US President George W. Bush tried to forge unity over Iraq yesterday in a lightning summit with European leaders who backed the training of Iraqi troops but offered little further concrete support.
Fenced off from his detractors by 2,000 soldiers and 4,000 police, Bush holed up in a western Irish castle with EU leaders ahead of a NATO summit in Turkey this week.
The US hopes a transatlantic agreement over training police in Iraq is proof that old enmities are over, but diplomats fear it may be simply the lowest common denominator the two sides can live with.
Big breakthroughs were scant at the summit as hundreds of demonstrators vilified Bush as a warmonger.
The protesters were kept well away from 16th-century Dromoland Castle as Bush met Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.
Ahern stressed the need for transatlantic unity four days before Washington cedes control of Baghdad to an interim government.
After the bilateral Irish talks, Bush headed to the EU-US summit.
The leaders trumpeted a satellite navigation cooperation agreement as proof of strong ties even as Iraq and the Middle East continue to dog relations.
In the joint US-EU statement, the leaders said they "support the training and equipping of professional Iraqi security forces capable of assuming increasing responsibility for the country's security."
The EU said it would also look at helping the new government prepare for elections and "consider further support for the rule of law and civil administration in Iraq."
In a reference to the US abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, the statement stressed "the need for full respect of the Geneva Conventions," mirroring European disquiet voiced by Ahern earlier over prisoner rights in both Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
NATO leaders, including Bush, meet tomorrow and on Tuesday and are expected to reach an agreement in principle to help train Iraqi security forces, far short of the original US goal of having NATO troops help with security.
Meanwhile, insurgents in Iraq launched attacks in the strife-ridden city of Baquba yesterday, killing nine people, six of them insurgents, US and Iraqi officials said. Attacks also occurred in other cities.
The attacks in Baquba, 55km northeast of Baghdad, occurred only two days after US tanks and jets routed insurgents who assaulted police stations and government offices there as part of a widespread offensive that killed about 100 people nationwide.
Yesterday's attacks targeted offices of two political parties -- one of them run by the Iraqi prime minister -- a police station and a government building in Baquba.
Also See Stories:
Ireland gives Bush rough treatment
US jets raid `al-Zarqawi safe house'
Anti-US message from mosques anti-US
Helping the occupation a deadly risk
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or