US urges China don't interfere in Taiwan elections - CNA

A top White House official, Jon Finer, met on Wednesday with a senior Chinese official and the two discussed tensions over Taiwan and the South China Sea, the White House said.

Finer, who is deputy national security adviser, met Liu Jianchao, head of the International Liaison Department of China's Communist Party, as part of efforts to maintain open lines of communications as directed by Biden and Xi in their California summit.

The meeting took place in Washington and the two officials had "candid and constructive discussions". They discussed a host of global hotspots, including the Middle East and Russia's war against Ukraine.

"Mr Finer stressed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea," the White House said.

They reaffirmed support for continued high-level diplomacy and interactions between the United States and China, the White House said.

In separate talks, senior US and Chinese officials held a virtual meeting on Wednesday and discussed cooperating on law enforcement issues including the illicit flow of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, the US Department Of Homeland Security said.

US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong participated in the meeting, along with other senior officials, the department said in a statement.

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2024-01-11 01:33:40Z
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Taiwan elections: Rivals strike deep in front runner Lai's stronghold Tainan - The Straits Times

TAINAN – Cab driver Wang Yong-li from Taiwan’s oldest city, Tainan, is a bit hesitant when asked who he would vote for in the Jan 13 presidential election.

“The candidate I vote for would not win anyway,” he said.

Then, after a pause, the 54-year-old lets on that he supports the main opposition party, Kuomintang (KMT). 

If Mr Wang sounds pessimistic, it is because Tainan is not only a stronghold of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but also where DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te, 64, made his mark as a politician. He was first a lawmaker representing the southern metropolis of about 1.8 million people, and then its mayor.

A popular travel destination famous for its ancient fortresses and local snacks, Tainan was founded by the Dutch in 1624 and was the capital of Taiwan until 1887.

The coastal city, dominated by Minnan-speaking Taiwanese whose ancestors had moved there from China’s southern Fujian province as early as the 1600s, has traditionally supported the pro-independence DPP rather than the China-friendly KMT.

At the 2020 presidential election, nearly 68 per cent in Tainan voted for the DPP’s Ms Tsai Ing-wen and her running mate, Mr Lai, who won with a record 8.17 million votes or 57.1 per cent of the vote.

But the odds have not stopped Mr Lai’s presidential race rivals – Mr Hou Yu-ih of KMT and Dr Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) – from making incursions into the city in an attempt to snatch votes from Mr Lai’s power base.

On Jan 8, Mr Hou, 66, went around two districts in the city in a motorcade and also visited temples and an evening market. Dr Ko, 64, spent two days in the same week campaigning, drawing a snaking queue of young people lining up at a night market to take a picture with him. 

Tainan might not be the iron-clad “warehouse of votes” for the DPP as people assume it to be, said political analyst Shih Cheng-feng, who retired from Taiwan’s National Dong Hwa University in 2023.

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2024-01-10 10:50:00Z
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UK, US forces repel 'largest attack' yet by Houthis in Red Sea - CNA

"Overnight, HMS Diamond, along with US warships, successfully repelled the largest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date," Shapps said in a statement.

"The UK alongside allies have previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences.

"We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy," he vowed.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the Houthis had launched "a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs", as well as firing anti-ship cruise missiles and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

They were downed by a combination of F/A-18 warplanes, operating from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier, three American destroyers and the British naval vessel, CENTCOM said.

FEARS

The incident is the latest since the US set up a multinational naval task force last month to protect Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks, which are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 per cent of global trade.

CENTCOM said US forces shot down a drone launched from Yemen over the weekend, while Vice Admiral Brad Cooper said the Houthis had launched an explosives-laden sea drone into shipping lanes last week - the first time they had used such a weapon in the current conflict.

The Houthis - who control much of Yemen - are part of the "axis of resistance" of groups arrayed against Israel.

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2024-01-10 10:09:00Z
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China says Taiwan ruling party 'creating panic' after satellite alert - CNA

BEIJING: China on Wednesday (Jan 10) accused Taiwan's ruling party of "creating panic" after the island's authorities issued a national emergency alert over a satellite launch by Beijing.

Phones across Taiwan blared with a "presidential alert" on Tuesday afternoon, around the time Beijing announced the successful launch of its Einstein Probe satellite, which it says will gather astronomical data.

Asked about the alert on Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning accused Taiwan's ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party, of "creating panic".

"I think everyone is clear about what aims the DPP authorities had in mind in misleading the public," she said.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan, which holds elections on Saturday, as part of its territory and has vowed to seize it one day.

The election is being closely watched - including by policymakers in Beijing and Washington - as its outcome will impact the future of Taiwan's relations with an increasingly assertive China.

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2024-01-10 07:59:55Z
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Former Bhutan PM wins elections overshadowed by economic strife - CNA

SQUEEZED BETWEEN INDIA AND CHINA 

Young citizens searching for better financial and educational opportunities abroad have left in record numbers since the last elections, with Australia as their top destination.

Around 15,000 Bhutanese were issued visas there in the 12 months before last July, according to a local news report - more than the preceding six years combined and almost 2 per cent of the kingdom's population.

Sandhya Pradhan, 25, an architect, said after voting that she hoped the new government would "encourage the youth currently in Australia to come back".

Tobgay was the leader of the opposition in Bhutan's first parliament when it was established in 2008, soon after the start of the reign of the present king.

The former civil servant, who holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a master's in public administration from Harvard, then served as prime minister from 2013 to 2018.

A primary contest in November narrowed the race down to two parties, with both the previous government's lawmakers and their former opposition knocked out.

The previous government pursued several projects to diversify the economy, including a special economic zone on the Indian border and plans with a Singapore-based company to raise funds for a cryptocurrency-mining scheme.

Tourism, a small share of Bhutan's economy but a key earner of foreign currency, has yet to recover from the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tobgay has also pledged a huge ramp-up of investment in hydropower, its primary source of energy.

Bhutan lies sandwiched between the globe's two most populous countries, China and India, who are watching with keen interest as they eye strategic contested border zones.

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2024-01-10 05:47:00Z
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CNA Correspondent Podcast: What's at stake in the Taiwan presidential election? - CNA

The race to Taiwan’s highest office is on. Three contenders are vying for ballots with different approaches to Beijing.

The youth vote and growing dissatisfaction over the rising cost of living makes this election one to watch. Deborah Wong and Tan Si Hui give us the state of play.   

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2024-01-09 23:16:00Z
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Taiwan does not consider China satellite launch election interference - CNA

TAIPEI: Taiwan's presidential office said it did not consider the launch of a Chinese satellite whose rocket flew over southern Taiwan an attempt at election interference ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday (Jan 13).

On Tuesday, the government issued a mistaken air raid alert after the Chinese rocket carrying a science satellite flew over southern Taiwan at an altitude of more than 500km. The defence ministry later apologised for the wrong wording in English which used the word "missile".

Taiwan's presidential office, responding to questions on whether it considered the satellite launch election interference, said it did not think there was a political motive.

"After the national security team has analysed the overall relevant information and taken into account the evaluation of the information of various international allies, political attempts can be ruled out," it said in a statement issued shortly before midnight on Tuesday.

While the rocket launch sparked a false alarm, Taiwan, which China views as its territory over the strong objections of the government in Taipei, has repeatedly accused Beijing of trying to interfere in the vote, whether via military, political, economic or other means. China has labelled those allegations "dirty tricks".

Taiwan's foreign minister was speaking to foreign reporters when the shrill alert sounded on phones in the room using the words "satellite launch by China" in Chinese and "missile" in English.

He had described the launch as part of a pattern of Chinese harassment like the recent cases of Chinese balloons spotted over the island.

Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), slammed the government on Tuesday, saying the alert issued over the satellite launch "should not become an election tool".

"The KMT supports the use of national-level warnings to inform people, but the standard should be whether it causes harm to Taiwan," it said in a statement.

"Otherwise, if warnings are sent arbitrarily, it will be hard for people not to think it is election manipulation."

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2024-01-09 23:58:00Z
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