New prime minister Jeremiah Manele is expected to apply a “lighter touch” to ties with Beijing given the demand for greater transparency.
Israel wants ‘to deflect the global community’s attention from their nefarious, inhumane and unconscionable acts in Palestine’, Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said.
‘China’s current external stance and military actions present … the greatest strategic challenge,’ Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tells joint session of Congress.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang is scheduled to visit Australia in the third week of June amid improving relations, with the unofficial import ban on Australian live lobsters set to be lifted, according to sources with knowledge of the issue.
Ahead of the dinner, US President Joe Biden announces Tokyo’s gift of 250 cherry blossom trees: ‘Like our friendship, these trees are timeless, inspiring and thriving.’
US officials acknowledge foreign anxiety over whether new partnerships under Indo-Pacific strategy will last if Trump becomes president.
Manila says the summit isn’t ‘directed at any country’. But analysts speculate it aims to strengthen maritime defensive efforts to counter China’s increasingly aggressive actions.
Myanmar is in the throes of an insurgency on multiple fronts, with the junta facing its biggest challenge since mounting a coup to seize power in 2021.
Almost two years after Kyiv accused India of buying Russian oil tainted with ‘Ukrainian blood’, it has eased its stance by seeking deeper diplomatic and trade ties.
While Manila should engage its allies and bolster its defence capabilities, the key to resolving the row is through ‘negotiations and direct talks’, analysts say.
The opening of the world’s longest twin-lane tunnel sparked a war of words between Beijing and New Delhi, both of which claim the Arunachal Pradesh region where it was built.
Conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol looks set to maintain a hardline stance on Beijing despite the expected victory of ‘submissive’ liberals in next month’s parliamentary elections.
China’s imports of Australian coal increased by 3,188 per cent year on year to US$1.34 billion in the first two months of 2024 amid improving relations between Beijing and Canberra.
While Bhutan relies on India economically, Delhi also needs to ensure Thimpu remains an ally amid Beijing’s increasing presence and influence in the kingdom, analysts say.
US President Joe Biden’s press secretary confirmed the April 11 meeting with Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and Fumio Kishida to ‘advance a trilateral partnership built on deep historical ties of friendship’.
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan’s Middle East tour comes as Singapore becomes ‘more vocal’ on Israel’s actions in Gaza, observers say.
Representatives from Taipei have been included in all three democracy summits, which were begun by US President Joe Biden in 2021, and mainland China has been excluded.
Biden, Kishida and Marcos Jnr are set to meet next month in a landmark summit over the issue deemed by Manila to be the top ‘flashpoint’.
Yanis Varoufakis says diplomacy is a ‘far better way’ for Canberra to engage with Beijing, and that the Aukus deal would ‘turbocharge a new Cold War’.
The arrest of Baek Kwang-soon comes as relations between Seoul and Moscow have deteriorated since the Ukraine war, while ties between Moscow and Pyongyang have grown closer.
The demarcation could also be an “inevitable step” towards the disputed Spratly Islands being the next area where Beijing wants to set its lines.