WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday (Apr 11) the United States is concerned about China’s aggressive actions against Taiwan and warned it would be a “serious mistake” for anyone to try to change the status quo in the Western Pacific by force.

“What we’ve seen, and what is of real concern to us, is increasingly aggressive actions by the government in Beijing directed at Taiwan, raising tensions in the Straits,” Blinken said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press.

Beijing on Thursday blamed the United States for tensions after a US warship sailed close to Taiwan.

The United States has a longstanding commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to ensure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself and to sustain peace and security in the Western Pacific, Blinken said.

READ: China protests transit of US destroyer through Taiwan Strait

Asked if the United States would respond militarily to a Chinese action in Taiwan, Blinken declined to comment on a hypothetical.

“All I can tell you is we have a serious commitment to Taiwan being able to defend itself. We have a serious commitment to peace and security in the Western Pacific.

“We stand behind those commitments. And in that context, it would be a serious mistake for anyone to try to change that status quo by force.”

Taiwan has complained over the last few months of repeated missions by China’s air force near the island, which China claims as its own.

The White House on Friday said it was keeping a close watch on increased Chinese military activities in the Taiwan Strait, and called Beijing’s actions potentially destabilising.

READ – Commentary: Taiwan is becoming the biggest test in US-China relations

Also on Friday, the US State Department issued new guidelines that will enable US officials to meet more freely with officials from Taiwan, a move that deepens relations with Taipei amid stepped-up Chinese military activity around the island.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the new guidelines had followed a congressionally mandated review and would “provide clarity throughout the Executive Branch on effective implementation of our ‘one China’ policy” – a reference to the longstanding US policy under which Washington officially recognises Beijing rather than Taipei.

BRUSSELS: The European Union’s top diplomat said on Sunday (Apr 11) that Russia and China were hampering a united international response to Myanmar’s military coup and that the EU could offer more economic incentives if democracy returns to the country.

“It comes as no surprise that Russia and China are blocking the attempts of the UN Security Council, for example to impose an arms embargo,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a blog post.

“Geopolitical competition in Myanmar will make it very difficult to find common ground,” said Borrell, who speaks on behalf of the 27 EU member states. “But we have a duty to try.”

Security forces have killed more than 700 unarmed protesters, including 46 children, since the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a Feb 1 coup, according to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group.

That includes 82 people killed in the town of Bago, near Yangon, on Friday, which the AAPP called a “killing field”.

“The world watches in horror, as the army uses violence against its own people,” he said.

READ: Myanmar’s post-coup civilian death toll climbs past 700

READ: Myanmar youth fight Internet outages with underground newsletter

China and Russia both have ties to Myanmar’s armed forces, as the largest and second-largest suppliers of weapons to the country, respectively.

The United Nations Security Council last week called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and others detained by the military, but stopped short of condemning the coup.

The EU is preparing fresh sanctions on individuals, as well as companies owned by the Myanmar military. The bloc in March agreed on a first set of sanctions on 11 individuals linked to the coup, including the commander-in-chief of the military.

While EU economic leverage in the country is relatively small, Borrell said the EU could offer to increase its economic ties with Myanmar if democracy is restored. That could include more trade and investments in sustainable development, he said.

EU foreign direct investment in Myanmar totalled US$700 million in 2019, compared with US$19 billion from China.

The military says it staged the coup because an election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party last November was rigged. The election commission has dismissed the assertion.

Protest groups in Myanmar are calling for the boycott of the Thingyan water festival this week, one of the most important celebrations of the year, because of the killings.

“(With) Thingyan approaching, we mourn the senseless loss of life in Bago & around the country where regime forces have reportedly used weapons of war against civilians,” the United States Embassy in Yangon said on Twitter.

“The regime has the ability to resolve the crisis & needs to start by ending violence & attacks.”

JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday (Apr 11) ordered swift rescue and relief efforts after eight people died in an earthquake that hit off southern Java island.

Three others were badly injured in Saturday’s magnitude-5.9 quake and more than 1,180 buildings were damaged, most of them slightly, the disaster agency BNPB said. Some houses were flattened, images in Indonesian media showed.

Two shelters for the displaced have been set up in the town of Lumajang.

All of the casualties were reported in 15 districts and cities in East Java, the closest province to the epicentre of the quake, which struck in the Indian Ocean.

“I have ordered … immediate emergency response to search and find victims under the rubble and to treat the wounded,” the president, known by his popular name Jokowi, said in broadcast remarks.

There were no reports of the quake disrupting production facilities, but the BNPB said 150 public facilities were damaged. Most industrial areas in East Java are located in the northern side of the island.

Jokowi noted that as Indonesia straddles the volcanic “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific, natural disasters such as earthquakes could happen anytime, adding that Indonesians should always be prepared.

READ: Indonesia president visits cyclone-hit islands

READ: Evacuation centres open as cyclone intensifies off Western Australia

The Southeast Asian nation was struck last week by tropical cyclone Seroja, which triggered landslides and flash floods killing more than 170 people on islands in East Nusa Tenggara province.

A magnitude-6.2 quake that hit Sulawesi island in January killed more than 100 people.

MANILA: Philippine and American soldiers will conduct a two-week joint military exercise from Monday (Apr 12), resuming the annual training event after last year’s cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine military chief said on Sunday.

The announcement came after the two countries’ defence secretaries held a phone call to discuss the drills, the situation in the South China Sea and recent regional security developments.

Unlike previous exercises, however, this year’s Balikatan (“shoulder-to-shoulder”) drills to test the readiness of their militaries to respond to threats such as natural disasters and militant extremist attacks, will be scaled down.

Only 1,700 troops – 700 from the United States and 1,000 from the Philippines – will participate, unlike previous exercises which involved as many as 7,600 soldiers, said Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana.

“There will be physical contact but it is minimal,” he said.

The Philippines has protested against the presence of the Chinese boats inside its 200 nautical mile (370km) exclusive economic zone at Whitsun Reef in the strategic waterway, repeatedly asking China to move the vessels away.

Chinese diplomats, however, have said the fishing boats were just sheltering from rough seas and that no militia were aboard.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, China and Vietnam have competing territorial claims in the South China Sea.

READ: US-Philippines officials discuss concerns over China’s ships

READ: Philippines keeping ‘options open’ on South China Sea, says government

In the phone call on Sunday between Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Austin also reiterated the importance of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the two countries, according to a statement issued by Lorenzana’s department.

Lorenzana committed to discussing the matter with President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte last year unilaterally cancelled the two-decade-old VFA in an angry response after an ally was denied a US visa. The agreement provides the legal framework under which US troops can operate on a rotational basis in the Philippines.

The VFA withdrawal period, however, has been twice extended, creating what Philippine officials say is a window for better terms to be agreed.

Relations between Washington and its former Asian colony have been complicated since 2016, when Duterte, who has criticised US foreign policy while befriending China, rose to power.

Duterte has said Washington must pay more if it wants to maintain the VFA.

Lorenzana also sought the assistance of Austin in speeding up the delivery of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna that the Philippines has ordered.

Austin “would look into the issue and bring it to the attention of the office concerned”, the statement said.