Pakistan to seek billion loan from Beijing

In today's headlines: China claims Covid-19 cases in the Olympic bubble still manageable; a New Zealand journalist takes refuge in Kabul after Wellington denies access to her home country; new record for public debt in the Philippines; Bali will reopen to the world.

PAKISTAN

The Express Tribune reports that Prime Minister Imran Khan will seek a billion loan from China during his visit to Beijing for the Winter Olympics. Over the weekend, the Prime Minister gave interviews to Chinese media in which he criticised Western governments for their positions on the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the Muslims in Kashmir. 

JAPAN - SOUTH KOREA

One of the many historical disputes between Tokyo and Seoul has been rekindled. Today, the Japanese government decided that it will try to include the gold mine on the island of Sado in the UNESCO World Heritage list. According to South Korea, this is an attempt by Japan to hide the use of the mine as a place of forced labour during the colonisation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

CHINA

Despite an increase in the number of infections, authorities in Beijing said that the number of cases of Covid-19 related to the Winter Olympics is still at a controllable level. The Organising Committee has recorded 200 cases since 23 January in the "bubble" that separates all event personnel, including athletes, from the public.

AFGHANISTAN - NEW ZEALAND

Charlotte Bellis is a New Zealand journalist who was denied permission to return home to give birth, so she returned to Afghanistan, where she had been working for the past year. To contain the spread of Covid-19, Wellington imposes a 10-day quarantine in special facilities upon return. Due to high demand, many were denied access. Bellis and his fellow photojournalist, having documented the withdrawal of US troops from Kabul, were in possession of visas for Afghanistan.

INDONESIA

The island of Bali will reopen to tourists from all over the world starting next week. Although Indonesia had already reopened its borders to visitors of certain nationalities, there were still no direct flights. A similar announcement was made by Thailand earlier in the day. Covid-19 cases continue to increase but the economies of Southeast Asian countries need the tourists.  

PHILIPPINES

The Philippines closed 2021 with a public debt of 11.7 trillion pesos. The ratio of public debt to gross domestic product stands at 60.5%, higher than 54.6% in 2020. The Treasury said it is "still within the sustainable threshold as the economy continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic". Raising financial obligations will be a major issue for the next president.

IRAN - CHINA

The Iranian Council of Ministers approved the opening of a Chinese consulate in Bandar Abbas, Iran's main commercial port. The foreign ministers of the two countries said that a long-term Sino-Iranian collaboration has now begun, but according to Al Monitor much in the future will depend on the outcome of the nuclear negotiations.

RUSSIA

Russia has decided to pay pensions and social services to citizens of the separatist Ukrainian republics of Donbass, Donetsk and Lugansk, who have received Russian passports. Meanwhile, due to internal disagreements over the partition of Muscovite subsidies, the local puppet governments elected in 2018 have disappeared altogether.