Western governments yesterday lined up to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin’s landslide election victory as unfair and undemocratic, while China and North Korea congratulated the veteran Russian leader on extending his rule by a further six years.
The contrasting reactions underscored the geopolitical faultlines that have gaped wider since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, triggering the deepest crisis in relations with the West since the end of the Cold War.
“The electoral process in Russia took place amid accrued repression against civil society and all forms of opposition to the regime, with even tougher restrictions to freedom of expression and the banning of independent media,” the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The conditions for a free, pluralistic and democratic election were not met,” it said.
British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Cameron said the election outcome highlighted the “depth of repression” in Russia.
“Putin removes his political opponents, controls the media, and then crowns himself the winner. This is not democracy,” he said.
A German government spokesperson said that Chancellor Olaf Scholz would not congratulate Putin on his re-election, because “the result was predetermined.”
The Kremlin dismissed such criticism, saying the 87 percent of the vote won by Putin during the three-day election showed that the Russian people were consolidating around him.
France, the UK and others also condemned Russia for holding its election in occupied regions of Ukraine that it claims to have annexed during the war.
This decision constitutes “a new breach of international law and of the United Nations Charter,” France said, reiterating its refusal to recognize the Russian annexations and its commitment to “the sovereignty ... and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia’s election had no legitimacy.
“It is clear to everyone in the world that this figure [Putin]... is simply sick for power and is doing everything to rule forever,” Zelenskiy said.
In sharp contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) congratulated Putin, and said Beijing would maintain close communication with Moscow to promote the “no limits” partnership they agreed to in 2022, just before Russia invaded Ukraine.
“I believe that under your leadership, Russia will certainly be able to achieve greater achievements in national development and construction,” Xi told Putin in his message, according to Xinhua news agency.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also sent a letter of congratulations to Putin, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a congratulatory message to Putin said he looked forward to boosting ties to develop their “special” relationship.
Additional reporting by AP
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS