Iraq’s Shiite alliance turned down a Saudi Arabian offer on Saturday to host all-party talks to resolve months of political stalemate because it said it was confident a deal could be struck in Baghdad on a new government.
Iraq has been without a new government since a March 7 election that failed to produce a clear winner, leaving Shiite Muslim, Sunni Arab and Kurdish politicians jockeying for power and position.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah had invited Iraq’s parties to talks in Riyadh under the auspices of the 22-nation Arab League after the annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage ending around Nov. 18, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported on Saturday.
Iraqiya, the cross-sectarian Sunni-backed political bloc that received the most votes in the election but failed to win an outright majority in parliament, welcomed the Saudi initiative and said Turkey and Iran should also be invited.
The National Alliance, a merger of Iraq’s Shiite-led blocs, including that of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s coalition, said a deal in Baghdad was close after the highest court ordered parliament to resume sessions last week.
“We are confident the representatives of the Iraqi people are able ... to reach a deal to form a national partnership government,” said Legislator Hassan al-Sunaid, reading from a statement that he said came from the Shiite National Alliance.
“Though we express our appreciation to Saudi Arabia for its concern about the situation in Iraq and its willingness to provide support, we would like to confirm Iraqi leaders are continuing ... their meetings to reach a national consensus,” al-Sunaid said.
Sunaid, a senior member of Maliki’s bloc, said the statement was supported by the Kurdish Alliance, which has 57 seats in parliament and is being wooed by Maliki’s camp to form a coalition government.
The Kurdish bloc was not immediately available for comment.
The sectarian strife triggered after the 2003 US-led invasion has receded but the lack of a government has sparked concerns among Iraq’s neighbors of a rise in violence as US forces withdraw.
“Everyone believes that you are at a crossroad that requires doing the utmost efforts to unite, get over traumas and conflicts, and get rid of sectarianism,” SPA quoted King Abdullah as saying in comments addressed to Iraqi leaders.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS