at 18:30 (JST), November 04

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/20211104183000_english_1.mp3


Key words : free trade australia
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211103_21/

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, will come into effect in January. The free trade agreement will include 15 Asia-Pacific economies.

The deal was signed last November by Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, along with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Japan's Foreign Ministry officially announced that the partnership would come into force on January 1. This comes after Australia and New Zealand sent documents to the ASEAN Secretariat notifying they've completed their domestic procedures.

RCEP will cover about 30 percent of the world's population and gross domestic product.

Key words : rcep 90 percent
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211104_12/

Japan is expected to see big benefits from the world's biggest trade pact, which is set to come into effect from January.

But the country will need to come up with strategies so that rules and international order are maintained within the framework.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, will eventually cover about 30 percent of the world's population and gross-domestic product.

Its 15 members include China and other economies in the Asia and Pacific.

It would eliminate tariffs on over 90 percent of goods.

RCEP is expected to help lift Japan out of an economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

But the United States is not a member. There is a view that in the absence of the world's biggest economy, the pact will elevate China's role and influence.

Another Asian powerhouse, India, was taking part in negotiations at the beginning. But the country held off on sealing the deal.

Japan's Foreign Ministry says RCEP will first come into force on January 1st with 10 of the countries, including Japan and China.

It would be Japan's first free-trade agreement with China, its biggest trading partner.

Key words : taiwan president digital
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211104_17/

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and members of a European Parliament delegation have agreed to strengthen ties to counter disinformation and cyberattacks originating in China and elsewhere.

The seven-member team led by Raphael Glucksmann from France held a meeting with Tsai in Taipei on Thursday. The first official delegation dispatched by the European Parliament to Taiwan arrived the previous day.

The members belong to a special committee that handles foreign interference in domestic processes such as elections and shaping public opinion in the European Union and its member states.

Tsai told the delegation that she hopes Taiwan and its European friends can share their experiences and deepen partnership to counter disinformation and safeguard freedom and democracy.

Glucksmann said Taiwan has built a democracy while facing enormous threats and pressure. He added the EU is now confronted with great threats from authoritarian regimes.

The delegation is also scheduled to meet Taiwan's digital minister and others during the three-day visit. China is expected to react sharply.

Key words : Biden nominee
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211104_04/

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved President Joe Biden's nominee for ambassador to Japan.

The committee on Wednesday backed the nomination of Rahm Emanuel by a majority vote.

Emanuel, a former congressman, served as chief of staff to Barack Obama. He is also believed to be close to President Biden.

He had been criticized by some Democratic Party members for his handling of a fatal shooting of a Black teenager by a white police officer when he served as mayor of Chicago.

Two Democrats on the committee voted against the nomination.

Emanuel is expected to arrive in Japan once he is endorsed by the full Senate.

A White House spokesperson said President Biden nominated Emanuel because he has experience and political skills suitable to represent the US in Japan, an important partner for the country.

Key words : business lobby immigration
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211104_01/

Major Japanese business group Keidanren plans to ask the government to review its immigration controls to revitalize social and economic activities.

Keidanren, or the Japan Business Federation, has compiled proposals for the government as more than 70 percent of the population have received two shots of COVID-19 vaccine.

Keidanren says it will ask the government to carry out its policies from a scientific viewpoint and review the current immigration controls to allow the resumption of business travel into and out of Japan.

The business lobby says the government should exempt people from quarantine after their arrival in Japan if they are vaccinated. It will also call for quicker immigration procedures, citing the digitalization of vaccination certificates.

Keidanren will call on the government to speed up discussions to allow coronavirus patients with mild symptoms to be treated at ordinary hospitals on the premise that oral COVID-19 drugs are used.

The group says the government should focus on making the medical system more flexible so it can cope better if infection cases rise again, and that the current target of reducing commuter numbers should be reviewed.

Keidanren will make the recommendations public as early as next week.

Key words : indian capital
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211102_35/

Schools in the Indian capital of New Delhi are ending a long break after being shut for more than 19 months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Students went back to their schools on Monday after attending only online classes since March of last year.
Some parents voiced concerns, saying they did not want to send their kids back to school yet.

But the country's health and education authorities have prepared strict rules to keep the schools functioning safely.

One student said, "We were not able to meet our friends or teachers during online classes. That's why we feel so good to be back at school."

Life has been slowly returning to normal in India after the country weathered a devastating second wave of infections earlier this year. Recently, new infections have fallen below 20,000 on some days, since a peak of more than 400,000 in May.

Some are concerned about a possible surge in cases with the Hindu festival season in November.
Last spring India saw a steep rise during and after another festival season.

Key words : beetle koriyama
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211102_15/

An exotic longhorn beetle known to damage trees has been discovered for the first time in Japan. Roadside trees in Fukushima Prefecture fell victim to it.

Anzai Yukari, an arborist in Koriyama City, says that she found the pest in a damaged tree trunk in July and sent it to the national Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute.

The institute identified it as an Apriona swainsoni swainsoni, a type of longhorn beetle native to China and other places that had never been found in Japan before.

Anzai says the pests live in trees such as Maackia amurensis, which are planted on roadsides and in gardens across Japan.

She says 52 out of 54 trees along a road in Koriyama City were damaged by the insect. One of them has already toppled and three others were cut down as they were feared to fall.

Kagaya Etsuko, an expert on longhorn beetles at the institute, says the insect is known in China as the killer of roadside trees. She warns that the spread of the insect needs to be immediately studied to eradicate it before it spreads further.