World

Beijing on Monday said President Joe Biden’s latest comments that the United States would defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion “severely violate” Washington’s policy towards the island.

Washington cut formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, switching recognition to Beijing as the sole representative of China — but it has maintained a decisive, if delicate, role in supporting the island since.

In an interview with US broadcaster CBS that was aired on Sunday, Biden was asked whether US troops would defend Taiwan, and replied “yes”, if it were “an unprecedented attack”.

He went on to say that Taiwan makes its “own judgements” about independence and the US was not “encouraging… their being independent”. 

“That’s their decision,” he said.

China reacted angrily on Monday, with foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning telling a regular press briefing: “The US remarks… severely violate the important commitment the US made not to support Taiwan independence, and send a seriously erroneous signal to Taiwanese separatist independence forces.”

“We are willing to make the biggest sincere efforts to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification,” Mao said.

“At the same time, we will never tolerate any activities aimed at splitting the country, and reserve the choice to take all necessary measures.”

Tensions between China and the US are already higher than usual in the wake of a rare visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, a key Biden ally and speaker of the House of Representatives.

Last week, a US Senate committee took the first step towards directly providing billions of dollars in military aid to Taiwan and making ties more official.

The US approved a potential arms sale worth more than $1 billion to Taiwan in early September, including 60 anti-ship missiles and 100 air-to-air missiles, which provoked anger from China. 

“We urge the US side to fully recognise the extreme importance and high sensitivity of the Taiwan question… (and) earnestly implement the commitment made by US leaders not to support Taiwanese independence,” Mao added.

– ‘Strategic ambiguity’ –

Biden’s comments appeared to depart from decades of US policy towards Taiwan.

While Washington does arm Taiwan, it has long maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would intervene militarily if Beijing were to invade. 

The policy is designed to dissuade both China from invading and Taiwan from formally declaring independence.

As on previous occasions where Biden has appeared to be changing US policy on the island, the White House insisted the remarks did not indicate a change.

In May, Biden again signalled he would use military force to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion, but did not offer any clarification. 

Biden’s new comments are “dangerous, even if not an official change in policy”, wrote Jessica Chen Weiss, professor of government at Cornell University, on Twitter.

“More explicit here than in previous gaffes is the suggestion that the US would send troops to fight for Taiwan, regardless of what Taiwan does,” she wrote, adding that it will “strengthen perceptions that the US is issuing Taiwan a blank check”.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, expressed its “sincere gratitude” for Biden’s support on Monday. 

Hurricane Fiona smashed into Puerto Rico, knocking out the US island territory’s power while dumping torrential rain and wreaking catastrophic damage before making landfall in the Dominican Republic on Monday.

Landslides, blocked roads, fallen trees and power lines, as well as a collapsed bridge in the town of Utuado in the central mountainous region, were part of the destruction already caused by Fiona, Governor Pedro Pierluisi told an evening press conference.

The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour (144 kilometers per hour) as it hit the Dominican Republic, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Twitter. 

“Life-threatening flash and urban flooding is likely for eastern portions of the Dominican Republic,” the NHC said in its latest advisory at 5:00 am local time (0900 GMT). 

Ahead of Fiona’s arrival in the Dominican Republic, President Luis Abinader suspended work on Monday and the island placed 13 of its 32 provinces, located to the north and east, on red alert ahead of the storm making landfall. 

In Puerto Rico, the entire territory of more than three million people was left without power as the hurricane neared, with Pierluisi saying the electrical system was out of service.

On Monday, the island’s power company said on its website that it had “reenergized some circuits” but did not have numbers on how many people were receiving electricity. 

The NHC downgraded Fiona to a tropical storm in Puerto Rico but warned that destructive rain and devastating flash floods could continue to hit the island.

Fiona will go down as a “catastrophic event due to the impacts of flooding” in Puerto Rico’s central, eastern and southern regions, Pierluisi tweeted, adding that 9-13 inches (23-33 centimeters) of rain had fallen in just five hours.

The hurricane has also left around 196,000 people without drinking water as a result of power outages and flooded rivers, officials said.

The storm made landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon as a Category One hurricane, at the lowest end of the five-tier Saffir-Simpson scale.

Fiona is expected to grow stronger, turning into a “major hurricane” before it heads north into the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean, according to the NHC.

