ASEAN IN FOCUS

ASEAN leaders wrap up meetings, Philippines takes on chairmanship

VIENTIANE, Laos (Reuters) — Leaders from Southeast Asian countries wrapped up their summit on Thursday (September 8) as the Philippines officially took on the bloc’s rotating chairmanship for 2017. President Rodrigo Duterte said his country is ready for the task of chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The regional bloc will mark its 50th anniversary year next year. “The Philippines’ ASEAN chairmanship resides on the historic milestone event. We will celebrate the 50th Anniversary […]

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Duterte meets with Russian Prime Minister Medyedev before ASEAN closing rites

  (Eagle News) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte met with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of the Russian Federation on the final day of the 28th and 29th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits and Related Summits in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic on September 8, 2016. This was after the gala dinner where Duterte and Medyedev sat beside each other, instead of the earlier announced seating arrangement where Duterte and US President Barack Obama were […]

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Obama urges Duterte to do crime “war” the right way, as Phl president speaks out against US military killings

  VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — US President Barack Obama urged Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte Thursday to conduct his crime war “the right way”, as the pair clashed at an Asian summit over the crackdown that has claimed 3,000 lives. The showdown was a fitting climax to a brutal few days of diplomacy that began with the famously acid-tongued Duterte becoming heated up and making expletives that led the White House to cancel a scheduled bilateral meeting between the two leaders. […]

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U.S. President forges closer ties with ASEAN allies in last meeting

  (Reuters) — U.S. President Barack Obama held a meeting with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders for the last time on Thursday (September 8) and reiterated U.S. commitment to rebalancing Asia. Obama became the first incumbent U.S. president to visit Laos this week for a series of meetings with the heads of state of the 10-nation regional bloc. “I’ve now met with leaders of ASEAN eight times, visited Southeast Asia more than any […]

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South China Sea: facts on a decades-long dispute

VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — The disputed South China Sea was in focus Thursday at a regional summit in Laos as US President Barack Obama warned Beijing it cannot ignore a tribunal’s ruling that rejected its sweeping claims to the waters. China claims most of the sea, even waters approaching neighbouring countries, based on a vaguely defined “nine-dash-line” found on Chinese maps from the 1940s. The Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations dispute this. Commentators say […]

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Duterte skips ASEAN-US and ASEAN-UN meetings

  (Eagle News)– President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday (September 8) skipped the ASEAN-United States Summit with US President Barack Obama, and the ASEAN-UN meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki -moon on Wednesday as well. Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. represented the Philippines in Duterte’s place in both important meetings. On Wednesday, Duterte also skipped the ASEAN-UN meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as he had a courtesy call on Laos President Bounnhang Vorachith.     […]

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Obama warns China over South China Sea ruling

by Andrew BEATTY Nicholas PERRY VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — US President Barack Obama warned Beijing Thursday it could not ignore a tribunal’s ruling rejecting its sweeping claims to the South China Sea, driving tensions higher in a territorial row that threatens regional security. The dispute has raised fears of military confrontation between the world’s superpowers, with China determined to cement control of the strategically vital waters despite a July verdict that its claims have no […]

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Obama focuses on Asia security threats

by Jerome TAYLOR Nicholas PERRY VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — North Korea’s defiant missile testing and the South China Sea territorial row were among a barrage of security threats in focus Thursday as US President Barack Obama gathered with East Asian leaders in Laos. The annual event this year comes at a time of heightened tensions on a wide range of fronts across the region, with terrorism also a concern after deadly bomb blasts in Thailand […]

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China confident it can improve relationship with Philippines

VIENTIANE, Laos (Reuters) —  China has confidence that it can work with the Philippines to return to a healthy relationship, Beijing’s vice foreign minister said on Wednesday (September 7), after the two countries locked horns over a recent arbitral ruling on the South China Sea. Speaking on the sidelines of a regional summit in Vientiane, Laos, Liu Zhenmin said that China and the Philippines had had “thousands of years” of good relations. “In the past […]

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Australia’s Turnbull talks security with ASEAN partners

VIENTIANE, Laos (Reuters) — Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urged all parties with claims to South China Sea to exercise restraint during a meeting with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Laos on Wednesday (September 7). “Differences should be settled peacefully accordance to international law. And until they are, we will draw side to act with restrain and avoid any steps which will create or add tensions,” said Turnbull, during an opening […]

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Obama says South China Sea ruling ‘binding’

VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — US President Barack Obama warned Thursday an international tribunal’s ruling that China’s sweeping claims to the South China Sea had no legal basis was “binding”, after Beijing vowed to ignore the verdict. “The landmark arbitration ruling in July, which is binding, helped clarify maritime rights in the region,” Obama told a summit of Asian leaders in Laos. The comments are sure to draw ire from Beijing, which has taken an increasingly […]

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Indonesian official wants Philippine-style drug war

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s anti-drugs chief has supported implementing a bloody crackdown on traffickers like the war on crime in the Philippines that has left almost 3,000 dead. Budi Waseso, the tough-talking anti-drugs czar who once proposed holding death row traffickers on a prison island guarded by crocodiles, said he believed such a campaign would safeguard “our beloved country”. Indonesia says it is fighting a war against rising narcotics use. It has stepped up executions […]

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