Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

4 min read | 13:40 pm CAT

Speaking to Radio Islam International, Senior Research Fellow at Institute for Global Dialogue, Sanusha Naidu highlights issues in the Asia Pacific.

President Xi Xinping made his first appearance visit outside of the country last week when he attended the Shanghai cooperation organisation summit. Since Covid, this was the first time the President has travelled outside the borders of China. 

A report came out earlier in the week to suggest a coup attempt in Beijing around President Xinping being displaced as the leader. 

According to Naidu, it was a ferocious report that came out of an Indian newspaper as well to suggest there was a coup. 

She said President Xinping had made a television appearance; he was physically in Beijing, which quail those rumours. 

“China is the second largest and most powerful economy in the world. President Xinping was not seen in public for a few days. A possible attempt to displace him politically is essential in the broader global geopolitics of what’s happening.” 

Meanwhile, Australia experienced one of its most significant cyber security breaches last week. Naidu said the telecoms company had around 10 million customers personal details breached. 

According to Naidu, the Australian government wants to put into place much more stringent laws that compel companies dealing with customer data to be able to report this to banks and other institutions immediately. 

Naidu stated that the government is looking to slap companies with a fine following the EU system. 

The EU has placed a 40 per cent fine on companies where customer information has been compromised.

The Indian Minister of external affairs was on a visit to the US as part of the UN general assembly meeting. Regarding the F15 fighter jet fleet that the US wants to send as part of a sustainment programmer to Pakistan to fight terrorism. 

The Minister argued that you have got to look at the real intention of the relationship between the US and Pakistan and, more importantly, the value propositions and outputs that come out of this relationship.

Listen to the Asia Pacific Report on Radio Islam’s podcast below.