China, US reach consensus

Face to face: Blinken (second left) meets with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi (second from right) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. — AP

 

BEIJING: China and the United States announced an agreement to jointly implement the consensus reached at the meeting between President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden in Bali, Indonesia, in November, and “effectively control differences and promote dialogue, exchanges and cooperation”.

The agreement was reached at the talks between State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang and visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Analysts said the meeting on Sunday was the latest positive move for repairing the relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

The ties have remarkable bilateral and global implications and mutual respect remains the key to managing differences, they said.

Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday morning for his first visit to China as secretary of state.

“The two sides had candid, in-depth and constructive talks at length on the overall bilateral ties and important issues,” the Foreign Ministry said in a release.

The two sides also exchanged views on major international and regional issues of common concern.

Qin’s meeting with Blinken was the first of its kind between the two in their current capacities.

At the talks, Beijing and Washington agreed to maintain high-level exchanges.

Blinken invited Qin to visit the US, and Qin expressed his willingness to visit the US “at a mutually convenient time”.

The two sides agreed to encourage the expansion of cultural and education exchanges between the two countries and to actively discuss an increase in passenger flights between the nations.

They both will welcome more students, scholars and businesspeople to visit one another, and will provide support and convenience.

Speaking to Blinken on Sunday, Qin said that “currently, China-US relations are at the lowest point since the establishment of the diplomatic relations”, which is not in line with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the common expectations of the international community.

The two sides should fully implement the consensus of the meeting between Xi and Biden in Bali, and “work to stabilise and steer the relations back to the right track”, he said. — China Daily/ANN

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Inflation woes polarise young Koreans’ spending habits amid dwindling middle class

 

A screenshot of an open chat room named ‘Geojibang’ on KakaoTalk where users check each other’s spending habits. — The Korea Herald/Asia News Network

The frugal type: Lunch at convenience store, bike rides and thrift shops

FOR every penny he spends that could have been saved, Kang Won-jin (not his real name) gets scolded online.

When he confessed to a spontaneous purchase of a 10,000 won (RM35.70) umbrella from a convenience store because of an unforeseen rain, he was told “No Starbucks for a week.”

Some remarked half-jokingly, “You should have used flyers or newspapers to cover your head.”

He willingly shares his daily expenses with them and embraces their nitpicking. It is his way of keeping his belt tightened.

The 25-year-old is part of an online community of young Koreans practicing frugal living via chatrooms called “geojibang,” which literally translates to “the beggars’ room.”

There, pseudonymous users check each other’s daily expenses and share saving tips and information on hot deals, including promotional events at local convenience stores or low-priced phone plans.

A search for “geojibang” on KakaoTalk’s open group chat section, returned more than 500 rooms, with diverse membership requirements based on gender or age.

One group, made up of about 360 job seekers in their 20s, had a slogan “extreme saving and meaningful spending.” Its rules stated that users are banned from posting pictures of “extravagant items” to prevent impulse buying.

Among the tips shared and widely encouraged by its seasoned members was to use public bikes instead of taking the bus or subway. Ordering food via delivery platforms is considered virtually sinful.

The influence of this new frugality can be found in various data.

According to NHN Data, apps for local low-priced coffee brands, convenience store chains and group buying platforms posted sharp growth in terms of the number of downloads during the first half of the year.

For instance, among the eight most popular shopping apps, five are for big discount deals, including Always, Tteorimall and Miss Discount, which recorded 115%, 65% and 24% growth in downloads, respectively, compared with October last year.

Sales of boxed lunches at the nation’s four major convenience stores during the first quarter soared 40% from a year earlier, industry data showed, despite restrictions on restaurant dining remaining in place during the period in 2022.

Runaway inflation, a sluggish economy, and a persistent slump in the job market collectively drive young people toward adopting a frugal lifestyle, but there’s more. Social media and online communication platforms are amplifying personal resolutions into a broader social trend, experts said.

“The presence of others reinforces a person’s will and performance on a task, known as the social facilitation effect,” explained Kwak Geum-joo, a professor of psychology at Seoul National University.

“Keeping habits of thrift is a challenging task, so people have created fun ways of doing it together. Geojibang incorporates elements of anonymity, real-time updates and communication, making frugality something fun and enjoyable,” Kwak said.

The extravagant type: high-end omakase, pricey desserts and exotic holidays

ON the opposite end of the spectrum, there are young Koreans who engage in conspicuous extravagance, whether or not it aligns with their means.

 

In Korean omakase restaurants – a high-end dining experience at restaurants where the chef offers one dish at a time – it is common to find young couples on a date. — 123rf.com

One of the most popular trends among big spenders is “omakase,” a traditional Japanese dining style where guests leave their menu choices up to a chef.

Literally meaning “I will leave it to you” in Japanese, omakase in Korea usually refers to a high-end dining experience at restaurants where the chef offers one dish at a time and introduces its name, ingredients and origin. An omakase-style dinner course is normally priced between 200,000-300,000 won (RM723-RM1,085) per person.

While in Japan guests at such establishments are typically affluent middle-aged individuals, in Korean omakase restaurants it is more common to find young couples on a date.

The number of diners specialising in omakase surged to 413 in January this year from about 100 in 2021, according to data from the Korea Foodservice Industry Research Institute.

Some people visit luxury hotels to indulge in expensive desserts.

Every summer, major luxury hotels introduce high-priced bingsu (shaved ice flakes) made with fresh fruits in season, priced at between 70,000-80,000 won (RM253-RM289) on average. No matter how expensive, there are always people who opt for a premium dessert experience.

On a recent Tuesday afternoon at a five-star hotel’s lounge for coffee, desserts or casual meals, visitors in twos and threes were helping themselves to apple mango bingsu priced at 126,000 won per plate.

“It is made up of high-end ingredients and tastes so good. Since it’s a seasonal menu item, I think it’s a price worth paying,” said a diner who wished to remain anonymous.

 

Some young Koreans love to visit luxury hotels to indulge in expensive desserts. — The Korea Herald/Asia News Network

For holidays and long weekends, these big spenders would hop on planes to exotic destinations, joining the post-Covid-19 travel rush.

According to data from the Korean e-commerce company Interpark, its sales of plane tickets amounted to 173.1 billion won (RM626.3mil) in April, up 144% on-year.

Kim Hyung-nam, who recently came back from a holiday in Osaka, Japan, said he was surprised to see so many young Koreans visiting the city. “Honestly, it almost felt as if I never left Korea.”

“For my next vacation, I am going somewhere far away.”

Local experts say the “shrinking middle class” is behind the current trend of polarised consumption.

“The impact of an economic downturn does not affect everyone equally, but rather tends to concentrate more on the low and middle-class households.

“As more middle-income families have fallen into the low-income class amid higher prices and declining real incomes, it appears that the culture of saving and frugality became more widespread than before,” said Kim Kwang-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Korean Economy and Industry.

“High earners who are less vulnerable to a decrease in net income will continue their existing consumption habits such as overseas travel and purchase of luxury goods, which further exacerbates the polarisation of consumption.” — The Korea Herald/Asia News Network 

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PN-PAS MP Says Nurses’ Attire Are ‘Too Tight’, Gets Bashed Over Remarks By Medical Circle

 

The topic of attire has long been a debatable issue in Malaysia, where clothes that are deemed to show too much skin or don’t reach a certain length are labelled as ‘sexy’ or ‘revealing’.

Recently, it was brought back into the spotlight again after a Perikatan Nasional (PN) MP told Parliament today that he felt the uniform of nurses were “too tight”.

 PN MP says nurses’ attire are ‘too tight’

During a Parliamentary debate session over the Public Health White Paper yesterday (June 15), Kuantan MP Wan Razali Wan Nor said that the current attire for nurses were too tight and don’t comply with Syariah requirements.

Most of them are wearing tight clothes and the shape of their bodies can be seen, which is not syariah-compliant. I would like to ask whether we are going to keep following the Western mould on the dress code for nurses?

He also cited Kelantan’s Hospital USM Kubang Kerian and Pahang’s Sultan Ahmad Shah Medical Centre as examples of how nurses were given alternative attires to change into.

 

Screenshot via FB/Wan Razali Wan Nor,

Kuantan mp wan razali wan nor Screenshot via FB/Wan Razali Wan Nor

“I wish to ask whether can it be changed and given leeway, as displayed by several healthcare facilities where their female staff are given alternatives to dress more suitably,” he said as quoted by Malay Mail.

Medical circle decry remarks

Wan Razali’s comments were not widely received by those in the medical circle, who roundly criticised him for it.

The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said it was ashamed to see the MP showing more concern towards nurses’ attire rather than issues currently plaguing the healthcare system.

Malayan Nurses Union president Nor Hayati Abd Rashid concurred, telling FMT that the uniform was designed to be functional and to ease nurses in carrying out their duties.

Photo via Berita Harian

The rules for the uniforms are that they cannot be too tight and the (length of the top) must be below the buttocks. There is a guideline.

“It is up to the nursing supervisor to look out for this. Normally, the sisters or matrons will advise nurses if their uniforms are too tight,” she said.

Nor Hayati added that the uniform has been worn for years and wondered what was the cause for Wan Razali’s remarks. Malaysia has seen a fair share of people being subjected to attire policing in recent months, with some being downright ridiculous:

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Decline and fall of empires

 

In the last decade, the US security elites seized power from Wall Street for greedily selling out American hegemonic interests. — Bloomberg

 

You can say that there is no clash of civilisations, but rather a clash of national praetorian guards who feel that their interests are being threatened, sometimes not just by foreign intrusion but also weak leaders who betray their interests.

EVERY empire has its grand historian to explain more its successes than failures. In 1776, when Adam Smith published his classic “Wealth of Nations”, British essayist Edward Gibbon (1737 to 1794) wrote an equally famous text, “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”.

The year 1776 was a historical turning point, when Britain lost her American colonies, even as she focused on conquering India 19 years after the 1757 victorious Battle of Plassey against the Mogul empire and their French allies.

Gibbon attributed the Roman fall to “four principle causes of the ruin of Rome, which continued to operate in a period of more than a thousand years. (I) The injuries of time and nature. (II) The hostile attacks of the Barbarians and the Christians. (III) The use and abuse of the materials. And (IV) The domestic quarrels of the Romans.”

His warnings apply even today, even though he was reminding the rising British elites what to look out for in the bid for Empire.

Interestingly, Chinese historians attribute dynastic decline and fall to “external invasion and internal troubles” .

Rome was built on conquest. Her Roman legions were legendary, but the elite core that defended consuls, procurators and emperors were the Praetorian Guard, who exercised the intelligence, logistics and national security functions of the Roman empire.

The Roman empire rose as the effectiveness of Roman military discipline and organisation overwhelmed all enemies.

The Praetorian Guard was the core staff between the consul, like Julius Caesar, and his legions.

They also supervised the intelligence functions, initially undertaken by the Frumentarii, involved in strategy, logistics, information couriers and negotiations with allies and enemies alike.

Within Rome, as the elite defending the capital, the Guardians later became king-makers, since weak emperors needed the military on their side.

They helped in assassination of at least one emperor and putting several others on the throne.

Fast forward to the First World War.

Amidst Europe’ ruinous self-destruction, German polymath Oscar Spengler (1880 to 1936) wrote The Decline of the West, positing that empires or civilisations have the same human biological cycle of birth, life and death.

He famously speculated that the West would enter into a crisis after two centuries of Caesarinspired concentration of power into one leader would lead to collapse of Western civilisation.

Indeed, he warned that the spread of Western technology to the “coloured races” would be used against the West. Sounds familiar? Spengler was discredited after the Second World War for being an inspiration behind Nazi expansion.

Thereafter, British historian Arnold Toynbee (1889 to 1975) 12-volume Studies in History gave Spengler fatalism an optimistic twist.

His study of 26 civilisations showed that empires can rise to historical challenges when their elites respond creatively with innovation and technology.

