US: Operations around Taiwan will continue amid China’s pressure
The Biden administration is vowing to keep sailing warships through the Taiwan Strait and to conduct air operations in the region in response to Chinese military drills that U.S. officials say are evolving into a longterm strategy of military pressure on the island.
Administration officials said they did not want to escalate tension, which China maintains was provoked by last week’s visit to the island by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But in interviews and public statements, American and Taiwanese officials made clear they believe China used the visit by Pelosi, D-Calif., as a pretext to step up its operations to intimidate Taiwan for months or years to come, and perhaps speed up plans for control over the island’s 23 million people.
Within a few weeks, officials said, the U.S. Navy is planning to run ships through the Taiwan Strait, ignoring China’s claim it controls the waterway. Officials said they would not send the Ronald Reagan, the Japan-based aircraft carrier.
Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters this week that China was trying to “coerce” Taiwan and the international community.
“And all I’ll say is we’re not going to take the bait, and it’s not going to work,” he said.
He insisted the United States would conduct business as usual. “What we’ll do instead, is to continue to fly, to sail and operate wherever international law allows us to do so, and that includes in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
Interviews with administration, intelligence and military officials, and outside experts, revealed a growing sense that China’s exercises were turning point in China’s strategy. Several officials believe President Xi Jinping is seeking to demonstrate a greater willingness to use force to accomplish reunification, if necessary.
In a white paper the Chinese government published Wednesday, Beijing said that it would prefer unification by peaceful means but also made clear it was keeping all options on the table.
The exercises came weeks after a new U.S. intelligence assessment concluded that Xi might try to move against the island in the next 18 months.
NM Muslim killings: A fear of attacks that had rippled through Muslim communities nationwide after the fatal shootings of four men in Albuquerque, New Mexico, gave way to shock and sadness when it turned out the suspect in the killings was a Muslim.
Muhammad Syed, 51, of Albuquerque, was arrested Monday over 100 miles from his Albuquerque home.
The Afghan immigrant denied any connection to the crimes.
In court documents, he told police that he was driving to Houston to find a new home for his family. But investigators say they have ample evidence to prove his guilt, though they have yet to uncover the motive.
The earliest case involves the November killing of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, from Afghanistan. Naeem Hussain, a 25-year-old man from Pakistan, was killed last Friday. His death came just days after those of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, and Aftab Hussein, 41, who were also from Pakistan and members of the same mosque.
A tip from the Muslim community led police to the Syed family, authorities said, noting that Syed knew the victims and “an interpersonal conflict” may have led to the shootings.
Prosecutors on Wednesday filed a motion to detain Syed without bond pending trial.
Polio shots in Britain: Children ages 1 to 9 in London were made eligible for booster doses of a polio vaccine Wednesday after British health authorities reported finding evidence the virus has spread in multiple areas of the city but found no cases of the paralytic disease in people.
Britain’s Health Security Agency said it detected viruses derived from the oral polio vaccine in the sewage water of eight London boroughs. The agency’s analysis of the virus samples suggested “transmission has gone beyond a close network of a few individuals.”
The agency said it had not located anyone infected with the virus and that the risk to the wider population was low. The decision to offer young children boosters was a precaution, it said.
The agency said it is also expanding surveillance of sewage water to at least another 25 U.K. sites.
Russian oil: Shipments of oil from Russia through a critical pipeline to several European countries resumed after a problem over payments for transit was resolved, Slovakia’s Economy Minister Richard Sulik said on Wednesday.
“Oil is already on Slovakia territory,” he said on Facebook without giving further details.
But no oil has reached the neighboring Czech Republic yet, the country’s Mero pipeline operator said, and Hungary also was still to receive deliveries by Wednesday evening.
Russian state pipeline operator Transneft said Tuesday it halted shipments through the southern branch of the Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline, which runs through Ukraine to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
Transneft cited complications due to European Union sanctions for its action on Aug. 4, saying its payment to the company’s Ukrainian counterpart was refused.
Earlier Wednesday, Sulik said the payments would be made by Slovak refiner Slovnaft after both the Russian and Ukrainian sides agreed to the solution. Slovnaft is owned by Hungary’s MOL energy group.
Biden’s summer break:
President Joe Biden arrived in South Carolina on Wednesday to begin what is expected to be at least a seven-day vacation with members of his family.
The first couple was planning to be in Kiawah Island, noted for its private beach and golf resort, through Tuesday, according to Federal Aviation Administration advisories.
The White House did not respond to requests to provide details on Biden’s vacation schedule, activities or when he planned to return to Washington.
Drug-dealing former dean: A former Boston high school dean in prison for shooting a student he recruited to deal drugs has pleaded guilty to a federal gang-related charge.
Shaun Harrison, 63, who was known by students at The English High School as “Rev,” pleaded guilty in Boston federal court on Tuesday to a count of racketeering conspiracy more than two years after he was indicted alongside dozens of other Latin Kings members, leaders and associates.
Harrison was convicted in state court in 2018 of assault and other charges, and sentenced to up to 26 years in prison for shooting a 17-year-old student in the back of the head after a dispute over slumping drug sales. The teen survived.
A federal judge recently ordered Harrison to pay more than $10 million in damages to the former student he was convicted of trying to kill, but it’s unclear whether the victim will ever get any of the money from Harrison.