News

China’s Xi Hosts Former Taiwan President In Beijing, In Rare Meeting Echoing Bygone Era Of Warmer Ties

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-04-10

On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with a former Taiwanese president who advocates stronger ties with China. This was a very uncommon encounter just weeks before the democratic island swears in a new leader whom Beijing openly despises.

According to state broadcaster CCTV, Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan’s president from 2008 to 2016, met with Xi on Wednesday afternoon while on an 11-day tour of China.

China’s Xi Hosts Former Taiwan President In Beijing, In Rare Meeting Echoing Bygone Era Of Warmer Ties

The carefully choreographed moment is rich in political symbolism: it marks the first time China’s top leader in Beijing has hosted a former Taiwanese president since Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang (KMT) retreated to Taipei in 1949.

This is Xi’s first meeting with former KMT leader Ma since their historic summit in Singapore in 2015.

However, their reunion illustrates the expanding political split across the Taiwan Strait and how Xi’s increasingly hostile posture toward Taipei has driven more Taiwanese away from China.

In his opening remarks, Xi thanked Ma for opposing “Taiwan independence,” encouraging cross-strait relations, and recognizing that both sides of the strait belong to “one China.”

“Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all Chinese. “There is no grudge that cannot be settled, no issue that cannot be debated, and no force that can separate us,” Xi told his visitor. “External interference cannot stop the historic trend of the reunion of the family and the country.”

Ma responded by stating that while the two sides of the strait grew under different regimes, the people on both sides were Chinese.

“If a war breaks out between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, it will be an unbearable burden for the Chinese nation,” he added. “I sincerely hope that both sides respect the values and way of life treasured by the people and maintain peace across the strait.”

However, as Xi increases military, economic, and diplomatic pressure on its democratic island neighbor, the appeal of a shared Chinese identity has declined significantly in Taiwan.

That tendency was highlighted in January when Taiwanese voters ignored China’s warnings and gave the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) an unprecedented third term by electing Lai Ching-te, who has long faced Beijing’s anger for defending Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Since then, Beijing has snatched another of Taipei’s dwindling diplomatic allies, increased patrols around Taiwan’s frontline islands after two Chinese fishermen perished in neighboring waters, and continues to fly fighter jets near the self-ruled island.

Ma’s encounter with Xi comes during a busy week of diplomatic action in Washington. President Joe Biden will host the first-ever leaders’ summit involving the United States, Japan, and the Philippines. Joint fears about China’s growing assertiveness under Xi, notably toward Taiwan, are a primary motivation for the summit.

A senior source in Taiwan’s administration informed CNN. Beijing rescheduled the meeting from Monday to coincide with Biden’s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday.

According to Amanda Hsiao, senior China analyst at the International Crisis Group, China’s pressure methods are meant to drive Taiwan’s next Lai administration into a more accommodating political attitude toward China.

“Ma’s visit continues this effort by underscoring Beijing’s position that cross-strait dialogue is only possible with those in Taiwan who accept the idea that the two sides of the strait belong to ‘one China,'” she said.

Beijing has severed high-level official contacts with Taipei since President Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP took office in 2016. A wave of outrage over Ma’s contentious trade agreement with Beijing served as the impetus for this action, which took advantage of the growing number of Taiwanese voters determined to preserve the island’s unique identity.

Unlike the KMT, the DPP rejects Beijing’s prerequisite for official talks, an agreement in which both sides accept “one China,” albeit with different views.

Official communication is unlikely to restart for Lai, who has pledged to uphold Tsai’s cross-strait policies. Beijing has consistently rejected Lai’s offer of negotiations, describing him as a dangerous separatist and “troublemaker.”

However, by focusing on Ma, who has been out of office for years and has little power to shape Taiwan’s political reality, Beijing may be revealing “its inability to find or cultivate another Taiwanese political figure of comparable stature who is willing to play dove toward Beijing today,” said Wen-Ti Sung, a Taiwan-based fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub.

Ma is becoming a frequent flyer to the Chinese mainland.

China’s Xi Hosts Former Taiwan President In Beijing, In Rare Meeting Echoing Bygone Era Of Warmer Ties

The 73-year-old became Taiwan’s first former president to visit the mainland in late March last year, embarking on a 12-day journey across the Taiwan Strait. However, he was unable to gain a meeting with any member of Beijing’s Politburo Standing Committee, the country’s most powerful body.

This year’s visit, like the previous one, coincided with the Qingming Festival when people pay tribute to deceased family members and worship their ancestors; it also occurred just weeks before Lai’s inauguration as Taiwan’s president on May 20.

He said, “A meeting at this juncture enables Beijing to highlight the shared cultural roots between Taiwan and China and to exert pressure on Taiwan’s next administration.”

“Beijing is using the meeting between Xi and Ma to highlight the credibility and longevity of its carrots – that Beijing is good to its allies, whether incumbent or retired. It sends a message to political leaders around the world that embracing Beijing is a wise long-term investment.”

China’s welcoming of Ma’s visit signals Taiwan and others that peaceful unification by winning hearts and minds remains Beijing’s favored choice, at least for the time being, despite simmering cross-strait tensions, Sung noted.

Carefully edited footage of the talks, which is likely to reach millions of households in China via prime-time television news, sends a message to the Chinese public that unification with Taiwan is still feasible despite the DPP’s historic election triumph.

“For Beijing, Ma’s visit is also a useful way of assuring its domestic audience – ‘We have not lost the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese people, there remains cultural and historical connections that bind us, and the DPP does not represent mainstream Taiwanese views,'” Hsiao, the analyst, said.

Ma’s agenda, including his meeting with Xi, has been widely observed in Taiwan.

“The ruling party DPP will likely play down the significance of Ma’s China visits, preferring to describe it as the private act of tourism by a retiree,” Sung, a member of the Atlantic Council, said.

China’s Xi Hosts Former Taiwan President In Beijing, In Rare Meeting Echoing Bygone Era Of Warmer Ties

“Taiwan’s opposition KMT will be torn – it wishes to celebrate Ma’s achievements with Beijing, but is also hesitant to flaunt it in the face of the Taiwanese electorate, which remains wary about closer cross-strait ties.”

Ma remains a senior member of the KMT, which won the most seats in Taiwan’s parliamentary elections in January but failed to win the presidency for the third time.

The KMT, Taiwan’s largest opposition party, is eager to demonstrate that it is capable of handling relations with both China and the United States, but James Chen, an assistant professor of diplomacy and international relations at Tamkang University, says Ma’s meeting may do more harm than good.

“The DPP and its supporters have questioned Ma’s loyalty at home and labeled the KMT as pro-China.” “Washington, particularly Capitol Hill, may not appreciate Ma’s trip to China due to bipartisan anti-China sentiment,” he stated.

Few experts expect the conference will significantly alter the status quo in cross-strait ties.

“The value of this meeting is primarily in its symbolism – an attempt to shape the cross-strait narrative to both parties’ favor while fundamental political differences remain,” said Hsiao of the International Crisis Group.

However, regardless of the summit’s outcome, Ma believes it will cement his legacy on cross-strait policy.

“He likely wishes to be remembered as the sole Taiwanese leader who can break the ice with Beijing,” he said.

SOURCE – (CNN)

News

Canada’s RCMP Charge 3 Indian Men Over Sikh Leaders Murder

Published

16 hours ago

2024-05-03

Geoff Thomas

Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have charged three Indian men with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year, saying they were looking into whether the suspects had any ties to the Indian government.

Nijjar, 45, was killed in June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a sizable Sikh community. A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged Indian government participation, sparking a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police identified the three individuals as Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karan Brar, 22.

“We’re investigating their ties, if any, to the Indian government,” said Mandeep Mooker, an RCMP superintendent, during a televised press conference. The Indian mission in Ottawa did not reply to calls for comment from Reuters.

Nijjar was a Canadian citizen who campaigned for Khalistan, an autonomous Sikh country formed out of India.

The presence of Sikh separatist groups in Canada has long irritated New Delhi, which has dubbed Nijjar a “terrorist”.

Last Monday, the White House expressed worry over the apparent involvement of the Indian intelligence service in murder plans in Canada and the United States.

The RCMP claimed they coordinated with US law enforcement authorities, but did not provide any other information, and warned that more detentions might be forthcoming.

“The probe does not end here. We are aware that others may have been involved in this homicide, and we are committed to discovering and arresting each of these individuals,” said assistant RCMP commissioner David Teboul.

Canada-India Ties Strained

The three Indian nationals were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta, on Friday, according to police. They will arrive in British Columbia on Monday.

Trudeau revealed in September that Canadian officials were looking into accusations linking Indian government agents to the murder. New Delhi dismissed Trudeau’s allegation as ludicrous.

“We welcome the arrests, but this raises a lot of new questions,” said Balpreet Singh, legal counsel and spokeswoman for the Canada-based World Sikh Organization advocacy group.

“Those who have been arrested are part of a hit squad but it’s clear that they were directed,” he added in a telephone interview.

Canada had pressed India to participate with its probe. Last November, US authorities said that an Indian government officer orchestrated the plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist and dual citizen of the United States and Canada.

“While today’s action… is a step forward, it only scratches the surface,” Pannun said in a statement, calling for action to “dismantle the networks that enable and perpetuate such crimes against Canadians on Canadian soil”.

Trudeau’s Presence at Separatist Sikh Rally Enrages India: Getty Images

India Angered Over Trudeau

Meanwhile, analysts say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s move shown “no appreciation of Indian concerns in Canada,” with the apparently ill-advised travel expected to discourage New Delhi from improving relations with Ottawa.

