Foreign governments from Britain to China hailed a new day for Libya following the death of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and called on the new government to move swiftly to rebuild a shattered economy and restore order amid chaotic celebrations.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the international community needed to work with the governing transitional council to ensure Libya “does not become another Iran.”
“The task of nation-building, the task of building Libya’s democratic institutions, will be difficult, it will be complex, it will be hard, and there will be setbacks,” Rudd said while on a visit to Manila, Philippines.
China, which initially refused to support the rebels or to criticize Qaddafi, moved to embrace the new government — updating its references to Qaddafi in state media from the “strongman” who defied the West to the “madman” whose time ran out.
“A new page has been turned in the history of Libya,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) said.
Rudd, whose country supported the rebellion, said Qaddafi’s death on Thursday, two months after he was driven from power and into hiding, was “historic.”
Yet he also said Libya’s supporters needed to stay attentive and continue to promote openness.
In Europe, leaders sounded an optimistic note.
“Finally the way is free for a political rebirth for peace,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday.
Britain and France, the powers that played a leading role in the military campaign that sealed Qaddafi’s fate, said they hoped that his death would open a more democratic chapter in Libya’s history, while South Africa’s government urged an “all-inclusive political process that will culminate in the holding of the first ever democratic elections.”
The African Union immediately lifted Libya’s suspension after Qaddafi’s death and said the interim leadership, the National Transitional Council, could occupy the country’s seat, citing Libya’s “exceptional circumstance.”
The Vatican described the dictator’s death as the end to a “long and tragic” fight to crush an oppressive regime.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that “this is only the end of the beginning.”
“The road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges,” he said. “This is a time for healing and rebuilding, for generosity of spirit, not for revenge.”
However, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Qaddafi’s ally and friend, called his death deplorable.
“They murdered him,” Chavez told reporters, adding that “we will remember [Qaddafi] all our lives as a great fighter, as a revolutionary and as a martyr.”
Meanwhile, NATO’s governing body was to meet yesterday to decide when and how to end the seven-month bombing campaign in Libya, a military operation whose success has helped reinvigorate the Cold War alliance.
After Libya’s former rebels killed Qaddafi, officials said they expected the aerial operation to end very soon, but NATO might also decide to keep air patrols flying for several more days until the security situation on the ground stabilizes.
The final decision would depend on the recommendation of Admiral Jim Stavridis, the supreme allied commander, and the Military Committee, the highest military organ.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the end of the campaign “has now moved much closer.”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday that “the operation has reached its end,” but how to draw down the campaign will be decided “with our allies and also with input from the [interim government].”
However, Britain suggested that NATO might not immediately complete its mission in Libya, wary over potential reprisal attacks by remaining Qaddafi loyalists.
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,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
RSS