USA
US ex-security adviser calls for closer ties with Taiwan
A former U.S. national security adviser called for deeper interaction between his country and Taiwan during a visit Saturday to the self-ruled island, which has seen increasing military threats from China.
John Bolton, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2024, said at a pro-Taiwan independence event in Taipei that national security teams from both sides must develop contingency plans on how to respond to actions Beijing might take, warning it would be too late once an attack occurs.
“And we have to tell China and Russia what the consequences are if they take actions against Taiwan. Not just in the immediate response, but over the longer term, to basically excommunicate China from the international economic system if it did take military actions against Taiwan or attempt to throw a blockade around it," Bolton said.
Bolton, former President Donald Trump's hawkish national security adviser, started his week-long trip to Taiwan on Wednesday. The visit reflects the importance of the island's democracy as an issue in the U.S. presidential election next year amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 following a civil war that ended with the Communist Party in control of the mainland. The island has never been part of the People’s Republic of China, but Beijing says it must unite with the mainland, by force if necessary.
The U.S. remains Taiwan’s closest military and political ally, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between them. U.S. law requires Washington to treat all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern,” though it remains ambiguous over whether American forces would be dispatched to help defend the island.
Bolton said the backlog of U.S. military sales to Taiwan is estimated to be $19 billion and it needs to be resolved.
“Part of that is a U.S. problem. Our defense industrial base is not as strong as it used to be. We need to improve that for global reasons, but particularly for Taiwan,” he said.
On Friday, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said China’s military flew 38 fighter jets and other warplanes near Taiwan. That was the biggest such flight display since the large military exercise in which it simulated sealing off the island after the sensitive April 5 meeting between Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. China opposes any exchanges at the official level between Taiwan and other governments.
Later Friday, China’s People’s Liberation Army also issued a protest over the flight of a United States Navy P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine patrol aircraft through the Taiwan Strait, calling it a provocation that the U.S. “openly hyped up." But the U.S. 7th Fleet said Thursday’s flight was in accordance with international law and “demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Bolton is scheduled to join a banquet on Monday organized by the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a pro-independence organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. Tsai will also attend the event.
US, Filipino forces show power in drills amid China tensions
Thousands of American and Filipino forces pummeled a ship with a barrage of high-precision rockets, airstrikes and artillery fire in their largest war drills on Wednesday in Philippine waters facing the disputed South China Sea that would likely antagonize China.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. watched the American show of firepower from an observation tower in the coastal town of San Antonio in northwestern Zambales province — the latest indication of his strong backing of the Philippines' treaty alliance with the U.S.
Marcos has ordered his military to shift its focus to external defense from decades-long anti-insurgency battles as China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea become a top concern. The shift in the Philippine defense focus falls in sync with the Biden administration’s aim of reinforcing an arc of alliances in the Indo-Pacific region to better counter China.
Also Read: US sails warship through Taiwan Strait after China's drills
China has angered the Philippines by repeatedly harassing its navy and coast guard patrols and chasing away fishermen in the waters close to Philippine shores but which Beijing claims as its own. The Philippines has filed more than 200 diplomatic protests against China since last year, including at least 77 since Marcos took office in June.
Sitting beside U.S. Ambassador MaryKay Carlson and his top defense and security advisers, Marcos used a pair of binoculars, smiling and nodding, as rockets streaked into the blue sky from the U.S. High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, a multiple rocket and missile launcher mounted on a truck that has become a crucial weapon for Ukrainian troops battling Russian invasion forces.
The coastal clearing in front of Marcos resembled a smoke-shrouded war zone, which thudded with artillery fire as AH-64 Apache attack helicopters flew overhead.
Also Read: US, Philippines hold largest war drills near disputed waters
“This training increased the exercise’s realism and complexity, a key priority shared between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the U.S. military,” Lt. Gen. William Jurney, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, said.
“Together we are strengthening our capabilities in full-spectrum military operations across all domains,” said Jurney, the U.S. director for the annual joint exercises called Balikatan, Tagalog for ”shoulder-to-shoulder."
About 12,200 U.S military personnel, 5,400 Filipino forces and 111 Australian counterparts were taking part in the exercises, the largest since Balikatan started three decades ago. The drills have showcased U.S. warships, fighter jets as well as Patriot missiles, HIMARS and anti-tank Javelins, according to U.S. and Philippine military officials.
The ship targeted by the allied forces was a decommissioned Philippine navy warship, which was towed about 18 to 22 kilometers (11 to 14 miles) out to sea.
Smaller floating targets, including empty drums tied together, were also used as targets to simulate a battle scene where a U.S. Marine Corps command and control hub enabled scattered allied forces to identify and locate enemy targets then deliver precision rocket and missile fire.
Philippine military officials said the maneuvers would bolster the country’s coastal defense and disaster-response capabilities and were not aimed at any country. China has opposed military drills involving U.S. forces in the region in the past as well as increasing U.S. military deployments, which it warned would rachet up tensions and hamper regional stability and peace.
Washington and Beijing have been on a collision course over China’s increasingly assertive actions to defend its vast territorial claims in the South China Sea and Beijing’s goal of annexing Taiwan, by force if necessary.
In February, Marcos approved a wider U.S. military presence in the Philippines by allowing rotating batches of American forces to stay in four more Philippine military camps. That was a sharp turnaround from his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who feared that a larger American military footprint could antagonize Beijing.
China strongly opposed the move, which would allow U.S. forces to establish staging grounds and surveillance posts in the northern Philippines across the sea from Taiwan and in western Philippine provinces facing the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety.
China has warned that a deepening security alliance between Washington and Manila and their ongoing military drills should not harm its security and territorial interests or interfere in the territorial disputes.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has said that such military cooperation “should not target any third party and should be conducive to regional peace and stability.”
Trial opens in E. Jean Carroll’s rape lawsuit against Trump
A nearly 30-year-old rape claim against Donald Trump went to trial Tuesday as jurors in the federal civil case heard a former advice columnist’s allegation of being attacked in a luxury department store dressing room. The former president says nothing happened between them.
E. Jean Carroll will testify that what unfolded in a few minutes in a fitting room in 1996 “would change her life forever,” one of her lawyers, Shawn Crowley, said in an opening statement.
“Filled with fear and shame, she kept silent for decades. Eventually, though, silence became impossible,” Crowley said. And when Carroll broke that silence in a 2019 memoir, the then-president “used the most powerful platform on Earth to lie about what he had done, attack Ms. Carroll’s integrity and insult her appearance.”
Trump — who wasn't in court but hasn't ruled out testifying —- has called Carroll a “nut job” who fabricated the rape claim to sell her book. Defense attorney Joe Tacopina told jurors Tuesday that her story was wildly implausible and short of evidence.
He accused her of pursuing the case for money, status and political reasons, urging the jurors from heavily Democratic New York to put aside any animus they themselves might hold toward the Republican ex-president and ex-New Yorker.
Also Read: Rape lawsuit trial against Donald Trump set to get underway
“You can hate Donald Trump. That’s OK. But there’s a time and a secret place for that. It’s called a ballot box in an election. It’s not here in a court of law,” Tacopina told the six-man, three-woman panel. “Nobody’s above the law, but no one is beneath it.”
The trial stands to test Trump's “Teflon Don” reputation for shaking off serious legal problems and to reprise accounts of the type of sexual misconduct that rocked his 2016 presidential campaign as he seeks office again. Trump denies all the claims, saying they are falsehoods spun up to damage him.
The trial comes a month after he pleaded not guilty in an unrelated criminal case surrounding payments made to bury accounts of alleged extramarital sex.
Carroll's suit is a civil case, meaning that no matter the outcome, Trump isn't in danger of going to jail. She is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a retraction of Trump statements that she alleges were defamatory.
Among his comments: “She’s not my type," which her lawyers say was tantamount to calling her too unattractive to assault.
Jurors — whose names are being kept secret to prevent potential harassment — range in age from 26 to 66 and include a janitor, a physical therapist and people who work in security, health care collections, a library, a high school and other settings.
They were questioned about their news-watching habits (which vary from watching “everything” to ignoring it all), political donations and support for any of a roster of right- and left-wing groups. They were asked, too, whether they used Trump’s social media platform, read Carroll’s former Elle magazine column and even if they’d seen Trump’s former reality show “The Apprentice” — and whether any of these and other matters would make it difficult for them to be fair.
Carroll, 79, is expected to testify as soon as Wednesday that a chance encounter with Trump, 76, turned violent, and that he defamed her when responding to the rape allegations.
She says that after she ran into the future president at Manhattan's Bergdorf Goodman on an unspecified spring Thursday evening in 1996, he invited her to shop with him for a woman's lingerie gift before they teased one another to try on a bodysuit. Carroll says they ended up alone together in a store dressing room, where Trump pushed her against a wall and raped before she fought him off and fled.
Her suit argues that she was psychologically scarred by the alleged attack, and then subjected to an onslaught of hateful messages and reputational damage when Trump painted her as a liar.
“This case is Ms. Carroll's chance to clear her name, to pursue justice,” Crowley said.
Tacopina countered that it was “an affront to justice.”
He suggested her account of being violently raped in the Fifth Avenue store, with no one around, was preposterous. Also, Tacopina noted, there was no record that Carroll had any injuries, sought out a doctor or therapist, asked the store about surveillance video or even wrote about the alleged attack in her diary.
“It all comes down to: Do you believe the unbelievable?” he asked in his opening statement.
Also Read: Trump's day in court as criminal defendant: What to know
Jurors are also expected to hear from two other women who say they were sexually assaulted by Trump. The jury will also see the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” video in which Trump is heard asserting that celebrities can grab women sexually without asking.
Carroll's allegations normally would be too old to bring to court. But in November, New York state enacted a law allowing for suits over decades-old sexual abuse claims.
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.
Why is Biden announcing his 2024 bid now, and what will change?
President Joe Biden has formally announced he's seeking reelection. But he's also still the president, with roughly 20 months left in his term regardless of whether he wins a second one on Election Day 2024.
With Tuesday's campaign video release, Biden is following through on months of saying he intended to seek reelection. Top Democrats have remained solidly unified behind the president, despite his low approval ratings and many Americans saying they'd rather not see the 80-year-old Biden try for four more years in the White House.
But all that has meant Biden faced relatively little pressure to make his 2024 bid official. Here's a look at why he announced now and how things will, and won't, change for him going forward:
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WHY NOW?
A formal reelection announcement means the president is now allowed to raise money directly for his campaign. It's a change from his speeches at donor events benefiting the Democratic National Committee or other outside political groups that he has given since entering the White House.
Also Read: Joe Biden announces 2024 reelection bid
Biden will spend campaign funds on salaries and logistics building out a 2024 staff and holding events outside his official presidential business. He plans to have dinner in Washington on Friday with leading Democratic donors and DNC leaders, paying special attention to those who write big checks to ensure his reelection campaign stays well funded.
Some party donors and organizers had begun grumbling about a lack of movement on the reelection front, and the announcement, followed by Friday's gathering, will allow the president to reassure them.
Another reason why Biden waited until April was that it allowed him to avoid releasing publicly how much his reelection campaign raised during the year's first quarter. That's when donors typically slow down their contributions — and some top Democratic givers wanted a break after a busy election season during last fall's midterms and before next year's presidential race kicks into high gear.
President Barack Obama waited to announce his 2012 reelection bid until early April of the previous year. Tuesday also marks the fourth anniversary of Biden's announcement of his 2020 presidential campaign.
Also Read: Biden to unveil new efforts to protect S. Korea from nukes
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, first filed for reelection on Jan. 20, 2017, the day of his inauguration, and held his first campaign rally in February 2017. But his second White House campaign didn't formally kick off until June 2019 with an Orlando, Florida, rally that fell roughly four years after he first entered the 2016 presidential race.
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WHAT ABOUT HIS AGE?
Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history and would be 86 by the end of a second term. He has acknowledged that age is a “legitimate" concern but scoffed at questions about whether he will have the stamina for another campaign, much less four more years in the White House. “Watch me," he has repeatedly declared.
Voters will now get the chance to do just that — but that is unlikely to make such questions go away.
Republicans have often highlighted Biden's age, and even some Democrats have questioned whether the president is living up to promises he made during the 2020 campaign to be a “bridge” to a new generation of leadership.
One Republican running for president, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, has called for mental competency testing for candidates over 75 — a category that would include both Biden and Trump, who announced his own 2024 campaign in November. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brushed aside such testing, noting that Biden helped lead Democrats to a surprisingly strong midterm showing.
“Maybe they’re forgetting the wins the president got over the past few years, but I’m happy to remind them anytime,” Jean-Pierre said in February.
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WILL SEEKING REELECTION CHANGE HOW BIDEN HANDLES BEING PRESIDENT?
There won't be big changes, Biden aides insist, at least for now.
The president is still hosting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the White House for a state dinner on Wednesday and planning overseas travel later this summer. As he has done in recent months, Biden also will continue to hit the road domestically to highlight legislation his administration helped push through Congress.
Biden has already visited many parts of the country, highlighting how a bipartisan public works package will help repair roads, highways, bridges, ports and train tunnels and how increased federal spending approved as part of other legislation will bolster U.S. manufacturing, lower prescription drug prices and improve broadband internet access in rural areas.
Such events often blur the line between official business and promoting the president and his party politically, and the distinction will only get murkier going forward.
Since the weeks leading up to the midterms, Biden has frequently denounced “extreme" Republicans loyal to Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement as posing a threat to America's core democracy. It's a message he will continue to champion as the 2024 race begins heating up.
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WILL BIDEN HAVE TO COMPETE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION?
Probably not much.
Self-help author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are the only Democrats to challenge the president. Neither of them presents the type of primary opposition that wounded previous incumbents, such as Sen. Ted Kennedy's campaign against President Jimmy Carter in 1980 or Pat Buchanan's run against President George H.W. Bush in 1992.
The DNC is so fully committed to Biden this year that it is not planning to schedule primary debates, sparing the president from sharing a stage with Williamson, Kennedy or any other potential challenger.
Also benefiting Biden is the fact that South Carolina's primary is set to replace Iowa's caucuses in leading off the Democratic primary voting next year. Biden revived his 2020 campaign after losing the first three contests with a resounding South Carolina primary victory, and he personally directed that the state go first in 2024 — solidifying his popularity among Democrats there. That may counterbalance Democrats' deep ambivalence to Biden elsewhere.
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll last week found that only 26% of Americans — and only about half of Democrats — said they wanted to see Biden run again. But the poll found that 81% of Democrats said they would at least probably support the president in a general election.
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WHO WILL BIDEN'S REPUBLICAN OPPONENT BE?
Trump is the 2024 Republican presidential field's early leader, setting up a potential general election rematch with Biden.
Although Trump announced his bid back in November, the rest of the 2024 Republican primary field has been slow to form around him. The only other declared GOP candidates in the race include Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchison, businessman Perry Johnson, “Woke, Inc.” author Vivek Ramaswamy and radio host Larry Elder.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely expected to be a leading Trump alternative but is in no hurry to announce his campaign. Also expected to join the race but not officially in yet are former Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.
Biden's political team has for months been preparing to face Trump again. But even if an alternative like DeSantis wins the GOP nomination, Biden's aides argue, many of the same criticisms about adherence to MAGA extremism apply since so many top Republicans agree with Trump on key policy and social issues.
PM opens VVIP terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal Int’l Airport
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday inaugurated the newly constructed VVIP terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
She opened the VVIP terminal in the morning before she flew for Tokyo on the first leg of her two-week tri-nation official visit to Japan, the USA and the UK.
Also Read: PM Hasina reaches Tokyo to begin four-day official visit to Japan
Unveiling the screen of the terminal’s plaque, the premier joined a munajat. Cabinet members and high government officials were present.
Sheikh Hasina is now visiting Japan from April 25 to 28 at the invitation of Japanese counterpart Kishida Fumio.
Also Read: PM Hasina off to Tokyo on first leg of a two-week official visit to Japan, USA and UK
She is expected to return home on May 9 after visiting the USA and the UK.
Jailed US reporter in Russian court to appeal detention
Jailed American journalist Evan Gershkovich appeared in a Moscow court on Tuesday to appeal his detention on spying charges, part of a sweeping Kremlin crackdown on dissent amid the war in Ukraine. He and the U.S. government strenuously deny the allegations.
Dozens of journalists crowded together to catch a glimpse of the Wall Street Journal reporter, who is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying allegations. Gershkovich looked calm as he stood inside a glass cage. U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy was in the room.
Russia’s Federal Security Service detained the 31-year-old in Yekaterinburg in March and accused him of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory.
Gershkovich, his employer and the U. S. government all deny he was involved in spying and have demanded his release. Last week, the U.S. government declared that he was “wrongfully detained” — a designation that means his case receives special attention from the State Department.
The Moscow City Court is considering a defense appeal of his detention on Tuesday.
Also Read: Russia arrests Wall Street Journal reporter on spying charge
Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Russian lawyers have said past investigations into espionage cases took a year to 18 months, during which time he could have little contact with the outside world.
He has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which dates from the czarist era and has been a terrifying symbol of repression since Soviet times.
The arrest comes at a moment of bitter tensions between the West and Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine and as the Kremlin intensifies a crackdown on opposition activists, independent journalists and civil society groups.
The sweeping campaign of repression is unprecedented since the Soviet era. Activists say it often means the very profession of journalism is criminalized, along with the activities of ordinary Russians who oppose the war.
Last month, a Russian court convicted a father over social media posts critical of the war and sentenced him to two years in prison. On Monday, a Russian court convicted top opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. of treason for publicly denouncing the war and sentenced him to 25 years in prison.
The U.S. has pressed Moscow to grant consular access to Gershkovich. On Monday, Ambassador Tracy said she visited Gershkovich in prison for the first time since his detention. She said on Twitter that “he is in good health and remains strong,” reiterating a U.S. call for his immediate release.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to Greshkovich’s parents last week and again condemned his detention.
“We’re making it real clear that it’s totally illegal what’s happening, and we declared it so,” he said.
A top Russian diplomat said last week that Russia might be willing to discuss a potential prisoner swap with the U.S. involving Gershkovich after his trial. That means any exchange is unlikely to happen any time soon.
In December, American basketball star Brittney Griner was exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout following her trial and conviction on drug possession charges. She had been sentenced to nine years in prison and ended up spending 10 months behind bars.
Another American, Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges, which his family and the U.S. government have called baseless.
Want security in the region but no defence pact: Momen on Indo-Pacific Strategy
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said the goals set out for the Indo-Pacific region are not much different from Bangladesh’s, but the only concern is about its defence aspect, if any.
“Only thing we are afraid of — if it is designed for a defence pact, because we are a peace-loving country. We don’t have any intention (to fight against anyone). We would like to see development in the whole region. We want security (in the region) but no defence pact,” he said.
Momen made the remarks while responding to a question during a conversation on economic diplomacy with a focus on growth and development.
The Onero Institute partnered with the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center for the session held at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University this week.
Read more: US urged to create “safe protection zone” in Myanmar to facilitate Rohingya repatriation
The dialogue was moderated by the senior director of the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center, Irfan Nooruddin.
The foreign minister said Bangladesh does not have any disagreements on the issue and it also wants open, free, secure and freely navigable Indo-Pacific under the international laws.
He said Bangladesh wants economic development in the whole Indo-Pacific region and finds many things in common with the goals set up. “We don’t have much difference. We believe the next century is for Asia and the Indo-Pacific provides an opportunity and potential.”
Responding to a question on India-US-China, Momen said the US and China have their own tensions. “The US is our old friend while we have rock-solid relations with India. China became our development partner as they have money,” he said.
Read more: Digital Security Act not for restricting media freedom, Momen tells US
He said the western countries including the US “do not come up with money but they come up with advice except for some exceptions.”
“We are very prudent in accepting loans from China. We signed agreements on a big amount but we took a very small amount. It can’t influence our policies,” Momen said while responding to another question.
The foreign minister said Bangladesh is a “hub of connectivity” and maintains very good relations with all its neighbours.
“We have resolved all critical issues with India peacefully through dialogue and discussion,” he said.
Read More: Due to BGB initiative, after 4 decades Bangladesh gets back 1 acre of disputed land on Naogaon border
“Though Myanmar is a difficult case, we don’t have any quarrel with them. We have only one difficult problem (Rohingyas),” Momen added.
He highlighted issues related to emerging Bangladesh, its socioeconomic achievements, economic partnership and prospects with the USA, economic and public diplomacy, regional development and navigating relations with major powers.
World Bank spring meeting begins in Washington today, announcement on $50bn allocation to face global crisis likely
The spring meeting of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) begins today (April 10, 2023) in Washington DC, USA.
This meeting is likely to announce an allocation of USD $50 billion from the organisations to face the global crisis.
The seven-day meeting will continue till April 16 at the headquarters of the IMF and the World Bank Group in Washington.
Read More: Bangladesh's GDP growth expected to pick up to 6.2% in FY2024: World Bank
According to the Ministry of Finance, a delegation of six members is participating in the spring meeting led by the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Abdur Rouf Talukder.
Along with the governor, Bangladesh Bank Chief Economist Habibur Rahman, Finance Secretary Fatima Yasmin and Additional Secretary of Finance Department Rehana Parveen and two officials from the Economic Relations Department (ERD) are participating in the meeting.
Apart from this, three more officials from the Bangladesh Embassy in the United States are expected to join the meeting along with the Bangladesh team.
Read More: World Bank agrees to finance for development of metro rail-centric communication
Generally, such meetings are led by the finance minister. However, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is not joining the meetings this time.
At this meeting of the World Bank Group, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), a subsidiary of the organization, may announce an additional financing of $50 billion to deal with the global crisis.
Being a member of IBRD, Bangladesh will also get the benefit of this financing, the finance ministry sources said.
Read More: New World Bank leadership must put Climate Action as top priority: V20
The World Bank's spring meeting will be chaired by President of France Emmanuel Macron, and Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley. They will be joined by world leaders, academics, development experts and climate experts.
Besides, finance ministers, central bank governors of 189 World Bank member countries will participate.
China military displays force toward Taiwan after Tsai trip
China’s military sent several dozen warplanes and 11 warships toward Taiwan in a display of force following its president’s trip to the U.S., the island's Defense Ministry said Monday.
The Chinese military earlier had announced three-day “combat readiness patrols” as a warning to Taiwan, a self-ruled island which China claims as its own. The actions follow President Tsai Ing-wen’s delicate diplomatic mission to shore up Taiwan's dwindling alliances in Central America and boost U.S. support, a trip capped with a sensitive meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California. A U.S. congressional delegation also met with Tsai over the weekend in Taiwan after she returned.
China responded to the McCarthy meeting by imposing a travel ban and financial sanctions against those associated with Tsai’s U.S. trip and with increased military activity.
Between 6 a.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday, a total of 70 planes were detected and half crossed the median of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary once tacitly accepted by both sides, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense. Among the planes that crossed the median were 8 J-16 fighter jets, 4 J-1 fighters, 8 Su-30 fighters and reconnaissance planes.
That followed a full day between Friday and Saturday, where eight warships and 71 planes were detected near Taiwan, according to the island's Defense Ministry. The ministry said in a statement it was approaching the situation from the perspective of “not escalating conflict, and not causing disputes.”
Taiwan said it monitored the Chinese moves through its land-based missile systems, as well as on its own navy vessels.
In addition to combat readiness patrols, China's People's Liberation Army would hold “live fire training” in Luoyuan Bay in China's Fujian province opposite Taiwan, the local Maritime Authority announced over the weekend.
China’s military harassment of Taiwan has intensified in recent years with planes or ships sent toward the island on a near-daily basis, with the numbers rising in reaction to sensitive activities.
Taiwan split with China in 1949 after a civil war. China's ruling Communist Party says the island is obliged to rejoin the mainland, by force if necessary. Beijing says contact with foreign officials encourages Taiwanese who want formal independence, a step the ruling party says would lead to war.
Trump's day in court as criminal defendant: What to know
For the first time in history, a former U.S. president has appeared in court as a criminal defendant.
Donald Trump surrendered to authorities Tuesday after being indicted by a New York grand jury on charges related to hush-money payments at the height of the 2016 presidential election.
Trump, a 2024 presidential candidate, pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges in a Manhattan courtroom. He then flew home to Florida and spoke to a crowd of supporters at his home.
