Australia says ‘Bali Nine’ prisoners have returned home
By Agence France-Presse
The five remaining members of the Australian “Bali Nine” drug ring have returned home after 19 years in jail in Indonesia, the Australian government said Sunday.
Indonesian police arrested the nine Australians in 2005, convicting them of attempting to smuggle more than eight kilos of heroin off the holiday island of Bali.
In a case that drew global attention to Indonesia’s unforgiving drug laws, two of the gang would eventually be executed by firing squad, while others served hefty prison sentences.
“The Australian Government can confirm that Australian citizens, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, and Michael Czugaj have returned to Australia,” Canberra said in a statement.
“The men will have the opportunity to continue their personal rehabilitation and reintegration in Australia.”
Accused ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed by firing squad in 2015 despite repeated pleas from the Australian government.
Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died of cancer in 2018, months before Renae Lawrence was released after her sentence was commuted.
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By Agence France-Presse
The five remaining members of the Australian “Bali Nine” drug ring have returned home after 19 years in jail in Indonesia, the Australian government said Sunday.
Indonesian police arrested the nine Australians in 2005, convicting them of attempting to smuggle more than eight kilos of heroin off the holiday island of Bali.
In a case that drew global attention to Indonesia’s unforgiving drug laws, two of the gang would eventually be executed by firing squad, while others served hefty prison sentences.
“The Australian Government can confirm that Australian citizens, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, and Michael Czugaj have returned to Australia,” Canberra said in a statement.
“The men will have the opportunity to continue their personal rehabilitation and reintegration in Australia.”
Accused ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed by firing squad in 2015 despite repeated pleas from the Australian government.
Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died of cancer in 2018, months before Renae Lawrence was released after her sentence was commuted.
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Is Indonesian ‘kingmaker’ Joko Widodo planning a political comeback?
By Amy Sood
Despite having stepped down as Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo continues to cast a large shadow over the country’s political arena as speculation mounts about his future including the possibility of him forming a party.
After handing the presidency to his successor Prabowo Subianto in October, Widodo returned to his hometown of Solo, seemingly ready to take a break from politics.
However, ahead of regional elections in November, Widodo re-emerged and actively campaigned for candidates linked to Prabowo’s grand Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM).
In Central Java, Widodo was photographed riding a white, open-cabin jeep, joining a parade for Ahmad Luthfi, his preferred candidate who won the race to become the province’s governor. The ex-president reportedly distributed election T-shirts, including one that listed his achievements as a leader, to thousands of townspeople.
Wasisto Raharjo Jati, a political analyst with the Jakarta-based National Research and Innovation Agency, said the past few weeks have shown that “Jokowi remains influential,” referring to Widodo by his popular nickname.
“He was a kingmaker for some of the candidates who ended up winning,” Wasisto said. “He has the kind of popularity that can affect how people vote in polling stations.”
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By Amy Sood
Despite having stepped down as Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo continues to cast a large shadow over the country’s political arena as speculation mounts about his future including the possibility of him forming a party.
After handing the presidency to his successor Prabowo Subianto in October, Widodo returned to his hometown of Solo, seemingly ready to take a break from politics.
However, ahead of regional elections in November, Widodo re-emerged and actively campaigned for candidates linked to Prabowo’s grand Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM).
In Central Java, Widodo was photographed riding a white, open-cabin jeep, joining a parade for Ahmad Luthfi, his preferred candidate who won the race to become the province’s governor. The ex-president reportedly distributed election T-shirts, including one that listed his achievements as a leader, to thousands of townspeople.
Wasisto Raharjo Jati, a political analyst with the Jakarta-based National Research and Innovation Agency, said the past few weeks have shown that “Jokowi remains influential,” referring to Widodo by his popular nickname.
“He was a kingmaker for some of the candidates who ended up winning,” Wasisto said. “He has the kind of popularity that can affect how people vote in polling stations.”
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Hong Kong police arrest 2 men over thefts on planes arriving from Vietnam
By Jeffie Lam
Hong Kong police have arrested two men over one week for allegedly stealing cash from passengers’ overhead luggage on two inbound flights from Vietnam.
The force said on Saturday that the latest arrest had taken place on Friday and involved a 61-year-old man suspected of stealing 10 million Vietnamese dong, or about HK$3,060 (US$390), in cash from another passenger on a flight from Ho Chi Minh City.
The alleged victim had discovered his overhead bag had been taken and found the cash inside was missing after recovering his luggage.
Police officers were called to the scene and subsequently arrested the 61-year-old man after retrieving the missing cash from his luggage.
The suspect was still in custody as of Sunday. The police’s Lantau criminal investigation unit is following up on the case.
The force also arrested a 38-year-old man on Wednesday of last week for allegedly stealing US$4,500 from another passenger’s overhead bag on a flight from Da Nang.
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By Jeffie Lam
Hong Kong police have arrested two men over one week for allegedly stealing cash from passengers’ overhead luggage on two inbound flights from Vietnam.
The force said on Saturday that the latest arrest had taken place on Friday and involved a 61-year-old man suspected of stealing 10 million Vietnamese dong, or about HK$3,060 (US$390), in cash from another passenger on a flight from Ho Chi Minh City.
The alleged victim had discovered his overhead bag had been taken and found the cash inside was missing after recovering his luggage.
Police officers were called to the scene and subsequently arrested the 61-year-old man after retrieving the missing cash from his luggage.
The suspect was still in custody as of Sunday. The police’s Lantau criminal investigation unit is following up on the case.
The force also arrested a 38-year-old man on Wednesday of last week for allegedly stealing US$4,500 from another passenger’s overhead bag on a flight from Da Nang.
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How will Hungary’s Orban square the circle of ties with China and Trump?
By Finbarr Bermingham
Viktor Orban, the strongman Hungarian prime minister, ended his country’s helm at the six-month rotating EU presidency much as he started it: with a flurry of “peace mission” visits that earned him a stern rebuke from Ukraine.
On Monday, Orban was in Mar-a-Lago, US president-elect Donald Trump’s Florida residence, meeting Trump, business tycoon Elon Musk and other political figures. On Wednesday, he had a one-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, for which he was scolded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“No one should boost personal image at the expense of unity; everyone should focus on shared success,” Zelensky wrote on social media.
By Thursday, Orban was in the air again, off to Turkey to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to again promote his idea of a “Christmas ceasefire” for the war in Ukraine – a proposal that was roundly rejected by Kyiv.
The whirlwind week captured Orban’s self-styled policy of “economic neutrality”: he wants to remain in the good graces of superpowers to Hungary’s east and west, continuing a high-wire act he has performed for years.
“He’s an outlier as an EU and Nato member state that is in favour of Trump and a bit of a disruptive force Trump feels he can connect to. Through this, Hungary seems to be an important country beyond its significance in size and its economic might,” said Peter Kreko, director of Political Capital, a Hungarian policy research firm.
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By Finbarr Bermingham
Viktor Orban, the strongman Hungarian prime minister, ended his country’s helm at the six-month rotating EU presidency much as he started it: with a flurry of “peace mission” visits that earned him a stern rebuke from Ukraine.
On Monday, Orban was in Mar-a-Lago, US president-elect Donald Trump’s Florida residence, meeting Trump, business tycoon Elon Musk and other political figures. On Wednesday, he had a one-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, for which he was scolded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“No one should boost personal image at the expense of unity; everyone should focus on shared success,” Zelensky wrote on social media.
By Thursday, Orban was in the air again, off to Turkey to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to again promote his idea of a “Christmas ceasefire” for the war in Ukraine – a proposal that was roundly rejected by Kyiv.
The whirlwind week captured Orban’s self-styled policy of “economic neutrality”: he wants to remain in the good graces of superpowers to Hungary’s east and west, continuing a high-wire act he has performed for years.
“He’s an outlier as an EU and Nato member state that is in favour of Trump and a bit of a disruptive force Trump feels he can connect to. Through this, Hungary seems to be an important country beyond its significance in size and its economic might,” said Peter Kreko, director of Political Capital, a Hungarian policy research firm.
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Hong Kong man jumps into sea to escape 6-boat blaze at pier in Tuen Mun
By Jeffie Lam
A Hong Kong man escaped major injuries on Sunday morning after jumping into the sea when his boat caught fire, with the blaze quickly spreading to another five vessels.
