Taiwan's Tsai travels in face of China diplomatic onslaught

August 11, 2018

BEIJING (AP) — When Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen departs Sunday for Latin America, she'll be traveling to a region she's already visited three times in two years. She doesn't have many other options.

As Tsai crosses the halfway mark of her first four-year term, an eight-day swing through Paraguay and Belize is a reflection of how Taiwan's diplomatic isolation has worsened in the midst of a suffocating Chinese pressure campaign. Just 18 countries — mostly clustered in Latin America, the South Pacific and Caribbean — still maintain formal ties with the self-ruling island, down from 22 when Tsai entered office in 2016.

Along with luring away Taiwan's allies, China, which considers the island its territory, has frozen contacts with Taipei and sought to constrict its contact with international organizations. It's also bringing increasing economic pressure and most recently has browbeat international airlines and businesses into referring to Taiwan as part of China, a move condemned by Taipei and its ally, the United States.

Still, maintaining even a reduced pool of diplomatic allies is important to maintaining Taiwan's image of itself as a sovereign democracy, and affords its leadership with the occasion to assert their presence abroad. Tsai will also be transiting in Los Angeles and Houston, providing opportunities to meet with overseas Taiwanese civic leaders and American officials.

Although Tsai leads Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party, which favors declaring formal independence from China, she has pursued a moderate China policy since taking office. But that hasn't appeased Beijing, which has demanded that Tsai explicitly acknowledge an informal 1992 agreement that recognizes Taiwan as a part of China.

As a result, Beijing has "gradually rolled out punitive measures across the entire spectrum of activity and interactions," said Jonathan Sullivan, director of China Programs at the University of Nottingham. "Going after allies is high profile and rich in symbolism."

Faced with Beijing's diplomatic onslaught, Tsai has prioritized cementing its ties with remaining allies and backers like the United States and Japan, with which it maintains close relations in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.

At the same time, she's facing a dip in her domestic poll numbers, possibly, Sullivan said, due to a combination of Chinese pressure in the international arena and disappointment in her reform agenda at home.

On her trip this week, Tsai will attend the inauguration of Paraguayan President-elect Mario Abdo Benitez and address the National Assembly in Belize. China has traditionally moved carefully in Latin America, which it sees as falling under the U.S. sphere of influence, but has scored wins by flipping Panama and the Dominican Republic in the last 14 months at Taiwan's expense, said Zhu Songling, a professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Beijing Union University.

The Dominican Republic ditched Taiwan in May after it refused to match a multi-billion-dollar aid package offered by China. Flavio Dario Espinal, an adviser to the Dominican presidential office, told reporters in May that "socioeconomics reality now force us to change course" and embrace China, its $2 billion-a-year trading partner.

"The Chinese government has long respected the strategic thinking of the U.S. and we have shown restraint in the Americas," Zhu said. "But these countries feel it's in their national interest to flip to China, whose economic clout and attractiveness is on a whole different level compared to Taiwan's."

Tsai is increasingly coming under fire from her political base for her moderate approach to China, which has not ameliorated Chinese pressure. "Tsai has been criticized in Taiwan for being over-cautious," Sullivan said. "It is a tricky line to steer, but it is becoming increasingly evident that Beijing has decided not to work with the DPP administration and is doing everything it can to undermine it in the short and longer term."

China's Xi beset by economic, political challenges

August 13, 2018

BEIJING (AP) — As China's leaders gather for their annual Yellow Sea retreat, the country's political waters are looking choppy. Chinese President and ruling Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is beset by economic, foreign policy and domestic political challenges just months after clearing his way to rule for as long as he wants as China's most dominant leader since Mao Zedong.

Mounting criticism of the Xi administration's policies has exposed the risks he faces from amassing so much power: He's made himself a natural target for blame. "Having concentrated power, Xi is responsible for all policy setbacks and policy failures," said Joseph Cheng, a retired City University of Hong Kong professor and long-time observer of Chinese politics.

