TEHRAN, Jul. 06 (MNA) – The Iranian president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian was received for a meeting on Saturday by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
Day: July 6, 2024
TAIPEI — Taiwan prosecutors said on Saturday they were investigating a senior official and member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party who deals with China on suspicion of bribery. He said he had done nothing wrong.
Cheng Wen-tsan is head of the Straits Exchange Foundation under the China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council that deals with day-to-day issues like accidents involving Taiwanese in China. The foundation is technically private because the governments in Beijing and Taipei do not recognize each other or have any official relations.
Prosecutors in the northern Taiwanese city of Taoyuan, where Cheng was mayor from 2014-2022, said he had been summoned for questioning on Friday on bribery suspicions and that they had applied to a court to detain him.
It did not give details of the allegations against him.
Cheng, in a statement issued via his lawyer and released by the foundation, denied wrongdoing.
“I have not committed any illegal acts, and I will cooperate with the judicial investigation. I hope to clarify the truth and prove my innocence as soon as possible,” he said.
Taiwan’s presidential office said it respects the judiciary and hopes investigators will clarify the matter as soon as possible.
MANILA — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Saturday that China’s largest coastguard vessel has anchored in Manila’s exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, in the South China Sea, and it is meant to intimidate its smaller Asian neighbor.
The China coastguard’s 165-meter “monster ship” entered Manila’s 200-nautical mile EEZ on July 2, spokesperson for the PCG Jay Tarriela told a news forum.
The PCG warned the Chinese vessel it was in the Philippine’s EEZ and asked about their intentions, he said.
“It’s an intimidation on the part of the China Coast Guard,” Tarriela said. “We’re not going to pull out and we’re not going to be intimidated.”
China’s embassy in Manila and the Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China’s coast guard has no publicly available contact information.
The Chinese ship, which has also deployed a small boat, was anchored 731 meters away from the PCG’s vessel, Tarriela said. In May, the PCG deployed a ship to the Sabina shoal to deter small-scale reclamation by China, which denied the claim.
China has carried out extensive land reclamation on some islands in the South China Sea, building air force and other military facilities, causing concern in Washington and around the region.
China claims most of the South China Sea, a key conduit for $3 trillion of annual ship-borne trade, as its own territory.
Beijing rejects the 2016 ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration which said its expansive maritime claims had no legal basis.
Following a high-level dialog, the Philippines and China agreed on Tuesday for the need to “restore trust” and “rebuild confidence” to better manage maritime disputes.
The Philippines has turned down offers from the United States, its treaty ally, to assist operations in the South China Sea, despite a flare-up with China over routing resupply missions to Filipino troops on a contested shoal.
TAIPEI — Taiwan prosecutors said on Saturday they were investigating a senior official and member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party who deals with China on suspicion of bribery. He said he had done nothing wrong.
Cheng Wen-tsan is head of the Straits Exchange Foundation under the China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council that deals with day-to-day issues like accidents involving Taiwanese in China. The foundation is technically private because the governments in Beijing and Taipei do not recognize each other or have any official relations.
Prosecutors in the northern Taiwanese city of Taoyuan, where Cheng was mayor from 2014-2022, said he had been summoned for questioning on Friday on bribery suspicions and that they had applied to a court to detain him.
It did not give details of the allegations against him.
Cheng, in a statement issued via his lawyer and released by the foundation, denied wrongdoing.
“I have not committed any illegal acts, and I will cooperate with the judicial investigation. I hope to clarify the truth and prove my innocence as soon as possible,” he said.
Taiwan’s presidential office said it respects the judiciary and hopes investigators will clarify the matter as soon as possible.
MANILA — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Saturday that China’s largest coastguard vessel has anchored in Manila’s exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, in the South China Sea, and it is meant to intimidate its smaller Asian neighbor.
The China coastguard’s 165-meter “monster ship” entered Manila’s 200-nautical mile EEZ on July 2, spokesperson for the PCG Jay Tarriela told a news forum.
The PCG warned the Chinese vessel it was in the Philippine’s EEZ and asked about their intentions, he said.
“It’s an intimidation on the part of the China Coast Guard,” Tarriela said. “We’re not going to pull out and we’re not going to be intimidated.”
China’s embassy in Manila and the Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China’s coast guard has no publicly available contact information.
The Chinese ship, which has also deployed a small boat, was anchored 731 meters away from the PCG’s vessel, Tarriela said. In May, the PCG deployed a ship to the Sabina shoal to deter small-scale reclamation by China, which denied the claim.
China has carried out extensive land reclamation on some islands in the South China Sea, building air force and other military facilities, causing concern in Washington and around the region.
China claims most of the South China Sea, a key conduit for $3 trillion of annual ship-borne trade, as its own territory.
Beijing rejects the 2016 ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration which said its expansive maritime claims had no legal basis.
Following a high-level dialog, the Philippines and China agreed on Tuesday for the need to “restore trust” and “rebuild confidence” to better manage maritime disputes.
The Philippines has turned down offers from the United States, its treaty ally, to assist operations in the South China Sea, despite a flare-up with China over routing resupply missions to Filipino troops on a contested shoal.