including co-founder Taj Mohiuddin.

Azad, once a close aide to India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, faced criticism from the locals who suspect that he, like lawmakers among other regional upstart parties, has a covert alliance with Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The suspicion was fueled by Modi’s praise for Azad following his exit from the Indian National Congress. Azad, however, dismisses these claims as attempts to undermine his new political role.

Similarly, the much longer established Jammu Kashmir Peoples Conference, or JKPC, led by separatist-turned-mainstream politician Sajad Lone, is losing ground. Many attribute its decline to Lone’s alleged closeness to Modi.

Many politicians who left these upstart parties are now running as independent candidates. They say that elections attract “new combinations and shifting allegiances.”

“I left JKPC for my own survival,” Nizam Ud Din Bhat, a former lawmaker from north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, told VOA. “My voters and workers wanted me to contest election from my home district as an independent candidate.”

Muzamil Maqbool, another analyst and a political commentator, believes that public pressure has forced many individuals to run independently.

“People like the work done by some of these candidates but they do not like the political party they represented,” he said.

“However, we cannot ignore the fact that these independent candidates could join hands with any leading political party in the assembly elections by October this year,” he said. “Horse trading in politics is not a new thing and in Kashmir; it is often the only way for politicians to secure their future and survive.”

Professor Baba believes that those who switched parties during tough times and aligned with New Delhi may face difficulties.

“People now understand that such individuals are motivated by a desire to cling to power,” Baba said. “I believe it might cost them in the upcoming elections.”

JKAP co-founder Hassan Mir told VOA that emotional politics played by other parties has impacted people for decades.

“Every political party is referred to by various names, but if the vision and agenda are clear, it’s crucial to persuade people regardless of the labels attached,” he said. “Some members departed because they sought power and realized we couldn’t provide it while others left due to unmet expectations regarding their mandates.”

Wasim Nabi contributed to this story.
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SINGAPORE — When Pope Francis arrives Wednesday in Asia’s financial powerhouse Singapore for the last leg of a four-nation tour, he is expected to bring his message of unity and hope to one of the world’s richest nations.

The 11-day trip, which earlier took him to Indonesia,Papua New Guinea and East Timor, is the longest for the 87-year-old pontiff since becoming head of the Catholic Church in 2013. Francis will be the second pope to visit Singapore, after a five-hour stopover by the late John Paul II in 1986.

Here’s what to know about Pope Francis’ three-day stay in Singapore:

Why is Francis visiting Singapore?

Singapore was originally part of Francis’ travel plans to the region in 2020 but it was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The island city-state at the tip of the Malay peninsula has a small population of just under 6 million people and lacks natural resources, but it is a heavyweight in regional and international affairs. Astute leadership, its strategic location and reputation as one of the most open and least corrupt economies had transformed Singapore into a bustling financial giant and maritime and aviation hubs in just 59 years after independence.

Singapore is a strategic U.S. partner but also maintains close ties with China. Ethnic Chinese account for about three-quarters of its residents followed by minority Muslims and Indians.

According to a 2020 Singapore population census, Buddhists make up about 31%. About a fifth of the population claimed no religious belief, while Christians account for almost 19% and Muslims about 15%.

Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil, reflecting its multicultural identity and heritage.

“Singapore and the Holy See share a common interest in promoting interfaith dialogue and understanding. Pope Francis’ state visit is also the first papal visit to Singapore in almost 40 years,” Singapore’s Foreign Ministry said.

In a city ranked as one of the most expensive to live in, Singapore’s Cardinal William Goh said that key themes frequently emphasized by Francis such as human dignity, inclusiveness, interreligious dialogue, family values, the need to manage artificial intelligence responsibly and care for the environment were of particular relevance.

“As such, Pope Francis’ visit is highly anticipated and warmly welcomed not only by the Catholic faithful, but also by the wider society.” Goh said in a written response to The Associated Press. “After the apostolic visit is done, I pray that Singapore will be filled with hope — a profound, divine hope.”

What’s on the pope’s itinerary?

After flying in from Dili, East Timor, on Wednesday, Pope Francis will hold a private meeting with members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).

On Thursday, he will receive an official welcome at Parliament House and meet Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and President Tharman Shanmugaratnam. He will also meet government officials, civil society and the diplomatic corps at the National University of Singapore.

The highlight will be a public Mass at the 55,000-seat National Stadium in the evening. Those attending include Catholics from neighboring Malaysia and Brunei. Francis will make a tour around the stadium pitch to greet the faithful in his Popemobile before delivering his homily.

On the last day, Francis will visit elderly residents at the St. Theresa’s Home. He will also hold an interreligious meeting with youths at the Catholic Junior College.

How influential is the church in Singapore?

The church marked 200 years in Singapore in 2021. The Archdiocese of Singapore was formed in 1972, seven years after Singapore’s independence. Diplomatic relations with the Holy See were established in 1981.

In Singapore’s early years, Cardinal Goh said the church’s work in education and health care were important contributors to national development.

“Many of the country’s top leaders in both the public and private spheres were formed in Catholic schools; and many basic health care needs were provided by Church-run health care institutions,” he wrote on the Vatican News website.

The church supports 395,000 Catholics in Singapore with its 29 parish churches, three devotional churches, 53 schools, 47 humanitarian organizations and two health care institutions. Goh said the church holds frequent dialogue with the government, which views it as an important contributor and shaper of Singapore’s social fabric.

Goh, Singapore’s first cardinal installed by Francis in 2022, is a member of two Presidential Councils that advise the government on matters relating to racial and religious harmony and minority rights.

“As the final stop on this apostolic journey, Singapore stands as a testament to peaceful coexistence in a modern, multicultural, and multi-religious society,” Goh wrote in his reply to the AP. “This reflects the spirit of unity and diversity that Pope Francis has emphasized throughout his pontification.”
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SYDNEY — Australia will ban children from using social media with a minimum age limit as high as 16, the prime minister said Tuesday, vowing to get kids off their devices and “onto the footy fields.”

Federal legislation to keep children off social media will be introduced this year, Anthony Albanese said, describing the impact of the sites on young people as a “scourge.”

The minimum age for children to log into sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok has not been decided but is expected to be between 14 and 16 years, Albanese said.

The prime minister said his own preference would be a block on users aged below 16.

Age verification trials are being held over the coming months, the center-left leader said, though analysts said they doubted it was technically possible to enforce an online age limit.

“I want to see kids off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming pools and the tennis courts,” Albanese said.

“We want them to have real experiences with real people because we know that social media is causing social harm,” he told national broadcaster ABC.

“This is a scourge. We know that there is mental health consequences for what many of the young people have had to deal with,” he said.

Australia’s conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton said he would support an age limit.

“Every day of delay leaves young kids vulnerable to the harms of social media and the time for relying on tech companies to enforce age limits,” he said.

‘Easy to circumvent’

But it is not clear that the technology exists to reliably enforce such bans, said the University of Melbourne’s associate professor in computing and information technology, Toby Murray.

“We already know that present age verification methods are unreliable, too easy to circumvent, or risk user privacy,” he said. 

Analysts warned that an age limit may not in any case help troubled children.

It “threatens to create serious harm by excluding young people from meaningful, healthy participation in the digital world,” said Daniel Angus, who leads the digital media research centre at Queensland University of Technology.

“There is logic in establishing boundaries that limit young people’s access,” said Samantha Schulz, senior sociologist of education at the University of Adelaide.

“However, young people are not the problem and regulating youth misses the more urgent task of regulating irresponsible social media platforms. Social media is an unavoidable part of young people’s lives.”

The prime minister said parents expected a response to online bullying and harmful material present on social media.

“These social media companies think they’re above everyone,” he told a radio interviewer.

“Well, they have a social responsibility and at the moment, they’re not exercising it. And we’re determined to make sure that they do,” he said.

Australia has been at the forefront of global efforts to regulate social media platforms, with its online safety watchdog bumping heads notably with Elon Musk’s X over the content it carries.

 
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to redouble efforts to make his nuclear force fully ready for combat with the United States and its allies, state media reported Tuesday, after the country disclosed a new platform likely designed to fire more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles targeting the mainland U.S.

Kim has repeatedly made similar pledges, but his latest threat comes as outside experts believe Kim will perform provocative weapons tests ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. In recent days, North Korea has also resumed launches of trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea.

In a speech marking the 76th founding anniversary for his government on Monday, Kim said North Korea faces “a grave threat” because of what he called “the reckless expansion” of a U.S.-led regional military bloc that is now developing into a nuclear-based one. Kim said such a development is pushing North Korea to boost its military capability, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim said North Korea will “redouble its measures and efforts to make all the armed forces of the state including the nuclear force fully ready for combat,” KCNA said.

North Korea has been protesting the July signing of a new U.S.-South Korean defense guideline meant to integrate U.S. nuclear weapons and South Korean conventional weapons to cope with growing North Korean nuclear threats. North Korea said the guideline revealed its adversaries’ plots to invade the country. U.S. and South Korean officials have repeatedly said they don’t intend to attack the country.

Since 2022, North Korea has significantly accelerated its weapons testing activities in a bid to perfect its capabilities to launch strikes on the U.S. and South Korea. The U.S. and South Korea have responded by expanding military drills that North Korea calls invasion rehearsals.

Many analysts believe North Korea has some last remaining technological barriers to overcome to acquire long-range nuclear missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland, though it likely already possesses missiles that can hit key targets in South Korea and Japan.

South Korean officials and experts say North Korea could conduct nuclear tests or ICBM test-launches before the U.S. election to increase its leverage in future diplomacy with the U.S. Observers say North Korea likely thinks a greater nuclear capability would help it win U.S. concessions like sanctions relief.

North Korea as of Tuesday morning did not appear to have staged any major military demonstration to mark this year’s anniversary. But the North’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Sunday published a photo of Kim inspecting what appeared to be a 12-axle missile launch vehicle, which would be the largest the country has shown so far, during a visit to a munitions plant. This sparked speculation that the North could be developing a new ICBM that is bigger than its current Hwasong-17 ICBM, which is launched on an 11-axle vehicle.

When asked about the photo on Monday, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder refused to provide a specific assessment of North Korea’s missile capabilities and reiterated that Washington was working closely with Seoul, Tokyo and other partners to preserve regional security and deter potential attacks.

“It’s not unusual for North Korea to use media reports and imagery to try to telegraph, you know, to the world,” he said.

North Korea flew hundreds of huge balloons carrying rubbish toward South Korea for five straight days through Sunday, extending a Cold War-style psychological warfare campaign that has further stoked animosities on the Korean Peninsula. The balloons largely contained waste papers and vinyl, and there has been no repots of major damage.

North Korea began its balloon campaign in late May, calling it a response to South Korean civilians flying propaganda leaflets across the border via their own balloons. South Korea later restarted its anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts along the rivals’ tense land border.

Observers say North Korea is extremely sensitive to South Korean leafleting activities and loudspeaker broadcasts as they could hamper its efforts to ban foreign news to its 26 million people.
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Islamabad, Pakistan — The United Nations rights chief expressed his “abhorrence” Monday at the recent promulgation of “so-called morality laws” in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan that silence women or order them to cover their faces and bodies in public.

Volker Türk told a U.N. Human Rights Council session in Geneva that the new laws were implemented alongside bans on Afghan girls attending secondary school, prohibiting female students from accessing university education, and severely curtailing women’s access to public life and employment opportunities.

“I shudder to think what is next for the women and girls of Afghanistan. This repressive control over half the population in the country is unparalleled in today’s world,” the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner stated.

Türk denounced the morality laws as outrageous and amounting “to systematic gender persecution.” He warned that the intensifying curbs on women are “propelling Afghanistan further down a path of isolation, pain, and hardship.” It would also jeopardize the country’s future by “massively stifling its development,” he added.

Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of Afghan human rights, also spoke and informed Monday’s session in Geneva that the Taliban had lately barred him from visiting the country to conduct assessments in line with his mandate.

He added that the morality law “marks a new phase in the ongoing repression of respect for human rights” since the Taliban regained control of the country three years ago.

The 114-page, 35-article law enacted by the Taliban last month outlines various actions and specific conduct that the Taliban consider mandatory or prohibited for Afghan men and women in line with their strict interpretation of the Islamic law of Sharia.

The restrictions prohibit Afghan women from traveling without a male guardian, require them to be silent in public, enforce mandatory covering of females from head to toe, including their faces, and forbid eye contact between women and unrelated men.

The law empowers the Taliban’s contentious Ministry for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice to enforce it strictly.

Ministry enforcers are ordered to discipline offenders, and penalties may include anything from a verbal warning to fines to imprisonment for offenses such as adultery, extramarital sex, lesbianism, taking pictures of living objects, and befriending non-Muslims.

Taliban leaders did not comment on Monday’s U.N. assertions, but they have rejected previous international criticism of the morality laws. 

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, recently stated that “non-Muslims should educate themselves about Islamic laws and respect Islamic values” before rejecting or raising objections to them. “We find it blasphemous to our Islamic Sharia when objections are raised without understanding it,” he said.

No country has officially recognized the Taliban as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan, citing human rights concerns, particularly the harsh treatment of women.

“Any normalization of engagement with the de facto authorities must be based on demonstrated, measurable, and independently verifiable improvements in human rights,” Bennett stressed in his speech Monday, urging the Islamist Taliban to reverse current policies. 
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Taliban laws and restrictions make journalism in Afghanistan increasingly challenging. But media in exile are ensuring that voices of women and others are still being amplified. For Mohammad Qasim Mandokhil in London, Bezhan Hamdard has the story for VOA. Roshan Noorzai contributed to the story. (Camera: Jonathon Spier, Helay Asad)
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Seoul, South Korea — Less than two years after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged his country would not seek nuclear weapons, his newly appointed defense minister is openly envisioning scenarios in which South Korea might reconsider that stance. 

The comments by Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who took office on Friday, are the latest evidence that the once-taboo idea of nuclear armament has gone mainstream in Seoul, amid growing concerns about North Korea’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal and the long-term reliability of U.S. protection. 

As an academic and retired military officer, Kim has long argued that South Korea may need nuclear weapons in some form to counter North Korea. In recently unearthed footage from a 2020 seminar, Kim warned South Korea has “no survival or future” without such a deterrent.

During his confirmation process last week, Kim stood by those comments, saying “all options” should remain open if the U.S. nuclear umbrella proves insufficient.

It appears to be the first time a sitting South Korean defense minister has publicly entertained the possibility of acquiring nuclear weapons, and marks a sharp departure from his predecessor, who repeatedly and firmly rejected the proposal under any condition.

Contacted by VOA, a South Korean defense ministry spokesperson maintained there has been “no change in the principle or position” that Seoul relies on U.S. extended deterrence and the U.S.-South Korea alliance to address the North Korean nuclear threat.

“However, if we cannot guarantee the survival and security of the state, all means and methods are open,” the spokesperson added, emphasizing the need to work closely with the United States.

A spokesperson for Yoon’s presidential office declined to comment for this story.

Most observers doubt South Korea will pursue nuclear weapons any time soon due to the massive economic and national security risks it would entail.

Not only would South Korea risk enraging China, but Seoul could upend its alliance with the United States and invite painful international sanctions, all while possibly encouraging others in the region to consider nuclear weapons of their own. 

Despite the risks, Yoon continues to drive the once unthinkable idea further into the mainstream, raising concerns that the proposal could become more acceptable — and eventually turn into reality.

Nuke calls now routine

Yoon himself suggested last January that South Korea could develop nuclear arms if the North Korean threat escalated – raising alarm in Washington, where non-proliferation has long been a priority.

Three months later, Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden signed what is known as the Washington Declaration, which bolstered U.S. defense assurances while reaffirming South Korea’s commitments under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Yoon’s appointment of Kim, however, appears to contradict the spirit of that agreement, said Lee Sang-sin, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification. What stands out most, Lee said, is the lack of public reaction to Kim’s remarks.

Kim’s appointment has drawn little attention from South Korean media and been largely ignored by Western outlets — a possible indication that calls for South Korea’s nuclear armament have become routine.

“That’s what I have warned about,” said Lee. “[This conversation] has been normalized.” 

When contacted by VOA, the White House National Security Council declined to directly comment on Kim’s statements, instead emphasizing South Korea’s pledge under the non-proliferation treaty as outlined in the Washington Declaration.

“We will continue to work with our ROK allies to strengthen our alliance and ensure we are well-positioned to deter nuclear threats,” an NSC spokesman added.

Driving the conversation

Polls have long suggested a majority of South Koreans support acquiring nuclear weapons, although such views were once confined to the political fringes.

Under Yoon’s presidency, the debate has become so entrenched that even some state-backed research institutions are exploring the possibility of nuclear armament.

A June report by the state-run Institute for National Security Strategy recommended that Seoul consider government reviews and public debates on various options, including the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons, NATO-style nuclear sharing, and South Korea developing its own arsenal.

Such calls are not only coming from Seoul. A growing number of former Trump officials have expressed an openness to the idea, with some even highlighting the geopolitical advantages of South Korea getting its own weapons – an idea that Trump himself once teased. 

The possibility of Trump’s return, along with his “America First” stance, has fueled concerns in Seoul that U.S. protection may be less reliable long-term, further accelerating the nuclear debate.

