2023

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan’s relations with China must be decided by the will of the people and peace must be based on “dignity”, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Monday after China’s leader, Xi Jinping, said “reunification” with the island is inevitable.

China has been ramping up military pressure to assert its sovereignty claims over democratically governed Taiwan, which on Jan. 13 holds presidential and parliamentary elections.

Xi’s comments, in a New Year’s Eve address, struck a stronger tone than the previous year where he said only that people on either side of the Taiwan Strait are “members of one and the same family”.

Asked about Xi’s speech at a New Year’s press conference at the presidential office in Taipei, Tsai said the most important principle on what course to follow on relations with China was democracy.

“This is taking the joint will of Taiwan’s people to make a decision. After all, we are a democratic country,” she said.

China should respect the outcome of Taiwan’s election and it is the responsibility of both sides to maintain peace and stability in the strait, Tsai added.

China has cast the election as a choice between war and peace and has refused multiple offers of talks by Tsai, believing she is a separatist.

Tsai has made bolstering and modernising Taiwan’s defences a priority, including pushing an indigenous submarine programme.

“Everyone’s home has locks on them, which is not to provoke the neighbours next door but to make yourself safer. This is the same for the doors to the country. Taiwan’s people want peace, but we want peace with respect,” she said.

Taiwan’s government has repeatedly warned China is trying to interfere in the election, whether by using fake news or military or trade pressure, and Tsai said she hoped people could be on alert for this.

After China accused Taiwan of erecting trade barriers and ended some tariff cuts for the island, China last week threatened further economic measures.

Tsai said Taiwan’s companies must look globally and diversify.

“This is the correct path, rather than going back to the path of relying on China, especially as in China’s unstable market there is unpredictable risk,” she said.

China has taken particular exception to current Vice President Lai Ching-te, the presidential candidate for Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Party (DPP) and who is leading in opinion polls by varying margins, saying he is also a dangerous separatist.

Both the DPP and Taiwan’s largest opposition party the Kuomintang say only the island’s people can decide their future.

Tsai cannot stand again after two terms in office. She will step down in May when the next president is sworn in.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Kim Coghill and Neil Fullick)

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BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. military said Sunday it shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired toward a container ship by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. Hours later, four boats tried to attack the same ship, but U.S. forces opened fire, killing several of the armed crews, the U.S. Central Command said. No one was injured on the ship.

The Singapore-flagged MAERSK HANZGHOU reported they had already been hit by a missile Saturday night while transiting the Southern Red Sea and requested assistance, CENTCOM said in a statement. The USS GRAVELY and USS LABOON responded to the call for help, and the Denmark-owned vessel was reportedly seaworthy and no injuries were noted, the statement added.

“This is the 23rd illegal attack by the Houthis on international shipping since Nov. 19,” CENTCOM said.

In another statement, CENTCOM said the same ship issued an additional distress call about a second attack “by four Iranian-backed Houthi small boats.” The attackers fired small arms weapons at the MAERSK HANZGHOU, getting to within 20 meters (about 65 feet) of the vessel, and attempted to it, CENTCOM said.

A contract-embarked security team on the ship returned fire, the central command said. U.S. helicopters from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and GRAVELY responded to the distress call and while issuing verbal warnings to the attackers, the small boat crews opened fire on the helicopters using small arms, the statement said.

“The U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defense,” sinking three of the four boats, killing the crews while the fourth boat fled the area, CENTCOM said, and no damage to U.S. personnel or equipment was reported.

The Iran-backed Houthis have claimed attacks on ships in the Red Sea that they say are either linked to Israel or heading to Israeli ports. They say their attacks aim to end Israel’s air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip following the attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct.7.

On Saturday, the top commander of U.S. naval forces in the Middle East said Houthi rebels have shown no signs of ending their “reckless” attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea even as more nations join the international maritime mission to protect vessels in the vital waterway and trade traffic begins to pick up.

Since the Pentagon announced Operation Prosperity Guardian to counter the attacks just over 10 days ago, 1,200 merchant ships have traveled through the Red Sea region, and none has been hit by drone or missile strikes, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said in an Associated Press interview.

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DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes in central Gaza killed at least 35 people Sunday, hospital officials said, as fighting raged across the tiny enclave a day after Israel’s prime minister said the war will continue for “many more months,” resisting international calls for a cease-fire.

The military said Israeli forces were operating in Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis, and residents reported strikes in the central region, the latest focus of the nearly three-month air and ground war that has now engulfed most of the territory.

The war has raised fears of a broader regional conflagration. The U.S. military said Sunday that its forces shot and killed several Iran-backed Houthi rebels when they tried to attack a cargo ship in the Red Sea, an escalation in a maritime conflict linked to the war in Gaza.

Israel says it wants to destroy Hamas’ governing and military capabilities in Gaza, from where it launched its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. The militants killed some 1,200 people and took 240 others hostage after breaking through Israel’s extensive border defenses, shattering its sense of security.

Israel’s unprecedented air and ground offensive has killed more than 21,800 Palestinians and wounded more than 55,000 others, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. The war has sparked a humanitarian crisis, with a quarter of Gaza residents facing starvation, according to the United Nations. Israel’s bombardments have levelled vast swaths of the territory, making parts uninhabitable and displacing some 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.

Israel expanded its offensive to central Gaza this week, targeting a belt of dense, built-up communities that house refugees from the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948 and their descendants. The fighting has pushed much of the population south, where people have flooded shelters and tent camps near the border with Egypt, even as Israel has also struck those areas.

In the area of Zweida in central Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 13 people and wounded dozens of others, according to witnesses. The bodies were draped in white plastic and laid out in front of a hospital, where prayers were held before burial.

“They were innocent people,” said Hussein Siam, whose relatives were among the dead. “Israeli warplanes bombarded the whole family.”

Officials from Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Deir al-Balah said the 13 were among 35 bodies received on Sunday.

The Israeli military said it was battling militants in Khan Younis, where Israel believes Hamas leaders are hiding. It also said its forces operating in the urban Shati refugee camp, in northern Gaza, found a bomb in a kindergarten and defused it. Hamas continued to launch rockets toward southern Israel.

Israel has faced stiff resistance from Hamas since it began its ground offensive in late October, and the military says 172 soldiers have been killed during that time.

The magnitude of the destruction in Gaza coupled with the war’s length has raised questions about whether Israel can succeed in its goal of dismantling Hamas and what would come after.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel must maintain open-ended security control over the Gaza Strip. At a news conference Saturday, he said the war would continue for “many more months” and that Israel would assume control of the Gaza side of the border with Egypt.

“(It) must be in our hands, it must be sealed. It’s clear that any other agreement will not guarantee the demilitarization that we need and require,” Netanyahu said. Israel says Hamas has smuggled weapons from Egypt, but Egypt is likely to oppose any Israeli military presence there.

Netanyahu has also said he won’t allow the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority, which administers some parts of the West Bank, to participate in any future rule over Gaza, putting him at odds with President Joe Biden’s administration, which has provided crucial military aid for the offensive.

The U.S. wants a unified Palestinian government to run both Gaza and parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a precursor to eventual statehood. The last Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down over a decade ago, and Israeli government since then have been staunchly opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Israeli media have reported that Netanyahu has repeatedly dodged holding meetings with his War Cabinet about the post-war possibilities.

Israelis, who still largely stand behind the war’s goals, are showing signs they are losing patience.

On Saturday night, thousands took part in one of the largest demonstrations against Netanyahu since the war began. The country, which is sharply divided over the long-serving leader and a judicial overhaul plan he set in motion before the war, has remained mostly united since Oct. 7.

“It is true that the state of Israel has many enemies and threats, but unfortunately today Prime Minister Netanyahu and his continued rule is the most significant existential threat to our country and our society,” said protester Gal Tzur.

A separate protest Saturday called for the release of the estimated 129 remaining hostages held by Hamas. Families of hostages and their supporters have demanded that the government prioritize hostage releases over other war objectives, and have staged large protests every weekend.

Egypt, one of the mediators between Israel and Hamas, has proposed a multistage plan that would kick off with a swap of hostages for prisoners, accompanied by a temporary cease-fire. A similar deal in November saw Hamas free over 100 hostages and Israel release 240 Palestinian prisoners.

But the sides still appear far from striking a new deal. Both Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group say no more hostages will be freed until Israel ends the offensive and withdraws from Gaza.

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Mroue reported from Beirut and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

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By Efrain Otero

CARACAS (Reuters) -Several bars and restaurants in Venezuela’s capital Caracas are offering an eight-hour tour where customers visit each establishment in a bid to boost low sales at a time of persistent inflation.

The so-called “Route of Pagan Temples” takes diners through two restaurants and seven bars in the city in a tour which has been organized by the businesses involved.

“It’s about rescuing the bars (…) giving these spaces a showcase so that they can survive,” said Freddy de Freitas, owner of a Spanish food restaurant in Caracas’ center which is more than 40 years old.

“The business activity of bars in this part of the city isn’t what it was due to the situation of the economy,” he added.

The government of President Nicolas Maduro relaxed control of the economy in 2019, allowing de facto dollarization which provided breathing space for businesses, though not a complete recovery.

This year, businesses have seen lower sales due to delays in wage payments and year-on-year inflation of 282%.

The nine-venue tour starts in de Freitas’ Spanish restaurant, where visitors can chow down on tapas including croquettes and potato tortilla among others, before continuing on to the other establishments in private transport.

The tour – which costs $80 per person – winds up in a bustling part of Caracas filled with street musicians.

“The route seeks to reconnect people with these places, to know their history, so that there’s no gap between the east and west of the city, that there is only one Caracas,” said Maxwell Briceno, a photographer and tour organizer.

One recent tour saw a number of foreign visitors join in the fun, according to Reuters witnesses.

“I have the opportunity to see this spectacle. It’s wild,” said German tourist Rafael Braumann. “The beer tastes good and there’s music,” he added.

(Reporting by Efrain OteroWriting by Oliver Griffin; Editing by David Gregorio)

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