Hi all, 

In today’s bulletin: Biden says China won’t surpass US as global leader on his watch; China sets duties on Australian wine for 5 years as ties sour; On the run and in the shadows, Myanmar’s NGOs face uncertain future; Supplies to Asia may be disrupted due to Suez Canal incident; Asian Americans speaking out amid surge in hate crimes; and more.

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Biden says China won’t surpass US as global leader on his watch

US President Joe Biden has said he would thwart China’s ambition of passing the United States to become the most powerful country in the world, vowing to invest heavily to ensure America prevails in the race between the world’s two largest economies.

Appearing later on CNN, the Chinese ambassador to the US, Mr Cui Tiankai, refuted Mr Biden’s claims about China made during his first presidential news conference on Thursday (March 25) and stressed that Beijing’s goal is “not to compete with or replace any other country”. 

Meanwhile, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that dozens of experts with “direct experience” with China have signed a declaration calling for an end to an anti-China campaign by some Western countries and urging them to respond to China’s offer of cooperation.

Read more about the fraught US-China ties:

US-China fight: How long can the EU avoid taking sides?

Taiwan, US to strengthen maritime coordination as China looms

China sets duties on Australian wine for 5 years as ties sour

China will impose tariffs of more than 200 per cent on Australian wine for five years, formalising curbs that have been in place for months amid an increasingly fraught relationship with Canberra.

Imports of Australian wine products will incur anti-dumping levies of between 116.2 per cent and 218.4 per cent with effect from March 28, the Chinese commerce ministry said in a final ruling on Friday (March 26).

The latest move comes after almost a full year of one-sided trade reprisals volleyed by China at Australia that have hit a range of commodities from coal to beef and lobster, and a March 12 summit of Quad nations – the United States, India, Australia and Japan – that is widely seen as an anti-China club.

Read more:

Worsening relations with Australia and Japan an obstacle to China’s foreign policy goals, says Chinese expert

On the run and in the shadows, Myanmar’s NGOs face uncertain future

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Myanmar are preparing for the worst as the military which seized power in a strongly condemned coup tightens scrutiny of the groups and their funding sources, ST’s Indochina Bureau Chief Tan Hui Yee reports.

A recent crackdown on an NGO – which the military claimed had breached rules on deposit and withdrawals and took control of private bank accounts held by the organisation – sent chills through an erstwhile vibrant NGO and civil society sector which attracted over US$304 million (S$410 million) in official development assistance in 2019.

Local NGO leaders and workers contacted by ST said most of their official activities had been suspended and that many of their colleagues – anticipating harsher repression – were on the run.

Get the latest developments in Myanmar here

Watch Asian Insider video: Time not on the side of Asean as it scrambles for a strategy for Myanmar crisis

Supplies to Asia may be disrupted due to Suez Canal incident: S’pore minister

Supplies to Singapore and the region may be temporarily disrupted, said Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung, after one of the world’s largest container ships got stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking traffic along the critical waterway.

The alternative is for ships coming from Europe and the Middle East to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, located at the southern tip of the African continent, to get to Asia, he added. But this is a longer journey that will take one to two more weeks.

The task of re-floating the 200,000-tonne ship had initially been expected to last only a couple of days but could now extend into weeks.

Read more: 

In Suez Canal, stuck ship is a warning about excessive globalisation

Asian Americans speaking out amid surge in hate crimes

From being spat at to physical assault and worse, there has been a surge in hate crimes against Asian-Americans, a trend that was thrust under the spotlight this month when a shooting in Atlanta shocked the Asian community for the high proportion of Asian women among those killed.

ST’s US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh reports on the sense of insecurity sweeping the community in the Asian Insider weekend special tomorrow on straitstimes.com.

Read more:

Spa worker, waiter, mechanic: New Yorkers patrol after anti-Asian attacks 

New York City deploying Asian undercover force to combat hate crimes

In other news

Burberry becomes first luxury brand to suffer Chinese backlash over Xinjiang: Burberry has lost a Chinese brand ambassador and its hallmark tartan design was scrubbed from a popular video game, becoming the first luxury brand assailed by the Chinese backlash to Western accusations of abuses in Xinjiang. Burberry is a member of the Better Cotton Initiative, a group that promotes sustainable cotton production which said in October 2020 that it was suspending its approval of cotton sourced from Xinjiang, citing human rights concerns.

Tokyo complains over US military’s use of term ‘East Sea’ instead of ‘Sea of Japan’: The US military has landed in hot water with Japanese officials when a spokesman used the term “East Sea” to refer to the wedge of sea between Japan, Russia and the Korean peninsula where North Korea tested missiles earlier in the day. The name of the body of water has been a bone of contention between Japan – which calls it “Sea of Japan” – and South Korea.  

That’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed today’s stories, and do check back next week for more insightful reads. 

Choo Kiong 

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