Top Asian News 2:18 a.m. GMT

The US and China talk past each other on most issues, but at least they’re still talking

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up his just-concluded latest visit to China with a stop at a Beijing record store where he bought albums by Taylor Swift and Chinese rocker Dou Wei in a symbolic nod to cross-cultural exchanges and understanding he had been promoting for three days. Music, he said at the Li-Pi shop on his way to the airport late Friday, “is the best connector, regardless of geography.” Yet Swift’s “Midnights” and Dou Wei’s “Black Dream” could just as easily represent the seemingly intractable divisions in the deeply troubled relationship between the world’s two largest economies that both sides publicly and privately blame on the other.

20 Cambodian soldiers killed in an ammunition explosion at a military base

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — An ammunition explosion at a base in southwestern Cambodia on Saturday afternoon killed 20 soldiers and wounded several others, Prime Minister Hun Manet said. Hun Manet said in a Facebook post that he was “deeply shocked” when he received the news of the blast at the base in Kampong Speu province. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused it. Images from the scene showed several badly damaged buildings still smoldering, at least one with its roof blown off, and soldiers receiving treatment in a hospital. Other photos showed houses with holes in their roofs. Four buildings — three for storage and one work facility — were destroyed and several military vehicles damaged, Col.

A tornado in southern China kills 5 people and damages factories in the metropolis of Guangzhou

BEIJING (AP) — A tornado struck the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Saturday, killing five people and damaging more than 140 factory buildings, state media said. The China Meteorological Administration said the tornado struck about 3 p.m. in the Baiyun district of Guangzhou, a sprawling metropolis and manufacturing center near Hong Kong. Videos posted online showed a mid-afternoon sky darkened by storm clouds and debris swirling up into the air. Authorities said that another 33 people were injured and 141 factory buildings were damaged, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Tornado warnings were issued for other parts of Guangzhou and there were unconfirmed reports that a second tornado appeared to have hit another district in the city later in the afternoon.

A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shakes Indonesia’s Java Island, felt in Jakarta

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the southern part of Indonesia’s main island of Java on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or significant property damage. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 102 kilometers (63 miles) south of Banjar city at a depth of 68.3 kilometers (42.4 miles). There was no tsunami warning. High-rises in the capital Jakarta swayed for around a minute and two-story homes shook strongly in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung and in Jakarta’s satellite cities of Depok, Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi. The quake was also felt in other cities in West Java, Yogyakarta and East Java province, according to Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency.

Head of Vietnam’s parliament resigns amid corruption probe

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The head of Vietnam’s parliament has resigned, according to state media, making him the latest senior member of government to leave office amid an ongoing anti-corruption campaign that’s shaken the country’s political and business elites. The resignation of National Assembly Chair Vuong Dinh Hue adds to growing instability in the country. President Vo Van Thuong resigned in March — just over a year after the previous president, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, resigned to take political responsibility for corruption scandals during the pandemic. “It also highlights the extreme uncertainty in a political environment that’s often boasted of its stability, as three top leaders have been axed in just a year,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

India votes in second phase of national elections with Modi’s BJP as front-runner

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians voted Friday in a moderate turnout in the second round of multi-phase national elections as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to galvanize voters with his assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics. People lined up outside polling stations as voting opened at 7 a.m. local time and braved hot summer weather with temperatures soaring up to 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit) in the afternoon. The election authority said in a statement that approximately 60.96% of 160 million eligible voters exercised their right to cast a ballot in the second round. The outcome of Friday’s voting will be crucial for Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, as the 88 constituencies up for grabs across 13 states include some of its strongholds in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The TikTok law kicks off a new showdown between Beijing and Washington. What’s coming next?

WASHINGTON (AP) — TikTok is gearing up for a legal fight against a U.S. law that would force the social media platform to break ties with its China-based parent company, a move almost certainly backed by Chinese authorities as the bitter U.S.-China rivalry threatens the future of a wildly popular way for young people in America to connect online. Beijing has signaled TikTok should fight what it has called a “robbers” act by U.S. lawmakers “to snatch from others all the good things that they have.” Should a legal challenge fail, observers say Chinese authorities are unlikely to allow a sale, a move that could be seen as surrendering to Washington.

Japan announces plans to launch upgraded observation satellites on new flagship rocket’s 3rd flight

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s space agency announced Friday a plan to launch a major upgrade to its satellite imaging system, as a new flagship rocket is put to the test for a third time. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency that an H3 rocket will be launched from the Tanegashima Space Center, on a southwestern Japanese island, early afternoon on June 30, with a launch window that runs through the end of July. The rocket will be carrying an Advanced Land Observation Satellite, ALOS-4, tasked primarily with Earth observation and data collection for disaster response and mapmaking, as well as with monitoring military activity, such as missile launches, with an infrared sensor developed by the Defense Ministry.

South Korean police raid office of incoming head of doctors’ group over protracted strikes

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police said Friday they searched the office of the hard-line incoming leader of an association of doctors and confiscated his mobile phone as he faces accusations that he incited the protracted walkouts by thousands of medical interns and residents. The development could further dim prospects for an early end to the strikes. The office of Lim Hyun-taek, who is to be inaugurated as head of the Korean Medical Association next week, called the raid politically motivated and questioned whether the government is sincere about its offer for dialogue to end the strikes. Police said they sent officers to Lim’s office in Seoul and residence in the southern city of Asan on Friday to confiscate his mobile phone and other unspecified materials.

Philippine police kill an Abu Sayyaf militant implicated in 15 beheadings and other atrocities

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine forces killed an Abu Sayyaf militant, who had been implicated in past beheadings, including of 10 Filipino marines and two kidnapped Vietnamese, in a clash in the south, police officials said Friday. Philippine police, backed by military intelligence agents, killed Nawapi Abdulsaid in a brief gunbattle Wednesday night in the remote coastal town of Hadji Mohammad Ajul on Basilan island after weeks of surveillance, security officials said. Abu Sayyaf is a small but violent armed Muslim group, which has been blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization for ransom kidnappings, beheadings, bombings and other bloody attacks.