Beijing-linked hackers accessed US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns’ email account in an espionage operation thought to have compromised at least hundreds of thousands of individual US government emails, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday (Jul 20). Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, was alsoContinue Reading
WASHINGTON: The United States fears an American soldier held by North Korea may be mistreated by Pyongyang, which has yet to respond to inquiries about his fate, officials said on Thursday (Jul 20). Private Second Class Travis King was due to return to the United States to face disciplinary consequences afterContinue Reading
AUCKLAND: New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said on Monday (Jul 17) that the Pacific region is becoming more contested, less predictable, and less secure as China becomes more assertive. “China’s rise and how it seeks to exert that influence is also a major driver of the increasing strategic competition,Continue Reading
CAPIRA, Panama: Police in Panama seized more than six tonnes of shark fins bound for Asia on Thursday (Jul 13), arresting five people in connection to the illegal trade, authorities said. The black-market shark fin trade is estimated to be worth US$500 million annually, and Panama last year spearheaded international effortsContinue Reading
SYDNEY: Solomon Islands said on Friday (Jul 14) that its policing pact with China posed no “threat” to the Pacific, rebuking Western powers who raised fears the deal could inflame regional tensions. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare inked a raft of deals during a trip to China this week, including anContinue Reading
Despite differences over the war in Ukraine and tensions over human rights in India, Western democracies are courting Modi and India as a counterweight to China in Asia. Macron’s red carpet welcome comes weeks after Modi was given the rare honour of a White House state dinner in Washington –Continue Reading
BRUSSELS: The EU and Japan are working on a cooperation agreement for raw materials to whittle down China’s dominance in the sector, leaders said in Brussels on Thursday (Jul 13). Coordination also extended to semiconductors, to help boost economic security in Japan and the EU, European Commission chief Ursula vonContinue Reading
WASHINGTON: China’s ambassador to the United States held a rare meeting at the Pentagon on Wednesday (Jul 12) with the top US defence official for Asia, the Pentagon said, in talks that followed US criticism of Chinese reluctance to engage in military communications. A brief Pentagon statement said Chinese AmbassadorContinue Reading
Although Sogavare has repeatedly stressed that his country was “friends to all”, a video posted by Chinese state media showed him telling officials “I am back home” after touching down in Beijing earlier this week. Solomon Islands opposition politician Peter Kenilorea Junior said he had a “gut feeling” that SogavareContinue Reading
BEIJING: John Kerry, the United States special envoy on climate issues, will visit China from Jul 16 to Jul 19, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment said on Wednesday (Jul 12), the latest senior US official to travel to Beijing in recent weeks. Kerry’s trip follows a visit by SecretaryContinue Reading