LAWMAKERS’ CONCERNS More than 20 Members of Parliament (MPs) rose to speak during the motion, which asked that parliament reaffirm its commitment to adopt a whole-of-nation approach to sustain trust by building an inclusive and safe digital society. The motion was tabled by the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for CommunicationsContinue Reading
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s auxiliary police forces are still hiring officers from Taiwan, but numbers have dropped significantly since the practice began in 2017, said Home and Law Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on Wednesday (Jan 10).
As a result, the Home Affairs Ministry has been considering expanding the jurisdictions where auxiliary police officers (APOs) can be recruited from. These potentially include Asian ones such as China, India, the Philippines and Myanmar.
Mr Shanmugam revealed this in a written parliamentary response to MP Sylvia Lim (WP-Aljunied), who had asked if the hiring of APOs from Taiwan is still going on and what work challenges have surfaced among such officers.
Some private security firms, namely Certis Cisco and AETOS, first turned to recruiting APOs from Taiwan due to a shortage of local manpower, having only hired Singaporeans and Malaysians in the past.
At the time, Mr Shanmugam also pointed to a growing demand for APOs due to heightened security threats and new infrastructure, such as Changi Airport Terminal 4.
As of November last year, Singaporeans made up about 68 per cent of the total population of APOs, with the remaining 32 per cent being Malaysian and Taiwanese.
Mr Shanmugam said on Wednesday: “We need to allow the auxiliary police forces to recruit foreign APOs to meet the increasing demand for security services.
“They face challenges in sustaining an adequate pool of APOs, given the shrinking local workforce, requirements such as physical fitness, and the job options Singaporeans have.”
He noted that while the hiring of Taiwanese APOs has been “generally positive”, it has been a “challenge to recruit and keep them”.
The number of such officers has decreased by more than 60 per cent since 2017, to about 70 today.
Mr Shanmugam said this was due to the demanding nature of public-facing security work, improved job opportunities and prospects in Taiwan, a desire to settle down with a family, and homesickness.
In light of that, the Ministry of Home Affairs has been in discussion with auxiliary police forces on being able to recruit from other jurisdictions, he added.
The minister also addressed the risk of letting non-Singaporeans carry firearms, saying that the authorities try to manage this through security screening, training and supervision.
“So far, misuse of firearms by APOs is extremely rare and is not more prevalent among non-Singaporeans,” Mr Shanmugam said.
“We are also careful and more restrictive where we deploy non-Singaporean APOs. It is a challenging environment, because of our shrinking workforce.”
APOs are trained in areas such as handling firearms and counter-terrorism. They are deployed in a range of functions, including protecting key installations and non-governmental premises such as commercial banks. They also supporting police deployment at major events like the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix.
APOs are also given police powers to search and arrest offenders when on duty, and can escort people in custody.
Previously served as the group CRO & Senior EVP for Strategic Finance
Appointment highlights group’s commitment to sustainable, long-term business value creation
Singapore mainboard-listed fintech and digital banking solutions provider Silverlake Axis (SAL) has announced the appointment of Anil Singh Gill (pic) as chief sustainability officer. This appointment solidifies the group’s commitment to…Continue Reading
SINGAPORE: Following private blood bank Cordlife’s mishandling of cord blood units, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will review the regulatory requirements for cord blood banking, said Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary on Wednesday (Jan 10).
The regulatory requirements under the Healthcare Services Act (HCSA) and the Healthcare Services (Cord Blood Banking Service) Regulations include frequency of inspections and other aspects of inspections, as well as monitoring and reporting requisites.
“However, in reviewing these regulations, we also need to be mindful not to add inappropriate costs and regulatory compliance burden. We need to take a risk-based approach,” said Dr Puthucheary in parliament.
He was responding to questions from Member of Parliament Hany Soh (PAP-Marsiling–Yew Tee) on whether MOH will consider increasing the frequency of its biennial routine inspection and enhancing the monitoring and reporting requirements of all licensed cord blood banking service providers.
She also asked if the ministry had received any reports or requests for assistance from affected parties and whether it has directly supported the clients.
Cordlife has been in the spotlight for damaging cord blood units belonging to at least 2,150 clients, with another 17,000 clients possibly affected.
The cord blood units were stored in seven tanks that were exposed to temperatures above acceptable limits.
