BERLIN: Germany's president on Monday (Jun 19) urged Beijing and Washington to boost dialogue, as he hosted Premier Li Qiang at a time when China's policies on Russia, trade and human rights are receiving an increasingly hostile reception in the West.
Li, who was named China's premier in March, is on a two-nation visit which will also take him to France for a climate financing summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed the importance of ties between China and the United States for "global security and cooperation", wrote his spokeswoman Cerstin Gammelin on Twitter.
"He called for the strengthening of communication channels between both countries," she added, after months of US-China tensions.
Steinmeier also urged Beijing to use its "political weight and influence on Russia to bring about a just peace" in Ukraine, said Gammelin.
Li's European tour came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on a high-stakes trip to Beijing, where a glimpse of optimism was seen with President Xi Jinping assessing that "some progress" was made.
In Berlin, Li and his Cabinet will meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his team for so-called government consultations on Tuesday, when he is expected to outline China's "hopes to deepen and expand its relations" with the European Union heavyweight.
The blueprint stridently accused China of acting against German interests, putting international security "under increasing pressure" and disregarding human rights.
At the same time, it underlined the necessity of getting Beijing's cooperation on global issues like fighting climate change.
Scholz himself had said that the message sent by the document is that "China's integration into world trade and world economic relations should not be impaired".
"But at the same time the security issues that arise for us must be taken into account."
Beijing has bristled at being described as a "partner, competitor and systemic rival" in the text, saying such labels would only "push our world towards a vortex of division and confrontation".
Thailand is set to host talks aimed at re-engaging Myanmar’s shunned military leaders in an initiative critics said undermined regional unity on the strife-torn country’s deadlocked crisis.
The outgoing Thai military-backed government, in a statement released on Sunday, said the purpose of its informal dialogue is to discuss a range of topics to complement the efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to resolve the situation in Myanmar.
It said the meeting will be attended by representatives from Laos, Cambodia, India, China, Brunei and Vietnam, as well as Myanmar – a highly contentious issue because ASEAN leaders had agreed to exclude the country’s generals from the 10-member bloc’s meetings.
Myanmar’s generals, who seized power in a 2021 coup after toppling the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, have failed to honour a deal agreed with ASEAN two months afterwards to end the violence and initiate talks with groups opposed to their power grab.
The Thai invitation to ASEAN foreign ministers, published on Twitter by Human Rights Watch, said the meeting would discuss a proposal for the regional bloc to “fully re-engage Myanmar at the leaders’ level”.
Myanmar’s military-appointed foreign minister, Than Swe, is due to join the talks, two sources with knowledge of the meeting told the Reuters news agency.
ASEAN unity
But some ASEAN members have declined to attend and others are sending only junior officials.
Indonesia, which as the current ASEAN chair has for months been trying to engage key stakeholders in Myanmar’s conflict in an effort to kick-start a peace process, declined Thailand’s invitation.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the latest meeting of the bloc had “arrived at no consensus to re-engage or develop new approaches to the Myanmar issue”, Reuters reported, citing Jakarta’s response to the Thai efforts.
A Malaysian government statement, meanwhile, said its foreign minister, Zambry Abdul Kadir, would not be able to attend “due to prior commitments”, but went on to emphasise that ASEAN’s peace plan “remained ASEAN’s valid reference and mandate in addressing the Myanmar issue”.
The Malaysian statement suggested the Thai effort undermined ASEAN unity.
“It is important that ASEAN demonstrates its unity in support of the ASEAN Chair and ASEAN processes which are in line with the mandate and decisions made by the ASEAN leaders,” it said.
Cambodia said Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, who last year served as an ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar, would be represented by his deputy.
Myanmar groups opposed to military rule blasted the meeting plans.
A statement signed by representatives of more than 300 civil society organisations called it “a complete affront to the people of Myanmar who have sacrificed their lives to resist the Myanmar military’s attempt to seize power through years-long terror campaign against the whole nation”.
It added, “In organizing this meeting, the caretaker Government of Thailand is acting without the mandate and any consultation with the ASEAN Chair. As a member state of ASEAN, Thailand must not deviate from the bloc’s agreement, and must halt this meeting at once.”
Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai on Monday defended the meeting, saying it was aimed to give Myanmar an opportunity to provide an update on its situation.
Thailand did not organise it on behalf of ASEAN, and an open invitation was sent out to all nations that might be interested in hearing from Myanmar, he said.
“Thailand is the most affected if we let this prolong,” he told Thai television, noting that Myanmar’s crisis was sending refugees across their common border and had hit trade hard.
“We can say that Thailand is the only country in ASEAN that wants to see the problems end as soon as possible, which will be beneficial to us,” he added.
Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai gestures during a news conference on the US State Department’s annual human trafficking report at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok, Thailand, July 1, 2016 [File: Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters]
The Thai foreign ministry statement did not say where the meeting would be held, but the Bangkok Post newspaper cited Don as saying it would be held in the eastern resort city of Pattaya.
Some Thai critics also questioned why the meeting was suddenly called, even as the current caretaker government was likely to be replaced by August by opposition parties that won the May elections.
Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of the progressive Move Forward Party, which won the most seats in Parliament, has suggested that his government would take a tougher stance on Myanmar than the current administration of retired general Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Prayuth, who has been in power since he led a coup to seize power from an elected civilian government in 2014, has been criticised for his friendly position towards Myanmar’s military leaders.
Russia reported fierce fighting on Sunday (Jun 18) on three sections of the front line in Ukraine, a day after hosting an African peace mission that failed to spark enthusiasm from either Moscow or Kyiv.
A Russian-installed official said Ukraine had recaptured Piatykhatky, a village in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, and were entrenching themselves there while coming under fire from Russian artillery.
"The enemy's 'wave-like' offensives yielded results, despite enormous losses," the official, Vladimir Rogov, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia's defence ministry made no mention of Piatykhatky in its daily update, in which it said its forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks in three sections of the 1,000km front line. A separate statement from Russia's Vostok group of forces said Ukraine had failed to take the settlement.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
There was no comment from Ukraine, which last week said it had recaptured another nearby settlement, Lobkove, and a string of villages further east, in Donetsk region, at the start of its long-awaited counteroffensive.
Ukrainian officials have imposed an information blackout to help operational security, but say that Russia has suffered much greater losses than Ukraine has during its new assault.
A regional official said Ukrainian forces had destroyed a major Russian ammunition dump in occupied Kherson region, part of a weeks-long effort by Kyiv to wreak havoc with Russian supply lines.
British defence intelligence said heavy fighting in recent days had been focused on Zaporizhzhia, western Donetsk and around Bakhmut, which Russian mercenaries captured last month after the longest battle of the war.
"In all these areas, Ukraine continues to pursue offensive operations and has made small advances," it said on Twitter.
Russian defence operations had been "relatively effective in the south", with both sides suffering heavy casualties, the assessment said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who rarely comments on the course of the war, made two unusually detailed interventions last week in which he derided the Ukrainian push and said Kyiv's forces had "no chance" despite being newly equipped with Western tanks.
His comments appeared intended to reassure Russians at a crucial juncture, nearly 16 months into the conflict, as Ukraine seeks to break months of virtual stalemate and take back the 18 per cent of its territory that remains under Russian control.
KUALA LUMPUR - A 35-year-old police officer in Malaysia has been arrested after several videos showing her insulting fellow police officers and shouting at members of the public went viral.
The arrest was made at about 1.20am local time on Sunday by the Gombak district police headquarters, reported Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times (NST), citing Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan.
“The suspect will be granted bail after a thorough investigation is conducted, as more police reports have been filed involving the suspect,” he said.
Officers also confiscated a mobile phone during the arrest to assist in investigations.
The police officer, who is under investigation for criminal intimidation, is also accused of preventing public servants from carrying out their duty and using rude, disgraceful or insulting words.
In one of the viral videos, a woman alleged to be the officer insults fellow police officers, claiming that they do not deserve to speak to her due to their lower ranks.
The altercation was the result of the police officers requesting to see her authority card as she was believed to be involved in a debt collection incident, reported NST, citing acting Gombak police chief superintendent Noor Ariffin Mohamad Nasir. He also confirmed the incident and that a police report had been filed.
Another viral video shows someone alleged to be the officer in a heated argument with a member of the public at a temple over a shopping mall parking space.
In the video, she can be seen shouting at another man and woman as the person recording the video calls her “crazy”.
