The US said it has no plans to sign a non-aggression treaty with Southeast Asia even though other big powers Russia, China and India have become signatories to underscore security commitment to the region.
Australia, a key US ally, has also agreed to accede to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, abandoning Canberra's option to launch pre-emptive military strikes against terrorist bases in the region.
The three-decade-old treaty bans signatories from using violence to settle conflicts in the region, a key policy of ASEAN, which was established during the height of the Cold War.
But the US is reluctant to sign the treaty, which is also a condition laid down by ASEAN for those wanting to participate in an inaugural East Asian Summit it would hold in December.
"We have a very active and productive dialogue with ASEAN on a full range of issues," a US State Department official said.
"Although we have discussed the treaty in the past, we have no current plans to sign the agreement," he told reporters.
The official did not say why Washington is reluctant to ink the pact but some experts believe it is due to bureaucratic rather than strategic reasons.
The issue goes back to the Cold War, when there was a sense that there should be no restrictions on the free movement of US forces, particularly the navy, in East Asia, according to Marvin Ott, a professor at National War College in the National Defense University in Washington.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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