Latest news with #Holsey
Miami Herald
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
China's Space Projects on US Doorstep Have Military Worried
China's space infrastructure in Latin America is the biggest outside of China and raises questions that need answers, the commander of the U.S. Southern Command said in rare public comments this week. Admiral Alvin Holsey said SouthCom would soon establish its own Space South command. The scale of China's regional space infrastructure was underlined by a Newsweek investigation into a joint Chinese observatory being built by a Chinese state-owned enterprise in Chile - and which was subsequently placed on hold. "Space is really huge for me," Holsey told a security conference at Florida International University in Miami. The United States and China are competing in space on multiple levels with implications for potential future conflicts as they build out communications, surveillance and guidance systems. The world's biggest rival powers are also both leading projects to get people to the moon as a stepping stone to Mars. America's project is known as Artemis, and China, with its de facto ally Russia, is offering one called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). The People's Republic of China (PRC) and Russia plan to build a nuclear power plant on the moon. SouthCom would establish Space South command "in the next couple of weeks" as part of the newest component of the military, the U.S. Space Force, Holsey said, with United States Space Forces – Southern to be based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. "And the big point there is, there's a lot of PRC China space and labor infrastructure in this region, and our partners want to know more about it, and I want to know more about it as well," Holsey told participants at the 10th Annual Hemispheric Security Conference. "So right now, there's 10 PRC linked space sites across 5 countries in the region," Holsey said, listing their functions that included space object surveillance and identification, and telemetry, tracking and control sites, both important for military space operations. "Why is that? That's, this region is second only to mainland China for space and labor infrastructure. So, I have to make sure as a combatant commander, what does that mean in the future?" Holsey said. He said that China saw "unchecked opportunity" in the region and was making fast progress spreading its influence making it a major challenge to the U.S. including economically. "China remains a long-term strategic competitor. They're a pacing threat, and they're setting the theater," Holsey said. "I believe Beijing's approach to the region is primarily driven by economics which provide access, influence, and the opportunity to coerce our partner nations into unfavorable terms. In short, I think they see unchecked opportunity." According to the Newsweek investigation published last December about a joint Chinese observatory being built by a Chinese state-owned enterprise in Chile at Cerro Ventarrones there were at least 16 Chinese space enabling infrastructures in the region, though the number varies according to definitions. The Chilean government placed the project on hold following the report. Related Articles China Makes Overtures to Allies in America's BackyardDonald Trump Takes Well-Deserved Victory Lap on Middle East Tour | OpinionPanama Asks Trump to Clean Up Mess Left From Biden-Era Migration SurgeChina Reveals Details About New Stealth Jet 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Panama and China hit back at US 'lies' about Beijing's influence over canal
Panama and China have hit back at American claims about Beijing's influence over the Panama Canal, saying they were "lies". US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants the US to regain control of the canal and this week US Southern Command head Alvin Holsey visited the Central American nation to step up the pressure. The visit drew the ire of Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino, who told a press conference on Thursday that he had told his cabinet members not to discuss Washington's allegations. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. He said he did not want to "discuss lies" or "increase the morbidity created around the Chinese issue in Panama and the Communist Party's control of the canal". "Those are the questions [Holsey] should be answering and where [the United States] is getting such information," said Mulino. The US commander did not meet the president but he is expected to meet Panama's Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha Vasquez and Security Minister Frank Abrego to discuss "the safety and security of the canal area", according to the Pentagon. On Thursday Holsey met the canal's administrator Ricaurte Vasquez, and the Pentagon said Panamanian officials had noted Washington's concerns about "Chinese Communist Party influence and control [of the canal]" and its interest in expanding "areas of cooperation and mutual interest". On Thursday the Chinese embassy to Panama said US claims about "China's control of the canal" were "pure lies". "It is precisely the United States that is constantly threatening to 'take back' the canal in an attempt to regain control of it. The behaviour of the United States in undermining China-Panama relations is unpopular and will not succeed," the embassy said. Niu Qingbao, the Chinese ambassador to Chile, also weighed