Taipei: Democracies must join together to resist “advancing autocracies,” NATO’s former head warned Wednesday during a high-profile visit to Taiwan, which he said must be allowed to decide its own future.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister who served as secretary general of NATO from 2009 to 2014, made the remarks at a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
“We need to strengthen our fight against, or our attempts to counter, the advancing autocracies,” said Rasmussen, founder of the Alliance of Democracies foundation, which hosts an annual democracy summit in Copenhagen.
“The world’s democracies represent 60 percent of the global economy, if we can work together, then we are representing a formidable force that will create respect in Beijing and other capitals of autocratic nations.”
Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by China, which claims the self-ruled democracy as part of its territory to be retaken one day, by force if necessary.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also deepened fears that Beijing might try something similar.
In his remarks to Tsai, Rasmussen said Taiwan had the “right to exist in freedom and peace” as well as the right to decide its own future.
President Xi Jinping, China’s most assertive leader in a generation, has made clear that what he calls the “reunification” of Taiwan cannot be passed on to future generations.
Last year saw a spike in tensions as Beijing ramped up military pressure and launched its largest war games in decades to protest against a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August.
China opposes any official exchanges between other countries and Taiwan and has reacted with increasing anger over visits by Western politicians.
Rasmussen’s foundation, which invited Tsai to address its annual democracy summit for three consecutive years from 2020, was sanctioned by Beijing in 2021.
In a New Year speech Sunday, Tsai said ramped-up Chinese military activities around Taiwan were “unhelpful” for maintaining relations between the two.
“War has never been an option to solve problems. Only dialogue, cooperation and the common goal of promoting regional stability and development can make more people feel safe and happy,” she said.
Ex-NATO chief urges democracies to unite during Taiwan visit
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Ex-NATO chief urges democracies to unite during Taiwan visit
- Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by China
German leader to discuss migrants, Middle East crisis on Turkiye visit
- Ankara ‘expects Berlin to suspend restrictions on defense sales,’ analyst says
ISTANBUL: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits Turkiye on Saturday for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the escalating Middle East crisis and migration, while Ankara hopes to speed up the purchase of Eurofighter jets.
Scholz, who last visited in March 2022 a few months after taking office, will meet President Erdogan in Istanbul.
Last week, German officials said the Ukraine war, the Middle East conflict, and migration would be the main focus of the visit.
Turkiye’s relations with Germany — home to Europe’s largest Turkish diaspora of some 3 million people — are sensitive and Berlin has voiced concerns over the state of human rights and democracy under Erdogan.
The outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has further strained ties.
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Turkiye’s relations with Germany — home to Europe’s largest Turkish diaspora of some 3 million people — are sensitive.
Erdogan has long been a fierce critic of Israel’s year-long military campaign in Gaza and its recent deadly push into Lebanon, comparing Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
But Berlin is a strong supporter of Israel and has defended its right to self-defense, while increasingly calling for restraint.
When Erdogan visited Germany last year, he traded barbs with Scholz over the conflict.
“The first, second, and third item on Scholz’s agenda is likely to be refugee cooperation as anti-refugee sentiment is rising throughout Europe,” said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli of the German Marshall Fund, a US think tank.
Scholz’s government has been under heightened pressure over the issue after a series of violent crimes and extremist attacks committed by asylum seekers.
Last month, Berlin said it had agreed on a plan with Ankara to step up its deportations of Turkish failed asylum seekers — only for Turkiye to deny any such deal had been struck swiftly.
Even so, immigration was likely a topic where both states “will be on the same page,” said Deniz Sert, an international relations professor at Istanbul’s Ozyegin University.
“Both will argue they have the right and obligation to protect order within their borders and that irregular migrants are the threat,” she said.
Turkiye will also expect progress on its plans to buy 40 Eurofighter Typhoons, notably in the wake of America’s delayed delivery of F-16 warplanes greenlit earlier this year.
Last year, Ankara said it was keen to acquire Eurofighter jets built by a four-nation consortium, including Germany.
However, talks have been slow, mainly because of Berlin’s opposition to Turkiye’s stance on the Gaza conflict.
Any consortium member, including Britain, Italy, and Spain, can veto a deal.
“The biggest obstacle to the sale of the jets is Germany’s Israel policy,” a Turkish source said.
However, things have progressed in recent months, with the source pointing to “positive developments,” although an agreement was not imminent on Saturday.
“Ankara expects Berlin to suspend its restrictions on defense sales and greenlight Eurofighter sales to Turkiye,” Unluhisarcikli said.
Ozgur Eksi, editor-in-chief for the TurDef.com defense news website, said Berlin was initially concerned Turkiye could use the jets against outlawed Kurdish militants in the southeast or in Syria.
“Do the same concerns remain in place? Yes, but other issues, including security, have gained weight, especially after Turkiye lifted its veto on Sweden’s NATO membership,” he said.
With Russia’s war in Ukraine, there are concerns in the West about the consequences of Turkiye getting closer to Moscow, which Berlin is keen to avoid, Eksi said.
Turkiye has sought balance in its ties with Russia and Ukraine since the outbreak of the Kremlin’s invasion, sending drones to Kyiv but also pulling away from Western-led sanctions on Moscow.
NATO would need to agree conditions for Ukraine invitation, Dutch minister says
- NATO has declared that Ukraine will become a member of the alliance one day but also said Kyiv cannot join while at war
- Brekelmans, whose country is among NATO’s 32 members, said there were “very different opinions” in the alliance on the issue
BRUSSELS: NATO countries will need to discuss conditions for Ukraine to get a membership invitation and to join the alliance in response to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “victory plan,” Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on Friday.
Zelensky presented the five-point plan publicly for the first time this week, including a call for an immediate NATO invitation to make clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow’s invasion would end with geopolitical defeat.
NATO has declared that Ukraine will become a member of the alliance one day but also said Kyiv cannot join while at war, as that could lead to a direct conflict between NATO and Russia.
Alliance leaders have so far avoided a direct response to Zelensky’s new push for an invitation.
Brekelmans, whose country is among NATO’s 32 members, said there were “very different opinions” in the alliance on the issue.
To reach the necessary consensus, he said, allies would need to agree clear criteria that Ukraine would need to meet to get an invitation and others required to later become a member.
“If you don’t have that clarity upfront, I don’t see (that) 32 allies agree to granting an invitation,” he told reporters after a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
Asked what conditions Ukraine might need to meet, Brekelmans cited fighting corruption.
“If you want to modernize the Ukrainian armed forces, and have involvement of other countries, then I can imagine that you also want to assess the progress that Ukrainians make on that dimension,” he said.
UK’s Starmer says death of Hamas chief is ‘opportunity’ for ceasefire
- “I do think the death of Sinwar provides an opportunity for a step toward that ceasefire that we’ve long called for,” Starmer said
- Starmer added that “allies will keep working together to de-escalate across the region because we know there’s no military-only solution here — the answer is diplomacy“
BERLIN: The killing by Israel of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar could help bring an end to fighting in the Gaza Strip, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said during a visit to Berlin on Friday.
Sinwar, who mastermind the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Israel on October 7 last year, was killed by the Israeli military in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Wednesday.
“I do think the death of Sinwar provides an opportunity for a step toward that ceasefire that we’ve long called for,” Starmer said after talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, US President Joe Biden and France’s President Emmanuel Macron.
The comments echo those of Biden, who said Sinwar’s death was “an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas.”
Starmer added that “allies will keep working together to de-escalate across the region because we know there’s no military-only solution here — the answer is diplomacy.”
He also said that the “dire humanitarian situation can’t continue” in Gaza and called for Israel to facilitate the delivery of more aid to the Strip.
“The world will not tolerate any more excuses on humanitarian assistance. Civilians in northern Gaza need food now,” said Starmer, a human rights lawyer before going into politics.
The comments came as Britain’s Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) said a urgent appeal for funds for citizens in Gaza, Lebanon and the occupied West Bank had raised £8.8 million ($11.5 million) in the first day.
The DEC brings together 15 leading charities, including Oxfam and ActionAid, to launch national appeals at times of crisis overseas.
It said in a statement that Britain’s head of state, King Charles III, and his wife Camilla “were among the first to donate” to the latest appeal.
Saudi Arabia ‘acceptable’ location for potential Russia-Ukraine peace talks, Putin tells Arab News
- Russian president added Israel-Palestine crisis would be on BRICS Summit agenda next week
- Was speaking at pre-BRICS Summit press conference in Moscow Region
MOSCOW: Saudi Arabia would be an acceptable location for Russian-Ukrainian peace talks, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Arab News on Friday, but any negotiations would be dependent on Ukraine lifting its ban on dealing with Russia.
Speaking at a pre-BRICS Summit press conference in Moscow Region, he said that Russia was ready for dialog with Kyiv but only on the basis of what had already been previously agreed in the 2022 Istanbul talks.
Praising good relations with King Salman and “a strong personal relationship” with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he said that he believed the Kingdom’s efforts toward mediation were sincere.
The 16th annual BRICS summit will take place in Kazan, Russia, next week between the namesake five countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — as well as the first meeting for new members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE.
Putin told Arab News that the Israel-Palestine crisis would be on the agenda in discussions between the countries.
He reiterated the Kremlin’s support for the implementation of the two-state solution, adding that he was in contact with authorities in Israel and Palestine and had invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to take part in next week’s summit.
During the briefing, Putin also said that 30 other countries had expressed interest in cooperation with BRICS nations, and said that its “doors are open, we are not barring anyone.”
He echoed India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that BRICS was “not an anti-Western alliance, just a non-Western alliance.”
* More to follow...
EU leaders talk tough on migration, but divided on action
- “We recognize that we need to think out of the box in order to address this pressing concern,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told reporters
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed the concept as representing “very few small drops” — and not a viable answer to the migration challenges of a large country
BRUSSELS: Migration was at the top of the agenda as EU leaders met in Brussels on Thursday, with most governments keen to display a tough stance after hard-right gains in several countries, but little agreement on a course of action.
Talk of easing deportations, creating processing centers outside the European Union and speeding up implementation of a long-negotiated deal agreed on earlier this year have dominated the run-up to a summit that crystallized a rightward shift in the bloc’s rhetoric.
Italy’s hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hosted a mini-summit in Brussels just ahead of the main event to discuss a common approach with 10 like-minded countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands and Hungary and Greece. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen was also present.
“We recognize that we need to think out of the box in order to address this pressing concern,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told reporters.
But divisions remain among the bloc’s 27 countries on the next steps, in particular a controversial idea of creating return “hubs” outside the EU.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed the concept as representing “very few small drops” — and not a viable answer to the migration challenges of a large country.
“If we all followed the rules we have together, we would already be much further ahead,” he said.
Germany is among nations that want an early implementation of a landmark migration pact struck this year, which hardens border procedures and requires countries to take in asylum seekers from “frontline” states or provide money and resources.
But others say the package, set to come into force in June 2026, falls short.
A majority have backed a proposal to expedite deportations of irregular migrants and explore other “innovative solutions,” as Meloni posted on X on Thursday.
Meloni showcased the deal Rome struck with Albania to send some migrants there, according to her office. Other EU capitals have shown keen interest in the scheme, and von der Leyen has said the bloc will draw lessons from it.
Finding “solutions” to possibly return some Syrian refugees to Syria was also talked about, according to a diplomatic source.
Detected irregular border crossings into the European Union are down more than 40 percent this year after reaching the highest level in nearly a decade in 2023, according to EU border agency Frontex.
But migration remains “seen as a pressing and an urgent domestic issue” by many EU nations, a senior EU diplomat said.
Germany, which is part of the bloc’s Schengen free movement area, tightened border controls in September in response to several suspected Islamist attacks.
And this month Poland said it would partially suspend asylum rights, accusing Russia and Belarus of pushing migrants over the border to destabilize the country.
“There is a new wind blowing in Europe,” said Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whose nationalist populist party came top in general elections in the Netherlands last year.
Wilders was in Brussels to attend another event: a meeting of the far-right Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament.
Hard-right parties often riding anti-immigrant sentiment performed strongly in European Parliament elections in June, and have topped recent national and regional votes in Austria and Germany.
France also tilted to the right after a snap parliamentary election this summer.
But whether the tough talk will result in concrete changes remains to be seen.
Von der Leyen kickstarted the process this week, promising changes to “streamline the process of returns.”
In a letter to the bloc, she mentioned the option of developing deportation centers outside the European Union.
But an EU diplomat cautioned that the idea was “vague and preliminary,” saying there was no real plan for it at this stage.
Disagreement over what remains a subject fraught with legal and ethical issues caused a similar immigration overhaul effort to fail in 2018.
“All these solutions of ‘migration hubs’, as they are called, have never shown in the past to be very effective, and they are always very expensive,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told reporters.
“What works are agreements with third countries, agreements that are broader than only on migration,” he said.
The EU has signed deals with Tunisia, Mauritania and others providing aid and investments in return for help curbing arrivals. They have been credited with reducing Mediterranean boat crossings but criticized for exposing asylum seekers to mistreatment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also attended the meeting to present Kyiv’s “victory plan” to defeat Russia, and EU leaders will discuss other topics, including Israel’s conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.
