Chinese military reconnaissance plane enters Taiwan’s ADIZ Chinese warship on 24-hour standby in waters east of Taiwan: Sankei Shimbun Japan seeks record defense budget to counter Chinese military Taliban enjoy moment of victory as focus shifts to challenges ahead Trump Says US Should Demand Taliban Return Equipment Under Threat of Military Force China, our ‘great neighbour’, will help Afghanistan forge peace: Taliban hina pledges to help rebuild Afghanistan and, while blaming US for chaos, insists it pays too South Korean lawmakers to vote on cameras in operating rooms after surgery deaths China's economy under pressure as factory activity slows in Aug, services contract Haiti's hunger crisis bites deeper after devastating quake A Chinese military plane entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Monday morning (Aug. 30), marking the 14th intrusion this month. A People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shaanxi Y-8 reconnaissance airplane flew into the southwest corner of the ADIZ, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND). In response, Taiwan sent aircraft, issued radio warnings, and deployed air defense missile systems to track it. Beijing this month has sent a mix of spotter planes, fighter jets, bombers, and helicopters into Taiwan’s identification zone, while last month all the planes were slow-flying Y-8 turboprops.
On Aug. 12, three Y-8s of different variants, along with four Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, were tracked in the ADIZ. On Aug. 17, two Y-8s and a KJ-500 airborne early warning and control plane were seen in the zone along with six J- 16s and two H-6 bombers. On Aug. 26, in addition to a Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane, a Harbin Z-9 anti-submarine warfare helicopter was tracked in the identification zone. The following day, two Harbin Z-8 transport helicopters and a Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane were observed there. Japanese media on Monday (Aug. 30) reported that a Chinese warship is being deployed 24-hours a day in the waters between Yonaguni Island and northeast Taiwan. On Monday, the Sankei Shimbun cited Japanese government officials and Taiwanese military leaders as saying that a Chinese warship is being kept on 24-hour standby between Okinawa Prefecture's Yonaguni Island and Taiwan's Yilan County. The Japanese government is interpreting this deployment as an
"action to raise military tensions" and is analyzing China's intentions, according to the newspaper. The report added that the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) had already been regularly sending two warships near the 27th parallel, north of the Diaoyutai Islands (Senkaku Islands) in Okinawa Prefecture, before adding the patrol near Yonaguni Island. Sources told the newspaper that the ship is located north-northwest of Yonaguni Island and first appeared there late last year. Japan's Ministry of Defense has positioned a coastal observation unit of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces on Yonaguni to monitor movements in the waters between the island and Taiwan. The report cited Japanese officials as asserting that China considers the waterway a strategic chokepoint and is attempting to limit the movements of Taiwanese naval vessels. A Taiwan Air Force F-16 fighter jet plowed nose-first into a ditch next to a runway at Pingtung Air Base while rehearsing an emergency landing.
With the 37th annual Han Kuang military exercises set to start on Sept. 13, Air Force fighter jets have been practicing emergency landings on shortened stretches of the runway in preparation for drills on nearby highways. During one of these practice landings on a rain-soaked runway on Tuesday morning (Aug. 31), an F-16 suddenly lost control. The F-16 (no. 6829) touched down at 6:32 a.m. on a noticeably wet runway, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The plane maintained a straight course until it deployed its parachute, when it suddenly veered to the left and rolled off the runway.
The plane then tipped nose-down into a grassy ditch. Several emergency vehicles rushed to the scene, but the pilot was found to be uninjured. Recently, the US Navy's missile destroyer Kidd and the Coast Guard's cutter Munro sailed through the Taiwan Strait and publicly hyped it up. The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) organized troops to monitor and guard against the whole operation of the US ships. The real intention of the U.S. military's swaggering navigation is to stir up troubles and create provocations in the Taiwan Strait, deliberately disturb and
sabotage the regional security situation, so as to achieve the purpose of "containing China with Taiwan". Another insidious purpose of the US fanning the flames in the Taiwan Strait at this time is to try to shift the blame and focus. Some analysts believe that the Therefore, the United States made some news in the Taiwan Strait in the hope of backing up the "Taiwan independence" forces and alleviating its current dilemma. On the day the US ships transited through the Taiwan Strait, the PLA Eastern Theater Command not only immediately organized troops to monitor and guard against, but also quickly dispatched warships, bombers, and fighters to conduct a joint alert patrol in the sea and airspace over the East China Sea and also to carry out drills on joint air-sea assault and so on. A series of actions in a fast and intensive manner with clear targets, especially to strengthen the attacks on maritime targets, are a strong response to the provocations of the US military. Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Tan Kefei said the U.S. side has frequently carried out similar provocative acts that are very heinous in nature,
which fully shows that the United States is the biggest saboteur of peace and stability and the biggest maker of security risks in the Taiwan Strait. We sternly warn the United States that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. If the United States undermines peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, it will pay a heavy price. Japan's Defense Ministry on Tuesday requested a 5.4 trillion yen ($49 billion) budget for fiscal 2022, aiming to accelerate enhancement of capabilities in new domains and promote the development of new technologies to deal with China's growing military presence. The request would exceed a record 5.3 trillion yen allocated in the initial budget for fiscal 2021 started in April, rising for the tenth consecutive year. It does not include outlays linked to hosting U.S. military bases, which have been about 200 billion yen annually.
The ministry said it also left out the cost of upgrading 70 F-15 fighter jets. It aims to install Lockheed Martin's air-to-surface standoff missile and will continue negotiations with the United States to decrease the estimated total cost of 398 billion yen. Such islands include the Japanese-controlled, Beijing-claimed Senkaku Islands, which China calls Diaoyu, in the East China Sea. The ministry requested 37.9 billion yen for standoff missiles to be launched from various platforms, including ships and aircraft. As the last US military transport aircraft lifted off from Kabul airport on Monday night, marking the end of two decades of American troops in Afghanistan, celebratory gunfire rang out the capital as Taliban fighters revelled in the end of America’s longest war. Just two weeks earlier, Taliban fighters had taken Kabul and toppled the government without force as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. It was a
rise to power so swift that it had taken the US and even Taliban leadership by surprise. After the US announced its departure just before midnight local time, an exit made with little fanfare and no official handover, Taliban spokesperson Qari Yusuf said in statement: “The last US soldier has left Kabul airport and our country gained complete independence.” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said the US would work with Turkey and Qatar – where US diplomatic operations now reside – to help them get the Kabul airport up and running again. “This would enable a small number of daily charter flights, which is a key for anyone who wants to depart from Afghanistan moving forward,” he said.
Talks are ongoing as to who will now run Kabul airport. The Taliban have asked Turkey to handle logistics while they maintain control of security, but President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has not yet accepted that offer. It was not immediately clear which airlines would agree to fly in and out of Kabul. The Taliban hopes to work with China to forge peace in Afghanistan and will make good on its pledge to keep the country from being a staging ground for terrorists, its spokesman Suhail Shaheen has told This Week in Asia. “We are ready to exchange views with China on how to forge ahead in terms of boosting our mutual relations, establishing peace in the region, and its assistance in the reconstruction of Afghanistan,” said Suhail. “China, our great neighbouring country, can have a constructive and positive role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and also in the economic development and prosperity of the people of Afghanistan. It is expected [that] China [will] play its role.”
He reiterated the Taliban’s commitment not to allow militant groups to use Afghanistan as a base for attacks, saying it had “given a clear message to all that no one can use the soil of Afghanistan against neighbouring and other countries”. China has emerged as one of the strongest voices calling for the Islamist group to be given the space and help to prove itself, even as communities of Afghans, including women, continue trying to flee in memory of the Taliban’s oppression during its previous period of rule. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday that all parties should communicate with the Taliban and guide the resurgent group through the fundamental changes taking place in Afghanistan. Last week’s Kabul suicide bombing and subsequent security incidents involving Islamic State Khorasan – as the group’s Afghan arm is known – were likely to make China nervous and push it towards cooperation with the Taliban, said Faran Jeffery, deputy director of the Britain-based Islamic Theology of Counterterrorism organisation. With the collapse of President Ashraf Ghani’s regime and the US military withdrawal, Islamic State Khorasan saw two of its three enemies out of the picture. “Islamic State Khorasan has always seen the Taliban as a bigger problem than its other two enemies,” said Jeffery.
He said China saw Islamic State Khorasan as a “serious threat that could harm Chinese interests in Afghanistan as well as in the surrounding region, such as in Pakistan”, where Chinese nationals have been targeted for attacks. China has asked the Taliban to cut ties with the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which has a presence in Afghanistan and is blamed by Beijing for terrorist violence in the far western Chinese province of Xinjiang. In a sign that tensions between the two rivals will persist, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued its criticism and demands for the United States on Tuesday, following Washington’s announcement that its mission in the Central Asian nation had ended. The development marked a new start in Afghanistan for peace and development, but the US must reflect on its failure, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in a press conference. “The US started the war on Afghanistan and this is the reason for public livelihood and economic difficulty in the nation. The US has to take up
responsibility and cannot just leave the chaos behind. The US has to work with the international community to provide economic and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, maintain the normal operations of the government, maintain social stability, stop the currency depreciation and inflation, and let Afghanistan go on the path of peace,” he said. “China will support the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan on the basis of respecting the wish and demand of Afghanistan.” Hours before Washington’s announcement, China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Geng Shuang called for an investigation into the killing of civilians by US-led forces in Afghanistan over the past two decades. Geng said the chaos in Afghanistan was directly related to the hasty withdrawal of foreign troops. “We hope that relevant countries will realise that withdrawal is not the end of responsibility, but the beginning of reflection and correction,” he said.
Former President Trump on Monday said the U.S. should respond with "unequivocal Military force" if the Taliban refuse to return the billions of dollars worth of military equipment that was left behind in Afghanistan or "at least bomb the hell out of" the hardware. "Never in history has a withdrawal from war been handled so badly or incompetently as the Biden Administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. In addition to the obvious, ALL EQUIPMENT should be demanded to be immediately returned to the United States, and that includes every penny of the $85 billion dollars in cost," Trump said in a statement. After the Afghan government fell to the Taliban, it was reported that billions in U.S. weaponry had been seized by the Taliban, including guns, cars and numerous aircraft. The aircraft are virtually useless without training, though their seizure likely gives the Taliban propaganda tools.
As of June 30, Afghan forces are believed to have had 211 aircrafts in their inventory that were supplied by the U.S. At least 46 of those aircrafts are now in Uzbekistan after Afghan troops used them to flee the Taliban. “We don't have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone, but certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban,” said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan in an interview earlier this month. “And obviously, we don't have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport.” GOP Reps. James Comer (Ky.) and Rep. Glenn Grothman (Wis.) — both members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee — sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last week requesting information on the Pentagon's plans to recover these weapons. “We are left wondering if the Biden Administration has a plan to prevent the Taliban from using our weapons against the U.S. or its allies, or selling them to foreign adversaries, like China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea,” the lawmakers wrote.
The United Nations Security Council on Monday (August 30) passed a resolution on Afghanistan that calls on the Taliban to honor its commitments to allow Afghans and foreign nationals to leave the country. The resolution passed with 13 countries in favor, none against, but countries abstained, Russia and China. "It is imperative that the international community remain unified and resolute, including and holding the Taliban accountable for its commitments," said U.S. ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. "One such commitment, which the Taliban has made publicly and privately, is that those who wish to leave Afghanistan will be able to do so. Today's resolution signals just how seriously the Security Council takes that commitment," added Thomas-Greenfield.
The resolution also calls for unhindered humanitarian access, and that the human rights of women and minorities are protected. Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said his country was "forced to abstain" on adopting the resolution because it "ignored our principled concerns. Firstly, despite the fact that the resolution was proposed against the backdrop of a terrible terrorist attack, the authors categorically refused to refer to a passage on the fight against terrorism containing internationally recognized terrorist organizations," citing the lack of mention of ISIL and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement in the draft. "We were disappointed with the abstentions of Russia and China," said Thomas- Greenfield. "We took into account some of the concerns that both the Chinese and the Russians raised in the draft resolution that was eventually approved. So the fact that they abstained, I think they will have to explain themselves." European Union states are determined to prevent uncontrolled migration from Afghanistan following the takeover of the country by the Taliban, a draft statement prepared for a meeting on Tuesday (August 31) says.
