The U.S. Army’s deployment of a mid-range missile launcher in the Philippines this month is defensive in nature and temporary, according to an American general in the Southeast Asian nation for joint military exercises. The Mid-Range Capability (MRC) missile system – also known as the Typhon System – has been positioned on the northern island of Luzon for this year’s “Balikatan” exercise that involves more than 16,000 troops and an array of major military hardware. China has protested the deployment of the missile launcher, accusing Manila and Washington of aggravating tensions that have flare ..read more

Thailand’s Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara has reiterated his country’s offer to mediate between military junta forces and rebel groups to “restore peace quickly” in Myanmar. The latest call from Bangkok for negotiations comes as ethnic armies and other anti-junta forces are gaining the upper hand in the three-year-old conflict, which has edged close to the Thai-Myanmar border, sending refugees across into Thailand. Speaking this week from Mae Sot, a Thai district that sits on the border with Myanmar’s Kayin state, Parnpree revealed that initial discussions had already taken place wi ..read more

Religious tensions were high in a central Bangladesh district as hundreds of demonstrators started fires and blocked roads on Wednesday to protest last week’s deadly beating of two Muslims by a mob, allegedly of Hindus, police said. The residents of Krishnanagar, a village in the sub-district of Modhukhali in Faridpur, set upon the victims – two young Muslim brothers – on Thursday (April 18) suspecting they had set a fire in a Hindu temple in the area that same day, police added. The situation was under control, said a press note issued Wednesday by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), which als ..read more

Despite fighting between Burmese junta troops and rebels raging nearby in Myanmar’s Kayin state in recent weeks, life in the Thai border district of Mae Sot goes on with a semblance of normalcy.  Mae Sot, located in Tak province directly across the Moei river from the Myanmar town of Myawaddy, has become a crucial hub for welcoming refugees as it is a strategic point for the Thai government to provide humanitarian aid. Lately, on the Myanmar side of the river, armed ethnic rebel groups have seized territory while junta forces have intensified efforts to reclaim lost towns. Tak provincial ..read more

Thailand has warned Myanmar’s junta and rebel groups against using its territory for “their own sake,” the country’s defense minister said, amid fears that fighting in eastern Myanmar could spill over the border.  Over the weekend, Myanmar junta forces and anti-junta insurgents clashed in the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy, opposite the Thai town of Mae Sot, a major conduit for trade between the neighbors. The escalating violence in Myanmar has sent refugees fleeing across the border into Thailand. Junta air strikes on Saturday and Sunday, in response to the capture by rebels of junta st ..read more

Manasseh Sogavare, the pro-Beijing prime minister of the Solomon Islands, commands the largest bloc in Parliament after elections last week, but fell short of a majority and faces several rivals for leadership of the Pacific island country. A consecutive term for Sogavare is a possible flashpoint for the economically struggling country where many voters are frustrated by stagnating living standards. The outcome is also being watched by governments from China to Australia and the United States as they jostle for influence in the Pacific. Sogavare’s Ownership Unity Responsibility Party, known as ..read more

Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his eldest son no longer are members of the ruling party because of their support for an opposition candidate who won this year’s presidential election, a senior party official said Tuesday.   Jokowi, who won the presidency twice with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), was seen as having backed the opposition’s Prabowo Subianto and his running mate,  Gibran Rakabuming Raka – the president’s eldest son – instead of his party’s nominee, the official said.  The president, however, never formally endorsed or express ..read more

The Bagong Bayan fishing village is nestled in a coconut orchard next to the clear waters of a small lagoon.  Fishing boats are moored deck-to-deck, and the village seems ghostly quiet in the midday heat – not the noisy, chaotic scene of the past when fishermen would return from the sea with their daily catch. Bagong Bayan is in the province of Palawan, the Philippines’ westernmost island. It is about a two-hour drive from the provincial capital, Puerto Princesa, which in turn is an hour-and-a-half by plane from Manila. From here, fishermen used to set out far into the sea, including to t ..read more

Thailand is ready to act as a mediator in the conflict in Myanmar and help bring about a comprehensive resolution to fighting between junta forces and rebel groups, the top Thai diplomat said during a visit to the border Tuesday.  Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara revealed that initial discussions had already taken place with various parties in Myanmar, including the military government and ethnic groups, some of which are armed, and that Thailand was also looking to enlist support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).  “Some initial discussions have taken ..read more

Rights abuses have continued in the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s presidency, through alleged indiscriminate or illegal killings by police after he prolonged his immediate predecessor’s anti-drug campaign, the U.S. State Department said in an annual report on human rights. Marcos had pledged to carry on with ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs but differently and with fewer killings, and the report acknowledged an attempt to focus on weaning people from drugs. “There were no significant changes in the human rights situation in the Philippines during the year, although t ..read more