Taiwan’s President Meets Senior U.S. Lawmakers in California |
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is scheduled to meet with (Reuters) U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a bipartisan group of Congress members in the Los Angeles area today. While the White House has called the visit private and unofficial, it will be the highest-level meeting with a Taiwanese president on U.S. soil since the United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979.
Tsai’s California visit, along with her earlier stop in New York last week, has drawn threats of unspecified retaliation from China, which claims independently governed Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to unify the island with the mainland. In New York, Tsai met with another group of bipartisan lawmakers who are preparing a bill that would introduce economic sanctions against China if it invaded Taiwan, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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“[Tsai] has earned a place in the eyes of Americans, but also other parts of the world, as being a reliable interlocutor. It is very hard for China’s propaganda machine to paint her as some kind of maniacal attack robot on all things China,” the America First Policy Institute’s Steve Yates tells the New York Times.
“If Western policymakers exaggerate the risk of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, they might inadvertently create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead of worrying that Beijing will gin up a foreign crisis to bolster its standing at home or assuming that Beijing feels pressured to invade in the near term, the United States should focus on arresting—or at least decelerating—the action-reaction spiral that has steadily ratcheted up tensions and made a crisis more likely,” Cornell University’s Jessica Chen Weiss writes for Foreign Affairs.
This Backgrounder explains why China-Taiwan relations are so tense.
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Macron Consults Biden Ahead of China Visit |
U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke about (Reuters) their “joint willingness to engage China to accelerate the end of the war in Ukraine” ahead of Macron’s trip to China this week, Macron’s office said. |
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Taliban Forbid Women From Working With UN |
The Taliban ordered women (UN News) to stop working for the UN mission in Afghanistan, a spokesperson for the UN secretary-general said.
India: An avalanche near the China-India border yesterday killed seven tourists (PTI), Indian officials said. Three were from Nepal and the rest from other parts of India.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Iran Appoints Envoy to UAE After Seven-Year Vacancy |
The appointment comes shortly after (Al Jazeera) the restoration of diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had downgraded relations with Iran following a spike in Iran-Saudi Arabia tensions in 2016.
Israel/Palestinian territories: Israeli forces and fighters in the Gaza Strip traded air strikes (AP) after Israeli police clashed with Palestinian worshippers at Jerusalem’s holy site, which is known by Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. No casualties were immediately reported after the strikes.
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South Africa Lifts Disaster Regulations Imposed Over Electricity Crisis |
The national state of disaster declared in February gave the government extraordinary powers to respond to sweeping power outages. It had been challenged in court (Reuters) over concerns that it would enable corruption.
Ukraine/Africa/Europe: African students who were studying in Ukraine at the time of Russia’s invasion and then fled to Europe have received limited support from European countries compared to Ukrainian refugees, the New York Times reported. Many have been unable to finish their studies in Europe or their home countries, so some have returned to Ukraine.
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U.S. Announces $2.6 Billion Aid Package for Ukraine |
The new military support includes $500 million worth (AP) of munitions and air defense interceptors from U.S. stockpiles, as well as longer-term aid such as satellite terminals and funding to train Ukrainian forces. This article lays out U.S. aid to Ukraine in six charts.
France: Authorities announced indictments (Al-Monitor) against three former and current advisors to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes. The charges are related to the reported torture and killing of a French Syrian high school counselor and his son in 2013. The accused will likely be tried in absentia.
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Mexican President Asks China to Help Track Fentanyl Shipments |
The request comes as Mexico faces pressure from U.S. lawmakers to crack down on fentanyl smuggling across the southern U.S. border. Many of the chemicals used to make the drug come from China (FT), which suspended anti-narcotics cooperation with the United States after then U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.
This Backgrounder looks at Mexico’s long war on drugs. Peru: The legislature rejected a bid (Bloomberg) to open impeachment proceedings against President Dina Boluarte Zegarra, who has been in office for less than four months. About a third of lawmakers voted to move forward with the proceedings.
CFR’s Will Freeman and Ariana Rios unpack the regional implications of Peru’s political crisis.
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Liberal Judge Wins Closely Watched Race for Wisconsin Supreme Court |
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz triumphed over her conservative challenger in yesterday’s race, putting the court under liberal control (AP) for the first time in fifteen years. Abortion rights were a central issue in the election, and much of Protasiewicz’s campaign focused on the issue. |
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Council on Foreign Relations |
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