Asia News Wrap: Pakistan parties agree to coalition, and more

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

Pakistan's two major political parties came together on Tuesday in a deal to try and form a coalition government after elections on February 8 produced a hung parliament, meaning no one party got a majority to form the government. The agreement between Bhutto Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of three-time Premier Nawaz Sharif ends days of uncertainty and negotiations. Bhutto Zardari confirmed at a press conference in Islamabad that former premier and Nawaz Sharif's brother Shehbaz Sharif would be the coalition's candidate for prime minister. He added that his father Asif Ali Zardari will be the alliance's candidate for the country's president.

One person has died in India as farmers march on India's capital, New Delhi, after four rounds of talks with the central government failed to end the deadlock. Farmers in the country are demanding higher prices for their produce had paused their protest on Wednesday after the government made a new offer to resume talks, hours after police fired tear gas and used water cannons to scatter thousands staging a march to Delhi. The farmers, mostly from the northern state of Punjab, have been demanding higher prices backed by law for their crops. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday his government is committed to the welfare of farmers. His comments were his first since the protests began last week and come months before general elections in which he is seeking a rare third term.

Nearly 10,000 South Korean trainee doctors have quit this week, beginning on Wednesday, protesting the government's plan to expand enrollment of medical students. South Korea's biggest hospitals cancelled procedures and turned away patients seeking emergency care on Wednesday after thousands of trainee doctors walked off the job in protest at a government plan to boost medical school admissions. The government wants to increase the number of medical students to 5,000 from the 2025 academic year from 3,000 now, and then add 10,000 more by 2035. The Korean Herald newspaper said, "The number of surgeries being performed at Seoul's 'Big Five' hospitals was reduced by 30 to 50 percent due to a staff shortage over junior doctors' resignation en masse …putting patients' health at risk amid escalating confrontation between doctors and the government."

China's five homegrown jetliners made their first "group appearance" overseas this week as the Singapore Airshow kicked off at the Changi Exhibition Center on Tuesday. The quintet consist of two C919, the country's first homegrown large passenger jet, and three ARJ21 passenger jetliners. Developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC), the C919 is a two-engine narrow-body airliner with 158 to 192 seats and a flight range of 4,075 to 5,555 kilometers.

Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Thursday his government plans to roll out more measures to boost tourism, including sops to lure global artistes to rejuvenate the country's economy. He said the tourism industry was expected to grow enormously over the next four years, as it recovers from record lows caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We can bring A-listers and world-class acts to Thailand. This must be done," he said.

(Cover: A commuter rides past election campaign posters of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Karachi on January 31, 2024. /CFP)