The British prime minister's office in Downing Street, London, succumbed on Wednesday to all-party pressure and agreed an emergency recall of parliament to debate the Iraq crisis on Sept. 24.
Prime Minister Tony Blair will publish a dossier on President Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction at the same time, but members of the House of Commons and members of the House of Lords will not be given an opportunity to vote.
Government sources said there was no point in a vote at this stage since no specific action is being proposed by the UN or the government.
At the start of the Commons proceedings Blair will make a statement, followed by a full debate opened by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
Strongly anti-war MPs might yet be able to use a procedural device to register their protest by voting against the adjournment of the house.
In a letter to the Speaker, Michael Martin, on Wednesday, Blair proposed a one-day debate, but an extra day may be set aside if the demand among MPs to speak requires it.
The Cabinet will meet the day before and a dossier seeking to expose the scale of the threat posed by Saddam will be published at the same time as the debate.
The government's preferred date for the recall, a Tuesday, falls in the middle of the Liberal Democrat party conference in Brighton.
In his letter to Martin, Blair said: "Parliament must and will be at the heart of the national debate on the issue of Iraq and weapons of mass destruction."
"I would like, with your permission, to recall parliament for a one-day debate on the adjournment, led by the foreign secretary, and preceded by a statement by me, during the week beginning September 23."
"By then, important discussions at the UN will have taken place and the government will be in a position to publish the dossier that is being prepared on what we know of the Iraqi regime and its WMD [weapons of mass destruction] program. This should allow parliament to debate the issue with the fullest possible knowledge."
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
RESILIENCE: Once the system is operational, there would be no need to worry about the risks posed by disasters or other emergencies on communication systems, an official said Taiwan would have 24-hour access to low Earth orbit satellites by the end of this month through service provided by Eutelsat OneWeb as part of the nation’s effort to enhance signal resilience, a Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) official said yesterday. Earlier this year the Ministry of Digital Affairs, which partnered with Chunghwa Telecom on a two-year project to boost signal resilience throughout the nation, said it reached a milestone when it made contact with OneWeb’s satellites half of the time. It expects to have the capability to maintain constant contact with the satellites and have nationwide coverage by the end
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any