– ‘Extremely delicate’ –

In the town of Utuado, one family saw the zinc roof of their house — already replaced after 2017’s Hurricane Maria — torn off yet again, according to local media.

“This is an extremely delicate and sad situation. The damage we are seeing is catastrophic in several areas,” Pierluisi told reporters at the Sunday press conference.

The storm has caused one fatality — a man who was killed after his house was swept away by flooding in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, when Fiona was still classified as a tropical storm.

Utuado resident Fernando Vera told US broadcaster NPR that his family has never fully recovered from Hurricane Maria. 

“We still struggle from the consequences of Maria and it’s kind of difficult knowing we’re going to probably have to start over again,” he said.

US President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for Puerto Rico on Sunday, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance.

The NHC also said tropical storm conditions are expected in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas by late Monday or early Tuesday.

– ‘Stay in their homes’ –

Puerto Ricans have been advised “to stay in their homes or seek refuge if they need it,” Pierluisi told reporters.

The island — which has suffered from major infrastructure problems for years — was hit by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, devastating its electrical grid.

The grid was privatized in June 2021 in an effort to resolve the problem of blackouts, but the issue has persisted, and the entire island lost power earlier this year.

The former Spanish colony became a US territory in the late 19th century before gaining the status of associated free state in 1950.

After years of financial woes and recession, the island in 2017 declared the largest bankruptcy ever by a local US administration. Later that year, two hurricanes added to the misery and sparked a feud between San Juan and then-president Donald Trump’s administration.

Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest on Monday, after a state funeral attended by leaders from around the world and a historic last ceremonial journey through the packed streets of London.

Huge crowds gathered in near silence to watch as the queen’s flag-draped coffin, topped with the Imperial State Crown, her orb and sceptre, was carried slowly to a gun carriage from parliament’s Westminster Hall where it has lain in state since last Wednesday.

To a shouted order and the sound of pipes and drums, the gun carriage — used at every state funeral since that of Queen Victoria in 1901 — was then drawn by 142 junior enlisted sailors in the Royal Navy past Parliament Square to Westminster Abbey.

The thousand-year-old church’s tenor bell tolled 96 times at one-minute intervals — one for every year of her life — before the service began at 11:00 am (1000 GMT).

The longest-serving monarch in British history died at Balmoral, her Scottish Highland retreat, on September 8 after a year of declining health. 

Her eldest son and successor, King Charles III, dressed in ceremonial military uniform, followed the solemn procession, alongside his three siblings.

Late Sunday, Charles, 73, and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, said they had been “deeply touched” by the public’s flood of messages.

“As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you,” he said.

– ‘She was my boss’ –

Britain last held a state funeral in 1965 for the country’s wartime prime minister Winston Churchill. 

Then, the cranes that once unloaded the spoils of Britain’s vast empire that Elizabeth inherited were lowered in respect as his coffin was borne up the River Thames by barge. 

In the six decades since, Britain’s global reach has been much diminished and its place in the modern world has become less certain.

But the country has dug deep into its centuries of tradition to honour the only monarch that most Britons have ever known.

Many people young and old and from Britain and beyond have camped out for days to witness the elaborate spectacle of pageantry, pay their final respects and share a moment of history.

“It’s once in a lifetime,” said student Naomi Thompson, 22, in the crowds at London’s Hyde Park.

“It’s a moment of history. She’s been around for our lifetime. She’s everyone’s granny,” added engineer Alice Garret, 28. 

Others unable to be in London gathered in cinemas and churches around England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to watch the service and procession on big screens.

Auto engineer Jamie Page, a 41-year-old former soldier, stood on Whitehall to observe the funeral procession, wearing his military medals from service in the Iraq war.

“Sixteen years old, I swore an oath of allegiance to the queen. She’s been my boss. She means everything, she was like a gift from God,” he said.

But on Charles, the oldest person yet to ascend the British throne, Page added: “Who knows, time will tell.”

The funeral was due to last just under an hour, brought to an end by a bugler playing The Last Post, before two minutes of silence and the reworded national anthem, “God Save the King”. 

– Biden’s tribute –

After an hour-long procession that passes Buckingham Palace, the coffin will be taken west by road to Windsor Castle, where thousands had lined the route since early morning.

