Top Asian News 1:31 a.m. GMT

Taiwan’s foreign minister says China and Russia are supporting each other’s ‘expansionism’

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Russia and China are helping each other expand their territorial reach, and democracies must push back against authoritarian states that threaten their rights and sovereignty, Taiwan’s outgoing foreign minister, Joseph Wu, said in an interview with The Associated Press. His comments came as Russian President Vladimir Putin was on a visit to China amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping reaffirmed their “no-limits” partnership as both countries face rising tensions with the West. Wu called on democracies to align in countering Russia and China’s military assertiveness in Europe, the South China Sea and beyond.

Putin concludes a trip to China by emphasizing its strategic and personal ties to Russia

BEIJING (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a two-day visit to China on Friday, emphasizing the countries’ burgeoning strategic ties as well as his own personal relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they sought to present an alternative to U.S. global influence. Putin praised the growth in bilateral trade while touring a China-Russia Expo in the northeastern city of Harbin. He met students at the Harbin Institute of Technology, known for its defense research and its work with the People’s Liberation Army. Harbin, capital of China’s Heilongjiang province, was once home to many Russian expatriates and retains some of that history in its architecture, such as the central St.

As Japan’s yakuza weakens, police focus shifts to unorganized crime hired via social media

TOKYO (AP) — A senior member of yakuza was arrested for allegedly stealing Pokemon cards near Tokyo in April, a case seen as an example of Japanese organized crime groups struggling with declining membership. Police agents who were busy dealing with thousands of yakuza members just a few years ago have noticed something new: unorganized and loosely connected groups they believe are behind a series of crimes once dominated by yakuza. Police call them “tokuryu,” anonymous gangsters and tech-savvy young people hired for specific jobs. They often cooperate with yakuza, obscuring the boundary between them and making police investigations more difficult, experts and authorities say.

Gunmen open fire and kill 4 people, including 3 Spaniards, in Afghanistan’s central Bamyan province

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Several gunmen opened fire in central Afghanistan late on Friday, killing at least four people, including three foreign nationals, a Taliban spokesman said. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that three Spaniards had died in the attack and that at least one more had been injured. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described them as “tourists” in a post on X, formerly Twitter, writing that he was “overwhelmed” by the news. Four suspects were arrested at the scene in Bamyan province, a major tourist area, and an investigation was underway, the official said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the late-evening attack.

US ambassador to Japan visits southern islands at the forefront of China tension

TOKYO (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to Japan stressed Friday the importance of increased deterrence and his country’s commitment to its key ally as he visited two southwestern Japanese islands at the forefront of Tokyo’s tension with Beijing. Rahm Emanuel visited Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost island just east of Taiwan, a self-governed island also claimed by China. He later visited another Japanese island, Ishigaki, home to Japan Coast Guard patrol boats defending the disputed East China Sea islands and Japanese fishermen from armed Chinese coast guard ships that routinely enter Japanese waters. Japan has been making a southwest shift of its defense posture, and is further accelerating its military buildup under a 2022 security strategy that focuses on counter-strike capability with long-range cruise missiles.

Taiwan is selling more to the US than China in major shift away from Beijing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Whether it’s tapioca balls or computer chips, Taiwan is stretching toward the United States and away from China — the world’s No. 2 economy that threatens to take the democratically ruled island by force if necessary. That has translated to the world’s biggest maker of computer chips — which power everything from medical equipment to cellphones — announcing bigger investments in the U.S. last month after a boost from the Biden administration. Soon afterward, a Taiwanese semiconductor company said it was ending its two-decade-long run in mainland China amid a global race to gain the edge in the high-tech industry.

North Korea test-fires suspected missiles a day after US and South Korea conduct a fighter jet drill

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired suspected short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Friday, South Korea’s military said, a day after South Korea and the U.S. flew powerful fighter jets in a joint drill that the North views as a major security threat. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the weapons launched from the North’s east coast Wonsan region traveled about 300 kilometers (185 miles) before landing in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said a North Korean missile landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff statement called the launches “a clear provocation” that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim’s sister denies North Korea has supplied weapons to Russia

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again denied Friday that her country has exported any weapons to Russia, as she labeled outside speculation on North Korea-Russian arms dealings as “the most absurd paradox.” The U.S., South Korea and others have steadfastly accused North Korea of supplying artillery, missiles and other conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine in return for advanced military technologies and economic aid. Both North Korea and Russia have repeatedly dismissed that. Foreign experts believe North Korea’s recent series of artillery and short-range missile tests were meant to examine or advertise the weapons it was planning to sell to Russia.

Philippines arrests Australian suspect, reportedly the father of a rugby star, for drugs trafficking

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — One of Indonesia’s most-wanted drug suspects has been arrested in the Philippines after an international manhunt and efforts were underway to have the suspect extradited to Jakarta to face charges, Indonesian and Philippine officials said Friday. Philippine Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Gregor Johann Haas, 46, was detained in Bogo city in the central province of Cebu after the Interpol issued a red notice, an international alert for a wanted person, stemming from a criminal complaint filed against him by Indonesian authorities. Tansingco described Haas as “a high-profile fugitive for being an alleged member of the Sinaloa cartel, a large international organized crime syndicate based in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico that specializes in drug trafficking and money laundering activities.” Media reports say Haas is the father of popular Australian rugby league player Payne Haas.

Man kills 2 officers at police station in Malaysia in a suspected Jemaah Islamiyah attack

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A man stormed a police station in Malaysia and killed two police officers early Friday in what’s being investigated as a Jemaah Islamiyah terror attack. The man also injured another officer before being shot dead. Material linked to Jemaah Islamiyah, a shadowy Southeast Asian terror network that is linked to al-Qaida, was found in the attacker’s home and five members of his family believed to be JI members were arrested for investigation, national police chief Razarudin Husain said. The attack in Ulu Tiram town in southern Johor state, which is about half an hour drive from the causeway to Singapore, appeared to have been planned, he said.