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Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on Monday that countries should avoid being used as "chess pieces" by global powers in a region that he said was at risk of being reshaped by geopolitical factors, Reuters reported.

Addressing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) secretariat in a speech in the Indonesian capital

Jakarta, Wang said many countries in the region were under pressure to take sides.

"We should insulate this region from geopolitical calculations… from being used as chess pieces from major power rivalry and from coercion," said Wang, who was speaking through a translator.

"The future of our region should be in our own hands," he said.

Southeast Asia has long been an area of friction between powers given its strategic importance, with countries in the region now wary of being caught in the middle of US-China rivalry.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its territory based on what it says are historical maps, putting it at odds with some ASEAN countries which say the claims are inconsistent with international law.

Wang's speech comes just days after he attended a G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Bali and amid intense Chinese diplomacy that has seen him make string of stops across the region in recent weeks, according to Reuters.

On the sidelines of the G20, Wang held a five-hour meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with both describing their first in-person talks since October as "candid".

Wang said on Monday he had told Blinken both sides should discuss the establishment of rules for positive interactions and to jointly uphold regionalism in the Asia-Pacific.

"The core elements are to support ASEAN centrality, uphold the existing regional corporation framework, respect each other's legitimate rights and interests in the Asia-Pacific instead of aiming to antagonize or contain the other side," Wang said.

Responding to a question about Taiwan after his speech, Wang said Washington "by distorting and hollowing out the One China policy, is trying to play the Taiwan card to disrupt and contain China's development."

Tensions between Beijing and Taipei have escalated in recent months as China's military conducted repeated air missions over the Taiwan Strait, the waterway separating the island from China.

China considers Taiwan its "sacred" territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan says it wants peace but only its people can decide their future.

Washington says it remains committed to its One China policy and does not encourage independence for Taiwan, but the United States is required to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself under its US Taiwan Relations Act.

"The two sides across the (Taiwan) Strait will enjoy peaceful development. But when the one-China principle is arbitrarily challenged or even sabotaged, there will be dark clouds or even ferocious storms across the strait," Wang said, Reuters reported.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry branded Wang's comments "absurd", saying it condemned them in the strongest terms.

"Taiwan stands at the forefront of resisting authoritarian expansion and will not succumb to threats of force from the Chinese government," ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said, according to Reuters.

The Indian rupee ended at a record closing low against the dollar on Monday as continued foreign portfolio outflows from domestic stockmarkets and a broadly stronger greenback weighed on the currency despite intermittent dollar selling intervention, Reuters reported.

The partially convertible rupee closed trading at 79.4375/4475 per dollar in the local session at 1000 GMT, compared to its close of 79.25 on Friday. The unit touched a lifetime low of 79.44 during the session, surpassing its previous low of 79.3750 touched last week.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced an array of measures last Wednesday to bring in dollars, including allowing overseas investors to buy short-term corporate debt and opening up more government securities under the fully accessible route.

"These measures would ease some pressure on the rupee in the near term. However, a widening trade deficit and continued FPI outflows will continue to weigh on the INR," said Sachchidanand Shukla, chief economist at Mahindra Group.

Indian shares fell as IT services major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) dragged down technology companies after posting weak results last week.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) have sold shares worth nearly $30 billion so far in 2022 with traders fearing more outflows if a global recession were to kick in, according to Reuters.

The dollar was on the front foot at the start of a week in which US and Chinese data and European energy security were top of mind, as investor concerns about global economic growth offered support to the safe haven currency.

Traders said the RBI was spotted selling dollars via state-run banks sporadically to brake the decline in the rupee but the direction of the currency is unlikely to be altered any time soon.

The rupee is likely to be still trading near its historic low in three months' time, battered by widening trade and current account deficits, according to a Reuters poll where nearly one in three analysts expected it to weaken to 80 per dollar by September, Reuters reported.

Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Balen Shah has been invited for a friendly visit by the Matihani Municipality of Mahottari district, which is also the home district of Shah.

Hari Prasad Mandal, mayor of Matihani met Shah and extended his invitation. Shah also expressed his desire to visit Mahottari. The meeting was arranged by Ashutosh Karn where both of the mayors discussed future coordination between two cultural cities.

Mandal presented a photo of Laxminarayan Temple of Mahottari to mayor Shah while Kathmandu's side gave a statue of Lord Ganesh as a token of love.

Nepali Congress province presidents urged party leaders to set criteria for an alliance in the forthcoming elections.

During the Central Executive Committee meeting that started at the party office in Sanepa from today, they suggested leaders to forge a necessary alliance, giving continuity to the coalition in the elections.

Some were of the opinion that it would be appropriate for the Nepali Congress to contest the elections alone.

The Local Level Election Central Mobilization Committee presented a report of local level elections in the meeting.

During the meeting, leader Shekhar Koirala urged the party president to hold a policy convention at the earliest, saying that the 14th general convention only selected the leadership but could not work on formulating the policies.

Central members Koirala, Pradeep Paudel, Dev Raj Kandel, Dila Sangraula, Krishna Kishor Ghimire, Narayan Bahadur Karki, Taraman Gurung, Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Nain Singh Mahar, Guru Baral and Dinesh Koirala among others floated their opinion in the meeting.