China: Taiwan is Not Part of US but Chinese Territory

China's Wang Yi, state councillor and foreign minister, waves as he leaves a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, November 24, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato/Pool/File Photo
China's Wang Yi, state councillor and foreign minister, waves as he leaves a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, November 24, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato/Pool/File Photo
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China: Taiwan is Not Part of US but Chinese Territory

China's Wang Yi, state councillor and foreign minister, waves as he leaves a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, November 24, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato/Pool/File Photo
China's Wang Yi, state councillor and foreign minister, waves as he leaves a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, November 24, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato/Pool/File Photo

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on Sunday that Taiwan is not part of the United States but Chinese territory, in the latest diplomatic invective against US policy since a visit to Taiwan by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The United States has been engaging in "sophistry" on the Taiwan question, and China's actions on Taiwan have been just, appropriate and legal, as well as being aimed at safeguarding the country's sacred sovereignty and territorial integrity, Wang said during a visit to Bangladesh.

Taiwan's defense ministry said it had detected 66 Chinese air force planes and 14 Chinese warships conducting activities in and around the Taiwan Strait on Sunday.

The Chinese military will from now on conduct "regular" drills on the eastern side of the median line of the Strait, Chinese state television reported, citing a commentator.

The median line in the narrow strait between the island of Taiwan and mainland China is an unofficial line of control that military aircraft and battleships from either side normally do not cross.

The median line has never been legally recognized, and is an "imaginary" line drawn up by the US military for their combat requirements in the previous century, according to the state television commentator.



France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
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France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

Two French citizens held in Iran for almost three years have not had consular services for more than a year prompting Paris to prepare a complaint at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), France's foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris have been held since May 2022. Iranian state television aired a video later that year with them appearing to confess to acting on behalf of French intelligence services, something categorically denied by Paris.
Held in Tehran's Evin prison, France has accused Iran of keeping them in conditions akin to torture.
French officials have toughened their language towards Iran, notably over the advancement of its nuclear program and regional activities, but also the detention of European citizens in the country.
Speaking after a rare cabinet meeting to broadly discuss Iran on Wednesday, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot indicated Paris would soon take the matter of violating the right to consular protection to the ICJ.
"We are putting together a complaint that we will file at the ICJ," Foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told reporters at a news conference on Thursday, adding that the Kohler and Paris were being held in "shocking" conditions.
According to Reuters, Lemoine declined to say when it would be filed and acknowledged that procedures at the ICJ were long, but insisted that Tehran needed to be called out on the issue because the embassy and consulate had not had access to their citizens for more than a year.
"It's in violation of Iran's obligations," he said, citing the Vienna convention on consular relations.
In recent years, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.
Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, denies taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage.