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An official meeting of all ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors kicked off on Tuesday (March 28) in Indonesia. Top of the agenda are discussions to reduce dependence on the US Dollar, Euro, Yen, and British Pound from financial transactions and move to settlements in local currencies. The meeting discussed efforts to reduce dependence on major currencies through the Local Currency Transaction (LCT) scheme. This is an extension of the previous Local Currency Settlement (LCS) scheme that has already begun to be implemented between ASEAN members. This means that an ASEAN cross-border digital payment system would be expanded further...

President Joe Biden committed the first gaffe of his trip to Asia Saturday within the first seconds of his opening remarks, when he mistakenly referred to his Cambodian host as the head of Colombia. Biden spoke seconds after Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled the country for 37 years and is using the ASEAN summit as a showcase for his nation. 'I want to thank the prime minister of Colombia for his leadership as ASEAN chair,' Biden said at the top of his remarks, stumbling over the word and moving on without correcting it.

Wary Pacific nations are resisting ‘good brother’ China’s offer to expand its scope Round one does not go to China. It failed to convince a group of Pacific island nations to sign an agreement to keep receiving security and economic cooperation from itself. They could not shed their suspicions that China was attempting to show off its ‘partners’ in the South Pacific to square off with the QUAD’s growing presence in the Indo-Pacific. Some nations were opposed to the Chinese offer, titled ‘China-Pacific Island Countries Common Development Vision’. What raised eyebrows were the Chinese proposals to train local police, help...

The tussle between the US and China seeks a formal garb after the AUKUS was formed, and now the US wants more micro engagements in the region The United States is fully engaged in shifting its unsuccessful strategic workshop from Afghanistan to the East. That is what Joe Biden implied in his justification behind the withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan during the first week of this month. Followed by this statement, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Southeast Asia, an indication that the US was now permanently seeking serious engagement in the East against rapidly increasing Chinese belligerence. The...

President Biden’s unraveling of the Trump administration’s Middle East policy already is well underway, but a prominent elder statesmen is advising him to uphold his predecessor’s “brilliant” realignment of the region’s politics.Henry Kissinger, who was secretary of state under the Nixon and Ford administrations, praised Trump administration’s strategy of pitting major Sunni Muslim countries against Iran’s Shiite mullah-led regime, the Washington Free Beacon reported.“I think that one of the great successes of the previous administration was that they had lined up, that they had achieved two things in the Middle East,” Kissinger said Tuesday during the first seminar of a...

By rejecting the RCEP membership, we have given China a free hand to integrate its economy with Asian nations. Maybe India should look West now The "Act East" policy, with a focus on an extended neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific Region, has been the cornerstone of India's diplomacy in the current decade. While it was originally conceived as an economic initiative, in recent years, it has gained political, strategic and cultural dimensions, including the establishment of institutional mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation. India has upgraded its relations to a strategic partnership with Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia,...

Due to the developing situation in China and Asia concerning the Coronavirus, we will be operating this article as a running live update service to keep businesses involved in ASEAN and Asia updated with the latest relevant regional news. For specific updates concerning China, please click here We have concerns about the levels of screening, monitoring and protection in several ASEAN and Asian nations and note the apparent commencement of cross-border infections from February 4. Government and border checks and restrictions have become more stringent and are sometimes being imposed arbitrarily. Travelers should check with their respective airlines and government...

There are two links for this story. I started linking to the short video which I originally watched. It is from Asia Times. Basically it is almost an advertisement for the article. Runs about a minute and a half, although it mentions the major points from the article. Then there is an actual article in the Asia Times. I will also include a link to that article, for those who want to read the full thing.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- China's government sent more than one million majority ethnic Han Chinese to live uninvited in the homes of minority Uighur families in Xinjiang province and report if the Muslims display Islamic or unpatriotic beliefs which need to be forcibly reformed. "Had a Uighur host just greeted a neighbor in Arabic with the words 'Assalamu Alaykum'? That would need to go in the notebook," and reported to China's authorities, said American anthropologist Darren Byler. "Was that a copy of the Koran in the home? Was anyone praying on Friday or fasting during Ramadan? Was a little sister's dress...

A LITTLE NOTICED organizational change in China's maritime patrols is causing increasing anxiety among Western military officials and their allies in the region, who fear Beijing is seeking new leverage to advance its goals and raising the likelihood that an accidental encounter could escalate into conflict. The U.S. confirmed earlier this year that China has reorganized its coast guard to serve as a military branch rather than answer to law enforcement authorities. Militarizing the formerly civilian organization provides China with the firepower to harass and intimidate vessels from other countries who dispute China's claims to waterways. The change, which Beijing...

