US President Donald Trump on Friday created a blacklist of countries that Washington says unjustly detain Americans, spelling out harsh punishments including bans on travel.
In an executive order, Trump said the US would designate “state sponsors of wrongful detention,” similar to the powerful tool of branding countries as state sponsors of terrorism.
“With this EO [executive order] you are signing today, you are drawing a line in the sand that US citizens will not be used as bargaining chips,” Trump aide Sebastian Gorka told reporters in the Oval Office.
Photo: AP
The Trump administration did not immediately name countries for the new blacklist, but a senior official said that China, Iran and Afghanistan would be under review as they “persistently participate in hostage diplomacy.”
The countries designated by the US Department of State would be subject to sanctions and US export controls, and officials involved in the imprisonment would be barred from entry.
In one measure rarely taken by the US, officials said that the US Department of State could bar US citizens from visiting countries put on the blacklist.
Currently, the US only strictly bans its citizens from traveling to North Korea, a step taken after US student Otto Warmbier was detained in 2016 and released the following year in a vegetative state, dying shortly afterward.
The new blacklist can also target groups that effectively control territory, but are not recognized as states.
The US across administrations has put a top priority on freeing Americans overseas, negotiating prisoner swaps to free high-profile detainees including in Russia.
Trump has trumpeted his record on freeing Americans, with officials saying 72 prisoners have been released overseas under his watch. A US official said that the new executive order would make it easier to take action without going through a “burdensome” process.
The US can also remove countries from the blacklist if it decides they have come into compliance.
The US Department of State routinely helps Americans detained overseas and then assesses whether they were jailed for wrongful reasons, including as political bargaining chips.
During former US president Joe Biden’s term, China released all Americans considered wrongfully detained in part in return for the US loosening a warning against Americans traveling to the Asian power, advice that had hurt the business climate.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
COGNITIVE WARFARE: Chinese fishing boats transmitting fake identification signals are meant to test Taiwan’s responses to different kinds of perceived incursions, a report said Chinese vessels are transmitting fake signals in Taiwan’s waters as a form of cognitive warfare, testing Taipei’s responses to various types of incursions, a report by the Institute for the Study of War said on Friday. Several Chinese fishing vessels transmitted fake automatic identification system (AIS) signals in Taiwan’s waters last month, with one mimicking a Russian warship and another impersonating a Chinese law enforcement vessel, the report said. Citing data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the report said that throughout August and last month, the Chinese fishing boat Minshiyu 06718 (閩獅漁06718) sailed through the Taiwan Strait while intermittently transmitting its own AIS
CHINESE INFILTRATION: Medical logistics is a lifeline during wartime and the reported CCP links of a major logistics company present a national security threat, an expert said The government would bolster its security check system to prevent China from infiltrating the nation’s medical cold chain, a national security official said yesterday. The official, who wished to stay anonymous, made the remarks after the Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media (鏡周刊) reported that Pharma Logistics (嘉里醫藥物流) is in charge of the medical logistics of about half of the nation’s major hospitals, including National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The company’s parent, Kerry TJ Logistics Co (嘉里大榮物流), is associated with the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the
RSS