Day: October 6, 2023

TAIPEI —  Maldives President-elect Mohamed Muizzu’s election victory has put South Asian countries’ attempted balancing act between China and India into the global spotlight. Muizzu is known as a pro-China politician, and analysts predict he will try to institute some pro-China policies. At the same time, they think India’s active presence in the Indian Ocean archipelago will force Muizzu to strike a delicate balance between Beijing and New Delhi. “Muizzu tapped into the anti-India sentiment [during the campaign] and he certainly will try to distance his government from India to…

JAKARTA, Indonesia —  Indonesia denied Friday that forest and peat fires on Sumatra and Borneo islands were causing the haze in Malaysia, after the neighboring government sent a letter complaining about the air quality and asking for both countries to work together to deal with the blazes. Forest and peat fires are an annual problem in Indonesia that strains relations with neighboring countries. In recent years, smoke from the fires has blanketed parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand. Some parts of Malaysia said they experienced smoke from the…

beijing —  A typhoon was headed toward southern China and Hong Kong Friday after bringing record-breaking winds and leaving one dead in Taiwan. Typhoon Koinu, after initially weakening, regained strength as it headed west across the South China Sea toward China’s Guangdong province, the China Meteorological Administration said. The slow-moving storm was forecast to remain at sea, bringing rain to China’s southern coast through the weekend as it passes south of Guangdong and Hong Kong. The storm was about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southeast of Hong Kong and moving at…