Relations between the two sides have deteriorated in recent months as a result of allegations by Trudeau’s administration that Indian intelligence agents were involved in the 2023 murder of Canadian citizen and Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar was involved in the 1980s and early 1990s Khalistan movement, which sought to establish an independent Sikh nation in northern India’s Punjab state. Today, the activists are largely from the Punjabi overseas diaspora, many of whom have migrated in the North American country. India has often complained to Canada about the actions of Sikh hardliners.

According to The Times of India, Indian intelligence officials were particularly concerned about the presence of “Modi Wanted” posters purportedly placed at the Toronto rally by the secessionist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) in retaliation to Nijjar’s murder.

While New Delhi has frequently criticized Trudeau for failing to rein in Khalistani separatists and engaging in “vote bank politics” with the Punjabi diaspora, experts disagreed on whether the government overreacted in order to acquire votes in the ongoing Indian elections.

World

Good News: The Worst Could Be Over For Gas Prices This Spring

Published

19 hours ago

2024-05-03

Kiara Grace

ABC - VOR News Image

Israel and Iran have engaged in open conflict. Ukrainian drones have routinely targeted Russian oil refineries. And OPEC continues to restrict oil production.

These frightening occurrences sparked concerns about $4 gas, harming the US economy and exacerbating inflation.

However, this has not occurred, at least yet. Gas prices in the United States have stopped growing and dropped temporarily recently.

The national average was $3.66 per gallon on Monday, down from $3.68 a week ago, according to AAA.

There is growing anticipation that gas prices will peak in the spring, if not the entire year.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, predicts that drivers will find relief at the pump in the coming weeks.

“I’m hoping the worst is behind us,” De Haan told CNN. Unless something drastic happens, there are increasing odds the national average has hit the projected spring peak.”

Tom Kloza, worldwide head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, believes gas prices will fall in the coming weeks.

“Most of the worries from the year’s first half have been resolved. “I think we’re safe until hurricane season,” Kloza remarked.

‘Could have been far worse.’

Of course, none of this implies that gas costs are cheap. They were lower in April 2021 and spring 2020, when Covid-19 kept many Americans off the roadways.

National – VOR News Image

The Worst Could Be Over For Gas Prices This Spring

Nonetheless, a springtime peak of less than $3.70 a gallon would be a win for consumers, considering the real risk of significantly higher gas costs.

“It could have been much worse,” said Andy Lipow, owner of the consultancy firm Lipow Oil Associates.

According to AAA, drivers in just seven US states pay $4 or more per gallon for gas. All those states are in the Western part of the country, followed by California, where the average is $5.40 per gallon, up from $4.88 last year.

The national average is nowhere near the record increase above $5 per gallon in June 2022.

“It seems evident that this will not be a record-setting year. “Filling your tank will feel much more normal this year,” said De Haan.

Economic and political ramifications.

Officials in Washington would most certainly breathe a sigh of relief.

Rising gasoline costs earlier this year led to lower-than-expected inflation readings, casting uncertainty on when the Federal Reserve will be able to decrease interest rates.

A rise in petrol prices is the last thing President Joe Biden wants as he works to persuade voters of his economic message before November. According to a new CNN poll, Biden’s support rating for the economy is 34%, and for inflation, it is even lower (29%).

The Biden administration backed off plans to buy crude oil for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an emergency oil stockpile, earlier this month, adding to White House concerns over petrol costs.

Global – VOR News Image

Some economists expect gas prices to rise further.

Lipow believes the national average will reach $3.75 per gallon this year.

Still, that would be lower than last year’s top of $3.88 per gallon in September.

“I’m not expecting a spike in gasoline prices,” Lipow added.

There are several reasons why gas prices are now holding steady.

First, oil prices have stopped rising. On April 12, US crude oil nearly reached $88 per barrel as investors braced for Iran’s reprisal against Israel over a suspected attack on an Iranian diplomatic complex in Syria.

However, oil prices fell when Israel and its allies effectively averted the reprisal. For now, fears of a larger confrontation in the Middle East have subsided, albeit this might alter quickly. US crude fell below $83 a barrel on Monday.

There are other seasonal aspects to consider.

The transition to more expensive summer-grade gasoline at US refineries is now complete. Similarly, the reopening of refineries that had been closed for normal maintenance has aided gasoline supplies.

Record-breaking US crude output continues to increase the oil supply. All of that US oil, headed by the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico, is countering OPEC+’s production cuts, which Saudi Arabia and Russia lead.

Meanwhile, gasoline demand has remained relatively low despite other indications that American consumers are spending rapidly.

USA TODAY – VOR News Image

The Worst Could Be Over For Gas Prices This Spring

The hurricane season looms.