MOH first made the incident public in November last year when it announced that Cordlife was being investigated. The ministry had ordered Cordlife to stop the collection, testing, processing and/or storage of any new cord blood and human tissues, or provide any new types of tests to patients, for a period of up to six months.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Dec 8 that the probe into Cordlife would likely take another six weeks. Shortly after, the company announced that it would accept the six-month suspension and that it would not be submitting written representations to MOH for its operations.
TOKYO — For the Bank of Japan and US Federal Reserve, what a difference a week makes.
As 2023 ended, the BOJ was almost universally seen as “tapering” on the way to exiting quantitative easing (QE). Governor Kazuo Ueda’s team was viewed as setting the stage for a pivot that would send the yen skyrocketing.
Markets were convinced, too, that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell would be easing three times or more this year. Perhaps more as inflation pressures recede thanks to the highest US yields in 17 years undermining gross domestic product (GDP).
These rather pragmatic predictions have collided head-on with 2024. First came a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that further shook confidence in Japan’s government and economic outlook.
Then, four days later, came news that the US added a greater-than-expected 216,000 non-farm payroll jobs in December. It capped off a buoyant year for the US labor market and rapidly altered expectations for Fed rate cuts.
This U-turn in economic reality has the yen falling rather than rallying. And it’s delaying, at least for now, any plunge in the US. As these most crowded late 2023 trades go awry, Asia is reappraising economic trajectories.
For one thing, if the Fed fails to lower borrowing costs with the haste investors hope, Asian markets could give up gains driven by those very expectations.
In December, emerging markets from Jakarta to Sao Paulo enjoyed confidence-boosting rallies on hints by the Fed that US rate cuts are imminent. In Tokyo, the Nikkei Stock Average’s recent return to 33-year highs was predicated in part on anticipated powerful Fed rates to come.
Expectations for a big Fed pivot also had officials in Beijing breathing easier. Last month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping looked forward to a period when his team could address a property crisis, deflationary pressures and record youth unemployment without headwinds from Fed headquarters in Washington.
But are Asian markets sufficiently positioned for the likely disappointments to come? Odds are they’re not.
“Solid employment gains, low unemployment and sticky wages suggest no immediate need for Federal Reserve rate cuts,” says economist James Knightley at ING Bank.
This argument, though, is being made even before the real spoilers that could confound bond markets and, by extension, equity valuations as 2024 unfolds.
One is surprisingly robust US labor conditions adding upward pressure on wages. The December jobs data showed the extent to which wage gains are outpacing inflation.
Average US hourly earnings rose 4.1% over the past year compared with a 3.1% national inflation rate. The risk is that this dynamic blows up today’s investor optimism about a “soft landing” in the globe’s biggest economy.
As economist Mark Zandi at Moody’s Analytics points out, Americans’ real purchasing power is improving, and consistently so. This, he argues, is having a lagging effect on overall confidence.
In the post-Covid-19 period in 2021 and 2022, US households “got creamed” as inflation outpaced wages, Zandi notes. That shock, he says, explains why many are still “so uncomfortable with their financial position.” Now, he adds, things are “improving very quickly as wage growth remains strong.”
This dynamic may give the Fed pause as the world’s most-watched central bank mulls an about-face in policy. Hitting the monetary accelerator prematurely would squander the effects of the most aggressive Fed tightening since the mid-1990s.
As such, says strategist Matthew Ryan at global financial services firm Ebury, “we stand by our stance that calls for a first US rate cut in March are premature and that the Fed will need to see more evidence of a cooling in the jobs market, particularly in wages, to have confidence in achieving its medium-term inflation objective.”
George Mateyo, chief investment officer at Key Private Bank, concurs. The US, he says, “closed out the year on a high note, with stronger than expected labor market trends,” meaning the Fed maintains a “higher for longer” crouch for the foreseeable future.
Mateyo’s bottom line: Those “who thought the Fed will be aggressively cutting rates in 2024 will need to walk back their forecasts.”
The view, of course, isn’t universal. Kelvin Wong, an analyst at OANDA, points to hints in recent data that 11 Fed rate hikes in less than 20 months are having a cumulatively negative effect on US growth.
“Overall,” Wong says, “the mixed US jobs report for December has indicated the prior US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike cycle has started to inflict some adverse impact on the labor market, which in turn keeps the expectation of a Fed dovish pivot alive in 2024.”
Tom Orlik, global chief economist at Bloomberg Economics, adds that “central banks are looking forward to a victory lap as inflation tracks back to target with only a modest blow to growth. Markets cheering the policy pivot will provide the appropriate soundtrack.”
Yet the plot for such debates thickens when considering the geopolitical hellscape that might lie ahead in 2024.
The number of flashpoints that could boost energy and food prices anew is increasing by the day. Top risks include Russia intensifying attacks in Ukraine, Saudi Arabia’s determination to slash oil production among OPEC+ members and the Israel-Hamas war widening into a full-blown regional catastrophe.
News in late 2023 that the US military responded to attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants by sinking a number of ships raised the stakes for a wider Middle East conflagration. Any extended disruption in shipping patterns near the Suez Canal would have central banks everywhere rethinking inflation risks.
Not surprisingly, the Middle East stands among Ian Bremmer’s top global risks for 2024.
“All these pathways pose risks to the global economy,” warns Bremmer, CEO of the Eurasia Group political risk advisory. “Most of the world’s largest shipping companies have already suspended transit through the Red Sea in response to the Houthi strikes, paralyzing a critical waterway that sees 12% of global trade pass through it.”
Bremmer adds that “ongoing Houthi attacks will keep freight insurance rates elevated, disrupt global supply chains and create inflationary pressure. In addition, the closer the conflict comes to Iran, the greater the risk of disruptions to oil flows in both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, pushing crude prices higher.”
At the same time, Bremmer notes, any moves by Israel, the US or others to block Iran’s 1.4 million barrels per day of oil exports via sanctions or military strikes “would provoke retaliation by Tehran that puts larger volumes of oil and LNG exports from the region at risk.”
Even if this worst-case scenario, a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, remains a “very low probability,” Bremmer says, the mere specter could spook investors.
All this is complicating the BOJ’s 2024, and fast. After taking the BOJ reins last April, Governor Ueda passed up numerous opportunities to signal an end to 23 years of QE.
There were several moments in 2023 when global markets — and, grudgingly, Tokyo’s political establishment — were primed for a BOJ shift away from ultraloose monetary stimulus. Ueda demurred, opting instead for only technical tweaks.
There’s been a question for years about how ready Japan Inc was for an end to the free-money gravy train. In 2013, Ueda’s predecessor Haruhiko Kuroda was hired to expand a QE program first introduced in 2001.
Kuroda acted fast to grow the BOJ’s balance sheet. His team cornered the government bond market and became the biggest investor in Japanese stocks, topping the gigantic US$1.6 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund.
Such largesse, though, has a way of warping a financial system. Over time, trading in Japanese government bonds (JGBs) all but seized up. There have been countless days in recent years when not a single debt issue traded in the secondary market.
Thus when the highest inflation in 40 years arrived in 2022, JGB yields didn’t spike the way they did in the US and Europe. One reason: the unusually high percentage of bonds held by banks, companies, local governments, pension and insurance funds, universities, endowments, the postal savings system and retirees reduces incentives to sell.
In December 2022, Kuroda tiptoed up to signaling a move away from QE by letting 10-year yields rise as high as 0.5%. It shook global markets and sent the yen skyrocketing. That prompted Kuroda’s BOJ to increase bond purchases to communicate that QE wasn’t going away.
Ueda read from the same playbook in 2023 as he moved to let 10-year yields top 0.5% and then 1%. Both times, the BOJ scrambled immediately after to intervene in markets to avoid a jump in JGB rates. Absent, though, are concrete signs that Ueda sees room to begin wrapping up QE in 2024.
Reports this week that Tokyo inflation slowed for a second month in December, a sign that cost-push inflation is easing, gives Ueda cause to stand pat. Last week’s earthquake, which killed 168, adds to the reasons why Ueda might not act.
So is the high likelihood that Japan ended 2023 in recession. And with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s approval rating at 17%, will Ueda think now is the time for a revolutionary change in the BOJ’s stance?
“We continue to expect that the timing of elimination of the negative interest rate policy is close, though uncertainty related to the earthquake has risen,” says Takeshi Yamaguchi, chief Japan economist at Morgan Stanley MUFG.
