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Pro-Palestinian Protests Planned Worldwide To Mark Gaza War Anniversary
Pro-Palestinian protests were scheduled in multiple countries on Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel, which sparked the Gaza war, despite warnings from some politicians that the demonstrations could heighten tensions.
Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in the attack on October 7, 2023. Israel responded by launching an offensive against the Palestinian militant group in Gaza that has killed more than 67,000 people, Gaza health officials say.
Pro-Palestinian rallies were expected on Tuesday in Sydney and in European cities including London, Paris, Geneva, Athens, Thessaloniki, Istanbul and Stockholm.
‘Terrible Timing, Shockingly Insensitive’
Organisers of pro-Palestinian protests over the past two years have said they were intended to spotlight the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and advocate for Palestinian rights.
Politicians in some countries said such protests were insensitive on the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust and that they could be seen as glorifying violence.
“Terrible timing, shockingly insensitive,” Chris Minns, the premier of the Australian state of New South Wales, told radio station 2GB of the planned protest in Sydney.
In the Netherlands, pro-Palestinian activists splashed red paint on Amsterdam’s Royal Palace in protest that the city mayor has banned a pro-Palestinian rally while permitting a pro-Israeli event.
In Turkiye, a protest was expected outside an energy company over its exports to Israel. In Sweden, demonstrators were expected to welcome back participants of a Gaza aid flotilla detained by Israel, including climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Authorities have banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the northern Italian city of Bologna, citing the risk of unrest, after days of protests and clashes with police across Italy.
“The demonstration will be absolutely prohibited,” Enrico Ricci, the local prefect in Bologna, told reporters.
Protests Prompted By Humanitarian Situation In Gaza
In London, university students were expected to march, and protests were planned elsewhere in Britain.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the planned protests as “un-British” and said Britain had become “indifferent” to antisemitism.
Some protesters had used the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza as a “despicable excuse to attack British Jews for something over which they have absolutely no responsibility,” he said.
The dire humanitarian situation for Palestinians in Gaza has prompted marches and protests attended by millions globally in the last two years.
Governments have had to find a balance between granting the right to protest and the need to protect Jewish communities, who have felt targeted by the demonstrations and have reported a rise in antisemitic incidents since the October 7 attack.
Tensions in Britain have also been inflamed by an attack at a synagogue last week in which two men were killed, and Jewish communities have stepped up security at places of worship.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Israel Pounds Gaza On Hamas Attack Anniversary Amid Talks On Trump Plan
Israel’s tanks, boats, and jets struck areas of Gaza on Tuesday, offering Palestinians no relief on the anniversary of the Hamas attack that sparked two years of war, highlighting the difficulties in discussions over Donald Trump‘s proposed plan to end the conflict.
With no ceasefire in place, Israel pressed on with its offensive, residents said, after Hamas and Israel began indirect negotiations on Monday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on sensitive issues such as Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’ disarmament.
The talks on the U.S. president’s plan are widely seen as the most promising yet for ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and devastated Gaza since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people.
Militant Groups Mark Anniversary With Statement
Residents in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and Gaza City in the north reported heavy bombing from tanks and planes in the early hours on Tuesday, witnesses said. Israeli forces pounded several districts from the air, sea and ground, they said.
Gaza militants fired rockets across the border early on Tuesday, setting off air raid sirens at Israeli kibbutz Netiv Haasara, and Israeli troops continued to tackle gunmen inside the enclave, the Israeli military said.
Marking the anniversary of the Hamas attack, an umbrella of Palestinian factions, including Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and smaller militant groups, vowed “the choice of resistance by all means is the sole and only way to confront the Zionist enemy.”
“No one has the right to cede the weapons of the Palestinian people. This legitimate weapon… will be passed through the Palestinian generations until their land and sacred sites are liberated,” said the statement, issued in the name of “Factions of the Palestinian Resistance”.
Israelis marking the anniversary of the Hamas attack – in which 251 people were taken to Gaza as hostages – gathered at some of the worst-hit sites of that day, including the Nova music festival where 364 people were shot, bludgeoned or burned to death, and at Tel Aviv’s so-called Hostages Square.
All places are reminders of the bloodiest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.
“It’s like an open wound, the hostages, I can’t believe it’s been two years and they are still not home,” said Hilda Weisthal, 43. “I really hope that all the leaders will make a push and that this war will end.”
Two Years ‘Living In Fear’
In Gaza, Mohammed Dib, 49, voiced similar hopes of an end to the conflict.
“It’s been two years that we have been living in fear, horror, displacement and destruction,” he said.
Since the war began, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, with nearly a third of those under 18, according to .
The Gaza Health Ministry tally does not distinguish between civilians and militants. Israel has said at least 20,000 were militants.
Israel says its offensive is aimed against Hamas and that it tries to avoid killing civilians, but that the group hides among the population, an assertion that Hamas denies.
A U.N. commission of inquiry last month assessed that Israel had committed in Gaza. Israel called the finding biased and “scandalous”.
Israel responded to the 2023 attack by launching its offensive in Gaza, while also assassinating the group’s leaders outside the Strip and other Iranian-backed groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and pounding Yemen’s Houthis.
It killed Iran’s top military commanders and attacked Iranian nuclear facilities during a 12-day war joined by the United States.
The offensive in Gaza has largely flattened the enclave and left Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage. Some Western leaders have recognised Palestinian statehood, and pro-Palestinian protests have erupted around the world.
Trump Seeks Major Foreign Policy Triumph
Israel and Hamas have endorsed the overall principles behind Trump’s plan, under which fighting would cease, hostages would go free, and aid would pour into Gaza.
It also has backing from Arab and Western states. Trump has called for negotiations to take place swiftly towards a final deal.
Even if a deal is clinched during talks in Egypt, questions will linger over who will rule Gaza and rebuild it. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have ruled out any role for Hamas.
A Hamas source familiar with the talks said the group had requested a clear timeline of an Israeli pullout and guarantees that the war will end.
An official briefed on the negotiations said he expected the round of talks that started on Monday would require at least a few days.
An official involved in ceasefire planning and a Palestinian source said Trump’s 72-hour deadline for the hostages’ return could be unachievable for dead hostages. Their remains may need to be located and recovered from scattered sites.
Israel’s chief negotiator, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, was expected to join the Israeli delegation later this week, pending developments in the negotiations, three Israeli officials said.
The Hamas delegation is led by its exiled Gaza leader, Khalil Al-Hayya, who survived an Israeli airstrike in the Qatari capital a month ago.
The U.S. has sent special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, the White House said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Evacuation Of 200 Stranded Everest Trekkers Set To Conclude On Tuesday
Efforts to evacuate over 200 trekkers stranded near Mount Everest’s eastern face in Tibet are expected to conclude on Tuesday, a source familiar with the situation said, following snowstorms across western China.
Outdoor enthusiasts have flocked to China’s rugged interior since an eight-day holiday began on October 1, but a sudden blizzard over the weekend caught off guard hundreds of hikers hoping to catch a glimpse of Everest’s Kangshung face.
Their evacuation, which began on Monday, should be completed by Tuesday, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity in the absence of authorisation to speak to the media on the matter. Tibet’s regional government had no immediate comment.
Snow fell through Saturday in Tibet’s remote Karma valley, at an average altitude of 4,200 m (13,800 feet). On Sunday, rescuers guided about 350 stranded hikers to safety.
“Thankfully, some people ahead of us were breaking trail, leaving footprints we could follow – that made it a little easier,” said Eric Wen, 41, adding that he trudged through 19 km (12 miles), most of it heavy snow, to leave the valley.
“Otherwise, it would’ve been impossible for us to make it out on our own.”
Regional authorities helped Wen and others on his expedition reach the Tibetan capital of Lhasa by Monday.
First explored by Western travellers a century ago, the valley is relatively pristine. In contrast to the arid north face of the world’s highest mountain, it is swathed in lush vegetation and untouched alpine forests fed by glacier melt.
‘Metre Of Snow’
The snowstorm also thwarted the plans of climbers guided by U.S.-based Madison Mountaineering to summit Cho Oyu, an 8,188-m (26,864-ft) peak on China’s border with Nepal that is the world’s sixth highest.
“A major storm suddenly developed and dumped over a metre of snow on Everest and the surrounding Himalayan peaks,” expedition leader Garrett Madison told Reuters in a text message on Tuesday.
When the weather improves, they aim to resume their ascent.
North of Tibet, one trekker died of hypothermia and acute mountain sickness after being stranded by snowstorms on Sunday in a gully in the Qilian Mountains on the border of the western provinces of Qinghai and Gansu.
By Monday evening, 213 in the Qilian area were pulled to safety, China Central Television (CCTV) said on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, authorities further west in Xinjiang suspended hiking and camping in the lake district of Kanas in the Altai mountains. Police have so far convinced more than 300 hikers heading for the area to turn back.
On Tuesday, CCTV said highways had been cleared of dangerous ice and snow that had blanketed them over the weekend, stranding tourist vehicles.
Police patrolling the area on Sunday had encountered a group of 16 hikers, one of whom, showing symptoms of hypothermia and unable to move, was taken to the hospital and is now in stable condition, the broadcaster added.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Australia: Pro-Palestine Rally On Oct 7 Anniversary In Sydney Sparks Outrage
New South Wales authorities in Australia criticized a pro-Palestine group’s plan to hold a protest in Sydney, marking two years since the Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis and sparked a devastating Gaza conflict.
Israel’s military strikes have since killed more than 67,000 Palestinians and left the majority of 2.2 million Gazans homeless and starving in an enclave destroyed by relentless bombardment.
The Stand for Palestine Australia group is planning a ‘glory to our martyrs’ event on Tuesday evening in Sydney’s Bankstown suburb, drawing condemnation from Chris Minns, the premier of the state of New South Wales, which includes Sydney.
“Terrible timing, shockingly insensitive,” Minns told radio station 2GB.
“We understand that there is concern about innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but to do it … on 7th, seems like they are glorifying the actions of these Hamas terrorists, and not the circumstance of those that are living in Gaza.”
Hamas also took some 251 people hostage in the attacks, with 20 thought to still be alive in Gaza.
Pro-Palestine Protests
Palestinian activist lawyer Ramia Abdo Sultan, who is scheduled to speak at the event, said in a video on the group’s Instagram account that Palestinians had been silenced and were not allowed to mourn or grieve their loved ones.
“Our own prime minister in Australia has decided to completely disregard the thousands of Palestinians that have died over the past two years,” she said.
Pro-Palestine protests have been happening in both Sydney and Melbourne almost every weekend, with some attended by thousands.
A rally is planned at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday, to which the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said it would object. Police had approached the court to stop the protest citing safety reasons.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said any protest events on October 7, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, would undermine the support for the “Palestinian cause.”
His centre-left government, alongside Canada and Britain, last month formally recognised the State of Palestine as part of an effort to push for a two-state solution.
Since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023, Australian homes, schools, synagogues, and vehicles have been targeted in antisemitic vandalism and arson, while Islamophobic incidents have also surged.
On Tuesday, a ‘Glory to Hamas’ message was spotted on a billboard and ‘Oct 7, Do it Again’ messages were painted on at least two walls in Melbourne. Albanese called the billboard message an “abhorrent” act and “terrorist propaganda.”
New Zealand Attack
A man was charged on Tuesday in neighbouring New Zealand after a window at the home of Foreign Minister Winston Peters was smashed with a crowbar, though police did not specify the motive behind the attack.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday about the October 7 attacks, Peters said the violent targeting of private homes by some protesters was “a disgrace.”
“It has caused distress to our families and disturbed the peace of our neighbours. Means such as these corrupt the protesters’ ends, such as they are.”
Peters has come under pressure from protest groups and opposition parties after he announced New Zealand would not be following Australia in recognising the state of Palestine.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Gaza War Leaves Tens Of Thousands Dead, Causes Widespread Destruction
Israel’s Gaza offensive, launched in retaliation for Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread devastation.
Below is a summary of the extent of the death and damage during the Gaza war, with much of the data drawn from reports released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Deaths In Gaza
Since October 7, 2023, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, with nearly a third of the dead under the age of 18, according to Gaza health authorities.
The Health Ministry in Gaza does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its tally. Israel has previously said at least 20,000 of the dead were fighters.
Israel says its offensive is aimed against Hamas and that it tries to avoid killing civilians, but that the group hides among the civilian population, an assertion that Hamas denies.
A U.N. commission of inquiry last month assessed that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza – citing the scale of the killings as one of the acts backing up its finding. Israel called the finding biased and “scandalous”.
Israeli Deaths
At least 1,665 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed as a result of the war between October 7, 2023 and September 29, 2025, according to official Israeli information. Of these, 1,200 were killed in the October 7 attack.
The Israeli military says 466 of its soldiers have been killed in combat, and 2,951 others wounded, since its Gaza ground operation began on October 27, 2023.
Hamas took 251 people back to Gaza as hostages after the October 7 attack. Israel says 48 hostages remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
Under a plan the two sides are discussing for halting the war, the remaining hostages would be handed over in a swap for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, but a prompt agreement at the talks is unlikely, officials say.
Damaged Buildings
Around 193,000 buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, according to an analysis by the United Nations Satellite Centre of the latest figures from July. About 213 hospitals and 1,029 schools have been targeted, it said.
Only 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are still partly functional, according to the World Health Organisation, and those in southern Gaza are overwhelmed.
The U.N. human rights office has expressed grave concern about the level of destruction in Gaza City, the enclave’s main urban centre, and said any deliberate effort to relocate the population would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
Displacement
Only about 18% of the Gaza Strip is not now subject to displacement orders or located within militarised zones, according to the United Nations. Many Palestinians have been displaced multiple times.
Since Israel expanded its military campaign in Gaza City in mid-August, vowing to root out Hamas fighters, the U.N. has recorded over 417,000 displacements of people from the north to the south of the enclave.
Israel has urged Gaza City residents to head south. But conditions in southern Gaza are dire, with families crammed into makeshift tents and overstretched services trying to cope with new arrivals, aid agencies say.
Food And Hunger
A global hunger monitor said in August that famine had taken hold in Gaza City and was likely to spread. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the report as an “outright lie”.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system said 514,000 people – close to a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza – were experiencing famine.
At least 177 people – including 36 children – have died from starvation and malnutrition since famine was confirmed in parts of Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Over 60% of pregnant women and new mothers are suffering from malnutrition, the UN Population Fund has said.
Aid
On May 21, Israel lifted an 11-week blockade on supplies entering Gaza. Aid agencies have said the trickle of aid reaching Gaza has fallen far short of needs.
Numerous aid agencies say they still face restrictions and logistical hurdles, including the closure of the Gaza-Israel Zikim Crossing on September 12 and the closure of the Allenby crossing between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jordan for food aid supplies on September 24.
Israel says there is no quantitative limit on food aid entering Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing aid, accusations the Palestinian militant group denies.
About 73% of aid trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza in September were intercepted by hungry civilians or forcefully by armed gangs, according to OCHA.
Since May 27, at least 2,340 people have been killed while seeking food or aid in Gaza – about half of them near militarised supply sites and the rest along aid convoy routes, according to OCHA figures as of September 29.
The Gaza Humanitarian Fund, which began delivering food in late May from a small number of distribution centres, has denied incidents occurring near its sites. It operates outside the United Nations and is supported by Israel. It said that as of September 29, it had delivered over 175 million meals.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Indonesia School Collapse: Search Operations End As 61 Confirmed Dead
Rescuers in Indonesia on Tuesday concluded their search for victims trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed Islamic boarding school in East Java, after recovering more than 60 bodies, disaster officials said.
Grief and confusion gripped the small town of Sidoarjo last week after foundational failures caused the Al Khoziny school to cave in on hundreds of people, mostly teenage boys, while they were at afternoon prayers. Most escaped.
The bodies of all 61 people in the building have been found, as well as seven body parts that police are trying to identify, the disaster mitigation agency said in a statement, halting the search effort in a disaster it had called the year’s deadliest.
“Operations due to the collapsed structure of the Al Khoziny school … are officially closed,” said Mohammad Syafii, chief of the search and rescue agency, after authorities cleared away the debris.
Severed limbs are among the parts being identified, said Budi Irawan, the agency’s deputy chief.
Rescuers had used excavators and cranes to lift large chunks of concrete. Digging through tunnels, they shouted out the names of victims presumed to be still alive.
Al Khoziny is one of more than 42,000 such schools nationwide, known as pesantren, just 50 of which have a building permit, the public works ministry has said.
Reuters could not determine whether Al Khoziny had a permit or reach school authorities. Media quoted Sidoarjo chief Subandi as saying last week that it allegedly lacked one.
‘Deadliest’ Disaster
Budi Irawan, a deputy at the disaster mitigation agency, said, “The number of victims is the biggest this year from one building.”
“Out of all the disasters in 2025, natural or not, there haven’t been as many dead victims as the ones in Sidoarjo,” he told a press conference.
Authorities have said the cause of the collapse was construction work on the upper floors that the school’s foundations could not support.
(With inputs from Reuters)
India Must Rise Amid Global Upheaval: Jaishankar
The world is undergoing “deep changes across a broad swathe of human activity in a short timeframe”, affecting trade, technology, energy and even warfare, warned External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar. “The strategic consequences of such deep change are surely profound,” he said. “Cooperation is giving way to confrontation” and long-standing global rules are being “revisited and at times even discarded.”
