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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Trump aims to exceed first term's weapons sales to Taiwan, officials say
By Michael Martina, Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard WASHINGTON/TAIPEI (Reuters) -The United States plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taipei to a level exceeding President Donald Trump's first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the democratic island, according to two U.S. officials. If U.S. arms sales to Taiwan do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump's commitment to the island. It would also add new friction to the tense U.S.-China relationship. The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they expect U.S. approvals for weapons sales to Taipei over the next four years to surpass those in Trump's first term, with one of the officials saying arms sales notifications to Taiwan could "easily exceed" that earlier period. They also said the United States is pressing members of Taiwan's opposition parties not to oppose the government's efforts to increase defense spending to 3% of the island's budget. The first Trump administration approved sales of approximately $18.3 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan, compared with around $8.4 billion during Joe Biden's term, according to Reuters calculations. The United States is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei. Even so, many in Taiwan, which China claims as its own, worry that Trump may not be as committed to the island as past U.S. presidents. On the election campaign trail, Trump suggested Taiwan should pay to be protected and also accused the island of stealing American semiconductor business, causing alarm in Taipei. China has vowed to "reunify" with the separately governed island, by force if necessary. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only the island's people can decide their future. The U.S. officials said administration officials and Trump himself were committed to "enhancing hard deterrence" for Taiwan. "That's where the president is. That's where all of us are," one U.S. official said, adding that they were working closely with Taiwan on an arms procurement package to be rolled out when Taiwan secured domestic funding. Taiwan's Presidential Office told Reuters the government is determined to strengthen its self-defense capabilities and pointed to its proposals to increase defense spending. "Taiwan aims to enhance military deterrence while continuing to deepen its security cooperation with the United States," Presidential Office spokesperson Wen Lii said. Taiwan's defense ministry declined to comment on any new arms sales, but reiterated previous remarks by the island's defense minister, Wellington Koo, about the importance of "solidarity and cooperation of democratic allies." 'DON'T GET IN THE WAY' Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) aim to increase defense spending to 3% of GDP this year through a special defense budget. But the island's parliament, controlled by opposition parties the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), passed budget cuts earlier this year that threatened to hit defense spending. That triggered concerns in Washington, where officials and lawmakers have regularly said the U.S. cannot show more urgency over Taiwan's defense than the island itself. "We're messaging pretty hard (in Taipei) to the opposition. Don't get in the way of this. This isn't a Taiwanese partisan question. This is a Taiwanese survival question," one of the U.S. officials told Reuters. Three people in Taiwan with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed that the U.S. government and U.S. congressional visitors have been pressing the opposition parties in Taiwan not to block defense spending, especially the coming special defense budget, which is expected to be proposed to parliament later this year. "As long as they knew there were people from the opposition in the room, they directly asked them not to cut the defense budget," one of the people said. Alexander Huang, director of the KMT's international department, told Reuters it was "beyond question" that the party firmly supports increasing the defense budget and its "doors are open" to the U.S. government and the ruling DPP for consultations. "Supporting an increased budget does not mean serving as a rubber stamp, nor does it preclude making adjustments or engaging in negotiations regarding the special budget proposals put forth by the DPP administration," he added. The much smaller TPP said it has "always had smooth communication with the U.S. side and has continued to engage in in-depth dialogue on issues such as national defense and regional security." Reuters reported in February that Taiwan was exploring a multi-billion dollar arms purchase from the U.S., hoping to win support from the new Trump administration. New weapons packages are expected to focus on missiles, munitions and drones, cost-effective means to help improve Taiwan's chances of rebuffing any military action by China's much larger forces. For years, China has been steadily ramping up its military pressure to assert its sovereignty claims over the island that is home to critical chip manufacturing vital to the global economy. Separately, one of the U.S. officials said the Trump administration would not object to a transit this year through U.S. territory by Lai, whom Beijing labels a "separatist." Past visits to the United States by Taiwanese officials have triggered angry objections by China, which sees such trips as inappropriate given that the United States has diplomatic relations with Beijing, not Taipei. Taiwan's presidential office spokesperson Lii said there are currently "no plans for a presidential transit through the United States at the moment."
