Tag: ASEAN IN FOCUS

Vietnam tycoon appeals against $27 bn fraud death sentence

HANOI, April 26, 2024 (AFP) – A top Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death in a $27 billion fraud case has launched an appeal against her conviction, state media said Friday. Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, was found guilty this month of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. The 68-year-old was found to have embezzled $12.5 billion, but prosecutors said the total damages caused by the […]

China’s Wang meets Indonesia’s Jokowi, president-elect Prabowo

JAKARTA  (AFP)  – China’s top diplomat met Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his successor Prabowo Subianto on Thursday as Beijing seeks to boost its regional influence. The meetings come after Prabowo visited Beijing this month where Chinese President Xi Jinping praised relations with Jakarta, laying out a vision for regional peace as tensions rise between Beijing and other Southeast Asian neighbours — including the Philippines over the disputed South China Sea. Indonesian defence minister Prabowo […]

ASEAN ‘deeply concerned’ by escalating Myanmar violence

By Rose TROUP BUCHANAN BANGKOK, April 19, 2024 (AFP) – Southeast Asian regional bloc ASEAN said it is “deeply concerned” about a recent upsurge in fighting in Myanmar, after fierce clashes over a key trading hub on the Thai border. The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations urged “all parties for an immediate cessation of violence” in Myanmar, which has been roiled by conflict since the military seized power in a February […]

Thai soldiers on alert as Myanmar border clashes enter second day

By Watsamon TRI-YASAKDA, Thanaporn PROMYAMYAI MAE SOT, Thailand, April 10, 2024 (AFP) – Thai armoured cars patrolled the town of Mae Sot Wednesday as the deep boom of artillery thundered across the border in Myanmar where the junta and an ethnic armed group fought for a second day near a vital trade hub. Hundreds queued to enter Thailand at the immigration checkpoint in Mae Sot, many fleeing the latest round of fighting to rock Myanmar […]

Two Rohingya found dead at sea after Indonesia ends survivor search

ACEH JAYA, Indonesia, March 23, 2024 (AFP) – The bodies of two Rohingya refugees were retrieved and several more were spotted at sea Saturday, local rescuers said, days after a wooden boat believed to be carrying around 150 people capsized, leaving many missing or dead. The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar, and thousands risk their lives each year on long and expensive sea journeys, often in flimsy boats, to try to […]

Thai ex-PM Thaksin makes first public appearance since release: AFP

By Thanaporn Promyamyai and Sarah Lai BANGKOK, March 14, 2024 (AFP) – Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited a Bangkok temple Thursday in his first public appearance since being freed early from a jail sentence for graft and abuse of power. The controversial billionaire, twice elected premier and ousted in a 2006 military coup, went to the Bangkok City Pillar Shrine ahead of a three-day trip to Chiang Mai in the kingdom’s north later […]

Malaysia PM warns against attempts to block China’s rise

By Laura CHUNG Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim warned Thursday against attempts by other countries to block China’s military and economic rise in the Asia-Pacific region. As the United States and China jostle for regional influence, Southeast Asian countries should defend the “sanctity” of international law and urge cooperation, he said. Beijing would see attempts to curb its military and economic expansion as a denial of its “legitimate place in history”, Anwar said in a […]

Trade, submarines feature at ASEAN talks in Australia

MELBOURNE, March 5, 2024 (AFP) – Australia unveiled plans to ramp up investment in Southeast Asia on Tuesday, setting aside US$1.3 billion to bolster trade in a region of rising economic might. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the funding as leaders from the 10-nation ASEAN forum met in Melbourne for a three-day summit. “The government I lead has made it clear. More than any other region, Southeast Asia is where Australia’s future lies,” Albanese told […]

Australia sets up $1.3 bn fund to grow trade with ASEAN

MELBOURNE, March 5, 2024 (AFP) – Australia unveiled plans to ramp up investment in Southeast Asia on Tuesday, setting aside US$1.3 billion to bolster trade in a region of rising economic might. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the funding as leaders from the 10-nation ASEAN forum met in Melbourne for a three-day summit. “The government I lead has made it clear. More than any other region, Southeast Asia is where Australia’s future lies,” Albanese told […]

Philippines hopes to launch EU free trade negotiations ‘very soon’

MELBOURNE, March 4, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippines hopes to launch formal free trade agreement negotiations with the European Union “very soon”, Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo told AFP in an interview Monday. The Southeast Asian nation, which depends heavily on trade with China, wants to expand its economic relations with other countries to achieve greater “resiliency”, the minister said. “We’re hoping… to very soon begin free trade negotiations with the EU,” Manalo said. The Philippines […]

ASEAN-Australia summit to decry ‘threat or use of force’ in region

By Steven TRASK MELBOURNE, March 4, 2024 (AFP) – Leaders from Southeast Asian nations and Australia gathered in Melbourne on Monday are expected to denounce the “threat or use of force” to settle disputes in the region, a collective swipe at China. “We strive for a region where sovereignty and territorial integrity is respected,” a draft joint ASEAN-Australia statement obtained by AFP read. “We strive for a region where differences are managed through respectful dialogue, […]