Xi denies 2027 Taiwan invasion plans, but analysts say island should remain vigilant - The Straits Times

TAIPEI – A single point from the Biden-Xi meeting has dominated headlines in Taiwan: Chinese President Xi Jinping’s apparent denial of plans to invade the island in the near future.

During the four-hour meeting between Mr Xi and United States President Joe Biden on Nov 15 outside of San Francisco, the two leaders had a substantial discussion on Taiwan – which Mr Xi described as the biggest, most dangerous issue facing the two superpowers.

According to a senior US official, the Chinese leader rejected American reports that Beijing was planning for military action against Taiwan in 2027 or 2035. 

“He basically said there are no such plans, and that no one had informed him about them,” the official told reporters, adding that Mr Xi had displayed a hint of irritation in his remarks. 

Taiwanese TV outlets covered the news extensively, featuring looks of surprise and disbelief from members of the public in street interviews. On Facebook, social media users said it was difficult to trust Mr Xi’s comments given Beijing’s military aggression towards the island.

Analysts agreed it was not time to let one’s guard down, despite China’s ostensible assurances.

Distinguished Professor Kou Chien-wen, who teaches political science at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, said the possibility of China attacking Taiwan still exists.

“We cannot act like there’s no risk any more,” he added. 

National Taiwan University political scientist Chen Shih-min believes Mr Xi made the comments as part of an overall milder tone taken throughout the meeting with his US counterpart.

“China is facing significant economic challenges and really needs to stabilise US-China ties to reassure international investors that it is safe to invest there,” he said.

“Given how Taiwan is the biggest flashpoint in the US-China rivalry, he does not wish to further escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait. But saying that he will not attack Taiwan by 2027 does not mean that he no longer intends to take Taiwan at all.”

Taiwan faces the constant threat of an invasion by China, which claims sovereignty over the territory that it insists must be “reunified” with the mainland one day. 

There had been concern among some observers about the possibility of an attack in the near term, given Beijing’s heightened military aggression towards the island in recent times.

Over the past three years, Chinese warships and warplanes have crossed the Taiwan Strait separating China and Taiwan almost daily. Just a day after the Biden-Xi meeting, Beijing sent 12 aircraft and five vessels around the island. 

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2023-11-17 11:09:00Z
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China, Japan reaffirm 'strategic relationship' in rare leader talks - CNA

Most recently, ties have been tested by China's ban on Japanese seafood following Tokyo's decision to release treated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea in August.

In comments to media after the talks, Kishida said he had strongly urged Xi to drop the ban and also sought the swift release of the detained business executive, an issue that has dealt a blow to their trade ties.

Xi said Japan should take its concerns over the Fukushima water discharge seriously and the two sides agreed to try to resolve the issue through consultations, according to summaries of the talks. The Chinese summary did not mention the case of the Astellas Pharma executive formally arrested last month.

Both sides lauded an initiative to hold regular talks on export controls, an effort to avoid tit-for-tat measures as countries around the world look to limit shipments of sensitive material and technologies abroad.

China has recently imposed curbs on the export of chipmaking metals like gallium, and is expected to restrict exports of graphite, used in batteries, in December. Japan has restricted exports of some chipmaking equipment.

The leaders' meeting followed a highly-anticipated summit between US President Joe Biden and Xi in which they agreed to open a presidential hotline and resume military-to-military communications, among other matters.

Kishida also met Biden at the summit where they discussed issues including "common challenges" that they share with China.

China's push to reaffirm relations with Japan could be partly driven by Tokyo's close ties with its arch-rival Washington, said Rumi Aoyama, an expert on Japan-China relations.

"I think there is a desire to drive a wedge between Japan and the United States by establishing a so-called strategic relationship with Japan amid the US-China confrontation," said Aoyama, director of Waseda Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies.

On the sidelines of the APEC summit, Kishida has also met South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in their seventh meeting this year. The pair promised to push for deeper cooperation and discussed shared concerns like North Korea's missile tests.

Yoon, Kishida and Biden also held a brief trilateral meeting on Thursday.

Leaders from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are in San Francisco for the 30th summit from Nov 15 to 17.

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2023-11-17 07:27:00Z
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Myanmar military, insurgents battle over port town - CNA

Reuters could not independently verify the report and a junta spokesperson did not respond to request for comment.

Pauktaw is about 500km northwest of Myanmar's main city of Yangon.

The offensive, which the insurgent alliance calls "Operation 1027" after the date it was launched, is the biggest the junta has faced in years.

Three rebel groups, aligned with pro-democracy fighters and a parallel, pro-democracy civilian government, have captured several towns and military posts across the country.

The Irrawaddy news portal, citing a resident of Pauktaw, said members of the Arakan Army (AA) guerrilla group had earlier taken control of the town.

"All the residents are running away. There is no one in the city, all the shops are closed," the resident said.

Fighting has also broken out in Shan State on the border with China where the insurgents have pledged to wrest control of the area from the junta and eradicate online scam centres run illegally there.

In the weeks before the clashes, Chinese officials called on the junta to take stronger action against the scam centres where Chinese and other foreign nationals have been known to be trapped as victims of human trafficking.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked to work in scam centres across Southeast Asia in recent years, including at least 120,000 in Myanmar, robbing strangers of their savings online in a fast-growing new kind of crime, the United Nations says.

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2023-11-17 07:04:53Z
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Trade deals are no cakewalk, says PM Lee as IPEF hits snag on key pillar - The Straits Times

SAN FRANCISCO – Trade is critical but trade policy is tough, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said after United States President Joe Biden’s signature economic initiative in the Asia-Pacific hit a roadblock on trade.

“Trade is the lifeblood of the global economy. And the trade pillar is an integral part of the IPEF agreement and of the US’ economic and strategic engagement in the region,” PM Lee said at a meeting here of 14 nations that are part of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF).

“But developing new and creative approaches to trade policy is not easy, and it takes time in order to carefully work through sensitive areas, and to choose the best moment to commit to the deal,” he added.

Announced by Mr Biden in May 2022, IPEF is the centrepiece of US economic engagement in a region where most nations count China as their top trading partner. It consists of four pillars: trade, supply chain, clean energy, and anti-corruption.

Meeting on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders’ meeting on Thursday, IPEF leaders announced progress on three of the four pillars.

They signed a landmark agreement to prevent supply chain disruptions, and also announced they had substantially concluded agreements on clean energy and anti-corruption measures.

But the trade pillar – of key importance to the export-driven Asian economies – hit a snag when congressmen from Mr Biden’s own Democratic Party, including influential Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown opposed the deal, fearing the political consequences that could impact on the 2024 election cycle.

In his speech, PM Lee anticipated more progress in meetings to be held in 2024.

“We look forward to further progress in the negotiations as well as in tangible cooperation next year,” he said, adding that Singapore welcomed the innovative agreements on supply chain resilience, clean economy and the fair economy.

“These will enhance the trade and investment environments in our economies for businesses, for workers, and for other stakeholders,” he said, adding that Singapore will host the inaugural IPEF Clean Economy Investor Forum in the first half of 2024.

The forum will help match capital to projects to advance decarbonisation and the transition to zero-emission economies.

Mr Lee also said the IPEF should continue to be open, inclusive and flexible, including towards new members. The grouping includes India, a non-Apec member, but excludes China.

Speaking to reporters, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo noted the “tons of enthusiasm” from IPEF partners. It is “solving problems in supply chains, in infrastructure, in climate that are highly relevant to our partners”, she said.

Mr Joseph Liow, the Tan Kah Kee Chair in Comparative and International Politics at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), said the lack of agreement on trade was a setback, even if US partners were not particularly shocked.

“It just reinforces the concern again of how the external engagement agenda can be hijacked by domestic politics,” said Mr Liow.

“Having said that, after all that has gone on in the US the last few years, and its decided turn from active leadership in global trade, I don’t think it was particularly shocking for many regional states.”

Veteran US trade negotiator Wendy Cutler said the path ahead remained uncertain.

“November was always an ambitious target for the trade work,” she told The Straits Times, pointing out that such deals take many years to forge.

“It was deeply unfortunate that the IPEF trade pillar did not produce deliverables this week in line with announcements made in the Commerce-led pillars,” said Ms Cutler, who is the vice-president of the Asia Society Policy Institute.

“While our trading partners were clearly disappointed, and for some, memories of the US TPP exit came to mind, they seemed to bounce back and accept the situation,” she said in a reference to the Trump administration’s decision in 2017 to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, billed as the world’s largest trade deal.

Ms Cutler said it is an “open question” how committed IPEF members will be to work with US negotiators during the 2024 presidential election year.

“That’s a lot to ask, given our domestic politics on trade for both Democrats and Republicans.”

Mr Charles Freeman, senior vice president for Asia at the US Chamber of Commerce, did not mince his words. “The level of nervousness about the domestic constituencies that have aligned against trade has handicapped the administration from achieving any level of effectiveness in what should be a leg of a genuine US Indo-Pacific strategy,” he said.

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2023-11-17 06:05:00Z
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Old photo, birthday wish, ravioli lunch: Personal diplomacy on display during Xi-Biden meeting - The Straits Times

BEIJING - As Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at the lush Filoli estate outside San Francisco on Wednesday, United States President Joe Biden, who was waiting to greet him, pulled out an iPhone to show the Chinese leader a picture of a man posing in front of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.

“I know,” Mr Xi said with a smile. “It’s me 38 years ago.”

“You haven’t changed a bit,” Mr Biden quipped, to laughter from the gathered crowd of staff and fellow officials.

Later, while walking Mr Xi to his Chinese-made Hongqi limousine after the meeting, Mr Biden remarked that it was a “beautiful vehicle”, much like the American presidential “Beast”.

Breaking into a smile, Mr Xi chuckled as he asked an aide to show Mr Biden the car’s interior.

These vignettes were among many touches of personal diplomacy on display during Wednesday’s highly anticipated meeting between the two leaders.

