VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Philippines leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr has touted his first overseas trip as a success that secured investment pledges of $14 billion, as the son of the country's late ruler eyes economic gains to get his presidency off to a strong start.

During visits this week to Indonesia and Singapore, Marcos met leaders of government and commerce and declared the Philippines open for business, inviting private capital to upgrade and expand roads, airports and seaports in the archipelago of 110 million people.

Marcos, 64, who travelled with top officials of his economic team, said he received investment pledges in renewable energy, data centres, e-commerce, broadband technology, government housing and agriculture.

"This will support our country's economic recovery efforts and create more jobs for Filipinos here in our country," Marcos said on his return late on Thursday.

"We look forward to doing the detailed work that is necessary to bring all these proposals to fruition."

The elder Marcos was overthrown in a 1986 uprising, ending a tumultuous two-decade rule that his son and namesake insists was a "golden era" of development for the Philippine that he intends to replicate.

Marcos Jr, wants to improve agriculture to reduce reliance on food imports and to expand the economy by as much as 8% during his six-year term and halve the poverty rate, which was 18.1% in 2021. (Reuters)

Economic ministers from the United States and 13 Indo-Pacific countries launch negotiations on Thursday on Washington's first major pan-Asian trade engagement effort in nearly a decade, but this time any deal won't cut tariffs.

The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework talks in Los Angeles will seek to define a sweeping platform for market-driven economies to engage on trade and data flows, environmental and labor standards, supply chains and anti-corruption efforts.

The negotiations will be led by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. President Joe Biden launched the Indo-Pacific initiative in May during a trip to Tokyo, but some critics questioned its value to participating countries.

NOT TPP 2.0

Washington has lacked an economic pillar to its Indo-Pacific engagement since former president Donald Trump quit the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TPP) in 2017, leaving the field open to China to expand its regional influence.

More than two years of TPP negotiations led to an agreement in 2015, but the U.S. Congress failed to ratify it as tariff-cutting free trade deals fell out of favor, blamed for draining jobs and investment to low-wage countries.

Biden's trade chief Tai also has shunned new trade deals, focusing a number of negotiations with the European Union instead on labor, regulation and other non-tariff issues.

The talks will include ministers from Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Together with the United States the participants represent some 40% of global GDP.

But it was unclear whether all of the countries would participate in all four of the negotiation streams: trade, labor and digital standards; clean energy and decarbonization; supply chain resilience; and tax and anti-corruption efforts. To secure broad participation, the countries could choose among those "pillars."

The talks come as the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Free trade deal launched in January, cutting tariffs for many of the IPEF participants. The surviving TPP countries also have launched a limited trade pact.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters on Wednesday that the IPEF platform was not meant as an alternative to trading with China.

"This initiative is really about the U.S. having an affirmative economic agenda in the region," the official said. "It's about engaging the economies in the Indo-Pacific in their own right, this isn't not a choice between the United States and China."

Lori Wallach, head of Rethink Trade, a group advocating against corporate influence in trade policy, applauded the decision not to offer tariff cuts, but questioned whether it could deliver benefits for workers.

"Three decades of 'hyperglobalization' implemented by these deals already had made the old trade model politically toxic," Wallach said in a statement. "Then the COVID-revealed supply chain crisis fueled even broader demand for a new approach that reverses the concentration of production of goods and services on which we all rely in too firms in too few countries." (Reuters)

India and Japan will deepen cooperation on defence, with India inviting investment by Japanese companies and plans for joint military exercises involving their air forces, the two sides said on Thursday.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held talks in Tokyo with his Japanese counterpart, Yasukazu Hamada, ahead of "two-plus-two" talks bringing in their foreign ministers.

"He invited Japanese industries to invest in India's defence corridors," India's defence ministry said in a statement, referring to Singh.

"The two ministers agreed that the early conduct of the inaugural fighter exercise will pave the way for much greater cooperation and interoperability between the air forces of the two countries."

India, like Japan, is bolstering its military to tackle what it sees as increased security threats. Both countries are increasingly wary of China's growing military might and assertiveness.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised a "substantial" increase in defence spending. His ruling Liberal Democratic Party wants to double Japan's military budget to 2% of gross domestic product over the next five years amid worry that Russia's invasion of Ukraine could embolden China to act against the self-ruled island of Taiwan.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told a joint news conference following the two-plus-two meeting that both sides denounced the use of force in settling disputes.

"We concurred that unilateral change to the status quo with force should not be tolerated in any region," Hayashi said.

China claims almost all the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, where it has established military outposts on artificial islands. In the East China Sea, China claims a group of uninhabited Japanese-administered islets.

India, which last week commissioned its first home-built aircraft carrier, is involed in a standoff with Chinese forces on their remote Himalayan border.

"We confirmed that defence and security cooperation between Japan and India was expanding drastically, and agreed to keep on conducting bilateral and multilateral joint drills," Hayashi said.

Japan and India, along with Australia and the United States, are members of the Quad group of countries that hold annual naval exercises across the Indo-Pacific region to demonstrate interoperability.

The last meeting of Quad leaders, in May in Japan, was dominated by discussion about Taiwan after U.S. President Joe Biden angered China by saying he would be willing to use force to defend the democratic island. As they met, Russian and Chinese warplanes conducted a joint patrol in the region.

Kishida and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a separate bilateral meeting agreed at that time to work closely together to promote a "free and open Indo-Pacific". (Reuters)

American and South Korean officials will meet next week to discuss "comprehensive measures" to deter North Korea, Seoul said on Thursday, as the two sides revive high-level deterrence talks for the first time since 2018.

The Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG), which includes vice-ministerial defence and diplomatic officials from both allies, will meet in Washington on Friday, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It will be the first time the group has met since 2018, when Washington and Seoul began high-level efforts to engage with North Korea diplomatically.

Those efforts quickly stalled, and this year North Korea has tested a record number of missiles, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) since 2017. It also appears to be preparing to resume nuclear testing for the first time since 2017.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May, has vowed to boost his country's military capabilities and strengthen so-called "extended deterrence", which refers to the ability of the U.S. military, particularly its nuclear forces, to deter attacks on U.S. allies.

The EDSCG "plans to discuss in depth comprehensive measures to deter North Korea, including measures to strengthen the effectiveness of extended deterrence in the face of the severe security situation on the Korean peninsula," the ministry said in a statement.

Yoon has asked U.S. President Joe Biden to permanently deploy U.S. “strategic assets” such as submarines, aircraft carriers, and bombers to the Korean peninsula.

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan will arrive at the South Korean port city of Busan this month to conduct drills with South Korean forces on the peninsula for the first time since 2017, Yonhap news agency reported.

Doubts over the U.S. commitment to defend South Korea arose under former U.S. President Donald Trump, who demanded Seoul pay billions more to support U.S. troops and reportedly discussed their withdrawal.

The American withdrawal from Afghanistan and debate over its support for Ukraine have also sparked discussions on the need for South Korea to boost its own capabilities, including whether it should pursue its own nuclear programme. (Reuters)