Economist Daisuke Karakama at Mizuho Bank thinks that the BOJ stepping away from negative rates in the first half 2024 has “become doubtful.”
So has virtually everything markets thought they knew about Asia’s 2024 and where the BOJ and Fed would be taking global interest rates.
Follow William Pesek on X, formerly Twitter, at @WilliamPesek
SINGAPORE: Users of multi-currency e-wallets are now able to spend and hold more money in their accounts following recent changes to these regulatory limits.
Operators in Singapore are gearing up to roll out these changes on their platforms, with YouTrip making the first move.
The Singapore-based app announced on Jan 3 that its users can now hold up to S$20,000 (US$15,025) in their e-wallets at any point and have an annual spending limit of S$100,000.
These are the maximum limits stipulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and are up from S$5,000 and S$30,000, respectively.
When contacted by CNA, Revolut said it “will raise the limits for (its) users very soon” in line with official guidelines, while Wise said it is “working on implementing the changes”.
MAS first proposed increasing the limits for e-wallets offered by those who hold the major payment institution licence last October, citing the need to facilitate customer convenience and innovation.
After reviewing the feedback for its public consultation paper, the regulator put in place the higher caps on Dec 15, 2023.
Multi-currency e-wallets, such as YouTrip, Revolut and Wise, have gotten increasingly popular over the years, mainly due to their competitive exchange rates compared to traditional banks or moneychangers. They are also cheaper to use than credit cards since there are lower or no transaction fees for overseas transactions.
The previous caps have caused some frustration for their users, these operators said.
Wise, a British-based digital payments firm, said it has “advocated consistently over the years to increase these limits to better serve (its) customers”. “We certainly welcome the changes by MAS,” APAC expansion lead Lim Paik Wan told CNA.
Likewise, YouTrip noted that it has, over the years, “consistently” received requests from its users for higher spending and holding limits to make bigger purchases, such as flight tickets and accommodation.
“Driven by our users’ payment needs, our team promptly acted to raise YouTrip’s wallet limit, addressing a major pain point for users who were curtailed by previous lower caps,” a spokesperson said.
Mr Raymond Ng, chief executive officer of Revolut Singapore, described the raised limits as “a step in the right direction and will enable greater innovation in the e-wallet landscape”.
By working with Ant Group and Grab Holdings, StraitsX, the lender of XSGD, may end the , pay loop. The Singaporean merchants wo n’t need to maintain an a  relationship with Ant, and the Chinese tourists will no longer have to deal with &ndbp, Grab.
Cross-border deals will be processed instantly, saving small businesses from having to pay high credit card fees. At the same time, regulators will make sure that stablecoins do n’t end up becoming new channels for money laundering by specifying the payment purpose  and imposing prudential limits on transfers.
People will generally have three options in addition to standard payment methods, like as , bank accounts, or actual cash. Once they , central bank digital currencies ( CBDCs ), became available, they could use them to settle claims.
Alternately, their lenders might permit them to tokenize deposits and make advance payments, such as toward  or a rental contract, but only after the other party has fulfilled its contractual obligation. As an alternative, payers and payees may use stablecoins to maintain their value even if their personal issuers filed for bankruptcy, so long as they trusted them.
Because of this, the focus of the new stablecoin regulations in Asia ( and Europe ) is on consumer protection and transparency.  ,
Issuers may be required to disclose the value of their assets and liabilities each and every day, according to the papers that Hong Kong has circulated for public discussion. Every week, they are required to breakdown the makeup of their reserve assets and create an auditor’s report andnbsp, once a month.
Scams on the internet are anticipated to continue to be a major trend this year as people become more dependent on online technology for daily activities, such as purchasing necessities and accessing entertainment, according to Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej of the Central Investigation Bureau ( CIB ).
Over 400,000 instances of crime were reported between March 1 and November 30 of last year, according to statistics gathered by the Royal Thai Police (RTP). 40.8 % of cases involved deceptive methods involving subpar and fraudulent goods and services, which topped the rankings. With losses exceeding 16 billion ringgit, false investment schemes, however, were the ones that caused the most economic harm.
A pattern that indicates that online frauds are pervasive can be seen in the data from November 2022 andNovember 2023, which showed that there were about 21, 000 cases reported in both times.
