ChiNa rejeCts BliNkeN’s erroNeous ClaiMs oN taiwaN

Urges Us To Stop Going Down Wrong Path

TAIWAN Staff RepoRt

CHINA’SForeign Ministry firmly objected to the recent remarks made by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the Taiwan question, calling those remarks extremely irresponsible and ridiculous and urging Blinken to heed the lesson of history seriously on the issue.

Blinken said in a recent interview that “the world is so concerned about a crisis across the Taiwan Straits is because this is not an internal matter” and that if there were a crisis in Taiwan as a result of the Chinese mainland’s aggression in some fashion, “that would have disastrous consequences.”

Over the Taiwan question, Blinken must take a history lesson, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the ministry said at a regular press conference on Tuesday.

Taiwan has been an integral part of China’s territory since ancient times. The one-China principle is the accepted basic norm of international relations and an important political prerequisite and foundation for China to establish diplomatic relations with other countries, she said.

In 1972, the US stated in the Shanghai Communiqué that “The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Straits maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States Government does not challenge that position.”

In 1978, the US stated in the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of

Murdoch admits some Fox News hosts ‘endorsed’ false election fraud claims

NEW YORK

ReuteRS

Fox Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch acknowledged that some Fox News commentators endorsed the false allegations by former president Donald Trump and his allies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and that he didn’t step in to stop them from promoting the claims, according to excerpts of a deposition unsealed Monday. The claims and the company’s handling of them are at the heart of a defamation lawsuit against the cable news giant by Dominion Voting Systems. The recently unsealed documents include excerpts from a deposition in which Murdoch was asked about whether he was aware that some of the network’s commentators — Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity — at times endorsed the false election claims. Murdoch replied: “Yes. They endorsed.” The Murdoch deposition is the latest filing in the defamation case to reveal concerns at the top-rated network over how it was handling Trump’s claims as its ratings plummeted after the network called Arizona for Joe Biden, angering Trump and his supporters. An earlier filing showed a gulf between the stolen election narrative the network was airing in primetime and doubts about the claims raised by its stars behind the scenes. In one text, from November 16, 2020, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said “Sidney Powell is lying” about having evidence for election fraud, referring to one of Trump’s lawyers. The Dominion case is the latest example showing that those who were spreading false information about the 2020 election knew there was no evidence to support it. The now-disbanded House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol disclosed that many of Trump’s top advisers repeatedly warned him that the allegations he was making about fraud were false — and yet the president continued making the claims. Murdoch urged in September 2020, weeks before the election, that Dobbs be fired because he was “an extremist,” according to Dominion’s court filing. Murdoch also said he thought it was “really bad” for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to be advising Trump because Giuliani’s “judgment was bad” and he was “an extreme partisan,” according to a deposition excerpt. Murdoch was asked whether he could have requested that Powell and Giuliani not be put on the air: “ I could have. But I didn’t,” he replied. Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, which sells electronic voting hardware and software, is suing both Fox News Network and parent company Fox Corporation for defamation. Dominion contends that some Fox News employees deliberately amplified false claims by supporters of Trump that Dominion machines had changed votes in the 2020 election, and that Fox provided a platform for guests to make false and defamatory statements about the company.

Diplomatic Relations between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China that “The United States of America recognizes the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China. The Government of the United States of America acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.”

On the Taiwan question, the political commitment made by the US to China was clear in writing, Mao said. For some time, the US has deliberately ignored and distorted historical facts, sent false signals on the Taiwan question, greatly relaxed restrictions on official exchanges between the US and Taiwan, strengthened military ties between the US and Taiwan, and touted “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow,” Mao noted. It has even been revealed by the media that the US government has a plan for “the destruction of

Taiwan”. We cannot help but ask, what exactly is the US trying to achieve, asked Mao.

“I want to reiterate that the Taiwan question is purely China’s internal affair and the core of China’s core interests. It is the political foundation of China-US relations and the first red line in China-US relations that should not be crossed,” Mao said.

The spokesperson emphasized that

UNHRC warned against becoming a wrestling ring of bloc confrontation

GENEvE

A handful of Western countries have attempted to hijack the 52nd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that began in Geneva on Monday as a platform to scorch and further isolate Russia, as well as China, say Chinese experts. The experts also said Western countries’ exclusive focus on smearing Russia in fact exposes their hypocrisy, as they only use the human rights issue to achieve their own political purposes, while ignoring other human rights crises that need to be addressed, such as the impact of the recent earthquakes in Syria.

The UNHRC session will last through April 4, starting with a high-level segment from February 27 to March 2, and dignitaries representing more than 125 member states will address the council.

In a speech delivered to the session via video link on Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang proposed the following: committing to a path of human rights development that suits the realities of each country; to the comprehensive promotion and protection of all human rights; to international fairness and justice and to dialogue and cooperation, according to a readout pub- lished by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No country is qualified to act as the judge on human rights, and human rights should not be used as a pretext for meddling in other countries’ internal affairs or holding back other countries’ development, said Qin. The purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be observed by all, and human rights exchanges and cooperation be carried out on the basis of equality and mutual respect. The acts by some to politicize, weaponize and instrumentalize human rights issues should be opposed, said the minister.

At a news briefing on Tuesday, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reiterated Qin’s proposals, noting the UNHRC should be a platform for dialogue and cooperation, not a wrestle ring for politicalization and bloc confrontation. Hijacking tHe platform: Qin and Mao’s remarks were made after Western countries scorched Russia at the UNHRC for its conflict with Ukraine, as the crisis has been dragging on for more than one year.

Bonnie Jenkins, the US under secretary of state for arms control and international security, criticized Russia at the UN council for sus- pending its participation in New START, the last nuclear arms control pact between Moscow and Washington, AFP reported.

In her speech to the conference, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also denounced Russia for “undermining the arms control architecture we all depend on.” This is Western countries’ common practice to politicalize this platform, turning it into a wrestling ring for bloc confrontation, as well as smearing certain other countries to achieve its own political purposes, Chang Jian, director of the Research Center for Human Rights at the Tianjin-based Nankai University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Experts said the US and some Western countries’ efforts in turning the UNHRC into an arena between “democratic countries” and “authoritarian countries” will poisoned the atmosphere and sabotaged global human rights causes. The US and the West have highly politicize topics on the Ukraine crisis and plotted to make criticizing Russia as “politically correct,” which, however, is not the way to solve related human rights problems, Wang Jiang, an expert with the Institute of China’s Borderland Studies at Zhejiang Normal University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Online ride-hailing passenger kills driver during argument

LAHORE Staff RepoRt

A passenger of an online ride-hailing service in Lahore shot and killed the driver, Fakhar, during an altercation on Tuesday. According to police, the suspect, identified as Muhammad Waqar, had booked the taxi for his commute and got into an argument with the driver soon after the taxi’s arrival. The argument escalated, and Waqar drew his pistol and shot Fakhar on the spot.

Waqar has been taken into custody, and the police have registered a case against him.

In a separate incident, unidentified armed men attacked the Sindh University bus at Hyderabad’s city gate area, killing the driver of the vehicle.

The police said the incident occurred when the miscreants opened fire on the bus, killing the driver, Ghulam Ali, at the point. The attack took place when no students were present on the bus.

The driver’s body was transferred to Civil Hospital for further medical examination.