Top Asian News 4:43 a.m. GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China's government announced a robust annual economic growth target and a 7.5 percent rise in military spending Tuesday at a legislative session overshadowed by a tariff war with Washington. In a bid to defuse U.S. and European complaints the Chinese system is rigged against foreign companies, Premier Li Keqiang promised in a speech to the National People's Congress they will be "treated as equals" with Chinese competitors. Li, the country's top economic official, set this year's growth target at 6 to 6.5 percent, reflecting official determination to shore up a cooling, state-dominated economy and prevent politically dangerous job losses in the face of U.S.

TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo District Court approved the release of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn on 1 billion yen ($9 million) bail on Tuesday, ending nearly four months of detention. The approval of Ghosn's request for bail, his third, came a day after one of his lawyers said he was confident the auto executive would gain his release. The newly hired attorney, Junichiro Hironaka, is famous for winning acquittals in Japan, a nation where the conviction rate is 99 percent. Hironaka said Monday that he had offered new ways to monitor Ghosn after his release, such as camera surveillance. Hironaka also questioned the grounds for Ghosn's arrest, calling the case "very peculiar," and suggesting the case could have been dealt with as an internal company matter.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un returned home on Tuesday after traveling two and a half days by train from Vietnam, where his high-stakes nuclear summit with President Donald Trump ended without any agreement. The Kim-Trump summit broke down mainly because of disputes over the extent of sanctions relief the North could win in return for its nuclear disarmament steps. Both Washington and Pyongyang blame each other for the summit's breakdown, but neither side says they would pull out of diplomacy. The crowd welcoming Kim at Pyongyang's railway station gave shouts of joy and loud hurrahs upon his return, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Facebook says it will not allow election advertisements for Indonesia's upcoming presidential election that are purchased from outside the country. The announcement on Facebook's website says the restriction took effect Monday morning and is part of "safeguarding election integrity on our platform." Facebook has been criticized for allowing foreign interests to use its site to disseminate ads that may have influenced the outcomes of the last U.S. presidential election and the U.K. referendum on leaving the European Union. The social media company said it's using a mix of automated and human intervention to identify foreign-funded election ads.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United States is more likely to be involved in a "shooting war" in the disputed South China Sea than the Philippines but the latter would be embroiled in such a conflict just the same because of its 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty with Washington, the Philippine defense chief said Tuesday. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the treaty needed to be re-examined to clear ambiguities that could cause chaos and confusion during a crisis. He cited China's aggressive seizure in the mid-1990s of a Philippine-claimed reef, saying "The U.S. did not stop it." The Philippine proposal for the treaty's review was among the key topics when U.S.

TORONTO (AP) — China accused two detained Canadians on Monday of acting together to steal state secrets, just days after Canada announced it will proceed with a U.S. extradition request for a senior Chinese tech executive. China arrested the two Canadians on Dec. 10 in what was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, who was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities. Meng's arrest set off a diplomatic furor and has severely strained Canadian relations with China. The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei's founder, to face charges she misled banks about the company's business with Iran.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A key train service with neighboring India resumed and schools in Pakistani Kashmir opened Monday in another sign of easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals since a major escalation last week over the disputed Kashmir region. Pakistan Railways spokesman Ejaz Shah said the train service, known as the Samjhauta Express, left the eastern city of Lahore for India's border town of Atari, with some 180 passengers on board. Pakistan suspended the train service last week as tensions escalated following India's airstrike on Tuesday inside Pakistan. India said it targeted militants behind a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities said Monday they're not certain how many people were buried in the collapse of a remote gold mine nearly a week ago but that the number could be as high as 100. The disaster agency said the official death toll from the collapse of the mine in North Sulawesi's Bolaang Mongondow district is nine. Nineteen people were rescued with injuries from ranging from minor to serious. Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said there's "no exact data on the number of victims." "Some say 30 people, 50 people, 60 people, even 100 people because at the time many were mining in big pits, while in small pits it was unknown," he said.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia and Australia signed a free trade agreement Monday that will eliminate many tariffs, allow Australian-owned hospitals to operate in the giant Southeast Asian country and increase work visas for young Indonesians. Trade ministers from the two countries signed the agreement, negotiations for which first began in 2010, at a Jakarta hotel with Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla looking on. It is subject to ratification in both countries. Indonesian Minister of Trade Enggartiasto Lukita said Indonesia would complete ratification by the end of this year. Annual trade between Australia and Indonesia in goods and services is valued at $11.6 billion.

South Korea's soccer leadership has sent a proposal to North Korea to jointly bid for the 2023 Women's World Cup and is awaiting a response. Combining to stage the FIFA showpiece could be a significant move toward building peace on the Korean Peninsula, which remains technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. The neighbors have been encouraged to bid by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, with the decision due to be taken in March 2020 by the governing body's ruling council. Chung Mong-gyu, the president of South Korea's soccer association who sits on the FIFA Council, is pursuing the bid after gaining the initial support of his government.