标签： Asia

At a regional security conference hosted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by U.S. Pacific Command on Monday, the leader of the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific command delivered a stark warning that coercive behavior from Beijing and other global actors poses growing threats to Indo-Pacific stability, stressing that Washington will never permit a single power to seize control of the strategic region.

Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, spoke via video link to the assembled delegates, arguing that some actors are leveraging manufactured claims of legitimacy to enable intimidation and pressure against neighboring states. He drew a sharp conceptual distinction for the current geopolitical moment: “That’s not the rule of law. That’s the rule by law. That distinction between law as a tool of order versus law as a weapon of raw power, is the defining fault line of our time.”

Paparo’s comments arrive against a backdrop of sustained heightened tensions in the South China Sea, where China’s expansive territorial and maritime claims overlap with competing claims from multiple Southeast Asian coastal nations. The Philippines has emerged as the primary site of recent standoffs between Beijing and a regional claimant, with repeated confrontations between Chinese and Philippine maritime vessels centered on a contested shoal. Manila has formally accused Chinese crews of carrying out dangerous navigation maneuvers, deploying water cannons against Philippine vessels, and repeatedly attempting to block government resupply missions to Filipino personnel in the disputed area. China has outright rejected all these accusations, and continues to assert its full territorial sovereignty over the contested waterway.

The United States has repeatedly maintained that it does not take formal sides in the overlapping sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, but affirms its unwavering support for freedom of navigation, adherence to international law, and the right of all nations to operate in accordance with their recognized legal rights. Paparo underlined that open sea access, collective maritime security, and unobstructed global commerce form the foundation of lasting regional stability. He added that peaceful negotiation of disputes and universal respect for national sovereignty are non-negotiable requirements to protect the existing rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific.

“The United States is clear-eyed about the complex security environment in this region. Our posture and our intent are well defined. The United States is deterring China through strength, not through confrontation,” Paparo stated. “We will not let any nation dominate this region or sweep away the hard-fought sovereign rights of independent states.”

The U.S. commander further noted that the Indo-Pacific remains the central global hub of geopolitical and economic activity, but rising instability and evolving security challenges have made closer coordination between U.S. allies and regional partners more critical than ever before.

Opening remarks earlier in the conference came from Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, who pledged that Manila would continue to resist and push back against what he framed as Chinese aggression in the region. Speaking to reporters after his address, Teodoro expanded on his concerns, noting that Philippine anxiety over China’s actions extends far beyond its activities in the South China Sea. He pointed to Beijing’s recent test of a ballistic missile launched into the Pacific Ocean as clear evidence of China’s expanding regional reach and growing military footprint. “China is everywhere … this is a matter of concern,” he added.

On the sidelines of the security gathering, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn offered a more optimistic update on long-running negotiations between ASEAN member states and China over a binding code of conduct to govern interactions in the South China Sea and de-escalate long-running tensions. According to Kao, talks have advanced dramatically in recent months, with negotiators now far closer to finalizing the text than ever before. “The pace has picked up dramatically and I think we are much closer to finalizing the code of conduct,” Kao said. “I have full confidence that we will get it done within this year.”

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — In a landmark step toward reclaiming its Indigenous cultural heritage and distancing itself from colonial-era naming conventions, the small South Pacific island nation previously known internationally as Nauru has formally adopted the traditional name Republic of Naoero, the country’s president has confirmed. The change aligns the nation’s international title with the spelling and pronunciation used in its Indigenous language, bringing a years-long effort to correct a colonial naming compromise to a successful close.

Per the new designation, the country’s two-letter international code will shift from NRU to NRO, while its citizens will be identified as dei-Naoero, replacing the previous colonial-era term Nauruan. Phonetically, the previous international pronunciation was commonly rendered as “Now-roo” by global audiences, while the traditional Naoero is pronounced “Now-ero.”

In an official statement published to the government’s Facebook page Thursday, administration officials explained the change returns the remote atoll nation to its original, pre-colonial identity. From the early 20th century, the country was labeled Nauru for international use not as a reflection of local preference, but because colonizers found the traditional Indigenous name too difficult to pronounce, a choice made purely for foreign convenience rather than respect for local culture. President David Adeang first laid out the proposal to parliament in January, framing the amendment as a long-overdue act of respect for the nation’s roots.

“This proposed change seeks to more faithfully honor our nation’s heritage, our language, and our identity,” Adeang said in his January address to lawmakers. The constitutional amendment required two rounds of parliamentary approval, both of which it has now secured, though formal official updating of the national constitution has not yet been publicly confirmed.

Naoero, home to roughly 12,000 residents, ranks as the world’s third least populous sovereign state, trailing only Vatican City and neighboring Tuvalu. The tiny coral limestone atoll has a long history of foreign domination: it was first colonized by Germany in the late 19th century, then placed under Australian administration after World War I, before finally gaining full independence as a republic in 1968.

In the decades following independence, the nation faced severe economic instability after decades of intensive phosphate mining generated extreme wealth for the small state in the 1970s, before the industry collapsed entirely in the 1990s, pushing the country to the edge of economic collapse. Today, Naoero faces an even larger existential threat: it ranks among the nations most vulnerable to sea level rise driven by anthropogenic climate change, prompting its government to launch a paid citizenship-by-investment program to raise funds required to relocate communities and infrastructure inland as ocean waters encroach on coastal areas.

Adeang described the name change as “the beginning of renewed national pride” in his recent public announcement of the change. When parliament initially approved the shift in May, the president had initially scheduled a public referendum to confirm the change. But the government announced last week that after “extensive discussions” across communities and political bodies, lawmakers concluded a public vote was unnecessary. The administration noted in its statement that the traditional name Naoero has never been absent from national life, and the change simply formalizes what already exists for the country’s people.

“While a referendum is intended to determine the will of the people, the name Naoero has never been lost, but rather waiting to be fully embraced,” the statement read. “The designation is already the identity of the people, is on the national coat of arms, and spoken in the community; and importantly is allowed by the Constitution.”

Naoero’s decision to revert to its traditional name makes it the latest sovereign state to distance itself from colonial naming practices in recent years. In 2018, the southern African nation formerly known as Swaziland similarly reverted to its pre-colonial title Eswatini. In 2022, Turkey formally requested the United Nations and global bodies recognize its domestic name Türkiye as the country’s official international title, a shift also rooted in reclaiming national identity.

The change will require updating the naming of Naoero’s registered national aircraft and civilian ships, and the government has already begun outreach to secure formal recognition from foreign governments and international institutions. Remarkably, the United Nations officially updated its records to reflect the new name in June, shortly after the government submitted the formal request. As of this report, the foreign ministries of Australia and New Zealand, as well as the U.S. and Chinese embassies accredited to the Pacific region, have already updated their official websites to use the new title Republic of Naoero.

On Sunday, a devastating fire broke out aboard an Indonesian inter-island ferry traveling off the coast of East Java, leaving at least five people dead and triggering an urgent search operation for unaccounted passengers that stretched into Monday, national rescue officials confirmed.

The blaze erupted on the Mutiara Sentosa 2, a 160-meter passenger and cargo ferry operating on the high-traffic route between Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city located on East Java, and Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi. According to initial details from the vessel’s official manifest, the ferry was slated to carry 232 passengers and 39 crew members when the fire broke out between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. in waters administered by Indonesia’s Sumenep regency, roughly 35 kilometers north of Buruan Sapudi Island. The ferry was also transporting 180 vehicles, mostly commercial trucks, along with a heavy construction excavator.

By Monday morning, search and rescue teams had pulled 229 survivors from the burning vessel and recovered five bodies of deceased victims. However, officials confirmed that the actual number of people on board far exceeded the count listed on the official ship manifest, leaving the exact number of missing passengers unclear. Rescue teams are currently cross-referencing accounts from survivors and statements from families of potential missing people to pin down an accurate count of unaccounted individuals.

Ahmad Abdul Karim, one of the passengers who escaped the fire, shared his firsthand account of the disaster. He told reporters the fire appeared to originate from a truck parked on the ferry’s lower vehicle deck, before strong winds fanned the flames across the ship at an alarming speed. Karim said that within 30 minutes of the fire being spotted, all passengers and crew were ordered to evacuate to the ferry’s bow to avoid the spreading blaze.

Discrepancies between official passenger manifests and actual on-board counts are a widespread issue in Indonesia’s domestic ferry industry, according to Nanang Sigit, head of the Surabaya Search and Rescue Office. Sigit explained that these gaps are most often caused by unrecorded overcrowding, a common practice that creates major complications for search and rescue teams working to identify missing people after a disaster.

Multiple assets have been deployed to the incident site to support the search effort. A dedicated rescue vessel was dispatched from Surabaya, with additional support from Indonesian Navy ships and several commercial vessels that were passing through the area near the time of the fire. The investigation into the root cause of the blaze is still ongoing, and no official conclusions have been released as of Monday.

Built in Japan in 1992, the Mutiara Sentosa 2 operated in Japanese waters before being sold to an Indonesian ferry operator in 2015. The vessel is rated to carry up to 689 passengers and 49 crew members, along with a maximum cargo of 181 vehicles. The 40-hour Surabaya-Makassar route is a critical transport link for domestic travelers and cargo moving between Java and Sulawesi, two of Indonesia’s most populous major islands.

As the world’s largest archipelagic nation, Indonesia is made up of more than 17,000 separate islands, making ferries the primary mode of inter-island transport for millions of residents. However, ferry disasters are a regular occurrence across the country, with transportation safety experts and officials repeatedly citing weak regulatory enforcement of safety standards as a leading contributing factor to these incidents.

This report was compiled with contributions from Associated Press journalists Niniek Karmini and Edna Tarigan based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The global mountaineering sphere and the nation of Nepal are reeling from an unthinkable tragedy: an unexpected avalanche on Pakistan’s 8,047-meter Broad Peak has claimed the lives of all 10 members of an expedition, six of whom were Nepali climbers, including trailblazing British-Nepali mountaineer Nirmal “Nims” Purja. The entire team went missing last Thursday after being caught in the deadly snow slide, and rescue efforts have now confirmed no survivors.

Purja, who catapulted to global fame after his record-breaking feat of summiting all 14 of the world’s tallest peaks in just over six months, was a beloved figure in Nepal, where he spent decades elevating the profile of unsung Nepali climbing guides. The 40-something climber leaves behind a wife and three-year-old daughter in Hampshire, southern England. Before turning to full-time high-altitude mountaineering, Purja served 16 years in the British military, 10 of those in the special forces, and was awarded an MBE by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2018 for his mountaineering achievements. He made history as the first Gurkha to summit Everest while still serving in the British military, and his unprecedented 14-peak expedition was documented in the 2021 Netflix documentary that introduced him to audiences worldwide. In 2024, he faced unproven sexual misconduct allegations from two women, which he vehemently denied through his legal representation.

Tributes have poured in from across the globe, starting with Nepal’s highest office. Prime Minister Balendra Shah honored Purja’s memory, saying, “His history of courage, dedication and contribution will always remain inspiring.” For Purja’s older brother Kamal, the loss is unfathomable. “I feel as though I have lost my whole world,” he wrote in an emotional Facebook post. “My brother was not only my younger brother – he was my heart. Although our hearts are broken, we are incredibly proud of you. Your legacy will live forever.”

At Purja’s alma mater, Small Heaven School in Nepal’s Chitwan district near Kathmandu, students and staff gathered to hold a candlelight vigil, mourning the loss of their most famous graduate. “Purja’s bravery has set a great example for our school,” said student Sarbagya Paudel. “Not only has he made our school proud, but he has also brought pride to Nepal.” Longtime staff who knew Purja as a child recalled his unshakable drive even at a young age. “As a young boy Purja was fearless and committed to achieving something,” said former hostel supervisor Shailendra Baral in an interview with AFP. “He was honest and an obedient student, which made us happy. We found courage in him even when he was a child.” Childhood friend Bahadur Panta, who joined dozens of mourners at the school vigil, shared that he and countless others spent days praying for a miracle after news of the avalanche broke. “It was not only me and my friends. I think people all over the world who knew him prayed for him. But it was his fate, no one could avoid it,” Panta said.

While Purja is the most internationally recognizable name lost in the tragedy, the expedition included several other legendary figures from Nepal’s tight-knit climbing community. Among them was Pur Bahadur Gurung, widely known as Yukta, who had summited Everest an extraordinary 10 times. In 2024, he was part of the team that discovered a century-old climbing shoe on Everest, believed to have belonged to Andrew Irvine, the British climber who disappeared alongside George Mallory during their 1924 expedition. Fellow mountaineer Uttam Lapraki paid tribute to Gurung on social media, writing, “Standing with you on the summit of Mount Everest is a memory I will cherish forever. The Himalayas have lost one of their finest sons, but your courage, kindness, and legacy will continue to inspire generations of climbers.”

Another fallen climber, Kili Pemba Sherpa, made history as part of the first all-Nepali winter expedition to summit K2, the world’s second-highest peak, in 2021 – an expedition that also included Purja. Imagine Nepal, the expedition company where Sherpa worked as a guide, shared a moving tribute on Instagram: “He stood with us from the very beginning, from the days we first started climbing together. He was humble in every way and never tired of helping climbers when they needed him. He was a foundation of our team and a part of every summit we have ever celebrated.”

The remaining four climbers killed in the avalanche hailed from the United States, China, Oman, and Pakistan. Broad Peak, first successfully summited by an Austrian expedition in 1957, has long been regarded as one of the most challenging and dangerous high-altitude peaks in the world, with dozens of climbers having lost their lives on its slopes since the first ascent. Social media platforms have been flooded with tributes to all 10 climbers, with many noting Nepal is in national mourning for the six fallen local mountaineers. “We have lost a legend and many great climbers,” one comment read. “Their legacy will live on.”

Deep in the heart of Rawalakot, a major city in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PAK), a rudimentary emergency clinic sits just steps from the epicenter of months of escalating unrest between protestors and state security forces. What began as a campaign for basic economic and civil rights has devolved into deadly clashes that have left dozens dead, countless injured, and the region on edge as local elections unfold.

The clinic, operated by a physician identified only as Dr. Anwar for his safety, is cobbled together from spare domestic space: a converted bedroom stores limited medical stocks, while a single patient bed rests outdoors under a tattered red tarpaulin. On that bed lies Shafqat Hussain, a protester shot in the chest, lying on a sheet already stained by the blood of earlier casualties. With no access to advanced care, Hussain is slipping away.

Over the past two months, clashes between security personnel and demonstrators from the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), the organizing group behind the protests, have killed dozens across the 4.5 million-person region. This violence has unfolded against the backdrop of ongoing regional elections, and the BBC became the first international media outlet to gain on-the-ground access to Rawalakot to document the crisis.

Dr. Anwar explained that his small clinic is only equipped to handle minor trauma: his team can stop bleeding, clean and bandage surface wounds, and remove bullets lodged just beneath the skin. But for patients with life-threatening injuries to vital organs like the chest, abdomen, or brain, advanced hospital care is the only option – and that care is out of reach for most injured protesters. He noted that even major regional hospitals would struggle to cope with a surge of critical gunshot wound patients, a surge his clinic has already faced: since July 27 alone, the makeshift facility has treated 50 to 60 critically injured people, 15 to 20 of whom suffered gunshot wounds treated personally by Dr. Anwar.

Injured demonstrators avoid formal public hospitals out of fear of arrest or extrajudicial violence, a claim local authorities have rejected as false. Dr. Anwar added that the vast majority of casualties are young people between the ages of 15 and 35, with very few patients over 40. The local administration says JAAC protesters have blocked major access routes into Rawalakot, cutting off connectivity and transit.

At Hussain’s bedside, his grieving friend Ali wiped away tears as he described the demonstrators’ core demands. “We only asked for affordable flour, electricity and our basic rights,” Ali said through sobs. “Instead, our brothers are being killed. What was our crime? Why are live bullets being fired at us?”

