VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Asia-Pacific is no one's backyard and should not become an arena of big power rivalry, China's President Xi Jinping said on Thursday, warning against Cold War tensions in a region that is a flashpoint of competition between Beijing and Washington.

Xi's remarks ahead of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok were an apparent reference to U.S. efforts with regional allies and partners to blunt what they see as China's growing coercive economic and military influence.

"No attempt to wage a new cold war will ever be allowed by the people or by our times," Xi said in written remarks prepared for a business event linked to the summit.

"We should follow a path of openness and inclusiveness," he said in the speech, which was provided by organisers, adding the region should not turn into "an arena for big power contest."

"Unilateralism and protectionism should be rejected by all; any attempt to politicise and weaponise economic and trade relations should also be rejected by all."

Relations between the world's two largest economies have grown strained in recent years over issues like tariffs, Taiwan, intellectual property, the removal of Hong Kong's autonomy and disputes over the South China Sea, among others.

In a move that may be seen by Beijing as a rebuke, a senior administration official said U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will on Tuesday visit the Philippine islands of Palawan on the edge of the disputed South China Sea.

The trip will make Harris the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the island chain adjacent to the Spratly Islands. China has dredged the sea floor to build harbors and airstrips on the Spratlys, parts of which are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Xi told Philippines counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jr at a meeting in Bangkok that the strength of bilateral ties hinged on stable relations at sea, China's CCTV state broadcaster said, referring to disputes over areas of the South China Sea.

Harris will visit Palawan after attending the APEC meeting, which follows a series of regional summits so far dominated by geopolitical tension over the war in Ukraine.

At G20 meeting in Bali, countries unanimously adopted a declaration saying most members condemned the Ukraine war, but that also acknowledged some countries saw the conflict differently. Host Indonesia said the war was the most contentious issue.

Russia is a member of both G20 and APEC but President Vladimir Putin has stayed away from the summits. First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov will represent him at APEC.

'PIVOTAL JUNCTURE'

Host Thailand on Thursday said leaders gathering for the APEC forum should "rise above differences".

Its Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said the meeting of the 21-member bloc, which starts on Friday, "takes place at a pivotal juncture" with the world facing multiple risks.

"Cancel mentality... permeates every conversation and action, (and) makes any compromise appear impossible," he said in a statement after a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers ahead of the main summit.

"That's why APEC this year must rise above these challenges and deliver hope to the world at large."

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is among those also attending the main meeting, while French President Emmanuel Macron is a special guest.

Xi held a rare summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida while in Bangkok, the first leadership-level meeting between the two countries in nearly three years, after which Kishida said he conveyed concerns about peace in the Taiwan Strait.

He reaffirmed with Xi that they would reopen dialogue between diplomatic officials and communicate closely, and said both leaders agreed Russia must not use the nuclear option in Ukraine. He declined to say what Xi said on the issue.

China's CCTV reported that Xi told Kishida the Taiwan issue involved the political foundation of ties between their two countries, and territorial disputes should be properly managed. The meeting came a day after tensions simmered in Bali, where Xi criticised Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in person over alleged leaks of their closed-door meeting, a rare public display of annoyance by Xi. Trudeau is also in Bangkok.

On Thursday, as leaders prepared for the APEC meeting, the junta in neighbouring Myanmar announced an amnesty for 5,774 prisoners, among them a Japanese filmmaker, a former British ambassador and an Australian economist and former adviser to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi. State media said 700 of those released were political prisoners.

Activists and the military's opponents welcomed the amnesty, but warned the world not to be tricked by the junta, which they said was using people as bargaining chips.

At a news conference in Bangkok, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the release as "one bright spot in what is otherwise an incredibly dark time." (Reuters)

North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Thursday as it warned of "fiercer military responses" to U.S. efforts to boost its security presence in the region with its allies, saying Washington is taking a "gamble it will regret."

North Korea has conducted a record number of such tests this year, and also fired hundreds of artillery shells into the sea more recently as South Korea and the United States staged exercises, some of which involved Japan.

South Korea's military said the ballistic missile was launched from the North's east coast city of Wonsan at 10:48 a.m. (0248 GMT), flying 240 km (150 miles) to an altitude of 47 km (29 miles) at the speed of Mach 4.

The latest launch came less than two hours after North Korea's foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, slammed a Sunday trilateral summit of the United States, South Korea and Japan, during which the leaders criticised Pyongyang's weapons tests and pledged greater security cooperation.

At the talks, U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed a commitment to reinforce extended deterrence and defend the two Asian allies with a "full range of capabilities", including nuclear weapons.

Choe said the three countries' "war drills for aggression" failed to rein in the North but would rather bring a "more serious, realistic and inevitable threat" upon themselves.

