Asia-Pacific leaders yesterday were readying to wrap up an annual summit, falling in line behind US President George W. Bush's "war on terror" and backing his anti-nuclear drive against North Korea and Iran.
Murmurs of disquiet on the handling of the US-led anti-terrorist drive were almost drowned out at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which all but ditched its usual agenda of trade and economics.
Weekend talks were to conclude yesterday with an informal "retreat" in the neoclassical La Moneda palace of Santiago, followed by a joint statement.
Nuclear fears injected a new scale of concern over global security. After meeting Saturday with leaders of China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, Bush said they had a joint message for North Korea: "Get rid of your nuclear weapons programs."
A senior White House aide said North Korean officials had let China know in recent weeks that Pyongyang was prepared to return to talks aimed at ending a nuclear weapons crisis, but "when, or how, or who, they did not say."
Bush meanwhile leveraged support at the summit to give Iran warning over reports that the Islamic republic has accelerated production of uranium material that could be used to make nuclear weapons.
"It's very important for the Iranian government to hear that we are concerned about their desires, and we're concerned about reports that show that prior to a certain international meeting, they're willing to speed up processing of materials that could lead to a nuclear weapon," Bush said.
Bush got support from China over the North Korean nuclear threat during a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
"Both sides expressed the hope that the issue can be solved peacefully, through dialogue," Hu told reporters after the encounter.
In a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, the US leader strayed into domestic politics and said he was worried about "overcentralization of power" in the Kremlin, a senior US official told reporters.
Washington's Asia-Pacific partners also showed some caution Saturday, warning that the US-led anti-terrorist campaign must include a resolution to the Palestinian question and involve a broader coalition.
During his meeting with Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indirectly asked Bush's second administration to make more efforts to cooperate with other countries in handling the Iraqi reconstruction and other international conflicts, according to an official who attended.
Later Saturday, Bush was involved in a different sort of tussle when he stepped into the middle of a confrontation and pulled his lead Secret Service agent away from Chilean security officials, who had blocked the agent as he followed Bush into a dinner for APEC leaders. A pushing match between Chilean and US agents ensued.
Bush noticed the fracas, walked over to the agents, reached through the dispute and pulled his agent from the scrum. The president, looking irritated, then walked away with the agent.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique