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world news Dialuna 13 Juni 2022

China accuses U.S. of trying to 'hijack' support in Asia

By SYAWALLUDIN ZAIN provocative and destabilizing
and DAVID RISING military activity" near the is-
Associated Press land.
SINGAPORE (AP) — Wei fired back Sunday that
China's defense minister ac- the U.S. was not adhering to
cused the United States on its "one-China" policy, saying
Sunday of trying to "hijack" "it keeps playing the Taiwan
the support of countries in card against China."
the Asia-Pacific region to He said China's "greatest
turn them against Beijing, wish" was "peaceful reunifi-
saying Washington is seeking cation" with Taiwan, but also
to advance its own interests made clear Beijing was will-
"under the guise of multilat- ing to do whatever it took to
eralism." realize its goals.
Defense Minister Gen. Wei "China will definitely real-
Fenghe lashed out at U.S. ize its reunification," he said.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd "China's reunification is a
Austin, rejecting his "smear- great cause of the Chinese
ing accusation" the day be- nation, and it is a histori-
fore at the Shangri-La Dia- cal trend that no one and no
logue that China was causing force can stop."
instability with its claim to He added that China would
the self-governing island of "resolutely crush any attempt
Taiwan and its increased mil- to pursue Taiwan indepen-
itary activity in the area. dence."
Austin had stressed the need "We will not hesitate to fight,
for multilateral partnerships we will fight at all costs and
with nations in the Indo- we will fight to the very end,"
Pacific, which Wei suggested he said. "This is the only
was an attempt to back China choice for China."
into a corner. Wei and Austin met one-on-
"No country should impose one on Saturday, and Taiwan
its will on others or bully oth- featured prominently in their
ers under the guise of mul- discussions, according to the
tilateralism," he said. " The systems to counter, but Chi- in the South China Sea and force to take it, while main- U.S.
strategy is an attempt to build na insisted it had been a "rou- Taiwan Strait, sometimes en- taining it is a domestic politi- On Sunday, Wei met with
an exclusive small group in tine test of a spacecraft." countering a pushback from cal issue. Australian Defense Minis-
the name of a free and open Answering a question about China's military. Washington follows a "one- ter Richard Marles, which
Indo-Pacific to hijack coun- the test on Sunday, Wei came Wei accused the U.S. of China" policy, which recog- the Australian Broadcasting
tries in our region and target the closest so far to acknowl- "meddling in the affairs of nizes Beijing but allows infor- Corp. reported was the first
one specific country — it is a edging it was, indeed, a hy- our region" with the patrols, mal relations and defense ties high-level meeting between
strategy to create conflict and personic missile, saying, "As and "flexing the muscles by with Taipei. It provides arms the two countries in more
confrontation to contain and for hypersonic weapons, sending warships and war- to Taiwan and follows a "stra- than two years.
encircle others." many countries are devel- planes on a rampage in the tegic ambiguity" approach Marles said it had been three
China has been rapidly mod- oping weapons and I think South China Sea." about how far it would be years since Chinese and Aus-
ernizing its military and seek- there's no surprise that China China has squared off with willing to go to defend Tai- tralian defense ministers had
ing to expand its influence is doing so." the Philippines and Vietnam, wan in the face of a Chinese met, and called the meeting a
and ambitions in the region, "China will develop its mili- among others, over maritime invasion. At the same time, it "critical first step."
recently signing a security tary," he added. "I think it's claims and Wei said it was up does not support Taiwanese "As Sec. Austin observed af-
agreement with the Solomon natural." to the countries in the region independence. ter his own meeting with De-
Islands that many fear could U.S. Secretary of State Ant- to find their own solutions. President Joe Biden raised fense Minister Wei, it is really
lead to a Chinese naval base ony Blinken last month said "China calls for turning the eyebrows and China's pique important in these times to
in the Pacific, and breaking China represented the "most South China Sea into a sea of last month saying that the have open lines of dialogue,"
ground this past week on a serious long-term challenge peace, friendship and coop- U.S. would intervene mili- he told reporters.
naval port expansion project to the international order" eration," he said. "This is the tarily if Taiwan were attacked, "Australia and China's re-
in Cambodia that could give for the United States, with its shared wish and responsibili- though the White House lat- lationship is complex and
Beijing a foothold in the Gulf claims to Taiwan and efforts ty of countries in the region." er said the comments did not it's precisely because of this
of Thailand. to dominate the strategic Taiwan and China split dur- reflect a policy shift. complexity that it is really
Last year U.S. officials ac- South China Sea. ing a civil war in 1949, but Austin on Saturday accused important that we are engag-
cused China of testing a hy- The U.S. and its allies have China claims the island as China of threatening to ing in dialogue right now."
personic missile, a weapon responded with so-called its own territory, and has not change the status quo on Tai-
harder for missile defense freedom of navigation patrols ruled out the use of military wan with a "steady increase in

Hot air brings Spain its 1st withering heat

wave of year

MADRID (AP) — Spain´s The Aemet weather agency ville, Cordoba and Badajoz.
weather service says a mass said the hottest areas would Meteorologists said the tem-
of hot air from North Africa be in central and southwest- perature in Madrid could hit
brought the country's first ern Spain. The heat wave is 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 F),
major heat wave of the year expected to last at least until well above average for early
Sunday, with temperatures Wednesday, the agency said. June. The forecasted high in
expected to reach 43 degrees The 43-degree (109.4-de- coastal Barcelona was 32 de-
Celsius (109.4 degrees Fahr- gree) weather was forecast grees Celsius (89.6 F).
enheit) in some places. for the southern cities of Se-