Associate Professor Alfred Wu from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy said Mr Xi was “trying to make himself more personable for the domestic audience, to show that he can hold his own against the leader of the US”.

“But whether he can convince the American public that China isn’t a threat, that is another thing altogether,” he added.

The special summit on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting comes amid a recent thaw in bilateral relations.

Ties had hit a nadir earlier in 2023 after the US shot down a Chinese weather balloon it said was used for spying, and Washington enacted a raft of restrictions and sanctions on Chinese companies, preventing their access to cutting-edge chip technology, citing national security concerns.

Wednesday’s four hours of face time between leaders of the world’s two largest economies have thus been aimed at putting a floor under the relationship and setting the stage for cooperation despite their underlying differences on a range of issues.

During the official meeting, Mr Biden even relayed wishes for a “Happy Birthday” to Mr Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan – to which Mr Xi responded that he was so busy he had forgotten.

After a lunch of ricotta ravioli with artichoke chips, tarragon roasted chicken and a dessert of almond meringue cake, both men were seen chatting casually during a walk on the grounds of Filoli.

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2023-11-16 21:00:00Z
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Southeast Asia countries urge powerful nations to use their influence to stop war in Gaza: Indonesian defence minister - CNA

JAKARTA: Several countries in Southeast Asia - including Indonesia and Malaysia - have urged the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza to stop and for influential countries to use their power to protect civilians, said Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto. 

“We asked all countries that have influence to immediately use their influence to stop actions against innocent people, unarmed civilian groups who are non-combatants, women, children, and (to) protect all infrastructures for civilians. 

“And they must not be the target of war. This is per international law. Humanitarian law,” said Mr Prabowo at a press conference on Thursday (Nov 16) on the second day of the 17th Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) in Jakarta.  

Defence ministers from the regional bloc - aside from Myanmar - met for the annual two-day meeting. They were joined by their eight dialogue partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the United States on the second day.

Mr Prabowo - who chaired the meeting as Indonesia is this year’s rotating chair of ASEAN - said that several ministers expressed their concerns over the war in Gaza and encouraged them to do everything to stop the violence there immediately.

A chairman’s statement on the situation in the Middle East released to the public later in the day said there is a pressing need for constructive dialogue to commence without delay, mentioning the situation in Gaza.

“The ADMM exchanged views and expressed deep concern over the deteriorating situation in Gaza,” the statement read.

An ASEAN statement released on the first day of the meeting did not mention Gaza. 

The chairman’s statement on Thursday further called for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce” to stop the violence there.

“(We urge) both parties to respect the sanctity of life and property, emphasising that the protection of all civilians, including ASEAN nationals, must be prioritised in times of conflict, and all hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally,” read the statement.

It added: “The meeting further called upon the United Nations, especially the Security Council, to take a more active role in preventing the further escalation of the conflict and averting a wider humanitarian disaster.” 

The statement also said the meeting supported the initiation of peace negotiations to achieve a two-state solution. 

Previous ASEAN defence ministers’ meetings mostly also produced a chairman’s statement but were usually not on a particular topic. 

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2023-11-16 12:36:58Z
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Israeli troops deepen search at main Gaza hospital for evidence of Hamas - CNA

The Israeli military made no mention of finding any tunnel entrances in Al Shifa. It previously said Hamas had built a network of tunnels under the hospital. Hamas has denied it and dismissed the latest army statements.

"The occupation forces are still lying ... as they brought some weapons, clothes and tools and placed them in the hospital in a scandalous manner," Qatar-based Hamas senior member Ezzat El Rashq said.

"We have repeatedly called for a committee from the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the Red Cross to verify the lies of the occupation."

Israeli forces raided the Shifa complex on Wednesday evening "for the second time in 24 hours", WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency, reported.

Bulldozers and military vehicles were used, the agency said, citing local sources.

Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency reported early on Thursday that Israeli tanks raided Al Shifa from the complex's southern side and that gunfire was heard in the area.

Israel began its campaign against the Islamist group that rules Gaza after militants rampaged through southern Israel on Oct 7.

Israel says 1,200 people were killed and some 240 people taken hostage in the deadliest day of its 75-year-old history.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, but has not put forward a plan for after the war as to who would govern Gaza.

Biden said on Wednesday that he had made it clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a two-state solution was the only way to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict and that occupying Gaza would be "a big mistake".

Biden told reporters he was doing everything in his power to free hostages held by Hamas militants, but that did not mean sending in the US military.

Washington has boosted its military presence in the Middle East, sending two aircraft carriers and support ships to the region, to prevent the conflict spreading and to deter Iran, a long-time backer of Hamas, from getting involved.

Iran's supreme leader told the head of Hamas when they met in Tehran in early November, according to three senior officials: You gave us no warning of your Oct 7 attack on Israel and we will not enter the war on your behalf.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Ismail Haniyeh that Iran would continue to lend Hamas political and moral support, but wouldn't intervene directly, said the Iranian and Hamas officials with knowledge of the discussions who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely.

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2023-11-16 06:04:00Z
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