Indonesians celebrate closer ties with Kingdom at Saudi National Day ceremony

Saudi Ambassador Faisal Abdullah Amodi and top Indonesian leaders inaugurate Saudi National Day celebrations in Jakarta on Sept. 25, 2023. (AN photo)

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Updated 26 September 2023

Natalia Laskowska

Sheany Yasuko Lai

September 26, 2023 18:02

Indonesians celebrate closer ties with Kingdom at Saudi National Day ceremony

Saudi Ambassador Faisal Abdullah Amodi and top Indonesian leaders inaugurate Saudi National Day celebrations in Jakarta.

Relations expected to reach ‘strategic level’ when Indonesia’s president visits Riyadh in October
Top Indonesian leadership took part in Saudi National Day celebrations in Jakarta

Updated 26 September 2023

Natalia Laskowska & Sheany Yasuko Lai

September 26, 2023 18:02

JAKARTA: Indonesians welcomed increasing interactions with Saudi Arabia as they took part in celebrations to commemorate the Kingdom’s 93rd National Day in Jakarta on Monday.

Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority nation and a country of 270 million people, has been a staunch supporter of Saudi Arabia and its leadership. A Lowy Institute survey showed in 2021 that of all world leaders, Indonesians held the most confidence in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Saudi-Indonesian ties span centuries, but have only recently gained momentum, when King Salman arrived in Indonesia in 2017. The trip was historic as the first by a Saudi monarch since King Faisal bin Abdulaziz visited Jakarta in 1970.

In the past six years, high-level bilateral exchanges have been on the rise on the political level and in business, especially after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took part in the G20 leaders’ summit in Bali, when Indonesia held the group’s rotating presidency in 2022.

Both countries expect to boost their ties even more when President Joko Widodo visits Riyadh next month.

The upcoming trip was announced by Saudi Ambassador Faisal Abdullah Amodi and Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas during a ceremony held in Jakarta as part of events hosted by the Kingdom around the world to mark its National Day.

The Indonesian president’s visit “is expected to contribute effectively to the relations between the two countries reaching a strategic level,” Amodi told the audience, which included Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, the former president and leader of the ruling party, Megawati Sukarnoputri, the former vice president, Jusuf Kalla, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan, and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto.

As Widodo is scheduled to meet the crown prince, Indonesia hopes the trip will “open up an even more strategic cooperation between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia,” Quomas said.

“Brotherhood between our countries will be even stronger in the coming years.”

The National Day ceremony, which featured traditional Saudi sword dancing, a display of the Kingdom’s megaprojects under Vision 2030 and a performance by the Saudi School in Jakarta, has already brought Saudis and Indonesian closer together.

“Both countries are highly respectful of one another, and I think that’s why all these top officials like Megawati, Jusuf Kalla, Prabowo and Ma’ruf Amin were all here,” Fay Kadaroesman, vice president of Women’s International Club Jakarta, told Arab News. “I can tell that relations are very close, and it’s really good.”

For Subhan Cholid, head of the Indonesian Hajj Organization Committee, the ceremony was an opportunity to meet Saudis and forge new friendships.

“With this event we were able to meet, talk, and chat,” he said. “We could meet and celebrate together, be a part of a shared National Day celebrations.”

And the sentiment was mutual.

Jameel Saeed Kabbarah, vice chairman of the board of directors of the Cooperative Maritime Business Association, who arrived in Indonesia from Jeddah for a family vacation, was for the first time celebrating National Day outside the Kingdom.

“It’s good to see different people. The world is very small nowadays,” he said. “I’m very proud to be part of this crowd and celebrate this great occasion of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Topics: Saudi National Day 2023 Indonesia

Indonesia vows to assist Rohingya refugees humanely amid surge of arrivals

Rohingya refugees gather and rest at a beach in Pidie district in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Dec. 10, 2023. (AFP)

Updated 10 December 2023

Sheany Yasuko Lai

December 10, 2023 15:43

Indonesia vows to assist Rohingya refugees humanely amid surge of arrivals

Over 1,200 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Aceh since mid-November
Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees

Updated 10 December 2023

Sheany Yasuko Lai

December 10, 2023 15:43

JAKARTA: Indonesia will continue to handle the influx of Rohingya refugees humanely, the National Refugee Task Force said on Sunday, after the latest batch of people from the minority group arrived in the westernmost province of Aceh amid a pushback from local residents.

Two boats carrying more than 300 Rohingya refugees docked at different beaches in Aceh Besar and Pidie districts in the early hours of Sunday. Most are women and children who left their refugee camps in Bangladesh last month and had been adrift for weeks in the Andaman Sea.

More than 1,200 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Aceh since mid-November and were met with some opposition from local authorities and residents, who threatened to push them back to sea.

The safety of the Rohingya is a priority for the government, Indonesia’s National Refugee Task Force said.

“We will continue to handle the Rohingya refugees humanely, even when many local residents are rejecting them,” Eros Shidqy Putra, a member of the task force, told Arab News.

“Our main priority is their safety. For Aceh residents, we are also trying to raise awareness about the refugee situation.”

The mostly Muslim Rohingya have faced decades of suffering in Myanmar and are described as the “world’s most persecuted minority” by the UN.

In 2017, more than 730,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh following a brutal crackdown by the Myanmar military that the UN said amounted to genocide. For the last six years, the refugees lived in squalid and overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar where humanitarian aid has dwindled, facing rising insecurity and uncertainty.

Over 3,500 Rohingya attempted deadly sea crossings in 2022, more than 340 of whom died or went missing, highlighting the “growing sense of desperation” among them in both Myanmar and Bangladesh, the UN said earlier this year.

The Indonesian government suspected human trafficking behind the recent escalation in boat arrivals, President Joko Widodo said on Friday, as he promised to work with international organizations to address the issue.

Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, but has a history of taking in refugees on humanitarian grounds when they arrive on the country’s shores.

This year’s arrivals prompted a backlash on social media and some pushback from people in Aceh, but the rejection of Rohingya refugees has been around since 2018, according to Geutanyoe, an Aceh-based humanitarian organization which has worked with Rohingya refugees for over a decade.

Geutanyoe director Al-Fadhel said the opposition in Aceh has mostly been protests against the official handling of refugees in the province, which does not have permanently designated shelters to host them.

“In Aceh, the handling of refugees has always been on an emergency basis,” Fadhel told Arab News in a phone interview. “So the rejection has mostly been a form of protest on the silence of the local government, and the absence of a good mechanism to handle the arrival of refugees in Aceh.”

There was no opposition during programs organized by Geutanyoe, which saw participation of the local community and the Rohingya, he said, adding that the handling of the refugee situation in Aceh must prioritize protection for both local residents and the Rohingya.

“The refugee situation is a humanitarian issue that we must address, to which we must give our assistance. But there are also legal aspects that we must uphold, because in their arrivals there must be people who are involved in smuggling, and this needs to be sorted.”

Topics: Indonesia Rohingya refugees

Bangladesh opposition party holds protest as it boycotts Jan. 7 national election amid violence

Updated 10 December 2023

December 10, 2023 09:39

Bangladesh opposition party holds protest as it boycotts Jan. 7 national election amid violence

Reports say many independent candidates belong to ruling Awami League, who were encouraged to contest polls to make them look competitive
The events have drawn concern from observers at home and abroad over the health of democracy in Bangladesh, despite its economic success

Updated 10 December 2023

December 10, 2023 09:39

DHAKA: Hundreds of opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party supporters protested Sunday to mark International Human Rights Day, as the country gears up for a general election on Jan. 7 that the opposition says should be held under a non-partisan, caretaker government.

The party, led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is boycotting the election, leaving voters in the South Asian nation of 166 million with little choice but to re-elect Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League for a fourth consecutive term.

At Sunday’s protest in front of the National Press Club in downtown Dhaka, opposition activists said they do not think a fair and free election can take place under Hasina’s watch. The gathering took place weeks after a massive opposition rally on Oct. 28 turned violent.

The party’s decision to boycott the polls comes amid a monthslong crackdown that has reportedly seen hundreds of opposition politicians jailed and critics silenced, an allegation authorities have denied.

Demonstrators on Sunday carried banners that read “Human chain of family members of the victims of murder and enforced disappearances” and “We want the unconditional release of all prisoners.”

After the Oct. 28 rally, authorities arrested thousands of party leaders and activists including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Many others have gone into hiding, and hundreds have been convicted by courts on charges of violence or subversive acts that the opposition says are politically motivated.

New York-based Human Rights Watch in a report last month put the number of arrested opposition activists at 10,000 since Oct. 28 and said that at least 16 people including two police officers died during the period of violence.

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of Zia’s party, told a video conference from hiding that the government has arrested or punished political leaders and activists under fictitious charges to ensure a lopsided election result.

He urged the people to boycott “the stage-managed election” that he said would deepen the country’s political crisis and push it toward danger.

“The upcoming one-sided election is not just a renewal of Sheikh Hasina’s power, but a license to destroy Bangladesh,” he said.

While critics have slammed the election as a farce, the government has rejected allegations of a crackdown on the opposition and says the polls will be democratically held and inclusive.

“Our stand is very clear. Those who are involved in acts of sabotage or arson attacks, those who attacked police and killed them, are being dealt with on specific charges. We clearly reject the claim that there has been any crackdown against the opposition party,” Mohammad A. Arafat, a ruling party lawmaker and member of the International Affairs Committee, told The Associated Press.

“It has no relation with the election. It’s a constitutional mandate to hold the election on time. It’s a matter of their choice to join the polls. But they are resorting to violence in the name of protests, rather than joining the race,” he said.

The election will be the country’s 12th after it gained independence from Pakistan in 1971.

In the 2008 election, the main challenger BNP and its allies won more than 40 percent of the vote, but lost to Awami League, which got an absolute majority. Subsequent elections took place in 2014 — which Zia’s party boycotted — and again in 2018 under Hasina’s administration, but the opposition rejected the results, saying the election was rigged. Hasina rejected the allegations.

This time again, while candidates from 29 out of 44 registered political parties have filed nominations, no one from Zia’s party is contesting the polls. After a review, the country’s Election Commission accepted 1,985 nominations and rejected 731 for a total of 300 constituencies.

Media reports say many independent candidates belong to the ruling Awami League party, which has encouraged them to contest the election to make it look competitive.

The events have drawn concern from observers at home and abroad over the health of democracy in Bangladesh, even as it transforms into an economic success story under Hasina.

Hasina’s administration has faced pressure from Western democracies, especially from the United States, while the United Nations and the European Union have also pressed for a free, fair and inclusive election.

“Specifically, we have emphasized that it is important to have free and fair elections that all stakeholders have the ability to participate peacefully. The holding of free and fair elections is the responsibility of everyone — all political parties, voters, the government, the security forces, and the media,” a US State Department spokesperson said in an email to The Associated Press.

Analyst Iftekhar Zaman, the head of the anti-corruption group Transparency International Bangladesh, said the election may be held on time but it will be “non-inclusive” and “morally void.”

During the last election in 2018, Joydeb Sana, a private security guard working at a five-story apartment building in the capital, Dhaka, traveled to his ancestral village in southwestern Bangladesh to cast his vote.

But on election day, he found that someone else had already cast his vote.

“I don’t know who did it. In the end my candidate won the election and Sheikh Hasina became the prime minister. I was happy for that, but I could not vote for my candidate, and that was upsetting,” Sana told the AP.

He hopes he can cast his own vote this time.

“It’s my right to vote for my preferred candidate. Last time I was deprived of that,” he said.

Topics: Bangladesh opposition party national election

China’s Xi looks to strengthen Vietnam ties after Biden visit

Updated 10 December 2023

AFP

December 10, 2023 06:09

China’s Xi looks to strengthen Vietnam ties after Biden visit

China and Vietnam have a border in common, as well as close economic ties and ruling communist parties, but Xi’s two-day trip will be his first visit to the country in six years
Like the United States, Vietnam has concerns about its neighbor’s growing assertiveness in the contested South China Se

Updated 10 December 2023

AFP

December 10, 2023 06:09

HANOI: China’s President Xi Jinping will arrive in Vietnam on Tuesday on a mission to strengthen relations, just months after Washington and Hanoi upgraded their diplomatic ties.
China and Vietnam have a border in common, as well as close economic ties and ruling communist parties, but Xi’s two-day trip will be his first visit to the country in six years.
It comes hot on the heels of US President Joe Biden’s stopover in Hanoi in September, when he sought to shore up support against Beijing’s growing influence in the region.
“From China’s perspective, the visit is to emphasize that it has not lost Vietnam to the rival camp,” said Huong Le Thu, Deputy Director of the Asia Program at the International Crisis Group.
“For Vietnam, it represents its successful ‘bamboo diplomacy’, in which it is able to maneuver between the competing great powers without being forced to take one side over another,” she told AFP.
After an official welcome at the presidential palace on Tuesday, Xi will hold talks with Nguyen Phu Trong, the leader of Vietnam’s ruling communist party.
On Wednesday, there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at the mausoleum of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, before Xi meets Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President Vo Van Thuong.
Vietnam and China already share a comprehensive strategic partnership, Vietnam’s highest diplomatic status. Hanoi and Washington upgraded to that same level in September.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the visit would involve discussions on “bringing China-Vietnam relations to a higher position.”
Items on the agenda include “politics, security, practical cooperation, the formation of public opinion, multilateral issues and maritime issues,” said Wang.

Like the United States, Vietnam has concerns about its neighbor’s growing assertiveness in the contested South China Sea.
China upset several ASEAN members, including Hanoi, with its September 1 release of a new official map, showing sovereignty over almost the entire resource-rich waterway.
The issue of maritime borders is a sensitive issue for Hanoi, which in July banned the “Barbie” movie from being shown domestically due to a brief appearance of a map that included a depiction of the nine-dash line used in official Chinese maps of the region.
Political researcher Nguyen Khac Giang told AFP that Xi’s visit presented an opportunity for Beijing to draw Vietnam closer, possibly through invoking the Xi-era foreign policy concept of the ‘Community of Common Destiny’.
The loosely defined phrase refers to a vision of future cooperation on economic, security and political issues.
“While Vietnam may remain cautious about joining China-led political initiatives, we can expect to see further progress in economic cooperation, especially in infrastructure development and green energy transitions,” he said.
Vietnamese state-controlled media reported last month that China Rare Earth Group Co. was looking for opportunities to work together with Vietnam’s mining giant Vinacomin.
It comes after the United States and Vietnam in September agreed to cooperate to help Hanoi quantify and develop its rare earth resources.
The United States has said Vietnam — with the world’s second-largest deposits of rare earths after China — has a key role to play as it looks to source less from China after supply chain shocks rocked the global economy in recent years.

Topics: China-Vietnam ties South China Sea dispute Chinese President Xi Jinping

Chinese ships assault Philippine fisheries vessels en route to disputed shoal

Updated 10 December 2023

December 10, 2023 05:36

Chinese ships assault Philippine fisheries vessels en route to disputed shoal

The noontime assault by Chinese ships off the Scarborough Shoal was one of the most aggressive this year
It’s the latest flare-up of the long-seething territorial disputes in the South China Sea, a flashpoint in Asia that has put the US and China on a collision course

Updated 10 December 2023

December 10, 2023 05:36

MANILA, Philippines: The Philippines and its treaty ally, the United States, separately condemned a high-seas assault Saturday by the Chinese coast guard together with suspected militia ships that repeatedly blasted water cannons to block three Philippine fisheries vessels from a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

The noontime assault by Chinese ships off the Scarborough Shoal, one of the most aggressive this year, caused “significant damage” to the communication and navigation equipment of one of the three Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ships, Filipino officials said.
They said without elaborating that suspected militia vessels accompanying Chinese coast guard ships used a long-range acoustic device that could impair hearing, causing “severe temporary discomfort and incapacitation to some Filipino crew.”
It’s the latest flare-up of the long-seething territorial disputes in the South China Sea, a flashpoint in Asia that has put the US and China on a collision course. China claims virtually the entire strategic waterway, but the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have also pressed their separate claims.
Territorial standoffs between China and the Philippines over a number of disputed offshore areas, including the Scarborough and the Second Thomas shoals, have been particularly heated this year. The US has warned that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines, its longtime treaty ally, if Filipino forces, aircraft or ships come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
China has warned the US to stay away from what it calls a purely Asian dispute. It has deployed ships and aircraft to closely shadow US Navy ships and aircraft, which periodically undertake freedom of navigation and overflight patrols in one of the world’s most hotly disputed seas.
A Philippine government task force that deals with the long-seething territorial disputes said Saturday it “vehemently condemns the illegal and aggressive actions carried out by the Chinese coast guard and Chinese maritime militia against the civilian Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels.”
“We demand that the Chinese government take immediate action to halt these aggressive activities and uphold the principles of international law and desist from actions that would infringe on Philippine sovereignty and endanger the lives and livelihood of Filipino fishermen,” it said.
US Ambassador to Manila MaryKay Carlson condemned China’s “aggressive, illegal actions.”
“This (Chinese) behavior violates international law and endangers lives and livelihood,” Carlson said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “We stand with our Philippine friends, partners, allies in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The Chinese coast guard said in a single sentence announcement on its website that it “implemented control measures in line with the law” Saturday against three BFAR vessels that “intruded into waters adjacent to Huangyan Island,” the Chinese name for the Shoal.
Separately, the coast guard said it had “implemented controls in accordance with laws and regulations” on Sunday against two Philippine coast guard vessels, including one official ship and one supply ship that were attempting to transport construction materials to the Second Thomas Shoal.
China has long sought to blockade the submerged reef, where a small contingent of Filipino marines has stood guard for years aboard a long-marooned but still actively commissioned warship, the BRP Sierra Madre.
The statement gave no details about the measures taken, but said the Philippines action “seriously infringed on China’s sovereignty.”
Philippine fisheries bureau’s ships had sailed to the Scarborough Shoal to provide humanitarian aid, mainly free fuel and Christmas grocery packs, to poor Filipino fishermen aboard nearly 30 boats in the rich but far-flung fishing area, Philippine officials said.
They said the swarm of Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships took dangerously aggressive actions, including the use of water cannons at least eight times, as the Philippine government ships approached about 2.6 kilometers to 3.5 kilometers (1.6 to 2 miles) from Scarborough Shoal.
They added that the Chinese coast guard installed a floating barrier at an entrance to the vast fishing lagoon of Scarborough Shoal and deployed personnel aboard small motor boats to drive away Filipino fishermen waiting for the distribution of fuel and food supplies at sea.
“To prevent the distribution of humanitarian support is not only illegal but also inhumane,” the Philippine government task force said.
In past faceoffs in the high seas off disputed shoals, the Chinese coast guard has used a military-grade laser that caused Filipino crewmen temporary blindness, and resorted to dangerous blocking and shadowing maneuvers, including one that caused minor collisions.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has allowed a larger US military presence in local military bases under a 2014 defense pact partly to strengthen territorial defense amid China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed waters. China has strongly opposed and expressed alarm over increasing deployments of US forces, warning that it would threaten regional peace and stability.
The Philippines has also launched joint sea and air patrols separately with the US and Australia, and plans to expand this to a multilateral patrol, possibly including Japan and other like-minded nations to deter aggression in the South China Sea, National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano told reporters last week.

Topics: South China Sea dispute Philippines China Scarborough Shoal

Liz Magill, University of Pennsylvania president, resigns as antisemitism testimony draws backlash

Updated 10 December 2023

December 10, 2023 01:53

Liz Magill, University of Pennsylvania president, resigns as antisemitism testimony draws backlash

Calls for Magill’s resignation exploded after her testimony in a US House committee on antisemitism on college campuses
Universities across the US have been accused of failing to protect Jewish students amid fallout from Israel’s intensifying war in Gaza

Updated 10 December 2023

December 10, 2023 01:53

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania: The University of Pennsylvania’s president has resigned amid pressure from donors and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say under repeated questioning that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy.

The departure of Liz Magill, in her second year as president of the Ivy League school, was announced by the school late Saturday afternoon. The statement said Magill will remain a tenured faculty member at the university’s Carey Law School. She has agreed to keep serving as Penn’s leader until the university names an interim president.
Calls for Magill’s resignation exploded after Tuesday’s testimony in a US House committee on antisemitism on college campuses, where she appeared with the presidents of Harvard University and MIT.
Universities across the US have been accused of failing to protect Jewish students amid rising fears of antisemitism worldwide and fallout from Israel’s intensifying war in Gaza, which faces heightened criticism for the mounting Palestinian death toll.
The three presidents were called before the committee to answer those accusations. But their lawyerly answers drew renewed blowback from opponents, focused particularly on a line of questioning from Rep. Elize Stefanik, R-N.Y., who repeatedly asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate Penn’s code of conduct.
“If the speech turns into conduct it can be harassment, yes,” Magill said. Pressed further, Magill told Stefanik, “It is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman.”
Criticism rained down from the White House, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, members of Congress and donors. One donor, Ross Stevens, threatened to withdraw a $100 million gift because of the university’s “stance on antisemitism on campus” unless Magill was replaced.
A day later, Magill addressed the criticism, saying in a video that she would consider a call for the genocide of Jewish people to be harassment or intimidation and that Penn’s policies need to be “clarified and evaluated.”
Magill had been under fire from some donors and alumni this fall over the university’s handling of various perceived acts of antisemitism.
That included allowing a Palestinian literary arts festival to be held on its campus in September featuring speakers whose past statements about Israel had drawn accusations of antisemitism.
A former US Supreme Court law clerk, Magill, 57, is the daughter of a retired federal judge and was dean of Stanford University’s law school and a top administrator at the University of Virginia before Penn hired her as its ninth president last year.
Earlier Saturday, New York’s governor called on the state’s colleges and universities to swiftly address cases of antisemitism and what she described as any “calls for genocide” on campus.
In a letter to college and university presidents, Gov. Kathy Hochul said her administration would enforce violations of the state’s Human Rights Law and refer any violations of federal civil rights law to US officials.
Hochul said she has spoken to chancellors of the State University of New York and City University of New York public college systems who she said confirmed “that calling for genocide of any group” or tolerating antisemitism violates codes of conduct on their campuses “and would lead to swift disciplinary action.”
The governor’s letter doesn’t address any specific incidents. Her office didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
A popular chant at pro-Palestinian rallies at Penn and other universities has been falsely misrepresented in recent months as claiming to call for “Jewish genocide.”
Experts and advocates say the chant, “Israel, we charge you with genocide,” is a typical refrain heard at pro-Palestinian rallies. Jewish and Palestinian supporters both acknowledge protesters aren’t saying “We want Jewish genocide.”

Topics: War on Gaza University of Pennsylvania Liz Magill

Indonesians celebrate closer ties with Kingdom at Saudi National Day ceremony

Indonesians celebrate closer ties with Kingdom at Saudi National Day ceremony

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Indonesia vows to assist Rohingya refugees humanely amid surge of arrivals

Indonesia vows to assist Rohingya refugees humanely amid surge of arrivals

Gangs, extortion in Bangladesh camps driving Rohingya sea exodus

Indonesia looks into potential aviation, railway cooperation with Saudi Arabia

Bangladesh opposition party holds protest as it boycotts Jan. 7 national election amid violence

Bangladesh opposition party holds protest as it boycotts Jan. 7 national election amid violence

China’s Xi looks to strengthen Vietnam ties after Biden visit

China’s Xi looks to strengthen Vietnam ties after Biden visit

Washington warns about China-Vietnam standoff

Chinese ships assault Philippine fisheries vessels en route to disputed shoal

Chinese ships assault Philippine fisheries vessels en route to disputed shoal

Chinese ships assault Philippine fisheries vessels en route to disputed shoal

Philippines builds new coast guard station on island in South China Sea

China drives away Philippines navy gunboat from Scarborough Shoal waters

Liz Magill, University of Pennsylvania president, resigns as antisemitism testimony draws backlash

Liz Magill, University of Pennsylvania president, resigns as antisemitism testimony draws backlash

More than 180,000 people across France march against soaring antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war

US interfaith coalition opposes antisemitism definition shielding Israel from criticism

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Indonesians celebrate closer ties with Kingdom at Saudi National Day ceremony

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