Geopolitics
[ Mothership ] Unthinkable for Australia not to join US in defending Taiwan: Defence minister
Australia will join the U.S. in defending Taiwan as not doing so is unthinkable as an alliance partner, Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton told The Australian in an interview that was published on Friday, Nov. 12. He further expressed his belief that the Chinese government has no right to claim Taiwan as its territory. China has been…
Read More[ Yahoo! ] Sinovac to be included in Singapore’s national vaccination programme
Eight months after Singapore received its first doses of the Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine, it will now be included in the National Vaccination Programme (NVP) as an alternative for those who are unable or unwilling to take mRNA vaccines. Noting that some continue to choose not to take up mRNA vaccinations due to “strong personal preferences”,…
Read More[ Reuters ] Turkey to expel U.S. envoy and nine others, Erdogan says
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that he had told his foreign ministry to expel the ambassadors of the United States and nine other Western countries for demanding the release of philanthropist Osman Kavala. Seven of the ambassadors represent Turkey’s NATO allies and the expulsions, if carried out, would open the deepest rift with…
Read More[ The Jakarta Post ] Myanmar junta blames ‘foreign intervention’ for ASEAN summit exclusion
Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/world/2021/10/17/myanmar-junta-blames-foreign-intervention-for-asean-summit-exclusion.html A spokesman for Myanmar’s military government blamed “foreign intervention” for the rare exclusion of its junta leader from a regional leaders’ summit later this month. Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told the BBC Burmese news service that the United States and representatives of the European Union had pressured other leaders of the 10-member…
Read More[ Washington Post ] Navy nuclear engineer and his wife charged with trying to share submarine secrets with a foreign country
A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife have been charged with repeatedly trying to pass secrets about U.S. nuclear submarines to a foreign country, in an alleged espionage plot discovered by the FBI, according to court document The court papers say that in December 2020, an FBI official received a package that had been sent…
Read More[ Intelligencer ] U.S. Troops Have Reportedly Been in Taiwan for Over a Year
According to the Wall Street Journal, a small contingent American troops have been deployed in Taiwan for over a year, involving a special-operations unit of around two dozen and supporting Marines. U.S. officials told the Journal that the troops are working with local maritime forces on training missions involving small boats. DPA Notes: Curious that USA would actually…
Read More[ Nikkei ] U.S. set to resume trade talks with China
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai is expected to speak to Chinese vice premier Liu He by telephone over the next few days, calling on China to respect the “phase one” trade agreement it signed with Washington under former President Donald Trump. The U.S. also plans to resurrect partial exemptions on punitive tariffs to help curb the impact of…
Read More[ Reuters ] Canada foreign minister says eyes wide open when it comes to normalizing China ties
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, flew back to China on Friday after reaching an agreement with U.S. prosecutors to end a bank fraud case against her. That resulted in the scrapping of her extradition battle in a Canadian court. Soon after Meng flew to…
Read More[ SCMP ] North Korea open to closer ties with Seoul, formal end to Korean war is ‘admirable idea’: Kim Yo-jong
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, says the North is open to “constructive discussion” to mend fences with South Korea if Seoul drops its “hostile attitude” toward Pyongyang. Speaking on Friday, she also welcomed South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s recent call to declare an end to the Korean war as an “interesting and admirable idea”,…
Read More[ The Defenstar ] Argentina to buy inferior and more expensive JF-17 over FA-50 due to UK
Argentia has decided to buy 12 FC-1 ‘Xiaolong’ a.k.a. JF-17 Block-3 jets from China for 664 million USD (55 million per unit) rejecting other fighters on offer including the South Korean FA-50. India had not offered its Tejas fighter due to geopolitical reasons, however this deal helped to finally reveal the unit price of the…
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