03/05/2026

theSun on Sunday MAY 3, 2026

WORLD 7

Japan pledges more efforts to keep Asia free

that they have nothing to do with Huione’s alleged crimes and cannot access their assets deposited with the firm, calling on the NBC to intervene. The NBC has said the Huione platforms’ business licences have been revoked and Huione Pay creditors should go to the courts, while H-Pay creditors can make claims with a liquidator. – AFP YANGON: Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers plan to meet the former leader today after she was transferred to house arrest in the capital. Suu Kyi has been detained since the military ousted her civilian government in a coup in February 2021. “Aung San Suu Kyi is still in Naypyidaw,” a member of her legal team said. On Thursday, state media reported she would be moved to house arrest. Suu Kyi’s legal team planned to meet the 80-year-old to discuss her position and bring her supplies, such as food and medicine. Sending supplies every Sunday was the regular practice of her legal team, the representative said, and after they were prevented from seeing Suu Kyi, the supplies were dropped off at a police station to be passed on. “Since Suu Kyi had already been transferred to house arrest, it means that while going to deliver her provisions as usual, we would be able to meet her as a team to discuss the next steps,” the legal team member said. The US State Department called for Suu Kyi’s immediate and unconditional release. “Ensure Suu Kyi has proper access to medical care given continued reports of her poor health,” its spokesperson said. A UN spokesperson said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had “taken note” of Suu Kyi’s transfer and “appeals for the swift and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained as a fundamental step towards conditions conducive to a credible political process.” After a marathon run of secret trials following the coup, Suu Kyi was sentenced to 33 years after she was convicted of charges ranging from corruption and inciting election fraud to violating state secrecy rules. The sentence was later reduced to 27 years, and then by a sixth in a Myanmar New Year amnesty on April 17 that freed her ally and co-defendant Win Myint, the former president. On Thursday, her sentence was reduced by a further one-sixth as part of a wider amnesty of prisoners in Myanmar’s jails, before the move to house arrest was announced. – Reuters Suu Kyi to meet her lawyers today

PM calls for ‘resilience’ among Asian nations

PHNOM PENH: A Cambodian court charged two men on Friday for leading protests demanding the unfreezing of accounts with a financial services firm linked to cyberscams. Protesters said earlier this week that their accounts with US-sanctioned Huione Group’s digital payments platform H-Pay, previously Huione Pay, had been The appeals court decision on Thursday was another blow to an opposition decimated by the ruling party’s crackdown. Kem Sokha, 72, co-founder of the defunct Cambodia National Rescue Party, has been held under house arrest since he was found guilty of treason in March 2023. He was accused of conspiring with a foreign power to topple then-premier Hun Sen. The United States has previously said his conviction was based on “fabricated conspiracy theories”. HANOI: Japan’s prime minister vowed yesterday to do more to ensure a “free and open Indo Pacific”, using a speech in communist Vietnam to tout a regional strategy that has long rankled neighbouring China. “I am renewing my determination to fulfil Japan’s responsibilities and to play an even more proactive role than ever before in building an international order based on freedom, openness, diversity, inclusiveness and the rule of law,” Sanae Takaichi said in an address at Hanoi university. She called for Asian countries to cultivate “resilience” and the ability to “determine their own future”. Japan and Vietnam share common concerns about China’s territorial claims in the East and South China seas, and both have sought to hedge against US-driven trade disruptions by broadening economic and security ties. But Hanoi aims to stay on good terms with all global powers through its traditional “bamboo diplomacy” approach,

inaccessible since December. The US government last year accused Huione, which owned several companies offering e-commerce, payment and cryptocurrency exchange services, of laundering funds for criminal groups. Huione’s former chairman, Li Xiong, was extradited to China on April 1. “The United States is troubled by the decision to uphold activist and opposition leader Kem Sokha’s conviction of treason,” the State Department said in a statement. “Claims of US involvement are patently false and irresponsible.” Activists and Western countries have condemned mass trials in Cambodia involving more than 100 opposition figures, with many jailed in absentia on treason and incitement charges. “Limiting the exercise of freedom of expression and association hinders Cambodia’s international standing,” the State Department said. – Reuters while Tokyo has seen its already frosty relations with Beijing deteriorate markedly. That makes Vietnam a striking choice of venue for a Japanese foreign policy speech touting a strategy backed by Washington. First articulated a decade ago by Takaichi’s mentor Shinzo Abe, the idea of a “free and open” Indo-Pacific has since been embraced by US partners and allies seeking to curb China’s influence in the region. Beijing has slammed the initiative as a veiled attempt to promote bloc confrontation, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian accusing Tokyo of “stirring up confrontation between camps”. In her address yesterday, Takaichi said she was updating the diplomatic vision for a “challenging” new era. Without naming Beijing, she warned against “excessive dependence on a single country for critical goods”, saying this often results from “unduly low prices” and calling for a “level playing field”.

Takaichi aims to deepen ties. – AFPPIC

energy security and supply chain resilience amid major disruptions stemming from the Middle East crisis. Japan is Vietnam’s largest provider of official development assistance and a key investor and trading partner. – AFP

She also underscored the importance of open shipping lanes, saying “regional supply chains are underpinned by safe and open navigation”. Takaichi, on her first visit to Vietnam since becoming prime minister in October, aims to deepen bilateral cooperation on

US State Dept ‘troubled’ by conviction of Cambodian opposition leader WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Friday that Washington was “troubled” by a Cambodian appeals court’s decision that upheld a 27-year sentence for former opposition leader Kem Sokha for his treason conviction. Kem Sokha’s case was among the most prominent in a sweeping crackdown on opponents of the Cambodian People’s Party, which has ruled Cambodia for decades.

Sokha’s lawyer Pheng Heng speaking to media at the Phnom Penh Appeals Court on Thursday. – REUTERSPIC

Two charged with leading Phnom Penh protests over frozen bank accounts

The detained men were charged on Friday with incitement to cause serious unrest and obstruction of public traffic outside of the central bank, the Phnom Penh court said. Monday’s protest followed other demonstrations last month outside the NBC and the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh. Protesters told AFP on Monday

Chinese authorities said he was central to a major gambling and fraud syndicate. The two accused – Suon Sovanthai, 37, and Vath Makara, 36 – were arrested on Monday during a demonstration outside the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) in Phnom Penh that left at least two protesters bloodied after clashes with authorities.