In other words, those elites, including emperors, presidents or political leaders who are guardians of empire integrity, can succeed to grow empires.

But when that elite becomes predatory through corruption and infighting, the empire or civilisation weakens and falls to a combination of internal collapse and foreign invasion.

Every nation has their own praetorian guard or cohort of agencies in defence, national security, intelligence and think tanks that safeguard the national interest.

A modern parallel would be the Washington blob (national security elite) that comprises the Pentagon, State Department, intelligence community and foreign affairs think tanks.

Former US President Eisenhower called it the “military industrial complex”.

Moscow’s praetorian guard is labelled the Kremlin.

Countries like China, Russia, India, France and Japan have their own praetorian elite, who consider their mission to safeguard national integrity against all enemies, including threats to their national identity, creed and values.

You can say that there is no clash of civilisations, but rather a clash of national praetorian guards who feel that their interests are being threatened, sometimes not just by foreign intrusion but also weak leaders who betray their interests.

In the last decade, the US security elites seized power from Wall Street for greedily selling out American hegemonic interests.

As chairman Mao said, “political power comes from the barrel of a gun”, meaning that those who have the military behind them beat those who don’t.

Hence, stable governments are those that are able to keep the military in their barracks.

Those who do not keep the military happy are vulnerable to coup d’etat.

But what if the praetorian guards’ interests are not aligned with those of the masses, who only want peace and stability, including better jobs, health and less government intervention?

In this age of confusion and distorted media, the masses are rightly worried whether their praetorian guards are looking after their interests or after their own?

This is reflected in recent serious loss of public trust in elites, which feeds the populist desire to have one of their own to oversee the elites.

Donald Trump has pitched himself in that populist category.

The more the blob tries to prevent him from returning as Presidential candidate, including his recent indictment, the more Trump’s supporters will hunker down in their belief that the praetorian elites are looking after their own skin.

Ancient history therefore tells us that empires decline if their elites are feeding at the trough at the expense of the masses.

They sometimes start wars to deflect anger against them towards anger against barbarians.

Are there parallels in the current age? 

By Andrew Sheng andrew Sheng writes on global issues from an asian perspective. the views expressed here are the writer’s own.

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Stopping online gambling

Online gambling syndicates being protected by politicians, confirms Saifuddin

 The gambling 'godfathers'

Probe on patrons behind gambling

KUALA LUMPUR: Describing it as the “biggest obstacle” for his ministry, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail says there is an element of political patronage in online gambling activities in Malaysia.

“To say that online gambling in Malaysia is free from political patronage, people will laugh at it. So yes, there is indeed an element of political patronage.

“From there comes influence and protection, from there comes corruption and bribery (and) the lack of political will to fight this matter all the way.

“The players (gambling syndicates) are protected and (will) return the favour to their political masters who protect them so that no action will be taken,” he said when replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Ramanan Ramakrishnan (PH-Sungai Buloh) in the Dewan Rakyat here yesterday.

He added that this political patronage was the biggest obstacle for the ministry, the police and the government as a whole in their efforts to address the issue.

Saifuddin Nasution said the relevant laws need to be amended – such as the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 and the Betting Act 1953 – to cover offences related to illegal online gaming platforms.

“It is now 2023 and the 1953 laws have never been amended,” he said, adding there had been efforts to make amendments to the Acts in 2019 but it was slow moving and thus unsuccessful.

Saifuddin Nasution said he will discuss the matter with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as both laws are under the purview of the Finance Ministry.

He said amending the 70-year-old laws to cover online gambling will show that the authorities are determined to combat the menace.

“In 1953, gambling or betting only involved cockfighting, but now when the police want to take action, the authorities would lose the case.

“We are still using the same Acts.

“If the police take action and they (gamblers) challenge it in court, they will win (because) online gambling is not included in these two Acts.

“The highest penalty under the Act is RM50,000.

“This (penalty) is incompatible against the multibillion-ringgit online gambling industry,” he added.

Saifuddin Nasution also said the authorities have blocked around 2,119 online gambling websites from 2021 until May 2023, only for mirror sites to pop up to replace them.

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