JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Indonesia plans to increase requirements on local components for smartphones made and sold in the country, its deputy industry minister said on Tuesday, a move aimed at boosting the domestic manufacturing sector.

The plan follows Indonesia’s banning last month of sales of Apple’s iPhone 16 after it failed to meet a requirement that smartphones sold domestically must comprise at least 40% locally made parts.

Apple has since made a $100 million investment proposal to build an accessory and component plant to reverse the ban, but the government has rejected that on the grounds it did not meet the principal of fairness.

Apple has not responded to Reuters requests for comment on the issue.

Deputy Minister Faisol Reza said the government was still discussing the details and gave no timeframe for the introduction of the plan, or by how much the ratio of local components would increase.

“What important is that the goal is to strengthen our domestic industry,” he told reporters.

The government was looking at whether investment into research and development was relevant and could be counted as a component in fulfilling the local content rule.

Apple has no manufacturing facilities in Indonesia but has since 2018 set up application developer academies, which Jakarta considers the company’s strategy to meet local content requirement for the sale of older iPhone models.

Minister Faisol said Apple’s representatives will meet with the government soon to discuss a solution.
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Beijing — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Monday warned her Chinese counterpart that Beijing’s support for Moscow would impact ties and instead urged China to help end the Ukraine conflict.

Speaking in Beijing, she said the over 1,000-day war was impacting the whole world and condemned the battlefield role of North Korean troops and the use of Chinese-made drones in the conflict.

Baerbock urged an international peace process for Ukraine and said “that is why I am here in China today,” adding that every permanent member of the U.N. Security Council had a “responsibility for peace and security in the world.”

“The Russian president is not only destroying our European peace order through his war against Ukraine, but is now dragging Asia into it via North Korea,” she told a press briefing.

“My Chinese counterpart and I have therefore discussed in depth that this cannot be in China’s interest either.”

Germany’s top diplomat met with her counterpart Wang Yi for a “strategic dialogue” as Berlin seeks to build better ties with China while engaging on key differences.

Wang told his German counterpart that, “as the world’s second- and third-largest economies” China and Germany must improve ties “as great powers in a turbulent international situation.”

On the day German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a surprise visit to war-torn Ukraine, Baerbock stressed that “in order to protect our own German and European security, we must now support Ukraine.”

“And it is just as important to enter into a peace process together in the world, and that is why I am here in China today,” she said.

Chinese drone worries  

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

But it remains a close political and economic ally of Russia, and NATO members have branded Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war, which it has never condemned.

“Drones from Chinese factories and North Korean troops attacking the peace in the middle of Europe are violating our core European security interests,” Baerbock said.

She said she had “advocated a just peace process here in Beijing today, precisely because we come from different perspectives and roles”.

Baerbock had earlier told Wang that “increasing Chinese support for Russia’s war against Ukraine has an impact on our relations,” according to a readout by the German foreign ministry.

“Core German and European security interests are affected,” she said.

Baerbock also discussed crucial trade ties between Europe’s biggest economy and China, which has long been a key market for German automakers and other industrial giants.

She urged Chinese authorities to “engage constructively” with the European Union over tariffs levied on Chinese electric vehicles.

“A level playing field, fair competition and reciprocal market conditions are essential,” she said, according to her spokesperson.

At the press briefing, she added that as “highly subsidized electric cars are now flooding the European market, we have to react to that.”

The EU at the end of October imposed extra tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars, after an anti-subsidy probe concluded Beijing’s state support was unfairly undercutting European automakers.

Germany, whose big auto makers including Volkswagen are facing falling profits and are weighing lay-offs, had in Brussels opposed the EU tariffs and called for continued dialogue with China.

Wang said that “the EU’s imposition of high anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles violates the principles of fair competition and free trade,” according to a readout of the meeting published by China’s foreign ministry.
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Manila, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday the presence of a Russian attack submarine in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea was “very worrisome.”

“That’s very concerning. Any intrusion into the West Philippine Sea, of our EEZ, of our baselines, is very worrisome,” Marcos told reporters, referring to part of the South China Sea within the Philippines’ maritime zone.

A Russian Kilo-class submarine was sighted 80 nautical miles off the western province of Occidental Mindoro on Nov. 28, Navy spokesperson Roy Vincent Trinidad said in a statement on Monday, confirming a report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper.

Philippine navy frigate Jose Rizal established radio contact with the Russian submarine, which confirmed its identity as UFA 490 and its intent.

“The Russian vessel stated it was awaiting improved weather conditions before proceeding to Vladivostok, Russia,” Trinidad said, without elaborating on why it was in the area.

Philippine naval forces escorted the submarine to ensure compliance with maritime regulations, he added.

Russia’s embassy in Manila could not immediately be reached for comment.

Russia’s Kilo-class submarines are considered some of the quietest submarines and have been constantly refined since the 1980s.

China and Russia declared a “no limits” partnership when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing in 2022, just days before Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine. The two countries carried out live-fire naval exercises in the South China Sea in July.

Tensions between Manila, a U.S. treaty ally, and Beijing have escalated over the past year due to overlapping claims in the South China Sea. A 2016 arbitral tribunal ruled China’s historical claims to the disputed waterway had no basis, a decision Beijing rejects.
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Honululu, Hawaii — On a two-day visit to Hawaii, Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te met with the state’s governor and congressional representatives as part of a Pacific island tour that has already triggered criticism from Beijing.

On Sunday, China’s Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemned” U.S. support for Lai’s visit and had lodged a complaint with the U.S. It also denounced a newly announced U.S. weapons sale to Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own territory.

“China will closely monitor the situation’s development and take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said the statement.

Hawaii was Lai’s first stop on a weeklong voyage that will later take him to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau. They account for three of the 12 countries Taipei has formal diplomatic relations with.

Hawaii’s Gov. Josh Green on Saturday hosted Lai at the state’s emergency management agency where they discussed disaster preparedness. Green, who was a longtime emergency room physician before becoming governor, posted on social media that he and Lai discussed how their experiences in health care informed their governance. Lai is also a physician by training and obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University.

“Together, we extended a warm aloha to Lai and his delegation, highlighting Hawai’i’s shared values of resilience and collaboration with Taiwan,” Green said in an Instagram post.

Lai also visited Bishop Museum, Hawaii’s leading museum of natural history and Native Hawaiian culture.

In the evening, Lai posed for photos with Hawaii congressional representatives and state lawmakers at a dinner banquet with the Taiwanese American community.

U.S. Rep. Ed Case, a Democrat who represents Honolulu in Congress, said on social media that he told the audience that “our ties endured on shared values and interests to advance mutual goals and meet shared challenges.”

It is unclear whether Lai with meet with any senior officials from the Biden administration or anyone from the incoming Trump administration during his Hawaii stay.

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg in July that Taiwan should pay for its defense. The island has purchased billions of dollars of defense weaponry from the U.S.

Trump evaded answering whether he would defend the island from Chinese military action.

The new arms deal announced by the U.S. State Department Friday includes $385 million in spare parts and equipment for a fleet of F-16s, as well as support for a tactical communication system to Taiwan.

The U.S. is obligated to help the island defend itself under the Taiwan Relations Act but maintains a position of strategic ambiguity over whether it would ever get involved if Taiwan were to be invaded by China.

Former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen drew vocal opposition from China when she stopped in New York last year on her way to Latin America. Tsai met with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the time.

The Chinese military also launched drills around Taiwan last year as a “stern warning” over what it called collusion between “separatists and foreign forces” days after Lai, then Taiwan’s vice president, stopped over in the U.S.

China also strongly objects to leading American politicians visiting the island as it views any official contact with foreign governments and Taiwan as an infringement on its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan. Washington switched its formal recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
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BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA — More than 100 Rohingya refugees, including women and children, have been rescued after their boat sank off the coast of Indonesia, the United Nations refugee agency said Saturday.

The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar and thousands risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.

“We received a report from the East Aceh government that there are 116 refugees in total,” UNHCR’s Faisal Rahman told AFP on Saturday.

“The refugees are still on the beach right now; it has not been decided where they would be taken,” Rahman said.

He said the flimsy wooden boat carrying the Rohingyas was found half-submerged not far from the beach off the coast of northeastern Sumatra island.

Local fisherman Saifudin Taher said the boat was first spotted entering East Aceh waters Saturday morning, and a few hours later it nearly sank.

“All passengers survived, but one of them was ill and … immediately received treatment,” Saifudin told AFP, adding that the boat was only 100 meters away from the shore and that the refugees could walk easily to safety.

Rohingya arrivals in Indonesia tend to follow a cyclical pattern, slowing during the stormy months and picking back up when sea conditions calm down.

Last month, 152 Rohingya refugees were finally brought ashore after being anchored for days off the coast of South Aceh district while officials decided whether to let them land.

Indonesia is not a signatory to the U.N. refugee convention and says it cannot be compelled to take in refugees from Myanmar, calling instead on neighboring countries to share the burden and resettle Rohingya who arrive on its shores.

Many Acehnese, who have memories of decades of bloody conflict themselves, are sympathetic to the plight of their fellow Muslims.

But others say their patience has been tested, claiming the Rohingya consume scarce resources and occasionally come into conflict with locals.

In December 2023, hundreds of students forced the relocation of more than 100 Rohingya refugees, storming a community hall in Aceh where they were sheltering and vandalizing their belongings.
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YANQING, CHINA — In a research facility in the northwest of Beijing, molecular biologist Li Jieping and his team harvest a cluster of seven unusually small potatoes, one as tiny as a quail’s egg, from a potted plant.

Grown under conditions that simulate predictions of higher temperatures at the end of the century, the potatoes provide an ominous sign of future food security.

At just 136 grams, the tubers weigh less than half that of a typical potato in China, where the most popular varieties are often twice the size of a baseball.

China is the world’s biggest producer of potatoes, which are crucial to global food security because of their high yield relative to other staple crops.

But they are particularly vulnerable to heat, and climate change, driven by fossil fuel emissions, is pushing temperatures to dangerous new heights while also worsening drought and flooding.

With an urgent need to protect food supplies, Li, a researcher at the International Potato Center (CIP) in Beijing, is leading a three-year study into the effects of higher temperatures on the vegetable. His team is focusing on China’s two most common varieties.

“I worry about what will happen in the future,” Li said. “Farmers will harvest fewer potato tubers, it will influence food security.”

Li’s team grew their crop over three months in a walk-in chamber set at 3 degrees Celsius above the current average temperature in northern Hebei and Inner Mongolia, the higher altitude provinces where potatoes are usually grown in China.

Their research, published in the journal Climate Smart Agriculture this month, found the higher temperatures accelerated tuber growth by 10 days, but cut potato yields by more than half.

Under current climate policies, the world is facing as much as 3.1 C of warming above pre-industrial levels by 2100, according to a United Nations report released in October.

Farmers in China say they are already feeling the effect of extreme weather events.

In Inner Mongolia, dozens of workers clutching white sacks rush to gather potatoes dug up from the soil before the next downpour.

“The biggest challenge for potatoes this year is the heavy rain,” said manager Wang Shiyi. “It has caused various diseases… and greatly slowed down the harvest progress.”

Meanwhile, seed potato producer Yakeshi Senfeng Potato Industry Company has invested in aeroponic systems where plants are grown in the air under controlled conditions.

Farmers are increasingly demanding potato varieties that are higher-yielding and less susceptible to disease, particularly late blight, which caused the Irish Potato Famine of the mid-19th century and thrives in warm and humid conditions.

“Some new and more aggressive (late blight) strains have begun to appear, and they are more resistant to traditional prevention and control methods,” said general manager Li Xuemin, explaining the Inner Mongolia-based company’s strategy.

The research by CIP, which is headquartered in Lima, is part of a collaborative effort with the Chinese government to help farmers adapt to the warmer, wetter conditions.

In the greenhouse outside Li’s lab, workers swab pollen on white potato flowers to develop heat-tolerant varieties.

Li says Chinese farmers will need to make changes within the next decade, planting during spring instead of the start of summer, or moving to even higher altitudes to escape the heat.

“Farmers have to start preparing for climate change,” Li said. “If we don’t find a solution, they will make less money from lower yields and the price of potatoes may rise.” 
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seoul — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told the Russian defense minister that Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons is the result of direct military intervention by the United States and that Moscow is entitled to fight in self-defense, state media said Saturday.  

The state-run Korean Central News Agency said Kim met Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov on Friday, and it quoted the North Korean leader as saying, “The U.S. and the West made Kyiv authorities attack Russia’s territory with their own long-range strike weapons.” Russia should take action to make “hostile forces pay the price,” Kim said.

“The DPRK government, army and people will invariably support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity from the imperialists’ moves for hegemony,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying. 

DPRK is short for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. 

Kim pledged to expand ties with Russia in all areas, including military affairs, under the comprehensive strategic partnership he signed with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June, which includes a mutual defense agreement, KCNA said. 

Moscow and Pyongyang have dramatically advanced ties since their leaders held a summit in September 2023 in Russia, and the North has since shipped to Russia more than 10,000 containers of ammunition, as well as self-propelled howitzers and multiple rocket launchers, according to South Korea’s spy agency. 

KCNA made no mention of whether Kim and Belousov discussed North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia. 

South Korea’s spy agency has said that North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia and that they have been moved to the front lines, including the Kursk region, where Russian forces are trying to expel Ukrainian forces.  

Ukraine has fired U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory after the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden gave permission to use them for such an attack this month.  

Russia in turn unleashed attacks against Ukraine’s military and energy infrastructures, saying they were made in response to the use of U.S. medium-range missiles.  

Belousov separately held talks with North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol and said the partnership pact signed by Kim and Putin would contribute to maintaining the balance of power in Northeast Asia. 

Kim personally attended a reception hosted by the defense ministry for Belousov’s delegation, KCNA said. 
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TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Paraguayan Foreign Minister Ruben Dario Ramirez Lezcano said Friday the country remains committed to diplomatic ties with Taiwan despite farm sector calls for it to switch to having formal relations with China.

At the same time, Ramirez Lezcano said his government is open to establishing trade and other relations with Beijing as long as it would not have to break off its ties with Taiwan. Paraguay is one of only 12 countries maintaining diplomatic relations with Taiwan — and the only one in South America.

“Paraguay is open to establishing diplomatic, consular or commercial relations with China without conditions,” Ramirez Lezcano told VOA and five other U.S. news organizations.

“We are still committed to supporting the Taiwan government, and we don’t accept any condition to break our relations with Taiwan,” he said.

Paraguay has been seeking to gain access to the Chinese market though a trade deal between Beijing and the South American Common Market, known by its Spanish initials Mercosur, which includes countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay as well as Paraguay.

“Our position with China is one of total openness,” said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena during an August interview with Reuters. “We are in favor of advancing trade agreements.”

However, talks toward a China-Mercosur trade deal have so far been frustrated by disagreements among the Mercosur members and China’s insistence that any country seeking relations with Beijing must renounce its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.

‘Principles and values’ matter, too

Ramirez Lezcano reiterated Friday that economic benefit is not the only consideration for Paraguay when deciding whether to maintain diplomatic relations with any country.

“The most important factors are principles and values, rather than just trade and money,” he said.

Analysts say Paraguay’s recognition of Taiwan is not the only obstacle to a China-Mercosur trade deal. There are also fears by some countries within the bloc about overreliance on China and the impact that a deal would have on their own industries.

Kung Kwo-Wei, a Latin American affairs expert at Tamkang University in Taiwan, noted that Brazil imposed new tariffs In October on Chinese and other Asian imports such as iron, steel and fiber, describing the move as an effort to combat dumping and protect Brazil’s domestic industries.

“Mercosur can only sign a free-trade agreement with China if all member states approve the proposal, but so far, there is no consensus among all member states because Brazil remains cautious about the move,” said Su Yen-pin, an expert on Latin American affairs at National Chengchi University in Taiwan.

“Since Paraguay has repeatedly said it won’t sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan in exchange for signing trade deals with China, that makes it impossible for Mercosur to approve the free-trade agreement with China anytime soon,” he told VOA by phone.

China has repeatedly emphasized that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and urged Paraguay to “follow the trend of history.”

“We hope the government and leader of Paraguay will follow the trend of history, meet the aspiration of its people, stand on the right side of history as early as possible, join the overwhelming majority of the international community, and make the right decision that serves the fundamental and long-term interests of the country,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters in August.

Trade with Taiwan

While Paraguay is unlikely to sign trade deals with China anytime soon, experts say Taiwan faces pressure to increase its imports from Paraguay and its investments there.

“Members of the Paraguayan Congress tend to discuss the benefits for Paraguay to maintain ties with Taiwan, and there is an increasing sense among Paraguay’s agricultural businesses that they are losing a lot of economic benefits from maintaining ties with Taiwan,” said Fabricio Fonseca, an assistant professor of diplomacy at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University.

He said that while Taiwan continues to increase its imports of beef and other agricultural products from Paraguay, farmers in other Mercosur states want the greater access to the China market a trade deal would offer, contributing to the pressure on the Paraguayan government.

“Every once in a while, not only during election cycles, we see these push to discuss the topic of Paraguay’s relations with Taiwan in the Congress, and this will continue to affect bilateral ties between Taiwan and Paraguay,” Fonseca told VOA by phone.

Paraguay has also been seeking more Taiwanese investment. Ramirez Lezcano said Asuncion is trying to attract more Taiwanese investments in the high-tech sector.

“Taiwan is establishing an industrial park in Paraguay, and we are working to establish a technological ecosystem with Taiwanese companies,” he told the reporters Friday.

While Taiwan has sent several trade delegations to Paraguay in recent years, some Taiwanese analysts say the number of Taiwanese businesses investing in Paraguay remains limited.

“Paraguay is geographically far from Taiwan, and Taiwanese businesses often think it’s difficult to ensure a smooth industrial technology transfer to Paraguay,” Kung Kwo-Wei, a Latin American affairs expert at Tamkang University in Taiwan, told VOA by phone.

Despite Taiwan’s limited private sector investment in Paraguay, Kung said the United States and Taiwan are working together to help Paraguay expand its private sector.

“In 2021, Taiwan and the U.S. worked with Paraguay to bolster growth in its renewable energy and electric vehicle sector, and the three countries also jointly established several small business development centers,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Su in Taiwan said Paraguay’s ruling Colorado Party is unlikely to make a major shift.

“Unless there is a regime change in Paraguay’s next election, there won’t be too many opportunities for China to influence the diplomatic ties between Taipei and Asunción,” he told VOA.
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BEIJING/HONG KONG — A Beijing court sentenced veteran Chinese state media journalist Dong Yuyu on Friday to seven years in prison for espionage, his family said in a statement, calling the verdict a grave injustice.

Police in the Chinese capital detained the 62-year-old former Guangming Daily editor and journalist in February 2022 while he was lunching with a Japanese diplomat, the U.S. National Press Club said in a statement. He was later charged with espionage.

“Sentencing Yuyu to seven years in prison on no evidence declares to the world the bankruptcy of the justice system in China,” Dong’s family said in a statement provided to Reuters.

“Today’s verdict is a grave injustice not only to Yuyu and his family but also to every freethinking Chinese journalist and every ordinary Chinese committed to friendly engagement with the world.”

The family added that in the court judgment, Japanese diplomats whom Dong met were “specifically named as agents of an ‘espionage organization,’ which is the Japanese embassy in Beijing.”

Dong’s conviction implied every Chinese citizen would be “expected to know that the Chinese government may consider those embassies to be ‘espionage organizations’,” it said, causing a chilling effect.

Police guarded the court on Friday, with seven police cars parked nearby, and journalists were asked to leave the area. A U.S. diplomat said they had been barred from attending the hearing.

Dong has been detained in a Beijing prison since a closed-court hearing in July 2023, the press club said in September.

“Chinese authorities must reverse this unjust verdict, and protect the right of journalists to work freely and safely in China,” said Beh Lih Yi, Asia program manager at the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Dong Yuyu should be reunited with his family immediately.”

Dong regularly had in-person exchanges with diplomats from various embassies and journalists.

The Japanese diplomat he met, one of two he had regularly met in the past, was also detained for several hours, spurring a complaint from Japan’s foreign ministry.

At the time, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the diplomat was engaged in activities “inconsistent with their capacity” in China. The diplomat was later released. 

A Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2007, Dong was a visiting scholar and visiting professor at Keio University and Hokkaido University in Japan, his family said in a statement in April 2023.

He joined the Guangming Daily, affiliated to the ruling Communist Party, in 1987, after graduating from Peking University law school, and was the deputy editor of its commentary section.

He wrote opinion articles in Chinese media and liberal academic journals on topics from legal reforms to social issues and co-edited a book promoting the rule of law in China.

His articles advocated moderate reforms while avoiding direct criticism of President Xi Jinping.

His family had initially kept news of his detention private in the hope that charges could be reduced or dropped, but were told in March 2023 that he would stand trial, they said in their statement.

Non-government bodies (NGOs) advocating press freedom have called for his release, with more than 700 journalists, academics and NGO workers signing an online petition for him to be freed.

“Dong Yuyu is a talented reporter and author whose work has long been respected by colleagues,” said Ann Marie Lipinski, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

“We stand with many in hoping for his release and return to his family.”

In February, a Beijing court handed a suspended death sentence to Australian writer and pro-democracy blogger, Yang Hengjun, on espionage charges. 
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Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te will kick off on Saturday a week-long overseas trip to visit the island’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific region, marking his first diplomatic tour since taking office in May.

The visit will include stops in the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Palau, as well as stopovers in U.S. territories such as Hawaii and Guam. It comes as China continues to expand its influence in the Pacific region. Analysts say the trip can help consolidate Taiwan’s diplomatic ties with the three Pacific Island countries.

“The Pacific Islands region has been the site of intense geopolitical competition in recent years and we have seen three of Taiwan’s original diplomatic partners [in the region, including Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Nauru,] switching recognition to China since 2019,” said Mihai Sora, director of the Pacific Islands program at Lowy Institute in Australia.

He said as China continues to use “a range of coercive tactics and incentives” to pressure Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic allies in the Pacific to switch recognition to Beijing, Lai’s trip will play an important role in delivering Taiwan’s commitments to these three countries.

“As the number of countries recognizing Taiwan becomes fewer, each diplomatic partner becomes more important for Taiwan,” Sora told VOA in a video interview.

Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr., who was re-elected earlier this month, said the Chinese government had tried to use tourism to incentivize him to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

“The Chinese ambassador to Cambodia once called me to say that China had more tourists than Taiwan so I should denounce Taiwan and go with China because that would get me millions of tourists and the Chinese would also build new hotels that Palau needs,” Whipps Jr. told VOA during an interview in Palau last month.

China views Taiwan as an inalienable part of its territory that must one day be reunited with mainland China. Beijing also opposes any form of official interaction between Taiwan and other countries.

In response to Lai’s upcoming trip, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said if Lai attempts to use the trip to provoke China it “will lead nowhere.”

“We urge relevant countries to see clearly the trend of history at an early date, and make the right decision that truly serves their fundamental and long-term interests,” Lin Jian said during a regular press conference on November 22. 

Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday that China may launch a new round of military drills near Taiwan as a response to Lai’s Pacific tour, citing unnamed Taiwanese and regional security officials.

In response to the report, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung on Thursday urged China not to “overreact” to Lai’s trip to the Pacific. On the same day, Taiwan’s military held an early morning air defense drill to test its response and engagement procedures. 

Focus on maritime security and public health

Lai will be accompanied by key cabinet members overseeing maritime affairs and public health during the trip.

Experts say since maritime surveillance, maritime domain awareness, and public health are all critical issues for Pacific Island nations, the makeup of Lai’s delegation suggests Taiwan has identified these issues as areas where Taiwan can contribute.

“Maritime domain security is such an important topic for Palau and Marshall Islands, as Palau’s president Surangel Whipps Jr. talked about incursions into Palau’s territorial waters by Chinese research vessels on several occasions, and it seems that Taiwan thinks it can play a role [in that space,]” said Henryk Szadziewski, an expert on Pacific affairs at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

In addition to maritime security and health, Szadziewski says climate financing and economic livelihoods are also areas in which Taiwan can support its Pacific allies. “The Marshall Islands and Tuvalu are significantly under threat from the climate crisis and I think Taiwan can help with the climate financing that the region sorely needs,” he told VOA by phone.

Palau and Marshall Islands both receive significant economic support from the U.S. under the Compacts of Free Association, or COFA. Australia is also assisting Tuvalu in climate adaptation through the Falepili Union treaty, which would allow Tuvalu citizens to live in Australia under a special visa.

Under COFA, the U.S. provides economic aid worth billions of dollars, while Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia give the U.S. exclusive military access to their land, water, and airspace, as well as the right to deny China access to their ports and territorial waters.

Since Palau and the Marshall Islands are both part of the Second Island Chain, which plays a key role in connecting the U.S. forces in Hawaii and Guam, analysts say ensuring these countries have strong defense and security relationships with Washington and Taiwan is strategically important to the U.S.

Sora in Australia said since these agreements make Washington and Canberra the main development partners for Taiwan’s three Pacific allies, it creates “a permissive environment” that allows Taiwan to contribute to larger development projects in those countries.

“Taiwan can provide targeted, effective, and useful assistance but it’s not relied upon as the main development partner. It’s very important that the larger countries are also involved in those countries,” he told VOA.

However, other experts say Taiwan should still avoid purely counting on support from the U.S. and Australia to maintain ties with Pacific allies.

“The willingness for the U.S. and Australia to burden share in these Pacific countries certainly benefits Taiwan now, but Taiwan needs to develop a strategy if both governments opt to focus their attention elsewhere,” Timothy Rich, a political scientist at Western Kentucky University, told VOA in a written response.

Since China has redirected large amounts of aid to the Pacific since 2022, making it the second largest donor in the region, analysts say Beijing will keep looking for opportunities to influence Taiwan’s Pacific allies.

“China will be looking for opportunities to persuade these countries to adopt a relationship with Beijing in preference to one with Taiwan, and they will use a combination of carrots and sticks to achieve this goal,” Tess Newton Cain, an adjunct associate professor at Griffith Asia Institute in Australia, told VOA in a video interview.

To cope with China’s ongoing attempt to drive a wedge between Taiwan and its Pacific allies, Sora said Taipei should “consistently be present in terms of its activities on the ground and in terms of servicing the political relationship.”
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BEIJING — China repatriated 240 arrested Chinese gambling and fraud suspects from Cambodia on Thursday, with some 500 more expected to be escorted back, Chinese state media said, as Beijing stepped up a years-long effort to combat Chinese organized crime in Southeast Asia.

The arrested group constituted the second batch China has chartered planes to repatriate from Cambodia after a first round in April when more than 680 were escorted back, China’s national television broadcaster CCTV reported.

As part of efforts to stem cross-border online gambling and fraud carried out through telecom networks, China periodically has partnered with neighbors such as Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines to nab Chinese suspects and have them brought back to China.

The latest deportation follows a week after China and Myanmar dismantled large telecom fraud centers in northern Myanmar, with over 53,000 Chinese nationals arrested since a campaign to combat such fraud began last year.

In September, China and Cambodia strengthened their cooperation against gambling and fraud, signing agreements to enhance law enforcement collaboration and fight Chinese organized crime in the Southeast Asian country.

In 2019, Cambodia banned online gambling, targeting particularly Chinese-run operations that had sprung up in the southern coastal city of Sihanoukville.

“The public security authorities will continue to deepen law enforcement cooperation with relevant countries and regions, carry out focused crackdowns, resolutely dismantle gambling and fraud dens involving Chinese nationals, and firmly curb the high incidence of such crimes,” CCTV said.

China has repatriated thousands of suspects under its covert global “Operation Fox Hunt” operation launched a decade ago to fight corruption and economic crimes and has since recovered billions of dollars in assets, CCTV said.
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BANGKOK — Once the country with the worst record for securing justice in journalist killings, the Philippines is improving, say some experts. But more work is needed to protect reporters.

When he assumed the presidency in 2022, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pledged to “support and protect the rights of the media.”

In October 2022, he said, “The nation counts on media in improving access to information and increasing awareness on issues that affect our country and the world.”

In the past year, media analysts have seen some improvement. The suspected mastermind in a journalist killing from more than a decade ago was arrested; a court reversed an order forcing the media website Rappler to close; and earlier this month, Marcos appointed former journalist Joe Torres Jr. as head of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security.

But outside the capital, community and radio journalists are at risk of threat or attack, experts say.

Beh Lih Yi, head coordinator of the Asia program at the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, said the media group was encouraged by some “positive developments” but believes the Marcos government could do more.

“Although the president has repeatedly vowed support for a free press, he has not backed up this change in tone with concrete action and reforms to create a more  liberal and safe media climate,” she told VOA via email.

“Journalists in the Philippines still routinely face harassment, legal threats, arbitrary detention and even murder in retaliation for their work,” she said.

The Philippines Presidential Office has not responded to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Carlos Conde, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch and a former journalist, sees some signs of optimism under Marcos.

One of the biggest changes from conditions under his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, is that the Marcos administration is “not confrontational at all in its public pronouncements about media and journalists,” Conde told VOA.

“That’s kind of a major relief, and that’s where the optimism comes from. And so, in that sense, it has improved,” he said.

Under Duterte’s presidency from 2016 to 2022, he vilified journalists who were critical of his policies. Media were labeled fake news, and watchdogs documented dozens of incidents of attacks and threats against the press.

At least 18 journalists were killed during his six-year presidency, according to CPJ data.

Another issue for the country’s journalists is so-called “red-tagging,” in which media and activists are accused — without evidence — by political figures, state security and others of being terrorists or communists.

Those targeted are often people critical of government or political party policies. And being red tagged makes them a more prominent target for threats, harassment and violence, experts say.

A report by Amnesty in October found the practice still happening under the new administration. Amnesty said the tactic has been used to target human rights activists, students and student journalists.

Marcos has denied the government is involved in red tagging and said the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict — an agency alleged to be involved in the red-tagging operations — will not be closed.

But Conde hopes red tagging will stop under Torres.

He will head the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, a government agency set up to protect media workers and promote press freedom.

When he was a journalist, Torres wrote for outlets including The Manila Times and spoke with Conde on a YouTube podcast earlier this month about red tagging.

“[Torres] made a promise that the office will no longer be red-tagging journalists or accusing them of having communist links and things like that. So, that is definitely something,” Conde told VOA.

Some progress too has been made in the cases of journalists killed for their work.

In September, former Palawan Governor Joel T. Reyes surrendered to authorities over the killing of environmental journalist Gerry Ortega, who was shot and killed in 2011. At the time, he was investigating apparent corruption involving Reyes, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

Reyes is the suspected mastermind. The trial, scheduled to start in November, has been welcomed by media groups.

“The Philippines persistently fares poorly in CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, an annual ranking which lists countries where killers of journalists go free,” CPJ’s Beh said via email.

The Philippines ranks ninth in the impunity index.

With Ortega, said Beh, “his family is still waiting for full justice more than 13 years later.”

While some improvements are seen in the capital, Jonathan de Santos, chair of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said that for radio and community journalists, the risks are high.

“There is a perception that the press freedom situation has improved, and maybe it has in Metro Manila, but journalists in the regions, especially those from community and alternative media, are still under threat,” he told VOA.

“Apart from the safety and security aspects, radio journalists have also historically not been paid well, which is an added risk for them. Radio is also where a lot of hard-hitting commentary is done, which puts radio journalists at risk of retaliation,” he added.

In October, radio journalist Maria Vilma Rodriguez was shot and killed near her home in Zamboanga City on Mindanao island. Police say the suspect was a relative of Rodriguez who had a land dispute with the 56-year-old.

The Philippines ranks 134 out of 180 countries on the Press Freedom Index, where 1 shows the best media environment.
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