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Anonymous ID: d6a111 Oct. 22, 2018, 7:26 p.m. No.3569834   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Pentagon sends two US warships through Taiwan Strait, risking fury from Beijing as tensions remain high

 

Taiwan’s defence ministry and the Pentagon say the warships passed through international waters on Monday. The Pentagon says the passage demonstrated a commitment to ‘a free and open Indo-Pacific’, but was ‘certainly not’ intended to raise tensions.

 

Two US Navy vessels sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Monday, in a move that is likely to exacerbate the already high tensions between Washington and Beijing. Both the island’s defence ministry and the Pentagon confirmed the passage, with the former saying in a statement that it was aware of the “routine” operation, and warning that the island is capable of defending its maritime territory and airspace security. The operation, which Taiwan says took place in international waters, is expected to trigger a strong reaction from Beijing, which has repeatedly demanded that Washington cut all military ties with the self-ruled island. Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province to be taken back, by force if necessary.

 

The US Department of Defence later confirmed the transit. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning told reporters on Monday during a press briefing that “in the Taiwan Strait, earlier today, USS Curtis Wilbur and USS Antietam conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit in accordance with international law”. Monday’s passage is the second transit through the Taiwan Strait by US warships in less than four months after two destroyers, the USS Mustin and the USS Benfold, passed through the strait in July. The USS Curtis Wilbur is a guided-missile destroyer and the USS Antietam a guided-missile cruiser. “The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Manning said. “The US Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law permits.” Manning added that in conducting the transit, the US “maintained coordination and contact with the appropriate nations, authorities and parties”. It was “certainly not the Department [of Defence]’s intention to raise tensions or any kind of escalation” across the Taiwan Strait, the spokesman said. The Pentagon had not received “any information talking about unsafe and unprofessional encounters with any Chinese vessels” during the transit, said another Pentagon spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan.

 

The move is likely to infuriate Beijing which recently expressed anger at America’s continued communications with Taiwan. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told press in Beijing last week that the US should “correct its mistakes, stop any official contact, military ties and arms sales to the Taiwan region”. Lu also said that the US should hold back “Taiwan independence” forces in case it further harmed China-US relations or peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The latest transit comes after US Secretary of Defence James Mattis’ meeting last Thursday with his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, in Singapore on the sidelines of an Asian security forum. Mattis reportedly had tried to explain to Wei that US policies toward Taiwan were unchanged. At that point, the Chinese defence chief raised the Taiwan issue. “Minister Wei raised Taiwan and concerns about our policy. The secretary reassured Minister Wei that we haven’t changed our Taiwan policy, our One China policy,” Randall Schriver, a US assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific security affairs, was quoted by Reuters. Washington has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help it defend itself; it is the island’s main source of arms.

 

The Pentagon says the US has sold Taiwan more than US$15 billion in weaponry since 2010. Mattis told Wei on Thursday that the world’s two largest economies needed to deepen their military ties to navigate tensions and reduce the risk of inadvertent conflict. During the meeting, Mattis also repeated that Wei was invited to visit the US within the year, The New York Times reported, citing an anonymous senior Defence Department official who was in the meeting. Wei had already accepted an invitation made by Mattis in June. But the two sides’ current rocky military relations have cast uncertainty on the trip. Washington disinvited the Chinese navy from taking part in a Pacific multinational military exercise, 2018 RIMPAC, in May. The US also imposed sanctions on a Chinese military equipment unit and its director in September, and has conducted “freedom of navigation operations” in the South China Sea. Manning said Beijing and Washington were still coordinating on Wei’s visit to Washington. “I have not heard it [the trip] is off the table yet,” the Pentagon spokesman said, “I have not heard [of] any changes in the status of the plan.”

 

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/2169728/two-us-navy-ships-sail-through-taiwan-strait-move-likely-anger

Anonymous ID: d6a111 Oct. 22, 2018, 7:37 p.m. No.3569962   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9982 >>0018

China denounces Pompeo's 'malicious' Latam comments amid influence battle

 

Chinese state media sharply criticized U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday after he made comments in Latin America warning about the hidden risks of seeking Chinese investment amid a growing battle for influence in the region. Pompeo was on a Latin America tour at the end of last week, meeting heads of state in Panama and Mexico. Pompeo told reporters during the trip that “when China comes calling it’s not always to the good of your citizens”. “When they show up with deals that seem to be too good to be true it’s often the case that they, in fact, are,” he said on Thursday in Mexico City, according to comments posted on the U.S. State Department’s website.

