He was speaking after meeting visiting President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

"We think it would be a very good thing if the two of them talk," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters when asked about a Wall Street Journal report that the Ukrainian leader is set to talk with Xi for the first time since Chinese-ally Russia invaded.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo pitched his ambitious Nusantara capital city project to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at their annual retreat on Thursday, generating interest but little else.

The agreement was among several memorandums of understanding signed by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and visiting President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, including Singapore sharing knowledge that could support the development of Indonesia's new capital Nusantara.

China and ASEAN risk jeopardizing negotiations for a Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, analysts have warned, after the latest round of talks offered little progress, with Indonesia citing “ongoing disagreements”.

The Cabinet Secretariat says the President is expected to discuss investments to finance the nation's new capital during the annual bilateral retreat on Thuesday.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that President Jokowi and Prime Minister Lee would discuss a variety of issues from the digital economy to health and renewable energy.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday defended the country's A$368 billion ($244.06 billion) plan to acquire nuclear submarines, after two former leaders criticised the deal over its cost, complexity and potential sovereignty issues.

Taiwan warned Honduras on Thursday not to be tempted by the "poison" of aid from China no matter how indebted it was and ruled out getting involved in a bidding war for diplomatic allies with its mainland rival.

The Biden administration has demanded that TikTok's Chinese owners divest their stakes in the popular video app or face a possible U.S. ban, the company told Reuters on Wednesday.

As South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol landed in Tokyo on Thursday his plan to patch up relations with Japan faces lingering scepticism at home.

Kant's comments follow two back-to-back G20 ministerial meetings in India in the last three weeks overshadowed by the war, which entered its second year last month.

BrahMos, a joint venture between India and Russia, clinched its first foreign deal last year with a $375 million sale of shore-based anti-ship missiles to the Philippines - part of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious push to triple defence exports.

Palestine’s envoy to Indonesia says the country has no qualms with Indonesia hosting the FIFA U-20 World Cup despite the participation of Israel's soccer team.

"The incident with the American MQ-9 Reaper UAV -- provoked by Russia over the Black Sea -- is Putin's way of signalling his readiness to expand the conflict to involve other parties. The purpose of this all-in tactic is to always be raising the stakes," Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council secretary  Oleksiy Danilov said on social media.

Indonesia is calling on Australia to fulfill its nuclear nonproliferation duties under international law, following an update on a trilateral defense pact that equips its neighbor with up to five nuclear-powered submarines by the 2050s.

But experts say it will mean a decades-long and "devilishly tricky" quest. Here are some key challenges Canberra faces as it tries to transform its military and get the boats in the water:

Honduran President Xiomara Castro said on Tuesday she had instructed the country's foreign minister to bring about the opening of official relations with China, a move that threatens to further diminish Taiwan's dwindling pool of allies.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday that cooperation with Japan is vital in confronting North Korea's growing threats and protecting global supply chains, calling on both countries to not snarl relations in domestic politics.

"The Anglo-Saxon world, with the creation of structures like AUKUS and with the advancement of NATO military infrastructures into Asia, is making a serious bet on many years of confrontation" in the region, Lavrov said in televised comments.

The reappointment of Xi Jinping as Chinese president has garnered praise from the country’s international beneficiaries, not least from Indonesia, which analysts believe would stand to gain from the strongman’s continued reign over China.

This year's "Balikatan" or 'shoulder-to-shoulder' drills also come against the backdrop of what the Philippines calls "aggressive" Chinese actions in the South China Sea.

The announcement came Monday at an event at a San Diego, California, naval base where President Joe Biden hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

China said it will start re-issuing all categories of visas to foreigners from Wednesday, dropping the final cross-border control measure it imposed three years ago to guard against the spread of COVID-19.

Putin has yet to travel beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union since sending his armed forces into Ukraine in February last year, and missed November's G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

Australia's nuclear-powered submarine program with the United States and Britain will cost up to A$368 billion ($245 billion) over the next three decades, a defense official said on Tuesday, the country's biggest single defense item in history.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea's military said, the latest of several weapons tests as the South and the United States conduct their largest joint military drills in years.