Top Asian News 3:24 a.m. GMT

Ukraine says more than 150 Chinese mercenaries are fighting for Russia in Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine on Wednesday expanded on its claim that significant numbers of Chinese nationals are fighting for Russia’s invading army, saying it had gathered detailed intelligence on more than 150 mercenaries Moscow allegedly recruited through social media. In China, officials called the allegations “totally unfounded.” The Ukrainian accusation and Chinese denial come as the U.S. strives to secure a ceasefire in the more than three-year war. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Tuesday that the Ukrainian military had captured two Chinese men fighting alongside the Russian army on Ukrainian soil. It was the first time Ukraine had made such a claim about Chinese fighters in the war.

Hegseth says China’s military presence in Western Hemisphere is ‘too large’

PANAMA CITY (AP) — U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth focused again on China’s presence in the Western Hemisphere Wednesday, one day after calling the world power a threat to the Panama Canal. Speaking at a regional security conference, Hegseth said that China-based companies were controlling land and critical infrastructure in strategic sectors. “China’s military has too large of a presence in the Western Hemisphere,” Hegseth said. “Make no mistake, Beijing is investing and operating in this region for military advantage and unfair economic gain.” He called on the region’s governments to work together to deter China and address threats posed by transnational drug cartels and mass immigration.

Asia shares jump after US stocks soared to historic gains when Trump paused most of his tariffs

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares surged in Thursday trading, with Japan’s benchmark jumping more than 2,000 points almost immediately after the Tokyo exchange opened, as investors welcomed President Donald Trump ’s decision to back off on most of his tariffs. Analysts had expected the regional comeback given that U.S. stocks had one of their best days in history Wednesday on a euphoric Wall Street, where investor hopes had run high that Trump would tone down the tariffs. On Thursday, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 8.3% in morning trading to 34,353.17, zooming upward as soon as trading began. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 soared 4.7% to 7,722.90.

Trump hits back with a 125% tariff in escalating trade war with China

BANGKOK (AP) — President Donald Trump raised the tariff on Chinese imports to 125% on Wednesday, hours after China boosted the duty on American goods to 84% in an escalating battle that threatens to disrupt trade between the world’s two largest economies. Citing a lack of respect, Trump set China apart from other countries. He said in a social media post that he is pausing his so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on many other trading partners because they had responded by reaching out for talks rather than retaliating. The tit-for-tat hikes between the U.S. and China are the latest in an ongoing trade war that threatens to raise prices for consumers in America and derail China’s attempts to reinvigorate its sluggish economy.

50 years later, Vietnam’s battlefields draw retrospective veterans and other tourists

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) — Hamburger Hill, Hue, the Ia Drang Valley, Khe Sanh: Some remember the Vietnam War battles from the headlines of the 1960s and 1970s, others from movies and history books. And thousands of Americans and Vietnamese know them as the graveyards of loved ones who died fighting more than a half-century ago. Today the battlefields of Vietnam are sites of pilgrimage for veterans from both sides who fought there, and tourists wanting to see firsthand where the war was waged. “It was a war zone when I was here before,” reflected U.S. Army veteran Paul Hazelton as he walked with his wife through the grounds of the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, which was known as Saigon when he served there.

Lego opens a toy factory in Vietnam it plans to run entirely on clean energy

BINH DUONG, Vietnam (AP) — Lego opened a $1 billion factory in Vietnam on Wednesday that it says will make toys without adding planet-warming gas to the atmosphere by relying entirely on clean energy. The factory in the industrial area of Binh Duong, close to Ho Chi Minh City, is the first in Vietnam that aims to run entirely on clean energy. Lego says it will do that by early 2026. It’s the Danish company’s sixth worldwide and its second in Asia. It will use high-tech equipment to produce colorful Lego bricks for Southeast Asia’s growing markets. “We just want to make sure that the planet that the children inherit when they grow up needs to be a planet that is still there.

Beijing ups diplomatic pressure on Africa as the US pulls back

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese diplomats threatened to cancel a summit and called top officials in two African countries to pressure lawmakers to quit an international parliamentary group critical of China, officials from the group told The Associated Press. It’s an example of how far China will go to influence politicians overseas, and how that pressure can succeed behind closed doors. In the past year, lawmakers from Malawi and Gambia withdrew from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, or IPAC, a group of hundreds of lawmakers from 38 countries concerned about how democracies approach Beijing, according to letters, messages and voice recordings obtained by The Associated Press.

UN special envoy Julie Bishop makes first trip to war-torn Myanmar after big quake

BANGKOK (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for Myanmar made her first visit to the military-ruled nation since her appointment last year, meeting Wednesday with the foreign minister as the country recovers from an earthquake that killed more than 3,600 people. The envoy, Australia’s Julie Bishop, met with Foreign Minister Than Swe and other officials at a temporary tented area outside of the ministry’s damaged building in the capital Naypyitaw, which was hard hit by the 7.7 magnitude quake on March 28, Myanmar’s MRTV state television said. The earthquake caused significant damage to six regions and states, leaving many areas without power, telephone or cell connections and damaging roads and bridges, exacerbating hardships caused by the Southeast Asian nation’s continuing civil war.

Japan’s Ishiba and NATO chief vow to deepen security ties as regional threats rise

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and NATO chief Mark Rutte vowed Wednesday to further deepen military ties while stressing the need to tackle together growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia. Japan, which has stepped up defense ties with the United States, its key ally, and other friendly nations in the Indo-Pacific, has also sought closer ties with NATO, fearing that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could embolden China’s assertiveness in the region. “A stronger NATO will benefit Japan greatly,” Ishiba told a joint news conference after his talks with Rutte, who was in Japan for the first time since becoming secretary general of the organization in October.

Famous North Korean assassin who became a pastor in the South following failed 1968 mission dies

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Kim Shin-jo, a prominent ex-North Korean commando who resettled in South Korea as a pastor after his daring mission to assassinate then South Korean President Park Chung-hee in 1968 failed, died on Wednesday. He was 82. Kim died of old age after two months of stay at a nursing home and his official funeral is set for Saturday, Kim’s Sungrak Church in Seoul said. It said Kim was survived by his wife, whom he met after resettling in South Korea, and a son and a daughter. Kim was among a team of 31 North Korean commandos who tried to storm South Korea’s mountainside presidential palace to assassinate Park, an authoritarian president who had been ruling South Korea with an iron-fist since 1961.