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August
China investigates citizen accused of spying for CIA, security ministry says
Written by Nur Yasmin
China is investigating a Chinese national accused of spying for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the country's state security ministry said on Monday.
The 39-year-old Chinese national, surnamed Hao, was a cadre at a ministry and had gone to Japan for studies, which was where the spying recruitment occurred, the ministry said. Hao's gender was not revealed.
The statement came less than two weeks after the ministry said it uncovered another national also suspected of spying for the CIA after being recruited in Italy. The U.S. embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, while the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo referred questions to the CIA, which was not immediately able to respond outside business hours.
The ministry said Hao had become acquainted with a U.S. embassy official known as "Ted" while sorting out a visa application. He invited Hao for dinners, presented gifts and sought Hao's help with writing a paper that Ted promised to pay for, the ministry said.
Ted introduced Hao to a colleague named Li Jun before his term at the embassy in Japan ended, the ministry said; Li and Hao then maintained a "cooperative relationship".
Before Hao completed studying, Li revealed being Tokyo-based CIA personnel and "instigated Hao into rebelling", telling Hao to return to China to work for a "core and critical unit".
Hao signed an espionage agreement, accepting assessment and training from the United States, according to the statement.
The ministry said Hao worked in a national department upon returning, "according to the requirements of the CIA", and provided the CIA with intelligence while collecting U.S. pay.
Relations between the United States and China have soured in recent years over a range of issues, including national security. Washington has accused Beijing of espionage and cyberattacks, charges China has rejected. China has also declared it is under threat from spies.
China called on its citizens this month to participate in counter-espionage work, after expanding its anti-spying law in July, alarming the United States. (Reuters)
August
US trip pays off for Taiwan VP with China drills more 'thunder than rain'
Written by Nur Yasmin
Taiwan Vice President William Lai managed to walk a fine line on his sensitive trip to the United States if China's drills in response are anything to go by, but Beijing's ire may not be allayed for long by a person it deeply dislikes.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and has repeatedly denounced Lai as a separatist, held exercises around Taiwan on Saturday, the day after he returned, but on a far lower scale than previous war games in April and last August in protest at Taiwan-U.S. engagement.
China has a particular dislike of Lai, the frontrunner in polls ahead of January's presidential election, due to his previous comments about being a "worker for Taiwan independence".
But Lai did not meet any senior U.S. officials or lawmakers during the visit, aside from the head of the unofficial U.S. body that deals with the country's Taiwan ties. In his public events he talked about peace and dialogue, though he also said that Taiwan would not back down in the face of threats.
"The People's Liberation Army could not find an excuse to make a big fuss," said Ma Chen-kun, a Chinese military expert at Taiwan's National Defence University. "These drills were a lot of thunder, but less rain."
There was no live fire component, unlike last August when China fired missiles over Taiwan, the drill lasted only one day, and was not given a name, unlike the April one, though Chinese state media did launch a series of personal attacks on Lai on Saturday, including calling him a "liar".
Taiwan's defence ministry, in its daily report on Chinese movements over the previous 24 hours, said on Monday morning that it had spotted no Chinese military aircraft entering the Taiwan Strait over that period.
Both Taiwan and the United States had sought to keep Lai's U.S. visit low key, officially describing it as stopovers on his way to and from Paraguay and saying it was a decades-long routine for Taiwan presidents to transit in the United States during trips overseas therefore China shouldn't use the visit as a "pretext" for military drills.
China, in the long run, is unlikely to be ameliorated, believing as it still does that Lai is a dangerous separatist who may go back to pushing for Taiwan independence when he wins election, said Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based International Relations Scholar.
"If Lai Ching-te becomes president and returns to his original stance or even strengthens it, he could force the mainland to deal with Taiwan using non-peaceful means," he said, using Lai's Chinese language name.
'NO SURPRISES'
Lo Chih-cheng, a senior lawmaker for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said Lai's trip was also about the broader process of showing him to the United States as a steady and trustworthy leader.
"Maybe you think the transits were a bit boring or simple, but also there were no surprises," Lo said.
An opinion poll published on Monday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed Lai extending his lead and pulling well ahead of his nearest competitor to be Taiwan's next president, the former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je.
China's reaction could also have been muted since the visit came against the backdrop of both Beijing and Washington trying to improve relations, which could include a visit to the United States later in the year by President Xi Jinping for an Asia Pacific summit.
China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a ministry spokesman told reporters on Monday that it was hard for Lai to hide his "evil intent" to seek independence.
China could take other, trade-related, steps to punish Taiwan, having previously stopped Taiwanese fruit and fish imports. On Monday, China suspended Taiwanese mango imports citing a pest problem.
But China has its own domestic problems as well, not least economic ones like a property market crisis, and threat of war with Taiwan is not going to help that, said Fan Shih-ping, a professor at National Taiwan Normal University's Graduate Institute of Political Science.
"Noise about achieving unification through force is a negative for Chinese consumers. Who wants to spend if there's going to be a war?" he said. (Reuters)
August
North Korea's Kim visits typhoon-hit farmlands amid food shortage concerns
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has inspected typhoon-hit farmlands, state media said on Friday, after tropical storm Khanun swept over the Korean Peninsula last week amid mounting concerns over a food crisis in the reclusive country.
Kim praised the military's efforts to salvage crops and said the troops were mobilised because they cannot lose a patch of farmland "to the natural rampage on the agricultural front directly related with the people's living," news agency KCNA reported.
The North has suffered serious food shortages in recent decades, including famine in the 1990s, often as a result of natural disasters. International experts have warned that border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic worsened matters.
"He made sure that helicopters and light transport aircrafts of air force units ... were mobilised as a step to improve the growth of crops in flooded fields, and personally organised and commanded the work for spraying pesticides," the report said.
Khanun, which was downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm, made landfall on the Korean peninsula last week, prompting South Korean authorities to evacuate more than 14,000 people and close schools in flood-hit areas. (Reuters)
August
Taipei mayor to visit China as tensions simmer with Taiwan
Written by Nur Yasmin
The mayor of Taipei will visit Shanghai at the end of this month for an annual city forum, his office said on Friday, a trip that will take place against the backdrop of frozen ties between the Taiwanese and Chinese governments.
While China has refused to speak to Taiwan's government since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, believing she is a separatist, city-to-city exchanges had continued until interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, Tsai's administration has cautiously been trying to reopen less sensitive people-to-people links since it lifted pandemic-related border controls late last year, aiming to engender goodwill with China, and a group of Shanghai officials made a low-key visit to Taipei in February.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, from the main opposition party the Kuomintang, which traditionally favours close relations with China, will go to Shanghai on Aug. 29-31 for the Taipei-Shanghai City Forum, which was first held in 2010.
The Taipei city government said Chiang, a rising Kuomintang star, would lead the delegation to the forum, the theme of which this year is "new trends, new development".
The Kuomintang has pushed to resume contacts with China since pandemic controls were lifted, saying that dialogue was needed now more than ever given the tensions over Taiwan.
China, which claims the island as its territory, has been carrying out military activities near Taiwan, including regularly sending fighter jets into the air space around it.
"When the situation across the Taiwan Strait is tense, we have a need even more for communication and exchanges, and the two cities forum can be that kind of platform," Chiang told reporters in Taipei.
Taiwan's ex-President Ma Ying-jeou, who remains a senior Kuomintang member, in March became the first sitting or former Taiwanese leader to visit mainland China since the Communist revolution in 1949, saying he hoped to bring about peace and improve relations. (Reuters)
August
U.N. humanitarian chief appeals to Myanmar generals for greater aid access
Written by Nur Yasmin
The chief of the United Nations humanitarian relief agency has urged Myanmar's ruling military to allow greater access to 18 million people in need of aid, describing the situation as critical as a post-coup conflict intensifies.
Returning from a three-day trip that included a meeting with top general Min Aung Hlaing, Martin Griffiths said a funding shortage was also complicating efforts to reach the third of Myanmar's population that was in need of assistance.
Myanmar has been locked in crisis since the military wrested back control after a decade of unprecedented reform under quasi-civilian governments.
The military's bloody crackdown on dissent led to the formation of an armed resistance movement that has battled security forces around the country, with clashes displacing more than a million people.
"Successive crises in Myanmar have left one third of the population in need of humanitarian aid," Griffiths said in a statement.
"They expect more and better from their leaders and from the international community."
The U.N. agency said fighting and natural disasters since the 2021 coup had led to a five-fold increase in the number of displaced people, from 380,000 to 1.9 million.
Griffiths said humanitarian relief organisations were struggling with insufficient resources and urged international donors to do more, with just 22% of the annual funding requirements received by mid-year.
He said he pressed the junta to expand access and expressed concern about civilians and restrictions and bureaucracy preventing aid groups from helping them.
The junta has a testy relationship with the United Nations after numerous investigations that have accused the military of atrocities against civilians, which it has rejected.
The U.N. Human Rights report in June said the lack of aid access may amount to war crimes, while a team of U.N. investigators last week said war crimes were "increasingly frequent and brazen".
State media reports on the visit said the international community "should seek accurate information on Myanmar's situation". (Reuters)
August
US, South Korea and Japan to agree to crisis consultations at Camp David summit
Written by Nur Yasmin
At a Camp David summit on Friday, the United States, South Korea and Japan will pledge to consult each other in moments of crisis, officials said, a commitment designed to deepen three-way military ties as the U.S. seeks to rally its allies to counter China's rising influence.
The commitment, which falls short of a formal alliance, will be the centerpiece of U.S. President Joe Biden's first Camp David summit for foreign leaders and represents a significant move for Seoul and Tokyo, which have a long history of mutual acrimony and distrust.
Biden is welcoming South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the mountainside presidential retreat on Friday, where they are expected to have several hours to strategize over how to manage tensions in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
The summit is expected to produce a series of joint statements, including commitments to establish a crisis hotline, work together on emerging technologies and to meet annually.
The event is also freighted with symbolism: with Washington's encouragement, Tokyo and Seoul are navigating their way past disputes dating to Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
Those disputes are among the reasons the leaders would not now consider a mutual-defense pact along the lines of what the United States has separately with both South Korea and Japan, according to U.S. officials who declined to be identified while previewing the summit.
"What we have seen over the last couple of months is a breathtaking kind of diplomacy, that has been led by courageous leaders in both Japan and South Korea," said Kurt Campbell, Biden's coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs.
"They have sometimes gone against the advice of their own counselors and staff and taken steps that elevate the Japan-South Korea relationship into a new plane," Campbell said.
CHINA VIEWS SUMMIT WARILY
No specific action by the trio in Camp David is expected to sharply increase tensions with China, though Beijing has warned that U.S. efforts to strengthen ties with South Korea and Japan could "increase tension and confrontation in the region."
While South Korea, Japan and the United States want to avoid provoking Beijing, China believes Washington is trying to isolate it diplomatically and encircle it militarily.
A senior U.S. official said at a briefing on the summit that the U.S. was not "centrally focused" on messaging to China, but the behavior of North Korea, China and Russia has "created incentives" for the allies to cooperate.
Tensions in the South China Sea have flared between U.S. ally the Philippines and China over a grounded warship that serves as a Philippine military outpost in the strategic waterway, a major global trade route.
Biden, an 80-year-old Democrat seeking another four-year term in the 2024 presidential election, faces a likely opponent in Republican former President Donald Trump, who has voiced skepticism about whether Washington benefits from its traditional military and economic alliances.
South Korea has legislative elections next year and Japan must hold one before October 2025, and what analysts see as a still fragile rapprochement between the two nations remains controversial among the countries' voters.
The White House, conscious of the electoral clock, wants to make the progress between South Korea and Japan hard to reverse, including by establishing routine cooperation on military exercises, ballistic missile defense, the economy, and scientific and technological research. (Reuters)
August
No clear winner in US, China contest in the Pacific
Written by Nur Yasmin
The United States opened international aid offices in the Pacific Islands this week, bolstering support for the strategic region and pitting it more forcefully against China, which has been providing infrastructure loans to the area for years.
The vast ocean region, pivotal in World War Two, is in the spotlight again amid tensions over Taiwan. Taiwanese officials this week said China, which claims the island as its territory, could launch military drills soon to intimidate voters ahead of an election next year.
On Wednesday, a Chinese military delegation joined a U.S.-hosted conference of two dozen international defence chiefs in Fiji, highlighting the region's importance to both superpowers.
At the same time, USAID Administrator Samantha Power visited the two biggest Pacific Islands nations, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, opening offices there for the first time and pledging support for the region. The United States and PNG signed a defence cooperation agreement in May.
The USAID office in PNG will also serve Vanuatu, which has closer ties to China and Solomon Islands, which signed a security pact with China last year and which U.S. officials say has so far not agreed to any U.S. aid.
Speaking at the inauguration of the regional office in Fiji, Power said Washington had heard the Pacific's biggest request: "first and foremost, to be present."
"Our region is more secure with a strong U.S. presence in our Blue Pacific," Fiji's Assistant Foreign Minister Lenora Qereqeretabua said this week. In June, Qereqeretabua had led a delegation to China.
Meanwhile, Fiji Military Force Commander Ratu Jone Logavatu Kalouniwai said on Friday after the defence chiefs meeting, the geopolitical situation meant Fiji needed to develop networks to link up with "huge military establishments".
"The rules based order is the only thing that allows small countries like Fiji to become equals when we work with larger nations," he said in a video statement.
Former Chinese diplomat Denghua Zhang, a research fellow at the Australian National University, said as the U.S. and China intensify their rivalry, it will be difficult for countries to balance their aid relationships with both powers.
"China's goal is to obtain support from the Global South including Pacific island countries in its geostrategic competition with traditional powers," he said.
STRATEGIC CHESSBOARD
The events in Vanuatu this week highlighted the challenges Pacific nations face in seeking to benefit from both the United States and its allies, and China.
On Wednesday, in a parliament built by China, Vanuatu's Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau narrowly survived a no-confidence vote that was triggered by lawmakers fearing a security pact with U.S. ally Australia, the region's biggest aid donor, could jeopardise Chinese infrastructure loans.
The U.S. Coast Guard has yet to gain clearance to enter Vanuatu's port, as it does in other Pacific Islands, Coast Guard officials said. China's Peace Ark medical ship, however, docked in Vanuatu this week, and the deputy prime minister told the visiting navy delegation that Vanuatu valued its security and health ties with China.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manesseh Sogavare is also reluctant to accept U.S. support.
Sogavare was feted while visiting China in July to sign a policing pact, and on Friday, China handed over a national sports stadium. The project was the largest infrastructure donation China had made to the Pacific Islands so far, Chinese ambassador Li Ming said at the ceremony.
Next month, the United States plans to hold a summit of Pacific Island leaders at the White House, the second such meeting in 12 months, as it seeks to further counter China's influence.
Transform Aqorau, vice chancellor of the Solomon Islands National University, said that while regional governments appreciated the attention from the United States and China, the Pacific Islands would always prioritise their own welfare above a "global strategic chessboard".
"Despite the longstanding needs, major donors like USAID have been notably absent from substantial engagements in our region," he told Reuters.
"This new wave of investment brings hope but also raises concerns. We must ask why the interest is only now, at a time of intense geopolitical competition, rather than during the many years when our needs remained unaddressed?" (Reuters)
August
India's Modi says peace returning to strife-torn Manipur
Written by Nur Yasmin
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday peace was returning to the strife-torn northeastern state of Manipur where at least 180 people have been killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes in sectarian clashes since May.
The federal government has deployed security forces to the hilly state bordering Myanmar governed by Modi's nationalist party to quell the violence, which comes as he is looking to secure a third term in a general election due by May next year.
"For some days now, we are getting reports of extended peace. The country is with the people of Manipur. The country wants the people of Manipur to hold on to the peace of the last few days and take it forward," Modi said in an Independence Day speech from the ramparts of New Delhi's Red Fort.
The violence between members of the majority Meitei ethnic group and minority Kuki began over competition for government benefits linked to education, jobs and influence.
Among those killed have been 21 women. Numerous incidents of rape have grabbed global attention and raised questions about the ability of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to ensure security.
Modi condemned the sexual assault of women in Manipur and promised tough action but opposition parties accuse his government of dividing the state and not doing enough to end the clashes.
The government rejects those accusations and defeated an opposition vote of no-confidence motion over the handling of the conflict last Thursday.
"The state and federal governments are working very hard and will continue to work hard to resolve this peacefully," Modi said.
Civil rights group in Manipur say thousands of people who have fled from their homes are too scared to return and the restoration of normalcy requires financial aid and legal support. Manipur state chief minister hoisted India's tri-colour flag in the capital city of Imphal to commemorate Independence Day and there were no immediate reports of violence, officials said.
In his address, Modi listed the social, economic and pro-poor policies implemented during his nine years of rule and said his commitment to growth and making India an economic powerhouse would be sustained after securing a third term.
Leaders from Indian opposition parties' alliance called "INDIA" said Modi's Independence Day speech will be his last as his party will be routed in the general elections.
"Modi's failure in last nine years can be categorised under bad policies, injustice and perhaps most importantly ill intention," said Jairam Ramesh, a federal lawmaker from the opposition Congress party.
"Rhetoric and bluster can no longer cover up this truth which is now evident to the entire country," he said in a statement. (Reuters)
August
South Korea's Yoon says summit with US, Japan a milestone in trilateral ties
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Tuesday that this week's summit with the leaders of the United States and Japan will set a new milestone in trilateral cooperation in the face of North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats.
In a speech marking the anniversary of his country's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule, Yoon emphasised a need to step up security cooperation with Washington and Tokyo, through reconnaissance assets and real-time sharing of data on the North's nuclear weapons and missiles.
The summit "will set a new milestone in trilateral cooperation contributing to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in the Indo Pacific region", Yoon said.
Yoon is set to join U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland on Friday, where they will launch a series of joint initiatives on technology, education and defence, senior U.S. officials said.
Since taking office in May 2022, Yoon has sought to improve relations with Tokyo, frayed by a stalemate in feuds over compensation suits raised by victims of Japan's forced labour during its colonial rule.
Japan says the issue was resolved under a 1965 treaty that normalised relations, but the strained ties have hindered U.S.-led efforts to bolster trilateral cooperation to curb North Korea's weapons programs.
Yoon has taken steps to compensate the victims with South Korean money, instead of Japanese funds, and visited Tokyo in March in the first such trip by a South Korean leader in 12 years.
"Korea and Japan are now partners who share universal values and pursue common interests," Yoon said in the speech, pledging to boost exchanges on security and economic issues.
The speech made no mention of security concerns related to other major powers in the region including China and Russia.
Washington has formal collective defence arrangements in place with both Tokyo and Seoul separately, but it wants those two countries to work closer together given growing concerns about China's mounting power and worries about its intentions.
Separately, South Korea's foreign ministry expressed regret after Kishida sent offerings to the Yasukuni shrine, seen as a symbol of wartime legacy as it honours World War II criminals.
Meanwhile, North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged letters on Tuesday pledging to develop ties into what Kim called a "long-standing strategic relationship", Pyongyang's state media KCNA said.
The United States has accused North Korea of providing weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, including artillery shells, shoulder-fired rockets and missiles. Pyongyang and Moscow have denied any arms transactions. (Reuters)
August
Taliban mark two years since return to power in Afghanistan
Written by Nur Yasmin
Afghanistan's Taliban on Tuesday marked the second anniversary of their return to power, celebrating their take-over of Kabul and the establishment of what they said was security throughout the country under an Islamic system.
After a lightning offensive as U.S.-led foreign forces were withdrawing after 20 years of inconclusive war, the Taliban entered the capital on Aug. 15, 2021, as the U.S.-backed president, Ashraf Ghani, fled and the Afghan security forces, set up with years of Western support, disintegrated.
"On the second anniversary of the conquest of Kabul, we would like to congratulate the mujahid (holy warrior) nation of Afghanistan and ask them to thank Almighty Allah for this great victory," the spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a statement.
Security was tight in the capital on Tuesday, which was declared a holiday, with soldiers stepping up checks.
Taliban parades were expected through the day and several departments, including the education ministry, held gatherings to celebrate.
"Now that overall security is ensured in the country, the entire territory of the country is managed under a single leadership, an Islamic system is in place and everything is explained from the angle of sharia," Mujahid said.
Afghanistan is enjoying peace not seen in decades but the U.N. says there have, nevertheless, been dozens of attacks on civilians, some claimed by the Islamic State rivals of the Taliban.
For many women, who enjoyed extensive rights and freedoms during the two decades of rule by Western-backed governments, their plight has become dire since the return of the Taliban.
"It's been two years since the Taliban took over in Afghanistan. Two years that upturned the lives of Afghan women and girls, their rights and futures," Amina Mohammed, deputy secretary-general of the U.N., said in a statement.
Mujahid made no mention of the contentious issue of female education in his statement.
OBSTACLE TO RECOGNITION
Girls over the age of 12 have been mostly excluded from classes since the Taliban returned to power. For many Western governments, the ban is a major obstacle to any hope of formal recognition of the Taliban administration.
The Taliban, who say they respect rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law, have also stopped most Afghan female staff from working at aid agencies, closed beauty salons, barred women from parks and curtailed travel for women in the absence of a male guardian.
Journalism, which also blossomed in the two decades of rule by Western-backed governments, has been significantly suppressed.
The detention of media workers and civil society activists, including prominent education advocate Matiullah Wesa, have raised the alarm of human rights groups.
The Taliban have not commented in detail on those issues but say their law enforcement and intelligence agencies investigate activities they consider suspicious to seek explanations.
On the positive side, the corruption that exploded as Western money poured in for years after the Taliban were ousted in 2001, has been reduced, according to the U.N. special representative.
There are also signs that a Taliban ban on narcotics cultivation has dramatically reduced poppy production in what has for years been the world's biggest source of opium.
The Taliban will be hoping the progress will help bring foreign recognition and the lifting of sanctions, and the release of about $7 billion in central bank assets frozen in the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2021 after the Taliban took control, half of which was later transferred to a Swiss Trust.
A fall-off in development aid has seen job opportunities and gross domestic product shrink and the U.N. estimates more than two-thirds of the population need humanitarian aid to survive. (Reuters)