Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan says the U.S. Navy is free to sail through its strait after an American warship did so shortly following warnings from Beijing against foreign interference in its relationship with the island.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Thursday the warship sailed northward through the Taiwan Strait. It said joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance task force was monitoring surrounding waters from start to finish and nothing “unusual” took place.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea Thursday, South Korea’s military said, the first weapons launches in more than two months and an apparent pressuring tactic aimed at Washington as North Korean and U.S. officials struggle to restart nuclear negotiations.

The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles that were fired from near the eastern coastal town of Wonsan flew about 430 kilometers (270 miles) before landing in the waters off the country’s east coast.

24 July 2019; AFP: China on Wednesday defended a joint air force exercise with Russia that triggered a furious response from regional US allies South Korea and Japan over a perceived airspace violation.

The incident erupted on Tuesday when a Russian A-50 early warning and control plane violated airspace over the Dokdo islands, Seoul said. The islands are also claimed by Tokyo.

South Korea scrambled fighter jets, which fired nearly 400 warning shots at the alleged intruder.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets rose Wednesday following a report U.S. and Chinese trade envoys will meet for talks next week.

Benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney all advanced.

Investors were encouraged by a Bloomberg News report that U.S. officials including Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will visit Beijing for talks. That would be the first face-to-face meeting since Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed in June to resume negotiations aimed at ending a bruising tariff war over U.S. complaints about Chinese technology ambitions.

BEIJING (AP) — China said it will not renounce the use of force in efforts to reunify Taiwan with the mainland and vowed to take all necessary military measures to defeat “separatists.”

In a national defense white paper released Wednesday, China listed among its top priorities its resolve to contain “Taiwan independence” and combat what it considers separatist forces in Tibet and the far west region of Xinjiang.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he is not defending Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali over a viral sex video which allegedly implicated the Economic Affairs Minister.

He also said that that dirty politics is not going to trap him into being part of it. 

“I’m not defending him (Mohamed Azmin). I’m just saying that dirty kinds of politics like that will not trap me into being part of it.

TOKYO, July 23. /TASS/: Tokyo lodged a protest with Seoul and Moscow after South Korean fighter jets had been scrambled to intercept a Russian warplane over the Liancourt Rocks located in the Sea of Japan, the Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday.

"Such activities over our territory are unacceptable," the Japanese government said. The protest was lodged through diplomatic channels.

BEIJING, July 22 (Xinhua) -- China urged the United States to stop politicizing religious issues and interfering in other countries' internal affairs, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said here Monday.

Spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks when asked to comment on the U.S. move to set up an international alliance on religious freedom with related countries at an international religious freedom conference.

The U.S. slandering of China's religious policy and religious freedom at the conference was met with opposition by all Chinese, Geng said.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea leader Kim Jong Un has inspected a newly built submarine and ordered officials to further bolster the country’s military capability, state media reported Tuesday, as the North is increasing its pressure on the United States ahead of the possible resumption of nuclear diplomacy.

Last week, North Korea said it may lift its 20-month suspension of nuclear and missile tests to protest expected military drills between the United States and South Korea that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean jets fired warning shots after a Russian military plane violated South Korea’s airspace on Tuesday, Seoul officials said, in the first such incident between the countries.

Three Russian military planes initially entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone off its east coast before one of them entered the country’s territorial sky, the South’s Defense Ministry said.

South Korean fighter jets then scrambled to the area to fire warning shots, a ministry official said, requesting anonymity due to department rules.