ASEAN News

MANILA – Beijing and Manila announced that they have reached an agreement on the joint exploration of oil and gas resources in the South China Sea. The announcement came after President Rodrigo Duterte lifted the ban on oil and gas exploration in the contested West Philippine Sea area. According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China …

JAKARTA – Indonesia on Thursday (Oct 15) with 4,411 new coronavirus infections reported, The country has taken over Philippines as South-east Asia’s new pandemic hotspot. The world’s fourth most populous nation’s recorded total of 349,160 with 12,268 deaths, also the highest in the South East Region. Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan announced that Jakarta will start a two-week transitional period in …

KUALA LUMPUR – China’s State Councillor Wang Yi, said on Tuesday (Oct. 13) that China and the member states of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) should practice cooperation and remove “external disruption” in the South China Sea. Wang, in a joint news conference with Malaysia’s foreign minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that both countries are in the same …

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein met his counterpart from China, Wang Yi and reaffirm the two country’s commitment on solving several issues of importance. In a released joint press statement, both country reiterated their commitment to promote the key relations of both countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect and win-win cooperation. Key …

BEIJING – A Chinese hospital in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, launched a cross-border medical platform to further step up medical cooperation between Beijing and ASEAN countries. The China-ASEAN Cross-Border Medical Cooperation Platform was initiated by First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University with the cooperation of Microsoft, Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co and China UnionPay. The one-stop platform offers full-life-cycle …

SINGAPORE – Both Singapore and Indonesia have agreed to establish a reciprocal green lane (RGL), which will allow traveller with business and official purposes to cross travel between two countries. In a statement on Monday morning (Oct 12), both governments said that negotiations on RGL had concluded and application for the permit will begin on Oct. 26. Singapore’s Foreign Affairs …

BEIJING – Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will schedule a state visit to Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos and Thailand this month, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced on Friday. According to Hua, Wang’s visits aims to further stregthen the China-ASEAN cooperation as well as build mutual trust in the region. Hua added that China and ASEAN countries are …

ASEAN – The U.S. government announced new partnership to aid five Southeast Asian countries in an effort to take another bite out of Chinese influence in the region. On September 11, The Mekong-U.S. Partnership was formed by offering aid to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam for project related to Covid-19 relief to anti-drought measures. The US government hopes to …

METRO MANILA – The Department of Finance (DOF) on Thursday proposes a 6-point plan to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to enable the region to be more resilient in the growing threats of Covid-19 pandemic. Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III proposed the plan during the 24th ASEAN Finance Ministers’ Meeting via teleconference saying that the six-point plan …

KUALA LUMPUR – Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has urged Malaysians today to be united against the common enemy of Covid-19 amid the recent spike in transmissions in the country. In three consecutive Facebook posts today, he said that Malaysians should not let the frontliner’s effort goes to waste and must be united to fight the common …