Top Asian News 3:39 a.m. GMT

Philippines says it won’t back down, but won’t start a war, after clash with Chinese Coast Guard

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The president of the Philippines said Sunday his country would not yield to “any foreign power” after Chinese forces injured Filipino navy personnel and damaged at least two military boats with machetes, axes and hammers in a clash in the disputed South China Sea, but added the Philippines would never instigate a war. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. flew with his top generals and defense chief to the western island province of Palawan, which faces the South China Sea, to meet and award medals to navy personnel who came under assault by the Chinese coast guard Monday as they attempted to deliver food and other supplies to an outpost on the hotly contested Second Thomas Shoal.

New Caledonia Indigenous independence leader transferred to mainland France for pretrial detention

NICE, France (AP) — A pro-independence leader in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia was transferred to a jail in mainland France to await trial on charges relating to two weeks of unrest in May that left nine people dead, the public prosecutor in the territory said Sunday. Christian Tein, an Indigenous Kanak leader of the pro-independence party known as The Field Action Coordination Unit, was flown to mainland France overnight Saturday, along with six other activists, prosecutor Yves Dupas said in a statement. The seven Kanak activists were transferred to pretrial detention on “a specially chartered plane” because of “the sensitivity of the procedure,” Dupas said.

With its new pact with North Korea, Russia raises the stakes with the West over Ukraine

Behind the smiles, the balloons and the red-carpet pageantry of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea last week, a strong signal came through: In the spiraling confrontation with the U.S. and its allies over Ukraine, the Russian leader is willing to challenge Western interests like never before. The pact that he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un envisions mutual military assistance between Moscow and Pyongyang if either is attacked. Putin also announced for the first time that Russia could provide weapons to the isolated country, a move that could destabilize the Korean Peninsula and reverberate far beyond.

Killing of young Cambodian couple by businessman with honorary title revives concerns about impunity

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — In a case that has sparked widespread public outrage, a court in Cambodia formally charged a real estate entrepreneur who held a royally bestowed title with the premeditated murder of a young couple in the capital Phnom Penh. Social media has been awash for the past week with comments asserting that the suspect is likely to get off because he is rich, a common view about the Southeast Asian country’s justice system. The court ruled Saturday. The suspect, 50-year-old Srey Sina, allegedly shot to death 27-year-old Long Lysong and his 25-year-old fiancée Khim Kanhchana on June 17 while intervening in a dispute between neighbors.

Emperor and Empress of Japan arrive in the UK ahead of a long-awaited state visit

LONDON (AP) — Emperor Naruhito of Japan and his wife Empress Masako arrived in the U.K. on Saturday ahead of a long-awaited official state visit originally scheduled for 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic delayed those plans. The smiling couple, who landed late afternoon at Stansted Airport north of London, will spend seven days in the U.K. carrying out private engagements before the official state visit begins on June 25. The couple have connections to the U.K., having studied at the University of Oxford at different times. The trip was intended to be the 64-year-old emperor’s first overseas visit after he ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019.

Coup-hit Niger was betting on a China-backed oil pipeline as a lifeline. Then the troubles began

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A China-backed pipeline that would make Niger an oil-exporting country is being threatened by an internal security crisis and a diplomatic dispute with neighoring Benin, both as a result of last year’s coup that toppled the West African nation’s democratic government. The 1,930-kilometer (1,200-mile) pipeline runs from Niger’s Chinese-built Agadem oil field to the port of Cotonou in Benin. It was designed to help the oil-rich but landlocked Niger achieve an almost fivefold increase in oil production through a $400 million deal signed in April with China’s state-run national petroleum company. But it has been stalled by several challenges, including the diplomatic disagreement with Benin that led to the pipeline’s closure last week.

A year ago, Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin challenged the Kremlin with a mutiny

On a lazy summer weekend a year ago, Russia was jolted by the stunning news of an armed uprising. The swaggering chief of a Kremlin-sponsored mercenary army seized a military headquarters in the south and began marching toward Moscow to oust the Defense Ministry’s leaders, accusing them of starving his force of ammunition in Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin and his soldiers-for-hire called off their “march of justice” only hours later, but the rebellion dealt a blow to President Vladimir Putin, the most serious challenge to his rule in nearly a quarter-century in power. Prigozhin’s motives are still hotly debated, and the suspicious crash of the private jet that killed him and his top lieutenants exactly two months after the rebellion remains mired in mystery.

Climate change makes India’s monsoons erratic. Can farmers still find a way to prosper?

BENGALURU, India (AP) — Each year from June to September, a heavy band of rain makes its way from India’s southwest coast to its northeastern borders, quenching farmers’ thirsty fields. India’s monsoon season is arguably the single most important weather phenomenon for the country, and a good monsoon can noticeably boost the nation’s economy and the livelihoods of its 120 million farmers. But human-caused climate change is making the rainfall more erratic, making it difficult for farmers to plant, grow and harvest crops on their rain-fed fields. “Either it rains too much within a short time or it doesn’t rain at all,” said Vijay Jawandhia, a 77-year-old farmer in western Maharashtra state.

US aircraft carrier arrives in South Korea as a show of force against nuclear-armed North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier arrived Saturday in South Korea for a three-way exercise involving Japan as they step up military training to cope with North Korean threats, which have escalated following a security pact with Russia. The arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group in Busan came a day after South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador to protest a major deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this week. The agreement pledges mutual defense assistance in the event of war. South Korea says the deal poses a threat to its security and warned that it could consider sending arms to Ukraine to help fight off the Russian invasion as a response — a move that would surely ruin its relations with Moscow.

A U.S. envoy visits Hanoi days after Putin, saying US-Vietnam trust is at ‘all-time high’

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat held talks in Vietnam on Saturday and said that the trust between the two countries was at an “all-time high,” just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Hanoi. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink insisted that his trip was unrelated to Putin’s visit on Thursday. Vietnam had elevated the United States to its highest diplomatic status, comprehensive strategic partner, last year, putting it at the same level as China and Russia. The elevation of the U.S. ties suggested that Vietnam wanted to hedge its friendships as Western companies look to diversify their supply chains away from China.