Latest news with #foreignpolicy
South China Morning Post
20 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Take an independent tack on China, Wang Yi urges South Korea's new foreign policy chief
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has used his first official phone call with his new South Korean counterpart to call on Seoul to oppose 'decoupling' and to pursue an independent foreign policy. In his call with Cho Hyun on Monday, Wang urged South Korea to promote a 'stable, sustainable and predictable' China policy and to deepen pragmatic cooperation, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said the two ministers spoke for about 45 minutes, reaffirming their shared commitment to advancing the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership in a 'steady and mature' manner. 'They agreed to work together to ensure that the upcoming Apec summit in Gyeongju serves as a new turning point in bilateral ties and to deliver tangible outcomes in practical cooperation that can be felt by the peoples of both countries,' Yonhap reported, citing South Korea's foreign ministry. Beijing seeks to reset its ties with the newly installed leadership in Seoul under President Lee Jae-myung
CNA
a day ago
- Business
- CNA
Commentary: Prabowo wants a global role for Indonesia
SURABAYA, Indonesia: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto arrived at the BRICS Summit in Brazil this month, eager to showcase Indonesia's growing presence on the global stage. Instead, his BRICS debut was quickly overshadowed by his United States counterpart, Donald Trump, announcing that his administration would proceed with a 32 per cent general tariff on Indonesian goods entering the US, first announced in April. A day later, Mr Trump announced an additional 10 per cent would be slapped on all BRICS members, including Indonesia, its newest member. Although Mr Prabowo - who took on the top job just nine months ago - later managed to negotiate the tariff down to 19 per cent, describing it as the result of a ' tough negotiation ' during a phone call with Mr Trump, the episode cast a pall over his broader efforts to elevate Indonesia's foreign policy as a hallmark of his presidency. Indonesia's accession to BRICS in January marked a turn towards a more assertive foreign policy, a clear departure from Mr Prabowo's predecessor, Joko Widodo, who had prioritised domestic issues. Ahead of the BRICS summit, the Indonesian foreign ministry had described Mr Prabowo's intent as positioning Indonesia as a "bridge-builder" amid growing global uncertainties. BIG FISH IN A BIG POND Rather than anchoring Indonesia's foreign policy to ASEAN centrality as his predecessors did, Mr Prabowo, through BRICS and other efforts, is clearly seeking bigger ponds where Indonesia may become a significantly bigger fish. Just as Mr Widodo sought to be remembered for transforming Indonesia's physical infrastructure, Mr Prabowo appears keen on being remembered as a geopolitical heavyweight. His participation in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in June, alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, was telling. At that forum, Mr Prabowo claimed Indonesia's BRICS accession process had been one of the fastest of all countries. He also explained his decision to attend the SPIEF instead of the G7 Summit in Canada to which he had been invited as a guest. "It is not because I didn't respect the G7, but because I gave my commitment to attend this forum before they invited us.' He added that Indonesia, by tradition, has always been non-aligned and that it "respect all countries'. A REALIST Mr Prabowo's interest in geopolitics is not new. As defence minister (from 2019 to 2024), he drew fire after pitching a controversial peace plan for the war between Russia and Ukraine at the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2023. His proposal included the creation of a demilitarised zone and an eventual United Nations-sponsored referendum in the 'disputed territories'. Ukraine's then foreign ministry spokesperson, Oleg Nikolenko, rejected it outright, saying there were no disputed territories and that Russia's withdrawal from all the occupied territories was non-negotiable. That episode revealed Mr Prabowo's realist outlook and the priority he gives to hard power in international relations over international laws and conventions. That posture has continued into his presidency. During a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Jakarta in May, he declared: "We must acknowledge and guarantee Israel's rights as a sovereign country," adding a caveat that "Indonesia has stated that once Israel recognises Palestine, Indonesia is ready to recognise Israel". No previous Indonesian president has dared to offer an explicit promise to recognise the state of Israel, let alone throwing in some form of security guarantee. Yet, apart from his blunt language, Mr Prabowo had in fact barely shifted Indonesia's traditional stance vis-a-vis Israel. It has been a key element of its foreign policy to withhold diplomatic recognition and avoid ties with Tel Aviv as long as there is no independent Palestinian state. Now he has appeared to make, by the tone of his language at least, Palestine's independence a foreign policy priority. He has, moreover, signalled his willingness to work with Israel to achieve this objective, even if he has never elaborated how. In April, Mr Prabowo underlined his resolve to nudge along a resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict by offering to temporarily shelter 1,000 Palestinians impacted by the war in Gaza. If carried out, this will represent Indonesia's most concrete commitment to the Palestinian cause to date. Central to Mr Prabowo's approach is his ambition to usher in an age in which Indonesia 'will rise as a great country'. In this, he echoes Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, who had sought to bypass the two-bloc nature of the post-war world by drawing the non-aligned countries together as a third force. Mr Prabowo's real challenge remains how to balance Indonesia's role as a middle-ranking power amid global power rivalries. But what is becoming increasingly clear is that he will use all the influence at his disposal to raise Indonesia's prominence and stature and, by extension, the potential to make his own personal legacy more memorable than those of his predecessors.
LBCI
a day ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Trump says EU will send more aid to Gaza
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the European Union will send more aid to the Gaza Strip, adding that he plans to ask British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for assistance. Speaking alongside Starmer in Scotland, Trump said he had spoken with Israeli officials and told them they might need to take a different approach. Reuters
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Philippines' Marcos Jnr rails against corruption in State of the Nation address
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr delivered his shortest State of the Nation address (Sona) to date on Monday, as he mostly sidestepped foreign policy issues and used the occasion to launch a blistering attack on public infrastructure corruption. During the speech that lasted an hour and 10 minutes, Marcos Jnr made no mention of China and referred to the United States only in passing. The focus on corruption and a lack of insight into external developments suggests a calculated bid by him to bolster his domestic support and avoid stoking tensions with other countries, according to analysts. 'Then as now, our foreign policy remains the same. The Philippines is a friend to all. The Philippines is an enemy to none. That will be our main focus as we, the Philippines, host the Asean summit in 2026.' The president offered no comment on rising maritime tensions in the South China Sea, where the Chinese coastguard and militia vessels have repeatedly confronted Philippine forces in recent months. His only reference to the US came in the context of Manila's 'debt' to Washington for helping in the modernisation of the Philippines' police and military. Vergel Santos, a veteran journalist and former publisher of BusinessWorld, told This Week in Asia that the president's position was clear despite his short speech. 'I think he has made it clear enough he will resist China. And I can somehow understand he skipped the subject because it's evident enough he has chosen to side with the US,' Santos said, noting that American forces now had access to nine military bases across the Philippines.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fred Fleitz talks Trump pivot on Russia strategy to end war
Fred Fleitz says Trump sanction strategy for Putin will work but may take 'a couple of years to solve.'