Some 6,000 military personnel have been drafted in to take part in proceedings in what Britain’s highest-ranking military officer has called “our last duty for Her Majesty the Queen”.

The queen will be buried alongside her father king George VI, her mother queen Elizabeth and sister princess Margaret, reuniting in death the family who once called themselves “us four”. 

The coffin of her husband, Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99, will also be transferred to lie alongside her.  

Elizabeth’s funeral could not be more different from Philip’s at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in April last year.

Coronavirus restrictions limited mourners to just 30, led by the queen, a solitary figure in mourning black and a matching facemask. 

But now more than 2,000 people, including heads of state from US President Joe Biden to Japan’s reclusive Emperor Naruhito, packed Westminster Abbey, whose 1,000-year history has been tied to royal coronations, marriages and funerals.

“You were fortunate to have had her for 70 years; we all were,” Biden said on Sunday after signing a book of condolence. “The world is better for her.”

– ‘Out of place’ –

In the abbey pews was Liz Truss, whom the queen appointed as the 15th British prime minister of her reign just two days before her death, in her last major ceremonial duty.

All of Truss’s living predecessors were there plus her counterparts and representatives from the 14 Commonwealth countries outside Britain where Charles is also head of state.

Whether they remain constitutional monarchies or become republics is likely to be the defining feature of Charles’s reign.

The queen’s death has prompted deep reflection about the Britain she reigned over, the legacy of its past, its present state and what the future might hold, as well as the values of lifelong service and duty she came to represent during her 70-year reign.

Select members of the public won invitations to the abbey for the funeral after outstanding service to the community. 

Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have queued, sometimes for up to 25 hours and overnight, to file past the queen’s coffin as it lay in state.

Chrissy Heerey, a serving member of the Royal Air Force who joined the marathon queue twice, was the last person through the doors and described the experience as “amazing”.

“When they came to me and said, ‘right, you’re the last person’, I said, really?!” she told AFP, before heading off to join the crowds for the coffin’s procession through central London.

“A long day but very well worth it. It’s nothing compared to what the queen has done for the country.”

– Big Ben tolls –

Throughout the procession, Big Ben, the giant bell atop the Elizabeth Tower at one end of the Houses of Parliament, will toll and guns will fire at one-minute intervals.

At Windsor, the Sebastopol Bell — captured in Crimea in 1856 — and the Curfew Tower Bell will also sound.

A vast television audience is expected to watch the funeral worldwide and live online, in a sign of the enduring fascination with the woman once described as “the last global monarch”.

Those lining the streets of London — already jammed at sunrise on Monday — said they had to bear witness.

“I want to take part in history,” said Jack Davies, 14, camped out for the procession with his parents at Hyde Park Corner, where the coffin will be transferred from the gun carriage for the drive to Windsor.

“I will talk about this moment to my children. I’ll say: ‘I was there!'”

At Windsor, the queen’s crown, orb and sceptre will be removed and placed on the altar. 

The most senior officer of the royal household, the lord chamberlain, breaks his “wand of office” and places it on the coffin, symbolising the end of her reign.

The lead-lined oak casket, draped with the queen’s colours, will then be lowered into the Royal Vault as a lone bagpiper plays a lament. 

A private interment ceremony will take place at the adjoining King George VI Memorial Chapel at 1830 GMT.

President Joe Biden issued forceful warnings to China and Russia on Sunday and expressed optimism over the US economic rebound, but surprised many by hedging on whether he’ll seek reelection.

In a rare, wide-ranging interview with the CBS “60 Minutes” program, Biden went back on repeated assertions by the White House that he is sure to run in 2024.

Biden, who turns 80 in November, told interviewer Scott Pelley that reelection is his “intention.”

“But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen,” he said.

“It’s much too early,” Biden said, calling himself “a great respecter of fate.”

Surveying the state of the world’s largest economy, Biden was optimistic.

He declared the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States “over” and predicted that his administration would tame inflation — the main reason for his weak approval ratings and the reason Republicans believe they can take control of Congress in the upcoming November midterms.

“We’re going to get control of inflation,” he said.

– Troops to Taiwan? –

In another surprise moment, Biden once again appeared to challenge decades of US policy on Taiwan with a vow that he would send troops to defend the self-ruled island if China tried to invade.

“Yes,” he said, adding that this would happen if there was “an unprecedented attack” — possibly referring to something beyond the frequent saber rattling conducted by Chinese military forces around Taiwan.

While Washington does arm Taiwan, it has long maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would intervene militarily if Beijing were to invade. The policy is designed to dissuade both China from invading and Taiwan from formally declaring independence.

The White House said that Biden’s latest remarks did not indicate a change but Beiing condemned the comments on Monday during a daily foreign ministry press briefing. 

“The US remarks… severely violate the important commitment the US made not to support Taiwan independence, and sends a seriously erroneous signal to Taiwanese separatist independence forces,” spokesperson Mao Ning said.

However, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its “sincere gratitude” for Biden’s support. 

“In the face of China’s military expansion and provocative actions, our government will continue to strengthen self-defense capabilities to firmly resist the expansion and aggression of authoritarianism, and at the same time deepen the close Taiwan-US security partnership,” the ministry said in a statement. 

– ‘Consequential’ nuclear response –

In another tough message to the United States’ biggest economic and geopolitical rival, Biden said he had warned President Xi Jinping not to support Russia militarily in its invasion of Ukraine.

He said he told Xi that US and other foreign investment in China would be disrupted and to think otherwise would be “a gigantic mistake.”

He also said that if Russian President Vladimir Putin uses nuclear or other non-conventional weapons against Ukraine the US response will be “consequential.”

When asked what he would tell Putin if the Russian leader was mulling such a move, he said: “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.”

Biden praised the Ukrainians for their gritty fight against the huge Russian invasion and said “they’re defeating Russia.”

Asked how to define victory for Kyiv, he said “winning the war in Ukraine is to get Russia out of Ukraine completely.”

But given the scale of human suffering and destruction inflicted in resisting the Russian onslaught, “it’s awful hard to count that as winning,” he added.

– ‘More to give’ –

Despite his poor ratings and polls showing Democrats likely to lose control of at least one chamber of Congress, Biden said he is upbeat. 

Noting that employment is booming and the economy is strong, Biden said “we hope we can have, as they say, a soft landing.”

On whether at his age he is physically and mentally able to continue in the grueling job, Biden said: “watch me.”

“It’s a matter of, you know, that old expression — ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating.'”

When asked his source of inspiration when times get tough, Biden mentioned his son Beau who died in 2015 but also his parents’ exhortation to “just get up.”

Biden said he had “a lot more to give.”

One person was confirmed dead in Japan on Monday after Typhoon Nanmadol slammed into the country, injuring dozens, but authorities downgraded warnings as the storm weakened after landfall.

The storm system, which made landfall in southern Kyushu’s Kagoshima on Sunday night, was moving off the western coast of Japan by Monday afternoon.

Nearly six million people were still under evacuation warnings and authorities said in some areas “even a tiny amount of additional rainfall” could trigger flooding and landslides.

In Miyazaki prefecture, some areas saw more rainfall in 24 hours than they normally receive in all of September. 

A man in his sixties from Miyakonojo city was confirmed dead after being found in a submerged car on farmland, authorities in Miyazaki told AFP.

In western Fukuoka region, officials said they were investigating whether an additional death was linked to the storm.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who had been scheduled to leave Monday for the United Nations General Assembly, announced he would delay his trip by a day to assess the damage.

But given the intensity of the storm, which came ashore packing gusts of up to 234 kilometres (145 miles) per hour, damage appeared relatively limited.

“The typhoon has all but disappeared today and the rain and wind are also subsiding now,” an official in charge of crisis management in Miyazaki’s Saito city told AFP.

– ‘I didn’t feel safe at home’ –

In the town of Izumi in Kagoshima prefecture, 30-year-old Yasuta Yamaguchi spent the night in a local hotel to shelter from the storm.

“I came to the hotel to shelter myself because it was windy and I thought it was dangerous,” he told AFP.

“I didn’t feel safe at home.”

By Monday afternoon, over 240,000 households in Kyushu and neighbouring Chugoku region were without power, utilities said. Hundreds of flights had been cancelled, and many train services throughout the affected regions were also halted.

By 4:00 pm (0700GMT), the typhoon was moving north-northeast off the coast of Shimane prefecture on the western side of Japan, with maximum gusts of around 162 kilometres per hour, according to the JMA.

