France yesterday said it would host a summit of European leaders today to discuss the Ukraine war and European security as the continent scrambles to respond to US President Donald Trump’s unilateral approach to the conflict.
French President Emmanuel Macron would “convene the main European countries to discuss European security,” French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio, adding that the meeting would be a working session that should not be “over-dramatised.”
Six European diplomats said invites had gone at least to the UK, Germany, Poland, Italy, Denmark — which would represent Baltic and Scandinavian countries — the EU leadership and the NATO Secretary-General.
Photo: EPA-EFE
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa were also invited, the people said.
They said the meeting aimed to see what immediate help can be given to Ukraine, what concrete role Europe can play in providing security guarantees for Kyiv as well as how to strengthen Europe’s collective security.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to attend, his Social Democratic Party said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also expected to join.
“The UK will work to ensure we keep the US and Europe together,” Starmer said on Saturday. “We cannot allow any divisions in the alliance to distract from the external enemies we face.”
Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on X that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk would attend the meeting, and urged leaders to show strength and unity.
Scholz on Saturday said the US and Europe must make it clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin that their support for Ukraine would not flag.
“My plea is that there should be first a message to Putin that Europe and the US will continue with their support to Ukraine, because he has to understand that he cannot hope that we stop our support,” Scholz said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas on Friday met with Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg, a person familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
Asked if Europe should be at the negotiating table with the US, Russia and Ukraine, Kellogg on Saturday said that “in the school of realism, I think that’s not going to happen.”
He added that he wants to get a clear sense of Europe’s position so that it is well-stated in negotiations.
“That may grate a little bit, but I’m telling you something that’s really quite honest,” he said.
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS