WASHINGTON: A senior US military official warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders.
Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of self-ruled Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions.
But they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control.
Samuel Paparo, Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan, head of the Chinese army’s Southern Theater Command talked via video call on Tuesday China time.
Paparo “underscored the importance of sustained lines of communication between the US military and the PLA,” a statement from his command said.
“Such discussions between senior leaders serve to clarify intent and reduce the risk of misperception or miscalculation,” he said.
But he also raised recent “unsafe interactions with US allies” by the Chinese side.
Paparo “urged the PLA to reconsider its use of dangerous, coercive, and potentially escalatory tactics in the South China Sea and beyond,” the statement said, referring to the Chinese military by its official name.
Wu’s Southern Theater Command is responsible for the Beijing military’s activities in the South China Sea, where Chinese vessels have engaged in a series of high-profile confrontations with Philippine ships in recent months.
China claims almost all of the economically vital body of water despite competing claims from other countries and an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
This month, Beijing insisted it was defending its “rights” in the waters, after the Philippines released footage appearing to show a Chinese coast guard vessel ramming one of its ships during an at-sea confrontation.
Beijing’s readout of the talks said that Wu held “an in-depth exchange of views” with his US counterpart.
The two officials discussed “issues of common concern,” it added.
The talks were the first of their kind since China scrapped military communications with the United States in 2022 in response to then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
Tuesday’s high-level military dialogue between the geopolitical rivals comes on the heels of the first visit to China by a US national security adviser since 2016.
Top White House aide Jake Sullivan visited Beijing last month, where he held talks with senior army official Zhang Youxia.
Sullivan’s meeting with Zhang saw the officials agree to hold a call between the two sides’ theater commanders in the near future, the White House said.
The top aide also raised the importance of “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea and “stability” in the Taiwan Strait, Washington said.
Zhang, in turn, warned that the status of the self-ruled island was “the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-US relations.”
“China demands that the US halts military collusion with Taiwan, ceases arming Taiwan, and stops spreading false narratives related to Taiwan,” Zhang added.
He also asked the US to “work with China to promote communication and exchanges between the two militaries and jointly shoulder the responsibilities of major powers.”
US military warns Beijing against ‘dangerous’ South China Sea moves in talks
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US military warns Beijing against ‘dangerous’ South China Sea moves in talks
- Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of self-ruled Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions
Milton returns to Category 5 as Florida braces for next hurricane
TAMPA: Storm-battered Florida braced for a direct hit from Hurricane Milton which restrengthened to a Category 5 storm Tuesday, as President Joe Biden begged residents to flee what he warned could be the worst natural disaster to hit the US state in a century.
As the second huge hurricane in as many weeks rumbled toward Florida’s west coast, a sense of looming catastrophe spread as people raced to board up homes and flee.
“It’s a matter of life and death, and that’s not hyperbole,” Biden said from the White House, urging those under orders to leave to “evacuate now, now, now.”
Biden’s warning came amid a bitter pre-election quarrel, with his Democratic vice president Kamala Harris castigating her rival Donald Trump for peddling false claims that recovery efforts after the first storm, Hurricane Helene, were diverted away from Republicans.
As of Tuesday, Milton restrengthened to the maximum Category 5 designation, generating maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.
“Fluctuations in intensity are likely while Milton moves across the eastern Gulf of Mexico, but Milton is expected to be a dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the west-central coast of Florida Wednesday night,” the NHC said.
Governor Ron DeSantis, at a news conference, ticked off town after town and county after county that are in danger.
“Basically the entire peninsula portion of Florida is under some type of either a watch or a warning,” he said.
Airlines put on extra flights out of Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers and Sarasota, as highways clogged up with escaping traffic and gas stations sold out of fuel.
Hurricane expert Michael Lowry warned that in the Tampa area, home to some three million people, Milton’s storm surge “could double the storm surge levels observed two weeks ago during Helene,” which brought massive flooding.
Biden postponed a major trip to Germany and Angola to oversee the federal response, as storm relief efforts have emerged as a political battleground ahead of the presidential election on November 5.
Trump has tapped into frustration about the emergency response after Hurricane Helene and fueled it with disinformation, falsely claiming that disaster money had been spent instead on migrants.
Biden on Tuesday slammed Trump’s comments as “un-American,” while presidential hopeful Harris called the claims the “height of irresponsibility and frankly callousness.”
“I fear that he really lacks empathy on a very basic level,” she said.