Police said they received a call from the boat owner, a 32-year-old man surnamed Yau, at 5.57am, who said his vessel at the dock near Sam Shing Street in Tuen Mun had caught fire while he was adding fuel.
Yau then jumped into the water as his boat started to sink, eventually being rescued by a passing vessel. He did not require hospitalisation.
The blaze quickly spread to five more boats nearby. Firefighters rushed to the scene and later put out the flames.
Police said another man had been affected by the fire, and was discovered and treated near the pier.
Further details about the condition of the second man, who also did not require hospitalisation, were not immediately available.
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By Jeffie Lam
A Hong Kong man escaped major injuries on Sunday morning after jumping into the sea when his boat caught fire, with the blaze quickly spreading to another five vessels.
Police said they received a call from the boat owner, a 32-year-old man surnamed Yau, at 5.57am, who said his vessel at the dock near Sam Shing Street in Tuen Mun had caught fire while he was adding fuel.
Yau then jumped into the water as his boat started to sink, eventually being rescued by a passing vessel. He did not require hospitalisation.
The blaze quickly spread to five more boats nearby. Firefighters rushed to the scene and later put out the flames.
Police said another man had been affected by the fire, and was discovered and treated near the pier.
Further details about the condition of the second man, who also did not require hospitalisation, were not immediately available.
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Japan’s Space One delays Kairos rocket launch again: media
By Agence France-Presse
A start-up aiming to become Japan’s first private firm to put a satellite into orbit postponed a rocket launch for the second day running on Sunday, local media said, after its first try ended in a mid-air explosion.
Tokyo-based Space One had initially scheduled lift-off for its Kairos rocket for 11am on Saturday, but pushed the launch back 24 hours because of high wind speeds.
It postponed the launch again on Sunday because of weather, according to local media including national broadcaster NHK.
Space One officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
In March, the solid-fuel Kairos, carrying a small government test satellite, lifted off for the first time from the Space One launch pad, dubbed Spaceport Kii.
But seconds later, technical problems were detected and a self-destruct order was sent to the 18-metre rocket.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
By Agence France-Presse
A start-up aiming to become Japan’s first private firm to put a satellite into orbit postponed a rocket launch for the second day running on Sunday, local media said, after its first try ended in a mid-air explosion.
Tokyo-based Space One had initially scheduled lift-off for its Kairos rocket for 11am on Saturday, but pushed the launch back 24 hours because of high wind speeds.
It postponed the launch again on Sunday because of weather, according to local media including national broadcaster NHK.
Space One officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
In March, the solid-fuel Kairos, carrying a small government test satellite, lifted off for the first time from the Space One launch pad, dubbed Spaceport Kii.
But seconds later, technical problems were detected and a self-destruct order was sent to the 18-metre rocket.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
Hong Kong NGO warns of pupil suicide rise after logging 10 cases amid term start
By Emily Hung
Hong Kong’s largest suicide prevention group has said more pupils took their own lives around the start of the school term this year than in 2023, calling for more crisis intervention options to help address the stigma surrounding seeking help.
Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong said that based on data collected from news reports and its school networks, the number of student suicides rose between mid-August and September, a peak period for cases. Ten children took their own lives this year during the period compared with six in 2023.
For the first 10 months of 2024, the group’s suicide crisis intervention centre received more than 240 requests for help from youngsters aged 18 or below. The full-year figures in 2023 and 2022 were 217 and 175, respectively.
Samaritan Befrienders executive director Angie Chan Hiu-yuen said despite abundant efforts devoted to student suicide prevention in recent years, there were many “offsetting factors”.
“As we go all out to find out students at risk of killing themselves, some will try even harder to mask their emotional distress out of worries of being sent to the psychiatric ward. That’s what young people shared a lot on social media,” said Chan, who took up the role at the NGO in September.
“It’s still common for people to denounce those who commit suicide as being ‘irresponsible’, which further deters suicidal people from sharing their thoughts.”
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By Emily Hung
Hong Kong’s largest suicide prevention group has said more pupils took their own lives around the start of the school term this year than in 2023, calling for more crisis intervention options to help address the stigma surrounding seeking help.
Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong said that based on data collected from news reports and its school networks, the number of student suicides rose between mid-August and September, a peak period for cases. Ten children took their own lives this year during the period compared with six in 2023.
For the first 10 months of 2024, the group’s suicide crisis intervention centre received more than 240 requests for help from youngsters aged 18 or below. The full-year figures in 2023 and 2022 were 217 and 175, respectively.
Samaritan Befrienders executive director Angie Chan Hiu-yuen said despite abundant efforts devoted to student suicide prevention in recent years, there were many “offsetting factors”.
“As we go all out to find out students at risk of killing themselves, some will try even harder to mask their emotional distress out of worries of being sent to the psychiatric ward. That’s what young people shared a lot on social media,” said Chan, who took up the role at the NGO in September.
“It’s still common for people to denounce those who commit suicide as being ‘irresponsible’, which further deters suicidal people from sharing their thoughts.”
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AI crackdown: China stamps out tech misuse to preserve national literature and ideology
By Sylvie Zhuang
Beijing is stepping up its defence of classic literature against AI misuse that it says could undermine and endanger China’s leading ideology.
The Chinese government says AI’s “peculiar adaptations” from classic television dramas based on Chinese literature are “highly deceptive”. Like memes, these edited video clips are made largely for laughs and social media traction, and highlight Beijing’s challenges in regulating artificial intelligence.
The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), the agency that oversees state broadcasting, last week issued a notice calling on its supervisory bodies to clean up videos that use AI to create jokes derived from Chinese cultural touchstones.
It said there was an increasing trend of altering video clips from television shows based on novels hailed as the greatest works of Chinese literature, including Dream of the Red Chamber and Journey to the West.
The broadcast watchdog said these AI-remastered jokes “seek to gain traffic without boundaries and disrespect classic intellectual properties”.
It added that they “challenge traditional cultural perceptions, go against the core spirit of the original works and may constitute copyright infringement”.
The AI-remastered videos, which are largely characterised by a humorous or sarcastic tone, can still be found on Chinese social media platforms, with some clearly labelled as generated by AI while others are not.
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By Sylvie Zhuang
Beijing is stepping up its defence of classic literature against AI misuse that it says could undermine and endanger China’s leading ideology.
The Chinese government says AI’s “peculiar adaptations” from classic television dramas based on Chinese literature are “highly deceptive”. Like memes, these edited video clips are made largely for laughs and social media traction, and highlight Beijing’s challenges in regulating artificial intelligence.
The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), the agency that oversees state broadcasting, last week issued a notice calling on its supervisory bodies to clean up videos that use AI to create jokes derived from Chinese cultural touchstones.
It said there was an increasing trend of altering video clips from television shows based on novels hailed as the greatest works of Chinese literature, including Dream of the Red Chamber and Journey to the West.
The broadcast watchdog said these AI-remastered jokes “seek to gain traffic without boundaries and disrespect classic intellectual properties”.
It added that they “challenge traditional cultural perceptions, go against the core spirit of the original works and may constitute copyright infringement”.
The AI-remastered videos, which are largely characterised by a humorous or sarcastic tone, can still be found on Chinese social media platforms, with some clearly labelled as generated by AI while others are not.
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Ex-OpenAI engineer launches robotics start-up, joining race to produce intelligent machines
By Xinmei Shen
An ex-OpenAI engineer has started a new robotics venture with offices reportedly in China and Singapore, joining the race to produce intelligent machines as China moves to boost the industry.
Roger Jiang, who left ChatGPT creator OpenAI in June 2023, founded Light Robotics in Singapore in August this year with the goal of building general purpose robots, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Jiang contributed to building OpenAI’s GPT-4 in areas including foundational reinforcement learning from human feedback, data and contamination investigations, OpenAI’s website shows.
Light Robotics, named Liangyuan Xinchuang in Chinese, will focus on consumer-facing companion robots. It has set up offices in both Shenzhen and Singapore, according to a report by Chinese news outlet 36Kr on Friday.
Light Robotics is hiring talent in Singapore and already has one engineer based in Shanghai, the company’s LinkedIn page shows. A Liangyuan Xinchuang Technology Limited Company was established in Shanghai in August, according to Chinese corporate database Qichacha.
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By Xinmei Shen
An ex-OpenAI engineer has started a new robotics venture with offices reportedly in China and Singapore, joining the race to produce intelligent machines as China moves to boost the industry.
Roger Jiang, who left ChatGPT creator OpenAI in June 2023, founded Light Robotics in Singapore in August this year with the goal of building general purpose robots, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Jiang contributed to building OpenAI’s GPT-4 in areas including foundational reinforcement learning from human feedback, data and contamination investigations, OpenAI’s website shows.
Light Robotics, named Liangyuan Xinchuang in Chinese, will focus on consumer-facing companion robots. It has set up offices in both Shenzhen and Singapore, according to a report by Chinese news outlet 36Kr on Friday.
Light Robotics is hiring talent in Singapore and already has one engineer based in Shanghai, the company’s LinkedIn page shows. A Liangyuan Xinchuang Technology Limited Company was established in Shanghai in August, according to Chinese corporate database Qichacha.
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Hongkongers wake up to winter’s chilliest day as mercury dips to 13 degrees
By Jeffie Lam
Hongkongers on Sunday woke up to the chilliest day of this winter so far as the mercury fell to 13 degrees Celsius (55.4 Fahrenheit) in urban areas amid a strong northeast monsoon, while temperatures fell to below 6 degrees on the city’s tallest peak.
The local forecaster also reminded residents to stay warm while taking part in outdoor activities, warning that the weather would be windy on Sunday and that the “wind chill effect” would be particularly significant on high ground and exposed areas.
“A strong northeast monsoon is affecting the coast of Guangdong,” it said.
“Locally, up to 8.30am, the minimum temperature recorded at the Observatory was 13.0 degrees, the lowest so far this winter, and temperatures were a couple of degrees lower in the New Territories.”
The temperature over at Tai Mo Shan, the city’s tallest peak, was only 5.9 degrees at 9.30am, barely above the 3 degrees in the early hours of the day.
The mercury dipped to 8 degrees at Ngong Ping in Lantau and 9 degrees at Tate’s Cairn.
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By Jeffie Lam
Hongkongers on Sunday woke up to the chilliest day of this winter so far as the mercury fell to 13 degrees Celsius (55.4 Fahrenheit) in urban areas amid a strong northeast monsoon, while temperatures fell to below 6 degrees on the city’s tallest peak.
The local forecaster also reminded residents to stay warm while taking part in outdoor activities, warning that the weather would be windy on Sunday and that the “wind chill effect” would be particularly significant on high ground and exposed areas.
“A strong northeast monsoon is affecting the coast of Guangdong,” it said.
“Locally, up to 8.30am, the minimum temperature recorded at the Observatory was 13.0 degrees, the lowest so far this winter, and temperatures were a couple of degrees lower in the New Territories.”
The temperature over at Tai Mo Shan, the city’s tallest peak, was only 5.9 degrees at 9.30am, barely above the 3 degrees in the early hours of the day.
The mercury dipped to 8 degrees at Ngong Ping in Lantau and 9 degrees at Tate’s Cairn.
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Hong Kong could be first to get Swiss start-up’s drug for diabetic eye disease
By Eric Ng
Hong Kong could be one of the first jurisdictions to use a novel treatment for diabetics suffering from a potentially blinding disease if a Swiss start-up’s drug is approved.
OCS-01, an eye drop developed by Oculis Holding and currently under phase 3 trials for diabetic macular edema (DME), can be an alternative to a medication that is injected into the eye, according to Riad Sherif, CEO of the firm, whose shares are listed in the US and Iceland.
The injection is invasive and shunned by many early-stage patients, according to Sherif, a former president for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Alcon, a Swiss-American pharmaceutical and medical device company specialising in eye care.
“Few patients are treated early because they don’t want to have the monthly injections,” he said. “Two-thirds of people with DME globally are not treated [at all].”
Only 60 per cent of DME patients saw improvements after receiving the injections, he added.
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By Eric Ng
Hong Kong could be one of the first jurisdictions to use a novel treatment for diabetics suffering from a potentially blinding disease if a Swiss start-up’s drug is approved.
OCS-01, an eye drop developed by Oculis Holding and currently under phase 3 trials for diabetic macular edema (DME), can be an alternative to a medication that is injected into the eye, according to Riad Sherif, CEO of the firm, whose shares are listed in the US and Iceland.
The injection is invasive and shunned by many early-stage patients, according to Sherif, a former president for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Alcon, a Swiss-American pharmaceutical and medical device company specialising in eye care.
“Few patients are treated early because they don’t want to have the monthly injections,” he said. “Two-thirds of people with DME globally are not treated [at all].”
Only 60 per cent of DME patients saw improvements after receiving the injections, he added.
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When a ferry crashed into a Hong Kong typhoon shelter, killing 3 – from the SCMP archive
By SCMP
This article was first published on December 16, 1989.
By Eammon Fitzpatrick and Jimmy Leung
The Marine Department has launched a full inquiry into why a Hong Kong-Macau catamaran ferry suddenly swerved off course and cruised at full speed into the Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter, killing at least one person and injuring 18 others before running aground.
(Five days later, authorites updated the death toll to three.)
A man thrown overboard from a pleasure craft crushed as the Apollo Jet slammed into the embankment of the typhoon shelter was still missing early this morning, Saturday December 16, 1989, despite frantic efforts by divers to find him.
Deputy District Commander of Yau Ma Tei police, Mr Richard Tudor, said the accident happened at about 5.40pm when Apollo Jet, owned by the Hong Kong-Macau Hydrofoil company, apparently went out of control.
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By SCMP
This article was first published on December 16, 1989.
By Eammon Fitzpatrick and Jimmy Leung
The Marine Department has launched a full inquiry into why a Hong Kong-Macau catamaran ferry suddenly swerved off course and cruised at full speed into the Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter, killing at least one person and injuring 18 others before running aground.
(Five days later, authorites updated the death toll to three.)
A man thrown overboard from a pleasure craft crushed as the Apollo Jet slammed into the embankment of the typhoon shelter was still missing early this morning, Saturday December 16, 1989, despite frantic efforts by divers to find him.
Deputy District Commander of Yau Ma Tei police, Mr Richard Tudor, said the accident happened at about 5.40pm when Apollo Jet, owned by the Hong Kong-Macau Hydrofoil company, apparently went out of control.
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Britain joins trans-Pacific pact in biggest post-Brexit trade deal
By Reuters
Britain officially became the 12th member of a trans-Pacific trade pact which includes Japan, Australia, and Canada on Sunday as it seeks to deepen ties in the region and build its global trade links after leaving the European Union.
Britain announced last year it would join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in its biggest trade deal since Brexit.
The accession means Britain will be able to apply CPTPP trade rules and lower tariffs with eight of the 11 existing members from Sunday – Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
The agreement enters into force with Australia on December 24, and will apply with the final two members – Canada and Mexico – 60 days after they ratify it.
The pact represents Britain’s first free trade deals with Malaysia and Brunei, but while it had agreements with the other countries, CPTPP provisions go further, especially in giving companies choices on how to use “rules of origin” provisions.
The CPTPP does not have a single market for goods or services, and so regulatory harmonisation is not required, unlike the EU, whose trading orbit Britain left at the end of 2020.
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By Reuters
Britain officially became the 12th member of a trans-Pacific trade pact which includes Japan, Australia, and Canada on Sunday as it seeks to deepen ties in the region and build its global trade links after leaving the European Union.
Britain announced last year it would join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in its biggest trade deal since Brexit.
The accession means Britain will be able to apply CPTPP trade rules and lower tariffs with eight of the 11 existing members from Sunday – Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
The agreement enters into force with Australia on December 24, and will apply with the final two members – Canada and Mexico – 60 days after they ratify it.
The pact represents Britain’s first free trade deals with Malaysia and Brunei, but while it had agreements with the other countries, CPTPP provisions go further, especially in giving companies choices on how to use “rules of origin” provisions.
The CPTPP does not have a single market for goods or services, and so regulatory harmonisation is not required, unlike the EU, whose trading orbit Britain left at the end of 2020.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
