China, North Korea and Iran are part of an “axis of autocrats” and the US and its allies are the “thin blue line” protecting democracy, the outgoing US ambassador to Japan said yesterday in a parting shot at Beijing.
Rahm Emanuel has been a sharp critic of China’s economic and geopolitical strategies during his three years in Japan.
“The world is shrinking, consolidating and shaping, and the United States has to respond to that,” Emanuel told reporters. “The United States is that thin blue line between autocracy, where might equals right, and rules, laws, principles and values.”
Photo: AFP
Rahm, 65, described an “axis of autocrats” — Russia along with China, Iran and North Korea, all three of whom he said had taken steps to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
China presents itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war, although it remains a close political and economic ally of Russia.
“The Indo-Pacific is a home game for China and an away game for the United States. With our allies, we level the playing field,” Emanuel said.
Moves to boost US-Japan defense ties and information sharing with South Korea on recent North Korean missile launches are among examples he said showed that the “credibility of our deterrence in this region is strengthened.”
“Part of the entire strategy of China is to isolate a country in this region and use their full force and power to isolate that country and limit and restrict their both sovereignty and independence,” Emanuel said.
However, as the US and its allies display increasing “strength in numbers ... then the isolated party is China,” he added.
US president-elect Donald Trump, who is to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, has named businessman George Glass as Emanuel’s replacement.
Emanuel said he had no plans to change tack under Trump.
“I will engage, because I think whether domestically, internationally or whatever, ideas and principles are worth fighting about,” he said.
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS