US intelligence agencies found evidence this year of construction work on what they believed was a secret Chinese military facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was stopped after Washington’s intervention, according to a report on Friday.
The Wall Street Journal reported that satellite imagery of the port of Khalifa had revealed suspicious construction work inside a container terminal built and operated by Cosco Shipping Holdings Ltd (中遠海運控股).
The evidence included huge excavations apparently for a multistory building and that the site was covered in an apparent attempt to evade scrutiny.
The administration of US President Joe Biden held urgent talks with the Emirati authorities, who appeared to be unaware of the military activities, according to the report.
It said the discussions included two direct conversations between Biden and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in May and August.
In late September, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk went to the UAE and presented the details of the US intelligence on the site to the Emirati authorities, with McGurk returning this week to meet the crown prince.
After US officials recently inspected the Khalifa site, construction work was suspended, the report said.
The report comes four years after the Chinese navy established a facility in Djibouti, its first overseas base, which was placed within a Chinese-run commercial port, at Doraleh.
The UAE embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but told the Journal that “the UAE has never had an agreement plan, talks or intention to host a Chinese military base or outpost of any kind.”
“The Emiratis have said this isn’t happening,” a senior US official said. “I refer you to the Emiratis about this specific project. But I can tell you that we are committed to our enduring partnership between the United States and the UAE.”
The UAE report is the latest example of an increasingly pointed global rivalry between the US and China.
On the same day, the US Department of State warned Beijing that the US would intervene to defend Philippine ships in the event of an armed Chinese attack, following an incident in which Chinese naval vessels used water cannons against Philippine resupply boats in the South China Sea.
Department spokesman Ned Price called the Chinese action “dangerous, provocative and unjustified.”
Beijing “should not interfere with lawful Philippine activities in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone,” Price said in a statement.
“The United States stands with our Philippine allies in upholding the rules-based international maritime order and reaffirms that an armed attack on Philippine public vessels in the South China Sea would invoke US mutual defense commitments.”
US National Security Council Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell said: “The chief characteristic of US-China relations right now is competition, and we are competing across the board everywhere.”
“We believe it’s possible to compete responsibly in a healthy way, but at the same time, the president ... recognizes that it will be important to try to establish some guardrails ... that will keep the relationship from veering into dangerous arenas of confrontation,” Campbell said at the US Institute for Peace on Friday.
Campbell said that at their virtual summit at the beginning of the week, Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) agreed on tentative steps toward establishing talks between officials of both countries aimed at reducing the risk of conflict by accident or miscalculation, especially when it came to nuclear weapons.
“What we would like to do ... is to enlist China in discussions about what we would do if we faced some sort of acts that were inadvertent,” he said.
“We are in the very earliest stages of that kind of discussion, and I think it would be fair to say that President Xi indicated that they would at least engage in that discussion, that we would identify potentially who the right people would be for that kind of discussion, and that would involve people on the military side perhaps, and other parts of our governments as well,” he added.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
CHIP EXCEPTION: An official said that an exception for Taiwanese semiconductors would have a limited effect, as most are packaged in third nations before being sold The Executive Yuan yesterday decried US President Donald Trump’s 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods announced hours earlier as “unfair,” saying it would lodge a representation with Washington. The Cabinet in a statement described the pledged US tariffs, expected to take effect on Wednesday next week, as “deeply unreasonable” and “highly regrettable.” Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that the government would “lodge a solemn representation” with the US Trade Representative and continue negotiating with Washington to “ensure the interests of our nation and industries.” Trump at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on most goods
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats