Author: Suib Jusoh

Australia says it expects all ‘countries, including China, to operate their militaries in professional and safe manner’ Australia has expressed strong concerns about its divers in international waters getting injured from sonar pulses from a Chinese destroyer. A Navy destroyer of the People’s Liberation Army ignored requests to keep clear of the divers, Australian defence minister Richard Marles said in a statement on Saturday, “The Australian Government has expressed its serious concerns to the Chinese Government following an unsafe and unprofessional interaction with a People’s Liberation Army-Navy destroyer,” the defence minister said. The divers were reportedly freeing nets entangled around the propellers of the Australian Navy’s HMAS Toowoomba which was conducting operations in the…

Rome (16/11 – 57) Sri Lanka is mired in a deep political and economic crisis and the country’s then President Rajapaksa has flown out of the country, days after a huge crowd of protesters stormed his residence in July 2022. Protesters for months have demanded the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose government has been blamed for chronic mismanagement of the country’s finances. The island nation of 22 million people has suffered months of lengthy blackouts, acute food and fuel shortages, and galloping inflation in its most painful downturn on record. Here is how the crisis unfolded: April 1: State of emergency Rajapaksa declares a temporary state of emergency, giving security forces sweeping powers to arrest and…

London (08/11 – 50) A U.S. development agency announced on Wednesday that it would lend $553 million to establish a deepwater shipping-container terminal at the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka, expanding America’s effort to finance infrastructure around strategic parts of Asia. The loan package is tied to Adani Ports, part of a conglomerate closely linked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India that is still wobbling from a short-seller’s attack in January. Adani will help develop the terminal with Sri Lankan partners. The money from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation resembles the kind of big-ticket deals that China’s…

ASEAN Secretary-General Dr Kao Kim Hourn on October 9 joined Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi and Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira in the trilateral meeting involving ASEAN Chair Indonesia, Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN Brazil, and the ASEAN Secretariat. Jakarta (VNA) – ASEAN Secretary-General Dr Kao Kim Hourn on October 9 joined Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi and Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira in the trilateral meeting involving ASEAN Chair Indonesia, Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN Brazil, and the ASEAN Secretariat. Participants exchanged views on ongoing efforts to advance ASEAN-Brazil relations, as well as ways…

As the war in Israel rages, an ongoing struggle to control the narrative of the conflict is unfolding between Hamas and the Jewish state. This propaganda battle is not novel, as it has long been observed to coexist with the kinetic action between Israel and the Palestinian armed groups, dating back to at least 2014. Drawing from its prior clashes with Israel, Hamas has gained vital insights on how to effectively counter Israel. Despite being at a military disadvantage in nearly every area, Hamas has developed unconventional methods to attack Israel, including a powerful propaganda system to garner global backing…

Copenhagen (26/10 – 76.9) UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Nazila Ghanea called on Tajikistan to adapt and review its laws, policies, and practices regarding religion or belief following her 10-day visit. She stated that the implementation of religious freedom and belief in the country is a cause for concern. During a press conference at the UN office in Tajikistan, she also urged Tajikistan’s authorities to “leave the past behind and protect freedom of religion and belief.” Ghanea stated, “This will contribute to development, peace, and understanding in the country. The shadow of civil war looms over…

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the “Belt and Road” initiative. Africa is an important part of the joint construction of the “Belt and Road”. In your opinion, there are many significant impacts has the “Belt and Road” initiative had on China-Africa cooperation, as China’s Belt and Road Initiative represented a turning point in the history of Chinese-African relations. This is because this initiative put these relations on the right path, with the concepts, frameworks, horizons, philosophies, and frameworks it provided for large, deep, and new partnerships that resulted in achieving great development for African countries. These are relationships in…

The counterterrorism expert and author of “Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Massacre: Lessons for the International Community” explains how religious extremism manifested in Sri Lanka’s deadliest terror attack. On April 21, 2019 – Easter Sunday – a coordinated series of bombings ripped through Sri Lanka, targeting churches and luxury hotels. Over 260 people were killed, making it the deadliest terrorist attack ever suffered by Sri Lanka. The attack has continued to resonate in Sri Lankan society and politics, as the public demands to untangle questions of responsibility: Why was the attack not prevented, and what can be done to stop the…

China’s nuclear industry giant presented “China’s solutions” for the peaceful uses of nuclear technology to members of ASEAN at the Second China-ASEAN Forum on the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Technology held in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Saturday. At the forum, fruitful results on further deepening China-ASEAN nuclear cooperation have been achieved. The China Isotope and Radiation Industry Association announcedsix China-ASEAN peaceful use nuclear technology cooperation demonstration projects and a total of 10 documents were signed between Chinese nuclear companies and ASEAN member states and the local government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Global Times has…

The United States on Tuesday (5th Sept.) rejected the so-called “standard map” claims by China and called on the nation to comport with its maritime claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere. In a regular press briefing on Tuesday, the Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department, Vedant Patel said that China’s expansive and unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea are inconsistent with international law. “We note that the PRC recently released national map has elicited a wave of protests from countries that reject the territorial and maritime claims depicted on it. With respect to the…