Belarus’ regime was increasingly isolated yesterday, as Europe cut air links and calls grew for more action over its diversion of an airliner and arrest of a dissident on board.
After weathering a wave of protests and Western sanctions last year, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was facing extraordinary new pressure over Sunday’s rerouting of the Ryanair flight to Minsk and arrest of opposition journalist Roman Protasevich.
More Western leaders joined calls demanding Protasevich’s release, after the EU agreed at a summit on Monday to ban Belarusian airlines from the bloc and called on EU-based carriers not to fly over its airspace.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Air France, Finnair and Singapore Airlines became the latest carriers to suspend flights over Belarus, following Scandinavian airline SAS, Germany’s Lufthansa and Latvia-based regional airline airBaltic.
Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said the global community needed to go further, urging the US to take action in a call with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Speaking to reporters in Vilnius, where she lives in exile after a disputed election in August last year, Tikhanovskaya called for “comprehensive” international measures to force the regime to give up power.
“This is the time to act,” she said.
“Suspension of flights over Belarus doesn’t solve the real problem. The problem is the terrorist regime that rigged elections last year,” she said.
She asked for the Belarusian opposition to be invited to next month’s G7 summit in Britain, an initiative that sources close to French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris supported.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined calls for Protasevich to be released, saying: “Belarus’ actions will have consequences.”
The UN Human Rights Office also demanded the immediate release of Protasevich and his Russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, who was also arrested after the Athens-to-Vilnius flight landed in Minsk.
EU leaders on Monday said that they would adopt further “targeted economic sanctions” against the Belarusian authorities to add to the 88 regime figures and seven companies on a blacklist.
Lukashenko and his allies are already under a series of Western sanctions over a brutal crackdown on opposition protests that followed his disputed re-election to a sixth term last year.
Protasevich, 26, was a cofounder of the Nexta Telegram channel, which helped organize the protests that were the biggest challenge to Lukashenko’s long rule.
He had been living between Poland and Lithuania.
Belarusian state television late on Monday broadcast a 30-second video of Protasevich confirming that he was in prison in Minsk and “confessing” to charges of organizing mass unrest.
The footage showed Protasevich — who could face 15 years in jail — with dark markings visible on his forehead, saying he was being treated “according to the law.”
US President Joe Biden said the video appeared to have been made “under duress.”
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS