Top Asia Pacific Breaking News Stories

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – China’s People’s Liberation Army staged a second day of large-scale military drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, unleashing a live-fire show of force as part of what it called “Justice Mission 2025” to demonstrate its ability to deter any external support for the island it claims as part of its sovereign territory. Taiwanese officials said some of China’s live rounds landed closer to the island than before. The maneuvers increased tension around the Taiwan Strait as 2025 drew to a close, but the impact extended beyond military pressure into everyday life. Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration was notified that seven temporary “dangerous zones” had been set up around the strait.

BEIJING (AP) – As China staged live-fire military drills around Taiwan featuring aircraft, warships and rocket launches, the Chinese foreign minister reiterated Beijing’s aim to achieve ” complete reunification ” with the island it claims as its own. Taipei pushes back against those sovereignty claims. Taiwan, it says, never belonged to China in its current constitutional and political form – and has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. Taiwan’s history is one that includes myriad phases, rulers and squabbles. Here are some key periods and dates in the contested island’s history: In the 1600s, Dutch and Spanish colonizers compete for control of the subtropical island known then as Formosa, home to Indigenous populations as well as some Han Chinese migrants.

BEIJING (AP) – China’s foreign minister on Tuesday slammed a record U.S. arms sale to Taiwan as Beijing conducted the second day of military drills around the island it has long claimed as its own. Wang Yi, the most senior Chinese official to comment on the sales so far, also blasted the “pro-independence forces in Taiwan” and Japan’s leaders during an end-of-the-year diplomatic event in Beijing. “In response to the continuous provocations by pro-independence forces in Taiwan and the large-scale U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, we must resolutely oppose and strongly counter them,” Wang said while reviewing a year of diplomacy by Asia’s largest and most influential nation.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea said it will formally end its dwindling yet much-criticized bear bile farming industry this week, though about 200 bears are still kept in pens and raised for their gallbladders. The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced Tuesday it will ban breeding and possession of bears and extraction of their bile beginning Jan. 1. The change is in line with a revised animal rights protection law that imposes up to two or five years of prison sentences to violators. South Korea is one of the few countries that allow farming to extract bile from bears, mostly Asiatic black bears known as moon bears, for traditional medicine or as food believed to promote vitality and stamina.

BANGKOK (AP) – The political party backed by Myanmar ‘s ruling military claimed Tuesday it won a commanding lead in the initial round of the first general election in five years, even though the state election body has not named the winners. Voting is taking place in three phases due to ongoing armed conflicts, with the first round held Sunday in 102 of Myanmar’s 330 townships. The remaining phases will take place on Jan. 11 and Jan. 25, but 65 townships won’t participate because of the fighting. A senior official of the Union Solidarity and Development Party told The Associated Press that the party has won 88 seats of the total 102 lower house seats contested in the first phase.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) – Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, whose archrivalry with another former premier defined the country’s politics for a generation, has died, her Bangladesh Nationalist Party said in a statement Tuesday. She was 80. Zia was the first woman elected prime minister of Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s interim government announced a three-day mourning period. A general holiday also was announced for Wednesday when Zia’s funeral prayers are scheduled be held in front of the country’s national Parliament building in Dhaka. Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus issued a statement Tuesday citing Zia’s contributions to the country. “Her role in the struggle to establish democracy, a multi-party political culture, and the rights of the people in Bangladesh will be remembered forever,” Yunus said.

HONG KONG (AP) – By some measures, China’s economy is looking resilient, with strong exports and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. But that’s not how it feels for many ordinary Chinese, who have been enduring the strain from weak property prices and uncertainty over their jobs and incomes. While some industries are thriving thanks to government support for technologies such as AI and electric vehicles, owners of small businesses report tough times as their customers cut back on spending. Some economists believe that the world’s second largest economy is growing more slowly than official figures suggest, even though China may hit its official 2025 annual growth target of about 5%.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – An investigation that extended to the Philippines of two men accused of shooting dead 15 people at a Sydney Jewish festival has found no evidence that they were part of a “broader terrorist cell,” police said on Tuesday. Sydney residents Sajid Akram, 50, and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram spent most of November in Davao City in the southern Philippines, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said. They returned on a flight from Manila on Nov. 29. Two weeks later, they are accused of killing 15 and wounding another 40 in a mass shooting that targeted a Hannukah festival at Bondi Beach.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea said Monday it fired long-range strategic cruise missiles into the sea to test the country’s nuclear deterrence, days after it showed apparent progress in the construction of its first nuclear-powered submarine. Sunday’s launches were the latest weapons display by North Korea ahead of its planned ruling Workers’ Party congress early next year. Keen outside attention on the congress, the first of its kind in five years, will be on whether North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will establish new priorities in relations with the U.S. and respond to Washington’s calls to resume long-dormant talks.

PANAMA CITY (AP) – China on Monday condemned the demolition of a monument honoring the Chinese community in Panama, the latest development as the Trump administration pushes for the Central American nation to distance itself from Beijing. Panama’s president echoed the condemnation, blaming local authorities and pledging that the monument would be rebuilt. Overnight, videos circulated on social media showing large excavators tearing down the monument, which commemorated 150 years of Chinese presence in Panama and Chinese migrants who helped build railroads and the Panama Canal. Erected in 2004 with traditional Chinese architectural elements – including a ceremonial arch, curved roof tiles and stone lions – it stood at a scenic overlook near the Panama Canal.