at 18:30 (JST), December 14

Asian View

"Asian View" is a five-minute news segment broadcast by NHK WORLD-JAPAN. It features the latest news and deep analysis from Japan and the rest of Asia. Listen to "Asian View" and get the latest information from a region that's playing an increasingly important role in the world.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20211214183000_english_1.mp3


Key words : taiwan deploy
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211214_03/

Taiwan's defense ministry has warned that China may deploy forces near Taiwan on the pretext of conducting drills, and then use them for a genuine invasion.

A ministry report submitted to the Taiwanese legislature says that on the pretext of staging exercises, China may deploy forces on the east and south coasts of China. In addition, it says Beijing might send warships to the Western Pacific in such a way as to encircle Taiwan.

It says the forces could then fire missiles and start landing operations in order to seize Taiwan in the shortest possible time with minimal losses.

The document, however, adds that the Chinese military would have trouble landing and supplying troops, as its transport capacity is still limited.

It also points out that it is currently difficult for China's military to focus resources on Taiwan, as it is being monitored by the United States and Japan. The country's ongoing disputes with India, Vietnam and others are another obstacle.

The report comes as Taiwanese defense authorities try to secure an additional budget to mass-produce long range missiles and improve their deterrent capabilities.

The report warns of ever-increasing pressure from the Chinese military. Taiwan's defense minister Chiu Kuo-cheng earlier said China will be able to fully invade Taiwan by 2025.

Key words : eight pro-democracy
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211213_36/

Eight pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong have been given prison sentences for their involvement in last year's event commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident.

They include Jimmy Lai, the founder of the Apple Daily newspaper, and Chow Hang-tung, deputy head of the now disbanded group that organized the June event, as well as former journalist Gwyneth Ho.

The three have pleaded not guilty to all charges, arguing that remembering the victims of the incident does not constitute a crime.

A Hong Kong court on Monday sentenced Lai to 13 months in prison, Chow to 12 months and Ho to six months.

The court also sentenced the remaining five defendants, who had admitted to the charges, to between 4-and-a-half and 14 months.

The eight were among 26 activists who were indicted of inciting citizens to take part in an unauthorized gathering. Many people gathered for the vigil in a park to remember the victims of the incident.

The vigil had been held every year in Hong Kong for more than 30 years. The tradition continued as a symbol of freedom of assembly in the territory, even after Hong Kong was reverted to China. But authorities banned the vigil last year and this year, citing coronavirus precautions.

The group that organized the vigil was charged with allegedly violating Hong Kong's national security law.

Key words : south korea not boycott
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211213_20/

South Korean President Moon Jae-in says his government is "not considering" a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Moon made the remark at a news conference on Monday after holding talks with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Canberra.

Moon said South Korea has "not received a request from any other country including the United States" to participate in the diplomatic boycott.

The US announced earlier this month that it will not send government delegates to the 2022 Winter Games because of concerns over human rights in China. Australia, Canada and Britain have joined the boycott.

On Seoul's proposal to declare a formal end to the Korean War, Moon thanked Australia for its support.

Moon said he believes all the relevant parties -- the US, China and South and North Korea -- agree to the proposal in principle.

But he also said North Korea has set a precondition that the US withdraw what Pyongyang calls the hostile US policy against it, which kept them from sitting down for discussions.

Moon pledged to make efforts to restart negotiations between the two Koreas and between the US and North Korea.

Key words : china state-run hong kong
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211214_01/

China's state-run television has reported that a traveler who arrived in the Chinese city of Tianjin from abroad this month tested positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant. This is the first known case of Omicron infection on the country's mainland.

China Central Television said the person tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving in Tianjin on December 9. A detailed analysis later revealed that the person was infected with the Omicron variant.

The person is reportedly asymptomatic and currently isolated at a hospital.

Omicron infections have already been confirmed in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong.

Authorities are on alert for outbreaks as the country prepares for next year's Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Key words : sumitomo
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211214_11/

Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank has decided to invest billions of dollars in technologies to bring about a carbon-free society.

The bank plans to provide 500 billion yen, or 4.4 billion dollars, over 10 years to businesses and projects working on decarbonization technologies.

To decide who gets the money, the trust bank will have a team analyze the possible impacts that companies could have on society. The team will have specialists in various technologies, such as hydrogen and fuel cells.

Bank President Oyama Kazuya says not taking risks is a big risk itself when it comes to challenges such as climate change.
He says Japanese banks need to change their business models, as they have been used to providing loans to safe and reliable destinations. Oyama adds that Sumitomo Mitsui wants to build up its knowledge and know-how through trial and error.

Another Japanese financial house, MUFG Bank, is also pursuing a climate-friendly agenda. It is teaming up with telecom giant NTT to fund investments in renewable-energy businesses.

Key words : shortage toyota
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211214_09/

Toyota Motor has announced more suspensions of production lines in Japan, due to pandemic-induced shortages of components.

Toyota said the Tahara plant in Aichi Prefecture and the Miyata plant in Fukuoka Prefecture would partially suspend production lines for three days from December 20.

The two plants are already currently suspending part of their output of Lexus luxury cars, due to the stalled delivery of components from Southeast Asia. The current suspensions last until Wednesday.

The automaker said domestic bottlenecks had worsened the shortages. It added that next week's suspensions would halt the production of about 5,000 vehicles.

Toyota is working to restore output to pre-pandemic levels. But the assembly line stoppages are due to impact the production of 14,000 units this month.

Key words : cyber
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211214_05/

A Japanese cyber security organization says a serious vulnerability has been found with widely-used software that records server logs.

The vulnerability was identified in ApacheLog4j2, which is a free, open source java logging library commonly used across the world.

The Information-technology Promotion Agency in Japan says that the vulnerability allows attackers to send computer viruses into servers and leak information.

The IPA warns that in the worst scenarios, administrative privileges could be seized by hackers.

The IPA says that attacks exploiting the vulnerability have already been detected in Japan.

The US organization that provides ApacheLog4j2 has released an updated version of the software that corrects the flaw.

The IPA is urging users to urgently assess their systems and update the software to the latest version.

Key words : chinese character meaning gold
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211213_24/

The Chinese character meaning "gold" or "money" has been chosen as the kanji that best symbolizes this year in Japan.

An association promoting the use of kanji on Monday announced the result of its annual poll with a calligraphy performance at Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto City.

Chief priest Mori Seihan wrote the kanji "kin" on a large sheet of paper.

The character was chosen by 10,422 votes, which was the most among 223,000 entries from the public. This is the fourth time "kin" has been chosen in the event's history, and the first since 2016.

The association cites the gold medals Japanese athletes won at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games as one of the reasons for the kanji's popularity.

The character "kin" is part of the Japanese word "kinjito" which means "feat." This year saw Los Angeles Angels two-way star Ohtani Shohei win the Most Valuable Player in the American League and Fujii Sota become the youngest player ever to get four big titles in the Japanese board game shogi.

The association says money was often in the news because of the subsidies and cash payouts for businesses and individuals affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mori said Olympic and Paralympic athletes did their best under pandemic-related restrictions and many of them won gold medals.

The character "rin" came second in the poll with 10,304 votes. "Rin" means ring and the Japanese word "gorin" for the Olympics includes this kanji.

The association says the difference in the number of votes between the two top choices was 118, the smallest since the history of the annual poll.