Top Asian News 3:07 a.m. GMT

Chinese defense minister accuses US of causing friction with its support for Taiwan and Philippines

SINGAPORE (AP) — China’s defense minister on Sunday acknowledged the importance of newly renewed military-to-military communications with the United States as tensions escalate in the Asia-Pacific, while at the same time accusing Washington of causing the friction with its support for Taiwan and the Philippines. “We will not allow anyone to bring geopolitical conflicts or any war, whether hot or cold, into our region,” Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun told the Shangri-La defense forum in Singapore through a translator. “We will not allow any country or any force to create conflict and chaos in our region,” he added. China has been increasingly assertive in pressing its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea, a key global shipping route, which has led to a growing number of conflicts, most notably with the Philippines, whose ships have been rammed by Chinese vessels and hit with water cannons.

A Chinese spacecraft lands on moon’s far side to collect rocks in growing space rivalry with US

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon Sunday to collect soil and rock samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side. The landing module touched down at 6:23 a.m. Beijing time in a huge crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the China National Space Administration said. The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration program, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess. It is the second designed to bring back samples, following the Chang’e 5, which did so from the near side in 2020.

Voting ends in the last round of India’s election, a referendum on Modi’s decade in power

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s 6 -week-long national election came to an end Saturday with most exit polls projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to extend his decade in power with a third consecutive term. During the grueling, multi-phase election, candidates crisscrossed the country, poll workers hiked to remote villages, and voters lined up for hours in sweltering heat. Now all that’s left is to wait for the results, which are expected to be announced Tuesday. The election is considered one of the most consequential in India’s history. If Modi wins, he’ll be only the second Indian leader to retain power for a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister.

Malaysian climber who died near top of Alaska’s Denali, North America’s tallest peak, is identified

DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE, Alaska (AP) — A Malaysian climber likely died of exposure and altitude-related illness earlier this week after sheltering for days in a snow cave with minimal survival gear near the top of Denali, North America’s tallest mountain in Alaska, park officials said Saturday. Zulkifli Bin Yusof, 36, likely died Wednesday in a 19,600 foot (5,974 meter) elevation cave in Denali National Park and Preserve, park spokesman Paul Ollig said Saturday. The National Park Service recovered his body Friday night, Ollig said. Yusof was part of a three-man climbing team, all of whom listed their address as the Alpine Club of Malaysia in Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, according to Ollig.

15 years on, the Tamil survivors of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war live in fear — and disempowerment

MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka (AP) — At the site of a bloody battlefield that marked the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, Singaram Soosaimuthu fishes every day with his son, casting nets and reeling them in. It is a skill he has known for much of his life — and one that he had to relearn after a devastating injury. The former Tamil fighter lost both legs in 2009 as the nation’s generation-long civil war drew to a close and the Tamils retreated in defeat. Making something of himself despite his injuries brought Soosaimuthu success — an achievement in which he finds profound meaning.

River ferry sinks in Afghanistan, killing at least 20

ISLAMABAD (AP) — At least 20 people were killed when a boat sank while crossing a river in eastern Afghanistan Saturday morning, a Taliban official said. Quraishi Badlon, provincial director of the information and culture department in Nangarhar province, said that the boat sank while crossing a river in Mohmand Dara district, killing 20 people including women and children. Badlon said that the boat was carrying 25 people, according to village residents, of whom five survived. So far five bodies have been retrieved including a man, a woman, two boys and a girl, said the Nangarhar health department in a statement.

Tin Oo, a close ally of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi and co-founder of her pro-democracy party, dies at 97

BANGKOK (AP) — Tin Oo, one of the closest associates of Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as a co-founder of her National League for Democracy party, has died. He was 97. Tin Oo died Saturday morning at Yangon General Hospital, said Moh Khan, a charity worker, citing a member of his family. Charity workers in Myanmar handle funeral arrangements. Moh Khan said Tin Oo had been hospitalized at Yangon General Hospital on Wednesday due to difficulty urinating and other health problems, including weakness. His cause of death was not immediately announced. Tin Oo was respected by many of his party’s members for his outspokenness and courage as he shared many of Suu Kyi’s travails.

After a quarter century, Thailand’s LGBTQ Pride Parade is seen as a popular and political success

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand kicked off its celebration of the LGBTQ+ community’s Pride Month with a parade Saturday, as the country is on course to become the first nation in Southeast Asia to legalize marriage equality. The annual Bangkok Pride Parade Can filled one side of a major thoroughfare with a colorful parade for several hours in one of the Thai capital’s busiest commercial districts. Pride Month celebrations have been endorsed by politicians, government agencies and some of the country’s biggest business conglomerates, which have become official partners or sponsors for the celebration. Ann “Waaddao” Chumaporn, who has been organizing Bangkok Pride since 2022, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press that she hopes the parade can be “a platform that allows everyone to call out for what they want and express who they really are.” Waaddao thinks Thai society has shifted a lot from a decade ago, and the issue has now become a fashionable social and business trend.

Japan billionaire Maezawa cancels moon trip due to uncertainty over SpaceX rocket development

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on Saturday canceled his planned flight around the moon on a SpaceX vehicle because of uncertainty about when it may be possible. The tycoon in 2018 launched plans for the lunar flyby voyage. He bought seats for eight traveling companions in 2022 for what would be his second space journey after his 12-day trip to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2021. Maezawa was aiming the moon trip for 2023, a target seen by most space observers as overly optimistic given the progress of SpaceX’s Spaceship mega-rocket project. It would have been the first private flight around the moon.

North Korea sends hundreds of more trash-carrying balloons to South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea launched hundreds of more trash-carrying balloons toward the South after a similar campaign a few days earlier, according to South Korea’s military, in what Pyongyang calls retaliation for activists flying anti-North Korean leaflets across the border. Between Saturday night and Sunday morning, about 600 balloons flown from North Korea have been found in various parts of South Korea. The balloons carried cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, waste paper and vinyl, but no dangerous substances were included, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday. The military advised people to beware of falling objects and not to touch objects suspected to be from North Korea but report them to military or police offices instead.