VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

China's defence ministry said on Friday that it yet again had to monitor and drive away the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Milius that entered its territorial waters in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands.

"We sternly demand the U.S. to immediately stop such provocative acts, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen incidents," a spokesperson said in a statement from the Ministry of National Defence.

The U.S. Navy said the guided-missile destroyer was asserting its navigational rights and freedoms.

"Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations," the U.S. Navy 7th fleet said in an emailed statement.

U.S. forces operate in the South China Sea on a daily basis, the U.S. Navy said.

It was the second straight day of a stand-off between the two super powers amid growing tensions in the South China Sea.

China claims vast swathes of the area that overlap with exclusive economic zones of various countries including the Philippines. Trillions of dollars in trade flow every year through the waterway. (Reuters)

New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said she will discuss concerns about key regional and global security challenges when she meets with her Chinese counterpart, foreign minister Qin Gang in Beijing Friday.

Mahuta arrived in China on Wednesday for a four-day trip, the first by a New Zealand minister since 2019, and has been meeting with business and women leaders before her meeting with Gang.

In a statement earlier in the week, Mahuta she said would use the meeting to advocate "for approaches and outcomes that reflect New Zealand’s interests and values, including on human rights."

"I also intend to raise New Zealand’s concerns about key regional and global security challenges, including the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine."

China is a powerful ally of Russia and both have criticised the U.S. and NATO for undermining global stability.

New Zealand has long been seen as the moderate, even absent, voice on China in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. But New Zealand's tone on both security and China's growing presence in the South Pacific toughened in the past year after China and the Solomon Islands struck a security pact.

“This visit provides an opportunity to have a constructive discussion across a broad range of areas - both where our interests and values align, like that of climate change, and where they differ,” Mahuta said.

New Zealand and China's interactions have remained largely cordial with the two countries upgrading their free trade agreement in 2022 even as Australia's relationship with China deteriorated. China remains New Zealand’s largest trading partner.

New Zealand had a change in leadership in January and new prime minister Chris Hipkins has said very little about foreign politics or how he sees security or geopolitical developments. (Reuters)

About 3,600 people were evacuated from buildings in Hong Kong's crowded Kowloon district on Friday as firefighters battled a blaze in a warehouse.

There were no reports of casualties and the fire was put out in the evening five hours after it began in what is one of the world's most densley populated areas.

The warehouse is owned by China Resources Group (1109.HK) but it was not clear what was being stored there.

The state-owned company, which runs businesses from healthcare to consumer products such as beer, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Yellow smoke emanating from the building had a chemical smell, a Reuters journalist said.

"Members of the public affected by the smoke and unusual odour carried by the wind are advised to close their doors and windows and stay calm," the government said in a statement as the fire raged.

Police told Reuters that about 3600 people from nearby residential schools and buildings needed to be evacuated. Two people were sent to hospital.

A 39-year-old mother came to pick up her nine-year-old son as he waited alone, with police officers nearby.

"It's very smelly," said the woman, who gave only her surname, Lee. "I am worried whether there are toxins affecting my child's health." (Reuters)

President Joe Biden's administration is seeking more than $7 billion over the next two decades for economic assistance to three Pacific island countries, a State Department official said on Thursday, funds seen as key to insulating the U.S. allies from growing Chinese government influence.

Washington said earlier this year it had reached consensus with the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) on terms of U.S. economic assistance in talks to renew Compacts of Free Association, or COFAs, but had not provided details.

Under those pacts, first agreed in the 1980s, the United States retains responsibility for the islands' defense and exclusive access to huge swaths of the Pacific. Current COFA provisions expire in 2024 for Palau, and later in 2023 for the Marshall Islands and the FSM.

Jane Bocklage, a senior State Department official involved in COFA talks, told a congressional hearing the Biden administration's fiscal year 2024 budget request included $7.1 billion over 20 years for extended COFA deals. That included $6.5 billion in direct economic assistance and $634 million for the unfunded costs of extending the U.S. Postal Service in the three island countries, she said.

"We are working very, very hard with all three countries to complete the final negotiations. We are aiming for weeks, not months," Bocklage added.

"Absent the new economic assistance provisions, we really leave the three countries open to predatory behavior, coercive behavior," she said, alluding to China's efforts to court Pacific island countries.

The three countries have complained that assistance has not kept pace with U.S. obligations, and though they still enjoy close ties to Washington, critics warn that a failure to reach new terms could spur them to look to China for funding or increased trade and tourism.

U.S. basing and military access rights are not subject to the negotiations, but experts say as sovereign nations the three countries could always terminate those agreements should they be dissatisfied with U.S. support. (Reuters)