Thai election winner Move Forward proposes Bill to cut off senators' power in PM vote - CNA

BANGKOK: Electoral winner Move Forward Party submitted a draft Bill to cut off the Senate’s power in the selection of the prime minister, following its leader’s failure to secure enough votes from a joint sitting of parliament on Thursday (Jul 13).

Move Forward Party members submitted the draft bill to Speaker of the House of Representatives and president of the Parliament Wan Muhamad Noor Matha on Friday afternoon, aiming to revoke Section 272 of the Thai constitution, which empowers the Senate to jointly select the prime minister together with the House of Representatives until May 2024.

“We would like to call it an amendment to the constitution in order to return the power of selecting the prime minister to the people,” said Move Forward Party secretary-general Chaithawat Tulathon.

Members of parliament (MPs) and senators convened on Thursday to vote on Thailand’s next prime minister – two months after the general election on May 14 which saw the Move Forward Party emerge as the winner.

Prime ministerial hopeful and Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat was the sole candidate but failed to garner the requisite approval of more than half of the combined assembly.

The assembly comprises 500 MPs from the House of Representatives – the Lower House – and 249 members of the Senate – the Upper House.

For Mr Pita to become the prime minister, he must secure at least 375 votes from the existing members of both Houses.

However, he only managed to garner 324 votes on Thursday, missing 51.

A total of 705 parliamentarians took part in the prime ministerial selection. They included 182 people who voted against Mr Pita and 199 others who abstained.

“It was clear that many senators abstained from voting - 159 of them. Forty three others didn’t join in the meeting. A lot of senators clearly expressed their intention not to use their right or power in the selection of the prime minister,” said Mr Chaithawat.

“If this is to be the case, it will lead to a political deadlock. We, the Move Forward Party, as members of the parliament, are proposing a way out for senators since they don’t wish to use such power.”

The Move Forward Party secretary-general believes that revoking Section 272 of the constitution will provide a way out for both the senators and the parliamentary system.

“This is to enable Thai politics to move forward and to allow for a new government as soon as possible,” he added.

Since the vote to elect a prime minister was unsuccessful, both Houses will reconvene on Jul 19 to revote.

In the event that none of the listed candidates can be appointed for any reason, at least half of the members of both Houses can request the National Assembly to start a process that could allow an “outsider prime minister’”.

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2023-07-14 08:30:00Z
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Asean in Jakarta: Blinken, Lavrov, Wang Yi Set for US-China-Russia Debate - Bloomberg

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1. Asean in Jakarta: Blinken, Lavrov, Wang Yi Set for US-China-Russia Debate  Bloomberg
2. Indonesia's top diplomat warns of 'Cold War in hot places'  Nikkei Asia
3. ASEAN-plus-three to meet on South China Sea, economic ties  EURACTIV
4. Rivalries on show as Southeast Asia hosts annual security talks  Reuters
5. Big power disputes in spotlight at Southeast Asia security meet  FRANCE 24 English
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2023-07-14 05:55:14Z
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Indonesian President Jokowi warns ASEAN 'can't be proxy' of any country - CNA

The Jakarta meetings have been joined by both China and the United States, whose top diplomats met on Thursday on the sidelines in the Indonesian capital.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China's Wang Yi of consequences after a cybersecurity breach blamed on China again threatened to undermine a nascent stabilisation of ties, a US official told AFP.

Wang told Blinken that the United States should not interfere in China's affairs and "work with" Beijing to improve their relationship, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

ASEAN has been divided on the Myanmar crisis and how to engage with its pro-China junta since the 2021 coup plunged the country into violent turmoil.

The bloc issued a much-debated communique on Thursday that repeated its condemnation of violence. It reiterated that a five-point peace plan agreed with the junta, but largely ignored since, must remain the basis for resolving the conflict.

Myanmar remains an ASEAN member but its rulers have been barred from top-level summits over a lack of progress on the plan, which aims to end violence and resume talks between the military and the anti-coup movement.

"The Indo-Pacific should not be another battleground. Our region must remain stable, and we intend to keep it that way," Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told ministers at the start of an 18-nation East Asia Summit ministerial meeting on Friday.

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2023-07-14 04:51:36Z
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Wang tells Blinken to 'work with China' on improving US ties - CNA

BEIJING: Beijing's top diplomat Wang Yi has urged Washington to "work with China" to improve ties during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday (Jul 14).

The discussion on the sidelines of Southeast Asian talks in Jakarta on Thursday was the latest in a series of high-level interactions as the two sides try to ease trade and geopolitical tensions.

In their second meeting in less than a month, Blinken raised concerns about alleged Chinese cybersecurity threats after Microsoft said Chinese state-backed hackers had breached email accounts of US government agencies.

Washington "needs to take a rational and pragmatic approach, work with China in the same direction", Wang told Blinken according to a statement on Friday by the foreign ministry in Beijing.

He urged the United States to stop "interfering" in China's affairs.

"Wang outlined China's stern position on the Taiwan question and urged the US to avoid wantonly interfering in China's internal affairs," the ministry said.

He also urged the United States to "stop suppressing China in the economy, trade, science and technology, and lift illegal and unwarranted sanctions against China".

Tensions between the United States and China have soared in recent years over a range of issues, including trade, US military support for Taiwan, Beijing's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and its cosy relationship with Russia.

China sees self-ruled Taiwan as a part of its territory.

Washington has choked advanced semiconductor exports to China and Beijing recently retaliated by restricting exports of gallium and germanium, two metals widely used to make semiconductors and electric vehicles.

The discussion between the top diplomats did not lead to any breakthroughs, but it was "candid, pragmatic and constructive", the Chinese foreign ministry said, adding that the two sides "agreed to maintain communication".

Blinken met Wang last month on the first visit to China by a US secretary of state in five years.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen then went to China earlier this month, and climate envoy John Kerry is to visit next week.

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2023-07-14 04:14:50Z
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Germany bolsters approach to more 'assertive' China - CNA

BERLIN: Germany on Thursday (Jul 13) adopted a tougher strategy toward a more "assertive" China, its top trade partner, in a move Beijing warned could "damage cooperation and mutual trust".

Seeking a balance between competing interests of the EU's biggest economy, the document overhauls Germany's stance toward China as a "partner, competitor and systemic rival".

"We want to reduce critical dependencies in future," Chancellor Olaf Scholz tweeted, saying Berlin had "reacted to a China that has changed and become more assertive".

The 64-page blueprint, which the government said was embedded in the European Union's approach to China, showed Berlin was "realistic but not naive", Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

The document covering security policy as well as economic and scientific cooperation is the product of months of wrangling within the German government over its strategy toward China.

While Baerbock of the Greens has pushed for a more hawkish line and a greater emphasis on human rights, Scholz, a Social Democrat, has backed a more trade-friendly stance he calls "de-risking but not decoupling".

The new China policy marks a finely calibrated balance of the two within the ruling coalition, the product of what Baerbock called "finding compromises ... the lifeblood of democracies".

However it drew a strong reaction from Beijing, which said "viewing China as a 'systemic competitor and rival' is not in line with the objective facts, nor with the common interests of the two countries".

A statement from the embassy in Berlin cautioned that "an ideological view of China ... will only intensify misunderstandings and misjudgments, and damage cooperation and mutual trust".

The German paper noted that "whereas China's dependencies on Europe are constantly declining, Germany's dependencies on China have taken on greater significance in recent years".

The government said it did not intend "to impede China's economic progress and development".

"At the same time, de-risking is urgently needed," it said.

Berlin "is observing with concern how China is endeavouring to influence the international order in line with the interests of its single-party system and thus to relativise the foundations of the rules-based international order, such as the status of human rights".

However Germany also highlighted potential for greater cooperation, noting for example that "it will not be possible to overcome the climate crisis without China".

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2023-07-13 19:30:00Z
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China's Wang meets Blinken, Lavrov on ASEAN sidelines - CNA

MYANMAR ENGAGEMENT

The summits follow a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers who were expected on Thursday to agree on a communique that would include a reference to the ongoing crisis in Myanmar.

But there was no sign of the statement as of late Thursday. Reasons for the delay were unclear but an ASEAN official said a communique was being finalised and would be released soon.

ASEAN chair Indonesia on Wednesday urged the group's foreign ministers to remain united in tackling the escalating violence in Myanmar and push its military leaders to implement a five-point peace plan agreed shortly after they mounted a coup in early 2021.

Malaysia, a vocal critic of the junta, urged ASEAN to strongly condemn the junta's actions, including violence.

"I pressed for a stronger statement on this issue to be included in the joint communique of the ASEAN ministerial meeting," Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Junta officials have been barred from high-level ASEAN meetings due to the lack of progress on the plan, which calls for a halt to violence and inclusive dialogue.

REGIONAL RIFTS APPARENT

Rifts within ASEAN over Myanmar were highlighted when Thailand invited Myanmar military officials to a meeting last month aimed at "re-engaging" with the junta.

Most ASEAN members shunned the meeting, which Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai defended, saying his country was suffering in terms of its border, trade and refugee problems.

Don said on Wednesday he had recently met Myanmar's jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the first foreign official to be granted access to the Nobel laureate since her detention by the military more than two years ago.

Myanmar's shadow National Unity Government, made up of loyalists to Suu Kyi's ousted administration, has discouraged ASEAN from engaging with the junta unless it releases all political prisoners.

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2023-07-13 13:48:00Z
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Asean in Indonesia: US State Secretary Blinken to Meet China's Wang Yi - Bloomberg

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1. Asean in Indonesia: US State Secretary Blinken to Meet China's Wang Yi  Bloomberg
2. Blinken to meet China's Wang Yi in Jakarta at ASEAN meetings: US State Department  CNA
3. ASEAN-plus-three to meet on South China Sea, economic ties  EURACTIV
4. Wang, Blinken meet for second time in a month in sign of further US-China thaw  South China Morning Post
5. Blinken, Wang Yi Hold 'Candid and Constructive' Talks, US Says  Bloomberg
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2023-07-13 11:34:33Z
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