For Hanoi, it has been a difficult balancing act, being open to more cooperation with Washington without upsetting Beijing, even though Vietnam has been alarmed by China’s growing military claims in the South China Sea. The diplomatic calculus is further complicated by the increasingly close relationship between Beijing and Moscow,Continue Reading
HANOI: United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will visit Vietnam this week hoping for progress towards upgrading relations with a key trade partner that shares US worries about China’s growing might. For Hanoi, it will be a delicate test: How to show openness to the United States without angeringContinue Reading
The Indonesian island of Bali was next on the itinerary, but after that, anything is possible. “They call it ‘gap year’, but it’s the gap to what? Let me be clear, I have no idea what’s coming next,” Healey said. “At a place like Brown, you get a lot ofContinue Reading
is opposed by an Indian senator. AHMEDABAD: According to a filing on Tuesday( Apr 12 ), an Indian state lawmaker who accused Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress party’s’s main opposition, of defamation, has objected to his appeal. Gandhi, 52, lost his political chair next month after a lowerContinue Reading
TAIPEI : Comments by French President Emmanuel Macron on Taiwan are puzzling, a senior Taiwanese politician said, wondering whether France’s founding ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity are now out of fashion. Macron, in comments in an interview on a trip to China that was meant to showcase European unityContinue Reading
WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday (Apr 11) condemned China’s sentencing of two human rights lawyers to more than a decade each in jail, the latest move in a years-long crackdown on civil society by President Xi Jinping. Xu Zhiyong, 50, and Ding Jiaxi, 55, were sentenced on Monday toContinue Reading
JERUSALEM: Thousands of Israelis, including ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, marched to an evacuated Jewish outpost in the West Bank on Monday (Apr 10) in support of settlements viewed as illegal under international law. As tensions mounted between Israelis and Palestinians, Israelis from across the country travelledContinue Reading
BEIJING: The US Navy said its guided-missile destroyer USS Milius conducted a navigational rights and freedoms mission in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands on Monday (Apr 10). The announcement came as China’s military simulated precision strikes against Taiwan in military drills around the island amid growing tensionsContinue Reading
HANOI: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Vietnam next week, Senator Jeff Merkley told a news conference in Hanoi on Saturday (Apr 8), as part of Washington’s efforts to move diplomatic relations with Hanoi on to a higher level this year. Blinken’s visit, which has not yet beenContinue Reading
SHANGHAI: The head of China’s Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday (Apr 8) urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to return to a “scientific, fair” position in tracing the origin of COVID-19. At a news conference, Shen Hongbing warned the WHO against politicising the source of theContinue Reading