Notably, Xi used to dominate state-run newspapers' front pages and the state broadcaster CCTV's news bulletins on a daily basis but has in recent weeks made fewer public appearances. "He can't shift the blame, so he's responding by taking a lower profile," Cheng said.

The challenges so far aren't seen as a threat to Xi's grip on power, but for many Chinese, the government's credibility is on the line. Of greatest concern to many is the trade war with the U.S. that threatens higher tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese exports. Critics say they've yet to see a coherent strategy from Beijing that could guide negotiations with Washington and avoid a major blow to the economy. Beijing instead seems to be opting for defiance and retaliatory measures of its own.

Both the stock market and the currency have weakened in response and the Communist Party itself conceded at a meeting last month that external factors were weighing heavily on economic growth. At the same time, a scandal over vaccines has reignited long-held fears over the integrity of the health care industry and the government's ability to police the sprawling firms that dominate the economy.

"Trust is the most important thing and a loss of public confidence in the government could be devastating," said Zhang Ming, a retired professor of political science in Beijing. And last week, the authorities mobilized a massive security effort to squelch a planned protest in Beijing over the sudden collapse of hundreds of peer-to-peer borrowing schemes that underscore the government's inability to reform the finance system to cater to small investors.

Meanwhile, Xi's signature project, the trillion-dollar "Belt and Road" initiative to build investment and infrastructure links with 65 nations, is running into headwinds over sticker shock among the countries involved. Some Chinese have also questioned the wisdom of sending vast sums abroad at a time when millions of Chinese remain mired in poverty.

That in part plays into concerns over Xi's abandonment of the highly pragmatic, low-key cautious approach to foreign relations advocated by Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China's economic reforms that laid the groundwork for today's relative prosperity.

Leaders are likely to discuss at least some of these challenges during informal discussions at the Beidaihe resort in Hebei province as part of a tradition begun under Mao. Xi and others generally drop out of sight for two weeks or more during the summer session.

Xi's mildly bombastic brand of Chinese triumphalism "has not been popular with many in the party," leading critics to speak out, said Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

Some have even called for the sacking of one prominent proponent of the rising China theme, Tsinghua University economist Hu Angang, with 27 graduates of the elite institution signing a letter to that effect.

Resentment lingers also over Xi's moves to consolidate power, including pushing through the removal of presidential term limits in March and establishing a burgeoning cult of personality. That resentment was given voice in a lengthy jeremiad titled "Imminent Fears, Imminent Hopes" penned by Tsinghua University law professor Xu Zhangrun, who warned that, "Yet again people throughout China ... are feeling a sense of uncertainty, a mounting anxiety in relation both to the direction the country is taking as well as in regard to their personal security."

"These anxieties have generated something of a nationwide panic," Xu continued before listing eight areas of concern including stricter controls over ideology, repression of the intelligentsia, excessive foreign aid and "The End of Reform and the Return of Totalitarianism."

Even more boldly, Xu called for a restoration of presidential term limits and a re-evaluation of the 1989 pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The peaceful protests were crushed by the military and remain a taboo topic to this day.

Although Xu is reportedly out of the country and has not been officially sanctioned, another long-time critic, retired professor Sun Wenguang, found himself carted off by police in the middle of a radio interview with the Voice of America in which he railed against China's lavish spending abroad.

A sign of the Xi administration's anxieties is a new campaign to promote patriotism among intellectuals — a recurring tactic when public debate is seen as needing a course correction. The notice of the new campaign, issued July 31, cites "the broad masses of intellectuals" and the "patriotic spirit of struggle," while giving little in the way of specifics.

Much of the discontent with Xi can be traced to his administration's perceived ineffectiveness, said Zhang, the retired academic. "If you want to be emperor, you must have great achievements," Zhang said. "He hasn't had any, so it's hard to convince the people."

Thousands attend Arab-led rally against Israeli bill

August 11, 2018

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Members of Israel's Arab minority led a mass protest in central Tel Aviv on Saturday night against a contentious new law that critics say marginalizes the state's non-Jewish citizens.

