عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Blinken to Address US National Security Strategy Related to China in Coming Weeks

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget in Washington, US, April 26, 2022. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget in Washington, US, April 26, 2022. (Reuters)
TT
20
TT

Blinken to Address US National Security Strategy Related to China in Coming Weeks

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget in Washington, US, April 26, 2022. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget in Washington, US, April 26, 2022. (Reuters)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday he will address in the coming weeks a US national security strategy to deal with the emergence of China as a great power.

"I will have an opportunity I think, very soon in the coming weeks to speak publicly and in some detail about the about the strategy," Blinken said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney noted the latest defense authorization act requires the president to develop a comprehensive strategy to address the threat China poses to the global order and asked Blinken about the military agreement recently signed by the Solomon Islands and China.

"That is alarming," Romney said.

Blinken said the State Department sent a high-level delegation to the Solomon Islands, where it plans to open an embassy to have a day in, day out presence there.

"We share the concern about this agreement," Blinken said. The US delegation met with the islands' prime minister, who vowed there would be no Chinese military base on the island, he said.

"We will be watching that very, very closely in the weeks and months ahead," Blinken said.

Most Viewed

 
World

9 Killed in Courthouse Attack in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province, Iranian Media Report

Iranian security forces. (EPA file)
Iranian security forces. (EPA file)
TT
20
TT

9 Killed in Courthouse Attack in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province, Iranian Media Report

Iranian security forces. (EPA file)
Iranian security forces. (EPA file)

At least nine people were killed in an armed attack by the Jaish al-Adl Baluch group on a courthouse in Iran’s restive Sistan-Baluchestan province on Saturday, including three of the assailants, state media reported. 

Another 22 were injured, according to thereport. 

Jaish al-Adl confirmed the deaths of its three members in the clashes with security forces in Zahedan, the capital of the far southeastern province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.  

Sistan-Baluchestan is home to Iran’s Baluch minority, who have long complained of economic marginalization and political exclusion. 

A toddler and a 60-year-old woman were among those killed, as well as three soldiers and law enforcement personnel assigned to the courthouse, the head of the province's judiciary told IRNA. He did not identify the sixth dead person.  

He said the attackers wore explosive vests and carried grenades. It was not clear if they had detonated them. 

Jaish al-Adl, which claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its Telegram account, said it had killed at least 30 members of the judiciary and security forces. It said it targeted judges and court personnel, whom it accused of issuing death sentences and house demolition orders to Baluch citizens. 

"We warn all judges and employees of the judiciary that Baluchestan will no longer be a safe place for them and death will follow them like terrifying shadows until retribution," the group said in its statement. 

It blamed security forces for the deaths of civilians, saying they had fired indiscriminately. 

The Baluch human rights group HAALVSH, quoting eyewitnesses, said several judiciary staff members and security personnel were killed or wounded when the assailants stormed the judges’ chambers. 

Sistan-Baluchestan is frequently hit by clashes between security forces and armed groups, including militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy. Tehran accuses some of them of ties to foreign powers and involvement in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.