Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, November 23. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula during their meeting in the Japanese city of Nagoya, China’s Foreign Ministry reported on Saturday.

"The sides discussed in detail the situation on the Korean Peninsula, exchanging their opinions on regional and global issues of mutual interest," the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

"Our countries should take even greater efforts for the sake of ensuring global peace and stability," Wang Yi stressed.

NAGOYA, November 23. /TASS/: Japan should recognize Russia's sovereignty over the Southern Kuril Islands so that both countries can move towards signing a peace treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Saturday.

Russia’s top diplomat thus commented on a statement by Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga that the Japanese government would continue negotiations with Russia on a peace treaty proceeding from its baseline position: first to settle the territorial problem and then to conclude a peace treaty.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Pope Francis arrived on Saturday in Japan, the second leg of a week-long Asian trip whose main aim is to bring an anti-nuclear message to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the world’s only cities to suffer atomic bombing in wartime.

Francis, a determined anti-nuclear campaigner who will read a message on nuclear weapons in Nagasaki, will also meet survivors of the March 11, 2011 nuclear meltdown at Fukushima, the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

BEIJING (Reuters) - German chemical giant BASF has begun construction of its $10-billion integrated petrochemicals project in China’s southern province of Guangdong, the company said in a statement on Saturday.

The project based in the city of Zhanjiang will be China’s first wholly foreign-owned chemicals complex, for which a framework agreement was signed in January.

It will primarily produce engineering plastics and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and some petrochemical products widely used in automotive, electronics and new energy vehicles industries.

NAGOYA, Japan (Reuters) - Japan and South Korea agreed on Saturday to hold formal talks next month, taking a step towards improving relations strained by decades of bitterness over their wartime past and now exacerbated by a simmering trade dispute.

The decision to return to the table came a day after Seoul made a last-minute decision to stick to an intelligence-sharing deal with Japan. Seoul on Saturday hailed its own move as a “breakthrough” after months of worsening relations.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong university campus under siege for more than a week was a deserted wasteland on Saturday, with a handful of protesters holed up in hidden refuges across the trashed grounds, as the city’s focus turned to local elections.

The siege neared its end as some protesters at Polytechnic University on the Kowloon peninsula desperately sought a way out and others vowed not to surrender, days after some of the worst violence since anti-government demonstrations escalated in June.

NAGOYA, Japan, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Saturday that the Group of 20 (G20) should take the lead in championing multilateralism.

Addressing the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, Wang said the global economic momentum is slowing with increased downside risks, and the world is full of uncertainties with growing unilateralism and protectionism.

"We can not sit by idly and should take actions," he said, noting that multilateralism is key to solving various global issues.

BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva here Friday and pledged further opening up of the country's financial sector.

Li said China and leaders of major international economic institutions have sent strong signals of jointly safeguarding multilateralism and free trade, tackling economic downward pressure and enhancing international cooperation during a roundtable dialogue held Thursday.

22 November 2019; AFP: China wants to "take over" Australia's political system with an "insidious" and systematic campaign of espionage and influence-peddling, Canberra's ex-spymaster warned in an interview published Friday.

MOSCOW, Nov 22 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Malaysia will invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to participate in the 2020 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit that the Southeast Asian nation will host, Sputnik news agency quoted Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah as saying on Thursday.

“We, of course, will welcome President Putin’s involvement in the APEC 2020 that Malaysia is hosting next year in November,” Saifuddin said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.