VIENTIANE, Laos: Southeast Asian defense chiefs met Thursday with China, the United States and other partner nations in Laos for security talks, which come as Beijing’s increasingly assertive stance in its claim to most of the South China Sea is leading to more confrontations.
The closed-door talks put US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun in the same room a day after Dong refused a request to meet with Austin one-on-one on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meetings.
The US and China have been working to improve frayed military-to-military communications and Austin said he regretted Dong’s decision, calling it “a setback for the whole region.”
The ASEAN meetings come as member nations are looking warily toward the change in American administrations at a time of increasing maritime disputes with China. The US has firmly pushed a “free and open Indo-Pacific” policy under outgoing President Joe Biden and it is not yet clear how the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump will address the South China Sea situation.
In addition to the United States and China, other nations attending the ASEAN meeting from outside Southeast Asia include Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, Australia and New Zealand.
The meetings with the ASEAN dialogue partners were also expected address tensions in the Korean Peninsula, the Russia-Ukraine war, and wars in the Middle East.
Before heading to Laos, Austin concluded meetings in Australia with officials there and with Japan’s defense minister. They pledged to support ASEAN and expressed their “serious concern about destabilizing actions in the East and South China Seas, including dangerous conduct by the People’s Republic of China against Philippines and other coastal state vessels.”
Along with the Philippines, ASEAN members Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have competing claims with China in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely as its own territory.
Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are the other ASEAN members.
As China has grown more assertive in pushing its territorial claims in recent years, it and ASEAN have been negotiating a code of conduct to govern behavior in the sea, but progress has been slow.
Officials have agreed to try to complete the code by 2026, but talks have been hampered by thorny issues, including disagreements over whether the pact should be binding.
Chinese and Philippine vessels have clashed repeatedly this year, and Vietnam in October charged that Chinese forces assaulted its fishermen in disputed areas in the South China Sea. China has also sent patrol vessels to areas that Indonesia and Malaysia claim as their exclusive economic zones.
Another thorny regional issue is the civil war and humanitarian crisis in ASEAN member Myanmar. The group’s credibility has been severely tested by the war in Myanmar, where the army ousted an elected government in 2021, and fighting has continued with pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic rebels.
More than a year into an offensive initiated by three militias and joined by other resistance groups, observers estimate the military controls less than half the country.
Myanmar military rulers have been barred from ASEAN meetings since late 2021, but this year the country has been represented by high-level bureaucrats, including at the summit in October.
At the defense meetings, the country is represented by Zaw Naing Win, director of the Defense Ministry’s International Affairs Department.
Meetings on Wednesday also discussed military cooperation, transnational haze, disinformation, border security and transnational crimes such as drugs, cyberscams and human trafficking, Thai Defense Ministry spokesperson Thanathip Sawangsang said.
ASEAN defense chiefs discuss regional security with US, China and other partner nations
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ASEAN defense chiefs discuss regional security with US, China and other partner nations
- The US and China have been working to improve frayed military-to-military communications
- ASEAN meetings come as member nations are looking warily toward the change in American administrations
Trump says he’s in ‘no rush’ to end tariffs as he holds talks with Italy’s Meloni
- Trump administration has indicated that offers are coming from other countries and it is possible to do 90 deals during the 90-day tariff pause
- “We know we are in a difficult moment," Meloni said this week in Rome
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is in “no rush” to reach any trade deals because of the revenues his tariffs are generating, but suggested while meeting with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni that it would be easy to find an agreement with the European Union.
His administration has indicated that offers are coming from other countries and it is possible to do 90 deals during the 90-day tariff pause, but the president played down the likelihood of an accelerated timeline, saying any agreements would come “at a certain point.”
“We’re in no rush,” Trump said.
Meloni’s meeting with Trump will test her mettle as a bridge between the European Union and the United States. She is the first European leader to have face-to-face talks with him since he announced and then partially suspended 20 percent tariffs on European exports.
Meloni secured the meeting as Italy’s leader, but she also has, in a sense, been “knighted” to represent the EU at a critical juncture in the trade war. She was in close contact with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen before the trip, and “the outreach is … closely coordinated,” a commission spokeswoman said.
“We know we are in a difficult moment,” Meloni said this week in Rome. “Most certainly, I am well aware of what I represent, and what I am defending.”
