Europe bristles at US proposals at Asian gathering, India-Pakistan hostility on show

Europe bristles at US proposals at Asian gathering, India-Pakistan hostility on show
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Singapore's Minister of Defence Chan Chun Sing and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas attend a ministerial lunch on the sidelines of IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, on May 31, 2025. (REUTERS/File)
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Updated 01 June 2025
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Europe bristles at US proposals at Asian gathering, India-Pakistan hostility on show

Europe bristles at US proposals at Asian gathering, India-Pakistan hostility on show
  • US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says Washington wants Europeans to concentrate on European security at summit 
  • India, Pakistan military delegations pointedly keep out of each other’s way in hotel corridors and meeting halls

SINGAPORE: The Shangri-La Dialogue security meeting in Singapore has long been marked by US-China rivalry but Beijing’s relative retreat at the weekend exposed a new faultline — tensions between the US and Europe over Asia.

Even as he warned in a speech on Saturday that China posed an “imminent” threat, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made clear he wanted Europeans to concentrate on European security as they boosted military budgets.

“We would much prefer that the overwhelming balance of European investment be on that continent...so that as we partner there, which we will continue to do, we’re able to use our comparative advantage as an Indo-Pacific nation to support our partners here,” he said.

Hegseth also noted the absence of his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun, as Beijing instead dispatched a low-level team of military scholars to the annual event, which attracts top defense officials, diplomats, spies and arms dealers from across the world.

The other highlight of the event was the presence of high-powered military delegations from India and Pakistan after four days of intense clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbors that were halted by a ceasefire on May 10.

The delegations, in full uniform and bristling with medal and service ribbons, were led by India’s highest-ranking military officer and Pakistan’s chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. They pointedly kept out of each other’s way in the corridors and meeting halls of the sprawling Shangri-La hotel.

On engaging in Asia, at least some European nations signaled they would not be swayed by the US exhortations.

They insisted they would try to stay in both the Asian and European theaters, noting their deep links and vital trade flows as well as the global nature of conflict.

“It is a good thing we are doing more (in Europe), but what I want to stress is that the security of Europe and the security of the Pacific is very much interlinked,” said Europe’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas.

“If you are worried about China, you should be worried about Russia,” Kallas said, underlining the importance of Chinese assistance to the Russian war effort in Ukraine and Moscow’s deployment of North Korean soldiers.

FRANCE’S ASIAN TIES

French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that his nation remains an Indo-Pacific power, alluding to its enduring colonial presence in New Caledonia and French Polynesia and the basing of over 8,000 soldiers across the region.

“We are neither China nor the US, we don’t want to depend on either of them,” Macron said at a press conference on Friday, outlining a “third path” coalition between Europe and Asia that avoided having to choose between Beijing and Washington.

“We want to cooperate with both as far as we can, and we can cooperate for growth and prosperity and stability for our people and the world order, and I think this is exactly the same view of a lot of countries and a lot of people of this region,” he said.

Beyond the rhetoric, regional military attaches and analysts say the European regional presence — and ambitions — may not be easy to shift.

Military deployments are mapped out over decades rather than months, and both commercial and defense relationships go back decades, some of them only rarely publicly acknowledged.

The visit of a British aircraft carrier to Singapore later this month is part of a program first mentioned by then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in 2017 to stress British support for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

The carrier visit in part reflects Britain’s commitments under the 54-year-old Five-Power Defense Arrangement that links its military with counterparts in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

British ties with Australia have been bolstered with the recent three-way AUKUS submarine and advanced technology sharing agreement struck with the US — a move that could see British submarines visiting Western Australia.

Singapore meanwhile keeps 200 personnel in France operating 12 of its light combat aircraft while Britain also has a jungle training camp and helicopters in Brunei and a 1,200-strong Gurkha battalion, according to International Institute of Strategic Studies data.

A report last month by the London-based IISS highlighted European defense firms’ long-standing and expanding defense ties to Asia, even in the face of competition, particularly from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as regional budgets rise.

“European companies, including Airbus, Damen, Naval Group and Thales, have a long-standing presence in Southeast Asia, and other European actors have established themselves in the market in the last decade, including Italy’s Fincantieri and Sweden’s Saab,” the IISS study said.

Saab is close to securing a deal with US ally Thailand to supply its Gripen fighters, beating out Lockheed Martin’s F-16s.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has reported that Asian defense spending rose 46 percent in the decade to 2024, reaching $629 billion.

For Finnish officials at least, Hegseth’s remarks resonated — it is Moscow rather than the Indo-Pacific that looms large for Helsinki given the country’s long Russian border.

“When Europe’s defense is in a good shape, then you will have resources to do something more,” Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen told Reuters.

“But now all the European countries must do their main focus on European defense so that the United States can do a bigger share in the Indo-Pacific area,” Hakkanen said. 


Pakistan PM visits Iranian embassy, assures continued support following Israeli attacks

Pakistan PM visits Iranian embassy, assures continued support following Israeli attacks
Updated 8 sec ago
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Pakistan PM visits Iranian embassy, assures continued support following Israeli attacks

Pakistan PM visits Iranian embassy, assures continued support following Israeli attacks
  • The Israeli strikes came at a time when Iranian officials were engaged in nuclear talks with the US
  • Iran is assessing damage and Tehran has kept open the possibility of resuming talks with Washington

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday visited the Iranian embassy in Islamabad and assured Tehran of Islamabad’s continued support, following last month’s Israeli attacks on Iran.
The 12-day war between Iran and Israel, which began on June 13 Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and military leadership, raised alarms in a region that was already on edge since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.
Pakistan remained engaged in talks with regional partners like Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Qatar to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East after Iran conducted retaliatory strikes on Israel and a US base in Qatar, raising fears the conflict could draw in other regional states.
During his visit to the Iranian embassy, Sharif signed a condolence book opened by the Iranian mission to honor the Iranians who were killed and injured during the Israeli attacks against Iran, according to the Pakistan PM’s office.
“He expressed his deepest condolences to the people and Government of Iran, while reaffirming Pakistan’s sympathy and solidarity with Iran during this difficult time,” Sharif’s office said.
“While assuring the Iranian side of Pakistan’s consistent and continued support, the Prime Minister also conveyed his good wishes and respects for Iranian Supreme Leader His Eminence Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, as well as for President Dr. Massoud Pezeshkian.”
On Monday, Iranian judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir offered a sharply increased, government-issued death toll from the war, saying that the Israeli attacks killed 935 “Iranian citizens,” including 38 children and 102 women.
The Israeli strikes came at a time when Iranian officials were engaged in nuclear negotiations with the US and the conflict worsened after the US struck three Iranian nuclear sites on June 22. President Donald Trump claimed the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by years.
Iran is assessing the damage and lashing out over the American and Israeli airstrikes on its nuclear sites, though Tehran kept open the possibility Tuesday of resuming talks with Washington over its atomic program, AP news agency reported.
The comments by government spokesperson Fatemeh MoHajjerani also included another acknowledgment that Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz, key sites within Iran’s nuclear program, had been “seriously damaged” by the American strikes.
“No date (for US talks) is announced, and it’s not probably very soon, but a decision hasn’t been made in this field,” the state-run IRNA news agency quoted MoHajjerani as saying at a briefing for journalists.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has also kept open the possibility of talks with the US.


Pakistan June inflation rises 3.2 percent year-on-year, in line with ministry forecast

Pakistan June inflation rises 3.2 percent year-on-year, in line with ministry forecast
Updated 27 min 57 sec ago
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Pakistan June inflation rises 3.2 percent year-on-year, in line with ministry forecast

Pakistan June inflation rises 3.2 percent year-on-year, in line with ministry forecast
  • On a month-on-month basis, prices increased 0.2 percent in June, reversing a 0.2 percent decline in May
  • The data comes after Pakistan’s central bank kept key interest rate unchanged at 11 percent in June

KARACHI: Pakistan’s consumer price inflation rose 3.2 percent year-on-year in June, the statistics bureau said on Tuesday, broadly in line with the finance ministry’s projection of 3 percent to 4 percent issued a day earlier.

On a month-on-month basis, prices increased 0.2 percent in June, reversing a 0.2 percent decline in May.

The data comes after Pakistan’s central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 11 percent in June.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in its latest monetary policy statement that inflation was expected to show some near-term volatility but gradually stabilize within the 5 percent to 7 percent target range.

The figures also come weeks after Pakistan unveiled its annual budget, which included new revenue measures and subsidy cuts as part of efforts to secure a long-term loan program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Analysts have warned that higher energy and tax costs could stoke inflation in the second half of the year.

Pakistan’s stock exchange rose 2.3 percent on the day to close at an all-time high of 128475.7 points, on Tuesday, the first day of the new fiscal year.


Pakistan looking to sell excess LNG amid supply glut curbing local gas output — document

Pakistan looking to sell excess LNG amid supply glut curbing local gas output — document
Updated 54 min 44 sec ago
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Pakistan looking to sell excess LNG amid supply glut curbing local gas output — document

Pakistan looking to sell excess LNG amid supply glut curbing local gas output — document
  • The country has at least three LNG cargoes in excess that it imported from top supplier Qatar and has no immediate use for
  • Power generation from gas-fired plants, which historically accounted for a lion’s share of LNG, has declined in last 3 years

KARACHI/SINGAPORE: Pakistan is exploring ways to sell excess liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes amid a gas supply glut that could cost domestic producers $378 million in annual losses, according to a presentation and a government official familiar with the matter.

The country has at least three LNG cargoes in excess that it imported from top supplier Qatar and has no immediate use for, and is currently selling natural gas at steep discounts to local users, a second government official said.

Power generation from gas-fired power plants, which has historically accounted for a lion’s share of LNG use in the country, has declined for three straight years ended 2024, with cheaper solar power use dramatically gaining at the expense of gas-fired generation, data from energy think-tank Ember showed.

That has forced domestic producers of the fuel to curb production.

Pakistan is currently exploring the possibility of transferring LNG cargoes to rented tankers for “offshore storage and onward sale,” state-owned oil and gas producer OGDCL said in a presentation to industry and government.

“Excess LNG in the gas network has resulted in significant production operations impact for local exploration and production companies over last 18 months,” OGDCL said, adding that it had forced curtailment of domestic supply.

The domestic industry could suffer $378 million in losses over the next 12 months at the current rate of curtailment, according to the presentation dated May 29 reviewed by Reuters.

It is not immediately clear if Pakistan’s long-term LNG import contracts with QatarEnergy allows for a resale of cargoes. One of the government officials said the country was still exploring ways to do it.

Qatar typically has a destination clause in long-term supply contracts with buyers that restrict where the cargoes can be sold.

QatarEnergy did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Pakistan has already deferred five contracted LNG cargoes from Qatar without financial penalty, shifting delivery from 2025 to 2026, as the country grapples with surplus capacity.

Pakistan’s petroleum minister Ali Pervaiz Malik declined to comment on the presentation, but said renegotiating contracts with Qatar was a “complex” process that could take at least a year, and a final decision on initiating it had yet to be made.

“While the existing contract with Qatar allows Pakistan to decline vessels, doing so incurs penalties and other complications,” Malik told Reuters.

The glut has stemmed from several gas-fired power plants, previously operating under must-run contracts, now being sidelined, Malik said.

“It was expected that summer season will create extraordinary demand but the trend indicates the opposite,” OGDCL said in the presentation.


Teenager killed, 11 injured as militants storm southwestern Pakistani town

Teenager killed, 11 injured as militants storm southwestern Pakistani town
Updated 01 July 2025
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Teenager killed, 11 injured as militants storm southwestern Pakistani town

Teenager killed, 11 injured as militants storm southwestern Pakistani town
  • The militants attacked and set fire to a bank, tehsil and other offices in Balochistan’s Mastung
  • Two militants were also killed in exchange of fire with security forces who responded to assault

QUETTA: Dozens of militants armed with guns and rockets stormed the Mastung town in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, a government spokesman and health officials said on Tuesday, with a teenager killed and 11 others injured in the attack.

The militants stormed a bank, tehsil and other offices, Balochistan government spokesman Shahid Rind said, adding that gunfire by militants killed a 16-year-old boy and injured seven others.

Dr. Saeed Meerwani, medical superintendent of Mastung District Headquarters Hospital, told one body and three injured were brought to the hospital, while Arbab Awais Kasi, a spokesman for Nawab Ghous Bukhsh Raisani Hospital, said the facility treated and discharged eight injured persons.

“FC [Frontier Corps paramilitary], CTD [Counter-Terrorism Department] and Levies [paramilitary] surrounded the area and the militants retreated,” Rind said in a statement.

“Two terrorists were killed and three were injured in the exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists.”

Rind said the attack was carried out by “Fitna Al-Hindustan,” a reference to alleged Indian-backed Baloch separatist groups in the region. New Delhi denies supporting militancy in Pakistan.

Balochistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists seeking independence from the central government. The province is also home to militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban and the Daesh (Islamic State) group.

“The swift response by security forces helped prevent further loss of lives,” Rind said. “A full-scale operation is underway against the terrorists present in the area.”

He said security agencies have also started searching for the facilitators of the attackers.

In recent months, the separatists have mounted their attacks against the government and security forces in Balochistan, where the military has a huge presence in and has long run intelligence-based operations against groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).

In March, the BLA separatist hijacked a train with hundreds of passengers aboard near Balochistan’s Bolan Pass, which resulted in the deaths of 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers. At least 33 insurgents were also killed.

More than 50 people, including security forces, were killed in August last year in a string of coordinated assaults in the province that were claimed by the BLA.


Militants storm police station, torch banks, kill a boy in southwest Pakistan

Militants storm police station, torch banks, kill a boy in southwest Pakistan
Updated 01 July 2025
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Militants storm police station, torch banks, kill a boy in southwest Pakistan

Militants storm police station, torch banks, kill a boy in southwest Pakistan
  • Local officials say some insurgents were killed in a shootout with security forces
  • No group has claimed responsibility, though suspicion is likely to fall on BLA militants

QUETTA: Dozens of militants armed with guns and rockets stormed a police station and set fire to two banks in restive southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing a boy and wounding nine others before fleeing, officials said.

The boy died when the attackers fired on civilians indiscriminately during the attacks in Mastung, a district in Balochistan province, said Jan Mohammad, a local government administrator.

Mohammad said some of the insurgents were also killed in the shootout with security forces.

A provincial government spokesman, Shahid Rind, said a security operation had been launched to pursue the assailants.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, though suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, which often targets security forces and civilians in Balochistan and elsewhere.

The United States designated the BLA a terrorist organization in 2019.

Balochistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatist groups seeking independence from the central government.

The province is also home to militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban and Daesh group.