Far East Watch
Source Link
Excerpt:
Former South Korean President Moon Jae-in was indicted Thursday on bribery charges, accused of accepting illegal favours through a no-show job arranged for his then-son-in-law during his term in office.Prosecutors say Moon received bribes worth 217 million won (€133,239) from Thai Eastar Jet founder Lee Sang-jik, who allegedly provided wages, housing, and other financial support to Moon’s former son-in-law between 2018 and 2020.
Lee, a former campaign associate of Moon’s, was also indicted for bribery and breach of trust.
The son-in-law was reportedly hired at Lee’s Thailand-based airline company in a director-level role despite having no aviation experience and carried out only minor duties while claiming to be working remotely from South Korea.
Source Link
Excerpt:
General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly wants to prepare China for a war over Taiwan. The measures he is taking to ready its people, economy, legal system, and especially its military are clear for everyone to see. The best way to dissuade him from actually rolling the iron dice is for Washington and Taipei to work together, because neither can stop Beijing on their own. It would be a fool’s errand for Taiwan to resist a Chinese military onslaught without its chief patron and protector. And the United States needs Taiwan to hold on and hold out long enough for the U.S. military to arrive in decisive force.
Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Many Taiwanese citizens question whether America will actually defend them. Washington’s long standing posture of strategic ambiguity is obviously one source of skepticism. But even strategic clarity toward Taipei will not solve the problem. The fact is that Washington and Taipei have a long and complicated relationship. Taiwanese voters know the United States has a long history of turning its back on them in their moment of need.
Thus, there is no question that the United States should take steps to address Taiwan’s understandable lack of faith in America’s commitment. A sensible first step is to address the backlog in arms deliveries to Taiwan, as two Kuomintang legislative staffers recently argued in these pages. And there are a range of other things Washington can do to demonstrate that it is serious about Taiwan.
Trump says China ‘reneged’ on Boeing deal as tensions flare– www.channelnewsasia.com
Source Link
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (Apr 15) that China has gone back on a major Boeing deal, after a news report that Beijing ordered airlines not to take further deliveries of the US aviation giant’s jets.
Trump’s comments on social media followed a Bloomberg news report about the halt. The report also said that Beijing requested Chinese carriers to pause purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US firms.
“Interestingly, they just reneged on the big Boeing deal, saying that they will ‘not take possession’ of fully committed to aircraft,” said Trump in a Truth Social post, referring to China as trade tensions flared between the world’s two biggest economies.