China foreign minister steps up threats against Taiwan

BEIJING—China’s foreign minister stepped up threats Friday against the self-governing island of Taiwan, saying any who go against Beijing’s demand to exert control over the island are “playing with fire.”

Qin Gang’s remarks Friday came at the end of a speech espousing China’s contribution to the global economy and the interests of developing nations, in which he repeatedly praised Communist Party Secretary General Xi Jinping’s Global Security Initiative.

The concept is the latest of China’s moves to position its singleparty political system, with its claim to social stability and economic growth, as an alternative to the Western liberal approach that largely defines international relations.

Toward the end of his speech in the financial hub of Shanghai, Qin turned to what China calls the “Taiwan problem,” using harsher terms than Chinese diplomats have typically employed in past in international settings.

“The safeguarding of national sovereignty and territorial integrity is beyond reproach,” Qin said.

“The Taiwan problem is at the

Muslims end Ramadan and begin holiday amid war, reconciliation

By Kareem Chehayeb & Niniek Karmini The Associated Press

BEIRUT—Large parts of the Muslim world marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan at sundown Thursday and ushered in the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but the festivities were overshadowed by raging battles for control of Sudan and a deadly stampede in Yemen.

In other parts of the region, the holiday came against the backdrop of reconciliation and rapprochement between former rivals.

The Islamic calendar is lunar and depends on the sighting of the moon—something Muslim religious authorities tend to disagree on. Ramadan sees worshippers fasting daily from dawn to sunset, ending with Eid al-Fitr celebrations.

This year again, the holiday comes amid fighting and devastation, particularly in the Middle East.

In Sudan, the holiday was eclipsed by raging battles between the army and its rival paramilitary force, despite two attempted ceasefires. The fighting since Saturday has killed hundreds of people and wounded thousands.

In Yemen, the Arab world’s most impoverished nation, a stampede late Wednesday at a charitable event in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa killed at least 78 people and injured 77.

Religious authorities in both Sudan and Yemen said they will mark the start of Eid al-Fitr on Friday.

In Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population worldwide, the second-largest Islamic group, Muhammadiyah—with over 60 million members—said that according to its astronomical calculations, the holiday of Eid al-Fitr starts on Friday. However, the country’s religious affairs minister had announced on Thursday that the start of the holiday would fall on Saturday.

In some places, tensions and fighting had calmed. Long-time Mideast rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed last month to restore diplomatic ties after China-brokered negotiations—an ongoing reconciliation that has deescalated proxy wars in the region.

Saudi officials and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen recently began talks in Sanaa and during the last days of Ramadan exchanged hundreds of prisoners captured in Yemen’s civil war, which erupted in 2014.

Riyadh also sent its top diplomat to Syria to meet with President Bashar Assad on Tuesday, a significant step towards ending his political isolation and potentially returning the war-torn country to the Arab League.

However, Tehran and Riyadh disagreed on the start of the holiday—for Saudis, Eid al-Fitr would begin Friday while officials in Iran said it starts on Saturday.

The start of the holiday is traditionally based on sightings of the new moon, which vary according to geographic location, while some countries rely on astronomical calculations rather than physical sightings to determine the start of Eid al-Fitr.

core of China’s core interests,” he said. “We will never back down in the face of any act that undermines China’s sovereignty and security. Those who play with fire on the question of Taiwan will burn themselves.”

Such remarks are typically directed at the island’s democratically elected government under President Tsai Ing-wen and its most important ally, the United States. China considers Taiwan a part of its territory to be annexed by force if necessary.

Earlier in April, China held large-scale air and sea drills in the areas surrounding Taiwan in retaliation for Tsai’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on April 5 in California. China said the exercises simulating an encirclement of Taiwan were intended as a “serious warning” to pro-independence politicians on the self-governing island and their foreign supporters.

China has stepped up its military pressure and diplomatic isolation against Taiwan in recent years, sending fighter jets and navy vessels towards the island on a near-daily basis.

While Taiwan maintains official diplomatic relations with just

13 sovereign states, it retains robust ties with most major nations, including the US.

After former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, China sent more and more military vessels over the midline of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary that had been accepted for decades.

The heightened pace of military activity and increasingly bellicose language have raised concerns about a possible conflict in one of the world’s most economically vital regions. Taiwan produces much of the world’s much-needed computer chips and the Taiwan Strait separating the island from mainland China is one of the world’s busiest waterways.

Taiwan will elect a new president and parliament in January, with China seen as heavily favoring the opposition Nationalist Party that backs political unification between the sides under terms yet to be defined. Taiwanese and US authorities say China is using economic leverage and disinformation to bolster its military threats, but most Taiwanese responding to surveys back the status quo of de facto independence. AP

United Arab Emirates and Qatar followed Saudi Arabia and announced the holiday would begin for them on Friday, while their Gulf Arab neighbor, Oman, declared that the moon had not been sighted and the holiday would begin on Saturday.

Iraq’s Sunni authorities announced the holiday would begin Friday, while the country’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali alSistani, set a Saturday start date. The governments of Lebanon and Syria, both in the throes of crippling economic crises, said Friday would mark the beginning of the dayslong holiday.

Indonesia’s Security Minister Mohammad Mahfud called on Muslims to be respectful of each other’s celebrations, and asked Muhammadiyah members to have their holiday feasts at home—in consideration of the Muslims who would still be fasting on Friday.

The country’s roads and highways were gridlocked as millions crammed into trains, ferries, buses and on motorcycles, as they left cities to return to their villages to celebrate with family. The government estimated that more than 123 million travelers were expected to crisscross the vast archipelago that spans 17,000 islands, with about 18 million departing from Jakarta’s greater metropolitan area.

Meanwhile, clerics of Pakistan’s state-backed moon sighting committee announced at a news conference in Islamabad that Eid al-Fitr would be celebrated on Saturday in Pakistan as there were no sightings of the moon there.

Egypt and Jordan said that for them, Eid al-Fitr would begin on Friday. In divided Libya, the religious authorities based in the capital of Tripoli, said it would start on Saturday. In the country’s east, run by a rival administration, authorities marked Friday as the start.

In Afghanistan, the head of the Taliban-appointed judiciary, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, also said the holiday would start on Friday.