Asia must unleash potential’

XI JINPING called on China and Central Asia to "fully unleash" their potential in trade, economic and infrastructure cooperation Friday, as he wrapped up a landmark summit with heads of state from the strategically vital region.

The Chinese leader is hosting the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan at a summit in Xi'an in northern China this week – a meeting Beijing has said is of "milestone" significance.

Beijing says trade with Central Asia reached $70 billion in 2022 and expanded 22 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023.

The region is also a crucial link in China's trillion-dollar global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative.

Speaking to regional leaders, Xi said the countries must "fully unleash the potential of traditional cooperation in economy, trade, industrial capacity, energy and transport," according to a state media readout.

He also stressed the need to develop "new growth drivers... such as finance, agriculture, poverty reduction, low carbon, health, and digital innovation."

"China and Central Asian countries should deepen strategic mutual trust, and always offer clear and strong support for each other on issues of core interests."

Belt and Road is a defining geopolitical project for Xi, with Beijing keen to restart cooperation and fill the vacuum left in former Soviet states by Russia's war in Ukraine.

On Friday, Xi said the region and China must "take the lead" in that project and "deepen strategic mutual trust."

And with a goal to "uphold everlasting friendship," the Chinese leader said the leaders would aim to meet again in Kazakhstan in 2025.

He also stressed the need to expand security cooperation on what Beijing dubbed the "three evils" in the region: separatism, terrorism and extremism.

"The six countries should resolutely oppose external interference in the internal affairs of regional countries and attempts to instigate 'color revolutions,'" Xi said, a reference to unrest in former Soviet states that Moscow and others allege is backed by the West.

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has allowed China to carve out a greater role in Central Asia, leading many in the region to question their long-standing ties with Russia and seek economic, diplomatic and strategic assurances elsewhere. AFP

Iran executes three men linked to Amini protests

IRANIAN authorities on Friday executed three men convicted of violence against the Islamic republic's security forces during protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death in custody last year, the judiciary said.

Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were convicted of "moharebeh," or "war against God," for drawing a gun during a demonstration in the central city of Isfahan, leading to the deaths of three members of the security forces, the judiciary's Mizan Online news website said.

Iran witnessed waves of nationwide protests following the September 16 death of 22-year-old Amini, an Iranian Kurd who had been arrested for an alleged breach of strict dress rules for women.

During the protests, which Tehran generally labelled as

Modi aims to boost Delhi’s Indo-Pacific role

INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to Papua New Guinea and Australia on Sunday as New Delhi seeks to counter mounting Chinese influence in both the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Western nations regularly refer to the wider region as the Indo-Pacific, but New Delhi has been left far behind by Beijing's efforts in recent years to woo the small island states that dot the vast expanses of water with trade and aid.

Several Pacific island states have switched their diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in recent decades, and before the coronavirus pandemic enjoyed economic boosts from Chinese tourists.

At the same time, as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing has negotiated infrastructure deals with countries around the Indian Ocean including Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bangladesh, and Djibouti, sometimes accompanied by military agreements.

New Delhi sees the area as its backyard, and Beijing's activities have alarmed Indian officials.

In Port Moresby, Modi will co-host the Summit of the Forum for India–Pacific Islands Cooperation with PNG Prime Minister James Marape, before going on to Australia, a fellow member of the Quad – an alliance set up as a bulwark against China's growing assertiveness under President Xi Jinping.

"China has taken over South China Sea," said navy veteran and former Indian navy spokesperson DK Sharma, describing the strategically vital waterway as a "global common" that had to be treated and respected as such.

"Today or tomorrow, the enemy is the same. Either you prepare now or react later," he told AFP. "India's visit to the islands is one of the last opportunities we have.

"One cannot deny the fact that the power we are all mustering strength against is too superior to be handled by any single one of us. Best way is to collaborate and have likeminded defense procedures."

Xi visited PNG in 2018, and Beijing struck a controversial security deal with Solomon Islands last year that sent shockwaves across the region when a leaked draft included measures that would allow Chinese naval deployments to the Pacific nation, less than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from Australia.

Modi will travel to Australia for meetings with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and business leaders, just two months after the Australian visited India. AFP foreign-instigated "riots," thousands of Iranians were arrested and hundreds killed including dozens of security forces. Friday's hangings bring the total of Iranians executed in connection with the protests to seven. Kazemi, Mirhashemi and Yaghoubi were arrested in November and sentenced to death in January. They were also charged with membership of "illegal groups with the intention of disrupting national security and collusion leading to crimes against internal security," Mizan said. It noted "evidence and documents in the case and the clear statements made by the accused" showed that "the shootings carried out by these three people led to the martyrdom of three security forces.” AFP

Cyclone Mocha death toll reaches 145 in Myanmar

THE death toll from Cyclone Mocha has reached 145 in Myanmar, its junta's information team said on Friday, five days after the devastating storm barrelled through the country.

Cyclone Mocha brought lashing rain and winds of 195 kilometers per hour (120 miles per hour) to Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh on Sunday, collapsing buildings and turning streets into rivers.

The storm – the most powerful to hit the two countries in more than a decade – churned up villages, uprooted trees and knocked out communications across much of Myanmar's Rakhine state.

The region is home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who live in displacement camps following decades of ethnic conflict.

"Altogether 145 local people were killed during the cyclone," the statement said.

This included four soldiers, 24 locals and 117 "Bengalis," it added, using a pejorative term for the Rohingya.

Widely viewed as interlopers from Bangladesh, Rohingya are denied citizenship and access to healthcare, and require permission to travel outside of their townships.

In neighbouring Bangladesh, officials told AFP that no one had died in the cyclone, which passed close to sprawling refugee camps that house almost one million Rohingya who fled a Myanmar military crackdown in 2017. AFP