Asia Pacific

Han Duck-soo declares candidacy in June 3 election to replace impeached ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol.

South Korea has sworn in its third acting president in less than six months, as his predecessor declared his candidacy in a snap election to replace impeached ex-leader Yoon Suk-yeol.

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho pledged to ensure “stability” as he was appointed acting leader on Friday, a day after Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stepped down to run in the June 3 election.

“I will try my best to ensure government functions are managed stably,” Lee told reporters.

The appointment of a new acting president came as Han’s candidacy injected more uncertainty into an election race that has been upended by doubts over the eligibility of the left-leaning frontrunner, Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party.

“I’ve determined to find what I can do for the future of the Republic of Korea that I love and for all of us,” Han told a news conference at the National Assembly on Friday.

“I’ll try my utmost to be chosen by the people at this presidential election.”

On Thursday, the Supreme Court overturned Lee Jae-myung’s acquittal on election law violations, sending the case back to a lower court.

If his conviction is upheld before the election, Lee, who has dominated polls for months, would be disqualified from the race.

Next month’s election was called after Yoon, a former prosecutor-turned-conservative politician, was removed from office over his shock declaration of martial law in December.

While Yoon’s declaration lasted less than six hours before being voted down by South Korea’s legislature, the political uncertainty and chaos it unleashed continues to reverberate nearly six months later.

Han, 75, took over as acting president following Yoon’s impeachment on December 14, before he was himself impeached and replaced by Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok.

In March, the Constitutional Court overturned Han’s impeachment, restoring him to the role of acting leader.

A veteran politician and bureaucrat, Han has served as prime minister in both liberal and conservative administrations, as well as doing stints as trade minister, finance minister, and ambassador to the United States.

While not affiliated with a political party, Han is expected to ally with Yoon’s conservative People Power Party.

He said his campaign platform would focus on limiting the power of the executive and amending the constitution to add more checks and balances.

Following Han’s announcement, the Democratic Party accused him of abandoning his duties as a caretaker leader.

“We warn former Prime Minister Han. Don’t hide your greed with a lie that you are running for the people,” Democratic Party spokesperson Noh Jong-myun said.

Social media campaign depicts fictional scenes of officials becoming disillusioned with ruling Chinese Communist Party.

The CIA has launched a Chinese-language social media campaign calling on government officials in China to switch sides and leak secrets to the United States.

The two videos released on Thursday depict fictional scenes involving Chinese officials who approach the top intelligence agency after becoming disillusioned with the ruling Communist Party of China (CCP).

In one of the videos, an actor depicting a senior CCP member describes the fear he feels for his family as he witnesses officials around him being purged like “worn-out shoes”.

“This man, who has diligently worked his way to the top throughout his life, now profoundly realises that no matter how high his status is, it is insufficient to protect his family in these turbulent and unsettling times,” reads a Chinese-language description of the video on YouTube.

“He yearns to take control of his destiny and find a path to safeguard his family and the achievements he has built through years of hard work. Aware that everything he possesses could vanish in an instant, he is driven to make a difficult but crucial decision to safely reach out to the CIA.”

The videos, which were released on platforms including Facebook, Telegram, Instagram and X, contain instructions on “safely” and “securely” contacting the CIA, including by using the dark web browser Tor.

“One of the primary roles of the CIA is to collect intelligence for the president and for our policymakers,” CIA director John Ratcliffe said in an interview with Fox News.

“One of the ways we do that is by recruiting assets that can help us steal secrets.”

China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Desmond Shum, a Chinese property tycoon-turned-dissident who lives in the United Kingdom, described the CIA campaign as the most “aggressive public move” by the agency against China in living memory.

“This kind of public outreach is exactly the sort of provocation that enrages the CCP – and Xi Jinping personally,” Shum said on X, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“His obsession with lifelong rule stems from a singular goal: to secure the Party’s unshakable control over China.”

Ministry of Commerce says ‘door is open’ to talks, but it is willing to ‘fight to the end’ otherwise.

China has said it is considering proposals by the United States to begin negotiations on US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

The US has “recently, through relevant channels, actively conveyed messages to China, expressing a desire to engage in talks”, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Friday.

“China is currently evaluating this.”

Beijing’s remarks come after Chinese state media reported earlier in the week that the Trump administration had “proactively reached out” through multiple channels.

Trump’s trade war with China has resulted in a de facto mutual trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.

Businesses and investors have been anxiously waiting for signs that Washington and Beijing will ease their steep tariffs on each other’s goods amid fears that a protracted standoff will inflict serious damage on the global economy.

The International Monetary Fund last month lowered its global growth forecast for 2025 to 2.8 percent, down from 3.3 percent in January, while JPMorgan Chase has put the likelihood of a US recession this year at 60 percent.

Trump, who has slapped a 145 percent tariff on Chinese exports, has repeatedly insisted that his administration is in negotiations with Beijing, a claim that Chinese officials have rejected as “groundless”.

On Wednesday, Trump said there was a “very good chance” he would reach a trade deal with China, so long as it was “fair”.

In its statement on Friday, China’s Commerce Ministry said that its stance on the trade dispute had been consistent.

“If there is a fight, we will fight to the end; if there are talks, the door is open,” the ministry said.

“The tariff war and trade war were unilaterally initiated by the US, and if the US wants to talk, it should demonstrate sincerity by preparing to correct its erroneous actions and rescind the unilateral imposition of additional tariffs,” it said, adding that “attempting to use talks as a pretext to engage in coercion and blackmail” would not work with China.

‘Wakeup call’

In an interview with Fox News that aired on Thursday night, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Trump’s tariffs were badly hurting the Chinese economy and Beijing was keen to talk.

“The Chinese are reaching out, they want to meet, they want to talk,” Rubio told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “We’ve got people involved in that.”

Rubio also said that the tensions were a “wakeup call” for the US and the country should not be as dependent on China.

“Two more years in this direction, and we are going to be in a lot of trouble, really dependent on China,” he said. “So I do think there is this broader question about how much we should buy from them at all.”

New Zealand’s capital, Wellington has been hit by the strongest winds in over a decade, issuing a red warning in the area. The country’s southern island declared a state of emergency after hours of heavy rainfall led to flooding on the roads.

Taipei, Taiwan – Taiwan has faith in the support of the United States, a top Taiwanese official has said, despite widespread concern on the island that US President Donald Trump could use the East Asian democracy as a bargaining chip in its dealings with China.

“Taiwan and the US have a very strong and solid relationship, and Taiwan has cross-party support from the US Congress,” Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera.

Unlike the US and China, “the US and Taiwan have unprecedentedly close relations,” said Chiu, whose cabinet-level portfolio covers Taiwan’s relations with mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Still, Chiu said it was still too early to fully assess the impact of the second Trump administration.

“The Taiwan government will continue to observe the Trump administration since it has been less than three months,” he said through an interpreter.

“Taiwan’s government has a very consistent position of protecting our sovereignty, our freedom and democracy.”

Trump made headlines in Taiwan in 2016 when he accepted a congratulatory phone call from then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, overturning a longstanding convention that US and Taiwanese presidents do not communicate directly.

Ties between the US and Taiwan continued to deepen throughout Trump’s first term and under former US President Joe Biden, with numerous delegations of Democratic and Republican lawmakers visiting the island in recent years.

Since returning to the White House, however, Trump has a launched a series of broadsides at the island, although US Secretary of State Marco Rubio remains a firm Taiwan supporter.

The US president has varyingly accused Taiwan of stealing the US chip industry, argued that Taipei should pay for its own defence, and threatened top Taiwanese chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) with a “100 percent tax” if it does not expand US-based manufacturing.

Trump also hit Taiwan with a 32 percent “reciprocal” tariff – which has been paused until July – and expanded existing steel and aluminium tariffs on its exports, among other initiatives.

Like most countries, the US does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory.

But Washington is committed to supporting the island’s defence under a 1979 law, though the legislation does not specify an obligation to directly intervene in a conflict.

While Taipei is taking a wait-and-see approach, Trump’s “America First” rhetoric and politics have raised concern among many Taiwanese that he could abandon Taiwan to win concessions in trade talks with China.

In a survey published by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation in March, just 39.2 percent of respondents said they believe the US would send troops to defend Taiwan, down from an all-time high of 65 percent in 2021.

Despite these fears, Chiu said he believes that Washington would never accept an “unreasonable request” from Beijing to alter the terms of its relationship with Taiwan.

China has pledged to “reunify” Taiwan with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary, although the ruling Communist Party has never directly controlled the island.

Chiu said Taiwan has much to offer the US, from its strategic position within Washington’s first island chain defence strategy aimed at checking Chinese expansion in the Pacific, to its position as the world’s foremost chipmaker.

“We think that we can demonstrate to the US people and to the US people that Taiwan is a very good partner, and we are irreplaceable,” Chiu said.

Chiu’s cabinet-level portfolio oversees the planning and implementation of Taiwan’s cross-strait policy, although Beijing has been officially incommunicado with Taipei since the Democratic Progressive Party took power in 2016.

Beijing considers the DPP “separatists” and has ramped up military, economic and diplomatic pressure on the island over the past nine years.

‘United front’ tactics

Chiu said that Taiwan’s government continues to try to communicate with Beijing through official channels, as well as liaising through intermediaries from the business world, nonprofit sector and academia.

Chiu, however, criticised China’s communications with the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), which he characterised as part of Beijing’s divide and rule and “United Front” tactics employed against Taiwan.

The term “United Front” refers to both an official department of the Chinese Communist Party and  activities carried out by party members to promote the CCP agenda – including convincing Taiwan’s 23.4 million citizens that unification with China is both inevitable and desirable, despite polling showing most Taiwanese favour the status quo of de facto independence.

“We are constantly facing United Front tactics, infiltration and division in Taiwanese society. They are everywhere,” Chiu said.

Taiwan’s National Security Bureau prosecuted 64 people for espionage in 2024 – primarily active members of the military and veterans – up from 48 in 2023 and 10 in 2022.

Other threats are more immediately obvious, Chiu said, such as the escalation of Chinese military exercises and manoeuvres near Taiwan over the past five years.

China launched more than 5,000 military flights in the direction of Taiwan in 2024 alone, Chiu said, including about 3,000 that crossed the “median line” of the Taiwan Strait – an unofficial border dividing the strategic waterway between China and Taiwan.

Beijing also sent more than 2,500 warships in the direction of Taiwan, with some entering its contiguous waters, he said, referring to the zone that is adjacent to the territorial sea and extends a maximum of 24 nautical miles (44km) from shore.

Chiu said he was most concerned about the leadership style of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi, who is serving an unprecedented third term after eliminating term limits in 2018, is sometimes seen as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China.

“The Xi regime is a new type of authoritarianism. He has been inciting a fanatic nationalism, and that’s why we are seeing military hegemony and wolf warrior diplomacy,” Chiu said.

“Mainland China right now is not a very rational decision-making party, and this nationalism poses a great threat to its neighbouring countries,” Chiu said.

“If you ask me what concerns me the most, I would say that it’s the essence of the Xi regime,” he said.