One China, Two Guests, Zero Chill
Trump warns Taiwan against independence while Putin heads to Beijing next week - as Xi tries to keep both Washington and Moscow inside the same geopolitical tent
US President Donald Trump has cautioned Taiwan against formally declaring independence from China. “I’m not looking to have somebody go independent,” the US president told Fox News on Friday, at the end of his two-day summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has previously stated that Taiwan does not need to declare formal independence because it already sees itself as a sovereign nation. The US has long supported Taiwan, including being bound by law to provide it with a means of self-defence, but has frequently had to square this alliance with maintaining a diplomatic relationship with China. Trump earlier said he had “made no commitment either way” about the self-governing island - which China claims as part of its territory and has not ruled out taking by force. Washington’s established position is that it does not support Taiwanese independence, with continued ties with Beijing being contingent on its acceptance that there is only one Chinese government. Beijing has been vocal in its dislike of Taiwan’s president, who it has previously described as a “troublemaker” and a “destroyer of cross-strait peace”. Many Taiwanese consider themselves to be part of a separate nation - though most are in favour of maintaining the status quo in which Taiwan neither declares independence from China nor unites with it. In his interview with Fox News, Trump reiterated that US policy on the matter had not changed. “You know, we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles (15,289km) to fight a war. I’m not looking for that. I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down.” On the flight back to Washington, the US president had told reporters that he and Xi had spoken “a lot” about the island, but said he had declined to discuss whether the US would defend it. Xi “feels very strongly” about the island and “doesn’t want to see a movement for independence”, Trump said. “The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” Xi warned during the talks, according to Chinese state media, adding: “If mishandled, the two nations could collide or even come into conflict.” - BBC
President Vladimir Putin is expected to travel to China next week, the South China Morning Post reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter, who said the Russian leader’s trip would unlikely feature the same “scale and pomp” seen during the U.S.-China summit in Beijing this week. The upcoming visit, reportedly planned for just Wednesday, was described by anonymous sources as part of “Moscow’s routine dealings with Beijing, with little expectation that there would be an elaborate parade or welcome.” Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov confirmed that preparations are underway for Putin’s trip to China, telling reporters that a date would be announced “very, very soon.” The agenda is clear. First and foremost, it is our bilateral relations, which are special relations of a privileged strategic partnership,” Peskov said during a daily briefing. The South China Morning Post reported that the back-to-back visits by Putin and Trump will mark the first time China has hosted Russian and U.S. leaders for bilateral talks in the same month, hinting that Beijing seeks to strike a balance in its relations with the two countries - Moscow Times
Nina Litvinova, a prominent Russian human rights activist and dissident whose suicide was reported recently by Russian media, left a note blaming President Vladimir Putin for her death, according to her cousin. The 80-year-old’s suicide was first reported on May 13. The following day, her cousin, journalist Maria Slonin, published what she said was an excerpt from Litvinova’s note on social media. Nobody -- neither RIA nor Gazeta.Ru, which first reported it -- will, of course, publish the note, because it lays out the reasons for her death far too plainly. So we decided to show the real reasons: Putin killed her!” Slonim wrote. The excerpt speaks of Putin’s domestic repression of opponents and his ongoing war on Ukraine. “I love all of you and think about you. But I must leave; living has become unbearable for me. Ever since Putin attacked Ukraine and has been killing innocent people, while here at home thousands are endlessly thrown into prison, suffering and dying there simply because, like me, they oppose the war and oppose killing,” it says - RFE/RL
President Volodymyr Zelensky and several foreign diplomats on May 15 paid their respects to the victims of the previous day’s Russian missile attack that destroyed part of an apartment building in Kyiv, killing 24 people, including three children.
The visit came an hour after first responders concluded search and rescue efforts at the site, 28 hours after a Russian missile struck the building in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district. Fifty-six missiles of various types, including Iskander ballistic and Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles, were launched in the overnight attack, as well as 675 one-way attack drones, according to Ukraine's Air Force - Kyiv Independent
Three potential candidates cleared their path to challenging UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership. Starmer is embattled after devastating local election results last week. Wes Streeting, Andy Burnham, and Angela Rayner are all expected to stand in any leadership election, but all face challenges: Health Secretary Streeting may not have the party support, Burnham must first win a special election against a surging populist party to enter parliament, and Rayner was until recently under investigation for tax irregularities. The political turmoil has already sent government borrowing costs to multi-decade highs, and UK business leaders complained that the Labour Party infighting would further damage investment. “Nero fiddles,” one FTSE 100 boss told the Financial Times, leaving while Rome burns unspoken - Semafor
Tehran has “no trust” in the US and is interested in negotiating with Washington only if it is serious, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday, as talks on ending the war remained on hold. Araghchi told reporters in New Delhi that all vessels can pass through the Strait of Hormuz except those “at war” with Tehran, if they coordinate with Iran’s navy. But the situation around the waterway, vital to global energy and commodities markets, was “very complicated,” he added, during a visit to attend a BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting in India. Iran effectively shut the strait, which normally handles about one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil and gas supply, to most shipping after the US and Israel began their war on Iran in February. Washington and Tehran announced a ceasefire last month but have been struggling to thrash out a lasting peace pact. Talks mediated by Pakistan have been suspended since Iran and the US each rejected the other’s latest proposals last week. Araghchi said “contradictory messages” had raised Iranian doubts about the Americans’ real intentions, adding that the Pakistani mediation process had not failed but was in “difficulty.” The United States and Israel have cut short two previous rounds of talks with Tehran in the past 13 months by launching campaigns of airstrikes on Iran. Iran is trying to keep the latest ceasefire to give diplomacy a chance but is also prepared to go back to fighting, Araghchi said. The issues holding up negotiations between the two sides include Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its control of the Strait of Hormuz - Reuters
Oman has been caught in geopolitical crossfire after Iran said it was coordinating with the Gulf state over the future management of the strait of Hormuz, including Tehran’s plans to impose fees on commercial shipping. The Omani exclave of Musandam lies to the south of the contested waterway, which normally carries a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil traffic but has been blockaded for 10 weeks since the US-Israeli attack on Iran in February. The US has said repeatedly there can be no permanent solution to the blockade that involves the payment of a toll to Iran, and claims that Oman holds a similar view. Speaking in India on Friday, the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, defined the strait of Hormuz as an exclusively Omani-Iranian waterway. “The strait is located in the territorial waters of Iran and Oman,” he said. “There is no international waters in between.” Araghchi added that Iran was coordinating with Oman about the future management of the strait. Oman has so far been silent about Iran’s plans to charge a fee and to demand details on the nationality of all ships passing through the waterway - The Guardian
Iran is smuggling at least 6 million liters of fuel each day to neighboring Pakistan, traders and transporters in the South Asian country told RFE/RL, in violation of US sanctions on the Islamic republic. Fuel trafficking is a lifeline for cash-strapped Iran, which is under a US naval blockade that has disrupted its lucrative oil exports. Weeks of US-Israeli bombing has also left the Middle Eastern country’s key infrastructure and industries in tatters. Iran has smuggled gasoline and diesel to Pakistan since around 2013, when the United States significantly tightened economic sanctions against Tehran. But there are signs that the volume of fuel that Iran is trafficking has increased since the war began on February 28. In response to the US-Israeli bombing campaign, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global oil supplies, triggering a surge in world fuel prices and upending the global economy. Pakistan, a US ally, could come under pressure to clamp down on the smuggling of Iranian oil, experts say. Islamabad has acted as a mediator in negotiations between Washington and Tehran to end the war - RFE/RL
The twangy jingle produced by Kars4Kids will no longer be broadcast in California, at least in its current form, after a state judge determined last week the charity’s ads amounted to false advertising. The infamously catchy tune – “1-877-Kars4Kids/K-A-R-S Kars for Kids/1-877-Kars4Kids/Donate your car today” – has been on airwaves for nearly two decades. During that time, Kars4Kids has faced litigation and state government investigations for its misleading fundraising practices. Bruce Puterbaugh brought suit against the charity in 2021, after he parted ways with a nonfunctional 2001 Volvo XC valued at $250. He donated to the charity, believing it worked in service of “underprivileged kids from all over the US”, according to documents from the Orange county superior court. Puterbaugh would later learn Kars4Kids is used to fund Oorah, a Jewish non-profit. That organization runs summer camps in the tri-state area and organizes gap year trips to Israel for 17- and 18-year-olds. Oorah also used $16.5m funneled from Kars4Kids to buy a building in Israel as it expands its presence there. “I feel taken advantage of by the ad and information that was not there,” he said in court testimony. Esti Landau, the organization’s chief operating officer, testified that the well-known ad does not mention the Jewish community. Kars4Kids funnels about $45m annually to Oorah. Of the 120,000 cars donated nationwide, approximately 30,000 originated in California, per court documents. It’s unclear over what time period those cars were donated. Kars4Kids was ordered to pay $250 in restitution to the plaintiff and given a deadline of 30 days to “cease all non-compliant broadcasting in California” - The Guardian
In what sounds suspiciously like the plot of a low-budget sci-fi film sponsored by a yogurt company, Chinese scientists have successfully cloned six “super high-yield” dairy goats in Shaanxi Province - the country’s first batch cloning of elite milk-producing goats. According to the state Xinhua news agency, the cloned animals, four males and two females, were created from donor goats capable of producing more than 2,800 kilograms of milk annually - far outperforming ordinary goats and apparently possessing the sort of résumé usually reserved for Olympic athletes or hedge fund managers. Researchers say the goats also boast strong disease resistance, environmental adaptability and stable reproductive performance. In other words: the perfect employees. Scientists at Northwest A&F University say the breakthrough could slash breeding times from a decade to just a few years, helping China accelerate food security goals under its new Five-Year Plan. Shaanxi Province already produces 80 percent of China’s goat milk products, meaning the region may soon become the Silicon Valley of cloned dairy livestock. No word yet on whether the goats themselves were consulted about being duplicated six times.
The journals….
