Only Russia and the “states” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia will decide how many troops Moscow can keep on their soil, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Saturday, signaling the Kremlin will do as it pleases in the separatist Georgian regions regardless of Western demands.
The statement was in frank defiance of calls by Georgia, the US and the EU for a withdrawal of most Russian troops from the breakaway territories, which only Russia and Nicaragua have recognized as countries.
Thumbing its nose at Georgia and the US, South Ossetia rolled what Russian media said were captured US-made Jeeps and Georgian tanks through the streets of its capital in an Independence Day military parade.
Putin said Russia would adhere to its promise to pull back from the strips of land surrounding South Ossetia and Abkhazia once EU monitors are deployed. Those areas are Georgian territory, he said.
But he said any “possible” Russian pullout from South Ossetia and Abkhazia themselves was a “separate issue,” suggesting Moscow’s recognition of the separatist regions as independent nations had changed the rules.
“The question of the presence of our armed forces on these territories will be decided bilaterally, in the framework of international law and on the basis of agreements between Russia and these states,” Putin told a news conference in the seaside resort of Sochi with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
The remarks showed Russia would continue to ignore Western calls to pull nearly all its forces out of Georgia.
The US and European countries say Russia is violating its commitment to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict positions. Russia has announced plans to maintain nearly 8,000 troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, far more than in the months before the war.
Putin said Russia has no intention of annexing any land, saying it was “solely a question of providing security in the region.”
Putin said that by backing Kosovo’s declaration of independence in February, Western countries had ruined any argument against Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
“It is not we who opened this Pandora’s box,” he said.
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,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
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
RSS