December 17, 2020
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Thailand, the sole Asian country to legalise cannabis for medical use , is so keen on educating locals about the drug ’s benefits that tourism and sports minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn this month unveiled a medical marijuana tour that will cover eight provinces, set to kick off next year.
But not too far away, in Singapore, top officials are singing a starkly different tune.
Law and home affairs minister K. Shanmugam has in recent weeks taken to social media on multiple occasions to stress the island nation’s zero-tolerance stance on drugs – marijuana included.
Earlier this month, he told local media Singapore had to “hold the line” on the issue and needed to persuade the international community “based on rationality and science”.
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Satellites to track Chinese dams on Mekong river, as US likens ‘threat’ facing Southeast Asia to South China Sea The sun sets over the Mekong River in Vietnam. File photo
Threats to Southeast Asian unity on the Mekong are as existential as those in the South China Sea, according to the United States, which this week launched a project that will use satellites to track water levels at Chinese dams along the river.
David Stilwell, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) there was strength in taking a common position on the Mekong. He likened their predicament to the situation in the South China Sea, where Beijing has overlapping territorial claims with several of the bloc s members.
For the last 10 years, prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, the main drivers of agricultural growth were the corn (yellow), livestock and poultry sectors. From 2008 to 2018, livestock averaged an annual growth contribution of 13.8 percent to agriculture’s gross value added (GVA), poultry 10.9 percent, and corn 5.6 percent. All three taken together constituted 30.3 percent, or almost a third, of the country’s agricultural GVA.
In contrast, palay (milled rice), the sector that eats up more than 50 percent of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) yearly budget, contributed on average 19.7 percent annually of agriculture’s GVA for the same period, while fisheries, despite our extensive coastal areas, only 18.5 percent. Tragically, coconut, planted to around 3.6 million hectares of our agricultural land, registered a measly annual average contribution of 4.1 percent during the same decade.
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Is China really ready to back a nuclear arms-free Southeast Asia? China is one of a handful of states with nuclear weapons. Photo: Reuters
China has signalled that it is ready to work with its neighbours to create a nuclear weapons-free zone in Southeast Asia, after more than two decades of objections to a regional agreement.
But observers said the move was part of China s growing rivalry with the United States and an attempt to expand its influence in the region.
The agreement, the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone Treaty, was signed by the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) 25 years ago to establish an area in the region free of nuclear weapons and to bolster its neutrality in great-power competition.
news You are using an older browser version. Please use a supported version for the best MSN experience.
Satellites to track Chinese dams on Mekong river, as US likens ‘threat’ facing Southeast Asia to South China Sea The sun sets over the Mekong River in Vietnam. File photo
Threats to Southeast Asian unity on the Mekong are as existential as those in the South China Sea, according to the United States, which this week launched a project that will use satellites to track water levels at Chinese dams along the river.
David Stilwell, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) there was strength in taking a common position on the Mekong. He likened their predicament to the situation in the South China Sea, where Beijing has overlapping territorial claims with several of the bloc s members.