Zimbabwe’s top opposition leader was in South Africa yesterday, holding meetings in the regional powerhouse on the same day he issued a call for international help in getting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down.
Morgan Tsvangirai left Zimbabwe on Sunday and was meeting “important people in South Africa,” Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said yesterday. South African President Thabo Mbeki had mediated failed pre-election talks between Tsvangirai’s and Mugabe’s parties.
Zimbabwean electoral officials have yet to say whether Tsvangirai or Mugabe won the March 29 presidential elections and the two rivals have adopted sharply contrasting strategies in response. Mugabe has virtually conceded he did not win and is already campaigning for an expected runoff on a platform of intimidation and fanning racial tension. Tsvangirai says he won and has demanded Zimbabwean courts and the international community support him.
“We urge the International Monetary Fund, at its meeting this week, to withhold ... aid to Zimbabwe unless the defeated ex-president accepts the election results in full and hands over the reins of power,” Tsvangirai wrote in an opinion piece published yesterday in the British newspaper the Guardian. “This is also the time for firm diplomacy. Major powers here, such as South Africa, the US and Britain, must act to remove the white-knuckle grip of Mugabe’s suicidal reign and oblige him and his minions to retire.”
A court postponed until today an expected ruling on an opposition petition to force the release of the election results.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
‘UNITED FRONT’: Some Taiwanese industry leaders had not initially planned to attend, but later agreed to do so after Beijing threatened them, a source said China hopes to rebuild its supply chain by wooing Taiwanese businesses at this year’s Cross-Strait CEO Summit (CSCS) to be held today in the Chinese city of Xiamen, a source said yesterday. This year’s summit would focus on “building a cross-strait industrial chain in the new era and promoting cross-strait economic integration and development,” promotional materials for the event said. The aim is to encourage Taiwanese businesspeople who have exited the Chinese market to return and invest there as a means of countering various technology export controls that China has been encountering, the source said. Former premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) and
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