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Raab’s visit to Vietnam aims to boost ASEAN ties

Speaking in Vietnam, Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said: “The UK greatly values our friendship with Vietnam. Since my last visit, we have made progress on trade and economic ties.”…reports Asian Lite News.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Tuesday met his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son to discuss the implementation of the UK-Vietnam Strategic Partnership Agreement.

They have also discussed subjects such as the global health security, climate change and Myanmar, the government said.

It said the foreign secretary’s visit will build momentum for the UK’s bid to join the regional trade block – the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The UK Government is today setting out its approach to membership, alongside the release of the UK‘s strategic case for seeking CPTPP accession to include scoping and economic assessments.

During the visit, the UK also looked to progress its ambition for ‘ASEAN Dialogue Partnership’ status, which would allow the UK to further strengthen relations with ASEAN countries, based on shared interests and mutual benefits.

Speaking in Vietnam, Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said: “The UK greatly values our friendship with Vietnam. Since my last visit, we have made progress on trade and economic ties.”

“We welcome Vietnam’s support for UK’s accession to the CPTPP trading block, and I am very grateful for its ASEAN chairmanship last year – laying the foundations towards the UK becoming an ASEAN dialogue partner,” he added.

Raab has also met President Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the Presidential Palace. They have discussed key issues with the climate change and Vietnam’s ambition for energy transition.

Raab’s meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh covered developments within the Strategic Partnership Agreement, COP26, Covid-19 recovery and maritime security. The Strategic Partnership framework sets out cooperation between the two countries for the next ten years, the the government said.

The Foreign Secretary has also met the Minister of Public Security, To Lam, with topics of discussion including cooperation to tackle illegal migration, human trafficking and transnational crime.

While in Hanoi, the Foreign Secretary delivered opening remarks at the 5th ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) on the UK’s ambitions for its ’Indo-Pacific tilt‘ to an audience of more than fifty countries.

Several regional foreign ministers, including Vietnam’s Foreign Minister Son, Singapore’s Foreign Minister Balakrishnan, Cambodia’s Sokhonn, Laos‘ Kommasith, Korea‘Chung, as well as the European Union’s High Representative Borrell, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Portugal’s Vice Foreign Minister, Zacarias, were present.

Raab also announced UK funding to support a network of women peacebuilders and mediators across the region through the ASEAN Women’s Peace Registry.

The financial contribution will also help ASEAN develop its Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security and support ASEAN member states, including Vietnam, to develop and implement their own National Action Plans.

The visit comes ahead of the UK’s Carrier Strike Group led by the HMS Queen Elizabeth, which will make its maiden visit to the region, arriving in Singapore later this year.

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Raab begins S-E Asia trip to boost post-Brexit ties

This is Raab’s fifth visit to South East Asia since becoming Foreign Secretary, demonstrating the growing importance of the Indo-Pacific, as set out in the UK’s Integrated Review…reports Asian Lite News.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has landed in Hanoi on Monday ahead of a three-day visit with high-level meetings in Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore focussing on trade, defence and security.

The UK will formally launch accession negotiations with Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) nations today, helping Britain further engage with some of the world’s biggest economies. CPTPP members currently have a combined GDP of £9 trillion, a value which is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years.

This is Raab’s fifth visit to South East Asia since becoming Foreign Secretary, demonstrating the growing importance of the Indo-Pacific, as set out in the UK’s Integrated Review.

The visit also comes at a time of growing defence and security cooperation with the region, as the UK’s Carrier Strike Group led by the HMS Queen Elizabeth, makes its maiden visit to the region.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said the UK is committed to strengthening our friendship across the Indo-Pacific.

“We are demonstrating this through our commitment to join CPTPP, partner with ASEAN and invest more energy, time and effort in our bilateral relations in the region,” he said.

While in Vietnam, the Foreign Secretary will deliver opening remarks at the 5th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on the UK’s ambitions for its Indo-Pacific tilt to an audience of representatives from more than 50 countries.

He will meet Vietnamese leaders, including President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son to discuss the implementation of the UK-Vietnam Strategic Partnership Agreement, in addition to subjects such as global health security, climate change and combatting serious organised crime.

Raab will then travel to Cambodia to meet Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn to set out the ambition for the UK bid for ‘ASEAN Dialogue Partnership’ status ahead of Cambodia taking up the chair of ASEAN.

This status would give the UK the closest form of relationship with ASEAN. This will be the first Foreign Secretary visit to Cambodia since the British Embassy was reopened 30 years ago.

The visit will finish in Singapore, with a meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to discuss geo-political security and climate change, as well as the international response to Covid. The Foreign Secretary will also meet Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and address British and Singaporean business leaders from across Asia Pacific, highlighting the economic and strategic benefits of CPTPP and the UK’s wider trade and foreign policy priorities for the region.

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China UK News

Raab slams China for ‘targeting dissenting voices’ in HK

In April, the pro-Beijing Ta Kung Pao newspaper published a commentary, saying the tabloid should be banned, considering its long-standing role in promoting “Hong Kong independence”, said the SCMP…reports Asian Lite News.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Thursday accused China of targeting dissenting voices in Hong Kong after the authorities of the semi-autonomous region arrested the chief editor and four directors of a pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper under draconian security law on suspicion of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.

Taking to Twitter, Raab said freedom of the press should be respected by China as promised under the Joint Declaration signed by the two sides.

“Today’s raids and arrests at Apple Daily in Hong Kong demonstrate Beijing is using the National Security Law to target dissenting voices, not tackle public security. Freedom of the press is one of the rights China promised to protect in the Joint Declaration and should be respected,” Raab said in a tweet.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that the National Security Police officers also raided their homes to gather evidence and held all of the accused for questioning. However, none of them have been charged yet.

Chief editor Ryan Law Wai-kwong was taken away by the police from his residence in Quarry Bay. More than 100 police officers also swooped on the headquarters of Next Digital in Tseung Kwan O.

The morning operation marks the second series of arrests involving senior executives at the newspaper. Last August, the force arrested the group’s founder, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, and nine others, including his son, for suspected national security or fraud offences.

Lai is currently behind bars for his role in three separate unauthorised assemblies in 2019 and last year. Since Lai was sentenced in April, speculation has grown that the days are numbered for Apple Daily, the tabloid he launched in 1995.

In April, the pro-Beijing Ta Kung Pao newspaper published a commentary, saying the tabloid should be banned, considering its long-standing role in promoting “Hong Kong independence”, said the SCMP.

Apple Daily was dealt a further blow last month after the authorities, making use of powers granted under the national security law, ordered Lai’s shares in Next Digital to be frozen, along with assets in the local bank accounts of three companies he owned. (ANI)

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-Top News EU News Europe

Raab, Blinken discuss pandemic, FTA

The G7 Ministers gathered Monday for a three-day meeting in London for the first time in two years to address such issues as economist recovery after the coronavirus pandemic and climate change…reports Asian Lite News.

In a first face-to-face meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the raging Covid-19 pandemic and a possible free trade agreement (FTA) between Washington and London.

The meeting took place in London on Monday ahead of the first in-person meeting of the G7)Foreign and Development Ministers in two years, reports Xinhua news agency.

“Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab hosted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at 1 Carlton Gardens ahead of this week’s G7 Foreign Ministers meeting. They held a discussion on foreign policy priorities and opportunities to strengthen the UK-US friendship,” a British Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office spokesperson said in a statement.

“Discussions included UK-US shared commitment to open societies, a strengthened multilateral system, efforts to build back better from COVID-19, including through the COVAX facility and a UK-US FTA,” said the spokesperson.

They also discussed latest developments in Afghanistan, Iran and Ethiopia, among other issues, according to the spokesperson.

During their joint press conference, Raab said that the world has changed quite a bit in the past two years, which brings challenges that require global solutions.

“Our societies and our economies have been shocked and shaken by coronavirus,” said Raab.

“There’s also rapid technological change which brings new opportunities, we’ve seen that with collaboration on things like the vaccine, but also acute challenges, and there are global threats from COVID to climate change that frankly demand global solutions and we’re committed to trying to find and forge those solutions,” he added.

Taking to Twitter, Blinken said: “Very good meeting with Dominic Raab on US-UK shared priorities with the Indo-Pacific, NATO, Ukraine, Iran, Burma, Ethiopia, and other global issues. An ever-closer Transatlantic partnership is critical to confront global challenges and build back better together.”

The G7 Ministers gathered Monday for a three-day meeting in London for the first time in two years to address such issues as economist recovery after the coronavirus pandemic and climate change.

The conference was reportedly held with strict Covid-secure measures being insured by organisers.

The last G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting took place in France in April 2019.

The UK holds the rotating presidency of the G7 group, which also includes the US, France, Germany, Canada, Japan and Italy.

The meeting this week will also be attended by representatives from the European Union, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and South Africa, as well as this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Brunei.

The G7 summit will be held in Cornwall, a seaside resort in southwestern England, on June 11-13.

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