Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 369

Nancy Pelosi Letter Backs Taiwan as Political Pressure From China Mounts

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reaffirmed Washington's "unshakable bonds" with Taiwan in a letter to her counterpart in Taipei on Thursday, as the country hosted a democracy forum amid mounting political and military pressure from China. Taiwan's Legislative Speaker, You Si-kun, who was recently blacklisted by the Chinesegovernment, shared the contents of the letter on Facebook before opening the

As U.S.-China Tensions Rise Ahead of Summit, Marines Train for Taiwan Crisis

At a time when U.S.-China tensions are once again on the rise over President Joe Biden's decision to invite Taiwan to an upcoming virtual conference, the U.S. Marine Corps is preparing for the outbreak of a potential crisis by returning to its roots as an elite island-hopping force. But whether this would be enough to win a war, or even deter an attack, remains a question looming between the

Women’s tennis leads lonely fight for human rights

If Thomas Bach or Adam Silver need some pointers on standing up for human rights instead of the bottom line, they should give a call to Steve Simon over at the women’s tennis tour. Finally, someone picked right over the almighty yuan.Treading courageously into territory that Bach’s International Olympic Committee and Silver’s NBA steadfastly avoided — not to mention other sports organizations and

China’s communists bash US democracy before Biden summit

China’s Communist Party took American democracy to task on Saturday, sharply criticizing a global democracy summit being hosted by President Joe Biden next week and extolling the virtues of its governing system. Party officials questioned how a polarized country that botched its response to COVID-19 could lecture others, and said that efforts to force others to copy the Western democratic model

Coming Soon: China’s First Navy Base In The Atlantic Ocean?

Would China Really Built a Naval Base in the Atlantic Ocean? A few months back General Stephen Townsend, commander of the U.S. Africa Command, told the Associated Press that China covets a major naval base in the Atlantic Ocean, presumably along the African west coast. (Portugal’s Azore Islands also come up from time to time as a potential Atlantic hub for Chinese vessels.) Chinese leaders are “

Blinken Says Any Move by China to Invade Taiwan Would Have 'Terrible Consequences'

Any move by China to invade Taiwan would have "terrible consequences," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday, adding that he hoped Chinese leaders would think very carefully about "not precipitating a crisis" across the Taiwan Strait.Blinken, speaking at the Reuters Next conference, said China had been trying to change the status quo over self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as

China is getting worried about Africa’s indebtedness to it

While China has consistently doubled or even tripled its financing pledges for Africa during previous Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) meetings, the stagnation of this sum at the last FOCAC summit, held in 2018, should have raised concerns.This year for the first time, the Asian giant has cut down investment pledges from $60 billion to $40 billion, at the recently concluded ministerial

China, US tussle over Biden’s ‘Summit for Democracy’

China and the United States are tussling over President Joe Biden’s upcoming democracy summit, which the ruling Communist Party sees as a challenge to its authoritarian ways. The party maintains China has its own form of democracy and plans to issue a report titled “China: Democracy that Works” on Saturday, five days before the opening of Biden’s two-day virtual meeting with about 110 other

US defense chief slams China’s drive for hypersonic weapons

America’s defense chief rebuked China on Thursday, vowing to confront its potential military threats in Asia and warning that its pursuit of hypersonic weapons intended to evade U.S. missile defenses “increases tensions in the region.”U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s stern comments after annual security talks with South Korea, a top U.S. ally, are a window into one of the Biden

Australia refuses to sign ‘truce’ for Beijing Olympics as it weighs up diplomatic boycott

Australia has joined 19 other countries in opting not to sign a truce with China ahead of next year’s Winter Olympics amid growing pressure for a diplomatic boycott of the event.The refusal to sign the Olympic Truce – a tradition that dates back to ancient Greece to ensure conflicts don’t disrupt the competition – was designed to send a message to Beijing over its human rights abuses in Xinjiang