Beijing and Moscow forge closer military ties.
Welcome to VOA Asia Weekly. I'm Chris Casquejo in Washington. That story just ahead, but first, making headlines…
A court in Myanmar sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three additional years in prison for election fraud, adding more jail time to the 17 years she is already serving for other convictions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met for the first time with Myanmar military chief and coup leader Min Aung Hlaing. It's Hlaing's second visit to Russia in the last two months.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The trip was Marcos’ second official state visit overseas since his landslide election victory in May, and followed a three-day trip to Indonesia where met with President Joko Widodo.
Five Hong Kong speech therapists were convicted of sedition Wednesday after they printed a series of children's books about sheep and wolves that a court said was aimed at inciting hatred against authorities.
Members of the exiled Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, a Presbyterian church whose members left China for South Korea three years ago, are seeking political asylum in Thailand. They’ve been subject to constant harassment from mainland China’s government over their church’s status.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin said he plans to hold talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan next week, their second meeting this year. President Xi has not left China since the COVID outbreak in early 2020.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has driven Moscow and Beijing closer, according to a new report that warns of the possibility of Russia and China supporting each other in any future conflict. Henry Ridgwell reports for VOA from London.
Russia is this month hosting the Vostok 22 military exercises in the east of the country.
Fifteen countries are taking part — and China is Russia’s guest of honor. The drills have been broadcast on state television in both countries.
“The practical interaction between the Russian navy and the navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has reached a new level in terms of quality. This ensures global and regional stability and security.”
China and Russia do not yet have a formal military alliance — but share deepening military ties, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Arms sales are also a vital part of the relationship — but there are difficulties, says Bonny Lin, one of the authors of the report.
“China imports about 70 percent of its total arms from Russia. But by the mid-2000s, China began focusing more on domestic production of its arms, so less reliant on Russia. At the same time, Russia became more concerned about Chinese theft of its technology. More recently, in the past couple of years, most of China’s imports from Russia on the arms sales side have been to support its aircraft programs.”
China has tacitly supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Beijing is doing quite a bit of mirror imaging between what it views as the problems that Russia faced dealing with the West and NATO and the problems that Beijing faces right now dealing with the United States and our closest allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.”
The report cautions that the Ukraine conflict has driven Russia and China closer.
“I’m not saying that, for example, Russia would put boots on the ground in a China conflict with one of its neighbors — but it could provide other forms of support including intelligence, including even political support.”
The report says China’s military capabilities are catching up with or surpassing those of Russia.
The Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine has stalled. The report authors say a Russian failure there could lead Beijing to reevaluate its military relationship with Moscow.
Henry Ridgwell, for VOA News, London.
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The nuclear envoys of Japan, South Korea and the United States agreed to strengthen security ties in the face of potential "provocation" from North Korea in the form of a nuclear test.
North Korea has conducted an unusual number of missile launches this year while the U.S. has warned that Russia approached Pyongyang to request ammunition for the war in Ukraine.
Finally, the tiny Pacific island-nation of Tuvalu pledged to "stand firm" in its commitment to Taiwan.
Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano visited Taiwan for the first time since being elected in 2019.
Tuvalu, with a population of around 10,000, is one of four nations in the Pacific where Beijing and Washington are competing for influence.
That’s all the time we have here on VOA Asia Weekly.
Thank you so much for joining us. I’m Chris Casquejo. Please be sure to tune in again next week.
