Asia News Wrap: Japan signals phasing out of stimulus, and more

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

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has raised interest rates to levels unseen in 15 years and unveiled a detailed plan to slow its massive bond-buying, taking another step towards phasing out a decade of huge stimulus. 

The rate hike, which dashed market expectations, was the largest since 2007 and came just months after the BOJ ended eight years of negative interest rates as the bank's chief seeks to dismantle his predecessor's unorthodox policies.

The National Immigration Administration (NIA) of China has announced the addition of three new ports of entry for the country's 144-hour visa-free transit policy: Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport, Lijiang Sanyi International Airport and Mohan Railway Port of Entry. 

China has continued to introduce and reinstate a range of visa-free policies, providing momentum for the growth of tourism. According to data from the NIA, 14.63 million foreign nationals entered China through various ports in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 152.7 percent. Of these, 8.54 million entered through visa-free policies, an increase of 190.1 percent from last year.

Indonesia has raised the minimum age limit for purchasing cigarettes to 21 from 18 as part of a series of changes to health regulations intended to curb the deadly habit in a country with one of the world's highest smoking rates. 

In a government regulation signed by President Joko Widodo last week, Indonesia raised the minimum age for people wanting to buy cigarettes to 21 and banned the sale of a single cigarette, a cheap alternative common in local street stores. It is intended to "lower the prevalence of smokers and prevent early-age smokers," according to the regulation. One of the provisions is banning the sale of cigarettes within 200 meters of schools and playgrounds. Indonesia, with a population of 270 million, is one of the world's top producers of tobacco, with about 70 million adult smokers, the World Health Organization said in a 2021 survey.

In Vietnam, flash floods and landslides triggered by tropical storm Prapiroon killed at least 10 people and left nine missing, the government's disaster management agency said on Friday.

The storm has brought torrential rain to most of the country's north over the past few days, with rainfall exceeding 300 mm in several parts. Photos on state media showed flood waters had risen to the roofs of houses in Dien Bien Bien province and washed away or buried roads in the area. In the suburbs of the capital, Hanoi, residents were grappling with severe flooding that has left hundreds submerged in water.

Over 4,000 homes in the city of Sinuiju and Uiju County of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea were flooded due to heavy rainfall, state media outlet KCNA said on Wednesday. 

Around 3,000 hectares of farmland, along with many public buildings and roads, were also flooded, prompting a two-day emergency meeting by the ruling Workers' Party's political bureau, the report said. July was the annual monsoon season on the Korean Peninsula. State media said work was ongoing in Pyongyang to prevent the flooding of the Taedong River that flows through the capital.

(Cover: Kazuo Ueda, governor of the Bank of Japan, speaks at the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, July 3, 2024.)