Russia yesterday said that there are currently no plans for a call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, after Trump warned he might send Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
Trump has been mulling potential supplies of the long-range missiles to Kyiv via European allies since his meeting with Putin in Alaska in August failed to produce a peace deal.
He on Sunday said that he might warn Putin about the possible deliveries if Russia does not halt its offensive, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “There are no clear agreements on a phone conversation yet.
Photo: Reuters
“There are many opportunities for promptly organizing such a conversation,” if it was needed, he said.
Russia has repeatedly said it would see supplying the weapon as a significant escalation.
The missiles have a range of 2,500km, putting much of western Russia, including the capital, Moscow, within striking distance.
They are also technically capable of carrying nuclear warheads and Moscow said it would treat any launches of the missile as if they were loaded with a nuclear weapon.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, now a deputy chair of Russia’s security council, yesterday said that if the US opted to supply the weapons, it could backfire on Trump directly.
“The delivery of these missiles could end badly for everyone. And above all, for Trump himself,” he wrote on Telegram.
Trump and Medvedev, known for his hawkish and provocative anti-Western comments, in August clashed after the US leader upped his pressure on Moscow to halt its offensive in Ukraine.
Trump responded by redeploying military submarines and warning that Medvedev’s statements could “lead to unintended consequences.”
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
RSS