Thailand’s Shinawatra dynasty back on top, but for how long? 

Bangkok — Promoted to the prime minister’s office after a court ruling took out her predecessor, experts say Thailand’s youngest ever leader, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, may be the last card her political dynasty has to play as it seeks to win back the Thai electorate. 

But the risks of frontline Thai power have been spotlighted in recent weeks by judges who have once more shown they are willing to shape the politics of a kingdom trapped in a two decade-long political crisis.

Paetongtarn is the 37-year-old daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been at the center of Thailand’s political breakdown since he won a landslide election in 2001.  

On Sunday she formally became Thailand’s 31st prime minister after the unexpected removal of real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin from office, by the Constitutional Court on an ethics probe. 

Paetongtarn was voted in by parliament, despite having limited direct political experience and never having been elected to office by the public.  In her first press conference she insisted she will be her ‘’own person, with her own goals.”  

But few believe that Thaksin, a 75-year-old billionaire who was twice prime minister before being dumped from office by a 2006 coup, will hold back from pulling the strings of government. 

He returned to Thailand on August 22 of last year after a 15-year exile in an apparent deal to share power with his former arch-royalist enemies and block the pro-democracy Move Forward Party (MFP) from government. 

‘’Thaksin is still very much actively involved behind the scenes,’’ said Verapat Pariyawong, who teaches Thai law and politics at the University of London SOAS and also advises Thai parliamentary committees.  ‘’His daughter is about to take on one of the toughest jobs that he knows all too well.” 

Shinawatra parties were once seen as the populist champion of the poor and therefore a threat to the royalist elite, which hit them with two coups and endless court cases. 

But the democracy cause has been taken up by Move Forward, which won the last election in 2023 and shocked the Thaksin-founded Pheu Thai party by beating it into second place. 

‘’Since the Pheu Thai party lost the election their only priority is to win the next one, everything else is just a side dish,” Sirote Klampaiboon, an independent scholar and political commentator, told VOA. “Their main course is winning the next election.” 

Move Forward was dissolved a week before Srettha was removed from office by the same court, the latest move by what Sirote described as Thailand’s ‘’parallel powers’’ that favor a conservative settlement to power. 

The MFP has rebranded as the People’s Party and is setting its sights on rebuilding toward a decisive victory in the 2027 elections. 

Damaged brand  

Paetongtarn’s first task is to appoint a cabinet that reflects the interests of the coalition government, with powerful conservative factions likely to jostle for the biggest ministries. 

Thailand’s economy is also sluggish and the removal of Srettha’s government has put into doubt a nearly $14 billion digital cash handout to stimulate the economy as well as big infrastructure projects such as a “land bridge” across the south of the country to cut shipping times from Asia as well as a plan to legalize mega-casinos to boost tax revenue.  

In her first address as prime minister, Paetongtarn said she is “devoted to making every square inch of Thailand a land of opportunities, where everyone dares to dream, create and to write their own future.”  

The problem, Paetongtarn’s critics say, is many Thais no longer see their country as a place of opportunity. Household debt is at record levels [over 90 percent], wages are low and pro-democracy voters say the economy is divided by monopoly businesses and political power shared by a narrow elite, which is for now again dominated by Paetongtarn’s family. 

“The Shinawatra ‘brand’ is unsellable these days, the populist policies proved that they don’t work because 20 years gone by and people are still poor and indebted,” Aat Pisanwanich, an independent scholar and international economy expert, told VOA. “Under this government, everything will be the same if not worse… based on many interviews by Paetongtarn, she has little grasp of our economic problems.” 

There may also be threats lurking from inside Thailand’s politics where loyalties and alliances quickly change and the courts are always on standby to intervene.  

Analyst Sirote says the government will be preparing for potential “nail-biting circumstances” such as cabinet picks being scrutinized for past wrongdoings or any dubious assets Paetongtarn may have. 

But you can never rule out a family that has had three direct members as prime minister and two others heading its parties, he adds. 

“Even if something were to happen to Paethongtarn politically, the Shinawatra brand will not just disappear from Thai politics.”

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China’s Xi promises stronger Fiji ties in world of ‘turmoil’ 

Beijing — Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to strengthen ties with Fiji in a world beset with “turmoil” as he met the Pacific island’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka in Beijing on Tuesday.

China has stepped up its courtship of South Pacific nations in recent years, triggering concern among Western powers — particularly the United States and Australia — that have historically held sway over the region.

Rabuka met Xi in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People after touring the length and breadth of China for more than a week.

“(Our) two countries have always supported and helped each other as good friends, good partners, and have become a model of being equals and friendly cooperation between countries large and small,” Xi told Rabuka.

He said Beijing was keen to “promote the building of a China-Fiji community with a shared future in a world of turmoil and chaos, and to bring more benefits to our people.”

Xi also praised Fiji’s recent sporting successes in rugby, for which it won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics last month.

Rabuka thanked the Chinese leader, telling Xi that “Fiji stands ready to send rugby coaches and players to come to China to play with Chinese teams.”

He also hailed Xi’s meeting last year with US President Joe Biden in San Francisco, where he said “you might have achieved peace for the world.”

Rabuka has taken a more cautious line over China’s growing security interests in the Pacific, praising Fiji’s warming ties with Beijing while saying he preferred to deal with democratic “traditional friends” on security.

Fiji and China signed a series of bilateral deals on trade, military aid, infrastructure and Chinese-language education during Rabuka’s trip, according to statements by both governments.

Premier Li Qiang pledged at a meeting with Rabuka on Sunday to boost imports from Fiji and encourage Chinese investment there, according to a Chinese government readout.

Rabuka also hailed Beijing’s “tailor-made innovative poverty alleviation strategies” during a trip to Ningde city in eastern China’s Fujian province.

The Fijian premier last met Xi at an Asia-Pacific economic summit in San Francisco last year, when the Chinese leader committed to helping Fiji safeguard its “security and sovereignty.”

Rabuka said after those talks China could help develop Fiji’s ports and shipyards and praised Beijing’s record of aid to his country in fighting Covid-19, developing agriculture and revamping infrastructure.

China alarmed Western countries when it signed a secretive defense pact with Solomon Islands last year, sparking fears it could deploy military forces there.

The Solomons’ Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele visited China in June and the Pacific nation later said Beijing would inject $20 million into its government budget.

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India, Malaysia to expand ties, defense cooperation as Kuala Lumpur tries to move closer to Beijing  

NEW DELHI — India and Malaysia will seek to expand economic ties and strengthen cooperation on defense and security, the leaders of the two countries said on Tuesday. 

This came during Malaysian Prime Minster Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to India, his first since he took office in 2022, where he met with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. 

Recently, Anwar has sought to move closer to China, with whom New Delhi has been locked in a long-running border dispute. A key part of Modi’s foreign policy has been to deepen trade and ties with other Asian countries, including Malaysia, to push back against growing Chinese influence in the region. 

