North Korea's Kim Jong Un is beefing up his navy. Can he succeed?
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Yahoo
2 minutes ago
- Yahoo
China to Send Top Envoy to India as Ties Warm After US Tariffs
(Bloomberg) -- China will send a top official to New Delhi next week, as Beijing steps up efforts to ease long-standing tensions with India amid US President Donald Trump's global trade overhaul. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will likely travel to New Delhi on Aug. 18 — his first trip to the country in over three years — and is expected to meet India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, according to people familiar with the matter. The US-Canadian Road Safety Gap Is Getting Wider Sunseeking Germans Face Swiss Backlash Over Alpine Holiday Congestion To Head Off Severe Storm Surges, Nova Scotia Invests in 'Living Shorelines' Five Years After Black Lives Matter, Brussels' Colonial Statues Remain For Homeless Cyclists, Bikes Bring an Escape From the Streets A key agenda item will be discussing ways to reduce troop levels along the disputed Himalayan border, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are still private. Such a step would mark significant progress toward restoring trust between the two countries, they added. The trip marks the latest step in a slow but steady thaw between the Asian neighbors, who are also holding talks to restart border trade and plan to resume direct flights as early as next month. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit China in August — his first trip there in seven years. India and China began restoring ties late last year, following a deadly 2020 border clash that had severely strained relations. The renewed engagement comes at a time when New Delhi's ties with Trump are fraying, with Washington imposing a 50% tariff on Indian exports — significantly higher than duties on regional peers. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that Beijing stands ready to work with New Delhi to 'properly handle differences in the face of the big picture.' It makes sense for the two sides to build closer ties as they are 'major developing countries and important members of the Global South,' it said in a response to a query from Bloomberg News. India's Ministry of External Affairs didn't respond to an email seeking further information. China's Foreign Ministry didn't immediately respond to a request seeking confirmation of Wang's itinerary Rebuilding Ties The two nations are considering the resumption of border trade in locally made goods after more than five years, according to New Delhi officials familiar with the matter. Both sides have proposed restarting trade through designated points on their border, and the matter is currently under discussion, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are still private. For over three decades, India and China had traded locally produced goods — such as spices, carpets, wooden furniture, cattle fodder, pottery, medicinal plants, electric goods and wool — through three designated points along their 3,488-kilometer (2,167-mile) disputed Himalayan border. The trade value is relatively small, estimated at just $3.16 million in 2017–18, according to the most recent government data available. The trading points were shut during the Covid-19 pandemic, which coincided with a sharp decline in relations between the two nations after the border clashes that killed 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that Beijing is 'willing to step up communication and coordination with India' on the matter. 'Border trade between China and India has long played an important role in improving lives of the two countries' border residents,' it said in its response to the query. Beijing has also eased curbs on some fertilizer shipments to India and Modi is expected to head to China later this month to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. He is expected to meet President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the event held in Tianjin from Aug. 31. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also expected to attend the SCO gathering. Trump is frustrated with India's continued imports of discounted Russian oil, which he says help fund the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. Modi has shown no signs of backing down, and his government signed agreements with Moscow this month to deepen economic cooperation. India has argued its purchases of Russian oil have helped stabilize global markets and prevent a supply crunch. --With assistance from Colum Murphy, Jing Li, Jon Herskovitz and Philip Glamann. Americans Are Getting Priced Out of Homeownership at Record Rates Dubai's Housing Boom Is Stoking Fears of Another Crash Why It's Actually a Good Time to Buy a House, According to a Zillow Economist Bessent on Tariffs, Deficits and Embracing Trump's Economic Plan The Electric Pickup Truck Boom Turned Into a Big Bust ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
34 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
India Scours the Globe for More Oil Ahead of Trump-Putin Summit
Refiners in India, the world's top importer of seaborne Russian crude, are scouring the globe for alternative supplies, hedging their bets ahead of a summit between the US and Russian leaders. President Donald Trump, eager to gain traction in talks with Vladimir Putin, has demanded that India stop purchases of cut-price crude that fuels the Kremlin's 'the war machine,' and last week doubled tariffs on the country's goods as punishment. The move left refiners in the world's third-largest oil consumer looking to switch up their procurement plans.
an hour ago
Powerful sister of North Korean leader denies removal of front-line speakers
SEOUL, South Korea -- The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday dismissed South Korean claims that the North is removing some of its loudspeakers along the inter-Korean border, mocking the government in Seoul for clinging to hopes of renewed diplomacy between the war-divided rivals. South Korea's military said over the weekend that it had detected the North removing some of its loudspeakers, days after the South dismantled its own front-line speakers used for anti-North propaganda broadcasts in a bid to ease tensions. Kim Yo Jong reiterated previous North Korean statements that it has no immediate interest in reviving long-stalled negotiations with Washington and Seoul, citing an upcoming joint military exercise between the allies as proof of their continued hostility toward Pyongyang. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff did not disclose where it spotted the North removing some of its speakers. The North Korean speakers that have been visible from civilian-accessible border areas in the South were still seen by Associated Press photojournalists after the military's announcement. During a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, South Korea's new liberal President Lee Jae Myung described the North's alleged steps as a 'reciprocal measure' and expressed hope the Koreas could 'gradually reopen dialogue and communication.' Kim accused Lee's government of misleading the public, saying that North Koreans 'have never removed loudspeakers installed on the border area and are not willing to remove them.' When asked about Kim's comments, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson, Col. Lee Sung Joon, maintained that the South's military had confirmed the removal of some North Korean speakers and cautioned against 'being easily swayed' by North Korean statements with political intent. 'It has always been the case that North Korea often makes claims that aren't true,' he said. South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said in a statement that Seoul will continue to pursue 'sustained steps' to improve relations but acknowledged that the process will require patience. Kim Yo Jong also dismissed South Korean media speculation that the North may use this week's planned meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump to convey a message to Washington via Moscow. "Why should we send a message to the U.S. side," she said, adding that the North has no interest in talks with the Americans. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, North Korea has made Russia the priority of its foreign policy and has sent thousands of troops and large supplies of military equipment, including artillery and missiles, to help fuel Russia's war. North Korean and Russian state media said Wednesday that Kim Jong Un and Putin held a phone call to discuss their deepening ties and war efforts against Ukraine. Russia's TASS news agency said Putin also shared with Kim information about his upcoming talks with Trump in Alaska on Friday, but the North Korean reports did not mention the Trump meeting. Kim Yo Jong had also released statements in July dismissing Washington and Seoul's stated desires to restart diplomacy aimed at defusing the North's nuclear program, which derailed in 2019 following a collapsed summit between her brother and Trump during his first term. In recent months, South Korean border residents have complained that North Korean speakers blasted irritating sounds, including howling animals and pounding gongs, in a tit-for-tat response to South Korean propaganda broadcasts. The South Korean military said the North stopped its broadcasts in June, after Lee ordered to halt South's broadcasts in his government's first concrete step toward easing tensions between the war-divided rivals. The South's military began removing its speakers from border areas last week but did not say if they would be redeployed if tensions flared again. North Korea, extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of its authoritarian leadership and its third-generation ruler, had seen South Korea's anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts as a major provocation. The South's previous conservative government resumed daily loudspeaker broadcasts in June last year, following a yearslong pause, in retaliation for North Korea flying trash-laden balloons toward the South. The speakers blasted propaganda messages and K-pop songs, a playlist designed to strike a nerve in Pyongyang, where Kim Jong Un has been pushing to eliminate the influence of South Korean pop culture and language among the population, in part of attempts to strengthen his family's dynastic rule. The psychological warfare campaigns further heightened tensions already inflamed by North Korea's advancing nuclear program and South Korean efforts to expand joint military exercises with the United States and their trilateral security cooperation with Japan. Lee, who took office in June after winning an early election to replace ousted conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, wants to improve relations with Pyongyang, which reacted furiously to Yoon's hard-line policies. Experts, however, say the North clearly feels no urgency to resume diplomacy with South Korea and the U.S. anytime soon and remains focused on its alignment with Russia. annual combined U.S.-South Korean military exercises that start Aug. 18.
