Tokyo: Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida has stressed the need for security talks with China to avert the risk of an incident in China’s new air defence identification zone in the East China Sea. Kishida told reporters yesterday Japan cannot accept China’s unilateral attempt to change the status quo, and that it will not agree to talks premised on the move, according to Japan’s (NHK WORLD) website. But Kishida also noted the importance of avoiding an unexpected incident. The Japanese official called for a resumption of bilateral talks within existing frameworks of strategic and security discussions to smooth out communication with the Chinese side.
Stuffed toy icon of protest in HK
HONG KONG: A stuffed toy wolf has sold out at Hong Kong’s IKEA stores, the Swedish furniture giant said yesterday, after it became a symbol of opposition to the city’s unpopular government. Hundreds of toys, called Lufsig, flew off the shelves within hours on Monday and yesterday, days after a protester threw it at the city’s leader Leung Chun-ying during a public meeting. “Lufsig has been sold out at all IKEA stores this morning,” a spokeswoman said, adding that there were queues before the store opened. The innocent-looking toy depicts the wolf in “Little Red Riding Hood”, and can be seen holding a stuffed toy resembling the grandmother. IKEA said owners can use the toy -- which has a Chinese name similar to a profanity in the Cantonese dialect -- to recreate the fairy tale by rescuing the grandmother from the wolf’s belly. Agencies
