30/05/2025

FRIDAY | MAY 30, 2025

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Hanoi bans Economist print issue HANOI: The Economist’s latest printed edition for Asia featuring Vietnam’s top leader To Lam on its cover has been banned in Vietnam, sources at two local media distributors told Reuters, in a new instance of censorship in the Communist-run country. o Telegram also blocked a request for comment outside UK business hours. Vietnam routinely prohibits books, movies and other cultural works and multiple media outlets are also banned. “We were given orders to tear off the cover and the article about him (Lam), making the magazine no longer sellable. US tariff trade tensions that may undermine its export-oriented growth. The Economist’s article described Lam as an ambitious leader who emerged “from the security state” and who “must turn himself into a reformer” to adjust the country’s economic model and make it richer.

Philippines exerts right to ‘lawful’ activities MANILA: The Philippine Foreign Ministry said yesterday that China has no right to object to or interfere with its lawful and routine activities in the South China Sea. The ministry said it also “rejects and refutes” recent statements of the Chinese embassy in Manila that Beijing has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly islands. The Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and China between them have claims and a presence on dozens of features in the Spratly archipelago, ranging from reefs and rocks to islands, natural and artificial. China’s manmade islands there include runways, radar towers, ports and missile systems. “We urge China to respect the Philippines’ sovereignty and jurisdiction, even as we continue to pursue peaceful and legal means to manage differences and the situation at sea,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Teresita Daza in a statement. China and the Philippines traded accusations last week following a confrontation between two of their vessels in contested waters of the South China Sea, the latest incident in a long-running row in the strategic waterway. The Philippines’ fisheries bureau said the lives of a civilian crew were put at risk when the Chinese coast guard fired water cannons and sideswiped a vessel as it conducted marine research around a disputed reef. The Chinese coast guard said two Philippine vessels had illegally entered waters near Subi Reef, a Chinese-built artificial island and organised personnel to land on the unoccupied sandbars of Sandy Cay. “The Philippines is clearly within its rights to conduct routine maritime operations and scientific research in and around these features, and will continue to do so,” Daza said. “China has no right to object much less interfere with these lawful and routine activities.” China claims sovereignty over nearly all the South China Sea, including parts of the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. An international arbitral tribunal in 2016 said Beijing’s expansive claim has no basis under international law. The Chinese embassy in its statement sent to media on Monday said the Philippines had since January made 27 “unauthorised landings” on features, despite a 2002 agreement among Southeast Asian countries and China to refrain from doing so. – Reuters Many users of the app in the country could not access it this week. Telegram did not reply to a request for comment about the enforcement of the ban. It had earlier said it was “surprised” by the measure, noting it was responding to newly introduced requirements. – Reuters Lam as a hard man “undermine the serious political and social developments currently taking place in Vietnam”. The country is ranked 173th out of 180 surveyed nations in the latest press freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit organisation. Authorities in the one-party nation often detain people for “anti-state” online comments and maintain a strict control on the press and social media. Last week Vietnam’s Technology Ministry ordered the ban of messaging app Telegram over alleged crimes committed by its users, noting in an internal document the platform hosted groups created by “opposition and reactionary subjects”.

Lam, 67, rose from the powerful Ministry of Public Security, which he had led for years, to reach the top of Vietnam’s political hierarchy last year after a months-long power struggle, first becoming president and then head of the communist party, the country’s top job. The Economist’s cover and articles were reposted thousands of times on social media by users in Vietnam with mixed reactions. “Vietnam is stepping confidently into a new era of growth and the world is taking notice,” said Yumi Thao Nguyen, a sales manager, on LinkedIn with a link to The Economist. Le Thi Kim Ngoc, a self-described “Citizen of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”, said on Facebook The Economist’s characterisation of

Later, we were ordered not to sell it at all,” said an executive at distributor Ngay Moi, declining to be named because she was not allowed to speak to media. An employee at a second distributor, Global Book Corporation, said Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Information banned the distribution of that particular issue, without elaborating on the motivations. A third source at distributor Xunhasaba said it did not have that issue because it had not received enough orders. Vietnam, a Southeast Asian industrial hub, faces a pivotal moment as it seeks to consolidate a prolonged economic boom amid

The May 24 issue, which is still available in the country in its electronic version, portrays Lam with two stars on his eyes on a red backdrop, in a reference to the country’s national flag, with the title: “The man with a plan for Vietnam”. The subheading on its main Vietnam story said: “A Communist Party hard man has to rescue Asia’s great success story”. Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Information did not reply to requests for comment on the reported banning. The Economist did not immediately reply to

Regional meth seizures at record high BANGKOK: Seizures of methamphetamine in East and Southeast Asia were at record highs last year, a UN agency said, with a “combination of conflict and stability” in Myanmar driving illicit drug production.

Seizures of methamphetamine across the region totalled 236 tonnes last year, marking an “exponential” increase of 24% compared to 2023, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a statement citing a new report. The number represents “only the amount seized, and just so much methamphetamine is actually reaching the market”, said Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC acting representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific region. The largest quantities of methamphetamine seized in the region were recorded in Thailand, the biggest destination and transit hub for the synthetic drug. In Myanmar, a “degree of stability” in areas of the country known for large-scale synthetic drug production combined with a crisis following a 2021 military coup had driven the “unprecedented” growth, Hofmann said. The spread of ketamine production sites to most of the lower Mekong countries showed the agility of transnational drug trafficking groups in evading law enforcement, UNODC said in the statement. “The trafficking route connecting Cambodia

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra poses in Bangkok with seized methamphetamine at a press event yesterday highlighting the Thai government’s anti-drug trafficking efforts. – AFPPIC

with Myanmar, primarily through Laos, has been rapidly expanding,” said Inshik Sim, lead analyst at the UNODC regional office, adding

that maritime routes linking Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines had become another significant trafficking corridor. – AFP

East Timor deports Filipino murder suspect MANILA: East Timor deported an Interpol wanted Filipino murder suspect yesterday whose case the government has linked to its aspirations to join Asean, after more than two years of political wrangling. Nicolau Lobato International Airport. Teves was detained at a driving range in the capital Dili last year, but a Timorese court blocked his extradition.

“The government hereby informs that Arnolfo Teves Jr will be deported from Timor Leste,” it said in a statement, using the country’s alternate name. It added that East Timor’s “imminent full accession” to Asean had reinforced its responsibility to collaborate regionally on legal matters. The Philippines’ Department of Justice said yesterday it was preparing a team to facilitate Teves’ repatriation based on deportation documents from East Timor. – AFP Thailand’s military said on Wednesday that its soldiers fired in response to gunshots from Cambodia’s border force, leading to an exchange lasting around 10 minutes before the Thai side said the Cambodians requested a ceasefire. Cambodian Royal Army spokesman Mao Phalla said Thai soldiers had attacked Cambodian troops who were on border patrol duty in northern Preah Vihear province. – AFP

The Philippines justice secretary suggested the decision may have been bought, saying it was “obvious that some people are making money out of this”. In an abrupt turnaround, East Timor announced Teves’ impending deportation late on Wednesday, saying his continued presence represented a security risk.

Former Philippines congressman Arnolfo Teves allegedly masterminded a March 2023 attack that killed then-provincial governor Roel Degamo and nine others. AFP journalists saw him boarding a turboprop plane with Philippine Air Force markings that then took off from Presidente

Thai, Cambodian army chiefs meet over border clash BANGKOK: The military chiefs of Thailand and Cambodia met yesterday, both governments said, after a Cambodian soldier was killed in a border clash. Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn wrote on Facebook that he hoped the meeting between the two army commanders “will yield positive results”. Thai Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said there had been a “misunderstanding by both sides”.

Shinawatra told reporters that “both sides should remain calm and discuss to see what we can agree”, and called for peaceful discussion. Her Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet

A Cambodian soldier was killed on Wednesday during an exchange of gunfire with the Thai army at the border, a Cambodian army spokesman said.