16/07/2025

WEDNESDAY | JULY 16, 2025 7 Suspended Thai PM hit by ethics probe BANGKOK: Thailand’s anti-graft body will investigate suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra for alleged ethics violations over a leaked phone call with Cambodia’s influential former leader Hun Sen. The investigation will be another blow to the beleaguered government of 38-year-old Paetongtarn, Thailand’s youngest premier, who the Constitutional Court suspended from duty earlier this month over the issue. The leaked June 15 call, during which Paetongtarn appeared to kowtow before Hun Sen and criticised a Thai army commander, triggered a major backlash at home, with allegations she had undermined Thailand’s integrity and sovereignty amid a heated territorial dispute with Cambodia. Paetongtarn has since seen protests calling for her resignation and the exit from her coalition of its second-largest party, leaving her government with a razor-thin majority. “The commission has set up an investigation panel. There is no timeframe,” said an official from the National Anti-Corruption Commission, who declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly about the matter. The body has a broad remit to investigate allegations of offences by state officials beyond graft. Thai media outlets on Monday reported it had decided to investigate Pateongtarn. The NACC secretary-general Sarote Phuengrampan told reporters he was not aware of the investigation or any decision by commissioners. The complaint came from 36 senators who also petitioned the Constitutional Court alleging Paetongtarn, the daughter of politically influential billionaire had violated ethical standards and intentionally abused her power. She is suspended from duty until a verdict is delivered. Paetongtarn has apologised for the call and insisted she was trying to find a peaceful solution to an escalating row with Cambodia, which saw a troop buildup on both sides of their border. Paetongtarn’s battles after only 10 months in office underline a deep rift in Thailand between the Shinawatra political dynasty and its rivals among a conservative establishment backed by the army, a long-running power struggle that has seen two coups and the fall of multiple parties and prime ministers by court orders. – Reuters BEIJING SUPPORTS ASEAN NUCLEAR WEAPON-FREE ZONE BEIJING: China firmly supports the establishment of a Southeast Asia nuclear weapon-free zone, a Chinese defence spokesperson said on Monday. Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defence, said the establishment of a nuclear weapon-free zone is significant for promoting regional peace and stability, and is conducive to the fundamental security interests of Asean. China has made clear its willingness to take the lead in signing the protocol to the treaty on the zone, he said. Jiang made the remarks in response to comments by the Philippine defence secretary, who said that China’s willingness to sign the protocol was symbolic, and that it BANGKOK: The Phra Prang of Wat Arun Ratchawararam, or Temple of Dawn, an iconic landmark, has been added to Unesco’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites, said Culture Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. She said the 47th Session of the World Heritage Committee had acknowledged the listing of Wat Arun’s central pagoda on the tentative list. “The listing initiates the formal process that could lead to the temple’s full recognition as a World Heritage Site,”she said. Wat Arun has been in use since the Ayutthaya period (18th century). – Bernama should first denuclearise. – Bernama TEMPLE OF DAWN PAGODA MAKES HERITAGE LIST

‘Dialogue must be at heart of ties’

o Australia values China relations, Albanese tells Xi

told to hand footage to police. A small group of reporters were filming outside Beijing’s Bell and Drum Towers when they were stopped by security guards. National broadcaster ABC’s reporter Stephen Dziedzic said he was “quickly surrounded by a number of security guards, who said they were going to call the police and we didn’t have permission to leave”. “We had the necessary permissions, we had the right visas, but nonetheless perhaps that hadn’t been passed all the way down the chain,” he told ABC. Australian broadcaster SBS, which also has a correspondent on the trip, reported that journalists were briefly surrounded and told to hand footage to police. The group was allowed to leave after Australian diplomats intervened, the ABC and SBS reported. Albanese’s trip also comes as China’s sweeping territorial claims ruffle feathers in the region. Another key point of contention is the fate of northern Australia’s Darwin Port, whose Chinese-owned controller could be forced to sell it to a local buyer by Albanese’s government. – AFP

“Australia values our relationship with China and will continue to approach it in a calm and consistent manner, guided by our national interest,” Albanese said. “It’s important we have these direct discussions on issues that matter to us and to the stability and prosperity of our region. As you and I have agreed previously, dialogue needs to be at the centre of our relationship,” he said. Xi, in turn, hailed the “benefits” of improved ties between China and Australia, saying the relationship had “risen from the setbacks and turned around”. “No matter how the international landscape may evolve we should uphold this overall direction unswervingly,” he said. China is one of Australia’s most important economic partners, accounting for nearly one-third of its total trade. Albanese is accompanied on his visit by a delegation of key business leaders who will attend a CEO roundtable in Beijing. His trip will last until Friday and will also take him to the southwestern city of Chengdu. He is also accompanied by a travelling media pack, members of which said they were briefly surrounded by security guards and

BEIJING: “Dialogue” must be at the heart of ties between Canberra and Beijing, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said yesterday as he met President Xi Jinping. Albanese is on his second visit to China as prime minister, seeking to bolster recently stabilised trade ties even as geopolitical tensions remain high. Relations between Beijing and Canberra have charted a bumpy course over the past decade, a period marked by repeated disagreements over national security and competing interests across the Pacific. Ties improved in December when China called off a ban on imported Australian rock lobster, removing the final obstacle to ending a damaging trade war between the countries from 2017. Albanese met Xi in the Great Hall of the People and said he welcomed “the opportunity to set out Australia’s views and interests”.

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Xi (centre) chairing a meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation yesterday. – AFPPIC/HANDOUT/RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

Japan concerned over incursions TOKYO: Japan said yesterday that China’s intensifying military activities could “seriously impact” its security, citing the first confirmed incursion by a Chinese military aircraft into its airspace in an annual threat assessment. It repeated its comment from last year’s paper that China’s military ambitions pose “an unprecedented and (the) greatest strategic challenge” to Japan and the world.

Russia which are “clearly intended as a demonstration of force against Japan”, the paper said. It repeated that North Korea’s activities pose a “more grave and imminent threat to Japan’s national security than ever before”. The white paper was approved by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba yesterday. Japan is increasing its defence spending to the Nato standard of roughly 2% of gross domestic product (GDP). It is bolstering its military ties with Washington – and other regional US allies – to make US and Japanese forces nimbler in response to threats such as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. – AFP

Tokyo said last week that Chinese fighter jets flew within 30m of a Japanese patrol aircraft over the East China Sea. Last year, Chinese vessels sailed near the Japanese-administered Senkaku islands, known as the Diaoyu in China, a record 355 times, according to Tokyo. And last month Japan said that two Chinese aircraft carriers sailed in the Pacific simultaneously for the first time, including in Japan’s economic waters. China called it “routine training”. Beijing has also conducted joint drills with

The Defence Ministry said in its white paper that China was ramping up its activities in the entire region surrounding Japan. A Chinese military aircraft entered Japan’s airspace in August last year, it said. Then in September, a Chinese aircraft carrier and two other naval ships sailed between two Japanese islands near Taiwan. Beijing’s military “created a situation that could seriously impact Japan’s security”, the paper said, repeating earlier comments that China’s actions were of “grave concern”.