Author: Suib Jusoh

ASEAN has a big market, (namely) 600 million population…we are trying to focus on ASEAN first. Indonesia is focusing on increasing trade, especially exports, with the ASEAN region, which has a market of more than 600 million people, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan has said. “ASEAN has a big market, (namely) 600 million population…we are trying to focus on ASEAN first,” he noted after visiting Shopee’s Export Warehouse here on Wednesday. ASEAN has a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) or free trade agreement that involves 10 member countries, he added. “Later, our trade direction will be like the EU. Yes, it will be…

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) needs to realize its vision of becoming a single market in order to cement its position as an epicenter of economic growth, according to Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan. “We would like to witness ASEAN emerging as a single market,” the minister said in Jakarta on Friday. Minister Hasan expressed the hope that, by becoming a single market, ASEAN will double its trade volume, adding that he will highlight this matter during the 55th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting and Related Meeting in Semarang, Central Java. The meeting will take place from August 17–2022, 2023.…

PUERTO PRINCESA – The Philippines will send more supplies to a remote outpost on a reef in the disputed South China Sea as early as next week, a military commander said Thursday, days after Chinese boats disrupted a delivery. A resupply mission last Saturday couldn’t unload all of its cargo after China Coast Guard ships blocked and fired water cannon at Philippine coast guard vessels and charter boats carrying food, water and fuel for Filipino troops stationed on Second Thomas Shoal. The incident has ignited a diplomatic row between Manila and Beijing, and sparked international criticism of China’s actions. A…

Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah attended the opening ceremony of the 13th Worldskills ASEAN competition in Singapore to motivate the Indonesian delegates competing in the event. “Hopefully, my presence here will encourage our nation’s best young talents contesting at this biennial event,” she said in a statement received in Jakarta on Sunday. The 13th WorldSkills ASEAN contests a total of 22 vocational fields and draws participation from delegations of the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This year, Indonesia sends two delegates to compete in 18 contested fields. They are mechatronics, electronics, mobile robotics, refrigeration and air conditioning,…

Qin Gang has disappeared from the public eye, and was last seen in Beijing on June 24, 2023. Recently, social media has been stirred up by the news that the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qin Gang, has disappeared from the public. Qin has never been seen in public again after appearing to meet the Foreign Ministers of Russia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka in Beijing on 24 June 2023. He also did not attend the 56th meeting of ASEAN Foreign Ministers (AMM) in Jakarta on 10-14 July 2023. Qin Gang’s position was replaced by Director of the Office of the Central…

Two very different films are set to come out on July 21. One is about the development of the world’s first nuclear weapons. The other is about Barbie. Which one has proved to be contentious on the global stage? Surprisingly, it’s not the Oppenheimer biopic. Instead, the much-anticipated “Barbie” has stoked controversy in both Vietnam and the Philippines this week, with the former banning it outright and the latter considering a similar move. Over the years, Barbie manufacturer Mattel has come under fire for producing dolls that aren’t diverse and that some have said promote unrealistic body standards. But now…

Brussels, Frankfurt (15/7 – 56) Bad habits die badly. Three hundred fifty years of Dutch colonial rule, where expatriate European masters professing noble, selfless public service for the Kingdom of the Netherlands were notoriously corrupt; apart from loading up with as much as they could swindle, shake down or steal, why on Earth would any sane Dutchman be adventurous or foolhardy enough to go out to the Indies? The trip out by sailing ship was long and dangerous. Even sailors were in on the game: their coveralls never had pockets, making it difficult to smuggle spices, in an era when…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will seek talks with Southeast Asian nations next week to push back on China, a top aide said Friday. Blinken will travel to Jakarta for talks with foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), flying straight from Lithuania where he will join President Joe Biden at a NATO (National Alliance Treaty Organization) summit focused on Ukraine. Blinken last month paid a rare visit to Beijing in a bid to keep high tensions in check. But the United States says it has also seen little change in policy by China, which has…

Researchers from a Chinese university have made breakthroughs in the study of the deep structure of the South China Sea. Over the past 100 million years, a large number of Earth plates have subducted to the deep part of the South China Sea. However, due to the limitations on seabed observation, the deep structure of the South China Sea has been poorly understood, according to researchers from the Shenzhen-based Southern University of Science and Technology. The research team from the university used the data from a passive seismic experiment using ocean bottom seismometers, together with the land stations, to determine…

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) information chief Fahmi Fadzil on Monday (Jun 19) said that a letter purporting to offer former Malaysian health minister Khairy Jamaluddin a spot in the party is fake after it made its rounds on social media. “This is a fake letter that is circulating on social media, please be aware,” Mr Fahmi, who is also the Communications and Digital Minister, said in a tweet. An image attached to the tweet showed a picture of the purported letter with the word “FAKE” superimposed over it. According to the image, the letter is addressed to Mr Khairy…