Asia News Wrap: Indian PM opens controversial temple, and more

Here are a few stories from around Asia you may have missed this week.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened a grand temple to the Hindu god Ram on Monday on a site believed to be his birthplace. It was seen as a celebratory event for Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Modi and his party have portrayed the temple opening as part of a Hindu renaissance after centuries of subjugation by foreign invaders and colonial powers. 

The site was a mosque till 1992, when members of the Hindu right-wing including from the BJP tore it down and called for a temple to be built there. Modi rode to the office of prime minister in 2014 on a Hindu nationalist platform that included a promise to build the temple. Temple construction began after the Supreme Court permitted it in 2019 on condition that Muslims received another plot for a mosque.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Wednesday he believes the country's economy is in crisis, adding that the government would roll out stimulus measures in addition to handouts to boost growth. "I confirm that the economy is not doing well and is in crisis," he told reporters. 

This week the government cut 2024 growth projections to 2.8 percent from an earlier forecast of 3.2 percent on weaker exports and lower foreign tourist numbers. It also lowered the 2023 growth estimate to 1.8 percent from 2.7 percent.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Missile Administration on Wednesday conducted the first test-fire of a new strategic cruise missile. 

Pyongyang said that it had tested a new strategic cruise missile named "Pulhwasal-3-31", according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency. The test-fire had no impact on the security of neighboring countries and has nothing to do with the regional situation, the report said.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Wednesday announced a series of monetary policy adjustments aimed at enhancing liquidity and promoting economic growth in China. 

One of the key measures taken by the PBOC was a reduction in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR). The RRR is the amount of cash that banks are required to hold as reserves. The PBOC will lower the RRR by 0.5 percentage point, effective from February 5, 2024. The move is expected to inject 1 trillion yuan ($139.45 billion) into the market, thereby increasing liquidity.

Japan on Saturday became the fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon, but solar power issues threatened to cut short the nation's mission to prove a "precision" landing technology and revive a space program that has suffered setbacks. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon landed on the moon's surface at around 12:20 a.m., but the lander's solar panels were not able to generate electricity, possibly because they are angled wrong. 

"It takes 30 days for the solar angle to change on the moon," Hitoshi Kuninaka, the head of JAXA's research center, said. "So when the solar direction changes, and the light shines from a different direction, the light could end up hitting the solar cell." The agency will maintain the status quo rather than take risky actions and hopes a shift in the sunlight's angle will hit the panels in a way that can restore its functions, he added.

(Cover: A view during the opening of the grand temple of the Hindu god Ram in Ayodhya, India, January 22, 2024. /Reuters)