VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

China's top diplomat Wang Yi said on Friday that China sees New Zealand as an important partner and has confidence in the certainty and stability in bilateral relations.

Both sides should promote the upgrading of economic and trade cooperation, Wang told New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta, according to a statement released by the Chinese foreign ministry.

Mahuta arrived in China on Wednesday for a four-day trip, the first by a New Zealand minister since 2019. 

New Zealand and China's interactions have remained largely cordial with the two sides upgrading their free trade pact last year. China remains New Zealand's largest trading partner. (Reuters)

Vanuatu, still reeling from two cyclones that struck within a week, says it hopes the United Nations General Assembly will next week adopt its push for greater priority to be given to the human rights impact of climate change.

The Pacific island nation's Minister of Climate Change, Ralph Regenvanu, said 119 governments have co-sponsored Vanuatu's resolution, which seeks legal clarity on the obligation of states to take climate change action, and draws attention to the vulnerability of small islands states hit by worsening storms and rising seas.

Vanuatu hopes more nations will sign-on before the general assembly debate begins on Wednesday, and it will be passed by consensus, he said.

"Right now in my country, thousands of citizens are dealing with broken homes, destroyed infrastructure and loss of food crops," he told an online forum on Thursday evening.

The cost of the disaster will exceed half of Vanuatu's annual GDP, he added.

More than 3,000 people are still in evacuation centres three weeks after two category-four cyclones hit Vanuatu, which has a population of 319,000 spread across 80 islands.

Homes, schools and medical centres were damaged or destroyed and several island airports remain shut.

The resolution "does not name, blame, or shame any particular nation or group of countries; rather, it asks for guidance and clarity on the application of existing international law," he said.

The International Court of Justice would be asked to issue a legal opinion on the responsibility of states, and while this was not legally binding, it should motivate states to ensure human rights are prioritised in climate change negotiations, he added.

Vanuatu took up the challenge to seek a legal opinion from the United Nation's top court after a group of Pacific islands university students in 2019 petitioned governments with the idea.

Cynthia Houniuhi, President of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, said it was the most ambitious action they could think of.

"I don't want to show a picture to my child one day of my island. I want my child to be able to experience the same environment," she told the forum, highlighting the risk of rising sea levels to villages across the Pacific. (Reuters)

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has never been a minister in a federal or state government, has not led his Congress party to a general election victory, and quit as party chief after it was demolished in the last parliamentary polls in 2019.

Yet he remains at the centre of India's opposition politics and the main target of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu- nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Now, his conviction and two-year jail sentence in a defamation case, and consequent dismissal from parliament on Friday, could galvanize his party and its allies to step up their opposition to the BJP government a year before the next general election is due.

The conviction on Thursday came barely two months after Gandhi, 52, concluded a 4,000-km cross-country march from India's southern tip to Kashmir in the Himalayas in a bid to revive his party and refurbish his image in what he called a Bharat Jodo Yatra, or unify India march.

Gandhi's jail sentence has been suspended for 30 days allowing him to appeal to a higher court but he will also not be able to contest the next general election unless he gets his conviction suspended or overturned.

At the heart of his central role in opposition politics is the fact that his party has ruled India for 54 of its 75 years since independence from Britain, and his father, grandmother and great-grandfather were prime ministers for more than 37 of those 54 years.

Congress was the largest national political party with a footprint across the country of 1.4 billion people until it was overtaken by the BJP in 2014.

Although now a shadow of its former self, the Gandhi family - which includes Rahul's Italian-born mother and former party chief Sonia, and his sister Priyanka - still dominates Congress and commands fierce loyalty.

It is this potent lineage and legacy that Modi and his party seek to attack when they say dynastic politics has no role in a democracy, analysts say.

Even though Congress withered in 2019, winning less than 10% of the 545 seats in the lower house, it commanded nearly 20% of the vote - the largest for any opposition group - against the BJP's 38%.

Congress is the ruling party, or the main opposition in about half a dozen important states.

NON-SERIOUS POLITICIAN?

Gandhi entered politics and was first elected to parliament in 2004 from his family borough of Amethi in the northern heartland state of Uttar Pradesh.

He repeated that victory in 2009 and 2014 but suffered a shock setback in 2019 when he lost the seat. However, he had also contested a seat in the Kerala state and won there to return to parliament.

Gandhi's attendance in parliament has been far below the average. His frequent absences from the chamber, and the country, have been the focus of the media and drawn BJP accusations that he is a "non-serious" politician.

Outside parliament, he has often reminded his supporters of his family's commitment and sacrifices, talking about the assassinations of his grandmother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and his former prime minister father, Rajiv Gandhi.

Of late, he has been stirring controversy with criticism of the BJP.

In Britain last month he said in a speech that democracy was in danger under Modi, angering the BJP whose members demanded an apology or said he should face exclusion from the chamber.

On Thursday, after his conviction, he simply posted on Twitter some words in Hindi from freedom movement leader, Mahatma Gandhi, who is not a relation.

"My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, non-violence the means to get it. - Mahatma Gandhi".

Single at 52, Gandhi is known to be a fitness and martial arts enthusiast and has been seen cycling in New Delhi accompanied by security men.

His conviction and disqualification from parliament is now "make or break" for him, said Neelanjan Sircar, a senior visiting fellow at New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research.

"Will he be able to make the argument that 'I am being targeted by a government that does not necessarily represent the interest of all Indians', or is he going to be seen as somebody who is not a capable politician and therefore has been outplayed by the BJP," Sircar told Reuters. (Reuters)

Maritime issues between the Philippines and China remain a "serious concern", a Philippine official said on Friday, as the countries pledged to use diplomacy to resolve differences peacefully during high-level talks.

The Philippines hosted this week the first in-person meeting between diplomats from the countries since before the pandemic, amid a flare-up in tensions over what Manila described as China's "aggressive activities" in the South China Sea.

"Both our countries' leaders agreed that maritime issues should be addressed through diplomacy and dialogue and never through coercion and intimidation," Philippine foreign ministry undersecretary Theresa Lazaro said at the opening of bilateral talks on the South China Sea.

The two neighbours discussed their positions on an arbitral award, which invalidated China's claims over almost the entirety of the South China Sea, and various incidents at sea, the Philippines' foreign ministry said in a statement.

The discussions come two months after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's state visit to China, where President Xi Jinping said he was ready to manage maritime issues "cordially" with Manila.

"Maritime issues are an important part of China-Philippines relations that should not be ignored," China's Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong said.

"In the past years, through friendly dialogue and consultations, the two countries have generally managed and effectively dealt with our differences on maritime issues. And we have also advanced our practical cooperation and our mutual trust," added Sun, who is on a three-day visit to Manila.

Beijing, which claims large parts of the South China Sea, including some areas in Philippine waters, has expressed concern over an increasing U.S. military presence in its neighbour, accusing Washington of increasing regional tensions.

Last month, Marcos granted the United States expanded access to military bases, amid China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and towards self-ruled Taiwan.

The agreement has been seen as a sign of a rekindling of ties between Manila and its former colonial master, which soured under his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte.

Marcos, the son of the late strongman whom Washington helped flee into exile during a 1986 "people power" uprising, has repeatedly said he could not see a future for his country without the United States.

Last month, the Philippines accused China's coast guard of using a laser against one of its vessels supporting a resupply mission for troops in the disputed Spratly islands. Marcos later summoned the Chinese ambassador to relay his concern over the intensity and frequency of China's activities in the area.

Maritime differences with Beijing were a "serious concern" but could be resolved through the "exhaustion of all diplomatic means", starting with "restraint from aggressive acts", Lazaro said in a statement following the talks. (Reuters)