Here’s what to know about Trump’s day in court:
HUSH-MONEY PAYMENTS RELATED TO 2016 ELECTION
Prosecutors unsealed the indictment against the former president Tuesday, giving Trump, his lawyers and the world their first opportunity to see them. Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Prosecutors said Trump conspired to undermine the 2016 presidential election by trying to suppress information that could harm his candidacy, and then concealing the true nature of the hush-money payments. The payments were made to two women — including a porn actor — who claimed they had sexual encounters with him years earlier, and to a doorman at Trump Tower who claimed to have a story about a child Trump fathered out of wedlock, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Also Read: Trump charged with 34 felony counts in hush money scheme
DONALD J. TRUMP, DEFENDANT
Trump was only seen briefly outside the district attorney’s office, where he surrendered to authorities and was booked and fingerprinted behind closed doors. Trump’s mugshot was not taken, according to two law enforcement officials who could not publicly discuss details of the process and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
As the former president entered the courtroom, he briefly looked at a huddle of news cameras but did not stop to speak to reporters.
Inside the courtroom, Trump sat at the defense table with his hands in his lap and his lawyers at his side. He looked right at photojournalists who were briefly allowed into the courtroom as they snapped his photo. During the rest of the proceeding, he stayed still with his hands together and looked straight ahead. Trump only spoke briefly in court, telling the judge he was pleading “not guilty” and had been advised of his rights. The judge warned Trump that he could be removed from the courtroom if he was disruptive. Trump made no comment when he left court just under an hour later.
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said during the hearing that Trump is “absolutely frustrated, upset and believes that there is a great injustice happening” in the courtroom.
A ‘SURREAL’ DAY IN THE CITY WHERE HE GAINED FAME
Before he appeared in court, Trump made posts on his social media network complaining that the heavily Democratic area was a “VERY UNFAIR VENUE” and “THIS IS NOT WHAT AMERICA WAS SUPPOSED TO BE!” As his motorcade carried him across Manhattan, he posted that the experience was “SURREAL.”
The Republican has portrayed the Manhattan case and three separate investigations from the Justice Department and prosecutors in Georgia, as politically motivated. In recent weeks, he has lashed out at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, called on his supports to protest and warned about “potential death and destruction” if he were charged.
TRUMP ADDRESSES SUPPORTERS
Appearing in front of several hundred supporters at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday night, Trump repeated his claims that the investigation was politically motivated. He and attacked Bragg and the judge in the New York case, the judge's family and other prosecutors investigating him in other cases.
“The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it," Trump said.
BRAGG SPEAKS BRIEFLY
Bragg, speaking publicly for the first time since the indictment last week, held a brief news conference after the court proceedings in which he said the hush-money scheme constituted “felony crimes in New York state—no matter who you are.”
“We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct,” Bragg said. The Democratic prosecutor said accurate and true business records are important everywhere, but especially in Manhattan, because it's the financial center of the world.
Bragg was asked at the news conference why he was bringing the case now and if the timing was political. The district attorney said his office had “additional evidence” that his predecessor did not.
“I bring cases when they’re ready,” he said.
WARNINGS AND POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES
The judge on Tuesday did not impose a gag order but warned Trump to avoid making comments that were inflammatory or could cause civil unrest. If convicted of any one of the 34 felony charges, Trump could face a maximum of four years in prison, but he'd likely be sentenced to less.
TRIAL WHILE CAMPAIGNING FOR PRESIDENCY
Trump is due back in court in December, but his lawyers asked that he be excused from attending that hearing in person because of the extraordinary security required to have him show up. Prosecutors asked the judge to set a trial for January — weeks before the first votes will be cast in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Trump's lawyers asked that it be pushed to the spring. The judge did not immediately set a date.
MIXED POLITICAL IMPACTS
Though he faces a swirl of legal challenges, Trump is running for president again and has sought to use the charges and other investigations to galvanize his supporters.
Most of the Republicans also running or eyeing campaigns have released statements supportive of Trump while slamming the investigations of him as politically motivated. Many Democratic elected officials have said little about the New York indictment, including President Joe Biden. Trump’s legal troubles are only expected to bolster Democratic voters' opposition to him, but it’s unclear whether some Republicans and independent voters will see the legal problems as too much baggage.
A NEW YORK CIRCUS
A crowd of Trump supporters, thronged by journalists, gathered Tuesday outside the Manhattan courthouse. Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and George Santos of New York, who is facing multiple investigations over lies he told while running for office, were swarmed by cameras and reporters when they arrived and spoke mid-morning. A band of anti-Trump protesters appeared with a large banner saying, “Trump Lies All the Time.”