CHINA - RUSSIA
Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping used their first face-to-face meeting since May to emphasise the “strength” of their partnership, meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Xi told Putin that the relationship between Beijing and Moscow is “more stable” even though global issues are more difficult to predict; for Putin, cooperation is “progressing across the board”. The two-day meeting in Bishkek marks the 25th anniversary of the SCO and brought together more than a dozen heads of state, including Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, India’s Narendra Modi, Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is participating as a dialogue partner. Putin and Xi have historically used the summit as a platform to promote the idea of a multipolar world order and to signal unity against Western influence, against a global backdrop of conflicts ranging from Ukraine to the Gulf.
KOREA – UNITED STATES
North Korea and the United States are showing “signs of a resumption of dialogue” and a meeting is possible “at any time”. This was stated today by a Seoul MP after receiving updated information from the intelligence agency, although there are no reports of “specific contacts” between Pyongyang and Washington. US President Donald Trump announced last month that he wished to meet the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by the end of the year and scaled back the annual military exercises with South Korea. The two met three times in 2018 and 2019.
MYANMAR – VIETNAM
The head of Myanmar’s junta – now president – Min Aung Hlaing will pay an official visit to Vietnam from 4 to 6 September at the invitation of To Lam. Vietnam will be the seventh country the former head of the coup-installed junta has visited since taking office as president this year, in a bid to seek legitimacy and restore regional relations. Min Aung Hlaing will hold bilateral talks with To Lam, meet the prime minister and the speaker of the National Assembly, attend a trade forum and meet with representatives of economic organisations. Vietnam follows a series of overseas visits, including to Russia and Thailand in August. Nevertheless, ASEAN has excluded Myanmar’s political representatives from its summits due to the failure to implement the peace plan aimed at ending the civil war triggered by the 2021 coup.
JAPAN
The Japanese Ministry of Defence yesterday requested a record budget of 8,900 billion yen (55.6 billion dollars), whilst Tokyo is looking to artificial intelligence to speed up decision-making in the face of regional and global tensions. The final budget could reach 10,000 billion yen, partly due to growing tensions with neighbours such as Russia, North Korea and China.
The latest request focuses on ways to counter “new forms of warfare”, with an emphasis on the use of artificial intelligence, drones and missiles. In this regard, the ministry hopes to implement an AI-based decision-support system, combined with low-cost drones capable of operating in tandem with long-range missiles.
THAILAND
The 24-year-old Thai activist Tantawan “Tawan” Tuatulanon was sentenced yesterday to two years’ imprisonment, without a suspended sentence, for lèse-majesté in a Facebook livestream, in which she protested against the police who had blocked a route to allow a royal procession to pass in 2022. The Ratchadaphisek Road Criminal Court in Bangkok handed down the sentence along with a fine of 600 baht for failing to comply with a police order. Tantawan denied the charges but was found guilty under Section 112 of the Criminal Code (the lèse-majesté law) and Section 14 of the Computer Crimes Act. On 5 March 2022, Tantawan was live-streaming on social media whilst on Ratchadamnoen Nok Road, shortly before the royal motorcade passed by. The court noted that Tantawan had studied law and should have been aware of the legal provisions. During the live stream, she allegedly encouraged viewers to make inappropriate references to the King.
INDIA – PAKISTAN
Delhi must uphold and implement the water-sharing treaty with Pakistan – which it suspended due to bilateral tensions – and restrict work on a hydroelectric power station it is building in the Kashmir region. This was ruled yesterday by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, after India had suspended the treaty in April 2025, depriving Pakistani agriculture of up to 80 per cent of its water supply. The measure was taken in response to a terrorist attack in which 26 people were killed at a tourist resort in Kashmir, with at least two out of three of the perpetrators coming from Pakistan. Islamabad has denied any involvement and taken legal action after Delhi also began work last year to increase the reservoir storage capacity at two hydroelectric projects in Kashmir. This is seen as a first tangible step by India to operate outside the agreements covered by the Indus Waters Treaty between the two countries, which has been honoured since 1960 despite three wars and many other conflicts.
ISRAEL – GREECE
Israel and Greece signed a defence agreement worth 3.5 billion dollars yesterday, under which the Jewish state will build a multi-layered air defence system for Greece, whilst Athens will promote a broader programme of military modernisation. The Israeli Ministry of Defence describes it as the “largest export deal” in the sector with Athens, under which Israel will supply the David’s Sling and SPYDER systems, manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, and the BARAK MX system, produced by Israel Aerospace Industries. Added to this are MMR multi-mission radars for aerial surveillance.
Greece spends almost 3.5 per cent of its GDP on defence, a higher percentage than many NATO allies due to its long-standing dispute with neighbouring Turkey.
ARMENIA – INDIA – KYRGYZSTAN
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, emphasising the importance of “joint initiatives to take bilateral cooperation to a new level”. The two leaders expressed their satisfaction with the development of Armenian-Indian relations and highlighted the strong friendship binding the two countries. They also discussed the development of cooperation in the fields of the economy, technology, healthcare and other areas. Pashinyan invited Modi to visit Armenia at his earliest convenience.