According to the CIB inspector,” These numbers highlight the danger posed by online scams and the need for pre-emptive actions.”
a difficult and difficult process
The use of systems by con artists as a tool to commit atrocities and cover their tracks makes it difficult to combat crime, according to Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop.
Scammers complicate law enforcement agencies ‘ efforts to combat crime by using sophisticated tools and techniques, such as SIM containers and Voice over IP ( VoIP), for their illegitimate pursuits, he claimed.
Additionally, there are three more obstacles that law enforcement organizations must overcome in order to combat crime.
First, he claimed that online con artists frequently operate near Myanmar’s borders, where Thai officials find it difficult to look into them due to the conflict between ethnic rebels and government forces. Scammers will also find healthy enclaves in regions governed by armed groups, like Laukkaing in northern Myanmar, according to him.
Next, he claimed that complex legal sites are responsible for online scams. He claimed that because they are made up of multinational corporations, it is challenging for the government to organize and find them.
Finally, he said that constitutional and jurisdictional issues add difficulty. International cooperation is necessary to prosecute these scammers because online scams are by their very nature transnational.
Front unifying
The Anti-Online Scam Operation Centre ( AOC ) 1441 hotline, according to Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop, was established to assist in the fight against online scams. In a proactive effort to address the public’s danger, it brings together banks, internet service providers, the authorities, and telecommunication regulators.
According to him, the initiative aims to improve data sharing, help repository management, and streamline coordination. He added that the police are also using technology to simplify their work and improve their capacity to combat cybercrime.
According to him, technology is crucial for handling complaints, gathering knowledge, analyzing crime trends, and forging connections with various organizations, whether they be banks, internet service providers, or telecom operators.
To stay one step ahead of thieves, police are attempting to establish systems and interactions with law enforcement organizations in order to transfer information, investigative methods, and knowledge about criminal activity.
In order to adapt to the changing threats posed by emerging threats like cryptocurrencies, the black online, and deep fakes, he said it is crucial for the authorities to update their information through the “unlearn, rediscover and reskill” process.
According to Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop, altering organizational buildings is crucial for enhancing law enforcement agencies ‘ ability to combat crime.
The prime minister has given him the responsibility of serving as the AOC’s secretary general and convening a working board to collaborate strongly with other organizations and create successful strategies for combating cybercrime in his capacity as CIB commissioner.
Because violence no longer has any borders, it is time to increase regional and international collaboration and collaboration. We need a powerful ally to reign in acts because criminals based in other nations can target victims in Thailand.
He noted that the CIB has used social media to warn the public about online frauds, how to spot scammers, and to desire them to report suspicious routines. He said the general public can take an active role in the fight against crime.
He continued, “CIB mobile apps are anticipated to be released quickly.”
increasing worry
Violent crimes like mass shootings are emerging all over the world and posing significant problems for the police and the general public, he said, as online schemes continue to pose a significant risk this time.
The CIB has organized workshops at universities and private businesses to help them understand the risks and come up with a strategy to control such situations and be healthy, he said. Incidents like these are frequently unstable and have disastrous effects on communities.
Due to the strenuous nature of their work, the company has also partnered with the Police General Hospital to determine the mental wellbeing of its own employees and offer them early diagnosis and treatment, which is crucial, he said.
Additionally, it has cracked down on illegal firearms, leading to the seizure of some suspects and the forfeiture of arms.
One of the bloodiest time of violent crime in recent memory was the shooting at the Siam Paragon store in October of last year. A 14-year-old son is accused of shooting indiscriminately, killing one Thai, two foreigners, and injuring five other persons.
A knife-wielding former police officer attacked a hospital in Nong Bua Lam Phu shortly after the shooting’s first anniversary, killing 24 youngsters and 12 individuals.
Gun control measures have been tightened as a result of the shooting in Siam Paragon, including banning the import of firearms and copy weapons.
According to Pol Lt. Gen. Jirabhop, the RTP’s ahead control has security measures and keeps an eye on the activities of suspected individuals, allaying concerns about assault related to southern turmoil and potential violence in the funds.
The Crime Suppression Division, Sea Police, and Highway Police are just a few of the units under the CIB’s control that have been given strict instructions to work closely with neighborhood police.
a data-driven company
According to Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop, who envisions the CIB as a data-driven firm, improving data set is one of the main places the organization is working on to better fight crime.
The CIB you better comprehend trends and patterns, create ideas, and allocate resources to effectively solve them thanks to comprehensive and accurate data, he claimed.
He added that the CIB has teamed up with the Thailand Institute of Justice to create a strong and extensive crime database because inadequate data collection can lead to incomplete or inaccurate data, making it challenging for police to perform efficient data analytics.
He stated that the UNODC-developed International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes will be used as a concept and offers an extensive foundation for producing records on criminal fairness.
According to him, the CIB can use crime data to gain insightful insights and improve its efforts in avoidance, destruction, and investigation to combat crime.
” New technologies make it more difficult to find criminals, and they allow them to target individuals from everywhere.” It is suggested that the general public finger themselves with information. It is the first and best line of defense against crime, he claimed.
The” International South,” or developing nations seeking liquidity through unity on the international stage, has rise as a result of Covid-19, the conflict in Ukraine, and the ensuing economic and political problems. They have significantly found themselves caught up in the conflict between bigger countries like the United States and China.
In his speech at the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation in May 2023, James Marape, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea ( PNG ), urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak out on behalf of the Global North. Marape continued by praising Modi as the head of the International South and urging the Pacific Island nations to support him at international gatherings.
In order to enroll more urgent ( at the time ) issues regarding the debt ceiling crisis, US President Joe Biden was forced to postpone his scheduled conference attendance. Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, traveled there and signed a critical security contract with PNG, but he did not enjoy the same comfort and pleasant as the prime minister of India. As the PNG leader , it” shared record of being colonized by imperial experts” and Modi and Marape shared unity.
India is not the only country to improve relations with countries in the Global South by capitalizing on the shared experiences of imperial rule or American colonization. China has continuously emphasized the cruelty of the West to former colonies in the Global South while attempting to win over civil society and officials.
The solution provided, however, is noticeably different, even though the wounds evoked may be the same. How they talk about the American world demonstrates the striking contrast between the Chinese and Indian approaches to the Global South. New Delhi encourages participation with the West on more equal words rather than using the past as a justification for retaliation. Beijing, like Moscow, calls for intentional groups and procedures that are opposed to the West.
For instance, Moscow has sought the formation, growth, or softening of categories to have against the Western world ever since Russia invaded Ukraine and imposed restrictions on its business.
The BRICS gathering, which started out as a talk shop, has grown to solve numerous problems that affect the larger Global South. In order to intensify the breasts, Russia and China are attempting to use it as a platform for countries that are at odds with the West. Governments applied to join the BRICS at the beginning of 2023, 16 and nbsp. Six new countries were included in the group’s most recent big gathering, which took place in August in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The party is still being used by Moscow and Beijing to examine alternative systems for the SWIFT banking system and different tools for self-sanctioning. The development of growth institutions like the NDB has increased the group’s access to the developing earth and capitalized on the complaints about the debt offered by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
While promoting its own passions and holding helpful side discussions with others who, like India, may be looking for possibilities, New Delhi continues to join with a variety of groups to take advantage of the advantages they offer. It has n’t used these systems for extensive anti-West partnership building, and its referral to the Global South has generally been diplomatic. Instead, it has made an effort to promote international diversity, which can strengthen bilateral ties.
Consider India’s effective efforts to convince the G20 to include the African Union ( AU). Modi consistently called  for including the AU in the class. Azali Assoumani, the president of Comoros, represented the African Union at the G20 meeting in September, and he was elected a continuous part.
This broadens the scope of the G20 and makes it more equitable, and it coincides with India’s personal efforts to reach out to African nations. S Jaishankar, the minister of American foreign affairs, traveled to Tanzania earlier this summer to officially open a university and talk about expanding sectoral cooperation.
This has some proper ramifications. The idea of the Indo-Pacific territory held by India is not the same as it is by the United States. India includes the entire Indian Ocean, andnbsp, including the northeast shore of Africa, whereas the US concept almost parallels the functional area of US Indo-Pacific Command—from just north of the Maldives to the coast of Americas.
Additionally, over the past six decades, India has demonstrated a growing commitment to participate in the Pacific region of the Indo-Pacific, which extends beyond ASEAN and includes Pacific Islands. India established a fresh embassy in Dilli, Timor-Leste, and Papua New Guinea’s Port Moresby was visited. The Pacific Islands are eager to learn more about the 12-point wedding strategy that Modi unveiled during his visit to PNG in May.
India has historically engaged with the Pacific Islands on non-conventional security issues like public health and capacity building, specifically the kind of engagement andnbsp that some Pacific States have stated they desire.
Additionally, in an unexpected turn of events, the original commanders of the three Indian military branches traveled to Taiwan for a private meeting with the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. India is more than testing the waters as an expanding surveillance company by interacting with the entire Indo-Pacific, from west African countries to Pacific Islands, and including vulnerable points like Taiwan. This is especially true of human safety, which is highly in demand throughout the region.
India is not as isolated from the African continent as the United States, nor does it share the same colonial and nbsp identity as Australia, the previous “point land” of the West. Barack Obama, the last US president to travel to the continent, did so in 2015, but it was n’t for a state visit; instead, he went to his ancestral village in Kenya.
China has expanded into both small and large countries during the same ten years. The Belt and Road initiative in Beijing spans the entire continent.
New Delhi has pushed for more borrowing to developing countries, including at the recently concluded G20, in order to combat China’s predatory financing. President Biden has supported andnbsp, India’s advice, and demanded more money for the World Bank. India is able to connect the Pacific Islands and East Africa in a way that China and the West are unable to.
The G20 demonstrated the potential for India and the United States ( and like-minded nations ) to collaborate to create solutions for the people of the Global South, assisting in economic stability and, ultimately, upholding a rules-based international order.
Modi and Biden stole the show and shed light on a possible prospect that many people wanted to see because Xi, Putin, and others were never present at the G20. Press releases, however, are one point. The results will be what problem.
Director of the Pacific Forum in Honolulu’s India Program and Economic Security Initiative is Akhil Ramesh  (akhil@pacforum .org ).  ,
Washington’s Foundation for Defense of Democracies ‘ non-resident senior fellow is Cleo Paskal  ( [email protected] ).
This post, which was first released by Pacific Forum, summarizes the authors ‘ section in the Comparative Connections issue from September 2022. You can read the entire article and nbsp here.
shabby picturesDue to its inability to pay its debts, a significant Chinese dark bank declared bankruptcy.
Zhongzhi Enterprise Group ( ZEG), which has given real estate companies billions in loans, submitted an application on Friday, which was accepted by a Beijing court.
In November, Chinese officials began looking into” suspected improper atrocities” against the company.
ZEG had reportedly declared itself bankrupt, according to reports.
According to a letter sent to investors in November, the struggling group claimed that its liabilities, up to$ 64 billion ( £50.6 billion ), had outpaced its assets, which were now thought to be worth about$ 38 billion.
ZEG’s “assets are insufficient to pay off all debts, and it evidently lacks the ability to recover in full,” according to a statement posted on the social media site WeChat on Friday.
A method of lenders, brokers, and other funds intermediaries that fall outside the purview of conventional controlled bank is known as ZEG, which is a significant player in China’s darkness banking industry.
Illegal shadow banking is exempt from the same types of risk, cash, and capital limitations as conventional banks.
Although casual borrowing has always been a part of China’s economy, shadow banking actually took off in 2008, when credit was scant, following the global financial crisis.
The shadow banking sector in China is estimated to be worth$ 3tn. It frequently gives the nation’s real estate industry a financial lifeline. A serious credit crunch has hit the once-booming business, and some of the biggest companies are now on the verge of economic collapse.
ZEG’s asset management division reportedly handled more than a trillion yuan ($ 139 billion, £110 billion ) at its peak.
However, it was not protected from the larger real estate crisis, and in November, when government claimed they had” criminal coercive methods” against “many suspects,” it ran into new problems.
Who they are and their position within the company are also unknown. Xie Zhikun, the agency’s chairman, passed away from a heart attack in 2021.
Following the failure of property designer Evergrande and financial difficulties at Country Garden, the most recent developments at ZEG have sparked worries about more unrest in the second-largest sector of the world.
Currently, distressed real estate developers owe Chinese businesses up to 30 % of their property.
The real estate industry in China accounts for a third of its monetary productivity. That includes real estate, leasing and brokerage services, as well as businesses that manufacture goods for apartments and building materials.