Two giant pandas from China arrived in Indonesia on Thursday in an act of "panda diplomacy" aimed at celebrating 60 years of bilateral ties.Cai Tao and Hu Chun, both aged seven, arrived from Sichuan province and will be housed at a safari zoo in Bogor, a city near the capital Jakarta.The pandas were lent by Beijing to mark the diplomatic anniversary despite recent tensions between the nations, with a number of clashes between Chinese and Indonesian vessels in the South China Sea.The

Ten Indonesian pirates who seised an oil tanker off the east coast of the Malay peninsula were arrested by Malaysia's coast guard Thursday, officials said.Commando units were rushed by helicopter to the Thai-flagged tanker, which was carrying RM7 million (1.7 million dollars) worth of diesel, after it vanished off tracking systems on Wednesday afternoon, Malaysian maritime officials said.

Vietnam has delivered a sharp rebuke to China over military drills in the South China Sea, the second such warning in a week as tensions rise between the countries over the disputed waterway.China and Vietnam have long traded barbs over the strategic and resource-rich South China Sea, which Beijing claims most of.Tensions have flared in recent months, with Vietnam suspending an oil exploration project operated by Spain's Repsol in an area off its coast claimed by Beijing.In June, a meeti

As Kim Jong Un’s antics in North Korea capture global attention, China is quietly moving to bolster its grip on the disputed territory in the South China Sea.Last month, a Philippine lawmaker released photos he said showed Chinese fishing, coast guard and navy vessels surrounding a Philippine-occupied isle in the Spratly island chain, preventing planned repairs to a runway.

While trust among Southeast Asian nations is improving, especially to counter threats from piracy and terrorism, China is acting to protect its own interests at the cost of others, according to U.S. Rear Admiral Don Gabrielson.Gabrielson, commander of the Logistics Group Western Pacific, said nations should not seek to undermine the “existing system” through unilateral actions, without naming a particular country.