In a scene of frantic preparation repeated all over Florida, dozens of cars lined up at a sports facility in Tampa to pick up sandbags to protect their homes from flooding.
John Gomez, 75, ignored official advice and traveled all the way from Chicago to try to save a second house he has in Florida.
“I think it’s better to be here in case something happens,” Gomez said as he waited in line.
Scientists say global warming has a role in intense storms as warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapor, providing additional energy for storms, which exacerbates their winds.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday released footage from a specialist plane called “Miss Piggy” as it flew into the hurricane to collect data.
Paperwork, equipment and personal items were sent flying as the plane was shaken by wind and rain.
On the ground, communities hit by the deadly Hurricane Helene, which slammed Florida late last month, have rushed to remove debris that could become dangerous projectiles as Milton approaches.
In Mexico’s Yucatan, strong winds toppled trees and pylons, and heavy rain caused flooding, but the peninsula avoided major damage or casualties as the storm barreled offshore.
Across the southeastern United States, emergency workers are still struggling to provide relief after Helene, which killed at least 230 people across several states.
It hit the Florida coastline on September 26 as a major Category 4 hurricane, causing massive flooding in remote inland towns in states further north, including North Carolina and Tennessee.
Helene was the deadliest natural disaster to hit the US mainland since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, with the death toll still rising.
Harris holds slight edge nationally over Trump: poll
- The national poll conducted by Siena College and The New York Times found Harris ahead by 49 percent to 46 percent
NEW YORK: Kamala Harris has taken a slim lead over Donald Trump in the US presidential race, a new poll showed Tuesday, as the Democrat slammed her rival for “weakness” during a media blitz four weeks before the election.
Vice President Harris and Republican former president Trump — who was doing a three-hit airwaves blitz of his own Tuesday — are deadlocked as they scramble to get out the vote and reach the sliver of Americans who remain undecided.
The national poll conducted by Siena College and The New York Times found Harris ahead by 49 percent to 46 percent, with registered voters crediting her more than Trump with representing change and caring about people like themselves, but giving the edge to Trump on who is the stronger leader.
The rivals were tied at 47 percent in a mid-September Times/Siena poll shortly after the two clashed in their presidential debate.
The overall result is largely in line with an aggregate of national polling collated by RealClearPolitics.com, which has Harris ahead by two percentage points.
In the seven battleground states seen as likely to determine the election outcome, the race is even tighter.
With Trump critics warning the election is nothing less than a referendum on American democracy, Harris conceded the knife-edge race is keeping her up at night.
“I literally lose sleep — and have been — over what is at stake in this election,” she told radio icon Howard Stern in a 70-minute live interview Tuesday.
“This is an election that is about strength versus weakness, and weakness as projected by someone who puts himself in front of the American people and does not have the strength to stand in defense of their needs, their dreams, their desires.”
Harris, the new poll showed, has begun making inroads with the rival party, with nine percent of Republicans saying they planned to support her, up from five percent last month.
She touched on the issue during a Tuesday appearance on popular ABC television show “The View,” where she talked about campaigning recently with Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney.
There are more than 200 former officials from past Republican presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, as well as officials tied to Republican heavyweights John McCain and Mitt Romney, who have endorsed her, Harris said.
“We really are building a coalition around some very fundamental issues, including that we love our country and that we have to put country before party,” she said.
The Democrat, who turns 60 next week, also accused Trump of “full-time perpetuating lies and misinformation,” and said voters have grown “exhausted” with the strategy.
Trump meanwhile maintained his aggressive posture, attacking Harris as a “very low intelligence person” and claiming she has been “missing in action” over the federal response to Hurricane Helene — even though Harris traveled to the disaster zone last week.
And the 78-year-old Republican insisted on conservative influencer Ben Shapiro’s podcast that he has the stamina to finish strong on the campaign trail.
“I’ve worked about 28 days in a row, I have about 29 days left” before the election, he said, “and I’m not taking any days off.”
In addition to the poll, Harris got another potential boost Tuesday after a pro-Palestinian group threatening to draw votes from her in swing state Michigan came out strongly against Trump.
The Uncommitted movement stopped short of explicitly endorsing Harris, but warned in a video that “it can get worse” under Trump.
Major US pro-Palestinian group comes out against Trump
- Israel’s military offensive has killed at least 41,965 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians
WASHINGTON: Democrat Kamala Harris got a potential boost Tuesday after a pro-Palestinian group threatening to draw votes from her in swing state Michigan came out strongly against her Republican opponent Donald Trump.
The Uncommitted movement stopped short of explicitly endorsing Harris, but warned in a video on social media that “it can get worse” under Trump. One of the group’s co-founders, Lexi Zeidan, said voters should consider “the better antiwar approach” rather than “who is the better candidate.”
The Harris campaign is worried about losing votes in places like Michigan, where anger among the state’s large Arab American community over the White House’s support for Israeli operations in Gaza and Lebanon has threatened to narrow already thin margins for Democrats.
The Uncommitted shift to openly opposing Trump, who is close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will come as some relief to Harris, the vice president.
However, Abandon Harris, another group of anti-war voters, has endorsed fringe Green Party candidate Jill Stein, potentially turning her into a spoiler that would help elect Trump in swing states decided by just a few thousand votes.
Both groups, drawing heavily from Arab, Palestinian and Muslim voters, emerged in protest at President Joe Biden’s backing of Israel despite mounting civilian casualties in Gaza.
Harris has attempted to walk a tightrope on the issue, saying at the Democratic presidential nomination she would get a Gaza ceasefire “done” and ensure Palestinians realize their right to “dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
But Harris has rejected protesters’ demands, such as an arms embargo on Israel — a longtime key US ally.
Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 41,965 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations has described as reliable.
Pro-Palestinian activists target UK offices of Germany’s Allianz
LONDON: Pro-Palestinian activists targeted the British offices of German financial services firm Allianz on Tuesday, daubing the outside with red paint in protest over the company’s links to Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems.
Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the protest on social media platform X, and said demonstrators had attacked 10 Allianz offices in the UK and “occupied” the insurer’s UK headquarters in Guildford, south of London, overnight.
“Without insurance, Elbit couldn’t operate in Britain,” Palestine Action said in its post.
In addition to urging customers to boycott certain financial firms, demonstrators have expanded protests to include defacing buildings using red paint to symbolize the bloodshed in Gaza.
Allianz is the latest global financial company to have suffered such vandalism. British lender Barclays has also been a target for pro-Palestinian protesters.
Bangladesh’s Yunus says no elections before reforms
- Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was appointed the country’s “chief adviser’ after a student-led uprising toppled ex-PM Hasina
- The 84-year-old microfinance pioneer is helming a temporary administration, to tackle the challenge of restoring democratic institutions
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim leader has refused to give a timeframe for elections following the ouster of his autocratic predecessor, saying in an interview published Tuesday that reforms are needed before polls.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was appointed the country’s “chief adviser” after the student-led uprising that toppled ex-premier Sheikh Hasina in August.
The 84-year-old microfinance pioneer is helming a temporary administration, to tackle what he has called the “extremely tough” challenge of restoring democratic institutions.
“None of us are aiming at staying for a prolonged time,” Yunus said of his caretaker government, in an interview published by the Prothom Alo newspaper.
“Reforms are pivotal,” he added. “If you say, hold the election, we are ready to hold the election. But it would be wrong to hold the election first.”
Hasina’s 15-year rule saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.
More than 600 people were killed in the weeks leading up to her ouster, according to a preliminary United Nations report which said the figure was likely an underestimate.
Her government was also accused of politicizing courts and the civil service, as well as staging lopsided elections, to dismantle democratic checks on its power.
Yunus said he had inherited a “completely broken down” system of public administration that needed a comprehensive overhaul to prevent a future return to autocracy.
“Reforms mean we will not allow a repetition of what happened in the past,” he added.
Yunus also batted away criticism at the numerous politicians, senior police officers and other Hasina loyalists arrested on murder charges after her government’s ouster.
The arrests have prompted accusations that Yunus’ caretaker government would hold politicized trials of senior figures from Hasina’s regime.
But Yunus said it was his intention that any criminal trials initiated against those arrested would remain free from government interference.
“Once the judicial system is reformed, then the issues will come forward, about who will be placed on trial, how justice will be carried out,” he said.
At least 25 journalists — considered by Hasina’s opponents to be partisans of her government — have been arrested for alleged violence against protesters since her downfall.
Press watchdog Reporters Without Borders has condemned those arrests as “systematic judicial harassment.”
But Yunus insisted he wanted media freedom.
“Write as you please,” he told the newspaper.
“Criticize. Unless you write, how will we know what is happening or not happening?“