CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Brad Lendon and Oren Liebermann, CNN US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called out China on Saturday for a series of coercive, aggressive and dangerous actions that threaten stability around Asia and vowed the United States would stand by partners to resist any pressure. “Indo-Pacific countries shouldn’t face political intimidation, economic coercion, or harassment by

By Oren Liebermann and Brad Lendon, CNN US and Chinese military chiefs sparred over the issue of Taiwan in their first face-to-face meeting on Friday at a major defense summit in Singapore, with Washington saying Beijing is trying to change the status quo over the island and Beijing claiming Washington is fueling instability with its

By Helen Regan, CNN A team of international scientists tasked with understanding how the coronavirus pandemic began released their first report on Thursday, saying that all hypothesis remain on the table, including a possible laboratory incident. The 27-member scientific advisory group convened by the World Health Organization said available data suggests the virus jumped from

By Heather Chen, CNN Malaysia will abolish the mandatory death penalty, the government said Friday, in a move cautiously welcomed by rights groups as a rare progressive step on the issue for the region. In a statement, Malaysian law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said mandatory death sentences for serious crimes would be replaced by

By Nectar Gan and Steven Jiang, CNN Shanghai will carry out Covid-19 testing on more than half of its 25 million residents this weekend, fueling fears of a return to more stringent restrictions just days after the financial hub emerged from two months of painful lockdown. The mass testing announcements sparked fears of a return

By Helen Regan and Esha Mitra, CNN India is trying to contain the diplomatic fallout as outrage grows in the Muslim world following derogatory comments made by ruling party officials about the Prophet Mohammed. The United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Oman, and Iraq are among at least 15 Muslim-majority nations to have condemned the remarks, which

By Nectar Gan and Shawn Deng, CNN Torrential rains in southern China have killed at least 32 people, impacted millions of residents and caused billions of yuan in economic losses, as the country grapples with increasingly devastating flood seasons fueled by climate change. In recent weeks, heavy rainfall has triggered severe flooding and landslides in

By Nectar Gan, CNN China is offering its citizens cash rewards of up to and above 100,000 yuan ($15,000) for tip-offs about people who endanger national security, as authorities intensify a years-long campaign to weed out what they see as growing threats from foreign espionage and “hostile forces.” Successful informants can receive either “spiritual rewards”

By Nectar Gan, CNN For decades, the Chinese government has sought to erase all memories of its bloody military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests, especially around the anniversary on June 4. But this year, those attempts backfired, drawing attention to and prompting questions about the massacre from previously oblivious young Chinese internet users. The

Story by Reuters India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Sunday it had suspended its spokeswoman Nupur Sharma in response to comments she made during a TV debate about the Prophet Mohammed. The BJP said in a statement on its website that the party respected all religions. “The BJP strongly denounces insult of any