Guam governor visits Taiwan, US territory would play key role in China invasion scenario
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan this week is hosting the governor of Guam, the U.S. Pacific territory that would almost certainly be a key player in any Chinese military moves against Taiwan.
Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero is making her first trip to the self-governing island democracy since taking office in 2019. In that time China has significantly boosted its threat to invade Taiwan with new ships, missiles and warplanes. Military planners usually include Guam in their war gaming due to the large amount of U.S. troops and hardware it hosts.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
44 minutes ago
- New York Post
Why TikTok will likely get another lifeline as sell-or-ban deadline looms
Bipartisan critics of keeping TikTok operating in the US simply have too much other stuff on their plate to muster a fight should President Trump once again extend the deadline for the Chinese-owned app to divest in the US, On The Money has learned. That's the word from sources close to the White House and key figures in Congress who have debated whether TikTok should go dark in a couple weeks over concerns it's essentially spyware for the Chinese Communist Party in its quest for global domination. As On The Money reported on Tuesday, here are the scenarios of TikTok's short-term fate: A Wall Street banker involved in the deal to sell the app to US investors said Trump could be persuaded to let TikTok 'go dark' and disappear from app stores on June 19 if he believes it will give him a strategic advantage in the complex and at times acrimonious trade deal negotiations with the Chinese. Trump really loves the app (he thinks it helped get him elected in 2024 no matter how much it's spying on us). Jack Forbes/NY Post Design But more likely is that he throws TikTok yet another lifeline, sources say. Trump really loves the app (he thinks it helped get him elected in 2024 no matter how much it's spying on us). He is poised to extend the TikTok ban deadline – for the third time – as the White House and China prepare to hold trade talks, which are in their nascent stages with Trump speaking directly with China President Xi Jinping by phone on Thursday. Plus, there might not be that much pushback as there was in the past. Another extension could happen without much of a fuss because Congress – including its bipartisan TikTok haters – is probably too distracted with the Big Beautiful Bill, pruning excesses amid criticism from none-other-than Elon Musk, extending the Trump 1 tax cuts and the China-US trade talks to really lose that much sleep if Trump does extend, they say. 'There's an 80% probability it gets a 75-day extension and stays lit up,' said one Wall Street executive who is part of the on-going Trump-led negotiation to save TikTok from disappearing through a deal that will transform its ownership to majority US hands. 'Apparently, it dropped to the list of issues on the China negotiations, and the tax bill has sucked the oxygen out of the room.' The White House had no comment. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2019. REUTERS TikTok, through its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance, has long denied it is a surveillance tool for the CCP, but doubts abound. Trump, of course, wasn't always a TikTok lover. He sought its ban back during his first term. The app went dark for a few hours after the divest-or-ban law, signed by former President Joe Biden, went into effect Jan. 19. But it got a reprieve when Trump signed the first extension with an executive order after returning to the White House. He then gave TikTok another lifeline in April as a deal to put TikTok into the hands of a majority-owned US company was nearing the finish line, as On The Money previously reported. However, that was throttled by Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariff war that was particularly tough on China, one of our biggest trading partners, but a global adversary that doesn't open its markets to US companies looking to sell stuff on the Mainland and tap into its growing consumer market. The consortium of private sector players, if the deal is completed, will be led by tech giant Oracle, founded by Trump friend and supporter Larry Ellison.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
China's Panchen Lama pledges loyalty to the Communist Party in a meeting with Xi
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The man picked by Beijing as the second highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism pledged adherence to the ruling Communist Party's dictates Friday during a rare face-to-face meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, state media reported. Gyaltsen Norbu, who is rarely seen in public, met behind closed doors with Xi Jinping in Zhongnanhai, the government compound in the center of Beijing, about 3,700 kilometers (about 2,300 miles) from his home monastery of Tashilhumpo, high on the Tibetan steppe.
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
China's Panchen Lama pledges loyalty to the Communist Party in a meeting with Xi
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The man picked by Beijing as the second highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism pledged adherence to the ruling Communist Party's dictates Friday during a rare face-to-face meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, state media reported. Gyaltsen Norbu, who is rarely seen in public, met behind closed doors with Xi Jinping in Zhongnanhai, the government compound in the center of Beijing, about 3,700 kilometers (about 2,300 miles) from his home monastery of Tashilhumpo, high on the Tibetan steppe. Gyaltsen Norbu, 35, said he would 'firmly support the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and resolutely safeguard the unity of the motherland and national unity,' the Xinhua News Agency reported. The Chinese government appointed Gyaltsen Norbu as the Panchen Lama of Tibetan Buddhism in 1995 at age 5 after followers of the Dalai Lama recognized a different boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as the Panchen's incarnation. That boy and his family disappeared in 1995 in what the U.S. government has alleged was an abduction by the Chinese government, and the Dalai Lama, 89, has refused to recognize the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama. The Chinese government says Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is now a college graduate living a private life and working at a stable job, while producing no evidence. The Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama was quoted Friday by Xinhua as saying that he would 'contribute to promoting national unity and progress, systematically promote the sinicization of religion in China, and promote the modernization of Tibet.' Xi's government uses the term 'sinicization' to mean that all religions including Christianity and Islam must take their orders from the Communist Party, reduce their non-Chinese aspects and limit their role in society. Xi was quoted as telling the Chinese government's Panchen that he should continue Tibetan Buddhism's 'strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, systematically advancing the sinicization of religion in China, and promoting the modernization of Tibet.' Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement marking the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, saying he and his family had been abducted by the Chinese government. 'Chinese authorities should release Gedhun Choekyi Nyima immediately and stop persecuting Tibetans for their religious beliefs,' Rubio's statement read. The position of Panchen Lama is especially sensitive since he is expected to take part in the recognition of a new Dalai Lama and serve as his tutor, a religious process that the officially atheist Communist Party is determined to control. The meeting Friday also reflected Xi's focus on economic and political stability within China's borders, where an economic slump has raised concerns of anti-government outbursts and control over minority groups is an overwhelming obsession. China claims Tibet has been part of China for centuries, but many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for much of that time and that Beijing is now seeking to destroy their human rights, language and Buddhist culture. The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese forces and has long been vilified by Beijing as a separatist. The government denies his traditional right to recognize reincarnated lamas.
