Biden Vows ‘to Protect’ Country in State of the Union Speech, Refers to China Balloon

07 February 2023, US, Washington: US President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union Address in the House Chamber at the US Capitol. (dpa)
07 February 2023, US, Washington: US President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union Address in the House Chamber at the US Capitol. (dpa)
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Biden Vows ‘to Protect’ Country in State of the Union Speech, Refers to China Balloon

07 February 2023, US, Washington: US President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union Address in the House Chamber at the US Capitol. (dpa)
07 February 2023, US, Washington: US President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union Address in the House Chamber at the US Capitol. (dpa)

US President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday that he would cooperate with great power rival China, but vowed "to protect our country," a reference to a Chinese spy balloon that traveled across America last week.

"I'm committed to work with China where we can advance American interests and benefit the world," Biden said. "But make no mistake about it: as we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country. And we did."

Beijing denied the balloon was an espionage device.

Biden had been expected to address competition with China, but his speechwriters would have added that remark after the balloon traversed the skies above the United States - dominating the news cycle - before a US fighter jet shot it down over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who sat with other members of the cabinet in the House of Representatives as Biden spoke, canceled a planned trip to Beijing amid the uproar.

Republicans seized on the balloon incident to assail Biden's decision, based on military advice, not to shoot it down sooner for fear debris could harm people on land.

Republicans, who took control of the House of Representatives last month, have pushed a hard line in dealings with Beijing, but it is one of the few truly bipartisan sentiments in the deeply divided US Congress.

Biden touted legislation passed last year with strong support from both his fellow Democrats and Republicans that boosted the US semiconductor industry, and promised more.

"I will make no apologies that we are investing to make America strong. Investing in American innovation, in industries that will define the future, that China intends to be dominating," Biden said.

Asked on Wednesday about Biden's remarks, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said:" the Chinese side has always believed that China-US relations are not a zero-sum game in which you lose and I win, and you rise and I fall."

"China does not shy away from or fear competition, but we oppose using competition to define the entire China-US relationship," Mao said.

Democrats have joined Republicans in demanding more information about the balloon and the Biden administration's policy toward the government in Beijing.

The White House has taken a more nuanced approach, seeking to tamp down tensions with China that flared in August when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, visited Taiwan.

Pelosi's visit prompted Beijing to conduct military drills near the Chinese-claimed island. Tensions could spike again if the new House speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, visits Taiwan as expected this year.

Seven weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed lawmakers from the same podium, Biden also denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine and touted US support for the government in Kyiv.

Congress has approved more than $100 billion in aid and military assistance for Ukraine and partner nations since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

"Together we did what America always does at our best. We led. We united NATO. We built a global coalition," Biden said, vowing to stand with Ukraine "as long as it takes."

A few Republicans - led by those most closely aligned to former President Donald Trump - have questioned whether Washington should keep sending so much money to the government in Kyiv.

But most of the party - including its leaders and top members of national security committees in Congress - expect the money to continue. Biden's comments about Ukraine were met with loud applause and cheers from both Republicans and Democrats.



UN-backed Team Focusing on Human Rights in Palestinian Areas Announce Resignations

Chair of the Commission Navi Pillay delivers her statement of the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, during the 56th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, File)
Chair of the Commission Navi Pillay delivers her statement of the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, during the 56th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, File)
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UN-backed Team Focusing on Human Rights in Palestinian Areas Announce Resignations

Chair of the Commission Navi Pillay delivers her statement of the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, during the 56th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, File)
Chair of the Commission Navi Pillay delivers her statement of the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, during the 56th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, File)

A team of three independent experts working for the UN's top human rights body with a focus on Israel and Palestinian areas say they are resigning, citing personal reasons and a need for change, in the panel's first such group resignation.

The resignations, announced Monday by the UN-backed Human Rights Council that set up the team, come as violence continues in Palestinian areas with few signs of letup in the Israeli military campaign against Hamas and other militants behind the Oct. 7 attacks.

The Israeli government has repeatedly criticized the panel of experts, known as the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, and denied their repeated requests to travel to the region or otherwise cooperate with the team, The AP news reported.

Council spokesman Pascal Sim said the move marked the first joint resignations of Commission of Inquiry members since the council was founded in 2006. The team said in a statement that the resignations had “absolutely nothing to do with any external event or pressure," while also saying they provided a good opportunity to reconstitute the panel.

Navi Pillay, 83, a former UN human rights chief who has led the commission for the last four years, said in a letter to the council president that she was resigning effective Nov. 3 because of “age, medical issues and the weight of several other commitments.”

In an interview, Pillay rejected accusations from critics who accused her of antisemitism or turning a blind eye to the Hamas attacks. She recalled how she worked closely with some Jewish lawyers in the fight against apartheid in her native South Africa and was invited to Israel as the UN rights chief from 2008 to 2014.

"Name-calling is not affecting me in any way,” she said by phone. “We have striven to remain independent. That’s what we are. We’re an independent panel. We don’t take sides ... We look at the evidence and see the direction it’s taking us.”

“People who accuse us of being anti-Semitic ... they twist the facts, they invent facts, falsify facts. I would like to see them challenge the report: Which of the facts that we have set out are incorrect?” she said.

Her commission condemned the Oct. 7 attacks three days afterward in a news release that said at the time that reports "that armed groups from Gaza have gunned down hundreds of unarmed civilians are abhorrent and cannot be tolerated. Taking civilian hostages and using civilians as human shields are war crimes.”

She expressed regret that Israel didn't allow the commission access to Israel or Palestinian areas, saying "I feel that’s an injustice to Israeli Jews because we’re not taking on board their opinion or what they’re saying.”

Pillay said she had been recently diagnosed with low platelet count and her condition has restricted her ability to travel.

Her team said it wanted to give the rights council's president — currently Ambassador Jürg Lauber of Switzerland — the ability to pick new members.

Team member Chris Sidoti said Pillay's retirement marked “an appropriate time to re-constitute the commission.” The third member, Miloon Kothari, did not provide his reasons in a letter announcing his resignation effective 0ct. 31.

Neither the independent experts nor the council have any power over countries, but aim to spotlight rights abuses and collect information about suspected perpetrators that could be used by the International Criminal Court or other courts focusing on international justice.

The letters were sent to the council president last week but only became public Monday.

Last week, the US government announced sanctions against another independent expert mandated by the council, Francesca Albanese, who has also focused on Israel and the Palestinians. Albanese has accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinians, a claim Israel has denied.

Albanese said in an interview last week with The Associated Press that she was shocked by the US decision. She has not resigned.