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Nikkei Asian Review No.18: Forward limits

Vietnam power struggle enters critical stretch after virus victory

Dressed in a white shirt with no tie and no face mask, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc looked confident and relieved when he addressed his cabinet last Wednesday. He had reason to be: It had been days since the country recorded even a single new coronavirus case.

Phuc informed them it was "time to gradually ease restrictions" imposed to contain the outbreak. Though he stressed that "tonight is not the time to go out to celebrate," it was the closest thing to a declaration of victory he could have hoped for -- just in time for Liberation Day this Thursday, which celebrates the end of the Vietnam War, and well ahead of next January's Communist Party convention, which will confirm a new leadership lineup.

Domestic flights were allowed to resume on Thursday, while strict social distancing measures were lifted in most areas except some districts of Hanoi. Yet even if Vietnam really does have the virus under control with just 270 cases and no deaths as of Monday morning, the pandemic has upended the government's economic and diplomatic plans for 2020.

The country faces some major questions, including how to revive growth and who, exactly, will occupy the top four most powerful posts from 2021 to 2026. Or will there be four leaders at all?

Thai Airways on financial brink as government debates rescue

Thai Airways International, a listed state-owned enterprise, is dangerously close to becoming the world's first national flag carrier to go bust amid the coronavirus pandemic, with only days left to maneuver out of its latest financial straits.

Down to its last 10 billion baht ($307 million), according to local reports, which is enough to pay its employees for one month, the airline is in talks with the Thai government regarding a bailout.

To tide itself over during the emergency, the carrier has requested that the government approve a 70 billion-baht bridge loan, with the Finance Ministry as a guarantor, ministry sources told the Nikkei Asian Review.

"Finally, it will be the Ministry of Finance's burden to seek a way to bail out Thai Airways," said an analyst at Asia Plus Securities who asked not to be named. Thai Airways made the request based on the hypothesis that the pandemic will be contained by October.

"I still would like to see Thai Airways as the national flag carrier," Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said, "because that is the way things have been for a long time."

Hidden threat: Japan has only 2-week stockpile of LNG

The coronavirus outbreak has raised a new risk for Japan -- a potential cutoff of the crucial liquified natural gas supply that would plunge large portions of the country into darkness.

Because LNG is poorly suited for long-term storage, Japan only has a two-week stockpile. Yet, the country depends on the fuel for 40% of its electric power generation needs, and all of the LNG it uses is imported from the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

To protect the resource, JERA, Japan's largest fossil-fuel generator in which Tokyo Electric Power Holdings and Chubu Electric Power have equal stakes, began taking emergency measures to the very frontlines of the battle: the ports where the fuel is offloaded.

Check out more at: https://asia.nikkei.com/Print-Edition/Issue-2020-04-30

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