Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. attempts to point fingers at China over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to fall flat, wrote a columnist in an article published on Malaysian media.

"Unsatisfied with authoritative WHO's findings that did not pinpoint Beijing, U.S. President Joe Biden commissioned a 90-day investigation, but to no avail. The creme de la creme of the Washington intelligence unit failed to substantiate the Wuhan lab leak theory with convincing evidence," M G Heng said in an opinion piece published in local news portal Malaysiakini.

MACAO, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The election of the seventh Legislative Assembly of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) kicked off Sunday morning.

Voting started at 9:00 a.m. and is scheduled to conclude at 9:00 p.m. local time. The preliminary results are expected to come out early Monday morning.

PHNOM PEHN, Cambodia (AP) — China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting Cambodia, where’s he expected to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen and other officials to discuss COVID-19 and other regional issues.

Cambodia’s foreign ministry said Wang’s meetings on Sunday and Monday would include discussions of trade and security as well.

Wrapping up a visit to neighboring Vietnam on Saturday, Wang said China planned to donate 3 million vaccine doses to that country, which is under a lockdown to contain a COVID-19 surge.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan can now give defense equipment and technology to Vietnam under an agreement signed Saturday, as the two countries step up their military cooperation amid worries about China’s growing military influence.

Japan’s Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said the deal elevates their defense partnership “to a new level” and that Japan and Vietnam plan to deepen defense ties through multinational joint exercises and other means. Details about the transfer of specific equipment, including naval vessels, will be worked out in subsequent talks, the ministry said.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Chanthu drenched Taiwan with heavy rain Sunday as the storm’s center passed the island’s east coast heading for Shanghai.

On the Chinese mainland, the government issued a typhoon warning for Shanghai and warned of possible torrential rains.

Airline flights and train service in Taiwan were suspended Saturday as the storm approached. The Central News Agency reported more than 2,000 people were evacuated from flood-prone areas of the east coast county of Hualien.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government says more than 50% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

Japan’s vaccine rollouts began in mid-February, months behind many wealthy countries due to its lengthy clinical testing requirement and approval process. Inoculations for elderly patients, which started in April, were also slowed by supply shortages of imported vaccines, but the pace picked up in late May and has since achieved 1 million doses per day.

BEIJING, Sept. 11 (APP): Guangzhou Arbitration Commission (GZAC), China and Center for International Investment and Commercial Arbitration (CIICA) - Pakistan's first international arbitration center - signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to deepen cooperation in international arbitration between both countries.

According to GZAC, the signing of MoU symbolizes the joint construction of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by arbitration organizations of China and Pakistan.

BANGKOK, Sept 11 (NNN-TNA) – Thailand today reported 15,191 new COVID-19 cases and 253 more fatalities, according to the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

The new cases brought the country’s total number of infections to top 1.36 million, while that of fatalities to 14,173, since the pandemic began, according to the CCSA, the country’s COVID-19 task force.

SHANGHAI/HANOI, Sept 11 (Reuters) - China and Vietnam should refrain from unilateral actions regarding the South China Sea that could complicate the situation and magnify disputes, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi told a Vietnamese official, China's foreign ministry said.

State Councillor Wang was speaking with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh during a visit to Vietnam, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- China hopes the Afghan Taliban will make a clean break with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and other terrorist groups, and take effective measures to resolutely crack down on them, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.