Hours before Barack Obama’s inauguration as president, China called for stronger military ties with the US and said the key threats facing its national security were Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang.
Ministry of Defense Spokesman Colonel Hu Changming (胡昌明) said there were “difficulties” in military relations between the two countries and expressed hope the situation would improve.
“In this new period we hope that both China and the US could make joint efforts to create favorable conditions and improve and promote military-to-military relations,” Hu told reporters.
Hu was responding to a question on planned US arms sales to Taiwan that resulted in China postponing a series of high-level military exchanges with the US last year.
Later yesterday, China’s Foreign Ministry reiterated a demand that the US end the sales.
“China is resolutely against the US sales of weapons to Taiwan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) said.
Yesterday Hu said separatist forces in Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang remained major threats to China’s security and were top military priorities.
“Taiwan independence, East Turkestan, Tibetan independence and other separatist forces form a major security threat to the unity of the nation and a challenge to our security organs,” Hu said.
“On these issues there can be no compromise and no tolerance,” he said.
Hu was speaking at the launch of China’s National Defense in 2008 policy paper.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,