KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia will mobilise the army to help enforce curbs on movement aimed at reining in the coronavirus, the government said on Friday, as it grapples with the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia. Malaysia reported 130 new inf... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China’s Hengyi Petrochemical Co Ltd is operating its new 160,000 barrels per day refinery in Brunei at near full capacity after trial production began in July, two company officials told Reuters. The plant in Palau Muara Besar is one of f... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – DreamWorks’ animated movie “Abominable” will not be released in Malaysia after its producers declined to meet a censor board requirement to cut a scene showing China’s “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea, the movie distributor said... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said his Chinese counterpart has offered Manila a controlling stake in a joint energy venture in the South China Sea, if it sets aside an international arbitral award that went against Beijing. Duterte sa... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military said two of its warships sailed near islands claimed by China in the South China Sea on Monday, a move that could anger Beijing at a time of tense relations between the world’s two biggest economies. The South China Sea... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Monday its navy warned U.S. ships sailing near islands claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea to leave the area and that the U.S. should stop such provocative acts. Two U.S. guided-missile destroyers traveled within 12 naut... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines expressed “serious concerns” over the presence of China’s strategic bombers in the disputed South China Sea and its foreign ministry has taken “appropriate diplomatic action”, the spokesman of President Rodrigo Duterte said o... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy must present the European Commission with a plan for its exit from lender Monte dei Paschi (BMPS.MI) by 2019, Chief Executive Marco Morelli told daily Corriere della Sera. Last year, the Commission and Italy reached a pact on a state ba... More »
(Reuters) – President Donald Trump said late on Thursday he would only consider joining the landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement if it were a “substantially better” deal than the one offered to President Barack Obama. “We already have bilateral d... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand aims to seek membership in a landmark Asia-Pacific trade agreement this year, a deputy prime minister said on Thursday. The government has asked the commerce ministry to look into the details on how to join the 11-member Comprehens... More »
FILE PHOTO – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern smiles as she answers a question during a media conference in Sydney, Australia, November 5, 2017. REUTERS/David Gray/File photo WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Mon... More »
FILE PHOTO: An orangutan hold its baby at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island on January 11, 2004. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hunting by people and habitation destruction b... More »
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised the plight of Rohingya refugees and extra-judicial killings in the Philippines at a summit of Asian and Western leaders on Tuesday, sensitive human rights issues skirted by almost all the others. More »
Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday said he raised the issue of human rights and extrajudicial killings during a conversation with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who was "receptive" to his comments. More »
A planned meeting of leaders of the 11 countries in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) to decide on the fate of the trade pact did not take place on Friday, amid disagreements over how to take it forward without the United States. More »
Southeast Asian foreign ministers ended an impasse on Sunday over how to address disputes with China in the South China Sea, issuing a communique that called for militarization to be avoided and noting concern about island-building. More »
Drilling for oil and natural gas on the Reed Bank in the South China Sea may resume before the end of the year, a Philippine energy official said on Wednesday, as the government prepares to offer new blocks to investors in bidding in December. More »
FILE PHOTO – A B-1B Lancer from the U.S. Air Force 28th Air Expeditionary Wing heads out on a combat mission in support of strikes on Afghanistan in this file picture released December 7, 2001. Cedric H.Rudisill/USAF/Handout via REUTERS Two U.S bombers have fl... More »
Philippine soldiers have found the beheaded bodies of two Vietnamese sailors abducted a year ago by Islamist militant Abu Sayyaf group near the restive southern island of Basilan, an army spokeswoman said on Wednesday. More »
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey transits the South China Sea. Kryzentia Weiermann/Courtesy U.S. Navy/via REUTERS China said on Thursday that Chinese warships warned a U.S. Navy warship to leave after it sailed within 12 nautical miles of... More »
The North Korea flag flutters next to concertina wire at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia March 9, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su U.S. President Donald Trump held out the possibility on Sunday of using trade as a lever to secure Chinese cooperation a... More »
Boats at Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea are shown in this handout photo provided by Planet Labs, and captured on March 12, 2016. REUTERS/Planet Labs/Handout via Reuters China will begin preparatory work this year for an environmental monitoring stati... More »
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom talks to reporters in Pasay city, Metro Manila, in the Philippines March 10, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro The European Union is seeing increased impetus around the world to move forward with Free Trade Agreements (FTA) w... More »
File Photo: Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy... More »
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers link arms during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Boracay, central Philippines February 21, 2017. L-R: Saleumxay Kommasith, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Laos- Anifah Aman, Minister of F... More »
Police coast guards escort Chinese tourists rescued after their boat sank off the coast of Borneo, at a port in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia early January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer Malaysia expanded a search on Monday for five Chinese tourists and a Malaysian miss... More »
Armed men killed eight fishermen in what appeared to be an attack by pirates in dangerous waters in the southern Philippines, a coast guard spokesman said on Tuesday. More »
The oceanographic survey ship, USNS Bowditch, is shown September 20, 2002, which deployed an underwater drone seized by a Chinese Navy warship in international waters in South China Sea, December 16, 2016. Courtesy U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS The Chinese and... More »
Reince Priebus reacts during a general session at the Republican National Committee Spring Meeting at the Diplomat Resort in Hollywood, Florida, U.S. on April 22, 2016. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming White House chief of... More »
An aerial photo taken though a glass window of a Taiwanese military plane shows the view of Itu Aba, which the Taiwanese call Taiping, at the South China Sea, March 23, 2016. REUTERS/Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Handout via Reuters/File Photo Taiwan’s coastguar... More »
VIENTIANE Southeast Asian nations overcame days of deadlock on Monday when the Philippines dropped a request for their joint statement to mention a landmark legal ruling on the South China Sea, officials said, after objections from Cambodia. Beijing publicly t... More »
BEIJING Freedom of navigation patrols carried out by foreign navies in the South China Sea could end “in disaster”, a senior Chinese admiral has said, a warning to the United States after last week’s ruling against Beijing’s claims in the area. China has refus... More »
BEIJING/MANILA China vowed to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty over the South China Sea and said it had the right to set up an air defence zone, after rejecting an international tribunal’s ruling denying its claims to the energy-rich wate... More »
BEIJING European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Wednesday that the European Union does not take a stance on sovereignty in South China Sea. Speaking in Beijing, Mogherini said the EU called on all parties to respect legal decisions and u... More »
ULAANBAATAR U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday the United States would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a “provocative and destabilizing act”. U.S. officials have expressed concern that an ... More »
SINGAPORE The United States stepped up pressure on China on Saturday to rein in its actions in the South China Sea, with top defense officials underlining Washington’s military superiority and vowing to remain the main guarantor of Asian security for decades t... More »
SINGAPORE The recent lifting of the U.S. arms embargo against Vietnam boosted trust between the former enemies, but significant weapons purchases are some way off, a senior Vietnamese military official said on Saturday. Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh ... More »
TOKYO Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, speaking ahead of a visit to Beijing, said on Monday China was making the world “worried” with its military buildup and maritime expansion in the East and South China Seas. Ties between China and Japan, the world’... More »
ITU ABA, South China Sea On Itu Aba, in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea, Taiwanese coast guard officials proudly haul a small wooden bucket of water from one of several simple concrete wells on the coral outcrop. The water, clear and sweet tasti... More »
MANILA The Philippines is to lease from Japan five aircraft to help patrol the disputed South China Sea, President Benigno Aquino announced on Wednesday, as China expands its military presence in the region. The Philippine military, for decades preoccupied wit... More »
SYDNEY/WASHINGTON The United States is in talks to base long-range bombers in Australia, U.S. defense officials said, within striking distance of the disputed South China Sea, a move that could inflame tensions with China. The deployments could include B-1 bom... More »
MANILA The Philippines on Monday urged China to respect a forthcoming ruling by an arbitration court in The Hague on a territorial dispute in the South China Sea after Beijing accused Manila of “political provocation”. China claims almost the entire South Chin... More »
TAIPEI Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s planned trip to the Taiwanese-held island of Itu Aba in the disputed South China Sea is “extremely unhelpful” and won’t do anything to resolve disputes over the waterway, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. Ma’s office ear... More »
CLARK FIELD, Philippines Philippine President Benigno Aquino vowed on Monday to leave behind a stronger and a more capable armed forces to face maritime challenges in the South China Sea when he leaves office next year. Aquino, ineligible to run for re-electio... More »
SYDNEY Australia will not bow to Chinese pressure to halt surveillance flights over disputed islands in the South China Sea at the center of rival claims between China and some of its neighbors, Defense Minister Marise Payne said on Thursday. The Australian De... More »
WASHINGTON The discovery of scores of graves in people-smuggling camps in Malaysia is casting a shadow over President Barack Obama’s signature trade deal as U.S. lawmakers consider punishing trading partners that are soft on human trafficking. Just as Obam... More »
HONG KONG When the U.S. navy sent a littoral combat ship on its first patrol of the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea during the past week, it was watching the skies as well. The USS Fort Worth, one of the most modern ships in the U.S. navy, disp... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – ASEAN host Malaysia is set to give in to pressure from some neighbors and address the sensitive issue of land reclamations in the South China Sea with a draft summit statement saying such action may undermine peace, security and stabil... More »
