There’s debate in the U.S. Congress about how the president’s new budget request will shape competition with China.
Welcome to VOA Asia Weekly. I'm Chris Casquejo in Washington. That story is just ahead, but first, making headlines:
The leader of the Thailand opposition Move Forward Party, Pita Limjaroenrat, said on Monday he wants to form a coalition government, after receiving the most votes in Sunday’s election. Who becomes the next prime minister will depend on a vote set for July that includes all the House lawmakers plus the 250-seat military-appointed Senate, whose members share the establishment’s conservative policies. The winner must attain at least 376 of their combined 750 votes.
U.S. President Joe Biden held a bilateral meeting in Japan Thursday with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima. But Biden canceled his extended trip abroad to Papua New Guinea and Australia next week to continue debt ceiling talks with congressional leaders.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Wednesday in Seoul to discuss North Korean human rights issues and ways to strengthen cooperation on the trade of minerals critical for production of electric vehicles for the U.S. market.
China said on Wednesday that it wants to further deepen relations with Kazakhstan both in times of prosperity as well as of adversity, President Xi Jinping told his visiting Kazakh counterpart in Beijing. This week, China hosted an in-person summit of Central Asian leaders. China’s investments in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan reached a record-high of more than $70 billion in 2022.
The Philippine Coast Guard released a video on Monday showing navigational buoys placed within its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea that a government official said on Monday were to assert sovereignty over the Spratly Islands in a territorial dispute with China.
Top U.S. administration officials testified Tuesday on Capitol Hill about how the president's new budget request is expected to shape U.S. competition with China. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has details.
Lawmakers and top Cabinet officials discussed whether the Biden administration’s latest budget will allow the U.S. to compete with China or fall behind.
“Today China has the world's largest navy, the world's largest army and the world's largest economy by purchasing power parity.”
Beijing has said it wants to use this growing power to control the island of Taiwan, by force if necessary. Fifty percent of world trade travels through the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan manufactures more than 70% of the world’s semiconductors, the foundation for computers.
“As a result of unilateral action taken by China with regard to Taiwan, we would have a global economic crisis on our hands that country after country would be affected by.”
Officials say the U.S. remains committed to Taiwan, with a massive military aid package for the democratic island expected soon.
And Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that if Congress fails to pass a U.S. budget on time, U.S. interests would suffer.
"It will delay our ability to get the critical munitions that we need for ourselves and also to support our allies and partners as well."
But Republican Senator Lindsey Graham criticized the administration for trying to pin U.S. shortcomings vis-à-vis China on Congress.
“This idea that we have a strong China policy is a bunch of crap. It's not the budget that will deter China. It's our will to take on people like China.”
Republicans argue that Biden’s budget fails to fund new ships the U.S. Navy says it needs to deter China.
And they criticize the president’s refusal to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism over its war in Ukraine, which senators on both sides of the aisle say would send a strong message while Beijing reportedly weighs sending military aid to Moscow.
Carla Babb, VOA News, Washington.
Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang party on Wednesday picked New Taipei City mayor Hou Yu-ih to be its presidential candidate in the election next year, with China tensions set to be the top issue.
The KMT favors close ties with China while the ruling Democratic Progressive Party champions Taiwan's separate self-governing identity. Hou will run against the DPP's William Lai, Taiwan's vice president, who was leading Hou by about five to 10 percentage points, according to three Taiwan polls released this week.
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Thanks for watching VOA Asia Weekly. I’m Chris Casquejo. Until next week.
We leave you with footage shared on social media that showed coral reefs off the coast of Okinawa, Japan, spawning underwater last Friday, simultaneously releasing a blizzard of tiny eggs and sperm, also known as gametes, into the ocean.
