Russia’s envoy to Afghanistan complimented the Taliban’s behavior yesterday, saying the group, which is still officially classified as a terrorist organization in Russia, had made Kabul safer in the first 24 hours than it had been under previous administrations. The remarks by Ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov reflect an overt effort by Russia to strengthen its long-standing ties with the Taliban while …

The ASEAN’s progress in Myanmar has not been as successful as anticipated, according to Singapore‘s foreign minister. United Nations and many countries have urged the bloc, which includes Myanmar, to restore stability via diplomacy. Vivian Balakrishnan remarked that ASEAN is not as effective or fast as they expected. “But this is a difficult situation.” she added. Related PostsA Hazardous and …

Taiwan, unlike Afghanistan, will not collapse in the case of an assault, Premier Su Tseng-chang said today, issuing an oblique warning to strong neighbor China not to be misguided into believing it could conquer the island. China, which claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, has increased military and diplomatic pressure on Taipei to recognize Chinese sovereignty, prompting alarm in …

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States has turned down China’s unlawful maritime claims on the South China Sea and is siding with the Southeast Asian nations in standing against China’s oppression. In a video conference address, he told the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) that the United States is troubled with the …

The 40-year-old Singaporean Dickson Yeo, who spied for China in the United States is being detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for acting as a paid agent of a foreign country. The Internal Security Department (ISD) said in a press release today that it had served the detention order on Dickson Yeo on January 29 and that his continued …

MANILA – The US Navy deployed has deployed their Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group to resume maritime security operations in the region. The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group comprises of USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) aircraft carrier with embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 and Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54). SS Halsey (DDG 97) and USS John …

BEIJING – Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will schedule a state visit to Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos and Thailand this month, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced on Friday. According to Hua, Wang’s visits aims to further stregthen the China-ASEAN cooperation as well as build mutual trust in the region. Hua added that China and ASEAN countries are …

ASEAN – The U.S. government announced new partnership to aid five Southeast Asian countries in an effort to take another bite out of Chinese influence in the region. On September 11, The Mekong-U.S. Partnership was formed by offering aid to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam for project related to Covid-19 relief to anti-drought measures. The US government hopes to …

METRO MANILA – Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. posted on his twitter account yesterday that there was no “exchange” in the absolute pardon given by the president to the convicted killer US Army personnel Joseph Scott Pemberton. There is no exchange. I clinched that purely on my charm with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. I insisted that it …

The ventilator assistance from the United States (US) as many 100 units have arrived in Indonesia on Wednesday, July 22. This was revealed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi on Thursday. “This is the first stage of delivery of a total of 1,000 ventilator units that will arrive gradually,” she said in a virtual press conference from Jakarta …