Chinese warships, fighters encircle Taiwan, simulate precision strikes
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- Angered over President Tsai Ing-wen's visit to the US last week, China
has launched a three-day military drill to intimidate Taiwan and as a warning
to the US. The patrol also has a standby nuclear-armed ballistic missile
submarine (see pix below).
- Meanwhile, Tsai's meeting with Kevin McCarthy indicates a bipartisan move
in the US, probably a Biden plan for legislation to end the ambiguity over
official relations with Taiwan.
- And, next year's election in Taiwan will be fought by the US and China by
proxy.
- The US seeks to check the growing Chinese military presence in the Pacific
with new alliances.
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TAIPEI, April 9: Chinese warships, including an aircraft carrier, and fighters
have encircled Taiwan in response to its President Tsai Ing-wen's visit to
the US days ago. The patrol also has a standby nuclear-armed ballistic missile
submarine.
China launched a three-day drill on Saturday. Of 71 warplanes despatched,
41 fighter jets crossed the Taiwan Strait median line.
On Sunday, the second day of its drills, China simulated precision strikes
against key targets on Taiwan and its surrounding waters after encircling the
island.
Beijing had condemned Tsai's Wednesday meeting with Speaker of the US House
of Representatives Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.
The US embassy in Taiwan said on Sunday that the United States was monitoring
China’s drills and is “comfortable and confident” it has sufficient resources
and capabilities regionally to ensure peace and stability.
The US supports Taiwan with military aid. Japan is also an ally. An emerging
alliance that also includes Australia is poised to check China's growing military
infuence in the Pacific.
The US stand has been that it would intervene militarily if China were to invade
Taiwan. It pledges to supply Taiwan with defensive weapons. And it has been
supplying. Officially, the US has a "One-China" policy, which recognises only
Beijing.
Meanwhile in Taiwan the presidential election next year is hotting up to be
fought by the US and China by proxy with an Opposition likely aligning with
the mainland and the result would be that Taiwan will be caught in a larger warfare.
China considers the self-ruled island as its breakaway province. President
Xi Jinping has said several times "reunification" with Taiwan "must be fulfilled."
He is ready to use force.
The island is separated from the mainland China by 130 km of Taiwan Strait,
which is part of the South China Sea and connects it with the East China Sea in the
north.
When former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan
in August last year also China had conducted military exercises, including
firing of ballistic missiles, in the seas around Taiwan and even closer to Japanese
islands.
At that time it was thought to be a publicity stunt as Xi was seeking re-election
as the President. China had imposed a two-term limit on its President in 1990
but in 2018 it was removed so that he could seek re-election every time, for
life. This year, therefore, again he was re-elected, the rubber-stamp parliament handing
him a third term as President on March 10.
Tsai Ing-wen is the President of Taiwan (Republic of China - ROC) since 2016.
Taiwan is important for the world as it depends on it for everyday requirements
for electronic equipments like mobiles, laptops, watches and games consoles
which are powered by computer chips made there. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
Company or TSMC controls half of the world's market.
Taiwan the contentious issue
The Chinese Government sees Taiwan (Republic of China - ROC) as a part of the
mainland (People's Republic of China - PRC) and wants to annexe while Taiwan
remains as an independent democratic republic. Taiwan has been an independent
island since after the Chinese civil war.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seized control of most of China and declared
the seized territory as PRC in 1949 when the civil war between the ROC government
(Kuomintang - KMT), which was ruling the mainland China for long, and the CCP
ended. That is, Chiang Kai-shek's (Kuomintang) ROC troops were defeated by Mao
Zedong's Communist army. Since then the ROC government moved to Taiwan and formed
the government there. Chiang ruled for 25 years.Two Chinas came into being.
The CCP or the PRC could not seize Taiwan then and has been at it since then.
With the increased international trade and maritime activity and the strategic
significance of Taiwan Straits falling between Taiwan and China, Beijing is
all the more wanting to seize Taiwan as its. However, continuing the old rivalry
between the ROC and the PRC, just as the PRC claims the Taiwan territory, ROC
claims the mainland. ROC had constitutionally amended its name to Taiwan in
1991. Taiwan's sovereignty is not internationally recognised although it has
an elected government and a constitution. (Only 13 countries recognise Taiwan).
The ROC lost its UN seat as "China" in 1971.
In World War II, in 1945, Japan had surrendered Taiwan and the then ruling
ROC government of mainland China was entrusted with the administration of
the island territory. Its status has since continued to be ambiguous at
international fora, even after the ROC government was established there after
its defeat and withdrawal from mainland in 1949. Even later neither of the two
warring Chinas was a party to the Treaty of Peace of 1951.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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