Hong Kong police fired tear gas at pro-democracy protesters Sunday after tens of thousands hit the streets once more to defy a ban on face masks despite half the city’s subway stations remaining closed.Large crowds marched through torrential rain in unsanctioned rallies on both sides of Victoria Harbor Sunday afternoon.Clashes soon erupted as police fired tear gas at protesters blocking roads and building barricades in at least three different locations.Protesters have staged unsanctioned flash mob rallies across the strife-torn city — some vandalizing subway stations and shops — after Hong Kong’s leader outlawed face coverings at protests, invoking colonial-era emergency powers not used for half a century.Pro-democracy lawmakers went to the High Court on Sunday seeking an emergency injunction against the ban, arguing the emergency powers bypassed the legislature and contravened the city’s mini-constitution.But a senior judge dismissed their injunction demand.An anti-government protester is pictured during a demonstration in Wan Chai district, in Hong Kong, Oct. 6, 2019.As the ruling was being delivered, two unsanctioned rallies were kicking off on both sides of Victoria Harbor, with thousands of masked protesters gathering in torrential downpours.After four months of huge and increasingly violent protests, the city’s unelected pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam invoked a sweeping colonial-era law Friday allowing her to make “any regulations whatsoever” during a time of public danger.She used it to ban masks, which protesters have used to hide their identity or protect from tear gas, and warned she would use the powers to make new regulations if the unrest did not abate.The move was welcomed by government supporters and Beijing.But opponents and protesters saw it as the start of a slippery slope tipping the international finance hub into authoritarianism.Lawmaker Dennis Kwok speaks to journalists outside the High Court as he and 23 other lawmakers sought an emergency injunction in a bid to overturn a face mask ban, in Hong Kong, Oct. 6, 2019.“I would say this is one of the most important constitutional cases in the history of Hong Kong,” lawmaker Dennis Kwok told reporters before the ruling.“If this emergency law just gets a pass just like that Hong Kong will be deemed into a very black hole,” he added, previously likening Lam to the autocratic English monarch Henry VIII.Two teen protesters shotHong Kong has been battered by a summer of rage as widespread public anger seethes over Chinese rule and the police response to protests.The rallies were ignited by a now-scrapped plan to allow extraditions to the mainland, which fueled fears of an erosion of liberties promised under the 50-year “one country, two systems” model China agreed ahead of the 1997 handover by Britain.After Beijing and local leaders took a hard line, the demonstrations snowballed into a wider movement calling for more democratic freedoms and police accountability.Lam has refused major concessions but struggled to come up with any political solution, leaving police and demonstrators to fight increasingly violent battles as the city tips into recession.The worst clashes to date erupted Tuesday as China celebrated 70 years of Communist Party rule, with a teenager shot and wounded by police as he attacked an officer.Residents of Tsuen Wan gather at an open air stadium, Oct. 2, 2019, to protest the shooting of a teenage demonstrator at close range in the chest by a police officer in Hong Kong.A 14-year-old boy was then shot and wounded Friday night when a plainclothes police officer, who was surrounded by a mob of protesters throwing petrol bombs, fired his sidearm.That night, masked protesters went on a rampage in dozens of locations, trashing subway stations and businesses with mainland China ties.The city’s subway system, which carries 4 million people daily, was shut down entirely Friday night and throughout Saturday, bringing much of the metropolis to a halt.Major supermarket chains and malls announced they were closing, leading to long lines and panic buying.Thousands of masked protesters still came out onto the streets throughout Saturday despite the mask ban and transport gridlock, although the crowds were smaller than recent rallies.Subway partially reopensOn Sunday, the subway operator said 45 stations would open but 48 remained shuttered, many of them in the heart of the city’s main tourist districts as well as those areas hit hardest by the protests and vandalism.Lam has defended her use of the emergency powers and said that she is willing to issue more executive orders if the violence continues.“We cannot allow rioters any more to destroy our treasured Hong Kong,” Lam said in a stony-faced video statement Saturday.But protesters have vowed to keep hitting the streets.“The anti-face mask law is the first step,” Hosun Lee, a protester in Causeway Bay, told AFP, saying he feared more laws under the emergency order were on the way.Protester demands include an independent inquiry into the police, an amnesty for the more than 2,000 people arrested and universal suffrage — all requests rejected by Lam and Beijing.
 
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North Korea angrily walked away from working-level nuclear talks with the United States on Saturday, with Pyongyang’s top negotiator saying he was “greatly disappointed” with Washington’s inflexible approach.The quick breakdown of the first substantive nuclear negotiations in months raises the possibility North Korea will intensify its provocations, days after testing a new medium-range ballistic missile designed to be launched from a submarine.But the North’s decision to walk away may amount to little more than a rehash of a long-standing negotiating tactic meant to raise pressure on the U.S., some analysts say, predicting Pyongyang may soon return to the talks.After a day of negotiations on the outskirts of Stockholm, Sweden, North Korea’s top delegate to the talks read a brief statement to reporters explaining why the North ended the negotiations.North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator Kim Myong Gil is seen outside the North Korean embassy in Stockholm, Oct. 5, 2019.“It is entirely because the U.S. has not discarded its old stance and attitude that the negotiation failed this time,” Kim Myong Gil said outside North Korea’s embassy in the Swedish capital.“The U.S. came to the negotiations empty-handed and this shows after all it is not willing to solve the issue,” he added.‘Good discussions’U.S. State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus quickly disputed that characterization, saying Kim’s comments “do not reflect the content or spirit of today’s 8½ hour discussion.”“The U.S. brought creative ideas and had good discussions with its DPRK counterparts,” said Ortagus, using the abbreviation of North Korea’s official name.Ortagus said the U.S. accepted a Swedish invitation to continue the talks in two weeks.“The United States and the DPRK will not overcome a legacy of 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula through the course of a single Saturday. These are weighty issues, and they require a strong commitment by both countries. The United States has that commitment,” Ortagus said.There was no immediate indication that North Korea also accepted the invitation to return to Sweden for more talks.February talks broke downFILE – U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un meet during the second U.S.-North Korea summit at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi, Feb. 28, 2019.The previous round of U.S.-North Korea talks broke down in February, after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly ended a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam.At that summit, Trump rejected Kim’s offer to dismantle a key nuclear complex in exchange for the removal of five United Nations sanctions that hurt North Korea’s economy. Trump instead wanted Kim to agree to give up his entire nuclear program in a so-called “big deal.”In recent months, Trump had hinted at increased flexibility. Last month, he spoke of the need for a “new method” to the talks — language that closely mirrored Pyongyang’s call for Washington to make more concessions. Trump also fired John Bolton, his hawkish national security adviser, who had opposed the North Korea talks.“Having so far hinted at a flexible approach, new method and creative solution, the U.S. has heightened expectations,” said Kim, the top North Korean negotiator, Saturday. “But it came out with nothing, greatly disappointed us, and sapped our appetite for negotiations.”Negotiations likely to continuePeople watch a TV showing a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 2, 2019.While the breakdown of the talks could lead to additional provocations by North Korea, it isn’t clear the negotiations have completely ended, Mintaro Oba, a former U.S. diplomat focused on Korea, said.“The North Koreans have a long history of being tough negotiators willing to cancel or withdraw as a tactic, and I think it’s far more likely that they carefully conceived this move ahead of time rather than spontaneously combusting at the negotiating table,” Oba said.“I don’t think this is necessarily the end of working-level diplomacy just yet,” he added.Since the breakdown of the Hanoi talks, North Korea has looked to increase its negotiating leverage by testing 11 separate rounds of missiles — most or all of which appeared to use ballistic missile technology.The latest launch, conducted last week, involved a medium-range ballistic missile designed to be fired from a submarine, according to U.S. officials. The technology adds a dangerous and unpredictable new component to North Korea’s arsenal.Trump has downplayed the North Korean launches, saying they are not long-range and cannot threaten the United States. The launches violate United Nations Security Council resolutions.“The lack of a U.S. response to Kim’s missile tests over the last few months likely reinforces his views that he’s in the driver’s seat,” said Eric Brewer, a former White House National Security Council official who worked on North Korea issues.“Kim can keep growing the program with little or no consequence and hold out for a better deal and/or that next summit with Trump,” said Brewer, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).Trump hasn’t yet responded to the breakdown of the latest talks, but on Friday said North Korea would “like to do something.” In those comments, Trump also mentioned what he called the “witch hunt” — a likely reference to the fast-expanding impeachment inquiry against him.FILE – President Donald Trump meets with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. It was their third meeting.Fourth Trump-Kim meetingIn recent weeks, Trump has said he is interested in holding a fourth meeting with Kim. But it’s not clear how that could advance nuclear talks, without substantive, expert-level discussions on North Korea’s nuclear program.Van Jackson, a former Pentagon official, said Trump’s desire to meet directly with Kim is effectively handcuffing U.S. working-level negotiators.“Kim has no incentive to make any meaningful concessions to the U.S. under Trump. He has incentive to pocket whatever gains he can get from the U.S. while simultaneously placating Trump and avoiding giving anything that would be irreversible,” Jackson, a lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, said.At their first meeting in Singapore in June 2018, Trump and Kim signed a short, vaguely worded statement vowing to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. They also agreed to improve bilateral relations.At the Stockholm talks, U.S. negotiators “previewed a number of new initiatives that would allow us to make progress in each of the four pillars of the Singapore joint statement,” Ortagus, the State Department spokesperson, said.“In the course of the discussions, the U.S. delegation reviewed events since the Singapore summit, and discussed the importance of more intensive engagement to solve the many issues of concern for both sides,” she added.At this point, it’s not clear when that engagement will occur.
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All subway and train services were suspended, lines formed at the cash machines of shuttered banks, and shops were closed as Hong Kong dusted itself off and then started marching again Saturday after another night of rampaging violence decried as “a very dark day” by the territory’s embattled leader.In a televised address broadcast as marchers in masks again took to the streets in defiance of her newly instituted ban on face coverings at rallies, a solemn Carrie Lam described Hong Kong as “semi-paralyzed” and in the grips of “unprecedented violence.”Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam leaves after a press conference in Hong Kong, Oct. 4, 2019. Lam invoked a rarely used colonial-era emergency law to ban people from wearing face masks in an effort to put an end to months of violent protests.The chief executive did not announce additional measures to quell increasing violence, beyond the ban criminalizing the wearing of masks at rallies that took effect at midnight.She defended the legality of the measure denounced by government critics and demonstrators, and said that “to protect citizens’ daily lives and freedoms, I cannot allow the small minority of rioters to destroy that.”“Everyone is worried and scared,” she said.Many were fired up, too.Shielded under umbrellas, many wearing masks, a cortege of hundreds of demonstrators clogged a thoroughfare in the central business district, carrying a yellow banner marked “Glory to Hong Kong” and shouting: “Hong Kong, resist!”The closure of the entire MTR network that handles more than 4 million trips a day, including the express line to the Hong Kong international airport, caused major and quite exceptional disruption to the usually never-resting but now edgy and restive territory of 7.5 million people.“From MTR to EmptyR,” tweeted activist Joshua Wong, a key player in 2014 protests that foreshadowed the past four months of demonstrations. Snowballing into a sustained outburst of anti-government and anti-China fury, the youth-led protests have plunged the international hub for trade and finance into its deepest crisis since the territory reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997.Anti-government protesters set on fire one of the entrances at the metro station at Causeway Bay, after leader Carrie Lam announced emergency laws that would include banning face masks at protests, in Hong Kong, Oct. 4, 2019.“Can’t go anywhere,” said Kevin Cui, a tourist from mainland China who’d planned to visit Disneyland only to discover at a shuttered subway station in central Hong Kong that the network was suspended. “This is very troublesome.”A message on the MTR website cited staff safety and the need for repairs among reasons for the closure.After widespread arson attacks, looting, fighting with police and beatings, the government appealed for a public shift in attitude against rioting.John Lee, the government’s security secretary, said by not condemning violence, people are stoking it.“What is adding oil to violence is people’s support for these acts,” he said. “What is important is that everybody comes out to say, ‘No, society will not accept violence.’”Means to an endBut even many peaceful protesters say violence has become a means to an end, the only way for young masked protesters to force the government to bend.This combination of pictures created Oct. 4, 2019, shows protesters wearing face masks during demonstrations in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s leader invoked colonial-era emergency powers to ban protesters wearing face masks.As a group of black-clad youths in protective gear rushed past him, many carrying bamboo sticks, a property industry worker who came out with his wife Friday night to show his opposition to the mask ban expressed his admiration for those confronting police.“I know they have done terrible things” he said. “Can you believe how brave they are?”He gave only his first name, Alex. He and his wife, Pauline, both donned masks that covered their mouths to hit streets in central Hong Kong where clouds of police tear gas to disperse protesters also caused spluttering tourists and Friday night revelers to flee, eyes stinging.Lam insisted when announcing the ban Friday that the measure and her use of rarely deployed emergency powers to introduce it without legislative approval were not steps toward authoritarian rule or at the behest of the Chinese government. Two activists filed legal challenges late Friday on grounds it would instill fear and curtail freedom of assembly, but a court denied their request for an injunction.International observers worried that Lam’s resort to the Emergency Ordinance that had lain dormant since last used to quell riots in 1967 could be a harbinger of harsher measures in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory deeply attached to its special freedoms and fearful of becoming a tightly controlled city like all the others in China.First indications were that rather than soothe tensions, the measure inflamed them.Riot police fire tear gas at protesters at Causeway Bay area in Hong Kong, Oct. 4, 2019, as people hit the streets after the government announced a ban on face masks.Under the cover of darkness, masked protesters rampaged, setting fires, setting up makeshift road blocks that backed up traffic and vandalizing subway stations, China-linked business and other property.An officer fired a single shot from his gun in self-defense after he was attacked by protesters in the northern Yuen Long district, said police spokeswoman Yolanda Yu. She said a man was wounded, but police didn’t know exactly how he got shot. A police official, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the news media, said the victim is 14. A Hospital Authority spokesman said the teen was in serious but not critical condition.The teen became the second victim of gunfire in the protests that began in June. An 18-year-old protester was also shot at close range by a riot police officer Tuesday.
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Hong Kong’s metro system will stay shut Saturday, the rail operator said, paralyzing transport in the Asian financial hub after a night of chaos in which police shot a teenage boy and pro-democracy protesters torched businesses and metro stations.Friday’s protests across the Chinese-ruled city erupted hours after its embattled leader, Carrie Lam, invoked colonial-era emergency powers last used more than 50 years ago to ban face masks, which demonstrators use to conceal their identities.Increasingly violent demonstrations that have roiled the city for four months began in opposition to a bill introduced in April that would have allowed extradition to mainland China but have since spiraled into a broader pro-democracy movement.Riot police fire tear gas at protesters at Causeway Bay area in Hong Kong, Oct. 4, 2019, as people hit the streets after the government announced a ban on face masks.Stations burned, staff hurtMTR Corp said its network, which carries about 5 million passengers each day, would remain suspended, while shopping malls and supermarkets also closed, in a new blow for retailers and restaurants in a city on the edge of recession.“As we are no longer in a position to provide safe and reliable service to passengers in the circumstances, the corporation had no choice but to make the decision to suspend the service of its entire network,” it said in a statement.Protesters had set fires at stations, as well as to an empty train, and injured two staff, added MTR, which is known for operating one of the world’s most efficient rail networks.All stations closed late Friday, stranding passengers and forcing many to walk home, a situation set to worsen as the city goes into a holiday weekend.Further demonstrations are planned across Hong Kong through Monday, which is a public holiday, but it was not immediately clear how the transport shutdown would affect them.More than a dozen shopping malls, supermarkets, and branches of Bank of China (Hong Kong), Bank of East Asia, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which have been targeted by protesters, said they would not open Saturday.Emergency lawsThis combination of pictures created Oct. 4, 2019, shows protesters wearing face masks during demonstrations in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s leader invoked colonial-era emergency powers to ban protesters wearing face masks.Lam, Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed leader, said the ban on face masks that took effect Saturday was ordered under emergency laws allowing authorities to “make any regulations whatsoever” in what they deem to be the public interest.But the move enraged protesters, who took to the streets to vent their anger, many wearing masks in defiance of the ban.There were no immediate reports of arrests over the masks.Demonstrators set fires, hurled petrol bombs at police and burned the Chinese national flag, in a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing.Police said an officer in Yuen Long, a district in the outlying New Territories that saw fierce clashes in July, had fired a shot in self-defense after a protester threw a petrol bomb at him, setting him on fire.Teen shotMedia said a 14-year-old boy had been shot and the city’s Hospital Authority said his condition was now stable, but gave no details.About 100 demonstrators besieged a branch of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) in the high-end shopping district of Causeway Bay, while across the harbor in the district of Kowloon, protesters smashed the glass store front of a China Life branch.Police fired volleys of tear gas to disperse protesters in flashpoint districts such as Causeway Bay, Sha Tin and Wong Tai Sin, underscoring the challenges authorities face as the protests show no sign of letting up.Hospital authorities said 31 people were hurt in Friday’s protests, two of them seriously.
 
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North Korea’s underwater-launched missile has a longer-range than the missiles the country tested earlier this year and is designed to be launched from a submarine that has a potential to pose a threat to the U.S. allies in northeast Asia, experts said.”The missile tested … has a maximum range of more than twice that of the shorter-range systems North Korea has been testing” this summer, said Michael Elleman, director of Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Policy program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). “It does not pose a threat to the continental U.S., but once fully developed, it will threaten U.S. allies and interests in northeast Asia.”North Korea conducted an underwater launch of a new ballistic missile on Wednesday that flew about 450 kilometers off the country’s eastern coastal town of Wonsan before landing in the waters off Japan. It reached a peak altitude of 950 kilometers, South Korean’s Joint Chief of Staff said.”It’s indeed the longest-range, solid-fueled missile North Korea has tested to date,” said Ian Williams, deputy director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “[North Korea] has not tested this kind of missile since 2016.”Reaching South Korea, JapanThe missile tested Wednesday is considered to have a maximum range of about 1,900 kilometers at a standard trajectory. The range makes it possible to target all of South Korea and Japan’s four main islands. The missile is considered the What appears to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) flies at an undisclosed location in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Central News Agency (KCNA), Oct. 2, 2019. “This missile is likely based on the Pukuksong-2, previously tested a few years ago,” Elleman said. “It appears some small improvements have been incorporated to enhance the missile’s maximum range by a few hundred kilometers and to fit into the smaller confines of the submarine launch tube.”Williams said North Korea’s goal is to improve solid fuel missile technology and transfer it to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which can reach the continental U.S.”It’s one more piece of evidence that North Korea’s growing competency with solid fuel,” Williams said. “This knowledge would likely be applicable to a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, which I believe is Pyongyang’s ultimate goal in its missile development.”Missile test resultsNorth Korea said Thursday it had successfully conducted a missile test from a submarine, which differs from a U.S. assessment.”The successful new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test-firing comes to be of great significance as it ushers in a new phase in containing the outside forces’ threat to the DPRK and further bolstering its military muscle for self-defense,” the country’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. DPRK is North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.Contrarily, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea tested a missile from a sea-based platform.”I am not going to get into specifics to what the actual missile was other than to say, again, it was a short — to medium — range and I would say that we have no indication that it was launched from a submarine but rather a sea-based platform,” spokesperson Patrick Ryder said Thursday.Much of the threat from submarine-launched missiles depends on how advanced the submarine is, experts said.”If that submarine is noisy and, thus, easily detectable, it may not pose much of a threat to anyone,” Williams said. “It would, however, require near-constant monitoring, which would tie up surveillance and undersea assets that might be assigned elsewhere.”Elleman said North Korea has not fully developed its submarine technology to deploy a submarine far off the country’s coast.”North Korea’s submarine will not venture far from the [Korean] peninsula, as the country lacks the supporting infrastructure, ships, logistics, and secure communications to operate them at long distance,” he added.North Korea unveiled what it called a new submarine in July as a sign indicating Pyongyang was developing SLBM technology.North Korea’s latest test came days prior to the resumption of the long-stalled working-level talks scheduled to take place Saturday in Sweden. The talks had been stalled since the failed Hanoi Summit in February, and since May, North Korea has been conducting multiple missile tests.
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Vietnamese advocates of solar power have begun a “Million Green Homes” project, aimed at spreading the use of solar power in the country instead of coal and other fossil fuels.The project is being undertaken by the new Vietnam Coalition for Climate Action, formed in August by a group of leaders from business, academia and public organizations, and is designed to use a combination of public outreach and financial initiatives to get solar power on an additional million buildings.Despite the “homes” in the project name, it is aimed at any small electricity consumers, especially those that can’t afford the cost of converting to solar power on their own, such as farms, small businesses, offices, and public buildings, such as hospitals and schools.FILE – A business in Ho Chi Minh City promotes solar panels.The project will focus on two types of solar power — panels connected to the national power grid that can supply electricity broadly and panels that generate electricity solely for the buildings to which they are attached.Advocates are also encouraging Vietnamese to use more solar power for uses ranging from stoves to water heaters.The project is being conducted by the Green Innovation and Development Centre, a Hanoi-based organization that promotes sustainable development in Vietnam and the Mekong region. The project is now examining how to spread awareness and make solar power affordable to under-served communities.The center will start a pilot project next year for new solar power consumers all across Vietnam, including Hanoi in the north and several provinces, such as Thua Thien-Hue in central Vietnam, Dak Lak in the central highlands, and  An Giang and Hau Giang in the south. The project will identify households and other small consumers eligible for support and help them install solar panels.FILE – A solar water heater, left, and a solar panel are seen at Entech Hanoi, an international trade fair on energy efficiency and the environment, at the Giang Vo Exhibition Center in Hanoi, Vietnam.Environmentalists are pushing ahead with the effort, even though renewable energy discussions here have largely focused on government policies and corporate issues, and foreign investors want to be paid more for their electricity before they invest in solar power.”Climate change poses a real threat to the natural environment that supports all of humanity and the critical habitats that we work to protect,” said Van Ngoc Thinh, Vietnam country director of the World Wide Fund For Nature, one of the members of the coalition.”I call on all committed leaders from across the private sector, universities, subnational governments, and civil society to join the VCCA to take climate action,” he added.Coal plansAnother environmental organization in the climate alliance, the Ho Chi Minh City-based Center of Hands-on Actions and Networking for Growth and Environment, or CHANGE,  stressed in an email “the urgency of forming the alliance and the specific actions the alliance can contribute to promoting the use of rooftop solar [photovoltaic cells] and other energy-saving and green solutions.”Much of that urgency comes from Vietnam’s increasing use of coal for energy, even while it considers itself one of the countries most at threat from climate change. The World Wide Fund For Nature in Vietnam said the Southeast Asian country plans to increase the number of coal-fired power plants from 20 now to 51 by 2030, which would cause carbon dioxide emissions to increase even more than expected.Even amid government policies favoring more coal-fired plants, the government has expressed support for new types of energy sources.”Vietnam’s government always encourages the development and effective use of renewable energy sources,” Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said at an event this summer.
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s meeting this week with Vladimir Putin in Russia signals Moscow’s interest in playing a tricky but persuasive role in the South China Sea maritime sovereignty dispute now dominated by China and the United States, specialists in the region say.
 
Duterte is visiting Russia October 1-5, partly to speak with Putin about increasing security and defense cooperation, the Philippine presidential office website says. Duterte toured Vnukovo Military Base Airport in Moscow on Wednesday.
 
Russia might offer to sell arms to the Philippines, experts say, having sold weapons to other Southeast Asian countries claiming the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea. Russian arms sales to the Philippines would reduce U.S. military influence in the sea but yet be handled in ways that avoid weakening the presence of Moscow’s decades-old friend, Beijing, they add.
 
“For Russia, I think it’s clear U.S. influence is very extensive in the Philippines, so by selling arms to the Philippines they are in effect promoting their political influence,” said Aaron Rabena, a research fellow at Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, a Manila research organization.
 
“There might be certain concern by China about what type of weapons we will get from the Russians and where those weapons will be used,” Rabena added. Were they to be used in the South China Sea, he said, “then the Chinese might raise their eyebrows.”Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Philippine’s President Rodrigo Duterte, both flanked by officials, are seen meeting in Sochi, Russia, Oct. 3, 2019. South China Sea dispute
 
Brunei, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines claim all or parts of the sea. China, which calls about 90% of the waterway its own, has taken a military and technological lead during the past decade, prompting the weaker claimants to seek help from abroad – often from the United States.
 
Russia has no claim to the tropical sea that’s prized for fisheries and energy reserves. However, it hopes to flex muscle in support of China, said Termsak Chalermpalanupap, fellow with the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
 
“In the South China Sea, Moscow always supports Beijing,” he said. “They want to be recognized as a superpower, because now we only see U.S.A. and China, and then tend to forget that Russia or the Soviet Union used to be one of the superpowers.”
 
China and Russia often back each other in resisting the United States, a mutual Cold War foe. China is involved in disputes with the United States over trade and its maritime expansion, while Moscow spars with Washington over cybersecurity and military-security matters in Eastern Europe.
 
Since 2017, Washington has stepped up pressure on China to limit maritime expansion. The U.S. Navy regularly sends ships into the sea and helps Southeast Asian states militarily.
 
The Philippines normally looks to its old ally the United States for military support — which it has received since 1951. Since his 2016 election, Duterte has pursued a multi-country foreign relations strategy, including establishing his country’s strongest friendship ever with China.
 
A future Russian-Philippine friendship might give Moscow’s ships valuable access to the sea and adjacent tropical Pacific Ocean, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.That advantage would help cargo shipments reach Russia’s colder Pacific port in Vladivostok, he said.
 
“Having a friend in Duterte means the Russian ships can stop over on their way to the Pacific,” Araral said. “In other words, they can do much more power projection if they have the Philippines as a friendly ally.”Regional arms supplier
 
Russia is already Vietnam’s main arms supplier and sales from Russia since 2011 have helped it upgrade its “capability to conduct sea operations in the East Sea,” the U.S. Commerce Department says, referring to the South China Sea.
 
In 2011 Vietnam bought two batteries of coastal missile systems from Russia, and a year later acquired two batteries of long-range surface-to-air missile systems, Commerce says on its International Trade Administration website.
 
In Malaysia, Russia is helping now to rehab 18 Sukhoi flanker fighter planes to make them useful for another 15 years, the Malaysian news website the New Straits Times reported in March. Russia was exploring sales of Su-35 fighter jets to Malaysia at that time too, the website said.
 
To shore up ties with Southeast Asia overall, in 2016 Putin tried to “revive partnerships” through a summit with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc, Chalermpalanupap said.
 
The Philippines wants to “diversify” arms sources, Rabena said. Unlike some Western governments, Russia does not consider the Duterte government’s deadly campaign against illegal drugs when deciding whether to sell arms, Araral said.
 
China is used to Russia’s sales to Vietnam, analysts believe. To avoid angering Beijing over the Philippines, though, Moscow might earmark any arms sold there for helping resist Muslim rebels rather than for protecting the country’s South China Sea interests, Rabena said. 
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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam banned protesters from wearing masks Friday in a hardening of the government’s stance on the territory’s most disruptive crisis since it reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.Lam announced the ban at an afternoon news conference where she decried a recent escalation of violence after four months of anti-government demonstrations. The mask ban takes effect Saturday and applies to people at “illegal” gatherings who use violence and exempts those who wear masks for “legitimate need.” Lam said she would go to the legislature later to get legal backing for the rule.“People are asking can Hong Kong go back to normal? Is Hong Kong still a place where we can have our sweet home?” Lam asked as she announced the ban. “We must stop the violence,” she said. “Now, it’s all over Hong Kong.”Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam attends a news conference to discuss sweeping emergency laws at government office in Hong Kong, Oct. 4, 2019.She said the ban targeted violent protesters and rioters and “will be an effective deterrent to radical behavior.”Protests ahead of banThousands of masked protesters chanted slogans calling for greater democracy as they marched in the city’s business district before Lam spoke. They chanted “I want to wear face masks” and “Wearing mask is not a crime” as many cars, stuck in traffic because of the march, honked in support.“Will they arrest 100,000 people on the street? The government is trying to intimidate us but at this moment, I don’t think the people will be scared,” one protester, who gave his surname as Lui, told an online live broadcast.At the nearby Causeway Bay shopping area, a huge crowd also occupied streets to protest the mask ban. Smaller rallies were also held in several other areas.Emergency OrdinanceAnalysts warned the use of the Emergency Ordinance for the first time in more than half a decade set a dangerous precedent. The law, a relic of British rule enacted in 1922 to quell a seamen strike and last used to crush riots in 1967, gives broad powers to the city’s chief executive to implement regulations in an emergency.Anti-government office workers wearing masks attend a lunch time protest, after local media reported on an expected ban on face masks under emergency law, at Central, in Hong Kong, Oct. 4, 2019.“Even though the mask ban is just a small move under the Emergency Ordinance, it is a dangerous first step. If the anti-mask legislation proves to be ineffective, it could lead the way to more draconian measures such as a curfew and other infringement of civil liberties,” said Willy Lam, adjunct professor at the Chinese University.Widespread violenceThe ban followed widespread violence in the city Tuesday that marred China’s National Day and included a police officer shooting a protester, the first victim of gunfire since the protests started in June over a now-shelved extradition bill. The wounded teenager was charged with attacking police and rioting.The movement has since snowballed into an anti-China campaign amid anger over what many view as Beijing’s interference in Hong Kong’s autonomy. More than 1,750 people have been detained so far.Activists and many legislators have warned the mask ban could be counterproductive, impractical and difficult to enforce in a city bubbling with anger and where tens of thousands have often defied police bans on rallies.“Five demands, not one less,” many protesters shouted during Friday’s rallies as they held up five fingers.The government last month withdrew the extradition bill, widely slammed as an example of the erosion of Hong Kong’s freedom, but protesters have widened their demands to include direct elections for the city’s leaders, an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality, the unconditional release of protesters and not characterizing the protests as riots.
 
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The U.S. and Japan are calling the recent North Korean missile launch “unnecessarily provocative” just days ahead of working-level nuclear talks with the United States.North Korea tested a ballistic missile Wednesday that was designed to be launched from a submarine — an important advancement in Pyongyang’s weapons program.”This morning, the Secretary had a call with Japanese Minister of Defense (Taro) Kono where they discussed North Korea. They both agreed that the North Korea tests are unnecessarily provocative and do not set the stage for diplomacy and that North Korea should cease these tests,” chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters at a briefing Thursday.What appears to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) flies in an undisclosed location in this undated picture released by North Korea’s Central News Agency (KCNA) Oct. 2, 2019.The Korean Central News Agency on Thursday claimed a successful test of the “new-type” submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM, which it dubbed “Pukguksong-3.” KCNA pictures showed the missile emerging from the sea after apparently being launched from an underwater platform.Col. Pat Ryder, the spokesman for the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Thursday briefing that North Korea fired a “short-to-medium-range ballistic missile” from the Wonsan Bay that flew 450 kilometers (280 miles) into the Sea of Japan.”We have no indication that it was launched from a submarine, but rather a sea-based platform,” added Ryder.It is North Korea’s first test of an SLBM since 2016. Experts say its maximum range was around 1,900 kilometers (1,180 miles), making it medium range. That is the longest range of any missile North Korea has tested since 2017.The launch came hours after North Korea announced it would hold working-level nuclear talks with the United States Saturday. It’s not clear how the latest launch will impact the talks.North Korea has conducted 11 rounds of missile launches since May. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he has “no problem” with Pyongyang’s previous launches, since they were short-range. Trump has not responded to the latest launch.
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Australia’s ban on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei’s involvement in its future 5G networks and its crackdown on foreign covert interference are testing Beijing’s efforts to project its power overseas.In its latest maneuver, China sent three scholars to spell out in interviews with Australian media and other appearances steps to mend the deepening rift with Beijing — a move that appears to have fallen flat.In a recent press conference at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, Chen Hong, the head of Australian studies at East China Normal University, accused Australia of acting as a “pawn” for the United States in lobbying other countries against Huawei’s involvement in the nascent 5G networks.”Australia has been in one way or another, so to speak, pioneering this kind of anti-China campaign, even some kind of a scare and smear campaign against China,” Chen said. “That is definitely not what China will be appreciating, and if other countries follow suit, that is going to be recognized as extremely unfriendly,” he said.
After meetings in Beijing last week, Richard Marles, the opposition’s defense spokesman, assessed the relationship as “terrible.”A growing number of Australians are convinced that Beijing has been using inducements, threats, espionage and other clandestine tactics to influence their politics — methods critics believe Beijing might be honing for use in other western democracies.“Australia is seen as a test bed for Beijing’s high-pressure influence tactics,” said Clive Hamilton, author of “Silent Invasion,” a best seller that focuses on Chinese influence in Australia.“They are testing the capacity of the Australian democratic system to resist,” he said.Still, Australian officials have downplayed talk of a diplomatic freeze. They must balance a growing wariness toward China and their desire for strong ties with the U.S. with the need to keep relations with their resource-rich country’s largest export market on an even keel.Australia relies on China for one-third of its export earnings. Delays in processing of Australia exports of coal and wine at Chinese ports have raised suspicions of retaliation by Beijing.While Prime Minister Scott Morrison appeared to side with President Donald Trump on the issue of China’s trade status during a recent visit to Washington, he sought to temper suggestions by Trump that he had expressed “very strong opinions on China” in their closed-door meeting.”We have a comprehensive, strategic partnership with China. We work well with China,” Morrison replied.Trump and Morrison did agree that China has outgrown trade rule concessions allowed to developing nations, advantages it insists it should still be able to claim.
Australia also chose to side with the U.S, in shutting Huawei, the world’s biggest telecom gear producer, out of its next generation 5G rollout on security grounds.Huawei, and the Chinese government, objected to that, saying the security concerns were exaggerated for the sake of shutting out competition. But Huawei still renewed a sponsorship deal with an Australian rugby team, saying it hopes the ban will be lifted.Morrison, the prime minister, has won praise from the Chinese Communist Party newspaper Global Times for standing up for Gladys Liu, the first Chinese-born lawmaker to be elected to Australia’s Parliament, when she was attacked for her associations with the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party, whose mission is to exert influence overseas.Hong Kong-born Liu, a conservative, was elected in May to represent a Melbourne district with a large population of ethnic Chinese voters. She says she has resigned from such organizations and any honorary positions she might have held, some possibly without her “knowledge or consent.”Morrison accused her critics of smearing the 1.2 million Chinese living in Australia.
That was a “decent gesture,” the Global Times said. But while it seeks to control damage from the tensions with Beijing, the Australian government has been moving to neutralize its influence by banning foreign political donations and all covert foreign interference in domestic politics.Opposition lawmakers likened Liu’s situation to that of Sam Dastyari, who resigned as a senator in 2017 over his links to Chinese billionaire political donor Huang Xiangmo.Huang successfully sued Australian media outlets for defamation over the allegations of his involvement in Chinese political interference. But he lost his Australian permanent residency after it was discovered that his company had paid Dastyari’s personal legal bills. Huang also appeared with him at a news conference for Chinese media where Dastyari supported Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, contradicting Australia’s bipartisan policy.Chen and the other two Chinese scholars recently dispatched to Australia to try to sway public opinion insisted China was without blame.”If we’re talking about Australia-China relations, I think the responsibility totally is on the Australian side,” Chen said. “China always promotes friendship and mutual benefits between our two countries.”  The Chinese scholars singled out for criticism Hamilton and another Australian author, John Garnaut, who has described Australia as the canary in the coal mine of Chinese Communist Party interference.      Hamilton’s book was published last year, but only after three publishers backed out, fearing retaliation from Beijing. It became a top seller. Hamilton told a U.S. congressional commission last year that Beijing was waging a “campaign of psychological warfare” against Australia, undermining democracy and silencing its critics.  In separate testimony, Garnaut, a former government security adviser, told the House of Representatives Arms Services Committee that China was seeking to undermine the U.S.-Australian security alliance.                   In 2016, the government commissioned Garnaut to write a classified report that found the Chinese Communist Party has been seeking to influence Australian policy, compromise political parties and gain access to all levels of government.                 He has said Australia is reacting to a threat that other countries are only starting to grapple with.                  “This recognition has been assisted by the sheer brazenness of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s drive for global influence and by watching Russian President Vladimir Putin and his agents create havoc across the United States and Europe,” Garnaut wrote.                 “In the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election, it is far more difficult to dismiss foreign interference as a paranoid abstraction,” he added.     
              
Garnaut, whose friend Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been detained in Beijing since January on suspicion of espionage, declined to comment to The Associated Press.                  China wants to make an example of Australia, said Chinese-born Sydney academic Feng Chongyi, who was detained for 10 days and interrogated about his friend Garnaut’s investigation while visiting China in 2017.                   “For the last two decades, Australia has been taken for a soft target because of this myth of economic dependence on China, so they believe they have sufficient leverage to force Australia to back off,” said Feng, a professor of China studies at the University of Technology in Sydney.                 “They are extremely upset that Australia somehow in the last two years has taken the lead in what we call the democratic pushback” against Chinese interference, he said.
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Australia’s ban on Chinese telecom giant Huawei’s involvement in its future 5G networks and its crackdown on foreign covert interference are testing Beijing’s efforts to project its power overseas.In its latest maneuver, China sent three scholars to spell out in interviews with Australian media and other appearances steps to mend the deepening rift with Beijing — a move that appears to have fallen flat.In a recent press conference at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, Chen Hong, the head of Australian studies at East China Normal University, accused Australia of acting as a “pawn” for the United States in lobbying other countries against Huawei’s involvement in 5G networks.“Australia has been in one way or another, so to speak, pioneering this kind of anti-China campaign, even some kind of a scare and smear campaign against China,” Chen said. “That is definitely not what China will be appreciating, and if other countries follow suit, that is going to be recognized as extremely unfriendly,” he said.After meetings in Beijing last week, Richard Marles, the opposition’s defense spokesman, assessed the relationship as “terrible.”Australians see threatA growing number of Australians are convinced that Beijing has been using inducements, threats, espionage and other clandestine tactics to influence their politics — methods critics believe Beijing might be honing for use in other Western democracies.“Australia is seen as a test bed for Beijing’s high-pressure influence tactics,” said Clive Hamilton, author of “Silent Invasion,” a best seller that focuses on Chinese influence in Australia. “They are testing the capacity of the Australian democratic system to resist,” he said.President Donald Trump, right, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison shake hands after speaking the opening of an Australian-owned Pratt Industries plant, Sept. 22, 2019, in Wapakoneta, Ohio.Trade partnersStill, Australian officials have downplayed talk of a diplomatic freeze. They must balance a growing wariness toward China and their desire for strong ties with the U.S. with the need to keep relations with their resource-rich country’s largest export market on an even keel.Australia relies on China for one-third of its export earnings. Delays in processing of Australia exports of coal and wine at Chinese ports have raised suspicions of retaliation by Beijing.While Prime Minister Scott Morrison appeared to side with President Donald Trump on the issue of China’s trade status during a recent visit to Washington, he sought to temper suggestions by Trump that he had expressed “very strong opinions on China” in their closed-door meeting.“We have a comprehensive, strategic partnership with China. We work well with China,” Morrison replied.Trump and Morrison did agree that China has outgrown trade rule concessions allowed to developing nations, advantages it insists it should still be able to claim.Morrison praisedMorrison, the prime minister, has won praise from the Chinese Communist Party newspaper Global Times for standing up for Gladys Liu, the first Chinese-born lawmaker to be elected to Australia’s Parliament, when she was attacked for her associations with the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party, whose mission is to exert influence overseas.Liu, who was born in Hong Kong in 1964, was elected to the conservative government in May to represent a Melbourne district with a large population of ethnic Chinese voters. She has said she had resigned from such organizations and any honorary positions she might have held, some possibly without her “knowledge or consent.”Morrison accused her critics of smearing the 1.2 million people who make up the Chinese diaspora in Australia.That was a “decent gesture,” the Global Times said.Neutralizing influenceBut while it seeks to control damage from the tensions with Beijing, the Australian government has been moving to neutralize its influence by banning foreign political donations and all covert foreign interference in domestic politics.The Chinese scholars singled out for criticism Hamilton and another Australian author, John Garnaut, who has described Australia as the canary in the coal mine of Chinese Communist Party interference.Hamilton’s book was published last year, but only after three publishers reneged on offers to back the book for fear of retaliation from Beijing. It became a top seller.In comments to a U.S. congressional commission last year he asserted that Beijing was waging a “campaign of psychological warfare” against Australia, undermining democracy and silencing its critics.In separate testimony, Garnaut, a former government security adviser, told the House of Representatives Arms Services Committee in Washington, D.C., that China’s meddling was aimed at undermining the U.S.-Australian security alliance.In 2016, Garnaut was commissioned to write a classified report that found the Chinese Communist Party had for a decade tried to influence Australian policy, compromise political parties and gain access to all levels of government.Others beginning to take noteHe has said Australia is reacting to a threat that other countries are only starting to grapple with.“This recognition has been assisted by the sheer brazenness of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s drive for global influence and by watching Russian President Vladimir Putin and his agents create havoc across the United States and Europe,” Garnaut wrote.“In the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election, it is far more difficult to dismiss foreign interference as a paranoid abstraction,” he added.Garnaut, whose friend Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been detained in Beijing since January on suspicion of espionage, declined to comment to The Associated Press.China wants to make an example of Australia, said Chinese-born Sydney academic Feng Chongyi, who was detained for 10 days and interrogated about his friend Garnaut’s investigation while visiting China in 2017.“For the last two decades, Australia has been taken for a soft target because of this myth of economic dependence on China, so they believe they have sufficient leverage to force Australia to back off,” said Feng, a professor of China studies at the University of Technology in Sydney.“They are extremely upset that Australia somehow in the last two years has taken the lead in what we call the democratic pushback” against Chinese interference, he said.
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Heads bowed and dressed in black, schoolmates of a teenage demonstrator shot at close range in the chest by a Hong Kong riot officer condemned police tactics and demanded accountability Wednesday.The shooting Tuesday during widespread anti-government demonstrations on China’s National Day marked a fearsome escalation in Hong Kong’s protest violence. The 18-year-old is the first known victim of police gunfire since the protests began in June. His condition in the hospital was described by the government as stable on Wednesday.The officer fired as the protester struck him with a metal rod. His use of lethal weaponry is sure to inflame widespread public anger about police tactics during the crisis, widely condemned as heavy handed.A protester lies with a gunshot wound outside Cheung Hing Kee Shanghai Pan-fried Buns in Hong Kong, Oct. 1, 2019 in this still image taken from a video. (Credit: HKPUSU Press Committee)“The Hong Kong police have gone trigger-happy and nuts,” pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo said Wednesday.Having repeatedly viewed video of the shooting, Mo said: “The sensible police response should have been using a police baton or pepper spray, et cetera, to fight back. It wasn’t exactly an extreme situation and the use of live bullet simply cannot be justified.”Several hundred people, including students, protested with quiet fury at the wounded demonstrator’s school in the Tsuen Wan district of Hong Kong on Wednesday morning.Sitting crossed-legged, some held an arm across their chest to below their left shoulder – the location of the teenager’s gunshot wound. One held a hand-written message condemning “thug police.”“When we go to fight, we are always the egg and they are the wall,” said a student who gave only his surname, Wong. “We are just bullied by them.”The police chief defended the officer’s use of force. Commissioner Stephen Lo said late Tuesday night that the officer had feared for his life and made “a split-second” to fire with a single shot at close range.“It was the attacker who decided to come so close,” Lo said. “He had no choice, he could only use the weapon that he had available.”Lo said there is no order for police to shoot if they are under threat but they can use appropriate force. He described protesters as “rioters,” saying they have committed widespread criminal acts – from attacking police officers, including 25 who were injured, to destroying public property and vandalizing shops and banks linked to China.Local TV stations showed two officers with bloodied faces pointing pistols as protesters who sought to spoil the Oct. 1 anniversary of Communist rule fought pitched battles with riot police.“These turned out to be very dangerous riots,” Hong Kong’s government said in a statement Wednesday that described protesters who carried out widespread acts of vandalism as “the mob.”It claimed rioting was “planned and organized” and called upon parents and teachers to help restrain young protesters.“What the society does not want to see is students being stirred to break the law,” it said.Video that spread quickly on social media appeared to show the officer opening fire as the masked teenager came at him with a metal rod, striking the officer’s shooting arm. Taken by the City University Student Union, it showed a dozen black-clad protesters throwing objects at police and closing in on the lone officer who pointed his gun and opened fire. The protester toppled backward onto the street, bleeding from below his left shoulder.As another protester rushed in to try to drag away the wounded youth and was tackled by an officer, a gasoline bomb landed in the middle of the group of officers in an explosion of flames.Riot police fired tear gas in at least six locations and used water cannons in the business district as usually bustling streets became battlefields. Determined to thumb their noses at Chinese President Xi Jinping, protesters ignored a security clampdown that saw nearly four dozen subway stations closed.Chanting anti-China slogans and “Freedom for Hong Kong,” tens of thousands of peaceful marchers dressed in mournful black also demonstrated along a broad thoroughfare downtown in defiance of a police ban. Organizers said that rally attracted at least 100,000 people. Police didn’t give an estimate. 
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