Biden says US, Japan, South Korea ‘more aligned than ever’ on North Korea
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan says the three leaders spoke about a coordinated response in the event of a further nuclear test by North Korea.....»»
Diffusing tension
In his 2024 State of the Union Address, President Joseph Biden doubled down on his rhetoric against China as he boasted revitalized partnerships in the Pacific. He rattled off India, Australia, Japan, South Korea and the Pacific Islands. He said the United States is standing up against China’s economic practices while standing up for peace across the Taiwan Strait......»»
Asian qualifying results for 2026 FIFA World Cup
BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Following are Thursday's results in Asian qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico: Group A At Doha Qatar bt Kuwait 3-0 At Abha, Saudi Arabia Afghanistan tied India 0-0 Group B At Tokyo Japan bt DPR Korea 1-0 At Yangon Myanmar tied Syria 1-1 Group C At Seoul South Korea tied T.....»»
GCash sets sights on further international expansion
With GCash Overseas, Filipinos in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia can now download and use the GCash app, whether they have Philippine SIMs or local mobile phone numbers in the countries or territories where they live......»»
Blinken Arrives in South Korea to Attend Democracy Summit
Seoul, South Korea - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived Sunday in South Korea on the first stop of a brief Asia tour also including the Philippines, as Washington moves to reinforce ties with two key regional allies.Blinken landed Sunday afternoon ahead of the third Summit for Democracy on Monday, an initiative of U.S. President Joe Biden, which Seoul is hosting this week.Before arriving in Se.....»»
Twice s Jihyo, Olympian Yun Sung Bin reportedly dating
Jihyo of Korean girl group Twice and Olympic gold medalist for men's skeleton Yun Sung Bin are dating, according to several media outlets in South Korea......»»
Kristel may ‘tumor’ sa binti, pero naoperahan na: ‘One of the scariest!’
NAUNA na naming ibinalita ang tungkol sa pagsailalim sa surgery ng actress-vlogger na si Kristel Fulgar sa South Korea. Pero at that time kasi, ang tanging sinabi lang niya sa YouTube vlog ay ooperahan siya sa binti at hindi na idinetalye kung ano ang nangyari sa kanya. At heto na nga, may bagong update si.....»»
Bakbakan ng mga sikat na K-drama actors sa ‘The Wild’ pasabog ang aksyon
NAGSAMA-SAMA ang pinakamatatapang sa Korea para sa isang matindi at makapigil-hiningang aksyon! Game face on na at maghanda para sa isang ‘di malilimutang intense movie experience! Showing na ngayon ang “The Wild” sa mga sinehan nationwide. Ang mga A-List at beteranong aktor ng South Korea na sina Park Sung Woong, Oh Dae Hwan, Oh Dal-Su,.....»»
Wegotmail: Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan on the Recent Surgein Tensions in the South China Sea
Wegotmail: Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan on the Recent Surgein Tensions in the South China Sea.....»»
Biden to host trilateral summit with Japan, Philippines on April 11
Washington, DC [US], March 19 (ANI): US President Joe Biden will host a three-way summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in Washington on April 11, as announced by the White House, as reported by Kyodo News. This historic summit, the first of its kind involving the United States, Japan, and the Philippines, aims to bolster defence cooperation in response to China's asse.....»»
