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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
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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.

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US Agency Focused on Foreign Disinformation Shuts Down

The State Department's Global Engagement Center has faced scrutiny and criticism from Republican lawmakers and Elon Musk. Mandel NGAN / AFP
The State Department's Global Engagement Center has faced scrutiny and criticism from Republican lawmakers and Elon Musk. Mandel NGAN / AFP
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US Agency Focused on Foreign Disinformation Shuts Down

The State Department's Global Engagement Center has faced scrutiny and criticism from Republican lawmakers and Elon Musk. Mandel NGAN / AFP
The State Department's Global Engagement Center has faced scrutiny and criticism from Republican lawmakers and Elon Musk. Mandel NGAN / AFP

A leading US government agency that tracks foreign disinformation has terminated its operations, the State Department said Tuesday, after Congress failed to extend its funding following years of Republican criticism.
The Global Engagement Center, a State Department unit established in 2016, shuttered on Monday at a time when officials and experts tracking propaganda have been warning of the risk of disinformation campaigns from US adversaries such as Russia and China, AFP reported.
"The State Department has consulted with Congress regarding next steps," it said in a statement when asked what would happen to the GEC's staff and its ongoing projects following the shutdown.
The GEC had an annual budget of $61 million and a staff of around 120. Its closing leaves the State Department without a dedicated office for tracking and countering disinformation from US rivals for the first time in eight years.
A measure to extend funding for the center was stripped out of the final version of the bipartisan federal spending bill that passed through the US Congress last week.
The GEC has long faced scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, who accused it of censoring and surveilling Americans.
It also came under fire from Elon Musk, who accused the GEC in 2023 of being the "worst offender in US government censorship [and] media manipulation" and called the agency a "threat to our democracy."
The GEC's leaders have pushed back on those views, calling their work crucial to combating foreign propaganda campaigns.
Musk had loudly objected to the original budget bill that would have kept GEC funding, though without singling out the center. The billionaire is an advisor to President-elect Donald Trump and has been tapped to run the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with reducing government spending.
In June, James Rubin, special envoy and coordinator for the GEC, announced the launch of a multinational group based in Warsaw to counter Russian disinformation on the war in neighboring Ukraine.
The State Department said the initiative, known as the Ukraine Communications Group, would bring together partner governments to coordinate messaging, promote accurate reporting of the war and expose Kremlin information manipulation.
In a report last year, the GEC warned that China was spending billions of dollars globally to spread disinformation and threatening to cause a "sharp contraction" in freedom of speech around the world.