British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned the country yesterday to brace for casualties when a US-led coalition retaliates for the suicide hijacking attacks on Washington and New York.
Straw, speaking ahead of a groundbreaking visit to Iran, said there was a palpable and understandable sense of fear among the British public about the consequences of a military response to the Sept 11 attacks.
"There will be risks and there will be casualties and that is a very heavy responsibility on all those having to make the decisions," Straw told BBC radio.
"But it is obviously very much worse for those taking the risks and for their families."
Britain has said it will stand shoulder to shoulder with the US in its response to the attacks on the World Trade Center, in which thousands died.
Washington has named Saudi-born Islamic dissident Osama bin Laden, believed to be in Afghanistan, as the number one suspect.
Straw said that while people should know as much as possible about the justification behind the US targeting of bin Laden and Afghanistan's Taliban regime, he was not sure how much could be made public.
"I'm afraid that above all what people have to expect is a great deal of uncertainty," he said.
Straw is to use his visit to Iran yesterday to help Afghanistan's neighbors deal with refugees fleeing in the aftermath of the attacks on New York and Washington.
His two-day visit is the first by a British foreign secretary since the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the Shah.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2