Some in South Korea appear eager to capitalize on the trend. In an opinion piece this month, Choi Kang, president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, an influential conservative research group, argued South Korean nuclear weapons should be presented as beneficial to the U.S.-South Korea alliance. 

“If a South Korean nuclear arsenal aligned with U.S. security interests and came to be regarded as a ‘common asset’ of the alliance, then the United States might accept it or even support it,” Choi wrote. 

Reality check?

But many analysts caution that such statements downplay the risks of nuclear armament.

“There really needs to be greater questioning of whether more nukes and more countries with nukes truly increases any country’s security situation and a serious examination of what Seoul stands to lose by choosing that path,” said Jenny Town, a North Korea specialist with the Washington-based Stimson Center.

Others, like Mason Richey, who teaches international politics at Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, argue it is unlikely South Korea would pursue nuclear weapons barring profound U.S.-South Korea alliance problems and/or severe regional instability.

“That said, every elite policymaker who engages the South Korea nuclear debate makes it easier to continue down the slippery slope of thinking about nuclear weapons, studying how to develop them, assuring a latent capability, deciding to develop them, and then actually building them,” he added.  

White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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Taipei, Taiwan — Efforts to maintain exchanges between Taiwanese and Chinese citizens face new challenges after Beijing last month sentenced a Taiwanese activist to nine years in jail, a move that analysts say will create a chilling effect within Taiwan’s civil society.

On September 6, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) confirmed that a court in the eastern city of Wenzhou earlier had sentenced Taiwanese political activist Yang Chih-yuan to nine years in jail under secession charges.

TAO said Yang, who was arrested in 2022 while teaching and participating in competitions for the board game Go, has long been involved in secessionist activities, playing a key role in organizations that advocate Taiwan’s independence. “His acts are egregious and the court reached the decision according to law,” the office said in a statement.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which oversees cross-strait exchanges, condemned the Chinese court’s ruling and asked Beijing to make public the verdict and the evidence that supports the charges.

“Beijing is trying to use Yang’s case to intimidate Taiwanese people and use the pretext of penalizing Taiwan independence as a way to exercise long-arm jurisdiction,” the MAC wrote in a statement released last week.

Yang’s case marks the first time that China used secession charges against Taiwanese people. It comes after Beijing in June introduced 22 new guidelines to punish what they called “die-hard Taiwan independence activists.” The maximum sentence could be the death penalty.

Analysts say the sentencing of Yang represents Beijing’s attempt to take a “more hardline stance” against Taiwanese who promote the island’s sovereignty. His case “shows that Beijing means business when it comes to using legal instruments to crack down on what it regards as ‘separatism,’” said J. Michael Cole, a Taipei-based senior fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute.

“This will inevitably affect people-to-people and civil society exchanges [between Taiwan and China,]” Cole told VOA in a written statement.

Indefinite delay of cross-strait academic exchanges, city-to-city forum

Meanwhile, the scheduled visits by two academic delegations from China’s Xiamen University have reportedly been postponed as Taiwanese authorities review their paperwork.

While some local media outlets said the postponement may be caused by “obstacles” imposed by Taiwanese authorities, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said the review of the Chinese delegations’ applications is based on existing procedures, adding that Taipei has no intention to prevent certain groups from visiting Taiwan.

Despite clarification from Taiwanese officials, China’s state-run tabloid Global Times characterized the postponement as the Taiwanese government’s attempt to “block” the Chinese delegations from visiting Taiwan.

“The Xiamen University delegations have completed the preparations in terms of formalities and materials, but related ‘security authorities’ in Taiwan have put ‘a technical hold’ in place while they carry out a review,” Zhang Wensheng, deputy dean of the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, told the Global Times in an interview.

Some experts say the delay in the Chinese delegation’s trips to Taiwan shows the Taiwanese government may be reviewing how to facilitate cross-strait exchanges amid growing military and political pressure from Beijing.

“In light of Beijing’s heightened pressure against Taiwan, the Taiwanese government may be reviewing what might be a more reciprocal approach to manage cross-strait academic exchanges,” Wen-ti Sung, a Taipei-based political scientist for the Australian National University, told VOA by phone.

In addition to the delay of cross-strait academic exchanges, the annual Shanghai-Taipei City Forum, which remains one of the few occasions for municipal officials from Taiwan and China to meet, has yet to announce a date for a potential 2024 gathering.

When asked in August about the forum, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an told Taiwanese media outlets that at a time when cross-strait tensions are high, it is more necessary for Taiwan and China to maintain communication.

“Such delays serve as a clear reminder that even lower-level engagement is difficult to sustain when one side rejects core aspects of the other’s existence,” Timothy Rich, a political scientist at Western Kentucky University, told VOA in a written response.

Since Taiwan President Lai Ching-te took office in May, Beijing has increased military pressure against Taiwan.

Against this backdrop, Cole in Taipei said the lack of engagement between Taipei and Beijing may increase the risks of miscalculation, which could lead to accidents and escalation.

In his view, Beijing will likely maintain a two-pronged approach against Taiwan in the near future. They will uphold “a suspension of official dialogue with the Taiwanese government led by the Democratic Progressive Party while keeping the door open to sub-state interaction with other elements of Taiwan’s society, with the aim of dividing both,” he told VOA.
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Islamabad — Authorities in northwestern Pakistan said Monday that a roadside bomb explosion injured at least 10 people, including anti-polio vaccinators and police personnel escorting them.  

The bombing in the South Waziristan district near the border with Afghanistan targeted a convoy carrying polio workers and their guards on the opening day of a nationwide immunization campaign.  

Area security and hospital officials reported that three health workers and six security personnel were among the victims. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the violence in a region where security forces are fighting militants linked to the outlawed Pakistani Taliban.  

Last week, Pakistan reported its 17th wild poliovirus case of the year from Islamabad, saying it paralyzed a child and marked the first infection in 16 years in the national capital.  

Pakistani health officials said in the lead-up to Monday’s polio campaign that it is designed to vaccinate more than 33 million children under five in 115 districts nationwide. 

Muhammad Anwarul Haq, coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication, stated that the immunization drive would primarily focus on districts where “the virus has been detected and the risk of continued transmission and spread is really high.” 

Haq encouraged all parents and caregivers to ensure their children get vaccinated, lamenting that “parents have not always welcomed and opened their doors to the vaccinators when they visit their homes.” 

Pakistan and Afghanistan, which reported nine paralytic polio cases so far in 2024, are the only two remaining polio-endemic countries globally. Polio immunization campaigns have long faced multiple challenges in both countries, such as security and vaccine boycotts, dealing setbacks to the goal of eradicating the virus from the world.
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DILI, East Timor — Pope Francis arrived in East Timor on Monday to encourage its recovery from a bloody and traumatic past and celebrate its development after two decades of independence from Indonesian rule.

Francis arrived in Dili from Papua New Guinea to open the third leg of his trip through Southeast Asia and Oceania. He’ll meet with Timorese leaders and diplomats later Monday.

The overwhelmingly Catholic East Timor, one of the world’s poorest countries, eagerly awaited Francis’ arrival, which came on the heels of the 25th anniversary of the U.N.-backed referendum that paved the way for independence from Indonesia.

“Our great hope is that he may come to consolidate the fraternity, the national unity, peace and development for this new country,” said Estevão Tei Fernandes, a university professor.

It was a far different atmosphere than when the last pope visited. St. John Paul II came in 1989, when Timor was still an occupied part of Indonesia and fighting for its freedom. As many as 200,000 people were killed during the 24 years of Indonesian rule.

Francis will confront that legacy, and another one more close to home involving Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, the Timorese bishop who, along with the Catholic Church as a whole, is regarded as a hero for his efforts to win independence.

Belo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 with fellow East Timorese independence icon José Ramos-Horta, today the country’s president, for campaigning for a fair and peaceful solution to the conflict.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, in its citation, praised Belo’s courage in refusing to be intimidated by Indonesian forces. The committee noted that while trying to get the United Nations to arrange a plebiscite for East Timor, he smuggled out two witnesses to a bloody 1991 massacre so they could testify to the U.N. human rights commission in Geneva.

In 2022, the Vatican acknowledged that it had secretly sanctioned Belo in 2020 for sexually abusing young boys. The sanctions included limitations on his movements and exercise of ministry and prohibited him from having voluntary contact with minors or contact with East Timor itself. The sanctions were reinforced in 2021.

Despite the sanctions, which were confirmed at the time by the Vatican spokesman and reaffirmed last week ahead of Francis’ trip, many people in East Timor have stood by Belo, either dismissing, denying or diminishing the victims’ claims. Some even hoped Belo, who lives in Portugal, would be on hand to welcome Francis.
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