Addressing the Aravalli Summit on ‘India and the World Order: Preparing for 2047’, held at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) along with the Chintan Research Foundation (CRF), Dr Jaishankar pointed out that a third of global manufacturing has shifted to one region, creating new vulnerabilities in supply chains. “Cost is no longer the defining criterion for economic transactions,” he cautioned. “Ownership and security are equally so. End-to-end risks are rising from concentrated production to dependence on key markets.”
Sanctions, asset seizures and competition for critical minerals have “changed the face of global finance,” while advances in weaponry and technology have made war “more stand-off, more impactful, and definitely more risk-prone.”
Jaishankar noted that India must navigate this period of global volatility with confidence, not caution. “We have to safeguard our interests and yet continuously advance up the global hierarchy,” he said. “We have to de-risk our exposures and engagements and yet take risks when necessary.”
The Minister said India’s growth will be driven by “three forces: demand, demographics and data,” and called for creating “ideas, concepts and narratives” to guide the nation’s journey towards 2047, when it marks 100 years of independence.
“India must operate in a multi-polar environment while preparing to emerge as a pole,” he said. “That is why multi-alignment serves us well now, and becoming a leading power is a natural goal for the future.”
Recalling his student years at JNU’s School of International Studies (SIS), where he completed his MPhil and PhD, Jaishankar added with humour, “Perhaps the schooling in SIS helped shape many traits including the inclination to engage and utilise the academic community. And perhaps, in a way, I could blame my books on all of you.”
Urging scholars and policymakers to prepare intellectually for India’s next global leap, he said: “We need the concepts, the strategies and the terminology to facilitate that journey. As India globalises, public interest in world affairs will grow and our ability to analyse and articulate must grow with it.”
France’s Outgoing PM Lecornu To Begin Last-Ditch Talks To Salvage Cabinet
France’s outgoing Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is initiating two days of last-ditch talks on Tuesday with party leaders, a day after his surprise resignation, seeking a path out of France’s deepening political crisis.
Lecornu tendered his and his government’s resignation on Monday morning, after his government, announced on Sunday evening, was rejected by both allies and opponents. His government was the shortest-lived administration in modern French history.
Macron tasked Lecornu on Monday with holding the talks, setting a deadline for Wednesday evening.
Politicians of various stripes expressed confusion about the president’s moves, with some arguing that Lecornu’s new task was merely an effort to buy more time nearly a month after the outgoing prime minister’s nomination.
It was not immediately clear what the scope of Lecornu’s responsibilities would be during these discussions.
“Like many French people, I do not understand the president’s decisions anymore,” said Gabriel Attal, a centrist lawmaker and former prime minister under Macron.
Lecornu was slated to meet early on Tuesday with several members of the conservative Les Republicains (LR) and centre-right Renaissance parties, including Senate head Gerard Larcher and National Assembly head Yael Braun-Pivet.
Major Political Crisis
France’s current political crisis, its deepest since the creation in 1958 of the Fifth Republic, its modern system of government, dates to June of last year.
After the far-right surged in European Parliament elections, Macron announced snap elections for the lower parliamentary house.
The result was a fractured parliament with no clear majority – in a country with a government designed to have a powerful president with a strong parliamentary majority, and little history of building coalitions and consensus.
Lecornu was Macron’s third prime minister since those elections were called, and Macron’s options are now limited.
The president could name a new prime minister. The Socialists have urged Macron to name a prime minister from the left, which he has resisted because a leftist prime minister would likely seek to roll back his pension overhaul and tax changes.
Macron is also not barred by the constitution from naming Lecornu, a close ally, again.
Opposition parties have also called on him to dissolve parliament or resign. Macron, whose term ends in 2027, has so far ruled out stepping down or calling new parliamentary elections.
The head of the Medef business chiefs lobby, Patrick Martin, told Franceinfo radio on Tuesday that the political crisis “adds to the concern that already existed within our ranks”
“We are witnessing this political spectacle that saddens us, and we are calling for a sense of responsibility on the part of all political players,” he said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Taiwan President Says Trump Deserves Nobel Prize If He Persuades China Against Using Force
U.S. President Donald Trump would deserve the Nobel Peace Prize if he succeeds in persuading Chinese President Xi Jinping to refrain from using force against Taiwan, President Lai Ching-te said on a conservative U.S. radio show and podcast.
The United States is Chinese-claimed Taiwan‘s most important international backer, despite the absence of formal ties, but since President Donald Trump took office earlier this year he has not announced any new arms sales to the island.
Trump could meet Xi at a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in South Korea later this month.
Lai, speaking this week on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, which is carried on more than 400 talk radio stations, referred to comments Trump made in August in which he said Xi told him China would not invade Taiwan while he was U.S. president.
Hope For Trump Support
“We hope to continue receiving President Trump’s support. Should President Trump persuade Xi Jinping to permanently abandon any military aggression against Taiwan, President Trump would undoubtedly be a Nobel Peace Prize laureate,” Lai said.
Trump has said he deserves the accolade given to four of his White House predecessors. This year’s prize will be announced in Norway on Friday.
Asked what he would tell the U.S. president if he were to meet him, Lai said he would advise Trump to pay attention to Xi’s actions.
“I would advise him to pay particular attention to the fact that Xi Jinping is not only conducting increasingly large-scale military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, but is also expanding military forces in the East China Sea and South China Sea,” Lai said, according to a transcript of his remarks released by the presidential office on Tuesday.
A few hours after the transcript’s release, Taiwan’s defence ministry reported it had spotted another spike in Chinese military movements, with 23 military aircraft and drones carrying out a “joint combat readiness patrol” around the island with Chinese warships.
China’s increasing military activities further and further from its own shores are not only a challenge for Taiwan, Lai said.
“The challenge extends beyond merely annexing Taiwan. Once Taiwan is annexed, China will gain greater strength to compete with the United States on the international stage, undermining the rules-based international order,” he said.
“Ultimately, this will also impact U.S. homeland interests. Therefore, I hope President Trump will continue to uphold peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Lai’s remarks.
Increased Defence Spending
Given the lack of formal ties, Taiwanese presidents do not speak directly to or meet U.S. presidents.
Taiwan, along with major Western allies, has worked to address Washington’s concerns that it is not spending enough on its own defence – Lai has set a target of defence spending to reach 5% of gross domestic product by 2030.
“I will tell them that Taiwan is absolutely determined to safeguard its national security,” Lai told the show, when asked about how he would show the United States the island’s resolve to defend itself.
The United States, which is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, has long stuck to a policy of “strategic ambiguity,” not making clear whether it would respond militarily to a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
Lai rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future. China calls Lai a “separatist” and has repeatedly rebuffed his offers of talks.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Japan: Takaichi Appoints Former Premier Aso As Party Deputy
Sanae Takaichi, set to take office as Japan’s next prime minister, appointed former premier and influential party figure Taro Aso as vice president of her ruling party on Tuesday, a decision seen by some analysts as a check on large-scale fiscal spending.
Takaichi also chose former finance minister Shunichi Suzuki as secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a job that wields huge influence in party affairs, in a line-up of key party posts announced on Tuesday.
The announcements came after the ruling party’s pick of fiscal dove Takaichi as its head on Saturday, putting her on course to become Japan’s first female prime minister.
Japan’s share prices surged and the yen slumped this week on market expectations Takaichi will deploy big fiscal stimulus and pressure the central bank to go slow in raising interest rates.
“During the leadership race, the Aso faction backed Takaichi, so her administration may remain strongly influenced by him,” said Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at Nomura Research Institute.
“Aso’s influence could moderate aggressive fiscal or overly dovish monetary impulses,” he said, adding Suzuki is also seen as emphasising fiscal discipline.
Aso To Bring Order In Fiscal Spending?
Aso was prime minister when the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 jolted the global economy.
While he served as finance minister when former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe deployed his “Abenomics” stimulus policies in 2013, Aso has preached the need to keep heavily indebted Japan’s fiscal house in order. He is thus seen by markets as holding a more balanced approach on fiscal policy than proponents of aggressive spending like Takaichi.
But bond markets remained jittery on prospects Takaichi’s minority coalition could form an alliance with an opposition party, and nod to its calls for tax breaks and big spending.
The yield on the 20-year Japanese government bond (JGB) marked a fresh 26-year peak and the benchmark 10-year yield notched 17-year highs on Tuesday, on market views Takaichi’s policies may strain Japan’s already worsening finances.
Domestic media reported that Takaichi is in talks to possibly form an alliance with the Democratic Party for the People, which has proposed income tax reforms aimed at boosting take-home pay for working households.
“If Takaichi were to choose the Democratic Party, the size of spending could rise depending on what its leader will demand in exchange for forming an alliance,” said Naomi Muguruma, chief bond strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
“There’s no guarantee Aso would serve as a counter-force against big spending,” she said. “Given so much uncertainty, there won’t be many investors willing to buy JGBs.”
(With inputs from Reuters)