"The keener the U.S. is on the 'bolstered offer of extended deterrence' to its allies and the more they intensify provocative and bluffing military activities ... the fiercer the DPRK's military counteraction will be," Choe said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

She referred to her country by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"The U.S. will be well aware that it is gambling, for which it will certainly regret," Choe added.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries carried out missile defence drills after the North's latest launch, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, strongly condemning it.

"We urge an immediate halt of North Korea's series of ballistic missile launches, which is a grave provocation damaging peace and stability," the joint chiefs said in a statement.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson also condemned the launch, saying that, like the others this year, it violated multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and posed a threat to North Korea's neighbours and the international community.

"We remain committed to a diplomatic approach to the DPRK and call on the DPRK to engage in dialogue," the official said, adding: "Our commitment to the defence of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad."

The United States has said since May that North Korea is preparing to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017, but its timing remains unclear.

Washington, Seoul and Tokyo said in a joint statement after their summit that Pyongyang's nuclear testing would incur a "strong and resolute response."

Choe said the North's military activities are "legitimate and just counteractions" to the U.S.-led drills.

South Korea's Unification Minister Kwon Young-se, who handles intra-Korea affairs, said North Korea might postpone its nuclear test for some time, citing China's domestic political schedule.

"North Korea has also achieved some political effects by codifying its nuclear law in August, so it might not have immediate needs for a nuclear test," Kwon said in an interview with Yonhap news agency released on Thursday. (Reuters)

The COP27 climate summit in Egypt must establish a fund to help countries cope with the irreparable damage caused by climate disasters, ministers representing developing nations said on Thursday, warning that anything less would thwart the U.N. summit's chances of success.

Talks about creating - or at least committing to create - a "loss and damage" fund were put on the agenda for the first time in nearly three decades of COP climate summits where poorer nations have urged richer countries to act.

"Anything less than establishing a loss and damage fund at this COP is a betrayal of the people who are working so hard to clean up this environment," said Molwyn Joseph, Antigua and Barbuda's environment minister.

He was speaking at a news conference of ministers representing groups of developing countries in the U.N. climate talks. Antigua and Barbuda chair a bloc of small island states.

Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu of Vanuatu, another island country threatened by rising sea levels, said the G77 group of 134 developing countries had discussed the option of walking out of COP27 if there was no decision on loss and damage.

"It was discussed as an option (but) the negotiations are fast and furious now... We want it announced here," Regenvanu said.

The first draft of a possible deal document for COP27 published earlier on Thursday mentions loss and damage, but it does not include details for actually launching a fund.

"We recognise that many aspects cannot be worked out while we are here...We just want a commitment to establish it. We can do everything else afterwards, but the commitment has to be established," Regenvanu said.

Pakistan's ambassador to South Korea, Nabeel Munir, said patience was running out as developing countries have been trying to convince richer countries for decades to pay up for climate damages caused by their emissions.

"If we can't even get a political signal 30 years later, then what are we all doing?...If we can't agree on loss and damage, then I think this COP will not be a successful COP," Munir said. (Reuters)

 Negotiators at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt must overcome a "breakdown in trust" between rich and poor nations to deliver a deal to save the world from the worst of global warming, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres said on Thursday.

"We are at crunch time in the negotiations," he said, as a Friday deadline looms for a deal to emerge from the two-week conference. "The world is watching and has a simple message: stand and deliver."

"Global emissions are at their highest level in history - and rising. Climate impacts are decimating economies and societies - and growing. We know what we need to do - and we have the tools and resources to get it done," he said.

His speech was intended to rally negotiators that have become stuck on issues from whether a fund should be established to compensate poor nations for climate damage already ocurring, to language around fossil fuels use.

Wealthy nations, including the United States, have opposed creating a new loss and damage fund to support developing countries ravaged by climate change for fear it could expose them to limitless liability for their historic contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

"There is clearly a breakdown in trust between North and South, and between developed and emerging economies. This is no time for finger pointing," Guterres said.

Guterres said he hopes to see negotiators bridge their differences on loss and damage in a way that reflects the "urgency, scale and enormity of the challenge faced by developing countries."

"No one can deny the scale of loss and damage we see around the globe," he said. "The world is burning and drowning before our eyes."

He added he wanted to see countries commit to do more to reduce their emissions to achieve an international goal set in past COPs to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celcius, including by restricting fossil fuel usage.

"Fossil fuel expansion is hijacking humanity," he said. Any hope of meeting the 1.5 target requires a step change in emissions reductions."

He also urged developed countries to deliver on a past pledge to provide $100 billion per year to help poor nations adapt to climate change and switch to clean energy. (Reuters)