PORT MORESBY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA — For the first time in its 20-year history, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit ended in disarray Sunday when the 21 member countries could not reach consensus on a joint statement because of objections by one member — China. When the summit failed, to the disgust of the other diplomats, Chinese officials broke out in applause. But that was only the final incident in a week during which China’s official delegation staged a series of aggressive, bullying, paranoid and weird stunts to try to exert dominance and pressure the host nation and everyone else into...

Europe and Asia should use their combined economic clout “to tackle global challenges such as trade tensions that put millions of jobs at risk” and the threat of climate change, a top European official said Thursday. European Council President Donald Tusk spoke in Brussels as he opened the Asia-Europe summit, which brought together 30 European leaders with their counterparts or top officials from 21 Asian nations. The gathering accounts for 55 percent of global trade and 60 percent of the world’s population. […] The meeting is taking place amid a trade war between the United States and China and ongoing...

Despite the “rise and fall of the unipolar concert,” China and Russia’s balancing strategies have backfired: they are not leading to multipolarity, but are actually reinforcing unipolarity. The reason is that China and Russia’s balancing strategies have focused on regional “revisionism,” which has provoked powerful responses in East Asia and Europe to contain them. Russia’s balancing strategy has to a large extent proven to be counter-productive. Instead of preventing the expansion of NATO through a “divide and conquer” strategy, or driving a diplomatic wedge between the United States and Europe, Russian revisionism has united NATO...Perhaps most illustrative of all, a...

Manila - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is on the offense at a summit here as he tries to increase the pressure on, and isolation of, North Korea after the U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions against the country's rogue regime. Tillerson is in Manila for an annual summit hosted by Southeast Asian countries collectively known as ASEAN. He’s meeting with regional partners, including Russia and China, just days after North Korea tested its second intercontinental ballistic missile in a month. The new sanctions were drafted by the U.S. in consultation with China and passed unanimously at the U.N. Saturday....

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - North Korea’s top diplomat will attend an annual Asian security conference in Manila, where concern over the North’s nuclear weapons program is expected to be high on the agenda, Philippine officials said. A North Korean delegation led by its vice foreign minister flew to Manila on Wednesday to discuss the participation of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho in the ASEAN Regional Forum, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. Ri’s attendance at the meeting is definite, Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano told a news conference. The meeting is scheduled on Aug. 7, the department said.....

US President Donald Trump on Saturday invited his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte to Washington in a "friendly" call in which the leaders discussed the "threat" of North Korea, the White House said. The announcement comes amid rising tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs following its latest test-fire, as well international criticism of Duterte's drug crackdown that has claimed thousands of lives. "It was a very friendly conversation, in which the two leaders discussed the concerns of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regarding regional security, including the threat posed by North Korea," the statement said. The leaders also...

North Korea turns to Southeast Asian nations for help to stop 'nuclear holocaust North Korea has appealed to neighbouring nations for support in what it says is its ongoing campaign to prevent what could be a "nuclear holocaust". North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho warned the situation on the Korean peninsula was "reaching the point of war" due to US actions in a letter to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' secretary general. The letter criticised the length of the US-South Korean military exercises and urged the ASEAN chief to notify the 10 member nations' foreign ministers on the "grave...

Jakarta - US President Donald Trump will attend three important summits in Asia this November, as a sign of firm and unwavering commitment to building strong foundation shared between US and Asian nations, Vice President Michael Pence confirmed. President Trump is planning to attend the US-ASEAN summit and the East Asia summit in the Philippines, as well as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam. "Our relationship without any doubt has benefited both ASEAN and America, diplomatically, economically and from the standpoint of national security," he said while visiting the headquarters of Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Jakarta,...

Malacañang protocols chief Ambassador Marciano Paynor on Wednesday said US President Donald Trump has personally indicated over the phone that he is coming to the Philippines later this year. The newly elected American leader is expected to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in November. “As of now, President Trump, for instance when President Rodrigo Duterte called him up to congratulate him had already indicated that he was coming in November,” said Paynor. “Multilateral meetings of this sort, we usually expect 100 percent attendance,” Paynor added. He was referring to the leaders of nine other ASEAN members states...

Four Bangladeshi workers who allegedly planned attacks linked to the Islamic State group in their own country were sentenced Tuesday to jail terms of up to five years. Prosecutors said the men, who pleaded guilty, had contributed part of their salary to buy food, arms and weapons like knives and pistols to launch attacks in The amounts ranged from 60 Singapore dollars ($42) to 1,360 Singapore dollars ($1,000). They were part of a group detained in April under the country's Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial in cases where public safety is threatened. The Ministry of Home...