in on the dispute, in an article for a local media platform denying the claims. "The United States politicians have repeatedly fabricated the lie of so-called 'Chinese control of the Panama Canal' in an attempt to create panic and discredit China. "Chinese companies investing in the canal's neighbourhood follow market rules and conduct commercial operations in accordance with the law, without interfering in the management of the canal, let alone 'controlling' it," Niu wrote. The Panama Canal has been central to Trump's agenda in his second term, igniting controversy during his inauguration speech when he claimed China controlled it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Panama earlier this month to warn that Washington would not permit "the Communist Party to continue its effective and growing control over the Panama Canal area". Shortly after Rubio's visit, Panama decided to withdraw from China's Belt and Road Initiative, a transcontinental infrastructure scheme. The canal was built and funded by the US in the early 20th century after Panama gained independence from Colombia with Washington's support. It retained control of the canal zone until it handed it back to Panama on New Year's Eve 1999. Since then China has been expanding its presence along the waterway, and between October 2023 and September 2024 it accounted for 21.4 per cent of the volume of cargo that passed through the canal, according to the BBC. Two key ports - at the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the canal - are operated by the Hong Kong-based firm Hutchison Ports, but no major Chinese state-owned enterprises are known to hold direct equity in these sites. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Voice of America
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Number of accused 'high-threat' migrants at Guantanamo Bay rising
The U.S. military is now housing about 68 detainees at its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as part of an effort to assist the Department of Homeland Security with mass deportations. The commander of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, shared the updated figure with lawmakers Wednesday, but said he could not yet provide details on how much it will cost to house the growing number of individuals. Admiral Alvin Holsey said those efforts include both the detention of individuals described by DHS officials as 'high-threat criminal aliens' and eventually holding up to 30,000 non-violent migrants slated for deportation. 'We're doing a phased approach,' Holsey told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, adding that the base has the capacity now to hold about 2,500 non-violent migrants. 'We're working with DHS to understand the flow of migrants,' he said. 'We're not going to go to 30,000 unless we know that migrant flow will come. So, we're waiting at this point.' U.S. Transportation Command told VOA on Monday that there have been at least five flights of migrants to Guantanamo Bay, each aboard a C-17 or C-130 military cargo plane. Most of the flights, according to multiple officials, have carried between 10 and 15 detainees. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who visited the prison facility last Friday and oversaw the transfer of the third flight of detainees to the detention center, has repeatedly described the men as 'murderers and vicious gang members' from Venezuela and as 'the worst of the worst.' In one social media post, Noem said that at least one of the migrants sent to Guantanamo Bay had confessed to murder, while others were wanted for attempted murder, assault, weapons trafficking and impersonation. One official, speaking to VOA on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deportation efforts, said that all of the individuals held at Guantanamo Bay have been issued final deportation orders. But DHS has not yet provided charging documents or other details regarding the crimes the detainees are accused of committing. On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union, along with several immigration rights groups, filed a lawsuit against DHS, alleging the detainees being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility have been improperly denied access to lawyers. 'By hurrying immigrants off to a remote island cut off from lawyers, family, and the rest of the world, the Trump administration is sending its clearest signal yet that the rule of law means nothing to it," according to a statement from ACLU lead attorney Lee Gelernt. "It will now be up to the courts to reaffirm that the rule of law governs our nation,' he added. According to the ACLU and the other groups, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Eucaris Carolina Gomez Lugo, learned her brother had been sent to Guantanamo Bay only after seeing him in a photo. The group also said she was shocked to learn that the government was alleging he was a member of the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan street gang. DHS dismissed the lawsuit's allegations. 'There is a system for phone utilization to reach lawyers,' said a senior Homeland Security official in a written statement shared with VOA. "If the AMERICAN Civil Liberties Union cares more about highly dangerous criminal aliens including murderers & vicious gang members than they do about American citizens—they should change their name," the official added, responding to the lawsuit only on the condition of anonymity.