 

In an editorial on Monday, the state-run China Daily newspaper said Pompeo’s comments were “ignorant and malicious” and criticism that its ambitions Belt and Road infrastructure initiative was creating debt traps in other countries was false. China has been gaining ground in resource-rich Latin America, raising concern in Washington that the world’s second-largest economy is building up influence amid a tense trade war between the two countries. President Xi Jinping has been pushing the plan to expand trade corridors along a modern-day Silk Road linking Asia, Europe and Africa, pumping credit into building roads, railways and ports in a trillion-dollar infrastructure initiative. China is keen to bring Latin American countries on board as well, though the initiative has started to face rising scepticism as some countries, such as Sri Lanka, have become saddled with debt that they are struggling to repay. Pompeo said the United States welcomed competition from China, but criticized a lack of transparency at its state-owned enterprises and what he called “predatory economic activity”. In comments in Panama, he said countries should have their “eyes wide open” when it came to Chinese investment. “It’s simply the case that in parts of the world China has invested in ways that have left countries worse off, and that should never be the case,” he said.

 

‘DISAPPOINTED’

China’s state-owned Global Times said in an editorial on Monday that Pompeo’s comments were “disrespectful”, adding that the United States was trying to “drive a wedge” into growing Sino-Latin American relations. China criticized Pompeo’s predecessor, Rex Tillerson, in February after he said Latin America “does not need new imperial powers” and that China was “using economic statecraft to pull the region into its orbit”. In April, China’s ambassador to Peru said that it would be disrespectful for the United States to drag Latin America into its trade dispute with China. While the United States has traditionally had strong political influence in the region, China has become a major trading partner for many Latin American countries, including Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing, has accused China of luring smaller countries to its side with offers of generous aid. China claims Taiwan as a wayward province with no right to state-to-state relations. Three Latin American countries - El Salvador, Panama, and the Dominican Republic - have switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing in the past two years, prompting warnings from Washington. “Most countries are disappointed with the U.S. and want to shed themselves of U.S. dependence,” the Global Times said. “Latin American countries know how to weigh their interests.”

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-tentcity/hundreds-of-migrant-children-held-in-u-s-tent-city-for-months-filings-idUSKCN1MX02F

Anonymous ID: d6a111 Oct. 22, 2018, 7:40 p.m. No.3569990   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0024 >>0247 >>0370

China's Xi declares Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge open

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday declared open a new bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau and the Chinese city of Zhuhai, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-hongkong-bridge/chinas-xi-declares-hong-kong-zhuhai-macau-bridge-open-idUSKCN1MX05H?il=0

Anonymous ID: d6a111 Oct. 22, 2018, 7:45 p.m. No.3570041   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0076

World's longest sea bridge set to open, connecting Hong Kong, China and Macau

 

The longest sea bridge in the world is scheduled to open to traffic this week , linking Hong Kong and Macau to the mainland China city of Zhuhai. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, which measures about 34 miles and took nine years to complete, spans the waters of the Pearl River Estuary and will cut the travel time between Hong Kong and Zhuhai from three hours to 30 minutes, according to the English-language newspaper China Daily.

 

Regular motorists, however, won't be able to drive across it — a special permit is required. According to CNN, most drivers will have to park and then switch to a shuttle bus or specially hired car to go across. Tolls will range from 60 yuan to 300 yuan (or about $8 to $43), according to China Daily. The bridge is a joint project between Hong Kong, Macau, and China’s Guangdong province. The Guardian reports the bridge is expected serve as a way to integrate the two special administrative regions into China and form a technology hub to compete with Silicon Valley. The bridge lies in a region known as China's Greater Bay Area, which, according to an article by Chatham House fellow Tim Summers, boasts a population of about 67 million and a GDP of $1.5 trillion — on par with that of South Korea — making it one of China's richest regions. “The bridge serves as a bond between Hong Kong, Macau and other Guangdong cities. It is a symbol of the Greater Bay Area,” Hong Kong executive councillor Wong Kwok-kin said in the South China Morning Post.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/22/worlds-longest-sea-bridge-china-hong-kong-macau/1728927002/

Anonymous ID: d6a111 Oct. 22, 2018, 7:56 p.m. No.3570173   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0233 >>0247 >>0261 >>0370

Judge bars New Hampshire proof of residency requirement for new voters

 

A New Hampshire judge on Monday put on hold a law requiring some voters to present proof of residency when they register, saying it would lengthen lines at polling places and make it difficult for students, disabled voters and others to cast ballots.

