Top Asian News 3:17 a.m. GMT

China says US is ‘playing with fire’ after latest military aid for Taiwan

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government protested Sunday the latest American announcements of military sales and assistance to Taiwan, warning the United States that it is “playing with fire.” U.S. President Joe Biden authorized Saturday the provision of up to $571 million in Defense Department material and services and in military education and training for self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory and says must come under its control. Separately, the Defense Department said Friday that $295 million in military sales had been approved. A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement urged the U.S. to stop arming Taiwan and stop what it called “dangerous moves that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” U.S.

Trauma lingers on for survivors of the deadly tsunami that hit Thailand 20 years ago

BAN NAM KHEM, Thailand (AP) — The 20-year-old freshman student was still asleep that Sunday morning at the family’s house on the Andaman Sea coast of southern Thailand when her mom, sensing something wasn’t right, woke her up saying they needed to leave right away. The day is forever seared in Neungduangjai Sritrakarn’s memory: Dec. 26, 2004, the day the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami struck across South and Southeast Asia, after a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island. It was one of modern history’s worst natural disasters. Neungduangjai’s mom had noticed a strange pattern of whitecaps on the sea, just as a relative who returned from a fishing trip came by to warn them.

AP PHOTOS: The scars of a 9.1 earthquake and tsunami continue to haunt Indians for decades

NAGAPATTINAM, India (AP) — He was a young boy playing cricket with friends on a beach around 9:30 in the morning when a 9.1 magnitude earthquake violently shook the earth, and a tsunami struck from Indonesia to India two decades ago. Life changed for Yusuf Ansari, now a 32-year-old motor rickshaw driver. “Out of nowhere, we saw a boat tossed by the waves, followed by a massive rush of dark water and a big wave of water. It all happened so fast. Everyone around panicked. They didn’t even think about their boats or homes,” Ansari said, adding that everyone just ran to higher ground as quickly as possible.

Indonesians mark 2 decades since the tragic tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Two decades after a catastrophic tsunami destroyed her village, Tria Asnani still cries when she recalls how she lost her mother while trying to escape the giant waves. Asnani, now a school teacher, was only 17 at the time. Her father, who was a fisherman, never returned home from sea. She doesn’t know how she survived. “I cannot swim. I could only rely on dhikr (Islamic prayer).” On Dec. 26, 2004, a powerful 9.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people across a dozen countries, reaching as far as East Africa.

The water was their livelihood. Now Thailand’s sea nomads work to preserve a vanishing way of life

SURIN ISLANDS, Thailand (AP) — When Hook was a child, he started his days by jumping off the boat that his family lived on and into the ocean. By age 3, he could already swim and dive in shallow waters. His home was a kabang, a boat, that his family sailed in Thailand’s southern waters. The ocean was his backyard. Now Hook, whose full name is Suriyan Klathale, lives on land like the rest of his community, a people known as the Moken. The recollections of his childhood, which many Moken of his generation still have, are mostly just memories.

Greek authorities say boat capsizing victims and survivors were from Afghanistan. 2 Turks arrested

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s coast guard said Saturday it was searching for survivors or victims of a speedboat capsizing a day earlier involving migrants off the eastern Greek island of Rhodes. The capsizing, the result of the boat’s maneuvering to evade a patrol vessel according to authorities, left eight confirmed dead. A total of 18 migrants — 12 men, three women and three minors — all Afghan nationals, were rescued, the coast guard said Saturday. The dead were also from Afghanistan, it said. Some migrants remained hospitalized, with one in critical condition, authorities said. Two Turkish citizens, ages 23 and 19, were arrested as the suspected traffickers.

Pakistani Taliban claims responsibility for a deadly military checkpoint attack in the northwest

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for a deadly military checkpoint attack in the country’s northwest. The militant group said it killed 35 soldiers and injured 15 others in an early morning raid. It also claimed seizing equipment including a night vision device and weapons. It’s Pakistan Taliban’s latest assault on troops in the restive province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan. They made the claims in one of their WhatsApp chat groups. The army has yet to officially comment on the incident in South Waziristan, but a security official said militants used light and heavy weapons.

AP PHOTOS: Scenes of devastation from the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

On Dec. 26, 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, causing a massive wave that devastated Asian coastal communities across thousands of miles. Some 230,000 people died as the tsunami leveled remote villages, ports and tourist resorts in Indonesia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka, among other countries. Ahead of the 20th anniversary of a disaster that’s still vividly remembered in the region, here’s a look back at the aftermath. In these photos, a resident of a fishing village in India’s Tamil Nadu state contemplates the remains of her house as fires continue to burn in her village.

South Korean investigators seek to question reluctant president over martial law

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean investigators on Friday again sought to question impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law, summoning him for questioning on Christmas Day despite his repeated refusal to cooperate. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military authorities into the ill-conceived power grab that lasted only a few hours, said it plans to question Yoon on charges of abuse of authority and orchestrating a rebellion. Yoon, whose presidential powers have been suspended since the opposition-controlled National Assembly impeached him on Dec.

An ethnic armed group in western Myanmar claims to have captured a major regional army headquarters

BANGKOK (AP) — A powerful ethnic armed group in western Myanmar claimed Friday to have scored a major victory in the war against the ruling military, even as neighboring nations at a meeting in Thailand were discussing efforts to end the conflict peacefully. The capture by the Arakan Army of a strategically important regional army headquarters in Rakhine state would put it a step closer to seizing control of the entire state, a goal not achieved by any of the several other rebel groups in other parts of Myanmar. Rakhine has become a focal point for Myanmar’s nationwide civil war, in which pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic minority armed forces seeking autonomy battle the country’s military rulers, who took power in 2021 after ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.