at 18:30 (JST), August 19

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/20210819183000_english_1.mp3


Key words : taliban believe establish
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210819_01/

In Afghanistan, the Taliban are believed to be preparing to establish a new government by holding talks with key negotiators.

The militants have been tightening their grip on the country, having gained control of the capital, Kabul, and most provinces.

Against this backdrop, local media reported on Wednesday that senior Taliban members led by Anas Haqqani met Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation.

Abdullah led the peace process under the administration led by President Ashraf Ghani, who has fled the country.

Haqqani is a brother of the leader of the hard-line Haqqani Network, blamed for a series of terrorist attacks.

Haqqani also reportedly met former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The two sides are believed to have discussed forming a new Taliban-led government, and how members of the ousted administration could be part of the scheme.

Meanwhile, Taliban fighters fired at protesters in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar Province, on Wednesday.

Local police told NHK that participants carried the national flag in apparent opposition to the Taliban flag.

Reuters quoted multiple eyewitnesses as saying the shooting left at least three people dead and more than 10 others wounded.

Key words : metropolitan new cases
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210818_20/

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it confirmed 5,386 new cases of coronavirus infection in the capital on Wednesday. The figure is the second-highest number to date.

It's an increase of 1,186 from a week ago and the highest for a Wednesday.

Tokyo officials say the number of seriously ill patients stood at 275, down one from the previous day.

Key words : paralympic 18 new
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210818_19/

Organizers of the Tokyo Paralympics, which open next Tuesday, have confirmed 18 new cases of the coronavirus among personnel linked to the event.

Among those 18 cases confirmed on Wednesday, six were foreign arrivals, comprising four media staff, one official and one contractor. They had already spent 14 days in quarantine.

The other 12 were residents of Japan, comprising 10 contractors, one volunteer and one organizing committee staff.

Wednesday's figure is the largest daily tally since the Tokyo Games organizing committee began disclosing Paralympics-related infections last Thursday.

Meanwhile, four people have tested positive in connection with the Tokyo Olympics, which ended last week.

One of them was a Games official from abroad who had spent 14 days in quarantine after arriving in Japan. The other three were residents of Japan.

The number of new cases disclosed by the Tokyo Games organizing committee since July 1 now totals 602. Among them, 544 are linked to the Olympics and 58 to the Paralympics.

Key words : human rights group
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210818_26/

A human rights group says over 1,000 people in Myanmar have been killed in the military crackdown following the February coup in the country.

Myanmar's rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says the death toll from the crackdown reached 1,001 on Wednesday.

Since the February 1 coup, many people have taken to the street and walked off their jobs to protest. The military has repeatedly fired shots and assaulted protesters, and tortured those detained.

The rights group has reported cases in which the military resorted to a more brutal clampdown as more citizens started using arms.

It says about 40 villagers were found dead in a forest in the northwestern region of Sagaing in July. The military had detained them, suspecting the villagers of being armed-group members and their supporters.

On the Myanmar situation, the UN Security Council has been failing to take concrete actions due to a rift between the West on the one hand, which calls for sanctions on the military, and Russia and China on the other, which oppose them.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has yet to send a special envoy for mediation between the military and the pro-democracy force. Nearly four months have passed since the ASEAN leaders agreed to send an envoy.

Key words : anti-government
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210818_14/

Anti-government protests are escalating in Thailand, with many people believed to have been injured in clashes with police in the three days through Tuesday.

Growing public discontent over the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has led to calls by protestors for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to resign.

Amid the spread of the Delta variant, the country has continued to report more than 20,000 new cases and around 200 deaths every day. Protesters blame the government for the increase and for the delay in the country's receipt of COVID-19 vaccines.

On Sunday, demonstrators in cars and on motorbikes clashed with police as they moved toward government facilities. A police building and vehicles were set on fire.

On Monday, protestors threw firecrackers at police. Officers responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas, and the clash is believed to have caused many injuries.

A hospital reported that one protester was wounded by a live bullet. The police have denied using live rounds.

Demonstrators angered by the incident rushed to the police headquarters on Tuesday, throwing stones and paint.

Key words : exports for july
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210818_15/

Japan's exports for July grew by 37 percent from a year earlier, a fifth straight month of year-on-year expansion.

The Finance Ministry said on Wednesday that exports during the period were worth about 67 billion dollars.

A jump in year-on-year growth partly reflects the fact that exports a year earlier were battered by the coronavirus pandemic. But last month's figure also topped pre-pandemic exports for July 2019 by 10.7 percent and marked the second-highest for July since comparable statistics became available in 1979.

The growth was led by robust car exports to the United States, and iron and steel products used as building materials to South Korea.

Last month's imports soared 28.5 percent year-on-year to about 63 billion dollars in value, marking a sixth month in a row of growth.

Crude oil prices more than doubled from the previous year, leading import growth by value. Imports of medicine, including coronavirus vaccines, also grew by nearly 40 percent from the same period last year.

The goods trade surplus stood at about 4 billion dollars, ensuring black ink for the second straight month.

Key words : tourism organization
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210818_25/

The number of foreign tourists who visited Japan in July is estimated to have been more than 51,000. The figure is up from the same period last year and is attributed to the Tokyo Olympics. But compared to the same period two years earlier in 2019, the number of visitors was down 98-point-3 percent and remains at a record low.

The Japan National Tourism Organization says about 51,100 foreign tourists visited Japan in July, mostly athletes and officials attending the Tokyo Olympics. Last year, the figure was only about 3,700 for the same period.

However, compared to the same month in 2019 before the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, the figure was down by 98-point-3 percent, and remains at a record low.
By country and region, 6,100 visitors arrived from the United States, 3,900 from China, and 3,400 from the United Kingdom.

The Japanese government has completely restricted the entry of foreigners into Japan, except for special circumstances such as the re-entry of foreigners with resident status or people who have to visit to attend a funeral service of a relative.

Key words : ceremony motegi
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210818_13/

A ceremony was held in Palestine on Tuesday to celebrate the restoration of the ruins of Hisham's Palace, a major tourist site in the West Bank town of Jericho.

Japan contributed about 11 million dollars to the project under its official development assistance program.

Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu visited the ruins on Tuesday. He cut the ribbon at the ceremony, together with Palestinian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Rula Maayah.

Hisham's Palace was built in the eighth century under the Umayyad Empire. Its 825 square-meter mosaic floor is one of the largest in the Middle East.

Maayah said the ruins are a major source of tourism for Palestine. She also said she looks forward to first opening the site to local people, and then others from around the world when the coronavirus pandemic is over.

Separately, Motegi met Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Palestine Riyadh al-Maliki in Ramallah in the West Bank on Tuesday.

They discussed the Mideast conflict. Motegi told Maliki that Japan will continue to support a two-state solution calling for the peaceful coexistence of Israel and a future Palestinian state.

Motegi referred to an armed confrontation between Israel and Palestinian militants in May, and the subsequent ceasefire. He urged the two sides to refrain from unilateral actions that raise tensions, and to instead work on building trust.

Motegi also conveyed Japan's intention to provide additional food and other forms of aid to Palestinian refugees.