Tag: relationship with the public

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that it detected three Chinese warships, including the Shandong aircraft carrier, passing through the Taiwan Strait, as Beijing keeps up pressure on the self-ruled island it claims as its own.

The ministry said it was monitoring the movements of the ships and will respond accordingly.

China has stepped up its military activities around Taiwan in recent months amid deteriorating US-China ties.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary and regularly sends ships and warplanes into airspace and waters near the island.

The ministry also said that in the 24 hours from 6 am Friday to Saturday, it detected 33 of China’s People’s Liberation Army aircraft and 10 navy vessels around Taiwan.

Twelve of the aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or entered the island’s air defense identification zone.

In response, Taiwan’s armed forces deployed aircraft, navy vessels and land-based missile systems.

In April, the Chinese military said it was “ready to fight” after completing three days of large-scale combat exercises around Taiwan that simulated sealing off the island in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s trip to the US.

Last August, China intensified war games around Taiwan, with missile firings and incursions into Taiwanese waters and airspace following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.

In a scathing attack on Saturday, Russia told the United States not to lecture it for deploying tactical nuclear weapons in the neighbouring country of Belarus, its steadfast ally that has backed Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine. US President Joe Biden, on May 26, lambasted Kremlin for resorting to sending nukes to Minsk, saying that he felt “extremely negative” about the deployment. ”Extremely negative is my reaction” Biden said in his response during a presser when asked about the Russian nuclear deployment after he left Washington for Camp David.

Issuing a harsh response to Biden’s statement, Russia’s embassy in the United States said in a statement: “It is the sovereign right of Russia and Belarus to ensure their security by means we deem necessary amid a large-scale hybrid war unleashed by Washington against us. The measures we undertake are fully consistent with our international legal obligations.”

US deployed nukes in EU for decades: Moscow
Russia hit back at the US saying that Washington had, for decades, deployed nuclear weapons across Europe including the countries bordering Russian territory. Notably, Moscow had used NATO’s expanding military presence on its “doorstep” as a pretext for invading neighbouring Ukraine, apparently, for its own sovereignty and national security. This week, Kremlin announced that it is implementing the first deployment of nuclear weapons outside its borders since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s staunchest ally Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko meanwhile noted that the weapons were already on the move for deployment. The move was slammed by US State Department.

During his state speeches, authoritarian leader Putin asserted that Russia which possesses more nuclear weapons than any other country, will use all means to defend itself and its territory if provoked. In February, Putin declared that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms control pact that it has with the US. Russia’s President slammed Washington and its NATO allies for openly announcing the goal of Russia’s defeat in Ukraine. “They want to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on us and try to get to our nuclear facilities at the same time,” Putin asserted. The United States denounced nuclear deployment in Minsk, saying that it is the gravest nuclear danger since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken labelled the development “deeply unfortunate and irresponsible”.

Amid Opposition’s call for boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Saturday asserted that there is “no need” for a new Parliament building.

The new Parliament building is an attempt to write a new history by those who had no contribution in the freedom struggle, he told reporters here.

JD(U), of which he is a senior leader, has announced that it will boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building on Sunday. The party will observe a day-long fast here on the day to protest the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“There is no need for a new Parliament building… Those who had no contribution to the country’s fight for independence are trying to distort history. It is quite surprising that the President of India and the Vice-President, who is the chairman of Rajya Sabha, have not been invited to the inauguration programme,” Kumar, who had been a cabinet minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee, told reporters here.

“JD(U) strongly holds that the president is an important part of the country’s parliamentary system. As the president, Droupadi Murmu holds the highest constitutional post in the country and she should have been invited by the Narendra Modi government to inaugurate the new Parliament. building,” the party’s state president Umesh Singh Kushwaha told reporters here on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday underlined the need for evolving a common vision to achieve the goal of a developed India by 2047 and asked states to take financially prudent decisions capable of delivering programmes that meet the dreams of citizens. Modi said this while addressing the eighth Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog, being attended by several chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories and Union ministers.

“At #NITIAayog’s #8thGCM, PM @narendramodi stated that when states grow, India grows.He also emphasised the importance of evolving a common vision to achieve a #VikasitBharat @ 2047,” NITI Aayog said in a series of tweets.

— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) May 27, 2023
The prime minister also urged the states to take financially prudent decisions which would make them fiscally strong and capable of undertaking programmes for the welfare of citizens.

“PM @narendramodi urged States to take financially prudent decisions so as to become fiscally strong and capable of delivering programmes that meet the dreams of citizens,” the Aayog said in another tweet.

PM @narendramodi urged States to take financially prudent decisions so as to become fiscally strong and capable of delivering programmes that meet the dreams of citizens.#8thGCM

— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) May 27, 2023
NITI Aayog’s eighth Governing Council meeting has deliberated on several issues including, health, skill development, women empowerment and infrastructure development, with an aim to make India a developed nation by 2047. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing the meeting. Union ministers Amit Shah, Niramala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal and chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh are attending the meeting, among others.

West Bengal, Punjab and Delhi chief ministers are boycotting the meeting. Generally, the full council meeting happens every year and last year, it was held under the chairmanship of Modi on August 7. The council meeting was not convened in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The first meeting of the council took place on February 8, 2015.