News Story: Vietnam, Australia hold foreign affairs, defence strategic dialogue

Sydney (VNA) – The fifth foreign affairs and defence strategic dialogue at the deputy ministerial level between Vietnam and Australia was organised in Canberra on September 27.

The event was chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Dinh Quy and Australia’s Deputy Secretary Defence People Rebecca Skinner and Deputy Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Gary Quinlan.

During the dialogue, the two sides agreed to continue boosting the Vietnam-Australia relations in the fields of politics, economics, trade, defence, security, agriculture, education and training, tourism and people-to-people diplomacy.

They exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern, while pledging to maintain close coordination at multilateral forums, including the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and forums led by ASEAN such as the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum, in order to promote dialogue and cooperation, and maintain peace, stability and order in the region.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

AUS: Foreign Minister, Defence Minister and Trade Minister - Visit to Singapore

We will visit Singapore on 21 August for meetings with senior government representatives to further enhance Australia’s relationship with our Comprehensive Strategic Partner and advance our economic, security and defence interests in the region.

Singapore is a key partner for Australia in Southeast Asia. It is our largest trade and investment partner in the region and our fifth largest trading partner overall. We hold joint military exercises and cooperate closely on defence intelligence, science and technology.

We will meet Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to discuss ways for our two countries to work even closer together bilaterally and through regional forums including the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum.

Our Singaporean counterpart ministers will host the 10th Singapore-Australia Joint Ministerial Committee (SAJMC), a biennial high level dialogue held between our countries since 1996. During the SAJMC we will explore opportunities to strengthen bilateral cooperation under our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) and share perspectives on a range of regional economic and strategic issues.

News Story: S. Korea calls for Pyongyang to stop harsh words, respond to talks offer

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's foreign ministry urged North Korea on Thursday to stop saber-rattling immediately and repeated the call for Pyongyang to respond to its dialogue offer aimed at easing tensions in the region.

"The North's recent threatening words have gone too much and run squarely against with the consensus contained in the statement issued after the ARF (ASEAN Regional Forum). It should stop them immediately," Cho June-hyuck, foreign ministry spokesman, said during a regular press briefing.

"The North should make the right choice and come out to the road toward denuclearization," he added. "In particular, (we) urge it again to swiftly respond to our initiative for better inter-Korean relations so as to establish permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula."

The ARF, held in the Philippine capital of Manila on Monday, is a rare regional security gathering to which North Korea sends its foreign minister annually.

Following the meeting also attended by 26 other Asia-Pacific countries and major powers, it issued the chairman's statement in which they expressed "grave concern" over North Korea's escalation of tensions and urged it to fully comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: S. Korea calls for Pyongyang to stop harsh words, respond to talks offer

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's foreign ministry urged North Korea on Thursday to stop saber-rattling immediately and repeated the call for Pyongyang to respond to its dialogue offer aimed at easing tensions in the region.

"The North's recent threatening words have gone too much and run squarely against with the consensus contained in the statement issued after the ARF (ASEAN Regional Forum). It should stop them immediately," Cho June-hyuck, foreign ministry spokesman, said during a regular press briefing.

"The North should make the right choice and come out to the road toward denuclearization," he added. "In particular, (we) urge it again to swiftly respond to our initiative for better inter-Korean relations so as to establish permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula."

The ARF, held in the Philippine capital of Manila on Monday, is a rare regional security gathering to which North Korea sends its foreign minister annually.

Following the meeting also attended by 26 other Asia-Pacific countries and major powers, it issued the chairman's statement in which they expressed "grave concern" over North Korea's escalation of tensions and urged it to fully comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Report: South China Sea Chess - US Aircraft Carrier To Visit Hanoi in 2018

Washington and Hanoi have signaled a mutual desire to improve relations almost at the exact moment Vietnam has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea.

On Tuesday, US Defense Secretary James Mattis met with Vietnamese counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich at the Pentagon where it was announced that an unspecified US aircraft carrier would visit the Southeast Asian nation next year. "Vietnam and the United States of America respect our pasts, but we look to the future," Mattis said, in reference to the war fought decades ago.

News Report: Hanoi, Beijing Call Off Meeting as South China Sea Drama Brews

A bilateral meeting slated to be held between Chinese and Vietnamese officials on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum over the weekend was scratched at the last minute, as tensions simmer in the South China Sea over a disputed oil field.

The diplomats “already met,” an anonymous Chinese Foreign Ministry official told the Japan Times, though Vietnamese officials have not provided a reason explaining why the meeting was canceled.

Beijing and Hanoi recently disputed an oil field located in “Block 136-03” in the South China Sea, with Beijing reportedly vowing to attack Vietnamese bases in the Spratly Islands for sending ships to the area for oil exploration. Repsol, a Spanish-owned oil firm, leased rights to the area under dispute from Hanoi and has invested $300 million making it a commercially-viable asset.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that it had taken “practical actions” to maintain the status quo in the South China Sea. Approximately $5 trillion worth of goods transit the waterway annually. 

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: Chinese FM calls on security cooperation for East Asian countries

MANILA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday called on all countries in East Asia to strengthen security cooperation, especially on non-traditional security issues like terrorism, transnational crimes and natural disasters.

He made the remarks while attending a series of meetings of the ministers with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which are being held in the Philippine capital city of Manila, including East Asia Summit (EAS) and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

Wang said communication between countries on security issues is very important as it can remove misunderstanding and misjudgment whiling enhancing mutual trust.

He mentioned that China issued a white paper on its policies on Asia-Pacific security cooperation this January, which showed China's determination to safeguard regional peace and stability.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: North Korea to ASEAN - Distinguish danger of nuclear issue vs 'America First' policy

By Patricia Lourdes Viray

MANILA, Philippines — North Korea's top diplomat defended his country's nuclear power and intercontinental ballistic missile tests among his colleagues during the ASEAN Regional Forum last Monday.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho said that Washington's hostile policy and nuclear threat towards Pyongyang is the root cause of the problem amid concerns from several foreign ministers.

Ri said this in the presence of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who also attended the ARF at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

"I expect that other member states of this forum and the ASEAN member states in particular will distinguish the essence of the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula and the danger of the 'America First' policy and take impartial and practical stand and attitude," Ri said in his speech.

The foreign minister stressed that North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons is a war deterrence to end the threat and to prevent the military invasion of the US.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Report: North Korea Rejects Calls to Halt Nuclear Weapons Development

Ken Bredemeier

North Korea vowed Monday to persist in its nuclear weapons development program, rejecting calls from the international community to rein in its aggressive military actions.

Pyongyang's United Nations mission contended that new U.N. sanctions against it for its missile tests were a "flagrant infringement upon its sovereignty," with state media claiming they were the result of a "heinous U.S. plot to isolate and stifle" the communist country.

North Korea told a security conference of key regional leaders in Manila that it would never bargain away its development of nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles, and said that it would teach the United States a "severe lesson" with nuclear strategic force if Washington takes military (action) against it.

Pyongyang said it is a responsible nation state with no intent to threaten any country other than the United States unless they join Washington in military action. But North Korea boasted that its latest missile test in late July showed the world that the "entire U.S. mainland is in our firing range."

News Story: DPRK says no intention to use nuke weapons against any country except U.S.

MANILA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Ri Hong-Yo, said on Monday that his country has no intention to use nuclear weapons against any other country except the United States.

Ri, in Manila to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), said DPRK "is a responsible nuclear power and ICBM state," referring to the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

"We have no intention to use nuclear weapons or threaten with nuclear weapons against any other country except the U.S., unless it joins action of the U.S. against DPRK," Ri said in a statement to the ARF.

Read the full story at Xinhua

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Story Quote: ""We have no intention to use nuclear weapons or threaten with nuclear weapons against any other country except the U.S., unless it joins action of the U.S. against DPRK," Ri said in a statement to the ARF."

PacificSentinel: Which apparently includes sanctions, re the following April 24 story & the DPRK's threat to Australia.

Story Quote: North Korea’s threat of a nuclear strike on Australia is of “enormous concern” but such threats have become part of the regime’s day-to-day rhetoric, according to the Opposition. 

The rogue state turned its sights on Australia, threatening nuclear retaliation after Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said North Korea would be subject to further Australian sanctions. 

North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman accusing the Australian foreign minister of “spouting a string of rubbish against the DPRK over its entirely just steps for self-defence”. 

“If Australia persists in following the US moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK and remains a shock brigade of the US master, this will be a suicidal act of coming within the range of the nuclear strike of the strategic force of the DPRK. 

Labor’s defence spokesman Richard Marles today said North Korea’s statement was a matter of enormous concern, but noted Pyongyang had made similar threats to other nations, even a veiled one at China. 

Read the full story at News.com.au

PacificSentinel: That's the definition of "threaten with nuclear weapons", so now applying sanctions qualifies as "unless it joins action of the U.S. against DPRK", look out world, your all targets too.

News Story: S. Korean president urges DPRK to come to dialogue table after UN resolution adoption

SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to come to a dialogue table following the UN Security Council's unanimous adoption of a resolution toughening sanctions on Pyongyang.

Moon said during the meeting with his senior secretaries that the DPRK should clearly recognize the international community's firm will against the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs through the new sanctions resolution.

The new UN resolution, Moon said, was unanimously adopted in cooperation with major countries, including China and Russia, urging the DPRK to stop provocations and come to the dialogue table.

On Saturday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted new sanctions on the DPRK as punishment for its recent ballistic missile test-launches. It bans the exports of seafood and minerals such as coal, iron, iron ore, lead and lead ore.

Around midnight on July 28, the DPRK test-launched what it called an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which flew about 1,000 km and was lofted as high as over 3,700 km.

It was an advanced version of what Pyongyang dubbed Hwasong-14 that traveled 933 km at a maximum altitude of 2,802 km at the July 4 test launch.

Referring to his telephone conversation earlier in the day with U.S. President Donald Trump, Moon said he shared views with the U.S. president about grave security situations on the Korean Peninsula and discuss countermeasures with Trump.

Moon said he and Trump agreed over the phone to maintain a close cooperation based on a "watertight" combined defense readiness of the two allies.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: S. Korea, China to have bilateral meeting feared to be overshadowed by THAAD row

MANILA, Aug. 5 (Yonhap) -- Foreign ministers of South Korea and China will hold talks in the Philippines on Sunday to discuss North Korea and other pending issues, according to Seoul officials.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi are to attend a set of ministerial meetings hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including the ASEAN Regional Forum scheduled for Monday.

They will meet on Sunday afternoon for their first official bilateral talks since Kang took office as top diplomat in June, Seoul officials said Saturday.

They are expected to use the meeting to discuss cooperation in addressing North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: Vietnam wants tough stand vs China, but Philippines reluctant

MANILA, Philippines - Vietnam is urging other Southeast Asian nations to take a stronger stand against Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, as a tense regional security forum in Manila began yesterday with North Korea also under fire over its nuclear program.

Ahead of the launch of the annual gathering of foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Vietnam made a bold play against China with a draft of suggested changes to a planned joint communiqué.

It set the stage for what was expected to be a fiery few days of diplomacy in Manila, with the top diplomats from China, the US, Russia and North Korea set to join their ASEAN and other Asia-Pacific counterparts for security talks starting today.

The meetings would take place as the UN Security Council votes this weekend on a US-drafted resolution to toughen sanctions against North Korea to punish the isolated regime for its missile and nuclear tests.

The US said it would also seek to build united pressure on North Korea at the Manila event – known as the ASEAN Regional Forum – and Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said Pyongyang would receive a strong message.

But on the South China Sea dispute – one of Asia’s other top powder keg issues – there was far less consensus, with Vietnam resisting efforts by the Philippines to placate Beijing, according to diplomats.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: ‘South China Sea claimants will suffer if harsh to China’

By Helen Flores

MANILA, Philippines - People from claimant-states in the South China Sea will suffer if they take a hard stance with China, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said yesterday, as former diplomats and experts expressed concern over Beijing’s continued island-building activities in and militarization of the disputed waters.

“In the West Philippine Sea, our neighbors are also claimants. If we go harsh with everyone, our people will suffer – trade, direct foreign investments, tourism,” Cayetano said at the “ASEAN at 50: The Way Forward” forum in Makati City.

The Philippines under President Duterte, he pointed out, seeks to “build more bridges of understanding” to attain peace and stability in the region.

China claims about 90 percent of the entire South China Sea but this is being contested by Taiwan and four ASEAN members – the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

The two-day forum, organized by the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation for Peace and Development, Center for Strategic and International Studies and Stratbase ADR Institute, was attended by diplomats and policy experts from ASEAN member-countries as well as non-ASEAN nations, including the US, Australia and South Korea. 

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: ASEAN ministers to hold discussions on DPRK - Philippine FM

MANILA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)'s member countries will discuss how to deal with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which has been continuing nuclear weapons testing despite international condemnation, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters.

The ministers will meet for the discussion at an informal dinner Friday night, in preparation for the ASEAN ministerial meeting scheduled on Saturday.

Philippine Acting Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said earlier that ASEAN is "very much concerned" about the developments in DPRK.

"All of us surrounding the region are very much concerned about the potential escalation of this issue," Bolivar told a news conference on Thursday.

DPRK is attending the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on Monday. ARF is a forum for security in Asia established in 1994. It draws together 27 members in the Asia Pacific region.

Bolivar said that ARF is the only venue outside of the UN where DPRK participates in roundtable discussions on security matters with South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, the United States, the European Union and ASEAN.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Philippines rejects US call for North Korea expulsion

By Audrey Morallo

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is not keen on expelling North Korea from a regional security forum, bucking the call of its traditional ally the US for Pyongyang to be further isolated on the international stage.

The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs said that the ASEAN Regional Forum was the only venue where the international community, including Southeast Asian countries, could tell North Korea its concerns over its missile tests and nuclear program.

The ARF is also the only venue, aside from the United Nations, where North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, the US, the European Union and ASEAN are at the same table to discuss regional security issues, according to DFA spokesperson Robespierre Bolivar.

"The ARF is a forum. We do not have expulsion provisions just like Article 50 of the European Union," the DFA spokesperson said, essentially rejecting calls from the US to remove North Korea from the regional security forum to be held in Manila on Monday.

He added that it was for the North Koreans to determine if they would leave the ARF which, Bolivar said, does not have "hard and fast rules" on members’ exits.

On Monday, it was reported that American diplomats were seeking ways to exclude North Korea from the ARF, which has conflict-free provisions and groups the US, North Korea and 25 other states.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: China and ASEAN to maintain stability in South China Sea

BEIJING, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- China will work with ASEAN countries to uphold stability in the South China Sea, consult on a code of conduct (COC) and maritime cooperation, and guide the East Asian regional cooperation.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the remarks when answering a question on China's expectations for future development of China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) relations.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend a series of foreign minister meetings from Aug. 6 to 8 in the Philippines, including meetings between foreign ministers from China, ASEAN, Japan and the Republic of Korea, as well as foreign minister meetings of the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Tillerson has no plans to meet N. Korea foreign minister in Manila: official

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

By Lee Haye-ah

WASHINGTON/SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has no plans to meet his North Korean counterpart at a regional gathering in the Philippines later this week, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

Tillerson is scheduled to participate in a series of meetings involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila starting Saturday.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho is also expected to be at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), one of few international gatherings the communist country regularly attends.

"The secretary has no plans to meet the North Korean foreign minister in Manila. I don't expect to see that happen," Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said in a teleconference previewing his upcoming trip.

The U.S. continues to exert pressure on the North Korean regime to abandon its nuclear and missile programs, she quoted Tillerson as saying during a press conference Tuesday.

He also reassured Pyongyang that Washington does not seek a regime change in the reclusive state and would be willing to hold talks "at some point."

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: US moves to have North Korea suspended from ASEAN

By Jim Gomez 

MANILA, Philippines — Washington is seeking talks on how North Korea can be suspended from Asia's biggest security forum as part of a broader effort to isolate Pyongyang diplomatically and force it to end its missile tests and abandon its nuclear weapons program, U.S. and Philippine officials said.

Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that North Korea's actions have violated the conflict-prevention aims of the ASEAN Regional Forum, which groups the United States and North Korea with 25 other countries.

The Philippines is hosting an annual ministerial meeting on Monday of the 27-nation ARF which will be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho. Tillerson has no plans to meet Ri on the sidelines of the meeting, Thornton said. With the U.S., Japan and South Korea expected to push for stronger actions against the North, a verbal showdown looms at the forum.

"What we have been sort of looking at is having a serious discussion of what it would take for a member to be suspended from this organization that is dedicated to conflict prevention and preventive diplomacy," Thornton said. "I think we're going to continue to have that conversation as it regards North Korea."

"What we've been doing is going around talking to partners about what more could they do to contribute to that increasing pressure on the regime and the increasing sort of diplomatic isolation of the regime," she said.

Two Filipino officials told The Associated Press that U.S. officials have discussed such a prospect with Philippine officials, who told them it may be better to keep North Korea in the forum, where it can be persuaded to stop provocations through dialogue.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Australia's top diplomat to discuss Marawi conflict with Cayetano

Julie Bishop (Image: Wiki Commons)

By Patricia Lourdes Viray

MANILA, Philippines — The peace process, the ongoing conflict in Marawi City and counter-terrorism efforts would be at the center of discussions between Australia and Philippines' top diplomats.

On her second visit to the Philippines this year, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will meet with Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and other senior government officials.

"These meetings will strengthen Australia’s relationships with our South East Asian neighbors and advance our economic and security interests in the region," Bishop said in a video posted on her Twitter account.

Bishop will attend the East Asia Summit, Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum and ASEAN-Australia Ministerial Meeting in Manila this week.

Read the full story at PhilStar