The rally marked further fallout from the explosive Nation-State law and came a week after thousands of Druze, also members of the Arab minority, packed the same city square last week. Israel's 1948 declaration of independence defined the country as a Jewish and democratic state and the government says the recently passed bill merely enshrines the country's existing character. But critics say it undercuts Israel's democratic values and sidelines the country's non-Jewish population, namely the Arab community that makes up 20 percent of the country.

One clause downgrades the Arabic language from official to "special" standing. Israeli media reported tens of thousands of Jews and Arabs attended the protest. Some Arab protesters waved Palestinian flags and others held signs reading "equality." Some knelt and preformed Muslim prayers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted footage on Twitter of protesters waving the Palestinian flags. "No better testament to the necessity of the Nation State law," he wrote. Ayman Odeh, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament, told The Associated Press: "This is the first time that tens of thousands of Arabs have come to Tel Aviv with Jewish democratic groups. They came to say this is not the end of the demonstrations, but the first serious demonstration against the Nation State law."

Many Jewish Israelis, including top retired security officials and politicians, have also harshly criticized the law. Omar Sultan, from the Arab city of Tira in central Israel, said he was protesting to send a message to Netanyahu.

"This law is against us, against the Arabic language, against peace, against our future in this land, we are the real people of this land, we can't agree on this law," he said. Israel's Arab citizens enjoy full citizenship rights but face discrimination in some areas of society like jobs and housing. They share the ethnicity and culture of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and often identify with Palestinian nationalism, rather than Israeli.

Tens of thousands of Druze, also members of the Arab minority, packed the same square in the heart of Tel Aviv, Israel's cultural and commercial center, last week. The Druze are followers of a secretive offshoot of Shiite Islam and are considered fiercely loyal to the state and serve in Israel's military, unlike most of the country's other Arab citizens.

Over the years, members of the Druze community have risen to prominence in the military and in politics. Some Druze have said they feel betrayed by the law and several Druze military officers recently said they would stop serving in response to it, sparking fears of widespread insubordination.

Israel celebrates 40 years of illegal settlement

August 10, 2018

Two thousand Israelis yesterday gathered to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the illegal West Bank settlement of Shiloh, south of Nablus.

The celebration was attended by Israel’s Agriculture Minister, Uri Ariel, who is a member of the Religious-Zionist Jewish Home party. According to Arutz Sheva, the head of Israel’s “Binyamin Regional Council”, the group which oversees 42 of Israel’s illegal settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank, also attended. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, sent a letter of congratulations to the illegal settlers, claiming historic links between the Bible and the modern-day occupied Palestinian territory.

Uri Ariel has a long history of pro-settlement activity, previously serving as head of Beit El council, an illegal Israeli settlement situated north east of Ramallah. Ariel was also previously secretary general of the Yesha council.

In July it emerged that Uri Ariel had previously approved plans to demolish Khan Al-Ahmar, the Palestinian Bedouin village that has been slated for demolition. The plans, which were made in the late 1970s, proposed a “Jewish corridor” of illegal settlements be built on some 100,000 to 120,000 dunams (25,000 to 30,000 acres) of Palestinian land, including the villages of Hizme, Anata, Al-Azariya and Abu Dis on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Demolishing these villages would make way for expanding two illegal settlements – Ma’ale Adumim and Kfar Adumim – situated on the Jerusalem-Jericho road.

Shiloh was one of the first locations targeted for illegal Israeli settlement as early as 1974 by Gush Emunim, the orthodox right-wing settlement movement that rose to prominence in the wake of the 1973 War. Gush Emunim was later succeeded by the Yesha council that Uri Ariel previously affiliated with. During the Oslo Accords of the early 1990s, Shiloh was identified as an example of an area that should be returned to Palestinian control given the high density of Palestinians living in the area.

