British troops will start leaving Iraq next May under detailed plans, drawn up by London and Washington, to be presented next month to the Iraqi parliament, the Observer newspaper reported yesterday.
Quoting senior military sources, it said the blueprint "will lay out a point-by-point `road map' for military disengagement by multinational forces," with the first steps possibly going into effect soon after the December polls.
It said Britain has already "privately" informed Japan of its plans to begin withdrawing from southern Iraq next May, a move that would make it impossible for some 500 Japanese troops in the sector to remain.
There was no immediate reaction from Prime Minister Tony Blair's government to the report, which appeared in time for the start of the annual conference of his Labor Party in Brighton, on England's south coast.
Speculation about the future of British forces in Iraq intensified this week after the arrest by Iraqi police of two undercover British soldiers who were subsequently rescued by comrades in the main southern city of Basra.
A YouGov opinion poll for Five News television, released yesterday after several thousand people joined an anti-war march in London, found that 57 percent of respondents thought British forces should pull out.
The Observer quoted Defense Secretary John Reid as saying in an interview that a pullout strategy was contingent on ongoing efforts to establish a permanent democratic government in Iraq.
"The two things I want to insist about the timetable is that it is not an event, but a process, and that it will be a process that takes place at different speeds in different parts of the country," he said.
"I have said before that I believe that it could begin in some parts of the country as early as next July. It is not a deadline, but it is where we might be, and I honestly still believe we could have the conditions to begin a handover."
The Sunday Telegraph offered an alternative version, saying it has learned that the Ministry of Defence "is still planning to deploy large numbers of troops" until at least January 2008.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS