TAIPEI: A newly commissioned Chinese aircraft carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait for a second time Thursday, Taipei’s defense ministry said, just weeks before the island goes to polls to elect a new president.
The ministry said it was fully monitoring the Shandong, China’s first domestically built carrier, and accompanying ships as they traversed the strait separating China from self-ruled Taiwan.
Taiwan’s presidential office said in a statement that China had an “international responsibility” to contribute to cross-strait and regional peace and welfare.
Last month Beijing confirmed it had sent the new carrier through the strait as part of routine training, sparking concerns from Washington’s de facto embassy in Taiwan.
At the time, foreign minister Joseph Wu accused China of attempting to intervene in Taiwan’s elections, saying “voters won’t be intimidated.”
The sail-bys come ahead of Taiwan’s January 11 presidential elections, with Beijing-skeptic President Tsai Ing-wen seeking a second term against a challenger who favors warmer ties with China.
Beijing has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan since Tsai came to power in 2016, as her government refuses to acknowledge that the democratic island is part of “one China.”
Tsai — who has voiced support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement — has described the elections as a fight for Taiwan’s freedom and democracy.
China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
Beijing announced earlier this month that the Shandong had officially entered service.
Its only other carrier — the Liaoning — has passed through the Taiwan Strait several times in recent years, most recently in June.
US navy ships periodically conduct “freedom of navigation” operations in the Taiwan Strait, while Canadian and French ships have also sailed through the waterway this year.
China views any ships passing through the strait as a breach of its territorial sovereignty — while the US and many other nations see the route as international space.
China aircraft carrier sails through Taiwan Strait again
https://arab.news/25q3b
China aircraft carrier sails through Taiwan Strait again
- Shandong, China’s first domestically built carrier, and accompanying ships traversed the strait separating China from self-ruled Taiwan
- China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary
South Africa declares national disaster as floods batter region
- Authorities continued to search for survivors and recover bodies at the weekend, but flooding had started receding in some areas
- Rivers burst their banks and swallowed entire neighborhoods in several regions of Mozambique
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa on Sunday declared a national disaster after widespread flooding that destroyed homes and killed dozens, while thousands sought shelter in neighboring Mozambique.
Heavy rains and storms have battered the two southern African countries for weeks, claiming more than 30 lives in South Africa’s northeastern Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces.
Rivers burst their banks and swallowed entire neighborhoods in several regions of Mozambique, displacing thousands including a woman who was forced to give birth on a roof as she sheltered from flood waters.
“I classify the disaster as a national disaster,” the head of South Africa’s National Disaster Management Center Elias Sithole said in a statement Sunday.
Authorities continued to search for survivors and recover bodies at the weekend, but flooding had started receding in some areas, including the famed Kruger National Park, which had been forced to close and evacuate guests Thursday.
“Day visitation to the park will resume as of tomorrow,” South African National Parks announced on social media, still urging visitors to “exercise caution.”
- Baby born on a roof -
In Mozambique, rescue efforts were slow to reach survivors who sheltered on roofs and in trees.
At least eight people had died in the country since December 21, according to official data, but numbers were expected to rise as more people were declared missing.
A resident of Gaza province north of Maputo, Chauna Macuacua, told AFP that her sister-in-law had given birth on a roof where the family was waiting to be rescued since Thursday.
“We’ve been here for 4 days. My nephew was born yesterday around 11 PM (2100 GMT), and we still haven’t had any rescue or assistance for the baby and mother,” she said.
Wilker Dias, the director of a civil society group called Plataforma Decide, said he had received reports of several people missing.
“I think the numbers of dead will increase in the next hours,” he told AFP.
South Africa also dispatched rescue teams to southern Mozambique Sunday after a car carrying five members of a South African mayoral delegation was swept away by floodwaters in Chokwe, 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Maputo.
According to the latest figures released by the Mozambican government on Friday, more than 173,000 people had been affected by the floods across the country.
