BEIJING: Taiwan military jets scrambled to shadow a Chinese aircraft carrier passing through narrow waters separating the two sides en route to Hong Kong to mark the 20th anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.
The Liaoning fleet will be open to the public in Hong Kong and showcase the “military might” of the Chinese naval force, Xinhua citied Yang Liang, China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy spokesman, as saying.
It is due to arrive on Friday, Hong Kong media said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping swore in Hong Kong’s new leader on Saturday with a stark warning that Beijing will not tolerate any challenge to its authority in the divided city, in his strongest speech yet amid concerns over what some perceive as increased meddling by Beijing.
The Soviet-built Liaoning, whose home port is in northern China, entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday and was sailing just west of the middle of the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Taiwan military jets and ships were deployed in response to monitor the fleet’s passage, the ministry said.
Nothing abnormal had been detected as the Chinese battle group headed southwest and was expected to leave Taiwan’s ADIZ by Sunday evening, the ministry said.
It was the third time that the Liaoning has sailed near self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own, in recent months for what Beijing has said were routine drills in December and again in January.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
Taiwan scrambles as Chinese carrier passes en route to Hong Kong
Taiwan scrambles as Chinese carrier passes en route to Hong Kong
French publisher recalls dictionary over ‘Jewish settler’ reference
- The entry in French reads: “In October 2023, following the death of more than 1,200 Jewish settlers in a series of Hamas attacks”
- The four books are subject to a recall procedure and will be destroyed, Hachette said
PARSI: French publisher Hachette on Friday said it had recalled a dictionary that described the Israeli victims of the October 7, 2023 attacks as “Jewish settlers” and promised to review all its textbooks and educational materials.
The Larousse dictionary for 11- to 15-year-old students contained the same phrase as that discovered by an anti-racism body in three revision books, the company told AFP.
The entry in French reads: “In October 2023, following the death of more than 1,200 Jewish settlers in a series of Hamas attacks, Israel decided to tighten its economic blockade and invade a large part of the Gaza Strip, triggering a major humanitarian crisis in the region.”
The worst attack in Israeli history saw militants from the Palestinian Islamist group kill around 1,200 people in settlements close to the Gaza Strip and at a music festival.
“Jewish settlers” is a term used to describe Israelis living on illegally occupied Palestinian land.
The four books, which were immediately withdrawn from sale, are subject to a recall procedure and will be destroyed, Hachette said, promising a “thorough review of its textbooks, educational materials and dictionaries.”
France’s leading publishing group, which came under the control of the ultra-conservative Vincent Bollore at the end of 2023, has begun an internal inquiry “to determine how such an error was made.”
It promised to put in place “a new, strengthened verification process for all its future publications” in these series.
President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said that it was “intolerable” that the revision books for the French school leavers’ exam, the baccalaureat, “falsify the facts” about the “terrorist and antisemitic attacks by Hamas.”
“Revisionism has no place in the Republic,” he wrote on X.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, with 251 people taken hostage, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Authorities in Gaza estimate that more than 70,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces during their bombardment of the territory since, while nearly 80 percent of buildings have been destroyed or damaged, according to UN data.
Israeli forces have killed at least 447 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire took effect in October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
