Helping the world's fourth most populous nation transition to clean energy.
Welcome to VOA Asia Weekly. I'm Chris Casquejo in Washington. That story is just ahead, but first, making headlines.
China scrapped the travel tracking app that has been imposed on its citizens since early 2020 to further pivot away from draconian COVID restrictions. On Wednesday, the government also scaled down its daily COVID-19 report in response to a sharp decline in PCR testing despite widely reported spikes in infection.
Hong Kong announced a further loosening of COVID-19 curbs starting Wednesday. International passengers arriving in the territory no longer face COVID-19 movement controls or bans from certain venues. The global financial hub is also scrapping a mandatory COVID-19 mobile application.
The national security trial of Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai has been further postponed to September. The city is awaiting Beijing’s ruling that could effectively block Lai from hiring a British lawyer. Lai was arrested in August 2020 during a crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement. He’s fighting charges of endangering national security and if convicted, faces up to life in prison.
Top nuclear envoys from the United States, Japan and South Korea met in Indonesia’s capital on Tuesday to discuss ways to bring North Korea back to denuclearization talks, vowing to strengthen cooperation on dealing with Pyongyang's threatening nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The U.S. military launched a new space unit in South Korea on Wednesday, a move taken to reinforce the allies’ capability of responding to North Korea’s escalating missile threats. A ceremony marking the launch of U.S. Space Forces Korea was held at the U.S. Air Base in Osan.
Fijians voted for the Pacific nation’s next prime minister Wednesday in an election pitting two former military coup leaders against each other. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama is seeking to extend his 16-year hold on power. He first seized the top job by force in 2006. His opponent is Sitiveni Rabuka, who led Fiji’s first military coup in 1987 and later served as an elected prime minister in the 1990s.
One of the challenges of fighting climate change is balancing the need to shift to cleaner sources of energy in the future with the need to keep the lights on in the here and now. It’s no different for Indonesia, with its rapidly growing economy, as VOA's Yuni Salim explains in this report narrated by Nova Poerwadi.
In Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of November's G-20 Summit of the world's largest economies, the United States, Japan and the rest of the G-7 group of industrialized nations announced a Just Energy Transition Partnership with Indonesia.
Its goal is to help the world's fourth most populous nation transition to clean energy.
Indonesia's finance minister welcomed the new partnership.
“Indonesia is going to be an economy which will continue growing, and the demand for energy is definitely going to continue to increase."
Environmentalists estimate that about 85% of Indonesia's electricity is generated by fossil fuels, mostly coal. The new partnership is designed to help Indonesia move towards "net zero" emissions by 2050, ten years earlier than the country's initial target.
Separately, at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021, Indonesia set a deadline of 2040 to retire its coal-powered plants.
Environmental activists say that they appreciate the good intentions, but right now, Indonesia can’t even meet more modest short-term climate goals.
"2025, for instance, is only three years away. The goal was to have 25% of energy generation come from renewable sources. We're still at 12% and have been stuck there for years."
The newly announced energy partnership will provide 20 billion dollars in public and private funds to assist the transition and will not only incentivize renewable energy but also offset the impact of the transition on local communities.
For Yuni Salim in Washington, Nova Poerwadi, VOA News.
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Vietnam reports tens of thousands of workers have been laid off and almost half a million other workers have been forced to work fewer hours as orders fall due to Western consumers cutting spending. Vietnam is one of the world's largest exporters of clothing, footwear, and furniture.
Finally, elephants in Thailand had a 'World Cup' moment of their own on Tuesday.
13 elephants put their soccer skills to the test against local school children. Organizers say the match aims to promote local tourism and encourage students to play sports.
Thanks for watching VOA Asia Weekly. I’m Chris Casquejo. Until next week.
