عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Taiwan Strait Not China’s, Taipei Says after Canadian Warship Passes Through

A Taiwan Coast Guard ship travels past the coast of China, in the waters off Nangan island of Matsu archipelago in Taiwan August 16, 2022. (Reuters)
A Taiwan Coast Guard ship travels past the coast of China, in the waters off Nangan island of Matsu archipelago in Taiwan August 16, 2022. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Taiwan Strait Not China’s, Taipei Says after Canadian Warship Passes Through

A Taiwan Coast Guard ship travels past the coast of China, in the waters off Nangan island of Matsu archipelago in Taiwan August 16, 2022. (Reuters)
A Taiwan Coast Guard ship travels past the coast of China, in the waters off Nangan island of Matsu archipelago in Taiwan August 16, 2022. (Reuters)

The Taiwan Strait does not belong to China and any attempts to create tension threaten global security, the island's defense ministry said on Monday, after Beijing criticized Canada for sailing a warship through the sensitive waterway.

The US Navy and occasionally ships from allied countries like Canada, Britain and France transit the strait, which they consider an international waterway, around once a month.

Taiwan also considers it an international waterway but China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, says the strategic waterway belongs to it.

Last week the first US Navy ships transited the strait since President Donald Trump took office last month, drawing an angry reaction from China, which said the mission increased security risks.

Taiwan's defense ministry said China had responded to those sailings by carrying out "joint combat readiness patrols."

"The Taiwan Strait is absolutely not within the scope of China's sovereignty," the ministry said in a statement.

Freedom of navigation by "friendly and allied" countries through the strait are concrete actions that highlight the strait's legal status, and China is trying to create a false appearance that the strait is an "internal issue," it added.

"Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is not only a matter of concern for Taiwan, but also a common concern for free and democratic countries around the world," the ministry said.

"Any deliberate attempts by the communist's military to create tension in the Taiwan Strait will pose a real threat to global security," the ministry said.

Neither China's defense ministry nor the Taiwan Affairs Office responded to requests for comment.

Taiwan has complained of repeated Chinese military activities near the island.

Its defense ministry said on Monday morning in its daily update of China's actions over the previous 24 hours that it had detected 41 Chinese military aircraft and nine ships around the island, concentrated in the strait and off Taiwan's southwest.

China's military lambasted Canada on Monday for sailing the warship through the strait.

Canada's actions "deliberately stirred up trouble" and undermined peace and stability in the strait, the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command said in a statement.

"Theater forces maintain a high level of alert at all times and resolutely counter all threats and provocations," it added.

Canada's Department of National Defense said in a statement that the Royal Canadian navy ship HMCS Ottawa recently conducted a transit throughout the Taiwan Strait.

"Canada has undertaken a number of transits through the Taiwan Strait to uphold the important principle of operating freely through international waterways in accordance with international law,” the department said.

Taiwan's defense ministry said on Sunday that the ship had sailed in a northerly direction, adding that Taiwanese forces also kept watch.

Taiwan's foreign ministry welcomed the sailing.

"Canada has once again taken concrete actions to defend the freedom, peace and openness of the Taiwan Strait and has demonstrated its firm position that the Taiwan Strait is international waters," it said on Sunday.

In October, a US and a Canadian warship sailed together through the strait, less than a week after China conducted a new round of war games around the island.

Taiwan's democratically elected government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only that the island's people can decide their future.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Japan and Australia Urge Calm after Chinese Radar Locks on Japanese Jets

Printed Chinese and Japanese flags are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights
Printed Chinese and Japanese flags are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights
TT
TT

Japan and Australia Urge Calm after Chinese Radar Locks on Japanese Jets

Printed Chinese and Japanese flags are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights
Printed Chinese and Japanese flags are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights

Japan and Australia urged calm on Sunday after Chinese military aircraft locked radar on Japanese fighter jets, a month after the Japanese leader’s recent remarks on Taiwan that stirred tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Japan formally protested the incident, calling it “an extremely regrettable” act and “a dangerous" one that "exceeded the scope necessary for safe aircraft operations.”

“We have lodged a strong protest with the Chinese side and demanded strict preventive measures,” Koizumi said.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said China’s military aircraft J-15 took off from the Chinese carrier Liaoning near the southern island of Okinawa on Saturday and “intermittently” latched its radar on Japanese F-15 fighter jets on two occasions Saturday, for about three minutes in the late afternoon and for about 30 minutes in the evening. It was not made clear whether the radar lock incident involved the same Chinese J-15 both times.

Japanese fighter jets that had been scrambled to pursue Chinese jets that were conducting aircraft takeoff and landing exercises in the Pacific. They were pursuing the Chinese aircraft at a safe distance and did not take actions that could be interpreted as provocation, Kyodo News agency said, quoting defense officials, when the radar lock happened. There was no breach of Japanese airspace, and no injury or damage was reported from the incident.

Senior Colonel Wang Xuemeng, spokesperson for the Chinese navy, defended China’s flight training near the Miyako island Saturday, saying Beijing announced the exercises beforehand and accused Japanese aircraft of “harassment.”

“We solemnly asked the Japanese side to immediately stop slandering and smearing, and strictly restrain its frontline actions. The Chinese Navy will take necessary measures in accordance with the law to resolutely safeguard its own security and legitimate rights and interests,” Wang said in a statement posted Sunday on the Chinese Ministry of Defense website.

Relations between Japan and China have worsened after Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in early November its military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.

Japan and Australia, whose defense ministers held their scheduled talks in Tokyo on Sunday, expressed worry over the development.

“We are deeply concerned by the actions of China in the last 24 hours,” Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told a joint news conference Sunday after holding talks with Koizumi. “We expect those interactions to be safe and professional."

