KOROR, Palau: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said Friday he was “confident” of deeper cooperation with the next Donald Trump administration, a day after his call with US Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson that angered China.
Like other world governments, Taiwan has publicly congratulated Trump on his victory in November’s presidential election as it seeks to get onside with the next US leader.
The United States does not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but Washington has long been Taipei’s biggest backer and provider of arms.
Trump caused jitters during his campaign by suggesting Taiwan should pay the United States for its defense and accusing the island of stealing the US semiconductor industry.
“Taiwan is confident that it will continue to deepen cooperation with the new government to resist authoritarian expansion, and create prosperity and development for both countries while making more contributions to regional stability and peace,” Lai told reporters in Palau.
Lai arrived in the tiny Pacific island nation on Thursday after visiting the American territory of Guam where he spoke with Johnson – the highest-level US contact the Taiwanese leader has had during his week-long trip.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and opposes any international recognition of the island. Beijing especially bristles at high-level official contact between Taipei and Washington.
A 2022 visit to Taiwan by then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi prompted China to launch military drills around the self-ruled island.
Beijing on Thursday urged the United States to “stop sending wrong signals” following the Lai-Johnson call, warning of the “serious danger that separatist acts of Taiwan independence pose to peace and security across the Taiwan Strait.”
In response to a question about possible Chinese military drills around Taiwan this weekend, Lai said “raising your fists is not as good as opening your hands.”
Lai also insisted that Taiwan and China were “not subordinate to each other.”
“No matter how many military exercises, warships and aircraft China sends to coerce neighboring countries, it cannot win the respect of any country,” Lai said.
Lai’s Pacific tour – his first overseas trip since taking office in May – is aimed at fortifying ties in the Pacific where China has been poaching its allies.
Palau is among 12 nations that still recognize Taiwan’s claim to statehood, after China convinced others to sever diplomatic relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing.
Earlier, Lai and his Palau counterpart Surangel Whipps Jr watched a joint rescue exercise involving the Taiwan’s largest coast guard patrol ship and two vessels donated by Taiwan to Palau.
Before that, Lai attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new “one-stop” government services building in Palau that Taiwan helped fund.
Lai hailed the building project “a model of successful bilateral cooperation” and said the Taiwan-Palau alliance was “rock solid.”
The dispute between Taiwan and China goes back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to the island.
While Taiwan calls itself a sovereign nation, with its own government, military and currency, Beijing insists the island belongs to China and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under its control.
Taiwan faces the constant threat of a military attack by China, which regularly deploys fighter jets and warships around the island to press its claims, and it relies heavily on US arms sales to boost its defenses.
On the eve of Lai’s Pacific tour, the United States approved a proposed sale to Taiwan of spare parts for F-16s and radar systems, as well as communications equipment, in deals valued at $385 million in total.
Speaking during a two-day visit to the US state of Hawaii on Saturday, Lai said there was a need to “fight together to prevent war,” warning there were “no winners” from conflict.
From Palau, Lai flies to Taipei on Friday, wrapping up a trip that also included visits to Taiwan’s other Pacific island allies the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu.
Taiwan’s Lai says ‘confident’ of deeper cooperation with Trump
https://arab.news/wnf7t
Taiwan’s Lai says ‘confident’ of deeper cooperation with Trump
- The United States does not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan
- ‘Taiwan is confident that it will continue to deepen cooperation with the new [US] government’
Thousands attend funeral of Taliban minister killed by Islamic State suicide bombing
The Cabinet member was the most high-profile casualty of an assault in the country since the Taliban seized power three years ago
GARDA SERAI, Afghanistan: Thousands of people attended the funeral Thursday of a Taliban minister killed in a Kabul suicide bombing claimed by the Daesh group.
The funeral for Khalil Haqqani, the minister for refugees and repatriation, was held in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia province. The Cabinet member was the most high-profile casualty of an assault in the country since the Taliban seized power three years ago.
The minister died in a blast Wednesday at his ministry in the Afghan capital, along with five others.
He was the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister and the leader of a powerful faction within the Taliban. The US placed a bounty on both their heads.
Tight security was in place for the high-ranking officials attending the funeral, including Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Deputy Prime Minister Maulvi Abdul Kabir.
Armed men guarded the coffin, which was draped in the Taliban flag, and loudspeakers broadcast sermons and eulogies. Local and international media were invited to cover the funeral in Garda Serai district, Paktia.
In a statement carried by the Amaq News Agency, the Daesh Khorasan Province — an affiliate of the Daesh group — said that one of its fighters carried out the suicide bombing. The fighter waited for Haqqani to leave his office and then detonated his device, according to the statement.
An official from Paktia, the Haqqanis’ heartland, gave a different account of what happened. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The assailant was able to gain access to the ministry despite setting off an alarm on the body scanner because he told the guard he had metal plates in his hands, the official said. He also claimed he was a refugee.
The official added that Haqqani made time for refugees and people with disabilities who come to see him at work because he was sympathetic to their plight.
He was approaching the ministry after praying in the compound’s mosque when the assailant detonated the bomb, the official added.
The UN Mission in Afghanistan was among those to condemn the ministry attack. “There can be no place for terrorism in the quest for stability,” the mission said on X.
Neighboring Pakistan has also expressed its shock. Mohammad Sadiq, the special representative for Afghanistan, wrote on X on Wednesday that the government stood in solidarity with Afghanistan and reiterated its commitment to work with Afghanistan in fighting the “menace of terrorism.”
The Daesh group’s affiliate, a major rival of the ruling Taliban, has previously carried out bombings across Afghanistan.
But suicide attacks have become rare since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 and US and NATO forces withdrew. Such assaults have mostly targeted minority Shiite Muslims, especially in the capital.
Bangladesh boosts border security as Arakan Army claims control of Myanmar’s Rakhine
- Arakan Army announced it had captured the last Myanmar army outpost in north Rakhine
- Bangladeshi authorities have been recording heavy gunfire on the Myanmar side of the border
DHAKA: Bangladeshi authorities said on Thursday they had strengthened security along the border with Myanmar after one of the most powerful ethnic minority armies claimed full control of the frontier.
The Arakan Army, a powerful ethnic militia in Rakhine, announced earlier this week that it had captured the last Myanmar army outpost in the border town of Maungdaw, allowing the group to completely control the northern state.
Rakhine has become a focal point in Myanmar’s nationwide civil war, in which opposition groups and ethnic militias are fighting the military junta that ousted the country’s elected government in a coup in 2021.
By taking over the northern region, the Arakan Army now controls the entire 270-km border with Bangladesh.
“The Arakan Army has (started) taking control over the Bangladesh-Myanmar border around one year back ... Now, the Arakan Army has taken over the control of its remaining parts,” said Maj. Syed Ishtiaq Morshed, commander of the Border Guard Bangladesh in Teknaf subdistrict, which shares a border with Myanmar, opposite the town of Maungdaw.
“We don’t have any direct contact with the Arakan Army as they are not any legal or recognized entity ... We have strengthened our monitoring and patrols in border areas to prevent any sort of further intrusion.”
Morshed told Arab News that the Bangladesh Navy, Naval Police, Coast Guard, and the Rapid Action Battalion elite police force have also been deployed to the border region to “prevent any law and order situation” inside Bangladeshi territory.
“We are hearing the sound of gun battles from the other side of the border every day,” he said.
Clashes between Myanmar’s military-controlled government forces and the ethnic militia started in late October 2023, with a multi-pronged offensive against the junta. Fighting has intensified in the past few weeks.
“For the last two weeks, we have heard the sound of the heavy gunfire inside Myanmar area,” said Sheikh Ehsan Uddin, administrative head of Teknaf.
“Security has been beefed up in the border area, and the number of patrol forces with the Border Guard Bangladesh and Coast Guard has been increased.”
The movement of all boats between Teknaf and Saint Martin island off the Bangladeshi coast has been suspended from Thursday. And restrictions have been imposed on those traveling along the Naf River, which marks the border of southeastern Bangladesh and northwestern Myanmar.
“Villagers and locals are allowed to cross the Naf River only during high tide, as our boats need to get closer to the Myanmar border during low tide,” Uddin said.
“Our Coast Guard will look after the issue so that Bangladeshi boats don’t enter into Myanmar territory by any chance.”
UK announces new funding for UNRWA
- Britain’s annual £21m will be topped up by £13m
- Decision follows meeting between PM Keir Starmer, aid agency chief Philippe Lazzarini
LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged an additional £13 million ($16.56 million) to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
The announcement followed a meeting between him and UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini in London on Wednesday.
Starmer gave his condolences to the agency for the deaths of staff members killed in Gaza. The pair agreed that more needs to be done to protect aid workers in the Palestinian enclave, and reiterated their calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages held by Hamas.
The money will come on top of the £21 million per year already given to UNRWA by the UK, which was temporarily suspended by the former government after Israel accused 12 agency members of taking part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in 2023.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was “reassured” that UNRWA met UK government standards for vetting employees following an independent review of the situation.
UNRWA was established in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees. In October, Israel banned it from operating in its territory, hampering its ability to operate in the Occupied Territories.
Starmer condemned the decision, saying it had left him “gravely concerned” and would make it “impossible” for vital work to be done helping displaced and vulnerable Palestinian civilians.
Hong Kong court convicts 7 men, including former lawmaker, of rioting during 2019 protests
- Prosecutors accused former legislator Lam Cheuk-ting and the six other defendants of provoking members of a group of about 100 armed men
- The men claimed to be protecting their homeland in Yuen Long, a residential district in Hong Kong’s New Territories
HONG KONG: A Hong Kong judge on Thursday convicted seven people, including a pro-democracy former lawmaker, of rioting during mob violence at a subway station at the height of the city’s anti-government protests in July 2019.
Prosecutors accused former legislator Lam Cheuk-ting and the six other defendants of provoking members of a group of about 100 men armed with wooden poles and metal rods who attacked protesters and bystanders at a train station. The men, all clad in white shirts, in contrast with the black worn by protesters, claimed to be protecting their homeland in Yuen Long, a residential district in Hong Kong’s New Territories.
Dozens of people, including Lam, were injured in the violence, a key chapter that escalated the protest movement as the public criticized police for their delayed response. The landmark ruling could shape the city’s historical narrative of the incident.
Judge Stanley Chan ruled that Lam was not acting as a mediator as he had claimed, but rather was trying to exploit the situation for political gain.
He said Lam’s words directed at the white-shirted men had “fanned the flames.”
The seven defendants are expected to be sentenced in February. Several members of the public sitting in the gallery cried after hearing the verdicts. Others waved at the defendants, with one shouting to Lam, “Hang in there, Ting!” Lam appeared to be at ease.
The prosecution alleged the defendants had either berated the white-shirted men, used obscene hand gestures, hurled objects or shot jets of water at them with a hosepipe.
The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the rioting charge.
During the trial, Lam said he chose to go to Yuen Long because he hoped his then position as a lawmaker could pressure the police to act quickly. He said he could not leave the scene while fellow residents were in danger. Some defendants who targeted the white-shirted men with a hosepipe argued that they were just trying to stop the attackers from advancing.
Chan, the judge, rejected the arguments of some defendants that they acted in self-defense.
The 2019 protests were sparked by a proposed extradition law that would have allowed criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to the mainland for trial. The government withdrew the bill, but the protesters widened their demands to include direct elections for the city’s leaders and police accountability.
The social movement was the biggest challenge to the Hong Kong government since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. In response, Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020, leading to the arrest of many activists. Others were silenced or went into exile.
In November, Lam was sentenced to six years and nine months in jail in the city’s biggest national security case.
More than 10,000 people were arrested in connection to the protests for various crimes, such as rioting and participating in an unauthorized assembly. About 10 white-shirted men were convicted in other cases related to the mob violence in July 2019, local media reported.
Taliban minister killing renews concerns over Daesh threat in Afghanistan
- Khalil Haqqani was killed by a suicide bomber inside his ministry’s compound
- He is the most high-profile Taliban casualty since the group’s return to power
KABUL: The killing of Afghanistan Refugee Minister Khalil Haqqani has raised new concerns about a Daesh threat in the country, analysts said on Thursday, as the group claimed responsibility for the suicide blast that killed the Taliban official in Kabul.
Haqqani was a senior leader of a powerful faction within the Taliban called the Haqqani network. He became a minister when the Taliban returned to power after US-led forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.
Haqqani was the brother of famous guerrilla leader and Haqqani network founder Jalaluddin Haqqani, who fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s. His nephew, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is the current interior minister.
Daesh-run media said on Wednesday evening that it was responsible for the explosion that killed the minister hours earlier at the Ministry of Refugees compound in central Kabul, carried out by a suicide bomber.
The Taliban later confirmed in a statement that Daesh was behind the attack, which killed and injured several others.
“(Haqqani) was a major figure whose politico-military career spanned decades and whose network and contracts transcended not just political divides across the Afghan spectrum but also extended deep into the tribal areas of Pakistan,” Ahmad Waleed Kakar, analyst and founder of The Afghan Eye media platform, told Arab News.
Coming from a tribe inhabiting the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Haqqani’s family has been influential in resolving tribal conflicts and addressing issues at the community level.
After the 2001 US invasion ousted the Taliban from their first stint in power, the faction was responsible for many attacks during the movement’s 20-year insurgency against foreign troops and influence in the country.
In 2011, the US classified Haqqani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, putting a $5 million bounty on his head.
“His killing will be a huge political blow to the Taliban given his history of pragmatic mediation in the movement,” Kakar said.
“Whilst Daesh have been unable to meaningfully consolidate their control over specific geography in Afghanistan or pose a military threat to the Taliban, their limited presence means they remain able to exploit faults in Taliban security and target key figures.”
A regional affiliate of Daesh, known as Islamic State Khorasan Province, has been a rival group to the Taliban since it emerged in Afghanistan a decade ago.
Following the Taliban takeover in August 2021, ISKP has continued its campaign against the new regime. While deadly blasts have become rare, last year ISKP claimed the explosion that killed the Taliban governor of northern Balkh province. A few months later, the group assassinated the acting governor of Badakhshan in Afghanistan’s northeast.
Haqqani is the most high-profile casualty of an attack in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power.
“The killing of Khalil Rahman Haqqani is a deeply tragic incident, not only for the Taliban but also for Afghans and the international community. Mr. Haqqani was widely regarded as a pragmatic and moderate leader within the Taliban. Following the collapse of the republic, he was seen in Kabul, personally assuring former leaders of the republic about their safety,” Tameem Bahiss, a Kabul-based security analyst, told Arab News.
“While the Taliban have made significant strides in weakening ISKP’s presence in Afghanistan, this attack on Mr. Haqqani will undoubtedly heighten concerns among the Taliban leadership, leaving them more alarmed and cautious.”
