Southeast Asian nations have chosen Burma to chair their regional organisation in 2014, betting the junta-led country can make its way out of isolation by then. But US President Obama says the regime first needs to improve its human rights record.
The UN's highest court, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, ruled Monday that both Thai and Cambodian troops must withdraw immediately from a border area around a disputed ancient Hindu temple.
Following emergency talks between South-east Asian ministers, Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to allow unarmed observers to be posted along a segment of their border where deadly clashes erupted over a disputed temple earlier this month.
Japan's PM Naoto Kan (right) and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (left) held an informal meeting on Saturday on the first day of the annual ASEAN summit to defuse a diplomatic row between the two countries over maritime law.
This year’s East Asia Summit has got off to a prickly start, after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – on special invitation – launched into the subject of maritime law regarding an ongoing diplomatic spat between China and Japan.
US President Barack Obama arrived in Shanghai, China's commercial hub, late on Sunday to torrential rain. He is due to meet city officials and hold a town hall-style meeting with young people before heading to Beijing later on Monday.
US President Barack Obama joined nine leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in calling on Burma to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and to hold credible elections during a summit meeting in Singapore.
Wrapping up his Japan visit, US President Barack Obama pledged greater cooperation with Asia as the self-proclaimed "first Pacific President" of the USA headed for the weekend’s annual Asia-Pacific summit in Singapore.
In Tokyo on his first trip to Asia as US president, Barack Obama pledged to pursue cooperation with China, engage more deeply in Asia, and push for stronger trade ties with the region. He will also visit Singapore, China, and South Korea.
US President Barack Obama's whirlwind tour of Asia is aimed at signalling a new era of US engagement in a region that could offer vital support on security issues and which accounts for more than half of the world's economy.