Australia does “not want to see any change to the status quo across the Taiwan Straits,” Marles said, adding that China is his country's largest trade partner and he wants to have productive relations with Beijing.

“We continue to advocate to China about these issues again, in a very calm, sensible and moderate way,” he said.

Japan and Australia, during Sunday talks, agreed to bolster military ties to lead the region’s multilateral defense cooperation. The two ministers agreed to form a comprehensive “framework for strategic defense coordination” and discuss further details.

Tokyo has been accelerating its military buildup while expanding its defense ties beyond its only treaty ally, the United States. It now considers Australia to be a semi-ally.

Marles also visited a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard in Nagasaki on Saturday to observe production of the upgraded Mogami-class frigate that his country chose in September as a replacement for its aging fleet.

Saturday's radar lock is believed to be the first involving Japanese and Chinese military aircraft. In 2013, a Chinese warship targeted a radar on a Japanese destroyer, Kyodo said.

Fighter jets use radars for search operations or fire control ahead of a missile launch.

Elsewhere in the Pacific, the Philippine coast guard said China fired three flares toward a fisheries bureau plane on patrol in the South China Sea on Saturday. Chinese forces fire flares to warn planes to move away from what they consider their airspace over the disputed waters.

World

Sri Lanka Issues Landslide Warnings as Cyclone Toll Hits 618

A Sri Lankan flood victim sorts out his belongings by railway tracks in Kandy. The authorities have issued fresh landslide warnings as monsoon storms make hillsides unstable. AFP
A Sri Lankan flood victim sorts out his belongings by railway tracks in Kandy. The authorities have issued fresh landslide warnings as monsoon storms make hillsides unstable. AFP
TT
TT

Sri Lanka Issues Landslide Warnings as Cyclone Toll Hits 618

A Sri Lankan flood victim sorts out his belongings by railway tracks in Kandy. The authorities have issued fresh landslide warnings as monsoon storms make hillsides unstable. AFP
A Sri Lankan flood victim sorts out his belongings by railway tracks in Kandy. The authorities have issued fresh landslide warnings as monsoon storms make hillsides unstable. AFP

Sri Lankan authorities issued fresh landslide warnings on Sunday with rains lashing areas already devastated by a powerful cyclone, as the death toll rose to 618.

More than two million people -- nearly 10 percent of the population -- have been affected by last week's floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, the worst on the island this century, said AFP.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said monsoon storms were adding more rain and making hillsides unstable, including the central mountainous region and the north-western midlands.

Helicopters and planes were being used on Sunday to supply communities cut off by landslides in the center of the country.

The Sri Lanka Air Force said it had received a planeload of relief supplies from Myanmar on Sunday, the latest batch of foreign aid.

The government has confirmed 618 dead -- 464 from the lush tea-growing central region -- while 209 people remain unaccounted for.

The number of people in state-run refugee camps had dropped to 100,000 from a peak of 225,000 as floodwaters receded across the island by Sunday, the DMC said.

More than 75,000 homes were damaged, including close to 5,000 that were completely destroyed, it added.

The government on Friday unveiled a major compensation package to rebuild homes and revive businesses wiped out by the natural disaster, which hit the island as it was emerging from its 2022 economic meltdown.

A senior official earlier said recovery and reconstruction might cost up to $7 billion.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday it was considering Sri Lanka’s request for an additional $200 million to help with rebuilding.

The money is on top of the $347 million tranche due later this month, part of a four-year, $2.9 billion IMF bailout loan agreed in 2023.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told parliament on Friday that Sri Lanka’s economy had made a significant recovery, but was not strong enough to withstand the latest shock alone.

Survivors will be offered up to 10 million rupees ($33,000) to buy land in a safer location and build a new house, the finance ministry said in a statement late on Friday.

One million rupees is being offered in compensation for each person killed or left permanently disabled.

The government did not say how much the package would cost, raising concerns given the country's recent economic turbulence.

The central bank has ordered commercial lenders, both state-owned and private, to reschedule loans.

World

At Least 18 Migrants Die as Inflatable Boat Sinks South of Greek Island of Crete; 2 Rescued

Eighteen migrants drowned when their boat overturned 40 km south of the tiny southern Greek island of Chrysi, a coast guard official said on Saturday, while two were rescued from the sea. (AP/File)
Eighteen migrants drowned when their boat overturned 40 km south of the tiny southern Greek island of Chrysi, a coast guard official said on Saturday, while two were rescued from the sea. (AP/File)
TT
TT

At Least 18 Migrants Die as Inflatable Boat Sinks South of Greek Island of Crete; 2 Rescued

Eighteen migrants drowned when their boat overturned 40 km south of the tiny southern Greek island of Chrysi, a coast guard official said on Saturday, while two were rescued from the sea. (AP/File)
Eighteen migrants drowned when their boat overturned 40 km south of the tiny southern Greek island of Chrysi, a coast guard official said on Saturday, while two were rescued from the sea. (AP/File)

At least 18 migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in an inflatable boat died when it capsized south of the island of Crete, Greek authorities said Saturday.

The half-sunken boat was located Saturday by a passing Turkish merchant vessel, authorities said. Two survivors were rescued and a rescue operation to find more was ongoing, said The Associated Press.

Greece is a major entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and fatal accidents are a common occurrence. The short but perilous journey from Türkiye’s coast to nearby Greek islands in inflatable dinghies or small boats, often in poor conditions, used to be the major route until increased patrols and alleged pushbacks reduced crossing attempts. In recent months, arrivals from Libya to Crete have surged.

Authorities have not yet determined where the boat came from.

A ship and a plane from European border agency Frontex, a Greek Coast Guard helicopter and three merchant vessels are taking part in the search operation.