Top Asian News 3:54 a.m. GMT

Hong Kong court to sentence 2 former Stand News editors in landmark sedition case

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court is set to sentence two journalists Thursday in a landmark sedition case that is widely seen as an indicator of media freedom in a city once known as a beacon of press freedom in Asia. Stand News former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam were the first journalists convicted under a colonial-era sedition law since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. The now-shuttered news outlet was one of last in Hong Kong that dared to criticize authorities as Beijing imposed a crackdown on dissidents following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.

What to know about the party vote that will determine Japan’s next leader

TOKYO (AP) — The governing party of outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds a key vote Friday that will establish a new national leader. The vote is limited to the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s parliamentarians and dues-paying members. Because the party’s governing coalition dominates parliament, the winner is assured to be Japan’s next prime minister. A record nine lawmakers, including two women, are vying for the job in an unpredictable race. The winner must quickly regain public trust, or Japan could face a return to a damaging cycle of short-lived governments, experts say. The vote is limited to LDP lawmakers and 1.1 million grassroots members.

Nine ruling party candidates vie to replace Japan’s outgoing Prime Minister Kishida

TOKYO (AP) — A record nine candidates are running in Japan’s ruling party election Friday to replace outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. A former defense minister who is a longtime veteran, the relatively young son of a popular former prime minister and the economic security minister who would be the country’s first woman prime minister are considered top contenders. No candidate is likely to win a majority in the first round, so the top two vote-getters will advance to a second round to be held immediately after the first on Friday afternoon. Here are the candidates: Ishiba, a 67-year-old former banker, is running in the leadership race for a fifth time and said this will be his “final battle.” First elected to parliament in 1986, he has served as defense minister, agriculture minister and other key Cabinet and party posts.

Sri Lanka’s new president says he’ll restart talks with the IMF to find a way out of economic crisis

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said Wednesday that he will soon resume discussions with the International Monetary Fund and foreign creditors to plot a way out of the worst economic crisis in the country’s history. “We expect to discuss debt restructuring with the relevant parties and complete the process quickly and obtain the funds.,” he said. The future of the economic recovery plan drafted by former liberal President Ranil Wickremesinghe was called into question after Dissanayake, a Marxist, won the presidential election on Saturday. During the campaign, Dissanayake said that he will renegotiate the bailout agreement with the IMF agreed by Wickremesinghe.

Sri Lanka’s new leader must balance ties between regional powerhouses India and China

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The Marxist lawmaker who won Sri Lanka’s presidency faces a key challenge in how to balance ties with his country’s two most crucial partners, India and China, as he seeks to draw foreign investment and pull the economy out of the doldrums. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, 55, won the weekend election in an extraordinary political upset against an old political guard that voters blame for tipping the country into its worst economic crisis two years ago. Dissanayake must now deliver on promises to improve Sri Lankans’ lives, clean up government and ease austerity measures imposed by international lenders.

What’s behind China’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday in a rare occurrence, adding to tensions in the region where multiple countries have overlapping territorial claims and both Beijing and Washington seek to project their influence. The launch was part of routine training by the People’s Liberation Army’s Rocket Force, which is in charge of conventional and nuclear missile operations, and was not aimed at any country or target, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, landed in a designated area in the sea, the ministry said, without specifying where exactly.

Senate confirms commander of US Army forces in the Pacific after Tuberville drops objections

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed a new commander of U.S. Army forces in the Pacific after Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville dropped his objections and allowed a quick vote on the nomination. Tuberville had blocked Lt. Gen. Ronald Clark’s nomination for months over concerns that the top military aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, along with other staff, did not immediately notify President Joe Biden when Austin was hospitalized with complications from cancer treatment earlier this year. Clark, who Biden had nominated in July, was confirmed late Tuesday evening. Tuberville said Wednesday that he dropped his hold after meeting with Clark and talking to others in the Pentagon.

A zoo in Finland is returning giant pandas to China because they’re too expensive to keep

HELSINKI (AP) — A zoo in Finland has agreed with Chinese authorities to return two loaned giant pandas to China more than eight years ahead of schedule because they have become too expensive for the facility to maintain amid declining visitors. The private Ähtäri Zoo in central Finland some 330 kilometers (205 miles) north of Helsinki said Wednesday on its Facebook page that the female panda Lumi, Finnish for “snow,” and the male panda Pyry, meaning “snowfall,” will return “prematurely” to China later this year. The panda pair was China’s gift to mark the Nordic nation’s 100 years of independence in 2017, and they were supposed to be on loan until 2033.

Cambodia hopes a new canal will boost trade. But it risks harming the Mekong that feeds millions

PREK TAKEO, Cambodia (AP) — The Mekong River is a lifeline for millions in the six countries it traverses on its way from its headwaters to the sea, sustaining the world’s largest inland fishery and abundant rice paddies on Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Cambodia’s plan to build a massive canal linking the Mekong to a port on on its own coast on the Gulf of Thailand is raising alarm that the project could devastate the river’s natural flood systems, worsening droughts and depriving farmers on the delta of the nutrient-rich silt that has made Vietnam the world’s third-largest rice exporter. Cambodia hopes that the $1.7 billion Funan Techo canal, being built with Chinese help, will support its ambition to export directly from factories along the Mekong without relying on Vietnam, connecting the capital Phnom Penh with Kep province on Cambodia’s southern coast.

US missile system will remain in the Philippines despite China’s alarm

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — American and Filipino security officials have agreed to keep a U.S. mid-range missile system in the northern Philippines indefinitely to boost deterrence despite China’s expressions of alarm, two Philippine officials said Wednesday. The U.S. Army transported the Typhon missile system, a land-based weapon that can fire the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, to the northern Philippines as part of combat exercises in April with Philippine troops and to test its deployability aboard an Air Force aircraft. Tomahawk missiles can travel over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers), which places China within their target range. Officials are considering keeping the missile system in the northern Philippines up to April next year, when U.S.