A White House official has confirmed to VOA that President Donald Trump, the secretary of state and the secretary of defense discussed South Korea’s suspension of deployment of a U.S. anti-ballistic-missile defense system in South Korea.

South Korea announced Wednesday that it would delay the installation of the remaining components of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system while it was assessing the system’s environmental impact.

The official said U.S. officials had been “in close contact with our ally South Korea” on the matter. The official added that the South Korean government had assured the U.S. that it would not revert from its previous commitments regarding the missile defense system, and that the United States had given South Korea the same assurances.

The future of the program has been uncertain since South Korea announced the suspension.

New test

On Thursday, North Korea reported it had successfully tested a new “ground-to-sea cruise rocket” capable of striking enemy battleships staging an attack.

The official North Korean news agency KCNA said Pyongyang launched several land-to-sea missiles early Thursday, under the supervision of leader Kim Jong Un. The missiles “accurately detected and hit the floating targets on the East Sea of Korea,” it reported.

The missile test was North Korea’s fourth in a month and came after the U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on Kim’s government last week.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Thursday that the suspension of THAAD deployment was “part of the conversations” that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had with Trump at an Oval Office meeting on Thursday.

“This is a conversation that’s taken place at the highest level. We are committed to our South Korean ally. That commitment remains ironclad. We are aware, certainly, of the situation and the suspension of additional launchers,” Nauert said.
…

Thirty-one bodies have been found by rescue searchers, along with plane debris believed to be from a Burmese military aircraft that went missing Wednesday with 122 people on board, according to a government statement Friday.

Officials said the victims include 21 women, eight children, and two men. Pieces of luggage, life jackets and a plane wheel have been found in the waters about 35 kilometers from the southern city of Launglon.

Search efforts may be hampered in the next few days as bad weather approaches. A low pressure system over the Bay of Bengal is bringing storms and reduced visibility to the area.

The cause of the crash remains a mystery.

Nine naval ships and a group of airplanes and helicopters were sent out Thursday to search for the Chinese-made Y-8-200F plane, which Myanmar bought in March of last year and which the military said had 809 flying hours.

The plane, carrying mostly family members of military personnel, was traveling from the city of Myeik, also known as Mergui, in southeastern Myanmar on the Andaman coast. Most of the journey to Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, would have been over the Andaman Sea.

“We found debris around Horseshoe Bay,” Tanintharyi Division Border Affairs and Security Minister Colonel Kyaw Zeya said in a Thursday interview with VOA’s Burmese service.

“Our rescue team includes police officers, a fire brigade team, and local Samaritans. First aid and paramedics teams also have set up a makeshift hospital at the nearest beach to take care of survivors,” he added.
…

Japanese internet, solar and technology company SoftBank Group Corp. is buying robotics pioneer Boston Dynamics from Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent.

Terms of the deal, announced Friday, including when it might close, were not disclosed.

Tokyo-based SoftBank, which offers the chatty childlike Pepper companion robot, said the purchase underlines how robotics is a key part of its business.

Boston Dynamics makes various robots, including Big Dog and Spot, which are complex machines that walk and trot on four legs. Another is Atlas, which walks on two legs like a human. Atlas has arms and can open doors and lift items. Some were designed for military purposes.

Under Friday’s deal, SoftBank is also buying from Alphabet a company called Schaft that develops biped robots. Schaft’s roots are in a research lab at the University of Tokyo.

Pepper has expressive arms but wheels for legs and does little more than sing songs and answer basic questions, and can’t do any heavy lifting. Often it fails to understand even simple speech and will keep asking you to repeat sentences.

Speculation had been growing recently that Google might want to sell Boston Dynamics. Alphabet said it remains committed to robotics, such as connecting human-like motor skills, including hand-eye coordination, to machines so they can process images, speech, text and draw pictures.

It is also interested in research on helping robots learn from what they “experience,'”Alphabet said in a statement.

“Robotics as a field has great potential, and we’re happy to see Boston Dynamics and Schaft join the SoftBank team to continue contributing to the next generation of robotics,'”it said.

SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said robots will help solve problems that have been beyond human capabilities.

“Smart robotics are going to be a key driver of the next stage of the Information Revolution,'”he said.

“I am thrilled to welcome them to the SoftBank family and look forward to supporting them as they continue to advance the field of robotics and explore applications that can help make life easier, safer and more fulfilling,'”Son said of Boston Dynamics and Schaft.

Japan, with its longtime culture of cartoons like “Astro Boy,'”has a soft spot for cute robots. Various companies, including automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., have developed entertainment robots, designed to do nothing more than keep people company.

But interest around the world is growing in the potential of robotics and artificial intelligence for everyday products like safer cars and connected home appliances.

SoftBank bought British semiconductor company ARM Holdings, an innovator in the “internet of things,'”last year. The first carrier to offer the Apple iPhone in Japan, SoftBank includes U.S. carrier Sprint and Yahoo Japan in its group business.

Son drew attention for hobnobbing with U.S. President Donald Trump late last year and promising to create jobs and invest in the U.S.

Marc Raibert, CEO of Boston Dynamics, said he looked forward to working with SoftBank on creating technology for “a smarter and more connected world.”

“We share SoftBank’s belief that advances in technology should be for the benefit of humanity,'”he said.
…

China may appear set to seize the global leadership on climate change due to the U.S. pull out of the Paris agreement, but it will have to pay a heavy cost for such a move as Washington’s withdrawal would result in a sharp reduction of available funds for environmental projects, and Beijing may have to fill some of the gap.

Shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, China reiterated its commitment to the deal and issued a joint statement with the European Union saying the pursuit of clean energy “will become a main pillar of their bilateral partnership.” That prompted widespread speculation that China could replace the United States as the world leader in reducing harmful carbon emissions.

But some environmental activists say China will find it difficult to establish global leadership in a situation where Chinese companies are investing in polluting mines and industries under the Belt and Road program.

The challenge for Beijing is to revamp its program of shifting industrial overcapacity to other countries and stop Chinese companies from exporting polluting factories to less developed countries that have lax environmental laws.

“Our concern is that those investments that China is making abroad are in line with both the local environmental regulations, but also the Paris agreement,” said Greenpeace Global Policy Advisor Li Shuo. “What is indeed part of the concern, we are talking about exporting, for example, coal power plants, then it is almost unavoidable that the pollution that is associated with such a project will be translated into other countries as well.”

Concerns about the financial challenge thrown up by the Trump administration’s decision was also voiced by the Chinese foreign ministry. “Developed countries should fulfill their obligations under the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework on Climate Change) and Paris agreement to offer financial support to developing countries through the green climate fund and mechanism,” said ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying.

Li praised China for its remarkable success in stalling the rise in carbon emissions for three successive years. But said emerging as a global leader may be difficult.

“This is not a black or white situation. I think (on the issue of) Chinese advancing on international climate action, there are indeed a lot of setbacks in other fields,” he said.

He pointed out that Chinese cities still suffered from heavy smog, and Chinese companies were investing in polluting businesses abroad.

The Chinese economy is held down by tremendous overcapacity in traditional sectors like coal, steel, and cement, and most of them are extremely polluting. China faces the prospects of laying off millions of workers to reduce overcapacity. Transferring overcapacity to other countries was one reason why the Belt and Road program was formulated.

But Beijing may be forced to sacrifice a part of the ambitious program if it wants to take moral leadership on the climate change issue, analysts said.

The only gain for Chinese President Xi Jinping from the Trump decision will be in the form of rhetoric, Simon Baptist, chief economist, Asia at The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU) said.

“This gives Xi Jinping an opportunity to pursue his agenda of increasing China’s soft power. I mean he will certainly give some rhetoric about being a leader on climate change,” Baptist told VOA. “(But) China is far from being an environmental leader in a way a country like, maybe Denmark or Sweden could be considered to be. I mean it is quite a carbon intensive economy.”

China’s environmental activists are extremely uneasy because they fear a sharp reduction in funds for green projects. They also fear U.S.-based companies may cut their investments in emission reduction programs. American companies like Apple and Coca-Cola have emerged as role models in the task of establishing environmentally friendly production and distribution systems.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing, said there was some uncertainty about whether the Trump administration’s decision would mean less fund allocation by World Bank and Asian Development Bank on green projects.

“That is part of the uncertainties. We all know that they (World Bank and Asian Development Bank) can be much impacted by America. …I hope that they will continue to support the fight against climate change,” Ma told VOA. “I (also) heard from some of the American NGO partners that they are having difficulty to get the government (funds).”

Ma even appealed to U.S. states and multinational companies to differ from Washington and express their commitment to climate change goals.

Several states and large corporations have said they intend to move forward with U.S. commitments to the Paris agreement.

Governor Jerry Brown, who heads the largest state of California, was in Beijing this week to sign an agreement with the Chinese president on reducing emissions.