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New CIA videos aim to lure Chinese officials
By Michael Martina WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA on Thursday rolled out two Chinese-language videos aimed at enticing officials in China to leak secrets to the U.S., the latest public effort by the intelligence agency to ramp up human intelligence gathering on Washington's strategic rival. The move comes after the CIA in October launched a drive to recruit new informants in China, Iran and North Korea by posting instructions online on how to securely contact the agency, following what it said was successful efforts to enlist Russians. The CIA is confident that the videos are penetrating China's "Great Firewall" internet restrictions and reaching the intended audience. "If it weren't working, we wouldn't be making more videos," a CIA official told Reuters, adding that China was the agency's foremost intelligence priority in a "truly generational competition" between the U.S. and China. The two videos posted to the CIA's social media accounts depict fictional scenes in which a senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official and a more junior government worker with access to classified information become disillusioned with China's system and approach the CIA. The CIA official said that the U.S. was not just interested in counterintelligence, but was also seeking information on advanced science, military and cyber technology, valuable economic data, and China's foreign policy secrets. China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the videos, but it has previously accused the U.S. of waging a systematic disinformation campaign against China, and said any attempts to drive a wedge between the Chinese people and the CCP would fail. U.S. intelligence agencies said in March that China remains the top military and cyber threat to the U.S., noting that China has the ability to hit the United States with conventional weapons, compromise U.S. infrastructure through cyber attacks and target its assets in space, and that Beijing seeks to displace the U.S. as the top AI power by 2030.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US lawmakers ask Rubio for answers on Chinese fighters in Ukraine
By Michael Martina WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. lawmakers have asked the State Department to brief them about Russia's use of Chinese fighters in its war in Ukraine, saying in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday that Moscow could only employ Chinese mercenaries with Beijing's "tacit approval." Ukraine said earlier this month that its forces had captured two Chinese men in eastern Ukraine and that at least 155 Chinese nationals were fighting on the Russian side. U.S. officials have confirmed the intelligence to Reuters, but described the men as mercenaries who do not appear to have a direct link to China's government. The letter, sent by the House of Representatives' select committee on China, reflects a growing desire among China hawks in Congress to see the Trump administration pressure China over its alignment with Russia. The Republican chair of the committee John Moolenaar and its top Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi said the presence of Chinese fighters in Ukraine showed those deepening ties. "Given the Chinese Communist Party's broad control in Chinese society, it is clear that Russia's recruitment campaign of PRC (People's Republic of China) nationals could not exist without at least the tacit approval of the Party," the lawmakers told Rubio in the April 30 letter seen by Reuters. They asked the State Department to outline for Congress whether the U.S. has confronted Beijing about the developments and what actions it was pursuing to address it. China, which has declared a "no-limits" partnership with Russia, has condemned "irresponsible remarks" about its nationals fighting in Russia's war in Ukraine. Beijing has tried to position itself as an actor in attempts to negotiate an end to the war, though it has refrained from criticizing Moscow's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The State Department has called the reports of Chinese men fighting in Moscow's war "disturbing." In a separate statement to Reuters, Krishnamoorthi said the Trump Administration "must demand that the PRC immediately remove its citizens from the battlefield in Ukraine and take action to hold Beijing accountable for its broader military and dual-use support" for the war. Moolenaar said China was "not a neutral actor" in the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russia was recruiting Chinese nationals via social media to join its armed forces and that Beijing officials were aware of that. China has for years provided Moscow with material support for its war effort, primarily in the shipment of dual-use products – components needed to maintain weapons such as drones and tanks. It has also supplied Russia with lethal drones to use on the battlefield.
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
US lawmakers subpoena China telecom giants over security concerns
By Michael Martina WASHINGTON: The leaders of a U.S. congressional committee on Wednesday moved to force China's three telecom giants to cooperate with an investigation into their alleged support for the Chinese military and government, according to letters seen by Reuters. In a bipartisan effort, the House of Representatives' select committee on China used its seldom exercised subpoena powers in an effort to compel China Mobile , China Telecom , and China Unicom to answer questions about whether they could exploit access to American data through their U.S. cloud and internet businesses. Democratic and Republican lawmakers continue to express concern over the Chinese telecoms' U.S. operations following high-profile Chinese-led cyberattacks, including Volt Typhoon, which the FBI said has allowed China to gain access to American telecommunications, energy, water and other critical infrastructure. Beijing has denied responsibility for those attacks. A spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington said in a statement: "We oppose the U.S. over-stretching the concept of national security, using national apparatus and long-arm jurisdiction to bring down Chinese companies." The committee's Republican chair John Moolenaar and its top Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi in March had sought the companies' responses to questions after a 2024 Reuters report that they were under U.S. Commerce Department investigation. The committee said the companies had ignored that request. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) denied China Mobile's application to provide U.S. telecommunications service in 2019 and revoked China Telecom and China Unicom's authorizations in 2021 and 2022. But the companies still have a small presence in the U.S., for example, providing cloud services and routing wholesale U.S. internet traffic. U.S. regulators and lawmakers fear that the companies could access personal information and intellectual property stored in their clouds and provide it to the Chinese government or prevent Americans from gaining access. In three similar letters dated April 23 notifying the companies of the subpoenas, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi said the select committee had received information indicating the companies "may continue to maintain network Points of Presence, data center access, and cloud-related offerings in the United States, potentially through subsidiaries or affiliates." They called for the companies' full cooperation by May 7. The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. China's embassy in Washington also did not respond immediately, but it has previously said the U.S. sought to suppress Chinese companies under "false pretexts." A committee spokesperson said despite the FCC ban on all three companies operating licensed telecom infrastructure in the U.S., they have continued to run equipment, software, and cloud-based systems in the country that do not require licenses and thus avoid FCC oversight. "The committee has received third-party private sector reporting and intelligence indicating these platforms have enabled cyber intrusions, data theft, and potential sabotage of U.S. infrastructure," the spokesperson said, without providing further details. Congress could move to find the companies in contempt if they fail to respond.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US lawmakers subpoena China telecom giants over security concerns
By Michael Martina WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The leaders of a U.S. congressional committee on Wednesday moved to force China's three telecom giants to cooperate with an investigation into their alleged support for the Chinese military and government, according to letters seen by Reuters. In a bipartisan effort, the House of Representatives' select committee on China used its seldom exercised subpoena powers in an effort to compel China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom to answer questions about whether they could exploit access to American data through their U.S. cloud and internet businesses. Democratic and Republican lawmakers continue to express concern over the Chinese telecoms' U.S. operations following high-profile Chinese-led cyberattacks, including Volt Typhoon, which the FBI said has allowed China to gain access to American telecommunications, energy, water and other critical infrastructure. Beijing has denied responsibility for those attacks. The committee's Republican chair John Moolenaar and its top Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi in March had sought the companies' responses to questions after a 2024 Reuters report that they were under U.S. Commerce Department investigation. The committee said the companies had ignored that request. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) denied China Mobile's application to provide U.S. telecommunications service in 2019 and revoked China Telecom and China Unicom's authorizations in 2021 and 2022. But the companies still have a small presence in the U.S., for example, providing cloud services and routing wholesale U.S. internet traffic. U.S. regulators and lawmakers fear that the companies could access personal information and intellectual property stored in their clouds and provide it to the Chinese government or prevent Americans from gaining access. In three similar letters dated April 23 notifying the companies of the subpoenas, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi said the select committee had received information indicating the companies "may continue to maintain network Points of Presence, data center access, and cloud-related offerings in the United States, potentially through subsidiaries or affiliates." They called for the companies' full cooperation by May 7. The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. China's embassy in Washington also did not respond immediately, but it has previously said the U.S. sought to suppress Chinese companies under "false pretexts." A committee spokesperson said despite the FCC ban on all three companies operating licensed telecom infrastructure in the U.S., they have continued to run equipment, software, and cloud-based systems in the country that do not require licenses and thus avoid FCC oversight. "The committee has received third-party private sector reporting and intelligence indicating these platforms have enabled cyber intrusions, data theft, and potential sabotage of U.S. infrastructure," the spokesperson said, without providing further details. Congress could move to find the companies in contempt if they fail to respond.
