Top Asian News 4:58 a.m. GMT

China’s population dropped for a second straight year as deaths jumped after COVID lockdowns ended

BEIJING (AP) — China’s population dropped by 2 million people in 2023 in the second straight annual drop as births fell and deaths jumped after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, the government said Wednesday. The number of deaths rose by 690,000 to 11.1 million, more than double last year’s increase. Demographers were expecting a sharp rise in deaths because of COVID-19 outbreaks that started at the end of the previous year and continued through February of last year. The total population stood at 1.4 billion, the statistics bureau said. China, long the most populated country in the world, dropped into second place behind India in 2023, according to U.N.

China’s economy expanded 5.2% last year, hitting the government’s target despite an uneven recovery

HONG KONG (AP) — China’s economy for the October-December quarter grew at a quicker rate, allowing the Chinese government to hit its target of about 5% annual growth for 2023 even though trade data and the economic recovery remain uneven. Official data released Wednesday showed that the Chinese economy grew 5.2% for 2023, surpassing the target of ‘about 5%’ that the government had set. The growth for 2023 is likely helped by 2022’s GDP of just 3% as China’s economy slowed due to COVID-19 and nationwide lockdowns during the pandemic. For the fourth quarter, China’s gross domestic product also grew at 5.2% compared to the same time last year.

Thai officials, accused of coddling jailed ex-PM, say not calling him ‘inmate’ is standard practice

BANGKOK (AP) — Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is serving a prison sentence after being convicted of wrongdoing in office, but he shouldn’t be called an inmate, the country’s Correction Department declared Tuesday. The agency felt it necessary to explain that it is not being deferential to the controversial former leader when it refers to him in public without using the term. The department said its standard practice is not to call prisoners “inmates” in its public statements to avoid stigmatizing them. It said the term is only used internally among its officials. It was responding to critics who charge that Thaksin, a billionaire populist and unofficial patron of the political party that returned to power last year, is being given special treatment while he serves his sentence in a private room in a state hospital instead of in a prison cell.

Russia hosts North Korea’s top diplomat for talks on ties amid concerns over alleged arms deal

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday hosted North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui for talks on expanding ties between the countries amid international concerns over an alleged arms cooperation deal between Pyongyang and Moscow. Lavrov met with Choe earlier in the day, saying at the start of the meeting that they would discuss “active work” on implementing the agreements reached by the countries’ leaders. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia in September to meet Putin and visit several military sites, sparking concerns about an arms alliance that would help Moscow replenish its arsenals during the fighting in Ukraine.

Norway considers halting overseas adoptions as Denmark’s only international agency winds down work

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s only overseas adoption agency said Tuesday that it is “winding down” its facilitation of international adoptions after a government agency raised concerns over fabricated documents and procedures that obscured children’s biological origins abroad. The privately run Danish International Adoption mediated adoptions in the Philippines, India, South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. Last month, an appeals board suspended DIA’s work in South Africa because of questions about the agency’s adherence to legal standards. The Danish agency announced it was getting out of the international adoption business on the same day Norway’s top regulatory body recommended stopping all overseas adoptions for two years pending an investigation into several allegedly illegal cases.

US, South Korea and Japan conduct naval drills as tensions deepen with North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States, South Korea and Japan conducted combined naval exercises involving an American aircraft carrier in their latest show of strength against nuclear-armed North Korea, South Korea’s military said Wednesday, as the three countries’ senior diplomats were to meet in Seoul to discuss the deepening standoff with Pyongyang. The training in waters off South Korea’s Jeju island came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues a provocative run in weapons testing and threats that has raised regional tensions to their highest point in years. At Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament this week, Kim declared that North Korea would abandon its long-standing commitment to a peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered a rewriting of North’s constitution to eliminate the idea of a shared statehood between the war-divided countries.

Provider of faulty computer system apologizes to hundreds affected by UK Post Office scandal

LONDON (AP) — Fujitsu, the company whose faulty computer accounting system resulted in the wrongful conviction of hundreds of Post Office branch managers across the U.K., apologized to the victims on Tuesday for its role in the one of the country’s biggest miscarriages of justice and said it was long aware that the software had bugs. Paul Patterson, Europe director of Japan’s Fujitsu Ltd., told a committee of lawmakers that the company will provide funds to compensate branch managers, some of whom were imprisoned for theft or fraud for the failures of the accounting software that was first introduced in 1999.

Evacuation underway for stranded tourists after multiple avalanches trap 1,000 people in China

BEIJING (AP) — Rescuers evacuated tourists on Tuesday from a remote skiing area in northwestern China where dozens of avalanches triggered by heavy snow have trapped more than 1,000 people for a week, state media said. The avalanches have blocked roads, stranding both tourists and residents in a village in Altay prefecture in the Xinjiang region, close to China’s border with Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan. Those injured were being airlifted out on a military helicopter while supplies such as food and fuel were being flown in. State broadcaster CCTV said a snow-blocked road linking Hemu village to major roads was cleared on Tuesday, enabling vehicles to enter and tourists to drive themselves out.

AP PHOTOS: Indian pilgrims throng Nepal’s most revered Hindu temple, Pashupatinath

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Thousands of Indian pilgrims arrive at daybreak at Pashupatinath, the most revered Hindu temple in Nepal, after traveling long distances in buses. Hawkers greet them with hot tea on the cold wintry morning. Many worshippers hand the cups to their wives, mothers and children through the bus windows. The devotees then enter the temple of Lord Shiva, the powerful Hindu god of destruction, on the Bagmati riverbanks in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu. Lord Shiva is also worshipped as a protector of animals, and is depicted with a serpent around his neck. The worshippers recite prayers, fast, meditate and seek forgiveness.

Chinese premier Li Qiang is visiting Ireland for talks on China’s relations with Europe

LONDON (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived in Ireland on Tuesday for talks with the Irish leader on China’s relations with the European Union and other global and bilateral issues. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar will host a lunch and bilateral meeting with Li on Wednesday at Ireland’s state guest house in Dublin. “China is a very important political and economic power in the world and becoming bigger all the time in that sense. So it’s important that we have good relations with China but also some questions we will need to talk about as well,” Varadkar said ahead of the visit.