Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

BEIJING (AP) - U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in the Chinese financial center of Shanghai on Friday in his bid to boost business opportunities for British firms in the world's second-largest economy, just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled a possible opposition to any deal between Beijing and London. Starmer, the center-left Labour leader, has brought more than 50 business leaders on his trip to China, the first by a U.K. prime minister in eight years. Starmer suggested Trump's criticism was aimed more at Canada than Britain. He added that Washington was aware in advance of his trip and its objectives and pointed out that Trump has said he plans to visit China this spring.

PANAMA CITY (AP) - Panama's president moved to assure the public on Friday that critical ports at both ends of the Panama Canal will continue to operate without interruption - a day after the country's Supreme Court ruled that the concession held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong's CK Hutchison Holdings was unconstitutional. The court's decision late Thursday advances a U.S. aim to block any influence by China over the strategic waterway and immediately drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said that until the court's ruling is executed - a period of time he did not specify - Panama's Maritime Authority would work with Panama Ports Company, the CK Hutchison subsidiary, to ensure continuing operations at the port.

CEBU, Philippines (AP) - A peace plan agreed on by Southeast Asian leaders five years ago has failed to end Myanmar's civil war but it could still serve as a basis for working with the new government that will emerge from recent elections there, Thailand's top diplomat said Friday. The nationwide violence that followed the Myanmar army's forcible seizure of power from Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in February 2021 has become one of the biggest challenges and sources of embarrassment for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The 2021 army takeover was met by widespread protests which were violently put down by the army, leading to armed resistance and brutal fighting all over the country.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's security forces have raided two militant hideouts in the country's southwest, killing 41 insurgents in separate gunbattles, the military said Friday. The first raid left 30 insurgents dead in Panjgur district in Balochistan province, according to a military statement. It said that 11 more militants were killed in a second operation in Harnai district in Balochistan. Both raids took place on Thursday, and no soldiers were killed. The military said that the killed militants were backed by neighboring India, but provided no evidence to support the accusation. It said that those killed were involved in multiple attacks on security forces and in bank robberies.

CEBU, Philippines (AP) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations does not recognize the recently held elections in Myanmar, the first since the army seized power in 2021, the Philippine foreign secretary said Thursday. ASEAN's non-recognition of the elections in Myanmar, which a military-backed party claimed to have won, is a major blow to efforts by the country's military rulers to gain international recognition. The regional bloc, whose 11 members include Myanmar, has refused to recognize the military-ruled government since the army forcibly wrested power from Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in 2021. The powergrab has plunged the impoverished country in a deadly civil war.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - From her exile in India, Bangladesh's ousted leader Sheikh Hasina has slammed the country's upcoming election after her party was barred from the polls, remarks that could deepen tensions ahead of the pivotal vote next month. Hasina, who was sentenced to death for her crackdown on a student uprising in 2024 that killed hundreds of people and led to the toppling of her 15-year rule, warned in an email to The Associated Press last week that without inclusive and free and fair elections, Bangladesh will face prolonged instability. She also claimed that Bangladesh's interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus deliberately disenfranchised millions of her supporters by excluding her party - the former ruling Awami League - from the election.

BEIJING (AP) - The leaders of Britain and China called Thursday for a "strategic partnership" to deepen ties between their nations at a time of growing global turbulence as they sought to thaw relations after years of chill. Neither Prime Minister Keir Starmer nor President Xi Jinping publicly mentioned Donald Trump, but the U.S. president's challenge to the post-Cold War order was clearly on their minds. "In the current turbulent and ever-changing international situation ... China and the U.K. need to strengthen dialogue and cooperation to maintain world peace and stability," Xi told Starmer at the start of their meeting. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Xi had stressed, without mentioning the U.S.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Vietnam and the European Union on Thursday upgraded ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, Vietnam's highest diplomatic level, as both recalibrate trade during disruptions to global finance driven by U.S. tariff pressure. The upgrade places the EU on the same diplomatic footing as the United States, China and Russia and was announced during a visit to Hanoi by European Council President António Costa. "At a moment when the international rules-based order is under threat from multiple sides, we need to stand side by side as reliable and predictable partners," Costa said, adding that the partnership is about "developing spheres of shared prosperity." Costa arrived in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi after India and the European Union reached a free trade agreement on Tuesday after nearly two decades of negotiation.

BEIJING (AP) - Stability. Consistency. Ever-changing complexity. With language like that, deployed in separate meetings in three Asian capitals this week, government leaders forged closer ties driven in part by a figure halfway around the world: the president of the United States. And much of the time, they didn't even mention Donald Trump's name. IN BEIJING: The U.K. and Chinese leaders called Thursday for a "long-term, stable, and comprehensive strategic partnership" between their two countries. The important words are long-term and stable. The two countries committed a decade ago to building a comprehensive strategic partnership but progress has been halting at best.

BEIJING (AP) - The top U.S. envoy to China called Thursday for fair and reciprocal trade between the world's two largest economies and expressed concern about projections that China's dominance of global manufacturing will grow even further in the years to come. U.S. Ambassador David Perdue told business and government leaders in Beijing that China should be congratulated on becoming a manufacturing powerhouse, but echoed fears in Europe and elsewhere that China's exports pose a threat to factories and jobs in other countries. "This is not healthy for the rest of the world," he said in remarks to an annual dinner of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.