Biden recognizes two Pacific nations in move to counter China
President Joe Biden said the United States officially recognized the Pacific nations of Cook Islands and Niue Monday, as he hosted regional leaders in a bid to wrest influence from China. The announcement came at the start of a summit with the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum, where US officials said the president was announcing a more assertive American stance in the region. Biden said in statements that Washington recognized the Cook Islands and Niue as "sovereign and independent" states and would establish diplomatic relations with both. The move would help maintain a "free and open Indo-Pacific region," said Biden. Biden added that the deals to recognize the two nations would also help curb illegal fishing, deal with climate change in a vulnerable region and boost economic growth. The Cook Islands and Niue together have fewer than 20,000 inhabitants but constitute a sprawling economic zone in the South Pacific. Both are self-governing nations in "free association" with New Zealand, meaning that their foreign and defense policies are in varying degrees linked to Wellington. After decades of being treated as a relative backwater, the South Pacific has become an important arena for competition between the United States and an increasingly assertive China. China has dramatically ramped up its economic, political and military footprint in the strategic ocean region. 'Assertiveness' There is "no question that there is some role that the PRC has played in all this," a senior White House official said on condition of anonymity, referring to China by the abbreviation of its formal name. China's "assertiveness and influence, including in this region, has been a factor that requires us to sustain our strategic focus." The forum brings together states and territories scattered across the Pacific Ocean, from Australia to sparsely populated micro-states and archipelagos. But China's influence will be felt through the absence of the prime minister of the Solomon Islands, now closely aligned with Beijing. Manasseh Sogavare, who was in New York last week to attend the UN General Assembly, did not extend his stay in the United States. "We're disappointed that he's chosen not to come to this very special summit," another White House official said. Biden had been due to follow up last year's inaugural summit with a meeting of Pacific leaders this May, in Papua New Guinea. But he cut short an Asia trip and returned stateside to address a debt-ceiling crisis. For the Washington summit, Biden has prepared a full program, kicking off with an afternoon of American football on Sunday. The leaders traveled by train to Baltimore, where they were guests of honor at an NFL game between the port city's Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts. Monday's agenda features meetings and a lunch with Biden. On Tuesday, the leaders will meet with top officials on climate and the economy, and spend time with US lawmakers. The post Biden recognizes two Pacific nations in move to counter China appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Biden salutes ‘new era’ of united Japan, S. Korea in face of China
US President Joe Biden on Friday hailed a "new era" of unity with the leaders of South Korea and Japan as the allies unveiled new three-way security cooperation at a first-of-a-kind summit that has already rattled China. Going tieless in the Camp David presidential retreat, Biden praised the "political courage" of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in turning the page on historical animosity. "Our countries are stronger -- and the world will be safer -- as we stand together. I know that's a belief that we all three share," he told them as he opened the talks in the mountains west of Washington. Biden said the three would pursue "this new era of cooperation and renew our resolve to serve as a force of good across the Indo-Pacific and, quite frankly, around the world." The two treaty-bound US allies largely see eye to eye on the world -- and together are the base for some 84,500 US troops -- but such a summit would have been unthinkable until recently due to the legacy of Japan's harsh 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula. But Yoon, taking political risks at home, has turned the page by resolving a dispute over wartime forced labor, and now calling Japan a partner at a time of high tensions with both China and North Korea. "Today will be remembered as a historic day, where we established a firm institutional basis and commitments to the trilateral partnership," Yoon said. The three leaders will agree to a multi-year plan of regular exercises in all domains, going beyond one-off drills in response to North Korea, and will announce a "commitment to consult" during crises, said Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor. The leaders will also agree to share real-time data on North Korea and to hold summits every year, officials said. Camp David marks the first time the three countries' leaders have met for a standalone summit, not on the sidelines of a larger event, and is the first diplomatic event since 2015 at the resort, which is synonymous with Middle East peacemaking. You can never become Westerner Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, said the summit would have an "affirmative vision" on how the countries can deliver together and was "not taking aim at a country." But Rahm Emanuel, the blunt-speaking US ambassador to Japan, took another tone when he previewed the summit, saying that the three powers "created something that is exactly what China was hoping would never happen." For Emanuel, the former congressman turned ambassador, China should understand one thing: "We are the rising power; they are declining." China has flexed its muscle both at home and in Asia under President Xi Jinping, exerting disputed maritime claims and carrying out major exercises near Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy claimed by Beijing. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the two economically developed Northeast Asian democracies instead to work with Beijing to "revitalize East Asia." "No matter how blond you dye your hair or how sharp you shape your nose, you can never become a European or American, you can never become a Westerner," he said in a video shared on official media. "We must know where our roots lie," he said. But China's pressure tactics have led to a sharp deterioration in its favorability in Japan and South Korea, which have traditionally been more discreet than the United States in their comments. Tensions have also risen with North Korea, which has launched a volley of missiles in recent months and is feared to respond with new action in response to the summit. As the Camp David summit opened, North Korea said it had scrambled jets in response to what it called a US spy plane's incursion. Global allies But the summit hopes to move beyond a focus on North Korea or even just Asia. Tokyo and Seoul have offered a major boost to Ukraine as major non-Western powers join pressure against Russia's invasion. The summit aims to institutionalize three-way cooperation to make it difficult for any reversal by a future leader -- a South Korean president who again seizes on hostility with Japan or, potentially, a return of Donald Trump, who has disparaged US troop commitments overseas as wasteful. To the surprise of many observers, Yoon's embrace of Japan has drawn relatively muted protests at home. Both Japanese and South Koreans feel that there are "a number of fundamentally aligned values and interests that should bring them together," said Mira Rapp-Hooper, senior director for East Asia and Oceania on the National Security Council. Yoon, a conservative, has quickly become a close US ally, with Biden welcoming him for a rare state visit in which the South Korean leader regaled the audience by singing "American Pie." But Yoon is constitutionally prohibited from serving more than a single term, which ends in 2027. The post Biden salutes ‘new era’ of united Japan, S. Korea in face of China appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Look to Japan
Largely ignorant sniping seems to be the favored pastime of those reluctant to go along with Mr. Marcos Jr.’s re-warming of our relations with the United States. Often framed as risking a fatal nuclear apocalypse if the US-China rivalry comes to a head, the sniping is obviously meant to scare the gullible. Of the more recent sniping, notable was Mr. Rodrigo Duterte’s warning two weeks ago that the Philippines could be drawn into a “Third World War” if more Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or EDCA sites were built in the country. Right after, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile advised “pontificating” conservative critics to first do their homework before whipping up public outrage. Mr. Enrile didn’t name anyone in particular. But he was obviously disgusted with the political framing of Mr. Marcos Jr.’s notable move of making it easier for the United States to maintain a presence in the country. We, of course, do know where the “pontificating” ex-Philippine leader and his cohorts are coming from. We can ascribe their anxieties to what geopolitical analysts often tell us about smaller states aligned with more powerful hegemons — smaller states face the vexing dilemma of entrapment in conflicts they do not seek when moving too close to a larger power. Such an entrapment predicament — observed long ago by ancient Greek historian Thucydides — was what drove Mr. Duterte, under the guise of neutrality, to keep his distance from the US and experiment with embracing China. But the ex-leader’s experiment, as we all know by now, backfired badly, forcing him near the end of his term — after years of avoiding “entrapment” in US strategies containing China — to reaffirm the country’s long-standing defense alliance with the United States. This is largely because hegemonic China had openly demonstrated our country’s inability to stop its illegal incursions in the West Philippine Sea. In a sense then, Mr. Marcos Jr. is merely restating his predecessor’s belated realization that the challenge posed by China can only be blunted by reaffirming the Philippine-US alliance. Of course, Mr. Marcos Jr.’s embracing tighter security cooperation with the US means he has accepted the risk of entrapment in Asian conflicts that this entails. But to see Mr. Marcos Jr.’s renewing the Philippine-US alliance merely as reluctant hedging against China or as caving to American pressure is geopolitically naïve. In fact, the warming of the Philippine-US alliance can be said to be less about the US, but more about another regional powerhouse most concerned with China — Japan. Japan, as we know, presently has the strongest alliance with the US in the Asian region and has a strong, albeit quiet, influence on Philippine affairs. Yet, far too often, Japan is mistakenly seen as an adjunct to American geopolitical strategies when, in fact, Japan is at the forefront, more than the Americans, of confronting the challenge of China. As American Japanologist Michael J. Green put it, “At the time when the US was just beginning to debate a long-term strategy for competition with China, Japan had already defined its own.” “Japan has arguably the clearest conceptualization, consensus, and implementation of a grand strategy of any of the democracies confronting Chinese hegemonic ambitions in the Indo-Pacific,” Green said. The architect of such a grand strategy was the late Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, whose vision provided solutions on how best to make use of a strategic alliance with a hesitant US to outflank China. In fact, the often cited strategic framework in current geopolitical circles of a “free and open Indo-Pacific” was Abe’s catchphrase, which US President Joe Biden recently fully embraced, as well as Abe’s original idea of the Quad, the Japan-US-Australia-India partnership. In short, for our own purposes of moving forward with the renewed Philippine-US alliance, it means lessening our fixation with the US and studying more closely Japan’s unique proactive efforts vis-à-vis the US and China. *** Email: nevqjr@yahoo.com.ph The post Look to Japan appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Jordan crown prince weds Saudi architect in lavish ceremony
Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah married Saudi architect Rajwa Al Seif on Thursday in a ceremony attended by royals from across the globe. The ceremony was held in the mid-century Zahran Palace in the capital Amman -- the site of other key royal weddings including that of King Abdullah II to Queen Rania as well as that of his father, the late King Hussein bin Talal. The king's eldest son and Al Seif, both aged 28, tied the knot at a ceremony attended by their families and 140 guests, including US First Lady Jill Biden and the Prince and Princess of Wales. Other notables included the Netherlands' King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, as well as Belgium's King Philippe and Crown Princess Elisabeth and Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary. The highly anticipated nuptials were met by celebrations across Jordan, with thousands gathering to witness the procession in Amman in streets decorated with pictures of the couple and banners. A royal red motorcade, reserved for special occasions, crossed the capital to celebrate the bride and groom. King Abdullah II, aged 61 and on the throne since 1999, has long groomed his eldest son to succeed him, bringing him along to important visits and meetings, former information minister Samih Maaytah previously told AFP. Prince Hussein became heir to the throne in 2009 after his father removed the title from his half-brother Hamzah in 2004. Hamzah would later be placed under house arrest after being accused of attempting a royal coup in 2021 that sent shockwaves through the royal establishment. In April 2022, Hamzah renounced his royal title, saying his own values no longer aligned with those of "our institutions". Jordan enjoys relative stability compared to its Middle East neighbors but has seen protests in recent years as it struggles with economic woes. The World Bank says Jordan is heavily in debt and faces around 23 percent unemployment. The Hashemite kingdom relies extensively on foreign aid. The Jordanian king has wide-ranging political powers in the country of 11 million people, a parliamentary monarchy, and also acts as the supreme leader of the armed forces. Hussein followed in his father's footsteps by attending Britain's Sandhurst Military College and then studying history at Washington's Georgetown University. His bride was born and raised in conservative Saudi Arabia but is also Western-educated, having studied architecture at Syracuse University in New York. See more photos here: The post Jordan crown prince weds Saudi architect in lavish ceremony appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Philippines-US relations: Stars fully aligned
Stars fully aligned The announcement that US President Joe Biden will be hosting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the White House during their bilateral meeting on May 1 definitely underscores the special friendship and the ever-strengthening ties between the United States and the Philippines......»»
Biden says US, Japan, South Korea ‘more aligned than ever’ on North Korea
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan says the three leaders spoke about a coordinated response in the event of a further nuclear test by North Korea.....»»
EU backs Biden on Iran nuke deal
The EU said Monday it looks forward to working soon with US President-elect Joe Biden on resurrecting the Iran nuclear deal, and rejected Tehran’s accusations it had aligned with Washington’s sanctions......»»
Infrastructure projects get better loan terms from Japan
The Philippines has secured better financing terms for two big-ticket infrastructure projects funded by the Japanese government aimed at improving public transport and road connectivity......»»
Capitol mulls putting ‘integrated south bus’ terminal in Talisay instead of at SRP
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Instead of at the South Road Properties (SRP), the new location of a new south bus terminal in Cebu might be in Talisay City. Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia on Wednesday, Mar. 27, said that they had received an unsolicited proposal of developing a brand new, south bus terminal. READ: Mayor Rama.....»»
Xdinary Heroes make ‘extraordinary’ concert in Manila
Members of the South Korean rock band Xdinary Heroes showed that they were no ordinary musicians during their first world tour, “Break The Brake” last March 23 at the New Frontier Theater......»»
FOCAP condemns Chinese embassy’s claims on ‘manipulated’ West Philippine Sea videos
The Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines strongly rejected and condemned yesterday China’s “false and baseless” claims that journalists manipulate videosthey recorded in the South China Sea to present the Philippines as a victim......»»