The EU is defending what it calls “the most important commercial relationship in the world,’’ with annual trade reaching 1.6 trillion euros ($1.8 trillion).
Trade negotiations fall under the authority of the commission, which is pushing for a zero-for-zero tariff deal with Washington. Trump administration officials, in talks with the EU, have yet to publicly show signs of relenting on the president’s insistence that a baseline 10 percent tariff be charged on all foreign imports. Trump paused for 90 days his initial 20 percent tax on EU products so that negotiations could occur.
The EU has already engaged with Trump administration officials in Washington. Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commissioner for trade and economic security, said he met on Monday with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Šefčovič said afterward on X that it would “require a significant joint effort on both sides” to get to zero tariffs and work on non-tariff trade barriers.
Meloni’s margins for progress are more in gaining clarity on the Republican president’s goals rather than outright concessions, experts say.
“It is a very delicate mission,” said Fabian Zuleeg, chief economist at the European Policy Center think tank in Brussels. “There is the whole trade agenda, and while she’s not officially negotiating, we know that Trump likes to have this kind of informal exchange, which in a sense is a negotiation. So it’s a lot on her plate.”
As the leader of a far-right party, Meloni is ideologically aligned with Trump on issues including curbing migration, promoting traditional values and skepticism toward multilateral institutions. But stark differences have emerged in Meloni’s unwavering support for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
The two leaders are expected to discuss the war and Italy’s role in an eventual postwar reconstruction of Ukraine. Trump is expected to press Meloni to increase Italy’s defense spending, which last year fell well below the 2 percent of gross domestic product target for countries in the NATO military alliance. Italy’s spending, at 1.49 percent of GDP, is among the lowest in Europe.
Despite the differences on Ukraine and defense spending, Meloni is seen by some in the US administration as a vital bridge to Europe at a difficult moment for trans-Atlantic relations.
Trump is looking not only to discuss with Meloni how “Italy’s marketplace can be opened up, but also how they can help us with the rest of Europe,” according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters before the visit. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.
After being the only European leader to attend Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, Meloni has responded with studied restraint as abrupt shifts in US policy under Trump have frayed the US-European alliance. She has denounced the tariffs as “wrong” and warned that “dividing the West would be disastrous for everyone,” after Trump’s heated White House exchange with Ukraine’s president.
“She has been very cautious,’’ said Wolfango Piccoli, an analyst at the London-based Teneo consultancy. “It is what we need when we have a counterpart that is changing every day.’’
Italy maintains a 40 billion euro ($45 billion) trade surplus with the US, its largest with any country, fueled by Americans’ appetite for Italian sparkling wine, foodstuffs like Parmigiano Reggiano hard cheese and Parma ham, and Italian luxury fashion. These are all sectors critical to the Italian economy, and mostly supported by small- and medium-sized producers who are core center-right voters.
“All in all, I think she will focus on the very strong economic and trade relations that Italy has with the United States, not just in terms of exports, but also services and energy,” said Antonio Villafranca, vice president of the ISPI think tank in Milan. “For example, Italy could even consider importing more gas from the US”
The meeting comes against the backdrop of growing concerns over global uncertainty generated by the escalating tariff wars. Italy’s growth forecast for this year has already been slashed from 1 percent to 0.5 percent as a result.
Zelensky says Ukraine has evidence of China supplying Russia with artillery
- Zelensky said Chinese President Xi Jinping had promised him Beijing would not sell or supply weapons to Moscow
KYIV: Ukraine has intelligence which shows China is supplying artillery and gunpowder to Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.
“We believe that Chinese representatives are engaged in the production of some weapons on the territory of Russia,” he told a press conference in Kyiv. Zelensky did not specify whether he meant artillery systems or shells.
The allegation is likely to upend relations between Kyiv and Beijing, already strained by Ukraine’s making public its capture of Chinese nationals fighting for Russia. China has so far tried to maintain an outward perception of neutrality in the three-year war prompted by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine has previously called on China to use its influence over Russia to push it toward peace.
“We already have facts about this work by China and Russia to strengthen their defense capabilities,” Zelensky said, voicing his dismay as he said Chinese President Xi Jinping had promised him Beijing would not sell or supply weapons to Moscow.