 

The temporary injunction against the Republican-backed law comes two weeks before U.S. Congressional elections that will determine whether opposition Democrats or U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republicans retain full control of the federal government’s legislative branch. The measure, which passed largely along party lines and went into effect last year, required those seeking to register within 30 days of an election to present documents proving that they live in the area where they intend to vote. Without such proof, they must agree to either send it in within 10 days or the state will seek to verify their domicile. The law does not require proof of address when voting. “Where the law threatens to disenfranchise an individual’s right to vote, the only viable remedy is to enjoin its enforcement,” Presiding Justice Kenneth C. Brown wrote in his decision for the Hillsborough Superior Court Northern District in Manchester. He added that the registration form is too complicated for many people to understand.

 

The legislation is the subject of a lawsuit filed by League of Women Voters of New Hampshire and other groups, who said it would disenfranchise numerous groups including students, the disabled and homeless voters. The measure will be put on hold while the merits of the case are decided. New Hampshire Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, a Democrat, welcomed the ruling. “This law undermines our state’s reputation for holding free and fair elections, and it hurts our democracy,” she said in a statement. New Hampshire Associate Attorney General Anne Edwards said through a spokeswoman on Monday that the state was reviewing the court order and would soon communicate its next steps. She did not say whether that would include appealing the injunction.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-census/u-s-top-court-blocks-questioning-of-ross-in-census-suit-idUSKCN1MX017?il=0

Anonymous ID: d6a111 Oct. 22, 2018, 8:06 p.m. No.3570296   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0341 >>0395

Trump lawyer: Manafort said nothing damaging in Mueller interviews

 

Under an unusual arrangement, Paul Manafort’s attorney has kept Donald Trump informed about the former campaign chairman’s meetings with prosecutors investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and, according to Trump’s lawyer, Manafort has not said anything damaging about the president.

 

Rudy Giuliani, who represents Trump in the Russia probe, told Reuters that he had spoken with Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing, as recently as last week. Manafort pleaded guilty on Sept. 14 to violating foreign lobbying laws and trying to obstruct justice. He was convicted at trial in another case in August. Giuliani said the conversations were occurring under a so-called joint defense agreement, which allows lawyers who represent different clients to exchange information without violating attorney-client privilege. Legal experts said it was unusual for such an agreement to remain in effect after a person pleads guilty and agrees to cooperate with prosecutors as Manafort has done. Manafort is talking to Special Counsel Robert Mueller “about a lot of things, none of which are incriminating with regard to the president,” Giuliani said in one of several conversations with Reuters this month. Giuliani said he was told by Downing that Manafort had met with Mueller’s team roughly a half dozen times. Downing did not respond to requests for comment.

 

Giuliani’s account of his communications with Downing comes at what may be a critical point in Mueller’s investigation of election meddling and any possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, which the president denies. Mueller has started drafting a report outlining his findings that will be submitted to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller’s team, and could ultimately be made public, a person familiar with the matter said. Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment.

 

New York lawyer Harry Sandick, a former federal prosecutor, said that there are some cases in which a joint defense agreement can survive a cooperation agreement, such as if Manafort is providing information about people other than Trump. “In general, you can only have a joint defense agreement where there is a common interest between two people in defeating a prosecution,” Sandick said. He said lawyers can have unprivileged conversations with their clients’ approval. Giuliani said his conversations with Downing had been limited to areas that affect Trump. “If he wants to communicate information, Manafort, he’s allowed to do that. There’s nothing that stops him from doing that,” Giuliani said. “All I’m interested in is: Is there anything we need to know with regard to us?”

 

Giuliani said Downing had not shared specific facts with him regarding Manafort’s discussions with prosecutors. “He’s just telling me the conclusion that he’s not in a conflicted position with us,” said Giuliani, who has been very public in his defense of Trump, appearing regularly on TV disputing aspects of the investigation and calling it a political witch hunt just as the president has.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-andelman-nuclear-commentary/commentary-trump-withdrawal-from-russia-nuclear-pact-plays-into-putins-hands-idUSKCN1MW2DW