Russia yesterday said that it was ready to discuss a ceasefire in Syria as foreign ministers gathered in Munich in a bid to kick-start peace talks derailed by the regime onslaught on the besieged city of Aleppo.
Tens of thousands of Syrians have fled to the Turkish border as government forces, backed by Russian bombers and Iranian fighters, bombard Aleppo, leaving the opposition there virtually surrounded.
Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Gennady Gatilov said Moscow was “ready to discuss the modalities of a ceasefire” and that peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition rebels could “possibly start earlier” than the proposed date of Feb. 25.
Photo: Reuters
The first round of talks in Geneva collapsed earlier this month over the bombardment of Aleppo, where observers say at least 500 people have been killed since the Russian-backed regime offensive began on Monday last week.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, are hosting foreign ministers from the 17-nation Syria contact group in Munich for a meeting billed as a moment of truth for the floundering peace process.
Washington said it wants a ceasefire and humanitarian access to besieged cities, but has threatened an unspecified “Plan B” if talks fail, as tension mounts with Moscow over its air campaign.
The rebels say they will not return to talks in Geneva unless government sieges and air strikes end.
Kerry was due to meet yesterday with the main opposition representative, Riyad Hijab, as well as Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir.
Analysts see little hope of reconciling the fundamental differences.
In Ankara, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan yesterday warned that his nation’s patience might run out over the crisis in Syria and it could be forced to take action.
He called on the UN to do more to prevent what he said was “ethnic cleansing” in the country, accusing it of insincerity in calling on Turkey to do more to help Syrian refugees instead of taking action to prevent the bloodshed in Syria.
“There is a chance the new wave of refugees will reach 600,000 if air strikes continue. We are making preparations for it,” Erdogan said in a speech to a business forum in Ankara.
“We will show patience up to a point and then we’ll do what’s necessary. Our buses and planes are not waiting there in vain,” he said, adding that Turkey had information that Iran-backed forces in Syria were carrying out “merciless massacres.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS