Foreign
US troops are on an island just 4 miles from China, Taiwan reveals
The United States has positioned troops on a tiny island chain less than four miles from the Chinese coast, Taiwan has admitted.
In an apparent escalation of the American military presence in Taiwan, a Taiwanese defence minister told reporters the country was running an “exchange” with the US to “figure out how to improve” its military.
Although the US has announced it was training Taiwanese forces on the country’s main island, Formosa, the Pentagon has never acknowledged the presence of American troops on the Kinmen Islands, which lie 3.7 miles from the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen.
In response to reports that US special forces were operating on the islands, Chiu Kuo-cheng, the Taiwanese minister, admitted on Tuesday that his country’s military was learning from American forces there.
“This exchange is for mutual observation, to identify the problems we have, figure out how to improve and to recognise their strengths so we can learn from them,” he said.
He added: “We can learn from each other to see what strengths we have. This is a fixed thing.”
The Kinmen Islands sit on the far side of the Taiwan Strait, the 110-mile body of water that separates Taiwan and China. They are around 100 miles from Taiwan, but easily visible from the Chinese mainland.
Taiwan has stationed its amphibious soldiers, known as “frogmen”, on both the Kinmen Islands and other outlying islands, amid concerns about a Chinese invasion that US officials have said could take place by 2027.
In recent months, China has stepped up military exercises in the Taiwan Strait and Communist Party officials have not ruled out occupying Taiwan with military force in the future.
On Thursday the Taiwanese government said nine Chinese aircraft had crossed the median line in the strait, prompting it to deploy “appropriate forces and assets in response to the detected activities”.
Air defence violations
Taiwan says its air defence identification zone has been violated on a near-daily basis by Chinese aircraft as tensions have mounted.
Earlier this week, Taiwan said the country had constructed “enormous” bases on three islands nearby.
The admission that US forces are operating so close to China risks inflaming tensions between Washington and Beijing, which has long objected to the American military operating in the region.
In January, the Chinese government accused the US of “dangerous provocations” after a US naval destroyer sailed through the Taiwan Strait, in what was perceived as a show of force.
While the US does not support full political independence for Taiwan, the countries maintain informal diplomatic relations and Joe Biden has said that American forces would defend the country in the event of an invasion.
The row over Taiwan’s sovereignty is viewed by the US as part of its wider competition with China in the Indo-Pacific region.
A Pentagon spokesman refused to confirm reports of American troops on the outlying islands, telling the Wall Street Journal: “Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region.”
President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday pledged to “stop the transgender lunacy” on day one of his presidency, as Republicans — set to control both chambers of Congress and the White House — continue their push against LGBTQ rights.
“I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools,” the president-elect said at an event for young conservatives in Phoenix, Arizona.
He also vowed to “keep men out of women’s sports,” adding that “it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
Speaking to the AmericaFest conference in a border state he easily carried in the November election, Trump further promised immediate measures against “migrant crime,” vowed to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and doubled down on his talk of restoring US control of the Panama Canal.
Transgender issues have roiled US politics in recent years, as Democratic- and Republican-controlled states have moved in opposite directions on policy such as medical treatment and what books on the topic are allowed in public or school libraries.
Last week, when the US Congress approved its annual defense budget, it included a provision to block funding of some gender-affirming care for the transgender children of service members.
In his speech Sunday, which amounted to something of a victory lap, Trump made expansive promises for his second term — and drew a dark picture of the four years preceding it, under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the latter of whom he defeated in the 2024 election.
“On January 20, the United States will turn the page forever on four long, horrible years of failure, incompetence, national decline, and we will inaugurate a new era of peace, prosperity and national greatness,” Trump said, referring to his swearing-in.
– ‘Golden age’ –
“I will end the war in Ukraine. I will stop the chaos in the Middle East, and I will prevent, I promise, World War III.”
He added: “The golden age of America is upon us.”
Fresh Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 25 Palestinians, according to medics.
The casualties on Friday included at least eight people in an apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp and 10 others in the town of Jabalia, among them seven children.
Efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have yet to succeed.
Sources involved in the negotiations told Reuters on Thursday that Qatar and Egypt had resolved some points of contention but key issues remain unresolved.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza following Hamas-led attacks on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023.
The attacks resulted in the deaths of 1200 people and the abduction of over 250 hostages, according to Israeli reports.
Israel states that approximately 100 hostages are still being held, though it is unclear how many remain alive.
Gaza authorities report that Israel’s ongoing campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians and displaced the majority of the 2.3 million residents.
Much of the territory has reportedly been devastated by the conflict.
President Biden signed the stopgap funding bill that will keep the government open until March, punting the thornier issues surrounding the nation’s finances to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
A bloated 1,500-page funding measure was exploded by Trump and his top ally Elon Musk earlier this week as they demanded a pared-down version.
The parties were able to cobble a stopgap bill together Friday evening, which passed the Senate early Saturday morning.
The package funds the government at current levels until March 14, 2025, and includes $100 billion in hurricane relief funds and $10 billion in aid to farmers.
With the stopgap funding only running until March, an almost certain clash is looming between Trump and GOP spending hardliners when Congress reconvenes in January.
“The bipartisan funding bill I just signed keeps the government open and delivers the urgently needed disaster relief that I requested for recovering communities as well as the funds needed to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge,” Biden said in a statement after inking the deal.
The post Biden signs bipartisan funding bill to keep government open appeared first on New York Post.
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