“The thick cloud and eye area around the typhoon’s centre have already disappeared and it is weakening rapidly,” Ryuta Kurora, the head of the JMA’s forecast unit, told reporters.

Japan is currently in its typhoon season and faces around 20 such storms a year, routinely seeing heavy rains that cause landslides or flash floods.

In 2019, Typhoon Hagibis smashed into Japan as it hosted the Rugby World Cup, claiming the lives of more than 100 people. 

A year earlier, Typhoon Jebi shut down Kansai Airport in Osaka and left 14 people dead in its wake.

Scientists say climate change is increasing the severity of storms and causing extreme weather such as heat waves, droughts and flash floods to become more frequent and intense.

Hurricane Fiona smashed into Puerto Rico on Sunday, knocking out the US island territory’s power while dumping torrential rain and wreaking catastrophic damage before spinning off towards the Dominican Republic.

Landslides, blocked roads, fallen trees and power lines, as well as a collapsed bridge in the town of Utuado in the central mountainous region were among the destruction already levied by Fiona, Governor Pedro Pierluisi told an evening press conference.

The entire territory of more than three million people lost power as the hurricane neared, with Pierluisi reporting the electrical system out of service.

Although the hurricane’s eye is now off the territory’s coast, destructive rain and devastating flash floods are expected to buffet the islands overnight before hitting the Dominican Republic on Monday.

As of 0600 GMT, Fiona was carrying sustained maximum winds of 85 miles (137 kilometers) per hour toward the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory. 

Continued rainfall would “produce catastrophic life-threatening flash floods and urban flooding” as well as “mudslides and landslides in areas of higher terrain” across Puerto Rico and parts of the Dominican, the NHC said.

Fiona will go down as a “catastrophic event due to the impacts of flooding” in Puerto Rico’s central mountainous region, east and south, Pierluisi tweeted, adding that 9-13 inches (23-33 centimeters) of rain had fallen in just five hours.

The hurricane has also left around 196,000 people without drinking water as a result of power outages and flooded rivers, officials said.

Ahead of Fiona’s arrival in the Dominican Republic, President Luis Abinader suspended work on Monday.

The storm made landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon as a Category One hurricane, at the lowest end of the five-tier Saffier-Simpson scale.

Fiona is expected to grow stronger, turning into a “major hurricane” before it heads north into the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean, according to the NHC.

– ‘Extremely delicate’ –

In the town of Utuado, one family saw the zinc roof of their house — already replaced after 2017’s Hurricane Maria — torn off yet again, according to local media.

“This is an extremely delicate and sad situation. The damage we are seeing is catastrophic in several areas,” Pierluisi told reporters at the Sunday press conference.

“The entire island is experiencing a large accumulation of rain. Multiple cases of severe damage have been reported in many towns.”

The storm has caused one fatality — a man who was killed after his house was swept away by flooding in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, when Fiona was still classified as a tropical storm.

Utuado resident Fernando Vera told US broadcaster NPR that his family has never fully recovered from Hurricane Maria. 

“We still struggle from the consequences of Maria and it’s kind of difficult knowing we’re going to probably have to start over again,” he said.

US President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for Puerto Rico on Sunday, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance.

The NHC also said tropical storm conditions are expected in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas by late Monday or early Tuesday.

– ‘Stay in their homes’ –

Puerto Ricans were advised “to stay in their homes or seek refuge if they need it,” Pierluisi told reporters.

The island — which has suffered from major infrastructure problems for years — was hit by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, devastating its electrical grid.

The grid was privatized in June 2021 in an effort to resolve the problem of blackouts, but the issue has persisted, and the entire island lost power earlier this year.

The former Spanish colony became a US territory in the late 19th century before gaining the status of associated free state in 1950.

After years of financial woes and recession, the island in 2017 declared the largest bankruptcy ever by a local US administration. Later that year, two hurricanes added to the misery and sparked a feud between San Juan and Washington.

Then-president Donald Trump’s administration was widely accused of failing to provide sufficient federal aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria struck.

Footage of him tossing paper towels to survivors during a visit drew criticism, and Trump later claimed the storm’s death toll had been inflated by Democrats to “make me look as bad as possible.”