Asian Insider, June 9: Hong Kong & China, Huawei’s 5G patents, China & Australia

Hi all,

In today's bulletin: Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam signals deeper financial integration with China, Indonesia & Thailand ease restrictions, Pyongyang threatens to cut ties with Seoul, Huawei's 5G patents, China's word of caution to students seeking to study in Australia, and more.

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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam sought closer financial integration with China and warned protesters against further chaos, as the city marked one year of the march against the extradition bill that was attended by close to a million people.

Mrs Lam said the city should be transformed into a global hub for private wealth, a more prominent offshore renminbi centre and encouraged "greater connectivity" between its financial markets and mainland China's. She made these remarks while addressing a weekly news conference today and said these proposals had been made to Chinese leaders.

"Over the years we've had the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect, Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect and the bond connect," Mrs Lam said. "There are other connectivities that we've been talking about, whether we could have an insurance connect, an IPO connect or private wealth connect," she said.

The Hong Kong CE also said Beijing's plans to build a new free-trade zone on China's southern island province of Hainan would not be a threat to Hong Kong's position.

Protests in the city, meanwhile, have quietened relatively with calls for participation pulling in only small groups ranging from dozens to hundreds, writes Hong Kong Correspondent Claire Huang.

Alongside, disruptions last year does not seem to have impacted the city's ranking as the world's most expensive city for expats, a title it held onto for a third year, in Mercer's latest annual report.

Southeast Asian economies were easing restrictions on travel with precautions but a rise in the number of coronavirus infections continued to cause alarm.

Indonesia today resumed domestic flights for all passengers provided airlines operate at 70 per cent capacity and follow strict rules brought into force on Tuesday (June 9), but the country also announced its biggest daily rise in cases of the novel coronavirus.

Indonesia has recorded 33,076 positive coronavirus infections and 1,923 Covid-19 deaths. On Tuesday, it announced 1,043 new cases, the highest daily increase so far.

In Thailand, meanwhile, Thais began travelling to other parts of the country in droves as the country gradually eases its partial lockdown measures, including inter-provincial travel restrictions. While concerns about the spread of coronavirus infections spread, no local infections have been reported. The country is set to open to international tourists from July

North Korea today threatened to sever hotlines with South Korea before shutting down all contact. This follows its earlier threat to close an inter-Korean liaison office and other projects after Pyongyang also expressed its displeasure over anti-North leaflets being sent to its part of the border.

But experts believe the hardline stance could be aimed at cementing the position of Ms Kim Yo Jong as the nation's second in command. The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had slammed the leaflets and made some of the threats. Experts also believe that the latest incidents could be a way of distracting North Koreans from the crumbling economy, which has been squeezed hard by United Nations sanctions and the Covid-19 pandemic, writes South Korea Correspondent Chang May Choon.

Either way, the fresh tensions are leaving many concerned.

Chinese telecom giant Huawei owns a vast portfolio of 5G technology patents that will ensure it will get to earn from this despite continuing pressure from the Trump administration.

A study by two research firms on the inventions most closely connected to the 5G standards found that six companies owned more than 80 per cent of the patents. These were Huawei, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Nokia Oyj, Ericsson AB and Qualcomm, the only US-based company in the group.

That may be awkward for US President Donald Trump, whose administration has accused the Chinese company of being a security threat.

China, today, urged students to seriously think about opting to study in Australia following a spate of racial incidents targeting Asians in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The warning was issued by the Ministry of Education and comes days after the Chinese culture and tourism ministry advised citizens against travelling to Australia due to racial discrimination and violence. Meanwhile, Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said the country had established processes to stamp out racism.

MANILA PLANS MORE STRUCTURES IN SOUTH CHINA SEA: The Philippines plans to spend 1.3 billion pesos (S$36 million) to build more structures on a disputed island in the South China Sea, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said today. The South-east Asian nation has completed a beaching ramp on Thitu Island, which it calls Pag-asa, that will allow easier transfer of construction equipment. Now a runway will be repaired.

FORMER SABAH CHIEF MINISTER ACQUITTED: The former Umno chief minister in Sabah, Musa Aman, has been acquitted of all charges of corruption and money laundering related to timber concessions in the north-eastern Borneo state. Mr Musa was first charged in November 2018, with 35 counts under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 for allegedly receiving US$63 million (S$87.6 million) in Hong Kong and Singapore in exchange for offering timber concessions in Sabah.

THAI DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST MISSING IN CAMBODIA: Cambodian police said they will investigate the alleged disappearance of a self-exiled Thai activist, denying any involvement in what a rights group claimed was an abduction. The activist Wanchalearm Satsksit, a sharp critic of the Thai government, was dragged into a car in broad daylight last week in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, according to Human Rights Watch, which cited witnesses and security camera footage.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading, stay safe and we'll be back with you tomorrow.

Shefali