Was the meeting between US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen a success? - CNA

“Now that is a very critical step, and I would argue that today's meeting actually reiterated congressional support for such a move,” he said.

Park Strategies senior vice president Sean King said the US and Taiwan have a “long-standing and very endurable” relationship, across issues such as “electronics, technology, healthcare, trade, defence, democracy, freedom, and the strategic position that Taiwan plays in blocking the PLA's (People's Liberation Army) naval advance into the western Pacific”.

Mr Liao said America has “always had to walk a very fine line between provocation and assurances” when it comes to Taiwan.

“You want to deter China in the sense with military force, making an invasion that much harder to achieve, while also at the same time not take away the possibility (and) the prospect of eventually potentially Taiwan reuniting and being part of China.”

He said Wednesday’s meeting was a success due to the focus on speeding up the arms sales, and emphasis on the shared democratic values within the alliance.

“And that's actually a sign to me that they're talking about more substantive stuff behind the scenes, on how to basically operationalise this new concept of deterrence and to basically make the red lines both on Taiwan and the US side,” said Mr Liao.

The two are also clearer on their approach, while taking into consideration the guardrails required with China in order for competition to proceed safely, he added.

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2023-04-06 09:45:00Z
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China vows 'resolute' response to high-level US meet with Taiwan leader - CNA

BEIJING: China's foreign ministry on Thursday (Apr 6) condemned the meeting between United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in California, state media Xinhua reported.

Tsai met with a delegation of US politicians from the Republican and Democratic parties during a stopover in the US on Wednesday after visiting Guatemala and Belize, two of Taipei's dwindling group of official allies.

"In response to the seriously erroneous acts of collusion between the United States and Taiwan, China will take resolute and effective measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the ministry said in a statement published by Xinhua.

Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory and balks at any official contact Taipei has with other countries.

China has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

Wednesday's meeting "gravely violated the one-China principle", the ministry said, referring to the policy formally recognised by the US for decades.

"The Taiwan question is at the very core of China's core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations," the ministry added.

The Ministry of National Defense also condemned Tsai and McCarthy's meeting, Xinhua reported.

"We firmly oppose all forms of official interaction between the United States and Taiwan and any visit by leader of the Taiwan authorities to the United States in any name or under whatever pretext," the ministry said in a statement, according to Xinhua.

"The (People's Liberation Army) will resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," the ministry added.

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2023-04-05 22:58:34Z
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US talks show Taiwan 'not isolated': President Tsai - CNA

Taiwan is a flourishing democracy, with its own military, an independent judiciary and all the trappings of a fully functioning state.

But only a handful of countries acknowledge it as a sovereign nation.

Under a carefully constructed diplomatic fudge, the United States formally recognises Beijing, but is an important backer of Taiwan, and maintains strong unofficial and commercial ties.

Taipei enjoys bipartisan support in the US Congress, and has grown closer to Washington under Tsai's leadership - much to China's annoyance.

Support for Taiwan - and disapproval of China - is one of the few issues that unites America's warring politicians.

Duelling demonstrations from both pro-Beijing and pro-Taipei camps greeted Tsai's arrival Wednesday, while a small plane flew overhead trailing a banner that read: "One China! Taiwan is part of China!"

Beijing this week said it was "strongly opposed" to McCarthy's meeting Tsai.

"It seriously violates the One-China principle ... and seriously undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken played down the significance of Tsai's stop in California, and cautioned Beijing against using it as an "excuse to ratchet up tensions".

"These transits by high level Taiwanese authorities are nothing new," he told reporters in Brussels, where he was meeting with NATO foreign ministers.

"They are private and unofficial."

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2023-04-05 17:35:00Z
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China sends carrier group off Taiwan coast ahead of US meeting - CNA

TAIPEI: Taiwan's defence ministry said on Wednesday (Apr 5) that a Chinese aircraft carrier group was in the waters off the island's southeast coast, the same day President Tsai Ing-wen was due to meet US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

China, which claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, has warned of unspecified retaliation if the meeting goes ahead.

China staged war games around Taiwan last August following the visit to Taipei of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Taiwan's defence ministry said the Chinese ships, which were led by the Shandong carrier, passed through the Bashi Channel which separates Taiwan from the Philippines and then into waters to Taiwan's southeast.

It said the ships were going for training in the Western Pacific, and that Taiwanese naval and air forces and land-based radar systems closely monitored them.

"The Chinese communists continue to send aircraft and ships to encroach in the seas and airspace around Taiwan," the ministry said.

"In addition to posing a substantial threat to our national security, it also destroys the status quo of regional security and stability. Such actions are by no means the acts of a responsible modern country."

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2023-04-05 12:18:00Z
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Five arrested over human sacrifice at Indian temple - CNA

GUWAHATI, India: Indian police have arrested five men accused of conducting a human sacrifice, nearly four years after the discovery of the victim's headless body at a Hindu temple left officers baffled.

Shanti Shaw, 64, was killed and decapitated with a machete in 2019 after visiting the temple in Guwahati, a city in India's remote northeast.

Police made no headway in the case until Shaw's body was finally identified in January, sparking a renewed investigation that tracked down several culprits, with others still at large.

"The five planned the killing of the woman," Guwahati police commissioner Diganta Barah told reporters late on Tuesday (Apr 4). "A total of 12 people took part."

Barah said the alleged ringleader, Pradeep Pathak, 52, had orchestrated the killing as part of a religious rite to mark the anniversary of his brother's death.

"The accused apparently believed that the sacrifice would appease the soul of the deceased," he added.

Pathak and four others were taken into custody between Mar 25 and Apr 1, with police still hunting for their remaining seven accomplices.

India's National Crime Records Bureau lodged 103 cases of human sacrifice in the country between 2014 and 2021.

Ritual killings are usually conducted to appease deities and are more common in tribal and remote areas, where belief in witchcraft and the occult is widespread.

Last year two men were arrested for allegedly killing a six-year-old boy in the capital New Delhi.

The culprits, both construction workers, told police they murdered the child as an offering to the Hindu god Shiva to get rich.

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2023-04-05 09:18:42Z
CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9pbmRpYS1odW1hbi1zYWNyaWZpY2UtZml2ZS1tZW4tYXJyZXN0ZWQtaGluZHUtdGVtcGxlLWNyaW1lLTMzOTg2OTbSAQA

Former US president Trump pleads not guilty to 34 criminal charges in New York - The Straits Times

Taken together, the charges carry a maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison under New York law but an actual prison sentence if he is convicted at a trial would almost certainly be far less than that.

While falsifying business records in New York on its own is a misdemeanour punishable by no more than one year in prison, it is elevated to a felony punishable by up to four years in prison when done to advance or conceal another crime.

The Manhattan grand jury convened by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that indicted Trump heard evidence about a US$130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ms Daniels has said she was paid to keep silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006.

Trump’s former personal lawyer, Mr Michael Cohen, has said he coordinated with Trump on payments to Ms Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Trump has denied having had sexual relationships with either woman, but has acknowledged reimbursing Mr Cohen.

Mr Bragg, a Democrat, was due to give a news conference later on Tuesday.

Trump earlier held his fist in the air in a gesture to reporters as he departed his New York residence at Trump Tower in a motorcade bound for the courthouse. He exhibited little emotion when he waved to a crowd assembled outside the courthouse.

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2023-04-04 21:45:54Z
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Finland joins NATO in historic shift sparked by Russia's war - CNA

SWEDEN SOON?

Finland's arrival nevertheless remains a bittersweet moment for the alliance as the hope had been for Sweden to come on board at the same time.

Helsinki's first act as a new member was to back Stockholm's bid.

Budapest and Ankara remain the holdouts after belatedly agreeing to wave through Helsinki's bid.

Sweden has upset Hungary's leader Viktor Orban - one of Putin's closest allies in Europe - by expressing alarm over the rule of law in Hungary.

It has also angered Türkiye by refusing to extradite dozens of suspects that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan links to a failed 2016 coup attempt and the decades-long Kurdish independence struggle.

The United States and other NATO members led the calls for Sweden to join as soon as Finland's flag was fluttering in the cold Brussels breeze.

"Sweden is also a strong and capable partner that is ready to join NATO," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

"We encourage Túrkiye and Hungary to ratify the accession protocols for Sweden without delay."

Ukraine is also pushing for eventual NATO membership, but Western diplomats say that still remains a distant prospect.

"There is no better strategic solution to ensuring strategic security in the Euro-Atlantic region than the membership of Ukraine in the alliance," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Stoltenberg said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was invited to NATO's Vilnius summit in July.

The focus for the alliance remains on bolstering Kyiv's capacities to win the war, while moving it towards NATO membership only over the longer term.

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2023-04-04 19:07:10Z
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