The US and Cuba moved to end five decades of Cold War hostility on Wednesday, agreeing to revive diplomatic ties in a surprise breakthrough that would also ease a crippling US trade embargo.
In the wake of a prisoner exchange, US President Barack Obama said Washington was ready for a “new chapter” in relations with communist Cuba and would re-establish its embassy in Havana, shuttered since 1961.
“We are all Americans,” Obama declared, breaking into Spanish for a speech that the White House portrayed as a bid to reassert US leadership in the Western Hemisphere.
Photo: AFP
Cuban President Raul Castro, speaking at the same time in Havana, confirmed that the former enemies had “agreed to re-establish diplomatic ties” after a half century of rancor.
“President Obama’s decision deserves the respect and acknowledgement of our people,” Castro said, while warning that the embargo — which he calls a “blockade” — must still be lifted.
In Washington, Obama said the US trade ban had failed and said he would urge the US Congress to lift it, while using his presidential authority to advance diplomatic and travel links.
“We will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries,” Obama said. “Through these changes, we intend to create more opportunities for the American and Cuban people and begin a new chapter among the nations of the Americas.”
Obama later raised the hitherto unthinkable prospect of a US president embarking on a visit to Cuba, saying nothing was ruled out.
“I don’t have any current plans, but let’s see how things evolve,” Obama told ABC’s World News Tonight in an exclusive interview.
The surprise breakthrough came after Havana released jailed US contractor Alan Gross and a Cuban who spied for Washington and had been held for 20 years — one of the most important US agents in Cuba.
Havana also agreed to release dozens of political prisoners, a senior US official said.
The US in turn freed three Cuban spies, and Obama said he had instructed the US Department of State to re-examine its designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The US imposed a trade embargo against Cuba in 1960 and the two countries have not had full diplomatic relations since 1961.
The ensuing standoff was marked by incidents that threatened to send the Cold War to boiling point. CIA-backed Cuban exiles suffered a bloody defeat in the Bay of Pigs invasion and during the 1962 “Missile Crisis,” US warships blockaded the island to prevent the delivery of Soviet nuclear arms. The embargo hurt the Caribbean island state’s economy, but it failed to unseat the communist government led by Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his brother, Raul.
Senior Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, a member of the US Senate foreign relations committee, hailed the move as creating a “force for positive change in Cuba.”
However, Republicans quickly denounced the deal, in a foretaste of the resistance that Obama will face as he tries to persuade Congress to back a full end to the embargo.
“The White House has conceded everything and gained little,” Cuban-American Senator Marco Rubio said.
US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner called the deal “another in a long line of mindless concessions to a dictatorship that brutalizes its people and schemes with our enemies.”
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS