
War with China: inside Taiwan's biggest ever military drills
Fresh from reporting on live fire drills off the Taiwanese coast, The Telegraph's Asia correspondent Allegra Mendelson shares the latest on Indo-Pacific tensions with Roland Oliphant.
Also, Roland speaks to Neal Urwitz, close friend of the US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy - Elbridge A. Colby - to discuss the latter's push to dramatically refocus America's military might purely on Taiwan.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Trump administration seeks pathway for US companies to export AI chips
July 23 (Reuters) - The Trump administration released a new artificial intelligence blueprint on Wednesday that aims to deregulate the industry and makes it easier and less risky for U.S. companies to export their technologies to foreign countries. President Donald Trump will mark the plan's release with a speech outlining the importance of winning an AI race that is increasingly seen as a defining feature of 21st-century geopolitics, with both China and the United States investing heavily in the industry to secure economic and military superiority. The plan, which includes some 90 recommendations, calls for the export of U.S. AI technology abroad and a crackdown on state laws deemed too restrictive to let it flourish, a marked departure from predecessor Joe Biden's "high fence" approach that limited global access to coveted AI chips. The administration said it plans to partner with the AI industry to create export packages of chips and software for America's friends and allies. "We're establishing a program led by the departments of Commerce and State to partner with industry to deliver secure full-stack AI export packages, including hardware models, software applications and standards to America's friends and allies around the world," said Michael Kratsios, head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Trump will incorporate some of the plan's recommendations into executive orders that will be signed ahead of his speech, according to two sources familiar with the plans. Trump directed his administration in January to develop the plan. Top administration officials such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House National Economic Adviser Kevin Hassett are also expected to join the event titled "Winning the AI Race," organized by White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks and his co-hosts on the "All-In" podcast, according to an event schedule reviewed by Reuters. The event will be hosted by the Hill and Valley Forum, an informal supper club whose deep-pocketed members helped propel Trump's campaign and sketched out a road map for his AI policy long before he was elected. Trump is expected to take additional actions in the upcoming weeks that will help Big Tech secure the vast amounts of electricity it needs to power the energy-guzzling data centers needed for the rapid expansion of AI, Reuters previously reported. U.S. power demand is hitting record highs this year after nearly two decades of stagnation as AI and cloud computing data centers balloon in number and size across the country. The new plan seeks to bar federal funding from going to states with tough AI rules and ask the Federal Communications Commission to assess whether state laws conflict with its mandate, according to the summary. Trump wants to remove barriers to AI expansion, in stark contrast to Biden, who feared U.S. adversaries like China could harness AI chips produced by companies like Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and AMD (AMD.O), opens new tab to supercharge its military and harm allies. Biden, who left office in January, imposed a raft of restrictions on U.S. exports of AI chips to China and other countries that it feared could divert the semiconductors to America's top global rival. Trump rescinded Biden's executive order aimed at promoting competition, protecting consumers and ensuring AI was not used for misinformation. He also rescinded Biden's so-called AI diffusion rule, which capped the amount of American AI computing capacity that some countries were allowed to obtain via U.S. AI chip imports. In May, Trump announced deals with the United Arab Emirates that gave the Gulf country expanded access to advanced artificial intelligence chips from the United States after previously facing restrictions over Washington's concerns that China could access the technology.


The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
EU and Japan agree to work together to promote free trade and economic security
Leaders of the European Union and Japan launched an alliance Wednesday aimed at boosting economic cooperation, defending free trade and countering unfair trade practices as the two sides face growing challenges from the United States and China. The agreement followed a meeting among European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. It comes just as Tokyo and Washington reached a new trade deal, which places 15% tariffs on Japanese cars and other goods imported into the U.S., down from an initial 25%. The leaders agreed to launch 'competitiveness alliance" aimed at stepping up trade, economic security and cooperation in innovation, energy and other areas, according to a joint statement released by the EU. The leaders also supported 'a stable and predictable rules-based free and fair economic order,' and reaffirmed the importance of Japan-EU cooperation to uphold multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, as well as with other multilateral cooperation efforts. The EU and Japan also agreed to strengthen defense industry cooperation and to start talks on an information security agreement. Japan and the EU have been stepping up their security and defense cooperation amid growing global tensions and conflicts, including Russia's war on Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East and increasingly assertive China's military activity in Asia, recognizing that challenges in Europe and Indo-Pacific are inseparable.


Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Putin's show of strength to the West
Russia launched major navy drills around the world today, deploying more than 150 vessels and 15,000 military personnel in the Pacific and Arctic oceans and in the Baltic and Caspian seas as peace talks with Ukraine were set to get underway. The so-called 'July Storm' exercise from July 23 to July 27 will test the readiness of the fleet for non-standard operations, the use of long-range weapons and other advanced technology, including unmanned systems, Russia's defense ministry said. 'At sea, the crews of the ships will practice deployment to combat areas, conducting anti-submarine operations, defending areas of deployment and economic activity,' a statement read. They will also practice 'repelling attacks by air attack weapons, unmanned boats and enemy drones, ensuring the safety of navigation, striking enemy targets and naval groups', under the supervision of Navy chief Admiral Alexander Moiseev. Besides the naval vessels, more than 120 aircraft will also take part in the drills along with 10 coastal missile systems, displaying Moscow 's aerial prowess. It comes as a delegation of eight Russian officials gets set to meet their Ukrainian counterparts in the Turkish city of Istanbul for a third round of direct peace talks. But there is little hope the negotiations will yield significant results, and the Kremlin earlier this week sought to play down expectations. Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters: 'There is no reason to expect any breakthroughs in the category of miracles... it is hardly possible in the current situation. 'We intend to pursue our interests, we intend to ensure our interests and fulfil the tasks that we set for ourselves from the very beginning.' Asked if he could give a sense of how the Kremlin saw the potential time frame of a possible peace agreement, Peskov said he could give no guidance on timing. 'There is a lot of work to be done before we can talk about the possibility of some top-level meetings,' Peskov added, a day after Zelensky renewed a call for a meeting with Vladimir Putin. The Russian President has thus far spurned Zelensky's offers of a face-to-face meeting to end Europe's biggest conflict since World War II. But the Ukrainian leader insists that lower-level delegations like the ones expected for talks in Istanbul today simply do not have the political heft to stop the fighting on their own. The sides remain far apart on how to end the war begun by Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. The Russian President has repeatedly declared that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022. He also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join NATO and accept strict limits on its armed forces - demands Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected. 'Ukraine never wanted this war, and it is Russia that must end the war that it itself started,' Zelensky said in a Telegram post as he called for a sit-down with Putin. But Peskov said Tuesday that 'a lot of work needs to be done before having a detailed discussion on the possibility of high-level meetings,' effectively scrapping hopes of a summit to bring Zelensky and Putin together any time soon. Ukrainian and Western officials have accused the Kremlin of stalling in talks in order for its bigger army to capture more Ukrainian land. Moscow's forces are currently in control of roughly 20% of Ukraine's landmass. Indeed, sources in the Kremlin told Reuters last week that Putin intends to simply seize more Ukrainian territory and believes his nation, which has thus far survived the toughest sanctions imposed by the West, can endure further economic hardship. 'Putin thinks no one has seriously engaged with him on the details of peace in Ukraine - including the Americans - so he will continue until he gets what he wants,' one source said. Russian analysts have said Moscow's forces will aim to bleed Ukraine dry with a strategy of 'a thousand cuts,' using drones and meat grinder assaults to relentlessly pressure many sectors of the front while increasing long-range aerial attacks against key infrastructure. Since spring, Russian troops have accelerated their land gains, capturing the most territory in eastern Ukraine since the opening stages of Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022. DeepState Map, a Ukrainian open-source live mapping service, suggests Putin's soldiers have managed to secure 1,415 square kilometers (546 square miles) of land in the past three months. Now, they're closing in on the eastern strongholds of Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, methodically capturing villages near both cities to try to cut key supply routes and envelop their defenders. Capturing those strongholds would allow Russia to push toward Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, setting the stage for the seizure of the entire Donetsk region. If Russian troops seize those last strongholds, it would open the way for them to forge westward to the Dnipropetrovsk region. The regional capital of Dnipro, a major industrial hub of nearly 1 million, is about 150 kilometers (90 miles) west of Russian positions. Putin's troops are also already in control of the entire Luhansk region, along with more than 70% of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and small parts of the Kharkiv region, where they are encircling Lyman and Kupiansk. Russia's battlefield success of late is due in part to Ukraine's manpower and ammunition shortages after more than three years of brutal war, but can also be attributed in part to a refinement of frontline tactics, specifically the use of drones. Petro, a senior sergeant with the 38th Marine Brigade fighting near Pokrovsk, told the Kyiv Independent last week that his unit is experiencing a 'huge problem' with Russia's use of drones and glide bombs. Rather than relying on tanks and armored vehicles to grind forward as they did earlier in the war, Russian forces are increasingly deploying swarms of first-person view (FPV) drones to bombard Ukrainian positions and limit the mobility of defenders. Roman Pohorilyi, co-founder of DeepState Map, added that Shahed-type attack drones are also being used along the contact line, not just to launch attacks on infrastructure. But groups of unfortunate foot soldiers are nonetheless forced to pile in behind them in a mad dash to overwhelm the defensive lines - a tactic Petro described as 'meat assaults in small groups'. 'Three (Russian soldiers) advance, two are killed, and one reaches the trench.' Since Donald Trump's return to the White House in January, the US and Russian leaders have shared several personal phone calls. Trump also dispatched special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow for a diplomatic visit, and the US has proposed an unconditional ceasefire - but these actions have yielded no results. Moscow's escalating attacks on Ukraine have tested Trump's patience, and his temper boiled over last week during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office. 'We are very, very unhappy with [Russia], and we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 per cent ,' he threatened. 'I'm disappointed in President Putin. I thought we would've had a deal two months ago,' he went on, in reference to the US-proposed ceasefire that Kyiv accepted but was rejected by Moscow. Perhaps more consequentially, Trump also threatened to levy secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian exports to discourage them from keeping funds flowing into the Kremlin's war chest, should the conflict continue beyond the 50-day deadline. Until now, the US and its European allies have declined to impose measures that would restrict Russia from exporting its oil and gas elsewhere. Such a move would constitute a dramatic ramping up of Western efforts to back Ukraine as it would likely see Washington and the EU target countries such as China, India and NATO member Turkey, all of whom import huge quantities of Russian energy.