Martial-arts film star Jackie Chan’s planned visit to Vietnam for a charity has been cancelled following an online backlash related to Beijing’s expansive claims in the disputed South China Sea.The Hong Kong-born actor was set to visit Hanoi on 10 November to support Operation Smile, a charity that gives free surgery to children with facial disfigurements.But the plans were scrapped after thousands of angry Facebook users flooded the charity’s official page when his visit was announced last w

An offer by the United States (US) to host a Pacific rim summit in America in 2020 after Chile abruptly cancelled this year’s event was “not a good idea”, Malaysia’s foreign minister said Thursday.The sharp retort comes days after most southeast Asian leaders snubbed a meeting with US officials in Thailand when President Donald Trump failed to show.The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit had been scheduled for November 16-17 in Chile, but President Sebastian Pinera pulled out of h

Exiled Cambodian opposition party leader Sam Rainsy was blocked in Paris on Thursday and his deputy detained in Malaysia as they tried to fly home despite arrest threats from Cambodia’s  leader Hun Sen.Both Rainsy and Mu Sochua had planned to meet up with other opposition supporters to mark Cambodia’s Independence Day on Saturday.“I am extremely shocked because the people need me in Cambodia,” Rainsy, archrival of Prime Minister Hun Sen, told journalists at Charles de Gaulle airport

A fierce critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly anti-drug war accepted a top post on Wednesday to help steer the campaign, pledging to halt killings of the innocent.While critics said the appointment is an effort to tarnish an adversary, the move will put Leni Robredo in the cockpit of the internationally condemned crackdown.Duterte offered the post to Robredo, who is vice president but was elected separately, after her repeated criticism of a campaign that has killed th

Thailand will not allow Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy to transit through the kingdom in a bid to return to Phnom Penh, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Wednesday.Rainsy, who has lived in France since 2015 to avoid jail for convictions he says are politically motivated, has promised a dramatic homecoming on 9 November, Cambodia's Independence Day.But Cambodia's strongman premier Hun Sen has said repeatedly that arrest warrants for his arch-rival have been sent to nei

At least 15 people were killed and another four injured in attacks by suspected Muslim rebels in Thailand's violence-wracked south, an army spokesman said on Wednesday, the largest death toll in years. The Malay-Muslim south has been in the grip of a bloody insurgency that has killed more than 7,000 people over the last 15 years. Late Tuesday militants struck two checkpoints in Yala province manned by civil defence volunteers, opening fire on them as a group of villager

Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed a "high degree of trust" in Hong Kong's unpopular leader Carrie Lam as the two met after months of increasingly violent protests in the semi-autonomous city.Xi's show of support follows speculation that Beijing was preparing to remove Lam as city authorities struggle to contain pro-democracy demonstrations that have rocked the financial hub.Their meeting in Shanghai on Monday followed another weekend of violence in Hong Kong that

The United States (US) on Monday accused China of intimidation in the South China Sea as it put forward its strongest language yet rejecting Beijing’s claims in the strategic, dispute-rife waters.The Pacific powers traded tit-for-tat barbs over the South China Sea at a regional summit in Bangkok, with Beijing accusing the US of ratcheting up tensions in the waters, a key global shipping route.Beijing lays claim to huge swathes of the sea, where it is accused of building military inst

Southeast Asian leaders met for a second day in Thailand on Sunday, hoping for a breakthrough in talks over the world's largest trade deal to help throw off the torpor which has gripped the global economy since the United States (US)-China tariff war began.The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened its annual summit in Bangkok on Saturday hoping to secure a China-backed free trade pact at the three-day event, which knits together half the world's population

Beijing said Sunday it is "ready to work" with Southeast Asian nations on a code of conduct in the flashpoint South China Sea, where it is accused of building up military installations and bullying fellow claimants.China claims most of the resource-rich waterway, a major global shipping route that has long been a source of tension in the region.For years, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been locked in talks for a code of conduct for the sea, where Ch