Pope pays surprise visit to Rome prison
- Francis was greeted with applause from guards and staff at the facility
- The Vatican said he met with a group of about 70 inmates
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis, still recovering from double pneumonia, paid a surprise visit on Thursday to Rome’s Regina Coeli, one of Italy’s most overcrowded prisons, to offer well-wishes to inmates ahead of Easter.
The 88-year-old pontiff, gradually making more public appearances as he recovers from the biggest health crisis in his 12-year papacy, made a short foray outside of the Vatican, as the prison is only about a five-minute drive away.
Francis was greeted with applause from guards and staff at the facility as aides rolled his wheelchair inside shortly after 3 p.m. (1300 GMT).
As during his two most recent public appearances, the pope was breathing on his own without the aid of oxygen tubes.
Francis stayed at the prison for about half an hour. The Vatican said he met with a group of about 70 inmates. “I wanted to be close to you,” he said, according to the Vatican. “I pray for you and your families.”
The Catholic Church on Thursday celebrates Holy Thursday, the day of Jesus’ Last Supper with his apostles on the night before he died. It is the first of four days of celebrations leading to Easter, the most important Christian holiday, on Sunday.
Francis, pope since 2013, has visited prisons throughout his papacy, often on Holy Thursday.
Regina Coeli, a former 17th-century monastery in the touristy Trastevere neighborhood, is primarily a men’s prison. It currently houses about 1,100 prisoners, nearly double its official capacity of 628 inmates, according to the Italian justice ministry.
The pope last visited the prison in 2018.
Francis nearly died during his five-week bout of double pneumonia. His medical team have urged him to take two months’ rest after leaving hospital to allow his body to fully heal.
The pope initially remained out of view after returning home to the Vatican on March 23 but has now made several brief public appearances.
It is not known how much the pope will participate in the Vatican’s calendar of celebrations leading to Easter.
Asked by journalists who approached his car as he was leaving the prison about how he would celebrate Easter this year, Francis smiled and responded in a soft voice: “As I can.”
US imposes sanctions on Yemen bank, citing support to Houthis
- US State Department said Washington was 'committed to disrupting Houthi financial networks and banking access'
WASHINGTON: The United States unveiled sanctions Thursday on a Yemen bank, including its key leaders, citing its support for Houthi militants in that country.
The designation of the International Bank of Yemen (IBY) complements a government effort “to stop Iran-backed Houthi attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea,” said the US Treasury Department.
Houthi forces launched an armed rebellion in 2014 after years of protesting discrimination and marginalization, seizing control of the capital Sanaa and other several provinces.
Since November 2023, Houthi forces have targeted shipping lanes using missiles and drones in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where a brutal war has raged since October that year.
“Financial institutions like IBY are critical to the Houthis’ efforts to access the international financial system and threaten both the region and international commerce,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender in a statement.
The official said the US government was “committed to working with the internationally recognized government of Yemen.”
Thursday’s action follows a designation in January of the Yemen Kuwait Bank for Trade and Investment.
In a separate statement, the US State Department added that Washington was “committed to disrupting Houthi financial networks and banking access.”
Besides the IBY, key leaders targeted in Thursday’s actions are Kamal Hussain Al Jebry, Ahmed Thabit Noman Al-Absi and Abdulkader Ali Bazara, the Treasury Department said.
As a result of sanctions, property and interests in property of designated individuals in the United States are blocked and must be reported.
Russia warns Germany against supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine
- The warning came after Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz said he was open to supplying them to Kyiv
- The Taurus supplies risked further escalation in the more than three-years-old conflict
MOSCOW: Russia said Thursday it would treat Ukrainian strikes on transport infrastructure using German Taurus long-range missiles as “direct participation” in the conflict by Berlin.
The warning came after Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz said he was open to supplying them to Kyiv.
A Taurus “strike against any Russian facility of critical transport infrastructure... all of this would be regarded as direct participation of Germany in hostilities,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists.
The Kremlin issued a similar warning to Berlin on Monday, saying the Taurus supplies risked further escalation in the more than three-years-old conflict.
Outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz had ruled out sending the missiles to Kyiv, but Merz said on Sunday he was open to the idea provided Germany agreed it with its European partners.
Britain has already said it will support Germany if it decides to send the missiles.
Russia has long criticized Western countries for supplying long-range weapons to Ukraine, arguing Kyiv uses them to strike targets deep inside Russian territory.
Both the United States and the UK have supplied long-range missiles to Ukraine.
