WORLD BRIEFING: June 3, 2024

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday China was working hard to stop countries from going to a peace summit, which Beijing has publicly criticized because Russia is not invited. “China, unfortunately, is working hard today to prevent countries from coming to the peace summit,” Zelensky told reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, which draws defence officials from around the world. Beijing believes the conference “should have the recognition of Russia and Ukraine, equal participation of all parties and fair discussion of all peace plans”, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news conference. “Otherwise, it is difficult for the conference to play a substantive role in restoring peace,” she said. Zelensky said on Sunday that more than 100 countries and organisations had signed up to the conference, and he urged Asia-Pacific nations to join. - AFP

Saudi Arabia does not want to take part in the planned Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland. The German Press Agency learned this on Sunday from diplomatic circles in Riyadh. The reason for the government in Riyadh's decision is that Russia will not take part in the summit on June 15 and 16. There was initially no official confirmation of the step.

A Chinese trade body sought to buy drone-jamming equipment for Russian buyers last month, underlining the close ties between the two countries amid concerns in Europe and the US over China’s supply of dual-use technology to Moscow. The government-affiliated Guangdong Province Trade Promotion Association for Russia, which was set up last year to help Russian customers buy goods ranging from trucks to boats, posted a “Notice of foreign enterprises purchasing [unmanned aerial vehicle] equipment” on its WeChat social media site. The association said the buyers wanted “interference generators, drone detectors (trade names BorisTone, Assel Labs, Bulat) or other similar technological solutions, UAV suppressors, communication frequency band jammers”. The buyers wanted a locally made equivalent to the Bulat drone detectors, which were developed by a St Petersburg company, 3mx. 3mx has said that these detectors have been used “on the front lines” during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The US has repeatedly said it wants to stop supplies reaching Russia’s defence industry through China, which it sees a vital route to sustain President Vladimir Putin’s war machine. US deputy Treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo said on Friday that the US and Europe “must make the choice stark for China”. “Chinese firms can either do business in our economies or they can equip Russia’s war machine with dual-use goods. They cannot do both,” Adeyemo said in a speech to German business leaders in Berlin on Friday. - FT

Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun warned Sunday his military is ready to “forcefully” stop Taiwan independence but called for greater exchanges with the United States. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has always been an indestructible and powerful force in defence of the unification of the motherland, and it will act resolutely and forcefully at all times to curb the independence of Taiwan and to ensure that it never succeeds in its attempts,” Dong told the forum on Sunday. “Whoever dares to split Taiwan from China will be crushed to pieces and suffer his own destruction.” On the South China Sea, which China claims almost entirely and where it has been involved in confrontations with Philippine vessels, Dong warned of “limits” to Beijing’s restraint. “China has maintained sufficient restraint in the face of rights infringements and provocation, but there are limits to this,” Dong said. - HKFP

Three hours after US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on June 1 to a ballroom full of officials and scholars about deepening US partnerships in the Asia-Pacific, a senior Chinese general invited a group of about 50 selected journalists to a hotel room upstairs to counter Mr Austin’s speech and “set the record straight”. Reading in Mandarin from a prepared script, Lieutenant-General Jing Jianfeng, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, called the Indo-Pacific strategy espoused by Mr Austin “rhetoric that sounds good but does no good”, one that serves “selfish US geopolitical interests” and which is “doomed to fail”. The two-star general in a blue air force uniform, whose job entails planning for actual combat operations, sprinkled his speech with war metaphors. He warned that if regional countries were to sign up for the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy, they would be bound to the “US war chariot” and be lured into “taking bullets for the US”. No other delegation has briefed as many reporters as frequently as the Chinese. - Straits Times

A Japanese town will replace a barrier mounted to deter unruly tourists from taking photos of Mount Fuji after holes were poked in the mesh screen, the country's biggest national news agency and other outlets reported Thursday. The barrier was put up last week in a popular viewing spot in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, where residents had complained about streams of mostly foreign visitors littering, trespassing and breaking traffic rules. But at least 10 small holes have already been spotted in the black netting, which is about eight feet high and 65 feet long, hung outside a convenience store behind which the mountain can be seen rising in the distance. The new barrier will be made of stronger material and possibly changed to a lighter color such as blue or green, national news agency Kyodo News and other Japanese media reported. - CBS