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by Shaun TANDON Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden on Friday welcomed Japan’s prime minister as his first guest, pledging a united front faced with a rising China and greater cooperation on 5G technology and climate change. Waiting nearly three months for his first summit due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Biden told Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that Japan had “our iron-clad support” on security issues and beyond. “We’re […]
SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — China’s Coronavac vaccine was 67 percent effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 and 80 percent at preventing death, according to real-life results unveiled Friday from Chile’s inoculation campaign. “These figures should convey peace of mind to the country,” Health Minister Enrique Paris told journalists as he announced the outcome of two months’ of vaccination in Chile, in February and March. The results were obtained from a comparison between vaccinated and non-vaccinated people […]
by Kyoko HASEGAWA TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s prime minister heads to Washington on Thursday to become the first foreign leader to hold face-to-face talks with US President Joe Biden, with concerns about China topping the agenda. Yoshihide Suga will be hoping to renew the all-important alliance with Washington after the Trump era, as well as compare notes on an increasingly assertive Beijing. The trip comes after two top US officials visited Japan in March, […]
Presence of China’s warships contributing to militarization of area, says NTF-WPS (Eagle News) – The Department of Foreign Affairs filed another diplomatic protest against China for the continuing presence of its ships in the West Philippine Sea, as the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) reported not only the presence of Chinese militia ships, but more disturbingly Chinese warships as well. The NTF-WPS again demanded the immediate withdrawal of Chinese ships and […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — US President Joe Biden sent an unofficial delegation of former US officials to Taiwan on Wednesday in a signal of support for the democratic island as it faces increasingly hostile moves by China. Taipei said former senator Christopher Dodd and former deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg would land in the capital on Wednesday afternoon. “Once again this visit demonstrates the firm relationship between Taiwan and the […]
BAODING, China (AFP) — A decade ago the plight of former champion gymnast Zhang Shangwu shocked China and made world headlines when he was discovered begging in Beijing, prompting one of the country’s richest men to give him a job. That should have heralded a turnaround for the troubled Zhang, who had been imprisoned for theft after injury ended his gymnastics career. But after another stint in jail, Zhang is again making a living […]
PHL “utmost displeasure” expressed over “illegal lingering presence of Chinese vessels in Julian Felipe Reef” (Eagle News) — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it had summoned Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian on Monday, April 12, to express the Philippines’ “utmost displeasure” over the “illegal lingering presence of Chinese vessels” in the Julian Felipe Reef.” In a statement, the DFA stressed that the “continuing presence of Chinese vessels around the Reef […]
Incident has legal implications and shows China’s increasing hubris, says Prof. Batongbacal (Eagle News) – China’s recent use of its Coast Guard and Navy ships in the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone is a “violation of Philippine sovereign rights” and its recent actions of chasing a Philippine civilian boat show’s China’s increasing hubris to enter Philippine waters, according to a maritime law expert. The director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs […]
(Eagle News)–Both the Philippines and the United States reaffirmed the “importance of working closely to enhance the Mutual Defense Treaty” in light of the “recent geopolitical developments and challenges” in the Asia in the West Philippine Sea, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. The DFA said the reaffirmation of the treaty that “has stood strong for nearly 70 years” was made in a conversation between Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin Jr. and U.S. Secretary […]
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — The Philippine armed forces said Friday it was investigating a report that Chinese military boats pursued a civilian vessel carrying Filipino journalists in the disputed South China Sea. A television crew from Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN was travelling to Second Thomas Shoal in the contested Spratly Islands on Thursday when their vessel was allegedly chased by a Chinese Coast Guard boat and two attack craft. Tensions over the resource-rich sea have […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China accused the United States of “politicizing sports” on Wednesday, after Washington said it would discuss calls to boycott the Beijing Olympics with its allies after growing pressure to shun the Winter Games on human rights grounds. Republican politicians in the US have led calls for a boycott of the Olympics, in part over what rights monitors say is the mass incarceration and indoctrination of more than a million Uyghurs and […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan blasted China’s fighter jet incursions as “self-defeating” on Wednesday as 15 more of Beijing’s planes crossed into the island’s air defence zone. Taipei’s defence ministry said it scrambled aircraft to broadcast warning messages to the latest incursion, which included 12 Chinese fighters. China has ramped up the use of such drills to record levels over the past year as a way to pile pressure on self-ruled Taiwan which it regards […]
