Top Asian News 3:08 a.m. GMT

China’s economy grows at a 5.4% annual pace in Jan-March quarter

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s economy expanded at a 5.4% annual pace in January-March, supported by strong exports ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s rapid increases in tariffs on Chinese exports, the government said Wednesday. Analysts are forecasting that the world’s second largest economy will slow significantly in coming months, however, as tariffs as high as 145% on U.S. imports from China take effect. Exports were a strong factor in China’s ability to attain a 5% annual growth rate in 2024 and the official target for this year remains at about 5%. Beijing has hit back at the U.S. with 125% tariffs on American exports, while also stressing its determination to keep its own markets open to trade and investment.

Hong Kong post office will stop shipping parcels to the US over tariffs

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s post office will stop shipping small parcels to the United States after Washington announced plans to charge tariffs on small-value parcels from the southern Chinese city, the government said Wednesday. The U.S. government earlier announced that it would end a customs exception allowing small-value parcels from Hong Kong to enter the U.S. without tax, slapping a 120% tariff on them starting from May 2. The “de minimis” exemption currently allows shipments that are worth less than $800 to go tax-free. A government statement said Hongkong Post would not collect tariffs on behalf of Washington, and will suspend accepting non-airmail parcels containing goods destined for the U.S.

Pakistan wants to deport millions of Afghans. In one region, they have no plans to go

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Akber Khan is seeing a brisk trade at his restaurant in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar. Staff fan skewers of grilled meats and dole out rice and salad. As an Afghan, Khan ought to be leaving as part of a nationwide crackdown on foreigners the Pakistani government says are living in the country illegally. But the only heat he feels is from the kitchen. “I have been here for almost 50 years. I got married here, so did my children, and 10 of my family members are buried here. That’s why we have no desire to leave,” he said.

Xi makes a case for free trade, presenting China as a source of ‘stability and certainty’

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s Xi is making the case for free trade as he tours Southeast Asia this week, presenting China as a source of “stability and certainty.” On Monday, he was welcomed to Hanoi with pomp and ceremony by Vietnam’s President Luong Cuong. He arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, later Tuesday, for a three-day visit and will end his tour with a stop in Cambodia. In Hanoi, Xi had a meeting with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, where he said the two countries “have brought the world valuable stability and certainty” in a “turbulent world.” He also paid respects at the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, the founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party.

Afghan children will die because of US funding cuts, aid official says

Afghan children will die because of US funding cuts, an aid agency official said Tuesday. The warning follows the cancellation of foreign aid contracts by President Donald Trump’s administration, including to Afghanistan where more than half of the population needs humanitarian assistance to survive. Action Against Hunger initially stopped all U.S.-funded activities in March after the money dried up suddenly. But it kept the most critical services going in northeastern Badakhshan province and the capital Kabul through its own budget, a measure that stopped this month. Its therapeutic feeding unit in Kabul is empty and closing this week. There are no patients, and staff contracts are ending because of the U.S.

People detained in Myanmar after release from scam compounds attempt an escape

BANGKOK (AP) — They walked out of the compound in Myanmar not knowing where they would go. Though they were aiming for the river that separated them from Thailand and freedom, they didn’t know if they would make it across. A group of more than 270 some men and women, who were rescued from forced labor in scam compounds two months ago but remain in detention in Myanmar, attempted a mass escape Sunday out of fear that they may end up being sent back to prison-like compounds where they face beatings, torture and potentially even death. “We will kill ourselves instead of going back to them,” said one woman, who has been waiting to go home to Ethiopia for more than two months.

Singapore dissolves parliament, paving the way for May 3 general election

Singapore’s parliament was dissolved Tuesday, paving the way for general elections in which the city-state’s long-ruling People’s Action Party will seek to strengthen its dominance under Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. The election will be held on May 3, the Elections Department said later in the afternoon. Victory is virtually assured for the PAP, which has led Singapore since its independence in 1965. “We are witnessing profound changes in the world. It is becoming more uncertain, unsettled and even unstable,” Wong wrote on Facebook. “The global conditions that enabled Singapore’s success over the past decades may no longer hold. That is why I have called this General Election,” adding that Singaporeans should choose ”the team to lead our nation.” Wong, who was sworn in as Singapore’s fourth leader in May last year, wants to clinch a stronger win after the PAP suffered a setback in 2020 polls over voters’ rising discontent with the government.

US and Philippine joint combat drills show Trump is not scaling back on South China Sea region

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — About 14,000 American and Filipino forces will take part in battle-readiness exercises in the Philippines, including live-fire drills, in a largescale deployment that shows the Trump administration is not scaling back its commitment to help deter aggression in the region, a senior Philippine military official said Tuesday. The annual joint Balikatan — Tagalog for “shoulder-to-shoulder” — exercises between the longtime allies will be held from April 21 to May 9 and involve about 9,000 United States and 5,000 Filipino military personnel. They will involve fighter aircraft, navy ships and an array of weaponry, including a U.S. anti-ship missile system, Philippine Brig.

Roadside bomb kills 3 in southwest Pakistan as 2 polio workers are abducted in the northwest

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A powerful roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying security personnel in Pakistan’s restive southwest on Tuesday, killing three officers and wounding 18 others, officials said. Separately, gunmen also abducted two polio workers in the northwest. The first attack occurred in Mastung, a district in the province of Balochistan, according to government spokesperson Shahid Rind. No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatists, who frequently target security forces and civilians in the province as well as other parts of the country. Balochistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency in Pakistan, with an array of separatist groups, including the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army which was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States in 2019, staging attacks.

China pursuing 3 alleged US operatives over cyberattacks during Asian Games

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China said Tuesday it is pursuing three alleged U.S. operatives accused of carrying out cyberattacks on Chinese infrastructure during the Asian Games held in the city of Harbin in February. A notice from the Harbin police headquarters named them as Katheryn A. Wilson, Robert J. Snelling, and Stephen W. Johnson and said they worked through the National Security Agency. The police said nothing about how they obtained the names or where the three were believed to be at present. The alleged attacks targeted the systems for managing the Games themselves, such as registration, competition entry and travel, all of which stored “vast amounts of sensitive personal data of individuals associated with the Games,” the police said.