Missiles fired from Chinese coast amid Taiwan tensions
Nancy Pelosi arrived in Japan on Thursday evening for the final leg of her Asia tour. It comes at a moment of great tension across the region.
Japanese defence minister Nobuo Kishi said on Thursday that five ballistic missiles fired by China appear to have landed in the exclusive economic zone of Japan.
Mr Kishi said it was the first incident of its kind and that Japan had made a diplomatic protest in response.
China started its largest-ever military exercises around Taiwan on Thursday after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to the island nation. Taiwan called the military drills around the island “illegitimate and irresponsible”.
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party said that China’s drills on the busiest international waterways and aviation routes are “irresponsible, illegitimate behaviour”.
The Japan visit follows a day of meetings with US allies in South Korea.
On Thursday, Ms Pelosi met South Korean National Assembly speaker Kim Jin Pyo and other senior members of Parliament for talks on regional security, economic cooperation and climate issues.
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Photos and videos capture Nancy Pelosi arriving in Japan
Nancy Pelosi arrived in Japan on Thursday evening.
She was greated by a delegation including US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel and Ricky Rupp, the commander of US forces in Japan.
Here’s what the scene looked like on the ground.
Josh Marcus5 August 2022 02:00
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Nancy Pelosi arrives in Japan
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Japan on Thursday evening for the final leg of her Asia tour.
Her plane taxied in at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo around 10pm.
Ms Pelosi is scheduled to meet with the Speaker of Japan’s Lower House, Hosoda Hiroyuki, during her visit.
She will also have breakfast on Friday with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss the US-Japan alliance.
Japan has protested China’s military excercises near Taiwan, which came as the US official visited the contested island nation earlier this week.
Josh Marcus5 August 2022 01:32
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Another high-profile foreign trip—to the US
Nancy Pelosi isn’t the only leader on a controversial foreign tour.
A little over a week ago, Hungary’s prime minister delivered a speech about immigration in which he declared that Europeans “do not want to become peoples of mixed-race.”
The comments by Viktor Orban, the 59-year-old far-right leader, prompted outrage in his own country and across Europe for their explicit racism, and led to the resignation of his close adviser of 20 years, who described the speech as “pure Nazi text.”
But Mr Orban’s use of white supremacist rhetoric did little to dampen the enthusiasm of American conservatives for his visit to the United States this week.
The prime minister was pictured smiling alongside Donald Trump at his Bedminster golf resort on Tuesday. After the meeting, the former president released a statement in which he described Mr Orban as a “friend,” adding: “few people know as much about what is going on in the world today.”
Richard Hall with the full story.
Fresh from furore over ‘Nazi’ speech, Viktor Orban receives rousing welcome at CPAC
Far-right authoritarian leader received a standing ovation at the gathering of American conservatives in Dallas
Josh Marcus5 August 2022 01:12
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Why did Pelosi visit the DMZ?
As if the tension wasn’t high enough, Nancy Pelosi visited the heavily fortified, 160-mile Demilitarised Zone between North and South Korea on Thursday with members of a congressional delegation.
“It was a privilege to engage with American heroes in uniform on the ground in Korea, led by General Paul LaCamera, Commander, U.S. Forces Korea. During visits to the Demilitarized Zone/Joint Security Area (DMZ/JSA) and Osan Air Base, we conveyed the gratitude of the Congress and the Country for the patriotic service of our Servicemembers, who stand as sentinels of Democracy on the Korean peninsula,” she wrote in a statement afterwards.
The visit, as well as Ms Pelosi’s meeting with South Korean leaders, reinforced the US’s role as a nuclear deterent on the Korean peninsula.
“The United States and South Korea share a strong bond formed for security and forged by decades of warm friendship. Our Congressional delegation traveled to Seoul to reaffirm our treasured ties and our shared commitment to advancing security and stability, economic growth and democratic governance,” the House Speaker said of her visit.
Josh Marcus5 August 2022 00:52
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Chinese ambassador to US slams Pelosi trip in Washington Post op-ed
Qin Gang, the Chinese ambassador to the US, voice his frustration with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip in a scathing op-ed published Thursday in The Washington Post.
In the piece, he argued the US and the international community have long recognised China as the sole representative of Taiwan. Ms Pelosi’s trip, he said, shattered an unsteady peace.
“These are extremely irresponsible, provocative and dangerous moves,” he wrote. “The one-China principle is part of the postwar international order and has become a general international consensus. As a country that thinks of itself as a champion of the ‘rules-based international order,’ the United States should naturally abide by the one-China principle.”
Read the full piece via the Post.
Josh Marcus5 August 2022 00:22
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Tucker Carlson mocked for saying ‘US has never been less ready for war’
Between Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip and the US strike on Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, questions and analysis about the US military’s tactics are on the minds of many. Including Tucker Carlson.
The Fox News host went on a tirade earlier this week blasting the military readiness of the US on the same day that President Joe Biden announced that the leader of Al-Qaeda had been killed.
On Monday night, Mr Carlson also laced into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who landed in Taiwan on the following day along with fellow Democratic lawmakers for a trip that has been criticized for ratcheting up tensions with China. China notably considers the island part of its own territory.
“Nancy Pelosi … has no understanding of what she is doing or what might happen if she does it”, Mr Carlson said ahead of Ms Pelosi’s trip. “No one wants to say it out loud, but the truth is, she can’t know because, like Kamala Harris, she’s never even been in a bar fight. She has no understanding of violence or its consequences and there are consequences, including the potential deaths of millions of people.”
Tucker Carlson says ‘US has never been less ready for war’ as Biden strikes Al Qaeda
The Fox News host claims that the “Biden administration has done everything it can to make certain that we are not ready for war with China or even with the Taliban”
Josh Marcus4 August 2022 23:58
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Chinese military drills shake up the region
China fired ballistic missiles during unprecedented military drills around Taiwan on Thursday, in response to Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taipei, the self-ruled island that Beijing regards as its sovereign territory.
China fires ballistic missiles into Taiwan Strait as fury over Pelosi visit grows
Taipei says China is guilty of ‘irresponsible, illegitimate behaviour’
Taiwanese officials condemned the excercises as “irresponsible, illegitimate behaviour”, and cancelled flights to China.
Taiwan cancels flights as China holds military drills
Taiwan has canceled airline flights as the Chinese navy fire artillery near the island in retaliation for a top American lawmaker’s visit, but the possible impact on shipments of processor chips and other goods needed by global industries was unclear
Josh Marcus4 August 2022 23:38
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South Korean president ditches Pelosi meeting for ‘staycation’
South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol didn’t meet with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she arrived in the country for the next leg of her Asian tour.
Instead, the head of state was on what’s been dubbed a “staycation.”
He was spotted on Wednesday evening attending a theater performance in Seoul and hobnobbing over dinner and drinks with the actors.
His office has said the holiday was planned before Ms Pelosi’s agenda went public.
“I have received questions about whether the president avoided meeting with the House speaker because he was wary of China,” his spokesperson told The Washington Post. “All these things are decided based on a thorough consideration of our country’s national interest.”
The two spoke by phone instead.
Some in the country have been critical of the perceived snub.
“Yoon’s avoidance of Pelosi meeting may send wrong signals to the U.S. and China,” the Chosun Ilbo newspaper argued in an editorial, warning of a “submissive attitude” towards Xi Jinping .
Josh Marcus4 August 2022 23:12
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How the potential next UK prime minister would handle Taiwan
Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss has said that she will not visit Taiwan if she is elected prime minister and leader of the Conservative party.
The foreign secretary’s comments came after China fired missiles in military drills following a visit from US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, 3 August.
“We have a long standing position that the foreign secretary, the Ministry of Defence and the prime minister don’t visit Taiwan,” Ms Truss said during a Sky News debate on Thursday.
More from Independent TV.
Tory leadership: Liz Truss says she will not visit Taiwan if elected prime minister
Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss has said that she will not visit Taiwan if she is elected prime minister and leader of the Conservative party.The foreign secretary’s comments came after China fired missiles in military drills following a visit from US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, 3 August.“We have a long standing position that the foreign secretary, the Ministry of Defence and the prime minister don’t visit Taiwan,” Ms Truss said during a Sky News debate on Thursday.Click here to sign up for our newsletters.
Josh Marcus4 August 2022 22:58
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Editorial: Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan was ill-advised at a precarious time for the world
If Nancy Pelosi went to Taiwan with the aim of making its people feel more secure, then her visit may be judged to have enjoyed mixed results at best.
It was a rare visit and president Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan was no doubt delighted to greet Speaker Pelosi, technically second only to vice-president Kamala Harris in seniority. But it is not obvious the visit enjoyed support from the White House, or signalled any substantial new commitment of American resources to the defence of Taiwan.
Ms Pelosi, in other words, was engaged in gesture politics, albeit of a lofty kind, and the gesture was taken to be an exceptionally rude one in Beijing, which has chosen to ignore the nuances of how far Speaker Pelosi was acting with the authority of President Biden.
There are few issues more likely to send Chinese officialdom into paroxysms of rage than Taiwan, and Speaker Pelosi must have known this. A politician of unusual strength of mind, she has a long record in defending the universal human rights of the Chinese people against their authoritarian government. Moreover, she has plenty of experience in understanding the diplomatic sensitivities involved in such an initiative as her official trip.
Read more from The Independent’s editorial about the controversial trip.
Editorial: Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan was ill-advised at this precarious time
Editorial: Even if the situation doesn’t deteriorate into military force, the scenario is still gravely concerning
Josh Marcus4 August 2022 22:38
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