JAAC launched its protest movement after a 2023 agreement with the Pakistani and PAK governments, which was meant to address longstanding grievances including soaring energy costs, failing education systems, and inadequate healthcare. The group says the government has failed to implement the terms of the deal, prompting continued demonstrations. Protesters planned to march to the regional capital of Muzaffarabad, but authorities blocked the route.

Local government officials have pushed back against JAAC’s narrative, labeling the group as armed agitators seeking to disrupt the regional elections. The JAAC was officially banned in June, and has been branded as foreign-funded terrorists by the state. The group rejects this characterization, confirming it receives funding from the PAK diaspora abroad but denying it is sponsored by India, a common accusation from Pakistani authorities. JAAC insists it is a peaceful civil rights movement and that security forces initiated the violence, making protesters the primary victims.

With internet service cut across the region and major roads either blocked by protesters or guarded by security checkpoints, independent information about the unrest has been extremely hard to verify. During the BBC’s on-the-ground reporting, multiple grieving families shared accounts of losing loved ones to gunfire during demonstrations.

Asma, a woman whose only son was killed at a protest, said she was at the demonstration when she learned he had been shot. “We were only asking for our rights. We are not terrorists,” she said. “No mother could ask for a better son. He knew there were risks, but he believed standing up for justice was important. He used to say that dying for a just cause was an honour.”

Salman, who lost his younger brother in the violence, echoed her grief and pride. “He was the youngest in the family and was loved by everyone. It is a great loss for us,” he said. “At the same time I feel proud that he gave his life while standing up for the rights of the people. He was not fighting or attacking anyone.”

Ayub, a retired armed forces soldier who also lost his son, laid blame not at the feet of Pakistan’s national government or military, but with the PAK regional administration, which he said called in paramilitary forces to suppress the protests. “I am a retired soldier. I lived through the martial law periods of General Zia-ul-Haq and General Pervez Musharraf,” he said. “But I have never seen anything like what is happening now. In my opinion, it is extreme injustice. My son had done nothing wrong. None of the protesters had done anything wrong.”

PAK’s government has rejected claims that security forces opened fire indiscriminately on peaceful demonstrators, saying law enforcement only responded to individuals who attacked officers, threatened public order, or obstructed official actions.

The BBC documented widespread food shortages in Rawalakot, with nearly all shops closed and demonstrators sharing limited existing supplies among themselves. Some residents described smuggling small bags of rice into the city on the back of motorbikes to avoid checkpoints. While some access routes are blocked by felled trees – which authorities say were cut by JAAC protesters – other main entry points are controlled by armed security checkpoints. The PAK government denies blocking food or medical supplies from entering the city, saying it is actually facilitating the delivery of essential goods.

Authorities have repeatedly presented evidence they say proves JAAC is a violent group: they have released drone footage they claim shows armed JAAC members on city rooftops, and displayed weapons seized from the group to local media. Officials say several security personnel have been killed in clashes, and that a detained JAAC suspect confessed to being promised a reward of 10 million rupees (roughly £26,700) for every paramilitary officer killed.

Umar Nazir, a core JAAC committee member currently based in Rawalakot, did not deny that security personnel have died, but claimed without providing evidence that state agents have infiltrated the JAAC movement to carry out violence and discredit the group. “I believe that certain elements, who are under their control, were infiltrated into our ranks. Such people were certainly present among us,” Nazir said. “I believe they may have carried out such actions themselves in order to justify their own narrative. I am not making a definitive claim, but there is no evidence whatsoever that any such violence came from our side.”

Authorities reject this claim, saying JAAC has launched a disinformation campaign against the government across social media. During the BBC’s visit to a JAAC protest, reporters saw no visible weapons or gunfire from demonstrators, though repeated gunshots were heard overnight. It remains unclear who fired the shots and what their target was.

Today, Rawalakot remains in a state of tense, uncertain limbo. No one can predict when or if the violence will escalate further. Nazir says JAAC remains open to negotiations with authorities, but in the meantime, the group has more demonstrations planned in the coming weeks.