Anwar, who is attending a Nikkei annual conference in Tokyo, said China is an important neighbour as it grows economically and militarily.

All-weather, all-round, strategic and future-oriented are among descriptors that show up the subtle differences in China’s relationships.

The Chinese ambassador said the ‘Japanese people will be dragged into the fire’ if they continue to support Taiwan’s independence, similar to comments he made last year.

The Philippines says it has contingency plans to counter China’s actions including filing a diplomatic protest against Beijing.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang will meet in Seoul on May 26 and 27.

Claims that the alleged deal was already in place before Duterte’s term are meant to shift the blame to former leader Benigno Aquino III, observers say.

Threat is present in the US and elsewhere, coming from those ‘trying to change the world order’, senior envoy Nicholas Burns tells Harvard graduates.

The risk of cross-Strait conflict with mainland China appears to be chipping away at Taiwan’s long-held dominance in the semiconductor industry, underpinning a sense of urgency in diversifying hi-tech supply chains.

The captives’ families hoped the footage would increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree a truce with Hamas and secure the hostages’ release.

Janet Yellen expected to restate American call for firms and financial institutions in China and elsewhere to ‘cease’ backing Moscow’s defence complex.

Samaila Zubairu, head of the development bank, says China should not see the continent as just the source of raw materials.

Vice-Admiral Alberto Carlos admits talking to a Chinese military attaché on ways to reduce maritime tensions, but insists he has ‘not compromised’ the country’s territorial integrity.

A Chinese think tank says Vietnam has reclaimed more land in the Spratly Islands over the past three years than in the previous 40 years.

Wang Yi tells member states that recent attacks in Russia and Pakistan show there is ‘still a long way to go’ in the fight against terror.

Spain withdrew its ambassador to Buenos Aires in an escalation of its response to Argentine President Javier Milei’s derogatory comments about the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

‘Foreign interference’ narrative, a bid to deflect France’s responsibility for the crisis and insult to the Kanak people’s long struggle for independence, analysts note.

The UN World Food Programme said a new US$320 million Gaza floating pier project may fail after crowds of desperate Palestinians intercepted and looted trucks, causing a halt to deliveries.

Matthew Trickett, 37, died under ‘unexplained’ circumstances, and a police investigation is ongoing.

America’s top diplomat describes Beijing as seeking ‘better relations with Europe’ while fuelling its ‘greatest security threat’ since the Cold War.

The exercises are taking place in Russia’s Southern Military District, which borders and includes parts of Ukraine that Moscow claims to have annexed.

The Chinese coastguard earlier said it would detain any foreign nationals for trespassing in the disputed South China Sea.

Beijing and Moscow should ‘maintain security and stability in the common Chinese-Russian neighbourhood’, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says

North Korea and Russia have exploited the US-China schism to take actions that undermined the global order, Jia Qingguo of Peking University says at Hong Kong University.