US President Barack Obama sought to distance himself from the turbulent Bush era as he looked set to hit the ground running yesterday and act early on a promise to wield US power with “humility and restraint.”
Fresh from his buoyant inauguration, Obama will begin to flesh out his vision of better ties with Muslim countries and of alliance-building to promote peace and security, including by eliminating perceived nuclear threats.
Although his inaugural speech on Tuesday largely sounded conciliatory, Obama also struck tougher notes when he warned that the US would not waver in defense of its “way of life” and would defeat those who use “terror.”
PHOTO: AP
The Obama administration faces daunting challenges to extract US troops from Iraq, forge peace in both the Middle East and Afghanistan, stabilize nuclear-armed US ally Pakistan, and roll back Iran’s and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Security in post Sept. 11, 2001, US, he pledged, will not come at the expense of abandoning the US ideals of liberty and the rule of law, which critics worldwide say former president George W. Bush’s administration trampled on in conducting its “war on terror.”
In a jab at the unilateral military force that Bush used to invade Iraq in 2003, Obama said previous US generations had defeated fascism and communism with “sturdy alliances and enduring convictions” besides resorting to armed intervention.
These generations knew that US “security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint,” Obama said, alluding to the accusations of arrogance cast at the Bush administration.
China offered a nervous welcome to Obama yesterday, expressing concern over the direction he may take bilateral ties while paying tribute to Bush.
The English-language China Daily published an editorial calling for Obama to follow the lead of his predecessor.
“Given the popular American eagerness for a break from the Bush years, many wonder, or worry to be precise, whether the new president would ignore the hard-earned progress in bilateral ties,” the editorial said.
The most important legacy of Bush’s eight years in power were improved China-US relations, the editorial said.
The defense ministry on Tuesday also warned Obama against continuing military support for Taiwan.
Obama’s speech left Chinese media scrambling yesterday, with many attempting to censor his references to communism and dissent.
However the attempts appeared to backfire after their omission in Chinese translations drew even more attention to the words on Internet forums.
State broadcaster China Central Television broadcast the speech live, but when the translator said communism, the channel cut to an awkwardly smiling news anchor, Beijing-based lawyer Xu Zhiyong wrote on his blog.
China’s two biggest Internet portals Sina and Sohu omitted the word communism from the translations of the speech on their Web sites and cut the line about dissent entirely.
English versions appeared in some Chinese media intact.
Also See: Myanmar hopes for policy change from Obama: official
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
RSS