Gas prices are at risk of reaching a double peak. That’s what happened last year, when gas prices peaked in April, fell, and then returned late in the summer as excessive heat hampered US refineries.

“Weather can wreak havoc,” said Kloza, an OPIS analyst.

A major hurricane that destroys oil facilities along the US Gulf Coast is the greater risk.

Forecasters warn that the hurricane season (which normally begins on June 1) will be extremely active. Colorado State University predicts more hurricanes and named storms than ever before.

“Hurricane season is the next major hurdle,” Kloza stated.

SOURCE – (CNN)

Business

An AI-Controlled Fighter Jet Took The Air Force Leader For 1st Historic Ride. What That Means For War

Published

20 hours ago

2024-05-03

Kiara Grace

AP - VOR News Image

Edwards Air Force Base, California:

With the midday sun shining, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet took off with the thunderous roar that is a trademark of US airpower. However, the aerial fight that followed was unlike any other: this F-16 was commanded by artificial intelligence rather than a human pilot. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall was riding in the front seat.

AI is one of the most significant improvements in military aviation since the advent of stealth in the early 1990s, and the Air Force has avidly pursued it. Even though the technology has yet to completely mature, the service intends to deploy an AI-enabled fleet of over 1,000 unmanned warplanes, the first of which will be operational by 2028.

AP – VOR News Image

An AI-Controlled Fighter Jet Took The Air Force Leader For A Historic Ride. What That Means For War

It was fitting that the dogfight took place at Edwards Air Force Base, a massive desert complex where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, and the military has developed its most secret aeronautical technologies. Inside classified simulators and buildings with layers of surveillance protection, a new breed of test pilots is teaching AI bots to fly in combat. Kendall came here to witness AI fly in real time and express public confidence in its future role in air warfare.

“Not having it presents a security concern. “At this point, we have to have it,” Kendall told The Associated Press after landing. The Associated Press and NBC were allowed permission to see the secret flight on the condition that it be disclosed when it was completed due to operational security concerns.

Kendall was flown in lightning-fast maneuvers at almost 550 miles per hour by the AI-controlled F-16 Vista, which exerted five times the force of gravity on his body. It nearly collided with a second human-piloted F-16 as the two aircraft raced within 1,000 feet of one other, turning and looping to drive their opponent into vulnerable positions.

Kendall grinned as he climbed out of the cockpit at the end of the hour-long flight. He stated that he had seen enough throughout his flight to trust this still-learning AI with the decision to unleash weapons.

That proposition is met with strong hostility. Arms control specialists and humanitarian groups are profoundly afraid that AI will one day be able to drop bombs that kill people without human intervention, and they are calling for tighter controls on its usage.

“There are widespread and serious concerns about ceding life-and-death decisions to sensors and software,” the International Committee of the Red Cross has cautioned. Self-propelled weapons “are an immediate cause of concern and demand an urgent, international political response.”

The military’s transition to AI-powered aircraft is motivated by security, cost, and strategic capability. If the United States and China engage in battle, today’s Air Force fleet of pricey, manned fighters will be vulnerable due to advances in electronic warfare, space, and air defense systems. China’s air force is on track to outnumber the United States and is also developing a fleet of flying unmanned weapons.

Future war scenarios involve swarms of American unmanned aircraft offering an advance attack on enemy defenses, allowing the US to infiltrate airspace without putting pilot lives at risk. However, money plays a role in the transition. The Air Force is still dealing with production delays and cost overruns on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, expected to cost $1.7 trillion.

AP – VOR News Image

An AI-Controlled Fighter Jet Took The Air Force Leader For A Historic Ride. What That Means For War

Kendall believes that smaller, cheaper AI-controlled unmanned jets are the way forward.Vista’s military operators claim that no other country in the world has an AI jet like it, in which the software first learns from millions of data points in a simulator before testing its conclusions during actual flights. The real-world performance data is then fed into the simulator, where the AI processes it to learn further.

China possesses AI, but there is no evidence that it has developed a mechanism to conduct experiments outside a simulator. According to Vista’s test pilots, some lessons can only be taught in the air, similar to a junior officer learning tactics for the first time.“It’s all guesswork,” chief test pilot Bill Gray remarked until you fly. “And the longer it takes you to figure that out, the longer it takes before you have useful systems.”

Vista conducted its first AI-controlled battle in September 2023, with only roughly two dozen similar flights after that. However, the computers learn so swiftly with each battle that certain AI versions tested on Vista outperform human pilots in air-to-air combat.

AP – VOR News Image

An AI-Controlled Fighter Jet Took The Air Force Leader For A Historic Ride. What That Means For War

The pilots at this base know that they may be educating their successors or defining a future structure in which fewer of them are required.

However, they also state that they would only want to be in the air against an adversary with AI-controlled aircraft if the United States had its own fleet.

“We need to keep running. Kendall remarked, “And we have to run fast.”

SOURCE – (AP)