CHINA
Palestinian leader visits
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday began a visit to China that comes as Beijing is seeking a larger role in Middle East politics and competing for energy resources. In announcing the visit, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Beijing was willing to help broker relations between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government that have deteriorated to the lowest level in recent years. The ministry did not say who Abbas would meet in Beijing or give other details of his four-day visit. Increased fighting over the past year between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank has resulted in the deadliest period of violence between the sides in years. The visit also comes after China hosted talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia that resulted in the two restoring diplomatic relations. That development was seen as representing a diplomatic victory for China as Gulf Arab states perceive the US slowly withdrawing from the region, but it remains to be seen how far the reconciliation efforts between Iran and Saudi Arabia would progress. The rivalry dates to the 1979 revolution that toppled Iran’s Western-backed monarchy, and the two nations have backed rival armed groups and political factions across the region. State broadcaster China Central Television quoted Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang (秦剛) as saying that “China supports the resumption of peace talks between Palestine and Israel as soon as possible on the basis of the ‘two-state solution,’ and is willing to play an active role in this regard.”
SOUTH KOREA
Yoon pans Chinese envoy
President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday said that he was doubtful whether China’s ambassador had an attitude of mutual respect after the envoy warned Seoul against making “wrong bets” in the Sino-US rivalry, Yonhap News Agency reported. Yoon made the comment during a Cabinet meeting, Yonhap reported, citing multiple people who attended the session. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week summoned Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming (邢海明) after he blamed South Korea for worsening bilateral ties due to US influence and urged the nation to stop “decoupling” from China. “Looking at Ambassador Xing’s attitude, it’s doubtful if he has an attitude of mutual respect or promotion of friendship as a diplomat,” Yoon was quoted by Yonhap as telling the meeting. “Our people are displeased with his inappropriate behavior.” When asked about the situation, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) on Friday last week said that the challenges in China-South Korea relations were “not caused by China.”
CAMBODIA
Election law to be amended
Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered that an election law be amended to penalize anyone who boycotts next month’s poll, which critics have said would be a sham because of the prime minister’s moves to stamp out all opposition. The revision is likely to be approved in the coming days by the rubber-stamp parliament and would bar those who do not cast votes from becoming candidates in future elections, the latest move by the long-serving leader to stifle dissent. The ruling Cambodian People’s Party is to run virtually unopposed next month, after the election commission disqualified the sole opposition Candlelight Party from running, citing improper paperwork. “Those who wish to stand for election must be responsible as good citizens of the nation in a democratic society, starting from the consistent exercise of the right to vote,” Hun Sen, 70, said on social media.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS