US announces $345 million military aid package for Taiwan

https://arab.news/rg4yy

WASHINGTON: The US on Friday announced $345 million in military aid for Taiwan, in what is the Biden administration’s first major package drawing on America’s own stockpiles to help Taiwan counter China. The White House’s announcement said the package would include defense, education and training for the Taiwanese. Washington will send man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles, according to two US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters ahead of the announcement. US lawmakers have been pressuring the Pentagon and White House to speed weapons to Taiwan. The goals are to help it counter China and to deter China from considering attacking, by providing Taipei enough weaponry that it would make the price of invasion too high. While Chinese diplomats protested the move, Taiwan’s trade office in Washington said the US decision to pull arms and other materiel from its stores provided “an important tool to support Taiwan’s self-defense.” In a statement, it pledged to work with the United States to maintain “peace, stability and the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.” Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense also expressed its appreciation in a statement Saturday morning that thanked “the US for its firm commitment to Taiwan’s security.” The package is in addition to nearly $19 billion in military sales of F-16s and other major weapons systems that the US has approved for Taiwan. Delivery of those weapons has been hampered by supply chain issues that started during the COVID-19 pandemic and have been exacerbated by the global defense industrial base pressures created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The difference is that this aid is part of a presidential authority approved by Congress last year to draw weapons from current US military stockpiles — so Taiwan will not have to wait for military production and sales. This gets weapons delivered faster than providing funding for new weapons. The Pentagon has used a similar authority to get billions of dollars worth of munitions to Ukraine. Taiwan split from China in 1949 amid civil war. Chinese President Xi Jinping maintains China’s right to take over the now self-ruled island, by force if necessary. China has accused the US of turning Taiwan into a “powder keg” through the billions of dollars in weapons sales it has pledged. The US maintains a “One China” policy under which it does not recognize Taiwan’s as an independent country and has no formal diplomatic relations with the island in deference to Beijing. However, US law requires a credible defense for Taiwan and for the US to treat all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern.” Getting stockpiles of weapons to Taiwan now, before an attack begins, is one of the lessons the US has learned from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Pentagon deputy defense secretary Kathleen Hicks told The Associated Press earlier this year. Ukraine “was more of a cold-start approach than the planned approach we have been working on for Taiwan, and we will apply those lessons,” Hicks said. Efforts to resupply Taiwan after a conflict erupted would be complicated because it is an island, she said. China regularly sends warships and planes across the center line in the Taiwan Strait that provides a buffer between the sides, as well as into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, in an effort to intimidate the island’s 23 million people and wear down its military capabilities. Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, said in a statement Friday that Beijing was “firmly opposed” to US military ties with Taiwan. The US should “stop selling arms to Taiwan” and “stop creating new factors that could lead to tensions in the Taiwan Strait,” Liu said.

LONDON: An investigation into the sinking of a vessel off the coast of Greece in which hundreds of migrants died is urgently required, given the differing accounts of the tragedy from survivors and Greek authorities, human rights groups said on Thursday.

A fishing boat with an estimated 750 people on board sank in the Ionian Sea near Pylos on June 14. Only 104 people were rescued. Among them were Egyptians, Syrians, Palestinians and Afghans.

According to survivors, the boat was being towed by a Hellenic Coast Guard rescue vessel, which caused it to sway and eventually capsize. Greek authorities deny this allegation.

They also reject accusations that pleas from those on board to be rescued were ignored, saying the migrants only requested food and water, expressed their intention to proceed to Italy, and threw back rescue ropes offered by the coast guard.

Delegations from nongovernmental organizations Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International visited Greece between July 4 and 13 to investigate the circumstances of the tragedy. They interviewed 19 survivors, four relatives of missing people, representatives of other NGOs, the UN and international agencies, as well as officials from the coast guard and Greek police.

“The disparities between survivors’ accounts of the Pylos shipwreck and the authorities’ version of the events are extremely concerning” said Judith Sunderland, associate Europe and Central Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

“The Greek authorities, with support and scrutiny from the international community, should ensure that there is a transparent investigation to provide truth and justice for survivors and families of the victims, and hold those responsible to account.”

Two criminal investigations have been launched by Greek authorities, one into the alleged people smugglers responsible for the voyage and another into the actions of the coast guard, which the rights groups said must “comply with international human rights standards of impartiality, independence, and effectiveness.”

Frontex, the EU’s border agency, has been criticized over shortcomings in its response to the incident, and European authorities have called for an inquiry.

“There is an urgent need for a thorough, transparent and effective investigation, and I agree that this is important for many reasons, not least for the Greek reputation,” European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said recently.

Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have called on Brussels to review its policies on migrants and said their own investigations will continue.

A full official inquiry should seek to “clarify any responsibility for both the sinking of the ship and delays or shortcomings in the rescue efforts that may have contributed to the appalling loss of life,” they said.

Esther Major, Amnesty’s senior research advisor for Europe, added: “This preventable tragedy demonstrates the bankruptcy of EU migration policies predicated on the racialized exclusion of people on the move and deadly deterrence.

“To ensure this is the last, and not the latest, in an unconscionably long list of tragedies in the Mediterranean, the EU should reorient its border policies toward rescue at sea and safe and legal routes for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants.”

WASHINGTON D.C: Donald Trump headed to Washington on Thursday to answer to charges that he worked to overturn the 2020 presidential election, with the former president set to appear in a federal courthouse mere blocks from the US Capitol building that his supporters stormed to try to block the peaceful transfer of power. Trump departed from his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club after 1 p.m. to be flown by private plane to Washington. In what’s become a familiar but nonetheless stunning ritual, he will be processed by law enforcement and enter a not guilty plea in front of a judge. He’s expected to then be released as the case proceeds, enabling him to rejoin the campaign trail as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024. An indictment Tuesday from Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith charges Trump with four felony counts related to his efforts to undo his presidential election loss in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, including conspiracy to defraud the US government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. The charges could lead to a yearslong prison sentence in the event of a conviction. Law enforcement officials ramped up security outside the courthouse, including by setting up barricades. The Republican former president was the only person charged in the case, though prosecutors referenced six unnamed co-conspirators, mostly lawyers, they say he plotted with, including in a scheme to enlist fake electors in seven battleground states won by Democrat Joe Biden to submit false certificates to the federal government. The indictment chronicles how Trump and his Republican allies, in what Smith described as an attack on a “bedrock function of the US government,” repeatedly lied about the results in the two months after he lost the election and pressured his vice president, Mike Pence, and state election officials to take action to help him cling to power. This is the third criminal case brought against Trump in less than six months. He was charged in New York with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actor during the 2016 presidential campaign. Smith’s office also has charged him with 40 felony counts in Florida, accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents at his Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago, and refusing government demands to give them back. He has pleaded not guilty in both those cases, which are set for trial next year. And prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, are expected in coming weeks to announce charging decisions in an investigation into efforts to subvert election results in that state. Trump’s lawyer John Lauro has asserted in television interviews that Trump’s actions were protected by the First Amendment right to free speech and that he relied on the advice of lawyers. Trump has claimed without evidence that Smith’s team is trying to interfere with the 2024 presidential election, in which Trump is the early front-runner to claim the Republican nomination. Smith said in a rare public statement this week that he was seeking a speedy trial, though Lauro has said he intends to slow the case down so that the defense team can conduct its own investigation. The arraignment will be handled before US Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadyaha, who joined the bench last year. But going forward, the case will be presided over by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of President Barack Obama who has stood out as one of the toughest punishers of the Capitol rioters. Chutkan has also ruled against Trump before, refusing in November 2021 to block the release of documents to the US House’s Jan. 6 committee by asserting executive privilege.

MANILA: Over 1,000 Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters were decommissioned on Thursday in a major step in the implementation of a peace agreement between the Philippine government and the country’s restive Muslim south, which had for decades sought independence from Manila. Bangsamoro, a region covering predominantly Muslim areas of Mindanao, has been undergoing a peace process that began in 2014 when the government struck a permanent cease-fire deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front after almost four decades of conflict. MILF is an armed breakaway group of the Moro National Liberation Front — the oldest Muslim separatist movement in Mindanao — which continued to fight when its parent organization reached a peace agreement with Manila in the 1990s. MILF fighters only agreed to turn over their firearms in 2014, in exchange for self-rule in Bangsamoro. The 2014 peace deal includes a target of decommissioning 40,000 MILF combatants, a process that also involves turning in and putting weapons beyond use. As 1,301 more fighters joined the fold on Thursday, they bring the total number of decommissioned fighters to over 26,000, or more than 65 percent of the target, the autonomous Muslim region BARMM said. “This occasion signals the success of the peace process in the Southern Philippines … The MILF recognizes that the decommissioning process is a significant component of the normalization track under the comprehensive agreement on the Bangsamoro,” BARMM Chief Minister Ahod “Al-Hajj Murad” Ebrahim said during a ceremony on Thursday. “For some, the process of decommissioning might be slow, but may I remind you all that this process takes some time because we are not only transforming the individual lives of combatants and making them productive members of our society, (but just as) importantly, transforming all communities across the BARMM to become peaceful and progressive.” In his State of the Nation Address last month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. gave a nod to the Bangsamoro peace process and said he was “proud of the progress that BARMM has taken.” The Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said that it was “very critical that we build on the peace gains and ensure continuing progress.” The peace agreement is also “on top of the Marcos’ administration” agenda, he said. BARMM Chief Minister Ebrahim is looking forward to finishing the entire decommissioning process, he told Arab News, as it will officially conclude the peace deal. “Once the commitment is fully complied with, then we will have the signing of an exit agreement,” Ebrahim said. BARMM is now urging Manila to speed up other aspects of the decommissioning process, including the development of infrastructure in the region. “We call upon the national government to expedite the other components of the normalization because many have yet to be fulfilled or started,” Ebrahim said. “Because the real challenge is the lack of funds for normalization. So, we’re asking that it will be hastened.” As part of the peace process, Bangsamoro residents voted for its greater autonomy in a referendum held in 2019. The transition period will culminate in 2025 when the region will elect its legislature and executive.

CHICAGO: African Americans are perplexed that Arab Americans want to be identified as being “Middle East and North African” on the US Census yet fail to balance the support Blacks have given to the Arab community in the country, a leading Black legislator in Illinois said Wednesday.

Illinois State Rep. Cyril Nichols — a member of the state’s large African-American legislative caucus of 21 members, which represents nearly one-third of the Democratic Party’s contingent — said African Americans support their counterparts twice as much in comparison to what they receive in return.

During an interview on The Ray Hanania Radio Show, broadcast on the US Arab Radio Network in Detroit and Washington D.C. and sponsored by Arab News, Nichols said “an imbalance exists” and it “needs to change.”

“When we work together, we can accomplish so much in a short amount of time. As you may know, about 70 percent of the gas stations in my district are owned by Arab Americans. We are not reinvested,” Nichols said. “But the African-American community is reinvesting by doing business (with Arab businesses) in those areas where these gas stations (are located) and any other businesses for that matter. We in the African-American community are inclusive. We allow anyone to open up, be it Chinese food restaurants — it could be the gas stations, it could be cleaners. Oftentimes it is not African Americans that own these businesses. We just have to have a real conversation.”

Asked to define the imbalance, Nichols said that on a scale of one to 10, African-American support of Arab Americans is at 10, while in return it is “an even five.”

To achieve some “balance,” Nichols told Arab News he would convene a Town Hall-type meeting in October to bring the two communities together in Illinois. He said it should also be done in other areas with similar demographics.

“When we are in our communities, because we don’t talk about it enough, because we want to bring in cultural identifiers that are not our culture, there are certain people who don’t want us to work together,” Nichols said, and expressed hope that Arab Americans and Muslims would attend.

“When we work together, there is nothing we can’t do. There is literally nothing we can’t do. That is the way a community prospers, when people work together. Yes, there is not enough conversations. We should be meeting and convening weekly.”

Nichols added: “We really need to bring people of leadership together, be it principals, be it business owners, be it clergy. We really need to come together, not to have a gripe session, but to have a real honest discussion with a solution. So, I don’t just want to come in and talk about nothing. I want to come in with a solution and develop legislation to support the solutions that we come up with. That’s the difference.”

He said there was a long history of relations between Arab Americans and African Americans, citing several key milestones in this regard.

In 1983, Chicago’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington, created the Advisory Commission on Arab Affairs, and placed several Arab Americans in key city positions, Nichols said. The commission was dismantled by former Jewish-American mayor, Rahm Emanuel, immediately after his election in 2011.

Emanuel’s successors, former mayor Lori Lightfoot and incumbent Brandon Johnson, said they would reinstate the Arab Advisory Commission but this has not happened.

In 1984 and 1988, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson gave Arab Americans roles in his attempts to become the Democratic Party candidate for president. Although Jackson did not win the party’s nomination on both occasions, Arab Americans won seats as convention delegates and had roles in defining the party’s national-issues plank.

In 2022, Nichols introduced draft legislation seeking to recognize Arab Americans as a “minority group,” to qualify them for the Illinois Minority Business Enterprise system — that gives MBE members a first shot at up to 30 percent of the state’s annual contracts worth billions. This status has strengthened the businesses owned by Blacks, Hispanics, women and Asians, but Arab businesses have been left out.

Nichols noted that instead of supporting the bill, which has not been signed into law yet, many Arab Americans were apathetic.

“Both communities should be getting a lot more. If we work together we will, we will get a lot more. We have to work together. We have to stop some of these petty (people),” Nichols said, referring to individuals and groups that reject an inclusive approach.

The 32nd District that Nichols represents has more than 120,000 residents, with a large Arab-American population on Chicago’s southwest side and various suburbs, including in Bridgeview where Arab immigrants built the state’s first prayer hall, the Mosque Foundation, in 1981.

Last year, Nichols secured a state grant of $120,000 to support the Mosque Foundation’s Food Pantry which helps all needy families.

Nichols said that nearly one-third of the state’s 78 Democrats in the 118-member Illinois General Assembly are African American and that only two members are Muslim — Nabeela Syed and Abdelnasser Rashid.

Nichols said Rashid, who has Palestinian roots, and Syed, with Indian ancestry, should “absolutely” join the Black Caucus to address issues facing all the minority communities.

“This is a very serious and real topic,” Nichols said. “When I look back and I think of this country, Black folk built this country. To think that our communities don’t work together more, then you are dealing with the idea of systemic racism, thinking that somehow your community is going to jump the Black community.

“Our community has never thought of ourselves being first, second or third. We are just inclusive. And it is proven. We’re not making this up. It is proven. If we would just learn to work together and believe in what we worship, which is God, a lot of this stuff would not be issues. These issues we deal with are all man-made. These are not God-made issues. These are man-made issues,” Nichols said, adding that Blacks and Arabs can find common ground in terms of their religious beliefs and the struggle against racism.

Nichols’ comments were made during an appearance on The Ray Hanania Radio Show broadcast Wednesday Aug. 2, 2023, in Detroit and Washington D.C. on the US Arab Radio Network and sponsored by Arab News.

You can listen to the radio show’s podcast by visiting ArabNews.com/rayradioshow.

SEOUL: At least 13 people were injured in South Korea on Thursday when a man rammed a car onto a sidewalk, before stepping out of the vehicle and stabbing people inside a shopping mall in the city of Seongnam. Yoon Sung-hyun, an official from the southern Gyeonggi provincial police department, said at least nine people were stabbed and four others were injured by the vehicle in the attacks that occurred in a crowded leisure district near a subway station. Police did not confirm whether any were in serious condition. Police were questioning an unidentified suspect in his 20s who was arrested at the scene. Police officials did not immediately comment on any potential motive for the attack. Photos from the scene showed forensic units examining the halls of the AK Plaza, where the stabbings took place. A white Kia hatchback with a broken front window and ruptured front tire could be seen on a sidewalk near the Seohyeon subway station. The National Police Agency held an online meeting Thursday with regional police chiefs to discuss ways to deal with stabbings and other attacks against random targets. During the meeting, National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun described the attack as “virtually an act of terrorism.” Officials discussed increasing nighttime patrols in leisure districts and other crowded areas and strengthening security camera surveillance, according to the agency. Last month, a knife-wielding man stabbed at least four pedestrians on a street in the capital, Seoul, killing one person, police said.