Category: VOA

Manila, Philippines —  Thousands of Filipino and American troops will kick off joint military exercises in the Philippines on Monday, as Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the region raises fears of a conflict. The annual drills — dubbed Balikatan, or “shoulder to shoulder” in Tagalog — will be concentrated in the northern and western parts of the archipelago nation, near the potential flashpoints of the South China Sea and Taiwan. China claims almost the entire waterway, a key route for international trade, and also considers self-ruled Taiwan to be part of…

PHNOM PENH —  Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Cambodia on Sunday for a three-day official visit to reaffirm ties with Beijing’s closest ally in Southeast Asia. His visit is the last stop on a three-nation regional swing that also took him to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. He is visiting amid foreign concerns about two big Chinese-funded projects in Cambodia — a planned canal and a naval base — that critics allege could aid Beijing’s strategic military interests in Southeast Asia. China is Cambodia’s most important ally and…

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM/WASHINGTON —  While this month’s death sentence in a multibillion-dollar Vietnamese fraud case may show the power of Hanoi’s antigraft campaign, interviews in recent days showed continuing concerns over political impunity in Vietnam and vulnerability and corruption in the country’s poorly paid public sector. Meanwhile, two of those interviewed expressed doubts the sentence would actually be carried out. On April 11, Truong My Lan, the 68-year-old chairwoman of real-estate firm Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group was given the death sentence for embezzling $12.5 billion, leading to…

HONG KONG —  Apple said it had removed Meta’s WhatsApp messaging app and its Threads social media app from the App Store in China to comply with orders from Chinese authorities. The apps were removed from the store Friday after Chinese officials cited unspecified national security concerns. Their removal comes amid elevated tensions between the U.S. and China over trade, technology and national security. The U.S. has threatened to ban TikTok over national security concerns. But while TikTok, owned by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, is used by millions in the…

TAIPEI, Taiwan —  Taiwan’s defense ministry said Sunday it will discuss with the United States how to use funding for the island included in a $95 billion legislative package mostly providing security assistance to Ukraine and Israel. The United States is Taiwan’s most important international supporter and arms supplier despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties. Democratically governed Taiwan has faced increased military pressure from China, which views the island as its own territory. Taiwan’s government rejects those claims. The defense ministry expressed thanks to the U.S. House of Representatives…

Sydney —  Australian researchers have built an electrical generator that consumes carbon dioxide, generates electricity and admits no exhausts. They say the technology could create a new industrial-scale carbon capture method. Scientists say too much carbon dioxide, or CO2, in the atmosphere is main driver of warming temperatures. Researchers at the University of Queensland have created a generator that consumes carbon dioxide and produces electricity. The carbon-negative “nano-generator” has been built by the university’s Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation. The prototype device uses what is known as a poly…

Tokyo —  Two Japanese navy helicopters carrying eight crewmembers were believed to have crashed in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo during a night-time training exercise, and rescuers were searching for the missing, Japan’s defense minister said. The two SH-60K choppers belonging to the Maritime Self Defense Force and carrying four crew each, lost contact late Saturday near Torishima island in the Pacific about 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Tokyo, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters. One of the eight crewmembers was recovered from the waters, but his or…