EU governments are eager to avoid a repeat of the chaotic influx of refugees and migrants in 2015 that caught the bloc unprepared and sowed divisions among them, fuelling support for far-right parties as camps in Greece, Italy and elsewhere swelled. "Based on lessons learned, the EU and its member states stand determined to act jointly to prevent the recurrence of uncontrolled large-scale illegal migration movements faced in the past, by preparing a coordinated and orderly response," interior ministers will say at the meeting, according to the draft statement seen by Reuters. The position emerged as the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR warned that up to half a million Afghans could flee their homeland by the end of the year. The International Rescue Committee, meanwhile, said the EU should create a new scheme to resettle at least 30,000 Afghans from the region in the next 12 months. The charity estimated there were already 2.6 million Afghan refugees, mainly hosted by Iran and Pakistan.
"The EU must uphold the right to seek asylum for people fleeing Afghanistan," the IRC said in a statement. Caritas Europa also called on the EU not to abandon Afghans. Separately, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he wanted to see the bloc create a military rapid response force to intervene in future crises and help stabilise fragile democracies abroad. South Korean lawmakers are due to vote soon on whether to require hospitals to place surveillance cameras in operating rooms after a series of medical accidents involving unqualified staff who stood in for surgeons.
If the bill is approved by parliament, South Korea will be the first developed country to require closed-circuit cameras to record surgical procedures. The push for having cameras in operating theatres intensified after a case in 2016 in which surgeons at private clinics were accused of assigning nurses or underqualified doctors to perform procedures, sometimes with fatal results. Kwon Dae-hee, then a university junior, died of hemorrhage in October 2016 after 49 days in coma as a result of a jawline surgery in Seoul, his mother Lee Na-geum, 61, told Reuters on Monday (August 30). Lee obtained CCTV footage of her son's surgery, but she said there are hundreds of parents who will never know if their children's death on the operating table was the result of malpractice. "There are so many unfortunate bereaved families who cannot reveal the truth because they don't have physical evidence when a healthy person dies in an operating room. I hope that the truth can be revealed to the bereaved families through CCTV footage and there will be no more wrongful deaths," Lee said.
The bill was met with objections from doctors, hospitals and medical groups, including the 140,000-member Korean Medical Association (KMA), which claims video-monitoring will undermine trust in doctors, violate patient privacy and discourage doctors from taking risks to save lives. German unemployment fell more than expected in August, official figures showed on Tuesday, as a recovery continues in Europe's largest economy despite rising COVID-19 figures. The Labour Office said the number of people out of work fell by 53,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.538 million. A Reuters poll had forecast a fall of 40,000. The seasonally-adjusted jobless rate fell to 5.5%, the lowest since March 2020, when Germany entered its first coronavirus lockdown. Germany coronavirus cases have been rising since July, but the number of deaths have fallen with more than of half of the population fully vaccinated, pushing the government to stop using the coronavirus infection rate as its yardstick for deciding on restrictions.
Labour Office Director Detlef Scheele said unemployment figures were unusually positive for August. "Normally, unemployment increases during the summer break because, for example, jobs are kept on hold till after the holidays. In the last 10 years unemployment in summer has risen by on average 40,000 so it is notable that unemployment has fallen for this month and last month," Short-term work has also started to drop as the corona effects decrease, Scheele said, adding that the labour market was doing surprisingly well, all things considered.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has long had one of the world's highest levels of food insecurity. Last year, Haiti ranked 104 out of the 107 countries on the Global Hunger Index. By September, the United Nations said 4 million Haitians - 42% of the population - faced acute food insecurity. This month's earthquake has exacerbated the crisis: destroying crops and livestock, leveling markets, contaminating waterways used as sources of drinking water, and damaging bridges and roads crucial to reaching villages like Nan Konsey. The number of people in urgent need of food assistance in the three departments hardest- hit by the earthquake - Sud, Grand'Anse and Nippes - has increased by one-third since the quake, from 138,000 to 215,000, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
"The earthquake rattled people who were already struggling to feed their families," Lola Castro, WFP's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said in a statement. Nan Konsey, a remote farming village not far from the epicenter, the rest of the community have camped alongside the main highway, about a 40-minute walk from their village, hoping to flag down the rare passing truck to ask for food and water. In recent years, climate change has made Hispaniola - the island Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic - increasingly vulnerable to extreme droughts and hurricanes.
Spiraling food costs, economic decline and political instability have worsened the shortages. These are FBNC's morning International news Thank you for watching See you in the next FBNC's morning International news
2021-09-01