China and Solomon Islands are negotiating a security agreement to establish a Chinese military presence on the island, according to a leaked draft report.
According to the draft security agreement circulating on social media on Thursday, it would allow China to “protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects” in the Pacific, less than 2,000km off Australia’s coast.
During the 4th edition of the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Melbourne on Friday, foreign ministers of India, the United States, Japan and Australia sent out a stern message against those indulging in cross border terrorism and threatening to disrupt peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
They also condemned North Korea’s destabilising ballistic missile launches, which it said were in violation of the UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR).
South Korean leaders and activists accused China of “stealing” their culture after a lady performer wore a traditional Korean dress during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
During the event on Friday, a woman was seen wearing a Korean conventional costume a white and light purple hanbok dress while appearing amongst those representing China’s totally different ‘ethnic’ teams.
The South Korean leaders viewed it as a “rude” act of appropriating the tradition of a sovereign state.
Hong Kong a special administrative region of China had been able to manage its affairs with little autonomy based on the “one country, two systems.”
Unlike China, Hong Kong relatively enjoyed the freedom of expression, basic civil and pollical rights and access to information.
However, all that changed after China in 2020 passed a wide-ranging new security law for Hong Kong which reduces the city's autonomy and makes it easier to punish protesters.
The world’s population is set to decline for the first time ever in the next century, a new study published in the Lancet journal has revealed.
Currently, there are about 7.8 billion people in the world. The study has predicted that the peak in the global population would expectedly be around 9.7 billion in 2064 and then decline to 8.79 billion in 2100.
Up to 23 countries could see their populations shrink by more than 50 per cent, including Japan, Thailand, Italy, Spain, Portugal, South Korea, and other countries due to low birth rates and ageing populations.