German Foreign Minister to Tour Middle East From Sunday

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the end of a joint press statement at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 15 November 2022. (EPA)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the end of a joint press statement at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 15 November 2022. (EPA)
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German Foreign Minister to Tour Middle East From Sunday

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the end of a joint press statement at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 15 November 2022. (EPA)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press statement with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the end of a joint press statement at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 15 November 2022. (EPA)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Israel Sunday for her fourth visit since the outbreak of the Gaza war, a ministry spokesman said.

Baerbock will hold talks with Israel's new Foreign Minister Israel Katz, as well as President Isaac Herzog, foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer told a regular press conference on Friday.

She will also meet with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki.

Baerbock will subsequently travel to Egypt to meet with her counterpart Sameh Shoukry and also planned to visit Lebanon, according to AFP.

The talks would focus on the "dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza, the situation in the West Bank and the extremely volatile situation on the Israel-Lebanon border", as well as efforts to secure the release of more Hamas hostages, Fischer said.

Baerbock said at a Berlin press conference on Friday that the Israelis and Palestinians would "only be able to live side by side in peace if the security of the one means the security of the other".

"Our position on the so-called day after is very clear," she said, speaking alongside her counterpart from Luxembourg.

"There must be no occupation of the Gaza Strip, no expulsions and no reduction in the size of the territory. And at the same time there must be no more danger to Israel from the Gaza Strip," Baerbock said.

Fears have grown that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could spread, after one of the militant group's leaders was assassinated in the Beirut suburbs.

In addition to the killing, widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, the Israeli army has for months traded tit-for-tat fire across the border with Hezbollah militants.

The risk of escalation was "very real", Fischer said. Germany on Wednesday urged its citizens to leave Lebanon as quickly as possible.

Relentless Israeli bombardment and its ground invasion in Gaza after Hamas's October 7 attack have killed at least 22,438 people, most of them women and children.



Taiwan Says It Receives First High-Tech Rocket Systems from US

Taiwanese conscripts carry Kestrel rocket launchers during a live-fire drill inside a military base in Tainan City, Taiwan, 06 November 2024. (EPA)
Taiwanese conscripts carry Kestrel rocket launchers during a live-fire drill inside a military base in Tainan City, Taiwan, 06 November 2024. (EPA)
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Taiwan Says It Receives First High-Tech Rocket Systems from US

Taiwanese conscripts carry Kestrel rocket launchers during a live-fire drill inside a military base in Tainan City, Taiwan, 06 November 2024. (EPA)
Taiwanese conscripts carry Kestrel rocket launchers during a live-fire drill inside a military base in Tainan City, Taiwan, 06 November 2024. (EPA)

Taiwan has received its first batch of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from the United States, Taipei's defense ministry said Wednesday, as the island races to boost its defenses against a potential Chinese attack.

Washington has long been Taipei's most important ally and biggest arms supplier -- angering Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its own territory.

In the past five decades, the United States has sold Taiwan billions of dollars worth of military equipment and ammunition, including F-16 fighter jets and warships.

HIMARS, a truck-mounted unit that can launch multiple precision-guided rockets at the same time, have been used by Ukraine against Russia in their ongoing conflict.

Taiwan purchased 29 units from the United States and the first 11 have arrived on the island, deputy defense minister Po Horng-huei told a parliamentary committee.

Po did not say how much Taiwan paid for the order or when they arrived.

In its 2023 defense report, Taiwan said "in the past two years, the US agreed to supply and sell weapons and equipment to Taiwan, including HIMARS".

China has ramped up military pressure on self-ruled Taiwan in recent years to pressure Taipei into accepting its claims of sovereignty, which the island's government rejects.

Beijing has refused to rule out using force to bring the island under its control.

While US arms supplies to Taiwan are enshrined into law, Washington has long maintained a so-called "strategic ambiguity" when it comes to deploying troops to defend the island.

Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo told reporters on Tuesday that Taipei was "determined to continuously strengthen our self-defense capabilities" and this should be made clear to whoever wins the US presidential election.

Taiwan would be massively outgunned in terms of troop numbers and firepower in any war with China and in recent years has jacked up spending on its military.

Taipei allocated a record $19 billion for 2024 and next year's budget is set to hit a new high, as it seeks to bolster a more agile defense approach.

Covid-19 supply chain disruptions and US weapons shipments to Ukraine and Israel have slowed American arms sales to Taiwan.

The backlog now exceeds $20 billion, according to Washington think tank Cato Institute.