Aug 5 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that China's military exercises aimed at Taiwan, including missiles fired into Japan's exclusive economic zone, represent a “significant escalation” and that he has urged Beijing to back down. China launched the drills following a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to […]
Aug 4 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed his country's efforts to strengthen ties with Southeast Asian countries at a meeting Thursday with their foreign ministers, which came as Beijing seeks to expand its influence in the region. Wang's talks with top diplomats from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were held […]
Aug 4 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed his country's efforts to strengthen ties with Southeast Asian countries at a meeting Thursday with their foreign ministers, which came as Beijing seeks to expand its influence in the region. Wang's talks with top diplomats from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were held […]
Aug 3 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Top Southeast Asian diplomats meeting in Cambodia's capital intensified efforts Wednesday to stop the escalating violence in Myanmar, and to address other pressing — and often divisive — regional issues. It is the first in-person meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers since the outbreak of the […]
Aug 2 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers are gathering in the Cambodian capital for meetings addressing persisting violence in Myanmar and other issues, joined by top diplomats from the United States, China, Russia and other world powers amid tensions over the invasion of Ukraine and concerns over Beijing’s growing ambitions in the region. […]
Jul 25 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar's government confirmed Monday it had carried out its first executions in nearly 50 years, hanging a former lawmaker, a democracy activist and two other political prisoners who had been accused of a targeted killing after the country's military takeover last year. The executions, first announced in the state-run Mirror Daily newspaper, […]
Jun 9 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — BANGKOK (AP) — A top State Department official met Thursday with Philippine President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila, part of an ongoing diplomatic outreach in the Asia-Pacific region by Washington to try and blunt growing Chinese influence. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman tweeted after meeting Marcos that the two discussed a range of issues, […]
May 24 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — BANGKOK (AP) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Solomon Islands this week in what the South Pacific nation’s leader said was a “milestone” in his country’s relationship with China, amid concerns that their new security pact could allow Chinese military personnel on the islands. But Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare insisted in a statement […]
May 23 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — BANGKOK (AP) — The United States and four other nations that walked out of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group meeting in Bangkok on the weekend underlined their support Monday for host nation Thailand, saying their protest was aimed solely at Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, as well as delegates […]
Apr 20 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — BANGKOK (AP) — The Solomon Islands prime minister confirmed Wednesday that his government has signed a new security agreement with China, but told lawmakers it would not “undermine the peace and harmony of our region” as has been feared by the opposition and countries including the United States and Australia. The security pact allows China […]
Apr 7 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — BANGKOK (AP) — India's power sector has been targeted by hackers in a long-term operation thought to have been carried out by a state-sponsored Chinese group, a U.S.-based private cybersecurity company detailed in a new report. Over the last several months, the Insikt Group, the threat research division of Massachusetts-based Recorded Future, said it has […]
Mar 11 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — BANGKOK (AP) — As Russia intensifies its assault on Ukraine, it is getting a helping hand from China in spreading inflammatory and unsubstantiated claims that the U.S. is financing biological weapons labs in Ukraine. The U.S. has been quick to refute Russia’s conspiracy theory, and the United Nations has said it has received no information […]
Mar 7 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — BANGKOK (AP) — The official global death toll from COVID-19 is on the verge of eclipsing 6 million — underscoring that the pandemic, now entering its third year, is far from over. The milestone is the latest tragic reminder of the unrelenting nature of the pandemic even as people are shedding masks, travel is resuming […]
Feb 10 2022 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — BANGKOK (AP) — Coronavirus cases continue to rise rapidly in Tonga, and tests have confirmed that the particularly contagious omicron variant is behind the isolated Pacific island nation's first community outbreak since the start of the pandemic, officials said Thursday. Health Minister Saia Piukala told reporters that 31 more people had tested positive for the […]
Oct 14 2021 — David Rising, The Associated Press — The Canadian Press — BANGKOK (AP) — After sending a record number of military aircraft to harass Taiwan over China’s National Day holiday, Beijing has toned down the saber rattling but tensions remain high, with the rhetoric and reasoning behind the exercises unchanged. Experts agree a direct conflict is unlikely at the moment, but as the future of self-ruled […]