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May
US senators urge Biden to negotiate tax agreement with Taiwan
Written by Nur Yasmin
Democratic and Republican U.S. senators announced legislation on Thursday authorizing President Joe Biden's administration to negotiate a tax agreement with Taiwan, seeking to foster investment as Washington works to shore up the island against a rising China.
The senators, led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez and ranking Republican Jim Risch, said a tax agreement, similar to a tax treaty, would make it easier for businesses in the United States and Taiwan to avoid double taxation while protecting against tax evasion.
The United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, so the lack of a tax agreement means Taiwanese businesses and individuals are taxed on their income by both the U.S. and Taiwanese governments.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has increased military, political and economic pressure to assert those claims.
Taiwan is a major global supplier of the semiconductor chips essential to a wide range of consumer goods and military equipment.
Earlier on Thursday, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could potentially halt production by the world's largest advanced semiconductor chip maker, wiping out up to $1 trillion per year from the global economy per year. (Reuters)
May
U.S. State Department OKs potential sale of sonar system to Australia -Pentagon
Written by Nur Yasmin
The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of a sonar system and related equipment to Australia in a deal valued at up to $207 million, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
The Pentagon said Lockheed Martin(LMT.N) was the prime contractor for the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Expeditionary mission systems for Vessels of Opportunity.
"The proposed sale will improve Australia’s capability to meet current and future maritime threats by providing tactical platforms with the detection and cueing of enemy submarines," the Pentagon said. (Reuters)
May
South Korea will soon engage with China at senior level-Seoul's US ambassador
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korea will soon engage with China at the senior level and also seek the opportunity for diplomacy aimed at trilateral cooperation with Japan and China, South Korea's ambassador to Washington Cho Hyun-dong said on Thursday.
Cho told an event hosted by Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies that the COVID-19 pandemic had prevented high-level exchanges with China and there was a need for a new foundation of relations with its neighbor and number-one trading partner.
"Now we have a much-improved situation of the pandemic, then we're going to engage with China at the senior level and also, we are going to seek some opportunity of diplomacy in the context of trilateral cooperation between Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing," he said.
Cho said China probably had some "unhappy reaction" to Seoul's heavy diplomatic engagement with both the United States and Japan, particularly the Washington Declaration agreed at a summit between President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol last week.
"But we'll definitely engage with China," he said. "We have to maintain a good relationship with China."
Economic leaders of Japan, South Korea and China said in a joint message after a meeting this week that they recognise the importance of strengthening economic and trade relations to secure post-pandemic growth and prepare for future shocks.
China expressed "strong dissatisfaction" to South Korea last week over Yoon's joint summit statement with Biden about the need for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
At the Biden-Yoon summit, the United States pledged to give South Korea more insight into its nuclear planning over any conflict with North Korea amid anxiety over Pyongyang's growing arsenal of missiles and bombs. (Reuters)
May
Japan, S.Korea revive stalled economic talks as global risks rise
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan and South Korea held their first finance leaders' meeting in seven years on Tuesday and agreed to resume regular dialogue as tensions in the wider region and slowing growth prod them to increase co-operation and mend strained relations.
The resumption of bilateral financial discussions comes ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's planned visit to South Korea on Sunday and Monday for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol.
It also came as Asian policymakers, gathering for the annual Asian Development Bank (ADB) meeting this week in the South Korean city of Incheon, discussed regional economic challenges and ways to beef up buffers against various shocks.
In a joint statement issued after their meeting on Tuesday, Asian finance leaders warned of risks to the region's economy and called for countries to stay vigilant to potential spillovers from the recent U.S. and European banking sector turmoil.
"Japan and South Korea are important neighbours that must cooperate to address various challenges surrounding the global economy, as well as the regional and international community," Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said at the meeting with his South Korean counterpart Choo Kyung-ho.
"As for geo-political challenges, we're experiencing incidents like North Korea's nuclear missile development and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Japan sees these as unacceptable, and something the two countries must address together," he said.
Choo said the two countries can strengthen private and government partnerships in high-tech industries such as semiconductors and batteries.
Japan and South Korea will resume regular finance dialogue, likely to be held annually, at "an appropriate timing," Suzuki told reporters after the bilateral meeting.
Choo is expected to visit Japan this year for another meeting with Suzuki, South Korea's finance ministry said.
Relations between the two North Asian U.S. allies have been strained in the past over disputes dating to Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of Korea.
Washington has pressed both countries to resolve these disputes to better counter rising threats from China and North Korea and other regional challenges.
DEFUSING RISKS
Asia's economy has been a bright spot in the world with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) upgrading this year's growth forecast for the region thanks to China's post-COVID rebound.
