VIENTIANE, Laos: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressed regret Wednesday that his Chinese counterpart chose not to hold talks with him during meetings of Southeast Asian defense chiefs in Laos, calling it a setback for the entire region.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is holding security talks in Vientiane at a time of increasing maritime disputes with China and as the transition to a new US president approaches.
The decision by Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun “is a setback for the whole region,” Austin said after the first day of meetings.
“It’s unfortunate. It affects the region because the region really wants to see us, two significant players in the region, two significant powers, talk to each other, and that reassures the entire region,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from China on its decision not to meet with Austin.
Austin just wrapped up 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.”
In addition to the United States and China, other nations attending the two-day ASEAN meetings from outside Southeast Asia include Japan, South Korea, India and Australia.
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.
Opening the talks, Laotian Defense Minister Chansamone Chanyalath said he hoped for productive meetings that would “become a standard for us to continue ASEAN’s cooperation in defense, including how to handle, thwart, and manage security challenges in the present and in the future.”
As China has grown more assertive in pushing its territorial claims in recent years, ASEAN members and Beijing 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.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has called for more urgency in the code of conduct negotiations, complained at a meeting of ASEAN leaders last month that his country “continues to be subject to harassment and intimidation” by China’s actions, which he said violated international law.
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.
At the meeting of ASEAN leaders last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was “very concerned about China’s increasingly dangerous and unlawful activities in the South China Sea which have injured people, harm vessels from ASEAN nations and contradict commitments to peaceful resolutions of disputes.”
He pledged that the US would “continue to support freedom of navigation, and freedom of overflight in the Indo Pacific.”
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said US and other non-regional militaries present in the sea were the main source of instability.
“The increasing military deployment and activities in the South China Sea by the US and a few other non-regional countries, stoking confrontation and creating tensions, are the greatest source of instability for peace and stability in the South China Sea,” Mao said.
It is not clear how the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump will address the South China Sea situation.
After Austin’s meetings in Australia, the Defense Department said the US, Australia and Japan had agreed to expand joint drills and announced a defense consultation body among the three countries’ forces to strengthen their cooperation.
When asked Tuesday while in the Philippines about whether the strong US defense support would continue for the country under Trump, Austin said he would not speculate.
Although Austin failed to hold talks with Chinese Defense Minister Dong, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani was expected to meet with Dong and express concerns about Beijing’s military activities, Japan’s NHK public television reported.
Japan has protested that a Chinese military aircraft violated its airspace briefly in August, and in September expressed “serious concerns” after a Chinese aircraft carrier and two destroyers sailed between two Japanese islands.
The meetings are also likely to touch on tensions in the Korean Peninsula, the Russia-Ukraine war, and wars in the Middle East. They are also expected to discuss other issues, including natural disasters, cybersecurity and terrorism.
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.
US defense chief regrets China’s decision not to meet during Southeast Asian security talks
https://arab.news/9sjb3
US defense chief regrets China’s decision not to meet during Southeast Asian security talks
- The decision by Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun “is a setback for the whole region,” Austin said after the first day of meetings
- “It affects the region because the region really wants to see us, two significant players in the region, two significant powers, talk to each other, and that reassures the entire region”
EU seeks to relax rules on turning away asylum seekers
The European Commission said it proposed broadening the so-called “safe third country” concept, which allows member states to “consider an asylum application inadmissible when applicants could receive effective protection” elsewhere.
“EU countries have been under significant migratory pressure for the past decade,” said migration commissioner Magnus Brunner, describing the proposal as “another tool to help member states process asylum claims in a more efficient way.”
Brussels has been under pressure to clamp down on arrivals and facilitate deportations, following a souring of public opinion on migration that has fueled hard-right electoral gains in several member states.
Under current rules, asylum seekers can have their application rejected if they could have filed it in a “safe” third country where they have “a genuine connection.”
This is normally understood to mean a nation where the applicant has lived and worked or has family.
The commission proposal weakens such requirements to include any country that an asylum seeker has transited through on the way to Europe, as long as it is considered safe. This opens the way for failed applicants to be sent there.
The planned reform also says that the safe third country concept can be applied in absence of any connection or transit, if there is a deal between member states and a third “safe nation,” and removes the suspensive effect of appeals.
The change would significantly boost the number of those who could see their applications refused and become eligible for deportation, as many cross numerous borders on their way to Europe.
In April for example, of almost 20,000 people who reached Europe via sea from northern Africa, many came from as far away as Bangladesh, Eritrea, Pakistan and Syria, according to the EU’s border agency.
The proposal needs approval from the European Parliament and member states to become law — but has already triggered fierce criticism.
Sarah Chander, director of the Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, said the EU was “cynically distorting the concept of ‘safety’ to meet its own repressive ends.”
“It is paving the way for migrants to be removed and deported basically anywhere, putting people in danger,” she said.
Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza nears collapse after renewed Israeli strikes
- At least 31 people are trapped inside Indonesia Hospital as of Tuesday morning
Jakarta: The Indonesia Hospital, one of the last partially functional medical centers in northern Gaza, is nearing collapse after days of Israeli strikes on its key infrastructure, the Jakarta-based nongovernmental organization funding the facility said on Tuesday.
The hospital in Beit Lahiya, a four-story building located near the Jabalia refugee camp, was built from donations organized by the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee.
Like other healthcare facilities in Gaza, it has been targeted by Israel’s new military onslaught on the besieged enclave, in which hundreds of people were killed in the past three days.
“A quadcopter targeted the hospital’s generators. Two of them were destroyed in the ensuing fire. Our water supply has been disrupted, and people aren’t able to enter or exit the hospital area because there’s a risk of being shot,” Dr. Hadiki Habib, chairman of MER-C’s executive committee, told Arab News.
At least 31 people were trapped inside the Indonesia Hospital as of Tuesday morning, including eight health workers and bedridden patients.
The Indonesia Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital are the only two hospitals still treating patients in northern Gaza, Habib added, as Israeli attacks have forced most public hospitals in the area out of service.
Israel launched a new ground operation, called Operation Gideon’s Chariots, across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, following over two months of total blockade on the enclave after Tel Aviv unilaterally broke a ceasefire with the Palestinian group Hamas in March.
But Israeli forces have carried out brutal attacks in hundreds of locations across Gaza in the lead-up to the operation, killing hundreds of Palestinians.
The latest offensive comes as Israel continues its onslaught of Gaza that began in October 2023 and has killed more than 53,400 Palestinians and wounded over 121,000 more. The deadly attacks have also pushed 2 million others to starvation after Israeli forces destroyed most of the region’s infrastructure and buildings and blocked humanitarian aid.
It was only on Monday that Israel’s military said it allowed five aid trucks into Gaza, though according to the UN, the enclave needs at least 500 trucks of aid and commercial goods every day.
“It’s very sad and heartbreaking. The Indonesia Hospital is barely functioning. All logistics needs have been blocked by Israel and there are threats against healthcare workers to leave and empty the facility,” Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees in Jakarta, told Arab News.
The Indonesia Hospital was one of the first targets hit when Israel began its assault on Gaza, in which it regularly targets medical facilities.
Attacks on health centers, medical personnel and patients constitute war crimes under the 1949 Geneva Convention.
“There is no place left that is safe from Israel’s pursuit,” Murad said. “For the sake of humanity, the international community must pressure Israel to agree to a ceasefire so that we can stop this humanitarian tragedy.”
New EU and UK sanctions target Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers illicitly transporting oil
- The 27-nation bloc targeted 189 ships in all, and imposed asset freezes and travel bans on several officials as well as on a number of Russian companies
- The measures were endorsed by EU foreign ministers in Brussels
BRUSSELS: The European Union on Tuesday agreed to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, notably targeting almost 200 ships from the shadow fleet illicitly transporting oil to skirt Western restrictions put in place over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The 27-nation bloc targeted 189 ships in all, and imposed asset freezes and travel bans on several officials as well as on a number of Russian companies. The measures were endorsed by EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that while President Vladimir “Putin feigns interest in peace, more sanctions are in the works. Russia’s actions and those who enable Russia face severe consequences.”
Russia uses its ” shadow fleet ” of ships to transport oil and gas, or to carry stolen Ukrainian grain. The EU has now targeted almost 350 of the ships in total.
The new measures are not obviously linked to Russian delays in agreeing to a ceasefire. Work on the measures began in the days after the last package was finalized three months ago.
Ukrainian officials have said that the shadow fleet involves around 500 aging ships of uncertain ownership and safety practices that are dodging sanctions and keeping the oil revenue coming.
Ratings agency S&P Global and the Kyiv School of Economics Institute, a think tank, have put the number at over 400 ships that can transport oil, or products made from crude such as diesel fuel and gasoline.
Vessels from the shadow fleet have also come under suspicion of damaging undersea cables, particularly in the Baltic Sea. Finnish police on Dec. 26 seized the Eagle S, a tanker they said was part of the dark fleet, on suspicion it used its anchor to damage the Estlink 2 undersea power cable that supplies electricity from Finland to Estonia.
The EU also said that it targeted people and companies, including an insurer, that make it possible for the shadow fleet to operate, hitting interests in the United Arab Emirates, Turkiye and Hong Kong.
In parallel, the UK targeted the shadow fleet in a raft of 100 new sanctions that it said are aimed at “ramping up pressure” on the Kremlin.
In a statement Tuesday, Britain’s Foreign Office said the sanctions will hit entities supporting Russia’s military, energy exports and information war, as well as financial institutions helping to fund its war against Ukraine.
It added that the sanctions will target the supply chains of Russian weapons, including Iskander missiles which have been fired into civilian areas in Ukraine during the war. The UK will also sanction 18 more ships in the “shadow fleet” carrying Russian oil.
“Putin’s latest strikes once again show his true colors as a warmonger,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said. “We urge him to agree a full, unconditional ceasefire right away so there can be talks on a just and lasting peace.”
The EU has slapped several rounds of sanctions on Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Around 2,400 officials and “entities” — often government agencies, banks and organizations — have been hit.
Indian doctors urge vigilance as COVID-19 cases rise
- Health authorities say ‘situation under control’ in India as infection rates surge in Asia
- India was one of worst-hit countries during pandemic in 2021
NEW DELHI: Indian doctors are calling for vigilance over a recent rise in COVID-19 cases in the country, as a new wave of infections is spreading in parts of Asia, especially Hong Kong and Singapore.
The new spread of the virus that a few years ago brought the world to a standstill has been linked to JN.1, a highly transmissible subvariant of the Omicron strain of the COVID-19 virus. It emerged in late 2023 and spread globally through early 2024, becoming one of the dominant variants in many countries.
As COVID-19 cases surged in Southeast and East Asia, India’s health authorities held an expert meeting on Monday.
It concluded that “the current COVID-19 situation in India remains under control,” as the Ministry of Health reported only 257 active COVID-19 cases nationwide and “almost all of these cases are mild, with no hospitalization required,” officials told the Press Trust of India.
Kerala has recorded the highest infection numbers, followed by Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.
The actual number of cases, however, was likely to be much higher, as coronavirus testing is not being conducted regularly.
“What we have is called multiplex PCR, which tests for multiple organisms, including COVID. That’s why we are catching these patients,” Dr. Atul Kakar, of Internal Medicine at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, told Arab News.
“All these cases which we have seen, they are like a normal viral infection itself … We need to be vigilant, but it’s not to create panic.”
In 2021, India was one of the worst-hit countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. At its peak, health authorities recorded over 400,000 new cases per day.
Hospitals across many states were overwhelmed with patients and faced severe shortages of oxygen supplies, hospital beds, ventilators, and critical medicines.
The World Health Organization estimates that 4.7 million deaths in India were directly and indirectly related to COVID-19.
While the prevalent virus variant behind the current spike in Asia spreads quickly, the type of infection seen in India appears to be showing that it is less severe than the one that wreaked havoc in 2021.
“Fortunately, it is mostly an upper respiratory infection. Only people with immunodeficiency, severe comorbid disease, old age, on steroids, on cancer therapy will have more severe disease,” Dr. Jacob John, renowned virologist and retired professor at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, told Arab News.
“We always have to be alert about all respiratory infections ... particularly senior citizens or anybody with any chronic lung, chronic heart, chronic kidney diseases, and on steroid therapy, immunosuppressed. They should all wear a good mask.”
Microsoft CEO heckled over company’s ties to Israeli military
- Employee tells Satya Nadella to show annual conference ‘how Microsoft is killing Palestinians’
- ‘A top Azure customer is committing crimes against humanity. We see it live on the internet every day’
LONDON: A keynote address by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was interrupted by an employee protesting the company’s relationship with Israel on Monday.
Joe Lopez, a firmware engineer who works on Microsoft’s cloud-computing platform Azure, shouted “Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians” during the company’s annual developer conference.
Before he was escorted from the room, he added: “How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?”
It was not the only protest against Microsoft’s relationship with Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
A group called No Azure for Apartheid, which has been campaigning for over a year, also demonstrated at the conference.
Azure is believed to have been used by Israel in surveillance of Palestinians and is utilized by the Ofek Unit, a branch of the air force that identifies airstrike targets, The Guardian reported.
Lopez emailed colleagues to explain his actions. “As one of the largest companies in the world, Microsoft has immeasurable power to do the right thing: demand an end to this senseless tragedy, or we will cease our technological support for Israel,” he said.
“If leadership continues to ignore this demand, I promise that it won’t go unnoticed. The world has already woken up to our complicity and is turning against us. The boycotts will increase and our image will continue to spiral into disrepair.”
Lopez added: “Leadership rejects our claims that Azure technology is being used to target or harm civilians in Gaza. Those of us who have been paying attention know that this is a bold-faced lie.”
He concluded: “We don’t need an internal audit to know that a top Azure customer is committing crimes against humanity. We see it live on the internet every day.”
Anna Hattle, a Microsoft employee and organizer of the No Azure for Apartheid campaign, emailed senior management on May 15 stating: “One year ago, workers launched the No Azure for Apartheid campaign and petition in a state of urgency after 7 months of genocide.”
Referencing the 1948 mass displacement of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians known as the Nakba, Hattle said the world is “currently witnessing the same crimes committed 77 years ago with one key difference: now, the Israeli Occupation Forces are carrying out this genocide at a much greater scale thanks to Microsoft cloud and AI technology.”
On April 6, employees Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal accused Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman of profiting from war at an artificial intelligence event. Aboussad and Agrawal were subsequently dismissed by the company.
Google also fired 50 people last year after a series of internal protests against its own cloud-computing relationship with the Israeli military.
Microsoft refused to comment on Lopez’s protest. An earlier investigation by the company concluded that there was “no evidence” Israel uses its technology to harm or target people.
