Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the US yesterday of blocking a cooperation program between Moscow and the NATO alliance in a row over a European arms treaty, Russian news agencies reported.
"The fact that an important document that simply set out a large number of spheres of agreement ... has been blocked due to the absolutely ideological position of our American colleagues, who are trying to force us to annul Russia's law on the Conventional Forces in Europe [CFE] treaty, obviously is a cause for regret," Lavrov was quoted by Interfax as saying.
Lavrov was referring to Russia's decision to suspend adherence to the CFE treaty, which sets limits on levels of troops and military hardware on the continent.
Lavrov, who had attended a NATO-Russia meeting at the alliance's headquarters on Friday, said the US was blocking approval of a program setting out cooperation for next year in areas such as combating weapons of mass destruction, narcotics, industrial accidents and air space management.
Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law freezing Moscow's adherence to the CFE starting on Wednesday.
Russia said it had taken the step because of the failure of NATO states to ratify a revised version of the treaty produced in 1999 to take account of the collapse of the independence of countries formerly ruled from Moscow.
NATO states have said they will not ratify the revised treaty until Russia fulfils a related commitment to move military facilities from ex-Soviet Georgia and Moldova.
Meanwhile, Washington said on Friday that it was pushing ahead with a planned missile shield that has angered Russia even as a new US assessment downgraded the nuclear threat from Iran.
Washington has defended plans to build missile defense facilities in the Czech Republic and Poland as necessary to protect European allies from a potential missile strike from "rogue" states, especially Iran.
A new US intelligence community assessment on Iran's nuclear ambitions, however, found that the Islamic republic froze an atomic bomb program in 2003.
But the White House has insisted that the Islamic republic remains a danger, arguing that it could revive the nuclear weapons program anytime. And the US Defense Department says Iran's conventional missiles are still a threat.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
RSS