But the recent failures of three U.S. banks have alarmed policymakers about the possibility of market turbulence as a result of aggressive U.S. interest rate rises.
"The risks Asia faces are smaller than those for other regions because its financial institutions have sufficient buffers, and their exposure to problematic banks is limited," Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda told a news conference.
"But policymakers must guard against possible spillovers from uncertainties over U.S. and European economies," he said.
Building stronger buffers against shocks became a key topic of debate at a finance leaders' meeting of the ASEAN+3 - which comprises the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan, China and South Korea, on Tuesday.
At the meeting, the finance leaders agreed to create a financial facility that allows members to access funds rapidly in the event of shocks such as a pandemic or a natural disaster.
"The crisis may not be purely financial. It could be triggered by a pandemic, which is non-financial or a natural disaster that can create a domino effect," Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, co-chair of the meeting, told a news conference.
"So these are all the shocks that are potentially affecting the stability of the economy as well as even triggering a financial crisis," she said in explaining the need for stronger safeguards against future risks. (Reuters)
May
UN will stay in Afghanistan but funding is drying up, chief says
Written by Nur Yasmin
The United Nations will stay in Afghanistan to deliver aid to millions of desperate Afghans despite the Taliban's restrictions on its female staff, but funding is drying up, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday.
Guterres, speaking to media after a meeting of envoys from more than 20 countries in Doha to discuss a common international approach to Afghanistan, also said concerns over the country's stability were growing.
"We stay and we deliver and we are determined to seek the necessary conditions to keep delivering...participants agreed on the need for a strategy of engagement," Guterres said.
The ban on female Afghan U.N. staff signalled by Taliban authorities last month was a violation of human rights, he said.
"We will never be silent in the face of unprecedented systemic attacks on women's and girls' rights," he said.
He warned of a severe shortfall in financial pledges for its humanitarian appeal this year, which is just over 6% funded, falling short of the $4.6 billion requested for a country in which most of the population live in poverty.
He stressed the meeting had not been aimed at recognising the Taliban's administration - which no country has formally done. He said he was open to meeting Taliban officials when it was the "right moment to do so, but today is not the right moment".
The Taliban administration says it respect women's rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law and that Afghanistan's territory would not be used for militancy or violence against other nations. (Reuters)
May
UN says Taliban envoy can meet Pakistan, China ministers next week
Written by Nur Yasmin
A U.N. Security Council committee on Monday agreed to allow the Taliban administration's foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to travel to Pakistan from Afghanistan next week to meet with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China, diplomats said.
Muttaqi has long been subjected to a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo under Security Council sanctions.
According to a letter to the 15-member Security Council Taliban sanctions committee, Pakistan's U.N. mission requested an exemption for Muttaqi was to travel between May 6-9 "for a meeting with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China."
It did not say what the ministers would discuss. It said Pakistan would cover all costs associated with Muttaqi's trip.
Chinese and Pakistani officials have both said in the past that they would welcome Taliban-led Afghanistan into the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure project, part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Afghanistan sits as a key geographical trade and transit route between South and Central Asia and has billions of dollars of untapped mineral resources. The Taliban seized power in August 2021 as U.S.-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war.
The Security Council committee allowed Muttaqi to travel to Uzbekistan last month for a meeting of the foreign ministers of neighboring countries of Afghanistan to discuss urgent peace, security, and stability matters.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres began a two day meeting on Monday in Doha with special envoys on Afghanistan from various countries that aims "to achieve a common understanding within the international community on how to engage with the Taliban," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Dujarric said the closed-door meeting would discuss key issues key issues, such as human rights - in particular women's and girls' rights - inclusive governance, countering terrorism and drug trafficking.
Taking part are China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Britain, the United States, Uzbekistan, the European Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
The Taliban administration was not invited to the Doha meeting. (Reuters)
May
South Korea's Yoon says nuclear group upgrades U.S. alliance
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korea has upgraded its U.S. alliance, President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Tuesday, as he briefed his cabinet on a trip to the United States which pledged more South Korean insight into nuclear planning in the event of war with North Korea.
Yoon held a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington last week as anxiety grows in South Korea over North Korea's rapidly evolving nuclear and missile capabilities and growing doubts that the U.S. would risk its security to help its Asian ally.
Calls have been growing in South Korea, even among some senior members of Yoon's party, for it to develop its own nuclear weapons. The U.S. opposes that, assuring South Korea of protection under the U.S. "nuclear umbrella".
"The alliance has a nuclear-based upgrade and has expanded to include supply chain, industrial and science and technology alliances," Yoon told his cabinet.
Yoon and Biden agreed in a "Washington Declaration" to launch a Nuclear Consultative Group to give South Korea more insight into, and a voice in, U.S. contingency planning to deter and respond to any nuclear incident in the region.
They also agreed on new partnerships on supply chains and science and technology, including cyber security, electric vehicles and batteries, quantum technology, foreign assistance and economic investment. Yoon said the nuclear planning mechanism would be more effective than NATO's Nuclear Planning Group by facilitating more frequent high-level bilateral discussions.
More U.S. "strategic assets" would be regularly deployed to South Korea to maintain an "overwhelming retaliatory posture", he said.
"We will build strong security, peace based on overwhelming strength, not the fake peace that relies on the good faith of the other party," Yoon said.
Some South Koreans, especially younger voters, have welcomed the summit's achievements, including Yoon's speech to the U.S. Congress and surprise singing at a White House state dinner.
But the opposition Democratic Party criticised a lack of progress on new U.S. rules on electric vehicle subsidies, which South Korea fears could hurt its automakers.
A Democratic Party spokesperson said Yoon "only sang a song at the world's most expensive karaoke" in return for billions of dollars of South Korean corporate investment.
Yoon's approval ratings slightly rose to 34.5%, a poll released on Monday by Realmeter showed, marking their first rebound in four weeks. (Reuters)
May
Japan PM Kishida to visit South Korea, meet Yoon on Sunday
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will visit South Korea on May 7-8 for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol, the governments of the two nations said on Tuesday.
Kishida will meet Yoon in Seoul on Sunday, Japan's foreign ministry said. Kishida's wife, Yuko, will also make the trip, according to South Korea's presidential office.
Earlier, Kishida told reporters in Ghana, during his Africa tour, that the visit to Seoul would be an opportunity for a "frank exchange on the acceleration of ties" between the two countries.
The visit would come ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders summit in Hiroshima this month and follows a meeting between the two leaders in Tokyo in March. The two sides agreed to revive shuttle diplomacy during Yoon's visit, the first to Japan by a South Korean president in 12 years.
Ties between the two U.S. allies, which have long been strained by disagreement over their shared wartime past, have improved in recent months in the face of North Korea's frequent missile launches and China's more muscular role on the global stage.
On Tuesday, their finance ministers held their first bilateral talks in seven years on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank meeting in Incheon as they confront shared challenges also from slowing economic growth. (Reuters)
May
Philippines, China to discuss fishing rights in South China Sea-Marcos
Written by Nur Yasmin
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said China has agreed to discuss fishing rights in the South China Sea, as he pushed for a "direct communication line" with Beijing on maritime differences.
China has agreed to "sit down" and talk about Filipinos' fishing rights in the South China Sea, Marcos said, adding he has asked the Philippine Coast Guard and the Department of Foreign Affairs "to put together...a map of these fishing grounds" that will be presented to Beijing.
In remarks made to reporters while on board a plane to Washington, Marcos also said a Philippines-China "direct communication line" must be finally adopted, when asked about his thoughts on a recent maritime confrontation between the two countries.
"The overall priority is to safeguard our maritime territory," he said, in remarks issued by his office on Monday.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Philippines accused China's coastguard on Friday of "aggressive tactics" following a recent incident during a Philippine coastguard patrol close to the Philippines-held Second Thomas Shoal, a flashpoint for previous altercations located 105 nautical miles (195 km) off its coast.
The United States has urged China to stop harassing Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, while Beijing said it was willing to handle maritime differences with countries of concern through friendly consultations, while warning Washington against interference.
"This is the kind of thing that… we're hoping to avoid, that this time it was a little more dangerous because they were close," Marcos said. "That can cause casualties on both sides."
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, with a "nine-dash line" on maps that stretches more than 1,500 km (930 miles) off its mainland and cuts into the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. An international arbitral ruling in 2016 dismissed that line as having no legal basis.
Ahead of his May 1 meeting with President Joe Biden in Washington, Marcos also said he would not allow his country to become a "staging post" for military action.
China has said Manila was stoking the fire of regional tensions after it recently granted Washington access to more military bases in the Philippines, as Beijing accused the United States of interfering in its affairs with Taiwan. (Reuters)
May
S.Korea finmin: S.Korea, Japan, China cooperation more important as world economy at inflection point
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korea's finance minister said on Tuesday that the trilateral cooperation between South Korea, Japan and China has became more important as the global economy stands at an inflection point.
Minister Choo Kyung-ho said such cooperation would not only help the three countries, which account for more than 20% of the world economy, but also the Asian region and the world, during his opening remarks at a trilateral meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors.
The countries' economic leaders met on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank's annual meeting of the board of governors held in Incheon, South Korea. (Reuters)