He said: "I put them on a local Facebook page.

The bottom line is that many economists think trade will still be very badly affected this year."Trump's trade war is not over – not by a long shot," is the verdict of Grace Fan of the consultancy TS Lombard.

Australia's defence minister Richard Marles has called on China to explain why it needs to have "such an extraordinary military build-up".He said Beijing needs to provide greater transparency and reassurance as it is the "fundamental issue" for the region.Meanwhile, the Philippines defence minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr has called China "absolutely irresponsible and reckless" in its actions in the South China Sea.

The ministers had separately addressed reporters on the sidelines of an Asian defence summit held in Singapore.China has yet to respond to either Marles or Teodoro.

Organised by the think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Shangri-la Dialogue has traditionally been anchored by the US and China, which have been jostling for power in the region.

This year China has sent a lower-level delegation and scrapped its speech. In the absence of a strong Chinese presence, the dialogue has been dominated by criticism and questions of Beijing posed by the US and its allies.Lee has vowed to strengthen the ministry, while Kim says he will replace it with a Ministry of Future Youth and Family.

The ministry already focuses on family services, education and welfare for children. Just under 7% of its total funding, which is about 0.2% of the government's annual budget, goes towards improving equality for women. But Prof Go says the ministry was "politicised by Yoon and has since been weaponised"."The ministry itself is not huge but it's symbolic… abolishing it would show that gender equality is unimportant."

It's also the target of a third candidate, 40-year-old Lee Jun-seok, a former leader of Yoon's party, who has since launched his own Reform Party.Although trailing Kim in polls, Lee Jun-seok has been especially popular with many young men for his anti-feminist views.