Illegal settlement in the West Bank has been pursued as a policy by the State of Israel since it occupied the territory in the 1967 Six Day War, along with the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula. Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem states that, as of the end of 2015, there were 127 Israeli government-sanctioned settlements in the West Bank (not including occupied East Jerusalem and Hebron). When combined with 100 non-recognized outposts and 15 Israeli neighborhoods inside the Jerusalem Municipality, these settlements are inhabited by approximately half a million illegal settlers.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180810-israel-celebrates-40-years-of-illegal-settlement/.

Historic wooden church in northwest Russia destroyed by fire

August 10, 2018

MOSCOW (AP) — An 18th-century church widely seen as a marvel of Russia's wooden architecture has been destroyed by a fire. The blaze at the Dormition church in Kondopoga in Russia's northwestern region of Karelia erupted Friday after a group of tourists visited the building. Local officials suspected some of them could have violated fire safety rules, but would not rule out arson.

The fire quickly engulfed the church built exclusively from wood, and fire teams that arrived within minutes were unable to save it. The church, built in 1774 on the shores of Lake Onega, was broadly admired as one of the most remarkable examples of Northern Russia's wooden architecture.

Local authorities have promised to build a replica.

Myanmar snubs Hague court's intervention in Rohingya crisis

August 10, 2018

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar sharply rejected an attempt by the International Criminal Court to consider the country's culpability for activities that caused 700,000 minority Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh for safety last year.

The office of the nation's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said in a statement posted online Thursday that the court in the Netherlands has no jurisdiction over Myanmar because it is not a member state. It also offered procedural reasons for why it would not respond formally to the court's request for its views on the exodus of the Rohingya, and said the question "is meritless and should be dismissed." The ICC did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

Critics including U.N. experts have accused Myanmar's military of atrocities against the Rohingya amounting to ethnic cleaning, or even genocide. Suu Kyi's government says it was carrying out justifiable counterinsurgency operations in response to attacks on security forces by Rohingya militants in August last year.

The army, according to documentary evidence and survivor and eyewitness accounts compiled by human rights organizations, beat and killed civilians, organized rapes and the burning of thousands of homes belonging to Rohingya in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine.

The ICC had solicited Myanmar's views in April, and later set a July 27 deadline for a response to the question of whether the court should have jurisdiction. Myanmar accused the court of violating international legal norms by seeking to assert jurisdiction over the issue despite Myanmar not being a party to the Rome Statute establishing the court.

"By allowing such a contrived procedure, the ICC may set a dangerous precedent whereby future populistic causes and complaints against non-State Parties to the Rome Statute may be litigated at the urging of biased stakeholders and non-governmental organizations and even then, selectively based on the political current of the times," it said.

The statement also referred to several proceedings carried out by the court that it called irregular or not allowed under its own rules, including alleged "lack of fairness and transparency." It also mentioned its agreements to have Rohingya repatriated from Bangladesh, though such action has yet to be implemented and the U.N. has criticized Myanmar for delays.

The Rohingya have long faced severe discrimination and were the target of violence in 2012 that killed hundreds and drove about 140,000 people — predominantly Rohingya — from their homes to camps for the internally displaced, where most remained until last year's violence.

The government refuses to recognize the Rohingya as a legitimate native ethnic minority. Most Rohingya are denied citizenship and other rights.

Lions at London Zoo celebrate World Lion Day in style

August 09, 2018

LONDON (AP) — London Zoo's lions are celebrating World Lion Day in style, boxing and biting colorful balls stuffed with the big-cat equivalent of catnip. The pride showed off their play skills ahead of World Lion Day on Friday, battering the balls painted with vibrant colors inspired by the Indian State of Gujarat, home to the Asiatic lions.

The Zoological Society of London, which runs the zoo, is working on conservation efforts for the endangered Asiatic lions, to bolster numbers. There are only 600 left in the wild. ZSL's Mark Habben says the balls encourage lions "to use their incredible sense of smell to track it through their territory before using their sharp claws to tear into it - acting as a natural manicure for our lionesses."