Top Asian News 6:55 am GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China warned Sunday after another round of talks on a sprawling trade dispute with Washington that any deals they produce "will not take effect" if President Donald Trump's threatened tariff hike on Chinese goods goes ahead. The warning was issued one hour after delegations led by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and China's top economic official, Vice Premier Liu He, wrapped up a meeting on Beijing's pledge to narrow its trade surplus. Ross said at the opening of the meeting the two sides had discussed specific American exports Chinese might purchase, but neither side disclosed details of the talks.

China has warned any agreements with Washington in their talks on settling a sprawling trade dispute "will not take effect" if threatened U.S. sanctions including tariff hikes go ahead. The statement Sunday came shortly after delegations led by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and China's top economic official, Vice Premier Liu He, held another round of talks on China's pledge to narrow its trade surplus with the United States by purchasing more American goods. The Chinese statement said the two sides made "positive and concrete progress," but neither side released details. The statement said, "If the United States introduces trade sanctions including increasing tariffs, all the economic and trade achievements negotiated by the two parties will not take effect."

SINGAPORE (AP) — It will be a "bumpy road" to the nuclear negotiations with North Korea later this month, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned Sunday, telling his South Korean and Japanese counterparts they must maintain a strong defensive stance so the diplomats can negotiate from a position of strength. Mattis was speaking at the start of a meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo and Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera on the final day of the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference. He said allies must remain vigilant. "We can anticipate, at best, a bumpy road to the negotiations," Mattis said. "In this moment we are steadfastly committed to strengthening even further our defense cooperation as the best means for preserving the peace." Plans are moving forward for a nuclear weapons summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Two paramilitary soldiers were killed and eight civilians wounded Sunday when Pakistani soldiers attacked dozens of forward posts along the highly militarized frontier in disputed Kashmir, Indian officials said. The fighting comes barely a week after the two nuclear-armed rivals agreed to stop trading fire along the volatile frontier and uphold a cease-fire accord dating back 15 years. The two sides on Tuesday agreed to defuse tensions in Kashmir and use existing mechanisms of hotline contacts and border meetings at local commanders' level to resolve the issues. Pakistan did not immediately comment. Indian border guards said Pakistan "yet again blatantly" violated the 2003-cease-fire agreement and they were retaliating.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out Sunday at another U.N. human rights expert for making critical remarks about his supposed role in the expulsion of the chief justice, telling him "to go to hell." Duterte dismissed the remarks of Diego Garcia-Sayan and told him not to meddle in domestic problems. Duterte was replying to a reporter's question before flying on a visit to South Korea. "Tell him not to interfere with the affairs of my country. He can go to hell," Duterte said in a late-night televised news conference. "He is not a special person and I do not recognize his rapporteur title." Garcia-Sayan told reporters in Manila on Thursday that the unprecedented ouster of Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice after Duterte lambasted her in public is an attack on judicial independence that could put Philippine democracy at risk.

WASHINGTON (AP) _ As a tool of national trade policy, tariffs had long been fading into history, a relic of 19th and early 20th centuries that most experts regarded as mutually harmful to all nations involved. But President Donald Trump has dusted them off in recent months and restored tariffs to a prominent place in his America First approach to the rest of the world. Trump enraged U.S. allies Canada, Mexico and the European Union last week by slapping tariffs on their steel and aluminum shipments to the United States; most other countries have been paying the tariffs since March.

SINGAPORE (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Saturday raised the prospect of additional American steps against China if its "militarization" of the South China Sea keeps apace. He said Beijing was intimidating and coercing others in the region by putting weapons systems on manmade islands. President Donald Trump, backing the remarks by his Pentagon chief at an international security forum in Singapore, said on Twitter: "Very surprised that China would be doing this?" Mattis said the Trump administration's recent decision to disinvite China from a multinational naval exercise this summer was an "initial response" to Beijing's island activity. Mattis called the U.S.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is known for pushing the envelope with threats and bluster as he seeks to leverage his nuclear weapons program into security and economic benefits for his country. But lately he's gained notoriety for his envelopes alone. President Donald Trump on Friday declared that his on-and-off summit with Kim was on again. The announcement came after Trump hosted a senior North Korean envoy at the White House and he delivered a personal letter from Kim that was inside a white envelope nearly as large as a folded newspaper. Trump has not yet revealed what was written in the letter, but he sure seemed happy to get it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even by President Donald Trump's mercurial standards, it was a quick shift. A week after abruptly canceling his historic summit with Kim Jong Un, Trump announced it was back on — and in the process appeared to accede to a key North Korean demand. Beyond the symbolism of Friday's Oval Office meeting between Trump and Kim Yong Chol — the most senior North Korean official to step inside the White House in 18 years — Trump signaled a subtle change in his administration's approach toward the goal of getting the pariah nation to give up its nuclear weapons.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After a week of hard-nosed negotiation, diplomatic gamesmanship and no shortage of theatrics, President Donald Trump has announced that the historic nuclear-weapons summit he had canceled with North Korea's Kim Jong Un is back on. The June 12 meeting in Singapore, the first between heads of the technically still-warring nations, is meant to begin the process of ending North Korea's nuclear program, and Trump said he believes Kim is committed to that goal. The announcement puts back on track a high-risk summit that could be a legacy-defining moment for the American leader, who has matched his unconventional deal-making style with the mercurial Kim government.

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