One day before the decision, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told his German counterpart, Angela Merkel, that his government will remain committed to the Paris deal, and “with tremendous efforts, China will move towards the 2030 goal step-by-step steadfastly.”
…

Thanks to an explosion of bike share apps and providers, China is rediscovering its love of bicycles. In cities across the country and in the capital of Beijing, a colorful bike-share revolution is taking over on the streets, helping ease traffic snarls and keeping the air cleaner. It is also creating some problems.

China used to be called the “kingdom of bicycles,” and though cars have taken over in a major way, the growing popularity of bike-share apps seems to indicate two-wheelers are making a come back.

​Color revolution

For drab and dusty Beijing, the bike-share color revolution of yellows, oranges and blues is a welcome sight. People of all ages are enjoying the convenience the bikes provide, which combines cell phone technology, and GPS tracking in some cases, to help users find a ride.

Traveling by car across the sprawling, densely populated city is often a nightmare. Even distances of a few kilometers can take up to an hour when traffic is snarling.

Cheng Li, a bike-share user, said he has been driving his car less and using the metro more since he started using the service about six months ago.

“After I get off the metro, I usually have to walk another kilometer or two, so I’ll grab a bike share and go. It’s less stressful,” Cheng said.

For many, the convenience of cycling is its biggest attraction. Beijing’s city government has long had a bike-share program in place, but many of its bike-share stations were inconveniently located. Getting registered for the smart phone based apps is also much easier.

For Zhang Jian, the bike-share revolution is not only convenient, but nostalgic.

“Now, when we’re riding home from work, especially in the evening, when it’s not as rushed, it feels like we’re reliving the past,” Zhang said.

​Great Wall of bikes

But with a growing number of providers, competition is getting increasingly fierce. One key tactic of providers has been to flood the streets with bikes — so much so that sidewalks are almost blocked in some cases.

The surge of bikes has become a major headache for city governments. Users frequently leave bikes in the middle of the street or just dump them on the sidewalk blocking passageways in an already densely populated city.

In Beijing’s southern district of Daxing, authorities have been fighting the surge by seizing the illegally parked bikes that clog streets and metro exits, one transportation worker said.

“Bike sharing is really convenient, but no one is taking care of the problem of illegally parked bikes,” the worker said. Behind her are several thousand bikes that have been seized. It was unclear when or how they would be returned to the companies that made them.

“Since the Lunar New Year, the number of bikes has been growing rapidly. At least 10,000 bikes have been added to the streets (of Daxing) since then, and we’ve collected about a third of that total,” she said.

China’s two biggest operators, Ofo and Mobike, have deployed more than 3 million bikes in scores of cities across the country. And the numbers continue to grow.

Mobike aims to expand to 100 cities at home and abroad by the end of this year.

Bike hunters

While many complain the bike-share revolution has taken over city streets, some like Gao Xiaochao are taking matters into their own hands.

Gao is one of many who call themselves bike-share hunters. Bike-share hunters find and report stolen and vandalized bikes that users deliberately park outside their homes or inside gated communities. With some bike-share apps, riders can report illegally parked bikes or other problems the two-wheelers may have.

Gao uses his lunchtime to find, report and move illegally parked bikes.

“Bike hunting is like a game, a hobby, a way to get some exercise. It’s like a new way of living,” Gao said. “Sometimes, I spend two to three hours looking for illegally parked bikes and it’s just like talking a walk.”

Many like Gao are passionate about bike sharing and what it is doing to help transportation and the city’s notoriously smoggy air.

However, as complaints grow and competition gets increasingly cut-throat, they hope companies will do more to improve their service and not just focus on flooding the streets with bikes to edge out competitors.
…

China’s toughest rivals in a maritime sovereignty dispute are defying an extra-strict fishing moratorium declared by Beijing this year in the contested South China Sea, putting their own trawling fleets at risk of arrest.

Beijing declared the moratorium on its own from May 1 for three months, 30 days longer than in previous years and restricting more types of fishing operations. It covers the South China Sea above the 12th parallel north of the equator. Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines claim waters inside the moratorium zone but did not agree with China to pause fishing.

Vietnam has condemned the moratorium while the Philippines, which held upbeat talks with China on their maritime disputes last month, has kept quiet, analysts believe, to avoid legitimizing the ban. Taiwan gives awards to fishing boat operators who impose their own moratorium and will help anyone caught by China.

“Our fisheries agency in the past has sought fishing parties to warn them about safety matters involved with mainland China’s moratorium,” Chiu Chui-cheng, spokesman for the Taiwan government’s Mainland Affairs Council said. Taiwanese boats are known for following blue-fish tuna in the South China Sea.

“When operators encounter life safety or boat safety matter at sea, our government will immediately react and enact rescue measures to protect the safety of fishing crews and their vessels,” Chiu said. “So we ask that our Taiwanese friends in the fishing industry relax.”

The moratorium, after a world court tribunal ruled last year against Beijing’s claims much of the sea, casts new disdain on China around Asia while reminding other countries of the strength of Chinese de facto control.

“It’s no use protesting (the moratorium), because you’re acknowledging that they’re imposing the ban, but on the ground fishermen know where to avoid,” said Termsak Chalermpalanupap, a fellow with the ISEAS Yusof Ihsak Institute in Singapore.

Earlier fishing curbs

Beijing has enforced previous seasonal South China Sea fishing curbs, the first of which it declared in 1995, by arresting foreign fishing boats. After so many years, veteran boat operators know where they can safely go, analysts say.

China will check boats that it finds illegal and arrest any without a license, vessel name or port of registration, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council says.

But neither silence nor protests imply acceptance of a single country’s rule over the high seas, said Douglas Guilfoyle, associate international law professor at Monash University in Australia. High seas refers to waters outside the exclusive economic zones extending from the shores of coastal states.

“You are not obliged to contest claims without legal foundation,” Guilfoyle said. “International law requires not just that a state assert a new rule, but that other states accept it, and acceptance by acquiescence or silence isn’t a usual method of rule-making in international law. You normally need positive assent.”

China’s claims

China claims most of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea, citing historic records as a basis. It has alarmed the other claimants by letting coast guard vessels operate in disputed waters and by building artificial islands, some for military deployments.

The fishing moratorium violates a July world arbitration court ruling in The Hague against the legal basis for China’s claim over more than 90 percent of the South China Sea, analysts say.

China has gone easy on Philippine fishing boats over the past year as the two governments try to settle their dispute. Negotiators met last month for what the Philippine side described as a productive first meeting, according to media reports from Manila.

But Beijing routinely keeps Filipinos out of Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing spot in Manila’s west coast exclusive economic zone, and boat operators know they can’t access it.

Vietnam, which despite a year of stepped-up dialogue with Beijing, still resents China over historical sovereignty disputes, said in March it would send ships to protect its fishing vessels from action taken under the moratorium.

The fishing boats will probably be detained, arrested or sunk as China sends its coast guard and maritime police, said Murray Hiebert, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.

“Some Vietnamese fishing boats will continue going out to fish and risk harassment or arrest,” Hiebert said. “Others are likely to hang back to avoid trouble.”

China would arrest Vietnamese boats anyway, said Zhang Hongzhou, research fellow with the China Program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

“This is not only during the moratorium,” Zhang said. “During the fishing season as well, if they trespass into the Chinese-controlled areas, the Chinese coast guard and other law enforcement vessels will take action against them.”

Countries dissatisfied with arrests can seek international arbitration at least to get a boat released, Guilfoyle said.

The sea yields 16.6 million tons of fish every year and the fishing industry employs about 3.7 million people, a National Geographic report said last year, but fish stocks are declining. Claimant countries also prize the sea for its marine shipping lanes and reserves of gas and oil.
…

Thanks to an explosion of bike share apps and providers, China is rediscovering its love of bicycles. In cities across the country and in the capital of Beijing, a colorful bike share revolution is taking over on the streets, helping ease traffic snarl and keeping the air cleaner. It is also creating some problems as well. VOA’s Bill Ide reports.
…

Japan’s parliament passed a law Friday to allow Emperor Akihito to abdicate and be succeeded by his elder son, Crown Prince Naruhito, 57.

Akihito, 83, who has had heart surgery and treatment for prostate cancer, last summer indicated his desire to abdicate after nearly three decade on the Chrysanthemum Throne, reviving a longstanding debate in Japan over the issue of Imperial succession in the 2,000-year-old monarchy.

The abdication would be Japan’s first in 200 years. Akihito was 56 when he ascended the throne in January 1989 after the death of his father, Emperor Hirohito.

Media reports have said officials are considering the end of 2018, when Akihito turns 85, for the abdication.

In a vote televised live on NHK public television, the upper house of parliament passed the bill unanimously Friday, after the lower chamber gave its approval last week.

The abdication must take place within three years of the new law taking effect or it expires, and it only applies to Akihito.

The last Japanese emperor to abdicate was Kokaku in 1817.

 
…

It was during a lull in the fighting that Rohaina Salic first heard it, the bellow of a distant voice telling civilians trapped in the war-shaken city of Marawi they could emerge from their homes.

She didn’t know whether the plea, projected from a megaphone many blocks away, had come from the Philippine army, or from black-clad militants linked to the Islamic State group who seized this mosque-studded southern town last month.

She had not set foot outside since the clashes, the worst to hit the Southeast Asian nation in years, began. But on this day, at least for this one precious moment, the guns had fallen silent.

Time to go

“We didn’t really know whether it was safe to come out,” said the 38-year-old Salic, who walked out of the rubble of Marawi Thursday with six members of her family. “We put all our faith in God.”

More than two weeks after Islamic militants plunged the lakeside town into chaos with an unprecedented attack that has killed close to 200 people and triggered fears that extremists are trying to gain a foothold in the country’s restive south, hundreds of militants remain stubbornly lodged in Marawi’s city center. 

And every day, civilians like Salic trickle out with harrowing tales of survival, and escape.

On Thursday, the lucky ones numbered 45. 

Some had managed to walk — or run — out on their own. Others were plucked by the army or civilian rescue teams that are launching risky missions near the front lines with white flags wrapped around their vehicles’ antennae.

The evacuees who end up at the provincial government’s headquarters are met by doctors and nurses who check their vital signs and offer first aid and emergency care before sending them on to safer areas further inland. 

Sittie Johaynee D. Sampaco, a Health Department volunteer, said the new arrivals appear deeply traumatized, having spent days without food and water in a city crawling with insurgents that has been without electricity for weeks. 

“We’re getting a lot of people with severe dehydration, fevers and coughs, hypertension,” Sampaco said.

A mental toll 

“Some of the patients can’t even speak. Some just cry and won’t interact with other people,” Sampaco said. “This isn’t over. We’re expecting to get much more.”

It’s unclear how many people remain trapped in Marawi. Authorities have put the figure this week at 100 to 2,000. They include at least a dozen hostages, among them a Catholic priest and parishioners who were seized when gunmen stormed their church shortly after clashes began May 23. Their status is unknown.

Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera said the military’s main priority is to rescue trapped civilians, many of whom are in the same part of the city center where the army estimates 240 Islamic fighters, who have stockpiled food and ammunition for a protracted fight, are also contained.

Despite days of punishing airstrikes, Herrera said the military is treading lightly so it will not endanger the lives of those it’s trying to save.

He said the army is in cellphone contact with some of the trapped civilians and has helped direct them out of danger zones by telling them which directions they can safely move. 

Herrera confirmed the army has also employed megaphones to implore people to leave parts of the city it has secured.

Thursday was largely quiet, but several firefights were reported.

​Destruction everywhere

Salic said her family was able to survive for two weeks because part of their residence is also a grocery, stocked with biscuits, instant noodles and soft drinks. They also had a large stock of drinking water, but used rainwater to wash their hands and the dishes. The family, she said, had not had electricity since May 24; they lit candles each night as the crackle of gunfire echoed outside.

When they finally made a move Thursday to escape, it was the absence of gunfire that drove them out the door.

What they saw outside was astonishing: destruction, in every direction.

Salic, who was hauling two pink pieces of luggage, said her family, three children and four adults, crawled over mountains of multistory homes and under downed electricity polls. Rubble from the fighting blocked many streets.

There was not a soul in sight.

“We were the only people walking,” Salic said. “I kept waiting for us to be hit by the guns.”

The hours-long journey was toughest on her husband, who has had difficulty walking since a work-related accident. Limping, he was helped along the way by their oldest son.

Salic’s 7-year-old daughter, Aljannah, played another vital role. She carried a makeshift white flag, fashioned from a T-shirt and a pole they broke off of a household cleaning tool.

As they neared an army checkpoint in the afternoon, a single gunshot rang out. Aljannah made a move to run.

It wasn’t clear whether the army or insurgents had fired. But Salic quickly grabbed her daughter’s hand and yanked her close.

“Don’t run,” she whispered. “Trust in Allah.”

Shortly afterward, the troops helped the family onto a truck and drove them to the city’s western edge. Within minutes, they were being treated at an emergency health clinic inside the relative safety of the provincial government headquarters.

By Friday morning, explosions and bursts of gunfire downtown could be heard again, and smoke rose from city as helicopter gunships circled overhead. 
…