It was one of the most alarming front-page stories in the nation’s history. Last week, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age splashed the first episode in a three-part series with the headline: “Australia faces the threat of war with China within three years – and we’re not ready.” The most likely cause of war, the articles said, was a Chinese invasion of Taiwan to which the US would respond. “The nature of the threat extends to the prospect of a full-scale war – and Australia would have to be…
Day: March 15, 2023
Cuba Beats Australia, Reaches First World Baseball Semifinal Since 2006
Cuba earned a 7,500-mile flight to Miami for a trip to the World Baseball Classic semifinals for the first time since 2006. “Cuban baseball fans are so emotional right now. They have been waiting for a long time,” manager Armando Johnson said after a 4-3 win over Australia on Wednesday night in Tokyo. “This is the new page, new chapter.” Alfredo Despaigne hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly and Yoelkis Guibert followed with a two-run single in three-run fifth inning. Using current major leaguers for the first time at the WBC,…
North Korea Launches Missile Ahead of Japan-South Korea Summit
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday, hours ahead of a major Japan-South Korea summit that will focus in large part on the threat posed by Pyongyang. South Korea’s military said North Korea launched the ICBM from the Pyongyang area at about 7:10 a.m. local time. The missile landed about 69 minutes later outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone, according to Japan’s defense ministry. Japanese officials have not reported any damage from the missile, which landed about 250 kilometers west of Oshima Island in Hokkaido…
Exiled tycoon Guo Wengui arrested in New York, charged with $1B fraud
U.S. authorities on Wednesday arrested and charged exiled Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui with conspiring to defraud his followers of more than $1 billion. The Justice Department said that Guo, also known as Miles Kwok, diverted funds from thousands of followers who had been promised high returns on investments, and used those funds to pay for his own lavish lifestyle. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York accused Guo of “lining his pockets with the money he stole, including buying himself, and his close relatives, a 50,000…
Honduras Ditching Taiwan Raises Larger Geopolitical Concerns
mexico city — Honduras’ decision to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China is yet another sign of growing Chinese influence in Latin America. For decades, the Asian superpower funneled billions of dollars into investment and infrastructure projects across the region. Now, as geopolitical tensions simmer between China and the Biden administration, that spending has paid off. Honduras’ decision was the second foreign policy coup in a week for China, which recently brokered an agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia to reestablish diplomatic relations. Enrique Reina, Honduras minister…
Russia Begins Naval Drills With China, Iran
moscow — Russia said Wednesday it had started naval exercises with China and Iran in the Arabian Sea as it seeks to shore up ties with Beijing and Tehran. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the trilateral exercises, dubbed the Marine Security Belt 2023, had begun in the vicinity of the Iranian port of Chabahar. The naval part of the drills will take place on Thursday and Friday. Russia will be represented by the Admiral Gorshkov frigate and a medium-sized tanker, the ministry said. During the naval…
US Official Sees No Link Between Chinese Migrants at Border and Fentanyl
Washington — A top U.S. law enforcement official on Wednesday said he sees no link between a rise in Chinese migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and illicit fentanyl entering the United States, in response to questioning by a Republican lawmaker. Steven Cagen, an assistant director with the investigative arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said during a congressional hearing that his agency had not established such ties. “Our investigations and intelligence show that those are two separate situations,” he told Republican Representative Clay Higgins, who had asked if Chinese…
China’s sound and fury over Aukus will mean little for ties with Australia | Benjamin Herscovitch
Leaving aside former the prime minister Paul Keating’s anti-Aukus spray at the National Press Club on Wednesday, perhaps the strongest criticism about this week’s trilateral submarine deal between Australia, the US and the UK has come from Beijing. Rehearsing now-familiar talking points, the Chinese government on Tuesday decried Aukus as an example of a “typical cold war mentality” and a threat to both “regional peace and stability” and the “international nuclear non-proliferation regime”. This stream of Chinese government objections is likely to grow to a flood as Aukus takes shape.…
Amendment grants Myanmar junta sweeping new powers under Anti-Terrorism Law
Myanmar’s junta has expanded its ability to target those who seek its removal from power by sharpening the teeth of law that it’s already used to jail hundreds of people since seizing power in a coup d’etat two years ago. The addendum to the Anti-Terrorism Law issued on March 1 allows authorities to eavesdrop on suspects, confiscate their assets and take other steps to crush the opposition, experts say. The junta will use the amended law to enable its forces to commit atrocities and brand any actions by rebels with…
Honduras Announces Intention to Drop Taiwan, Recognize China
Advertisement Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on Tuesday that she had instructed Honduras’ Foreign Ministry to begin the process of switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. The move will lower Taiwan’s number of remaining diplomatic allies to 13 and mark the fifth Central American ally that Taiwan has lost since 2017. Castro’s announcement occurred several weeks before Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen is set to begin a visit to Central American allies of Taiwan. It is expected that Tsai will visit the United States on a stopover during this trip.…