Both heads of state addressed reporters after signing a slew of new agreements, including digital technologies, tourism and traditional medicine. Anwar said the two countries have enjoyed good relations for years, adding that “we realized this must be strengthened in a multitude of areas,” including construction, agriculture and military collaborations to safeguard both nations’ borders. 

Modi said the two had discussed cooperation in the defense sector, and that trade and investment between the two countries should grow while they collaborate on new industries like the production of semiconductors. He also stressed how the partnership between the two countries had grown, taking on “new momentum and energy” over the years. 

Earlier on Tuesday, the Malaysian prime minister received a ceremonial welcome at India’s presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan before paying his respects to Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi at the Rajghat memorial site in New Delhi. 

Bilateral trade between the two countries is strong at $20 billion. Malaysia is India’s 16th largest trading partner, while India is among the top ten largest trading partners for Malaysia. There are around 70 Malaysian companies operating in India and more than 150 Indian ones in Malaysia, where Indians comprise about 7% of the country’s population.

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‘We’re going nowhere’ – Thai opposition figure says court interventions must stop

Bangkok — Politicians in Thailand must reform the judiciary to prevent interventions that have the country “going around in circles,” a recently banned opposition figurehead said, after two big rulings that dissolved his party and dismissed a prime minister.

Pita Limjaroenrat, whose now defunct Move Forward Party was blocked from forming a government last year, said a 10-year political ban would not weaken his resolve to lead Thailand and start major reforms, including stopping independent institutions from being politicized.

Thailand has been trapped in a tumultuous two-decade cycle of coups and court rulings that have toppled multiple governments, as part of a power struggle between popularly elected parties and an influential establishment with powerful connections in the military and key institutions.

“It’s back to square one and nothing has been achieved for the people,” Pita told Reuters, reflecting on upheaval that saw Move Forward dissolved and Srettha Thavisin dismissed as premier in the space of a week, both by the same court.

“We confuse movement with progress,” he said. “It’s almost like we’re going around in circles and we’re thinking we’re going somewhere but actually we’re going nowhere.”

His remarks came as 134 Thai academics and legal experts in a statement criticized the court, which they said overstepped its jurisdiction and damaged the public’s trust in legal and democratic systems.

Pita will return to Harvard University as a democracy fellow following his ban over his party’s plan to amend a law that punishes royal insults with up to 15 years in jail, a campaign the court said undermined Thailand’s constitutional monarchy.

His predicament provides a snapshot of Thailand’s cutthroat politics, with Pita hugely popular yet forced onto the sidelines, despite leading Move Forward to a surprise election victory that gave a ringing public endorsement of its progressive, anti-establishment platform.

Pita, 43, has polled consistently as the most preferred prime minister choice in Thailand, long after army-appointed senators thwarted his bid to become premier.

He and 43 colleagues could be subject of another pending case over the campaign on the lese-majeste law and face lifetime political bans by the anti-corruption commission, which has a remit that goes beyond graft cases.

He said the issue shows elected politicians need to reform institutions such as the commission and courts to guarantee their independence and accountability to the public.

“Penalize someone because of differing ethical standards or morality standards – that’s a bit too much for our democracy,” he said.

Though the two verdicts shook Thai politics and sparked concerns about the outlook for its stagnating economy, the status quo remains after casualties of both cases quickly regrouped within two days of the decisions.

Move Forward formed a new vehicle, the People’s Party, while the Pheu Thai Party-led coalition rallied behind Srettha’s replacement, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who won the overwhelming backing of parliament on Friday and was endorsed by the king on Sunday.

Paetongtarn is daughter of divisive political heavyweight and billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, whose populist parties have been worst hit by Thailand’s tumult. He is indicted for an alleged royal insult, though his lawyer on Monday said witness testimony will not start until July 2025.

Pita is planning a memoir of his roller-coaster ride and to give speeches and seminars on Southeast Asian affairs, hoping to return to politics stronger.

“I’ll be waiting for my time, you know I still very much want to bring about change in Thailand,” he said.

“I’ll be accumulating knowledge and experiences so when I return to be the leader of the country, I’ll be a better person then.”

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Philippines says China coast guard actions hinder confidence-building

Manila — The Philippines on Tuesday said China’s coast guard was not helping efforts to build confidence in the South China Sea, after accusing it of ramming and damaging its vessels in the latest in a succession of altercations.

The Philippines urged China to refrain from aggressive actions and adhere to international law, said Alexander Lopez, a spokesperson for the country’s maritime council, an inter-ministerial body that formulates policy on the South China Sea.

The latest incident took place near the Sabina Shoal, as the Philippines conducted a resupply mission to two islands it occupies in the Spratly chain, parts of which are also contested by China, Vietnam and Malaysia.

China has challenged Manila’s account and said the Philippine coast guard acted in an “unprofessional and dangerous” manner.

Lopez at a briefing at the presidential palace said the council expressed “serious concern over the deliberate harassment and infringement by China” on the Philippines sovereignty and sovereign rights in the South China Sea.

China’s actions have drawn condemnation from treaty ally, the United States which described them as “dangerous” and “reckless,” while Japan through its embassy in Manila also expressed serious concern while reiterating its call for peaceful settlement of disputes.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, deploying an armada of coast guard vessels to protect what it considers its territory, hundreds of kilometers off its mainland. An international arbitral tribunal has said Beijing’s claim has no basis under international law.

The Philippines has been testing China’s resolve with increased coast guard activity in disputed areas of its exclusive economic zone, including resupply missions that have angered China, which sees the moves as deliberate provocations.

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China says Premier Li Qiang to visit Russia, Belarus this week  

Beijing — Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Russia and Belarus this week, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Monday.

Li’s visit comes as China and Russia ramp up economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts.

“Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Russia relations have eliminated external interference and maintained healthy and stable development,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular media briefing.

She said in a statement that Li’s visit from Tuesday to Friday would include “the 29th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government.”

Mao said Li planned to “exchange in-depth views on practical cooperation in bilateral relations and issues of common concern” in talks with Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin.

Russia and China’s strategic partnership has grown closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which Beijing has never condemned.

China presents itself as a neutral party in the war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

However, China is a close political and economic ally of Russia and NATO members have branded Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war. 

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko visited China twice last year, promising in December to be a “reliable partner” to Beijing.

Belarus relies heavily on Russia for political and financial support and was used as a launchpad for Moscow’s assault against Ukraine in February 2022.

It officially joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in July, becoming the 10th member of the expanding bloc of nations Beijing sees as a potential counterweight to the world order led by the United States.

“China and Belarus are all-weather comprehensive strategic partners,” Mao said on Monday.

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North Korea defector journalist speaks for those who can’t escape

Seoul, South Korea — Just two years ago, Zane Han couldn’t have imagined his life today: living in Seoul and writing whatever he wants about the North Korean government, which once tried to control his every move. 

Han, a broad-shouldered, energetic man approaching middle age, has lived a dizzying life. As a teenager, he survived the 1990s famine; later, he attended an elite Pyongyang university, where bribes were often necessary to get passing grades. Eventually, he worked for a North Korean construction company in Russia, where brutal conditions led him to seek freedom. 

Now, sitting in an office in central Seoul where he works as a journalist, Han struggles to describe what it feels like to have gone from the rigid outdatedness of North Korea to the vibrant modernity that now surrounds him. 

“It’s like experiencing a time machine,” he told VOA in an interview. 

Han is one of a strikingly small number of North Koreans to escape in recent years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea tightened border controls, intensifying a crackdown that began when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took power in 2011.  

Forced labor 

Han’s escape began in the far-western Russian city of St. Petersburg, where he worked grueling 15-hour days as a migrant laborer — pouring concrete, installing rebar, and laying bricks at a series of construction sites. 

Han said he and his North Korean colleagues were given only two days off each year. Confined to temporary container housing on the construction sites, they were rarely allowed to leave — usually about once a year. 

At first, Han didn’t see himself as a slave. It wasn’t until he overheard his Russian coworkers referring to him as a servant of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — the pawn of a mafia boss — that the reality of his situation began to sink in. It was a moment of self-awareness and what Han describes as the first shock that set him on the path to escape.  

“Of course, I [knew] we have no freedom inside North Korea,” he said, “But I didn’t imagine that North Korea’s image [in the outside world] was so poor.”  

Still, he pushed on, trying to make the most of what he had been assured was a rare opportunity to leave North Korea and send money back to his family in Pyongyang.  

Dramatic escape 

The breaking point came during the COVID-19 pandemic when North Korean authorities demanded an even larger cut of overseas workers’ earnings. Han suddenly found himself keeping just $100 to $150 a month, half of what he had been earning before. 

He’d had enough. The next time Han was allowed to leave the construction site, he called the United Nations refugee agency office in Moscow, using a cellphone that he had purchased from an Uzbek coworker for about $30.  

The U.N. office helped facilitate his escape, first to Moscow then through a third country. Within 20 hours of fleeing the construction site, he had landed in South Korea, one of just 67 North Koreans to reach the South in 2022. 

New pattern 

Han’s escape reflects an important trend, according to Lee Shin-wha, who until earlier this month was South Korea’s ambassador for North Korean human rights.  

Like Han, most recent escapees were already outside North Korea — mostly living in China and Russia working as diplomats, businessmen, or migrant laborers, said Lee. Some had lived abroad for 10 or 20 years before fleeing Pyongyang’s control, she said.  

According to a U.N. report this year, around 100,000 North Korean workers remain overseas, earning money for the North Korean government despite U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit such activity.  

Activists have long tried to reach overseas North Korean workers, who despite being in tightly controlled environments, might have some access to outside information.  

But Lee also emphasized the plight of those trapped inside North Korea, especially since the pandemic, when North Korea cracked down on unauthorized border crossings.  

“Ordinary North Koreans’ chances [of escape], I think, are almost zero,” she said. “That is my big concern.” 

Speaking out 

Han, whose entire family remains in North Korea, is also motivated by those who cannot leave. 

After spending three months at Hanawon, a government-run facility that helps defectors adjust to life in the South, Han settled in Seoul and now writes for NK Insider, an English language website that aims to elevate North Korean voices. The project, funded by the U.S.-based Human Rights Foundation, launched earlier this year. 

Using his contacts back home, Han has written stories that help uncover rights abuses, such as sexual violence at North Korean prison camps, as well as a new system to incentivize North Koreans to spy on their neighbors.  

Though Han speaks with urgency — almost an evangelistic zeal — he is also cautious, using a pseudonym in part to protect his family, which he has not spoken with, two years after defecting.  

Despite the challenges, Han sees his work as crucial for revealing the true conditions inside North Korea. 

“Nobody can imagine what the situation [in North Korea] is like,” he said. “[But] I was there — I know.” 

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Defectors launch site to share untold North Korea stories

A group of North Korean defectors in Seoul has started a news website aimed at exposing North Korean human rights abuses. They also want to provide a more nuanced perspective about their homeland, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from the South Korean capital. Video: Kim Hyungjin

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Indonesia’s outgoing leader gives cabinet jobs to loyalists of successor Prabowo 

JAKARTA — Outgoing Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday appointed new cabinet ministers with close ties to his successor Prabowo Subianto, in a move aimed at smoothing the transition of power two months ahead of his departure.

Defense Minister Prabowo won the February election by a massive margin with the help of Widodo’s huge popularity and political clout, in what is widely interpreted as a quid-pro-quo that will ensure the outgoing leader maintains influence after a decade in charge.

Jokowi, as the president is widely known, appointed new ministers for energy, investment and law, as well as the heads of three agencies, with most of the new appointments close to Prabowo, having supported his candidacy or campaigned for him.

Bahlil Lahadalia, the investment minister, will move to the post of energy minister, while former ambassador to the United States Rosan Roeslani will be the new investment minister.

Bahlil said he would prioritize working on incentives to promote efforts to reactivate idle energy wells and reverse the decline in Indonesia’s crude oil output.

Jokowi also named Dadan Hindayana, a professor at Bogor Agricultural University, to head the newly created National Nutrition Agency and oversee Prabowo’s signature free school meals program, which will cost $4.56 billion in its first year.

Dadan, a member of Prabowo’s campaign teams, was quoted telling local media the meals program would start on Jan. 2 next year.

Jokowi also appointed Prabowo’s spokesperson Hasan Nasbi as head of the presidential communications body.

The changes “are needed to prepare and support the government transition so it works well, smooth, and effectively,” said Ari Dwipayana, a presidential palace official, in a statement.

The appointments come during a transition period in which Prabowo has been racing to consolidate power ahead of his presidency, including months of talks that led to him securing a parliamentary majority late last week, with support from parties that had backed his election rival.

Prabowo, 72, a former rival who lost two presidential elections to Jokowi, has also been seeking to boost his profile overseas, with trips to Russia, Qatar, Japan and China since his victory. On Monday, he was in Australia.

Ujang Komarudin, a politics expert at Al-Azhar Indonesia University, said the appointments announced on Monday were “accommodation politics” that could see Jokowi’s loyalists given posts in Prabowo’s cabinet once he takes office.

Jokowi’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, will be vice president, after playing a key role in Prabowo’s campaign as his running mate. It is unclear what future role, if any, Jokowi might play in Indonesia having served the maximum two terms allowed as president.

 

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China and Vietnam’s top leaders meet in Beijing

BEIJING — China’s President Xi Jinping held talks on Monday with Vietnam’s new leader To Lam in Beijing on his first state visit since he took office, Chinese official media Xinhua said.

The meeting signals the close ties between the two communist-run neighbors, which have well-developed economic and trade relations despite the occasional boundary clashes in the energy-rich South China Sea.

China, displaying exuberance over Lam’s choosing China for his first official trip, said last week it “fully reflects the great importance he attaches to the development of ties between both parties and countries.”

Lam arrived in China’s southern province Guangzhou on Sunday for a three-day visit that would include meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other Chinese top officials.

While in Guangzhou, he visited some Chinese locations where former President Ho Chi Minh conducted revolutionary activities.

Last December, China and Vietnam signed more than a dozen agreements when Xi visited Vietnam.

The agreements, specifics of which were not announced, covered strengthening railway cooperation and development, investments in various fields and establishing communication to handle unexpected incidents in the South China Sea.

In a lengthy joint declaration, both countries said they would work on cross-border railway connectivity, naming three rail projects that included one connecting through mountainous Lao Cai in Vietnam’s northwest to the port city Haiphong and a potential one linking two coastal cities to Haiphong.

The statement mentioned continued support for both countries’ railway companies to further cooperate to improve the efficiency of Vietnamese goods transiting through China.

It also mentioned working on other projects under China’s flagship infrastructure program, the Belt and Road Initiative, and emphasized investment cooperation in agriculture, infrastructure, energy, digital economy, green development and other fields.

China and Vietnam forged diplomatic ties in 1950 and established a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation in 2008 that was jointly fortified five years later to extend to more shared international and regional issues of concern.

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China accuses the Philippines of deliberately crashing into ship

TAIPEI, Taiwan — China’s coast guard accused the Philippines of deliberately crashing one of its ships into a Chinese vessel early Monday near Sabina Shoal, a new flashpoint in the increasingly alarming territorial disputes between the countries in the South China Sea.

Two Philippine coast guard ships entered waters near the shoal, ignored the Chinese coast guard’s warning and “deliberately collided” with one of China’s boats at 3:24 a.m., a spokesperson said in a statement on the Chinese coast guard’s website.

Philippine authorities did not immediately comment on the encounter near the disputed atoll in the Spratly Islands, where overlapping claims are also made by Vietnam and Taiwan.

“The Philippine side is entirely responsible for the collision,” spokesman Gan Yu said. “We warn the Philippine side to immediately stop its infringement and provocation, otherwise it will bear all the consequences arising from that.”

Gan added China claimed “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratly Islands, known in Chinese as Nansha Islands, including Sabina Shoal and its adjacent waters. The Chinese name for Sabina Shoal is Xianbin Reef.

In a separate statement, he said the Philippine ship that was turned away from Sabina Shoal entered waters near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, ignoring the Chinese coast guard’s warnings. “The Chinese coast guard took control measures against the Philippine ship in accordance with law and regulation,” he added.

Sabina Shoal, which lies about 140 kilometers (87 miles) west of the Philippines’ western island province of Palawan, has become a new flashpoint in the territorial disputes between China and the Philippines.

The Philippine coast guard deployed one of its key patrol ships, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, to Sabina in April after Filipino scientists discovered submerged piles of crushed corals in its shallows which sparked suspicions that China may be bracing to build a structure in the atoll. The Chinese coast guard later deployed a ship to Sabina.

Sabina lies near the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal, which has been the scene of confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships and accompanying vessels since last year.

China and the Philippines reached an agreement last month to prevent further confrontations when the Philippines transports new batches of sentry forces, along with food and other supplies, to Manila’s territorial outpost in the Second Thomas Shoal, which has been closely guarded by Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships.

The Philippine navy transported food and personnel to the Second Thomas Shoal a week after the deal was reached and no incident was reported, sparking hope that tensions in the shoal would eventually ease.

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North Korea condemns Ukraine’s incursion into Russia as act of terror

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea condemned Ukraine’s incursion into Russia as an unforgivable act of terror backed by Washington and the West, adding it would always stand with Russia as it seeks to protect its sovereignty, state media said Sunday.

Ukraine’s drive into Russia is a product of the anti-Russia confrontational policy of the United States, which is pushing the situation to the brink of World War III, KCNA news agency said.

The U.S. handed “astronomical” sums of lethal weapons to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the report said.

“We strongly condemn the armed attack against the Russian territory by the Zelenskyy puppet regime under the control and support of the United States and the West as an unforgivable act of aggression and terror,” North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement, according to KCNA.

North Korea has dramatically upgraded its ties with Russia in the past year with two summit meetings by their leaders who pledged closer cooperation in all areas.

In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a pact in Pyongyang on a “comprehensive strategic partnership” that included a mutual defense agreement.

South Korea, Ukraine and the United States have accused North Korea of supplying artillery and missiles to Russia for use in its unprovoked war against Ukraine. North Korea and Russia have denied the allegations. 

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South Korea, Japan, US renew pledge to cooperate on regional challenges

Seoul, South Korea — The leaders of South Korea, Japan and the United States issued a joint statement Sunday marking the anniversary of their summit at Camp David and reaffirmed a pledge to jointly tackle regional challenges, South Korea’s presidential office said.

The principles on trilateral cooperation established at the summit last year continue to serve as a roadmap for the three countries’ cooperation, the statement issued by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office said.

“We stand by our commitment to consult on regional challenges, provocations and threats affecting our collective interests and security,” it said.

U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Yoon met on Aug. 18 last year and agreed to deepen military and economic cooperation and take a united stand against China’s growing power and security threats from North Korea.

South Korean media have said the leaders plan to meet again this year, citing unnamed sources, but it was not yet clear when, especially since Kishida has announced he would be stepping down.

A senior South Korean presidential official said there will be two or three occasions where the three leaders will have the chance to meet and discussions over those plans are still in the early stages.

The spirit of cooperation among the three countries will live on even after Biden and Kishida leave office, the official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.

“The three main actors who established the Camp David framework of cooperation won’t be in their roles forever,” he said.

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Thailand’s newest pro-democracy party faces early legal challenge 

BANGKOK — Leaders of Thailand’s newest pro-democracy party are under an ethics investigation that could see them cast out of the National Assembly over allegations echoing those that saw the party’s predecessor dissolved by court order earlier this month.

Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission said August 8 it had ordered a probe of 44 opposition members of the parliament accused of breaking the ethics rules for lawmakers for having sponsored a 2021 bill, which failed, to amend the country’s controversial royal defamation, or lèse-majesté, law.

The announcement came a day after the Constitutional Court dissolved the progressive Move Forward Party, which won last year’s national election, for campaigning to soften the law, which prescribes up to 15 years in jail for each offense.

The court said the party’s efforts posed a threat to national security, and followed on from its January ruling that the campaign was a veiled attempt to upend Thailand’s constitutional monarchy governmental structure, a claim the party denied.

All 44 lawmakers now under investigation by the anti-corruption commission were Move Forward members. Five were banned from public office for 10 years in the August 7 ruling that dissolved the party. The other 39 have since joined the People’s Party, set up in the wake of Move Forward’s dissolution to take its place, and include its new leader, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut.

If the commission concludes the 39 did breach the ethics rules, it would then send the case to the Supreme Court, which could ban them from public office as well.

Analysts told VOA the previous court rulings on Move Forward’s campaign to amend the royal defamation law laid the groundwork for their possible convictions.

“The Constitutional Court has essentially delivered a verdict that could serve as a catalyst for upcoming verdicts against these 44 MPs,” said Napon Jatusripitak, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.

The Supreme Court may follow different procedures than the Constitutional Court and decide to call its own witnesses, he said.

“But it would be quite an interesting outcome if the Supreme Court ruled in a way that contradicts the Constitutional Court’s verdict, given that the Constitutional Court is treated as the highest court in Thailand,” he added.

Verapat Pariyawong, who teaches Thai law and politics at SOAS University of London, also pointed to the precedent set by even earlier court verdicts that banned leaders of Future Forward, a progressive party that was dissolved by court order in 2020 and then gave rise to Move Forward.

He said the case of Pannika Wanich was especially relevant. Pannika, a lawmaker for each party in turn, was banned from public office for life by the Supreme Court last year for breaking ethics rules by posting a photo online in 2010 deemed to disparage the monarchy.

“The MPs in this [new] case, they didn’t make remarks in the same way that Pannika did. But they sponsored or they agreed to support the draft legislation [to amend the royal defamation law] directly or tacitly. And if the court follows the interpretation in Pannika’s case, they could expand the scope of the law to cover those MPs and therefore ban them,” Verapat said.

Officially, Thailand’s constitutional monarchy is meant to stay out of politics. However, the country’s recent string of progressive parties, and much of their base, say it has long wielded outsized influence over the government in favor of Thailand’s military and conservative elites.

They accuse those forces of weaponizing the royal defamation law to persecute parties, lawmakers and activists seeking to rein them in and move Thailand toward a more genuine democracy.

Since 2020, Thailand’s courts have charged 272 people with breaking the royal defamation law, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a local advocacy group.

Move Forward made amending the law, to limit who could file related court cases and lower the maximum jail term allowed, a central plank of the reform agenda that helped it win last year’s general election. Despite that win, conservative lawmakers blocked the party from winning a vote in the National Assembly for prime minister, shunting it into opposition.

Party supporters see the courts and commissions as doing the military and conservative elite’s bidding as well, and the broad language of some laws and rules as helping them do it.

The ethics rules the 39 People’s Party lawmakers are now accused of breaking say office holders must protect the country’s constitutional monarchy. The analysts, though, told VOA they give little counsel on what that means, leaving judges ample leeway.

“It’s open to interpretation, because … there is no clear definition about protection of the monarchy,” said Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political scientist at Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani University.

“And when we talk about interpretation, it always means that if you are the target of the elite or the establishment then they could find anything to [rule] against you,” he added.

The analysts said the People’s Party is also running the risk of being dissolved altogether, as were Future Forward and Move Forward before it, by carrying on their agenda of amending the royal defamation law.

The party did not reply to VOA’s requests for comment. At a news conference on Aug. 9, though, party leader Natthaphong said they would “not be careless” in going about it, in hopes of avoiding their predecessors’ fate.

Whatever the new party’s fate, the analysts say the monarchy, or how conservative elites are seen to be using the laws that protect it for their own ends, will remain a major fault line defining Thai politics and dividing the public.

“The issue of the monarchy has been used by those politicians who would like to ensure that they remain in power,” said Verapat. “It’s those people who rely on issues of lèse-majesté to attack parties like MFP or People’s [Party], so that dynamic will continue as long as … the Constitutional Court can rely on lèse-majesté to disband political parties.”

Napon said that may also portent more rocky politics ahead for a country that has seen 13 coups over the past century and several rounds of mass, sometimes violent, protests over the last two decades.

“The problem is that it’s not clear that political parties can represent these divides effectively in parliament or during election campaigns due to legal limits, because these topics are considered highly sensitive and some off limits by the Constitutional Court,” he said.

“It means parliament will be very inept in representing actual divides in society,” he added. “And that leaves people with grievances that could only be expressed through means of street protest, which we have seen before did not lead to meaningful results other than … more repression and jail time.”

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Visit by Vietnam’s new leader to China reflects key relationship, even as it builds ties with US 

BEIJING — Vietnam’s new leader To Lam is making China the destination for his first overseas visit, signaling the continuing importance the Southeast Asian country places on its giant neighbor even as it strengthens ties with the United States and others. 

Lam stepped off a Vietnam Airlines plane on an overcast Sunday morning in Guangzhou, a major manufacturing and export hub near Hong Kong, China’s state media reported. 

He will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on his three-day visit, which comes about two weeks after Lam was confirmed as general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party, the country’s top political position. He succeeded Nguyen Phu Trong, who died last month after 13 years as leader. 

Lam also has held the largely ceremonial title of the nation’s president since May. 

The new leader is expected to continue his predecessor’s strategy of balancing ties with China, the United States, Russia and others, Yu Xiangdong, the director of the Institute for Vietnam Studies at China’s Zhengzhou University, wrote Saturday in the state-run Global Times newspaper. 

“The fact that Lam chose China as his first overseas visit destination since taking office is a sign that Vietnam attaches great importance to its relations with China,” Yu said in an opinion piece. “But at the same time, judging from experience, the country is not by any means going to give the U.S. the cold shoulder.” 

Vietnam upgraded its ties with the United States and Japan last year to a comprehensive strategic partnership, the country’s highest designation for a diplomatic relationship. Relations with China and India also have been given the same designation. 

The United States and its ally Japan have been developing closer ties with Vietnam’s communist government — America’s former foe in the Vietnam War — as they seek partners in a growing economic and strategic rivalry with China. 

When Xi visited Vietnam in December, the two countries announced they would build “a shared future that carries strategic significance.” The agreement, which Chinese state media has described as an elevation of ties, was seen as a concession by Vietnam, which had resisted using that wording in the past. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Lam in Vietnam in June after visiting North Korea on a rare overseas trip for the Russian leader, who has been ostracized by many countries because of the 2022 invasion and still-ongoing war in Ukraine. 

Lam’s agenda in Guangzhou includes visiting sites in the southern China city where Vietnam’s former communist leader Ho Chi Minh spent time, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. 

Ho, the founder and first president of communist Vietnam, was in southern China in the 1920s and again in the 1930s as part of the Soviet Union’s efforts to expand communism globally. 

Though they have long ties as one-party communist states, Vietnam and China have sparred repeatedly over territory that both claim in the South China Sea. China also briefly invaded parts of northern Vietnam in 1979. 

A Vietnamese coast guard ship recently took part in joint drills in the Philippines, which has had a series of violent encounters with China over contested territory in the South China Sea. 

Still, Vietnam has benefited economically from investment by Chinese manufacturers, which have moved production to the Southeast Asian country in part to skirt U.S. restrictions on solar panels and other exports from China. 

During Xi’s December visit, the two countries signed an agreement to cooperate on railway projects, which could improve trade connections between the two. China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner. 

 

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Mongolia courts tourists by making it easier to visit

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — With its reindeer sleigh rides, camel racing and stunning landscapes with room to roam, Mongolia is hoping to woo visitors who are truly looking to get away from it all.

Like most countries, its tourism industry was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has launched a “Welcome to MonGOlia” campaign to win people back. The government has added flights and streamlined the visa process, offering visa-free visits for many countries.

At least 437,000 foreign tourists visited in the first seven months of this year, up 25% over the same period last year, including increasing numbers from Europe, the U.S. and Japan. Visitors from South Korea nearly doubled, thanks in part to the under-four-hour flight.

Despite the gains, Mongolia’s government is still short of its goal of 1 million visitors per year from 2023-25 to the land of Genghis Khan, which encompassed much of Eurasia in its 13th-century heyday and is now a landlocked nation located between Russia and China.

With a population of 3.3 million people, about half of them living in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, there’s plenty of open space for the adventure tourist to explore, said Egjimaa Battsooj, who works for a tour company. Its customized itineraries include horseback trips and camping excursions with the possibility of staying in gers, the felt-covered dwellings still used by Mongolia’s herders.

There’s little chance of running across private property, so few places are off-limits, she said.

“You don’t need to open a gate, you don’t need to have permission from anyone,” she said, sitting in front of a map of Mongolia with routes marked out with pins and strands of yarn.

“We are kind of like the last truly nomad culture on the whole planet,” she added.

Lonely Planet named Mongolia its top destination in its Best in Travel 2024 report. The pope’s visit to Mongolia last year also helped focus attention on the country. Its breakdancers became stars at last year’s Asian Games. And some local bands have developed a global following, like The Hu, a folk-metal band that incorporates traditional Mongolian instruments and throat singing with modern rock.

Still, many people know little about Mongolia. American tourist Michael John said he knew some of the history about Genghis Khan and had seen a documentary on eagles used by hunters before deciding to stop in Ulaanbaatar as part of a longer vacation.

“It was a great opportunity to learn more,” the 40-year-old said.

Tourism accounted for 7.2% of Mongolia’s gross domestic product and 7.6% of its employment in 2019 before collapsing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the World Bank. But the organization noted “substantial growth potential” for Mongolia to exploit, with “diverse nature and stunning sceneries” and sports and adventure tourism possibilities.

Mongolia tourism ads focus on those themes, with beautiful views of frozen lakes in winter for skating and fishing, the Northern Lights and events like reindeer sledding and riding, camel racing and hiking.

Munkhjargal Dayan offers rides on two-humped Bactrian camels, traditional archery and the opportunity to have eagles trained for hunting perch on a visitor’s arm.

“We want to show tourists coming from other countries that we have such a way of life in Mongolia,” he said, waiting for customers by a giant statue of Genghis Kahn on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar.

Outside the lively capital, getting around can be difficult in summer as the steppes become waterlogged, and there is limited infrastructure, a shortage of accommodation and a deficit of skilled labor in tourism destinations.

It is also easy for foreigners to get lost, with few signs in English, said Dutch tourist Jasper Koning. Nevertheless, he said he was thoroughly enjoying his trip.

“The weather is super, the scenery is more than super, it’s clean, the people are friendly,” he said.

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Vietnam top leader To Lam arrives in China, set to meet Xi Jinping

BEIJING — Vietnam’s top leader, To Lam, arrived in China on Sunday for a three-day visit, according to Chinese state media, which Beijing’s foreign ministry has said will include meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

The Vietnamese president, who was elevated this month to the nation’s top position, general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, arrived in Guangzhou, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Lam will visit some Chinese locations where former President Ho Chi Minh conducted revolutionary activities while in Guangzhou, CCTV added.

China and Vietnam forged diplomatic ties in 1950. In 2008, both countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation that was jointly fortified in 2013 to address more shared international and regional issues of concern.

The meeting would confirm the close ties between the two communist-run neighbors, which have well-developed economic and trade relations despite occasionally clashing over boundaries in the energy-rich South China Sea.

China painted Lam’s visit as taking Xi’s trip to Vietnam in December a step further, citing “a good start” to the building of a “China-Vietnam community of shared future that carries strategic significance” when the Chinese foreign ministry announced the trip.

The state visit marks Lam’s first after taking office, which China said “fully reflects the great importance he attaches to the development of ties between both parties and countries.”

Both countries signed more than a dozen agreements last December that included strengthening railway cooperation and development, and establishing communication to handle unexpected incidents in the South China Sea. The details of the agreements were not made public. 

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Youth unemployment in China jumps to 17.1% in July

Beijing, China — Youth unemployment in China ticked up to 17.1% in July, official figures showed, the highest level this year as the world’s second-largest economy faces mounting headwinds.

China is battling soaring joblessness among young people, a heavily indebted property sector and intensifying trade issues with the West.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who is responsible for economic policy, called Friday for struggling companies to be “heard” and “their difficulties truly addressed,” according to the state news agency Xinhua.

The unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was up markedly from June’s 13.2%.

The closely watched metric peaked at 21.3% in June of 2023, before authorities suspended publication of the figures and later changed their methodology to exclude students.

Nearly 12 million students graduated from Chinese universities this June, heightening competition in an already tough job market and likely explaining July’s sharp increase in joblessness.

In May, President Xi Jinping said countering youth unemployment must be regarded as a “top priority.”

Disappointing data

Among 25- to 29-year-olds, the unemployment rate stood at 6.5% for July, up from the previous month’s 6.4%.

For China’s workforce, the national unemployment rate was 5.2%.

However, the NBS figures paint an incomplete picture of China’s overall employment situation, as they take only urban areas into account.

The new unemployment figures come on the heels of other disappointing economic data from Beijing, including figures showing dampened industrial production, despite recent government measures aimed at boosting growth.

Industrial production growth weakened in July, with the month’s 5.1% expansion down from June’s 5.3% and falling short of analysts’ predictions.

China’s major cities also recorded another decline in real estate prices last month, a sign of sluggish demand.

Demand for bank loans also contracted for the first time in nearly 20 years, according to official figures published earlier this week.

International challenges are also mounting, with the European Union and the United States increasingly imposing trade barriers to protect their markets from low-cost Chinese products and perceived unfair competition.

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3 crew on Chinese boat missing after collision off Taiwan island

Taipei, Taiwan — Three crew members from a Chinese fishing boat were missing Saturday after their ship collided with an unidentified vessel and sank off the coast of a Taiwanese island, Taiwan’s coast guard said.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, and relations between the two have deteriorated in recent years.

A series of fishing boat incidents occurring along the narrow waterway separating Taiwan and China have heightened tensions.

The latest incident occurred early Saturday when the Chinese-flagged boat Min Long Yu 60877 sank after crashing into an unidentified vessel about 6.5 nautical miles (12 kilometers) off the coast of the Kinmen islands, Taiwan’s coast guard administration said in a statement.

“There were seven crew members on board. Four were rescued and three were missing,” it said.

It said a patrol boat sent to the area could not find the missing crew.

“Those who fell into the sea were not found.”

The statement said Taiwan’s coast guard and its Chinese counterparts were carrying out “an expanded search and rescue” in nearby waters.

Kinmen County is administered by Taiwan but is located just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen.

A fatal incident involving a Chinese boat near Kinmen on February 14 kicked off a monthslong row between Taiwan and China.

A boat capsized while it was being pursued by Taiwan’s coast guard, killing two Chinese crew members, for which Beijing blamed Taipei.

The two sides reached an agreement in July after negotiations over the incident, agreeing that the cause of death was “drowning.”

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China’s ‘accidental’ damage to Baltic pipeline viewed with suspicion

Helsinki, Finland — Western officials and analysts are suspicious of Beijing’s admission this week that a Chinese container ship damaged the Balticconnector — a vital Baltic Sea gas pipeline linking Estonia and Finland — in October.

The South China Morning Post reported August 12 that the Chinese government notified Finland and Estonia 10 months after the incident that it was caused by a Hong Kong-registered ship called Newnew Polar Bear, but blamed a storm for what it called the accident.

In an interview August 13 with Estonia’s public radio, ERR, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said he was skeptical of China’s claim that a storm caused the incident.

“Personally, I find it very difficult to understand how a ship’s captain could fail to notice for such a long time that its anchor had been dragging along the seabed, but it is up to the prosecutor’s office to complete the investigation,” he said.

Markku Mylly, the former director of the European Maritime Safety Agency, told local media in Helsinki there were no storms in the Gulf of Finland at the time. The Finnish newspaper Iltalehti consulted data from the Finland Meteorological Institute and confirmed that Mylly’s memory was correct.

Pevkur told ERR that Estonia would not give up claims against China for compensation.

The Baltic Sea oil and gas pipeline, which was built with EU assistance, was commissioned in 2019 at a total cost of around $331 million, to wean Finland and the three Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — off their dependence on Russia for natural gas.

The pipeline was the source of almost all of Estonia’s natural gas supply after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine sparked European restrictions on the import of Russian gas.  After the damage, Estonia had to temporarily rely on Latvia for natural gas.

The pipeline was reopened for commercial operations in April after repairs that cost about $38 million, a senior vice president at Gasgrid Finland told The Associated Press. A few telecoms cables were also damaged in the incident.

Finnish and Estonian investigative agencies recovered the ship’s 6-ton anchor from the sea floor near the damaged pipeline after the incident and tracked it to the ship, which they tried to contact; it refused to respond.

The damage occurred at a time of heightened tension between Europe and Russia over sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, and critics suspected it was a deliberate act of sabotage by Russia or its ally China.

After the damage to the pipeline, the Newnew Polar Bear first sailed to St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk in Russia and later docked in China’s port of Tianjin. 

Eoin Micheal McNamara, a global security expert at the Finland Institute of International Affairs, told VOA that Finnish people doubt Beijing’s claim that the ship’s damage to the pipeline was an accident.

“Undersea infrastructure elsewhere in the wider Nordic-Baltic region has also been damaged by ‘manmade activity’ in recent years. There was the Nord Stream sabotage in 2022 and the severing of a data cable between Norway and its Arctic island of Svalbard before that,” McNamara said. “As geopolitical tensions rise, more targeted sabotage is being expected.”

German media reported this week that investigators asked Poland to arrest a Ukrainian diving instructor for allegedly being part of a team that blew up the Baltic Sea’s Nord Stream gas pipelines, which supplied Russian gas to Europe. Russia blamed Britain, Ukraine and the United States for the sabotage, which they denied.

McNamara said there are suspicions that Russia was involved in the damage to the Balticconnector pipeline. “Plausible deniability is a key tenet for hybrid interference. There are suspicions that use of a Hong Kong-registered vessel was a tactic to gain this plausible deniability,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last year dismissed the idea that Russia could have been behind an attack on the pipeline as “rubbish.”

Estonia and Finland are still jointly investigating the ship, which China’s NewNew Shipping Company owns.

The Estonian prosecutor’s office, which oversees the investigation, said under international law, China’s statement acknowledging the ship caused the damage as an “accident” cannot be used as evidence in a criminal investigation because China has not invited Estonian criminal investigators to participate in Beijing’s own investigation.

VOA contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry about the matter but was referred to the Chinese shipping departments.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian at a news briefing on August 13 said, “China is advancing the investigation in accordance with the facts and the law and is in close communication with relevant countries. It is hoped that all parties will continue to promote the investigation in a professional, objective and cooperative manner, and jointly ensure that the incident is handled in a sound manner.”

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told VOA in an email, “We are constantly cooperating with China and exchanging information regarding this matter, but we will not go into details because the investigation is still ongoing.”

The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, or NBI, which is investigating the case, told VOA that the Finnish and Estonian authorities have been cooperating with the Chinese authorities on the matter. The NBI said it will publish the findings with the Estonian side as early as this fall.

“Based on the evidence collected and information analyzed during the investigation, it can be stated that the course of events is considered clear and there are sufficient reasons to suspect that the container vessel Newnew Polar Bear is linked to the damages. The cause for the damages seems to be the anchor and anchor chain [struck] the mentioned vessel.”

The NBI added, “It must be stated that the investigation is still ongoing and final conclusions, what was behind these incidents (technical failure — negligence, poor seamanship — deliberate act), can be made only after all necessary investigative measures have been finalized, and this will still take some time.”

VOA’s Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report. Some information was provided by Reuters.

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Typhoon Ampil veers away from Japan, allows transport to resume

Tokyo — A typhoon that blasted parts of Japan with more than 200-kph winds moved out to sea on Saturday, mostly sparing the capital and allowing trains and some flights to resume.

Tokyo and its surrounding areas had been on high alert Friday for Ampil’s approach, with transport services, trips, events and school classes canceled en masse.

The storm was packing wind gusts of 216 kph on Saturday morning when it veered away from the archipelago and headed northeast into the Pacific.

Even so, the Japan Meteorological Agency warned that “some areas in the northern part of Japan are experiencing heavy rain due to warm, humid air around the typhoon.”

“Please be advised that the risk of landslides has been significantly elevated by the heavy rain so far in some areas,” the weather agency said in an advisory Saturday morning.

Although the feared catastrophe in Tokyo never came, some minor injuries and damage were reported, including broken windows, toppled trees and broken utility poles.

Most parts of Japan’s bullet train network went back to normal Saturday after the Central Japan Railway Company closed a busy section between Tokyo and Nagoya the day before.

“JR Central bullet trains are business as usual today,” the railway firm said on its website.

Airlines were still being affected to a degree, with broadcaster NHK saying All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines had together scrapped 68 flights as of Saturday morning, after hundreds of cancelations the day before.   

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Survey shows disaster-prone Southeast Asia is also best prepared

BANGKOK — Southeast Asia is among the regions most prone to natural disasters, but a new analysis released Thursday shows its people also feel the best equipped to deal with them.

It seems logical that the countries in and around the Pacific Ring of Fire, vulnerable to earthquakes, typhoons, storm surges and other dangers, are also the best prepared, but the survey by Gallup for the Lloyd’s Register Foundation shows that’s not always the case in other regions.

“Frequent exposure to hazard isn’t the only factor that determines how prepared people feel,” Benedict Vigers, a research consultant with Gallup, told The Associated Press.

The report found the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has played a key role in disaster risk reduction, and Vigers said the region’s wider approach includes widespread and effective early warning systems, scaled-up community approaches and regional cooperation, and good access to disaster finance.

“Southeast Asia’s success in feelings of disaster preparedness can be linked to its high exposure to disasters, its relatively high levels of resilience – from individual people to overall society, and the region’s approach to — and investment into — disaster risk management more broadly,” he said.

Forty percent of people surveyed in Southeast Asia said they had experienced a natural disaster in the past five years, while a similar number — 36% — in Southern Asia said the same. But 67% of Southeast Asians felt among the best prepared to protect their families and 62% had emergency plans, while Southern Asians felt less ready, with 49% and 29% respectively.

Respondents from North America, which is significantly less disaster-prone than Southeast Asia, said they only felt slightly less prepared, while those in Northern and Western Europe were in the middle of the pack.

The results from Southeast Asia, primarily made up of lower-middle-income countries, suggest wealth is not a deciding factor in disaster response and preparation, said Ed Morrow, senior campaigns manager for Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a British-based global safety charity.

Southeast Asia is “a region that clearly has much to teach the world in terms of preparing for disasters,” he said.

Globally, no country ranked higher than the Philippines for having experienced a natural disaster in the past five years, with 87% of respondents saying they had.

It was also among the top four countries where the highest proportion of households have a disaster plan. All were in Southeast Asia: the Philippines (84%), Vietnam (83%), Cambodia (82%) and Thailand (67%), followed by the United States (62%).

Those with the lowest proportion were Egypt, Kosovo and Tunisia, all with 7%.

The data were drawn from the World Risk Poll, conducted every two years, with the main results from the 2023 survey published in June. Questions on disasters focused on natural hazards instead of conflicts or financial disasters, and they excluded the coronavirus pandemic.

Surveys were conducted of people aged 15 and above in 142 countries and based on telephone or face-to-face conversations with approximately 1,000 or more respondents in each country with the exception of China, where some 2,200 people were contacted online.

Margin of error ranged from plus or minus 2.2 to 4.9 percentage points, for an overall 95% confidence level.

“It is our intention that this freely available data should be used by governments, regulators, businesses, NGOs and international bodies to inform and target policies and interventions that make people safer,” Morrow said.

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China warns of ‘heavy price’ for Japan after lawmakers visit Taiwan 

taipei, taiwan — China warned Japan on Friday that it should be prepared “to pay a heavy price” if it interferes with Beijing’s plans for Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing considers a breakaway province that must one day reunite with the mainland, by force if necessary.

China’s embassy in Tokyo issued the warning after a visit to Taiwan this week by a bipartisan group of Japanese lawmakers, including former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a potential candidate to be Japan’s next prime minister.

Ishiba, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, said Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te and Japan agree that maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait requires increasing deterrence and resistance against China’s aggression.

Ishiba made the comment at a press conference Wednesday at Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry at the end of the lawmakers’ trip.

After meeting with Lai on Tuesday, he told reporters that the two sides held extensive discussions on avoiding a conflict with China, which some fear could invade and occupy Taiwan as Russia did with Ukraine.

Ishiba noted there is a saying in Japan that “today’s Ukraine may be tomorrow’s East Asia,” which he said the world’s democratic community must prevent by demonstrating the strength of deterrence.

The former defense minister declined to tell the reporters how Japan would react if war broke out in the Taiwan Strait.

Lai said that in the face of China’s rise and threat to peace in the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan would strengthen national defense and economic resilience, support the democratic umbrella with democratic partners, defend the values of freedom and democracy, and maintain regional peace and stability.

Although no specific plan was revealed, the two sides agreed to increase the frequency of exchanges on security issues.

Japan and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations, in order for Tokyo to have formal relations with Beijing, and official interactions between the two remain at the lawmaker level.

But Japan, like most of Taipei’s allies, supports maintaining the status quo between Taiwan and China.

Senator Seiji Maehara, a former foreign minister of Japan and member of the Free Education for All party, said at the Wednesday briefing that he was initially worried Lai would lean toward Taiwan’s independence, but that they received assurance he would “maintain the status quo.”

Maehara said, “[Lai] is in line with our position, and we are willing to maintain close communication with the people we met during this visit in the future.”

Citing threats from China, Russia and North Korea, Japan under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been moving away from the pacifist constitution imposed by the U.S. after World War II and last year confirmed plans to double defense spending by 2027.

The plan has unnerved some Asian countries that imperial Japan occupied during the war, such as China.

Kishida announced Wednesday that he would not participate in the LDP leadership election in September, which means he will step down as Japan’s prime minister.

Ishiba is considered one of the favorites to become the next LDP leader and candidate for prime minister and said Wednesday that if he got the support of his peers, he would be willing to run for the post.

According to a July 26-28 poll conducted by Nikkei and TV Tokyo, 28% of the public approved of Kishida’s Cabinet while 64% disapproved.

The poll asked Japanese people whom they approved as potential candidates for the LDP. Among them, Ishiba was first with 24% support, followed by former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

Ishiba, Koizumi and the current minister of digital, Taro Kono, joined forces in the last LDP presidential election and were dubbed the Koishikawa alliance.

Ishiba told reporters that the three were on the same side and would continue to discuss how to improve Japan’s politics and regain the people’s trust in the LDP.

China’s Friday warning to Japan on Taiwan was not its first. Its embassies in Tokyo and Washington issued similar warnings in February after Japan’s Kyodo News reported that the Japanese and U.S. militaries had for the first time named China as their hypothetical enemy during joint drills.

Japan’s chief of the Defense Ministry’s Joint Staff, General Yoshihide Yoshida, however, told a January 25 press conference the exercises “did not envision a particular country or region.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

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