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BEIJING, China | AFP | — Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte declared his “separation” from longstanding ally the United States in Beijing on Thursday, as he rebalances his country’s diplomacy towards China. Duterte is in China for a four-day trip seen as confirming his tilt away from Washington and towards Beijing’s sphere of influence — and its deep pockets. “I announce my separation from the United States,” he said to applause at a meeting in […]
Dozens of pro-Beijing lawmakers walked out of the Hong Kong legislature on Wednesday (October 19) to prevent the swearing-in of two pro-independence activists, setting the scene for a new constitutional crisis in the Chinese-controlled territory. The topic of independence has long been taboo in the former British colony, now governed under the “one country, two systems” principle since its return to Communist-ruled China in 1997. The government failed in an unprecedented legal attempt to halt […]
(Reuters) — Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte arrived in Beijing on Tuesday (October 18) at the start of a four-day state visit aimed at improving ties between the Asian neighbours. Duterte was welcomed by Chinese officials after arriving from an earlier state visit to Brunei. He is expected to meet the Chinese leadership for bilateral talks on trade, security and the economy. Duterte is travelling with at least 200 business leaders, and Chinese […]
By Huiyun Feng, Griffith University (Courtesy East Asia Forum) — In September 2016, Russia and China started their routine naval drill, ‘Joint Sea-2016’, off the coast of China’s Guangdong province. This was the fifth joint naval drill between the two nations since 2012, but the first to take place in the South China Sea. The decision to carry out this exercise in the South China Sea was announced after The Hague ruling in July, which […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing rapped Washington Tuesday for its interventions in Asia, as tensions grow between the two powers over territorial disputes in the South China Sea and how to handle increasingly erratic North Korea. Speaking at the 7th annual Xiangshan regional defence forum in Beijing, Chang Wanguan, China’s defence minister, levied thinly veiled criticism at recent US involvement in Asia’s trouble spots. Washington has conducted freedom of navigation operations close to artificial islands […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday called for a resumption of talks with China and pledged that “anything” can be on the table for discussion. Relations with Beijing have deteriorated under Taiwan’s first female president, whose China-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took office in May after a landslide victory over the Kuomintang party (KMT). Tsai has refused to accept the concept of “one China”, prompting Beijing to cut off all official […]
(REUTERS) Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte will visit China from Oct. 19-21 accompanied by a business delegation, business and diplomatic sources said on Thursday, signaling his intent to set sovereignty squabbles aside and forge a stronger commercial relationship with Beijing. The decision to invite business leaders suggests Duterte is following through with his vow to make peace with China and heal wounds that have festered since Manila lodged a legal challenge to Beijing’s claims to […]
VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — Japan is “seriously concerned” about Beijing’s increasingly muscular claims in the South China Sea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Asian leaders Wednesday. Beijing insists it has sovereign rights to almost all of the strategically vital waters, where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims. It also has a simmering territorial row with Tokyo over disputed islands in the East China Sea. “I am seriously concerned with the continuing […]
by Benjamin CARLSON BEIJING, China (AFP) — G20 leaders will meet in China this weekend in a climate of economic uncertainty and sluggish global growth –- but the absence of an urgent crisis means the forum will be short on breakthroughs, analysts say. Eight years after the first G20 summit in Washington, when countries coordinated a response to the financial meltdown, Beijing has set a modest agenda for the Hangzhou gathering — focusing on making […]
(Reuters) The Philippines special envoy to China, Fidel Ramos, said on Friday Manila wants formal discussions with China to explore pathways to peace and cooperation after a meeting with former Chinese deputy foreign minister Fu Ying. Ramos was speaking near the end of a trip to Hong Kong undertaken in an attempt to rekindle ties with China, which have been soured by a maritime dispute in the South China Sea. An arbitration court in […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing on Tuesday announced penalties for “illegal” fishing in its waters, including those it claims in the South China Sea, weeks after an international tribunal ruled that those claims have no legal basis. The Supreme Court defined penalties for boats operating in areas, including the disputed region and its contiguous economic zones, in a move that could raise regional tensions The decision appears to be an attempt to strengthen Chinese rules […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Torrential rain lashing northern China in recent days has left nearly 100 people dead or missing, official figures showed. At least 24 people in the provinces of Hebei, which surrounds Beijing, Shanxi, Henan and Shaanxi have been confirmed dead in a rainstorm that has been pounding the region since Monday, according to figures from the civil affairs ministry. Hebei was the worst hit, with 14 dead and 72 missing, it said […]
