Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, Sept 12 (Reuters) - China's economy is resilient and has not collapsed, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Tuesday, rejecting claims from the West that its economy is faltering and could cause wider problems.

Officials from countries including Australia and the United States have publicly raised concerns about the world's second-largest economy.

U.S. President Joe Biden called China's economic situation a "crisis" while Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said a slowing Chinese economy could in turn weigh on Australia's.

TOKYO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Japan has appointed a serving government official to act as its de facto defence attache in Taiwan, four sources said, elevating security ties in a move likely to anger China, which claims the strategic, democratic island as its own.

MANILA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- An offshore earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 rocked Cagayan province in the northern Philippines Tuesday night, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

The institute said the quake, which occurred at 7:03 p.m. local time, hit at a depth of 10 kilometers, about 26 kilometers northwest of Dalupiri Island in Calayan town.

The institute said the tectonic quake will trigger aftershocks but will not cause damage.

It said the quake was felt in many areas in the main Luzon island and the central Philippines.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday wrapped up a five-day diplomatic sprint through Vietnam and India that put a spotlight on imperfect partners that he believes will be crucial for global stability in the years to come.

The whirlwind visit demonstrated that as Russia’s war on Ukraine plods on with no end in sight, Biden appears to have become more willing to look past differences with complicated allies that he badly needs to keep close for the sake of stability in the Indo-Pacific, Middle East and beyond.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un rolled into Russia on an armored train Tuesday to see President Vladimir Putin, a rare meeting between isolated leaders driven together by their need for support in escalating standoffs with the West.

Kim is expected to seek economic aid and military technology for his impoverished country, and, in an unusual twist, appears to have something Putin desperately needs: munitions for Russia’s grueling war in Ukraine.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept 11 (NNN-BB) – A total of 413 individuals were arrested by Brunei’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), for their involvement in drug abuse and trafficking from Jan to Jul.

According to the Borneo Bulletin daily on Sunday, NCB director, Mohd Zalani, said that, in collaboration with other agencies, the NCB has conducted 25 operations since 2020, to detect and dismantle syndicates, drug dealers and drug abuse.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 (NNN-Bernama) — The Malaysian government will implement a multi-tiered levy system in the near future, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

It is aimed at securing job opportunities for locals and promoting automation and mechanisation while maintaining the policy of limiting foreign workers to 15 per cent of the total workforce.

According to Anwar, skills mismatch, low wages, and slow productivity growth are the key issues hindering Malaysia’s ability to transition to a high-income economy.

TAIPEI, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A Chinese naval formation led by the aircraft carrier Shandong passed 60 nautical miles (111km) to Taiwan's southeast on Monday and entered the western Pacific for training, the island's defence ministry said.

The ministry said that beginning at 5:40 a.m., it also spotted 11 Chinese military aircraft, including J-16 fighters, in Taiwan's air defence identification zone and that its forces had made an "appropriate response".

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- As a member of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies, China has played a crucial role in safeguarding the common interests of developing countries and pushing for more open and equal global economic governance, Cambodian experts have said.

"The political status and economic scale have made China one of the most important actors in the G20," Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — President Joe Biden closed a visit to Vietnam on Monday by spotlighting new business deals and partnerships between the two countries and paying respects at a memorial honoring his late friend and colleague Sen. John McCain, who endured a lengthy imprisonment in Hanoi during the Vietnam War.