China and Russia have sharply condemned US missile defense plans, taking a harder common line that reinforces an already strong strategic partnership during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s first foreign trip in his new functions.
Pushing forward their robust energy cooperation, Russia also signed a US$1 billion deal to build a uranium enrichment facility in China on Friday and supply low-enriched uranium for use in China’s fast-growing nuclear power industry over the next decade.
Rivals throughout much of the Cold War, Moscow and Beijing have forged close political and military ties since the Soviet collapse, seeking to counter the perceived US global domination. They have spoken against the US missile defense plans in the past, but Friday’s declaration by Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) sounded tougher than before.
Without naming the US, the two leaders said that “the creation of global missile defense systems and their deployment in some regions of the world ... does not help to maintain strategic balance and stability and hampers international efforts in arms control and nuclear nonproliferation.”
They also warned against the deployment of arms in space in another clear reference to the US.
“The parties stand for the peaceful use of space and against the deployment of weapons in space and arms race in space,” Medvedev and Hu said in a statement released after an afternoon of talks.
The joint opposition appeared to raise the stakes for Washington, which has been trying to persuade Beijing and especially Moscow not to see the missile shields as threatening. At the same time, the cooperation on diplomatic issues masks deep Russian unease at China’s growing power and differences over military and energy sales.
The White House immediately said on Friday it was disappointed that Medvedev has not changed the firm opposition taken by his predecessor, former Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“We’re going to work with them to work through these concerns and we think we can resolve any concerns that anyone has about this and the true nature of the program,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
The declaration also reflected China’s and Russia’s strong opposition to NATO’s expansion to incorporate former Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine.
“Security of nations can’t be ensured at the expense of other countries through the expansion of military-political alliances,” the two leaders said.
After a slow warming in the 1990s, Beijing and Moscow have in recent years joined in opposing Kovoso’s independence and on Iran’s nuclear crisis. The two have held joint military maneuvers and created a regional security grouping, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to keep the West out of energy-rich Central Asia.
Statements of cooperation come aside friction and uncertainties over energy, while the countries’ shifting economic and diplomatic fortunes also bedevil ties.
Medvedev’s stopover in Kazakhstan on his way to China was apparently intended to send a message to both Beijing and the West that Moscow continues to see the former Soviet Central Asia as its home turf.
Moscow and Beijing also have bickered over the price of Russian energy exports. Disagreements over pricing have slowed construction of an oil pipeline from Siberia and blocked plans for a natural gas pipeline.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
RSS