Top Asian News 4:57 a.m. GMT

China will increase its defense budget 7.2% this year

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China said Wednesday it will increase its defense budget 7.2% this year, as it continues its campaign to build a larger, more modern military to assert its territorial claims and challenge the U.S. defense lead in Asia. China’s military spending remains the second largest behind the U.S. and it already has the world’s largest navy. The budget, which adds up to about $245 billion, was announced at the National People’s Congress, the annual meeting of China’s legislature. The Pentagon and many experts say China’s total spending on defense may be 40% higher or more because of items included under other budgets.

China keeps its economic growth target at ‘around 5%' despite a looming trade war

BEIJING (AP) — China is keeping its economic growth target at “around 5%” for 2025 despite a looming trade war with the United States and other headwinds. The target for GDP growth was announced Wednesday in a report being presented by Premier Li Qiang at the opening session of the National People’s Congress, the annual meeting of China’s legislature. It reflects the government’s plans to try to stabilize growth in challenging economic times, but stop hold back on more dramatic action to supercharge it. The 32-page report acknowledged the challenges at home and abroad. “An increasingly complex and severe external environment may exert a greater impact on China in areas such as trade, science, and technology,” Li said, reading parts of the report to the Congress over nearly an hour.

BlackRock strikes deal to bring ports on both sides of Panama Canal under American control

A Hong Kong-based conglomerate has agreed to sell its controlling stake in a subsidiary that operates ports near the Panama Canal to a consortium including BlackRock Inc., effectively putting the ports under American control after President Donald Trump alleged Chinese interference with the operations of the critical shipping lane. In a filing, CK Hutchison Holding said Tuesday that it would sell all shares in Hutchison Port Holdings and in Hutchison Port Group Holdings to the consortium in a deal valued at nearly $23 billion, including $5 billion in debt. The deal will give the BlackRock consortium control over 43 ports in 23 countries, including the ports of Balboa and Cristobal, located at either end of the Panama Canal.

North Korea appears close to completing its first airborne early warning aircraft

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea appears close to completing its first airborne early warning aircraft, satellite imagery showed, an asset that experts say will sharply bolster the country’s air force power when it’s deployed. North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs pose a significant security threat to South Korea, the U.S. and others. But its aerial surveillance capability is far behind those of its rivals, while most of its fighter jets and other military aircraft are aging. 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea studies, reported Tuesday that recent commercial satellite imagery showed an Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft parked at a Pyongyang airport, with a large radome mounted on top of the fuselage.

One moment, calm waters. The next, a 900-pound dolphin landed on their boat

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A placid fishing trip turned “berserk” for three New Zealand men when a dolphin weighing more than 400 kilograms (900 pounds) appeared to fall out of the sky before crash-landing in their small boat. No one was badly hurt when the 3.4 meter (11-foot) bottlenose dolphin jumped aboard the open-top boat Friday, said Dean Harrison, the owner of the nearly 16-foot vessel. Harrison and two companions were fishing near the Hole in the Rock, a picturesque spot off the far north coast of New Zealand’s North Island, while dolphins frolicked ahead. The men saw a shadow across the bright summer sun and heard an almighty boom — before chaos unfolded.

New Zealand lawmakers told to stop complaining about use of the country’s Māori name in Parliament

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The speaker of New Zealand ’s Parliament told lawmakers he would not consider further complaints about the use of the country’s Māori name, Aotearoa, in Parliament, after one lawmaker sought to have it banned. “Aotearoa is regularly used as a name of New Zealand,” Speaker Gerry Brownlee said in a ruling Tuesday. “It appears on our passports and it appears on our currency.” The conflict over a word increasingly prominent in New Zealand life arose last month when one lawmaker objected to another’s use of the term. It reflects the way enthusiasm for the Indigenous language among New Zealanders of all ethnicities has at times prompted a backlash — including about what the country should be called.

Coral reefs in Vietnam face collapse. Can conservation efforts turn the tide?

NHA TRANG, Vietnam (AP) — The gentle waves off the coast of central Vietnam’s Nha Trang obscure an open secret: The life-giving coral reefs below are dying. The waters are eerily devoid of fish. The bounty of the ocean is coming to an end. This is why Binh Van — who fished in these waters for over two decades — now charters his boat to Vietnamese tourists wanting to experience the thrill of fishing in the deep waters of the South China Sea. But there is only squid, which is flourishing in oceans warmed by climate change, to catch. His passengers don’t mind as the boat moves away from Nha Trang’s twinkling beach resorts.

12 killed, 30 wounded in Pakistan military base attack launched by suicide bombers

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Two suicide bombings breached a wall at a military base in northwestern Pakistan before other attackers stormed the compound and were repelled in violence that killed at least 12 people and wounded 30 others, according to officials and a local hospital. A group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Bannu, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and said that dozens of members of Pakistani security forces were killed. The military didn’t immediately confirm any casualties, but Bannu District Hospital said that at least a dozen people were dead. The two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the wall of the sprawling military area, a security official said on condition of anonymity, because he wasn’t authorized to speak with reporters.

Residents flee border area as Afghan and Pakistani forces clash over crossing closure

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Residents fled a border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan after forces from both sides clashed into the early hours of Tuesday, a Pakistani official said. It was the second consecutive day of tit-for-tat gunfire at Torkham, a key crossing between the two countries that has been closed since Feb. 21 because of a dispute between the two neighbors. The Pakistani official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak with the media, said that gunfire overnight Monday spread fear and panic among residents. They fled to safer locations as security forces on both sides shot at each other with light and heavy weapons.

The head of Myanmar’s military government visits Russia for cooperation talks with Putin

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin was holding talks on Tuesday with the head of Myanmar’s military government, who seeks to cement cooperation with Moscow as he faces isolation and sanctions from the West. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing was on his fourth trip to Russia since his army seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Western nations have imposed economic and political sanctions in response to the takeover and the violent repression of opposition, which has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians and given rise to an armed conflict widely seen as civil war.