Hawaii
Taiwan's president meets Hawaii's governor and members of Congress in a visit condemned by China
HONOLULU (AP) — On a two-day visit to Hawaii, Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te met with the state’s governor and congressional representatives as part of a Pacific island tour that has already triggered criticism from Beijing.
On Sunday, China’s Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemned” U.S. support for Lai’s visit and had lodged a complaint with the U.S. It also denounced a newly announced U.S. weapons sale to Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own territory.
“China will closely monitor the situation’s development, and take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said the statement.
Hawaii was Lai’s first stop on a weeklong voyage that will later take him to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau. They account for three of the 12 countries Taipei has formal diplomatic relations with.
Hawaii’s Gov. Josh Green on Saturday hosted Lai at the state’s emergency management agency where they discussed disaster preparedness. Green, who was a longtime emergency room physician before becoming governor, posted on social media that he and Lai discussed how their experiences in health care informed their governance. Lai is also a physician by training and obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University.
“Together, we extended a warm aloha to Lai and his delegation, highlighting Hawai’i’s shared values of resilience and collaboration with Taiwan,” Green said in an Instagram post.
Lai also visited Bishop Museum, Hawaii’s leading museum of natural history and Native Hawaiian culture.
In the evening, Lai posed for photos with Hawaii congressional representatives and state lawmakers at a dinner banquet with the Taiwanese American community.
U.S. Rep. Ed Case, a Democrat who represents Honolulu in Congress, said on social media that he told the audience that “our ties endured on shared values and interests to advance mutual goals and meet shared challenges.”
It is unclear whether Lai with meet with any senior officials from the Biden administration or anyone from the incoming Trump administration during his Hawaii stay.
President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg in July that Taiwan should pay for its defense. The island has purchased billions of dollars of defense weaponry from the U.S.
Trump evaded answering whether he would defend the island from Chinese military action.
The new arms announced by the U.S. State Department Friday include $385 million in spare parts and equipment for a fleet of F-16s, as well as support for tactical communication system to Taiwan.
The U.S. is obligated to help the island defend itself under the Taiwan Relations Act but maintains a position of strategic ambiguity over whether it would ever get involved if Taiwan were to be invaded by China.
Former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen drew vocal opposition from China when she stopped in New York last year on her way to Latin America. Tsai met with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the time.
The Chinese military also launched drills around Taiwan last year as a “stern warning” over what it called collusion between “separatists and foreign forces” days after Lai, then Taiwan’s vice president, stopped over in the U.S.
China also strongly objects to leading American politicians visiting the island as it views any official contact with foreign governments and Taiwan as an infringement on its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan. Washington switched its formal recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
Hawaii
Livvy Dunne flexes LSU gymnastics move in bikini for Pirates pitcher’s Hawaii wedding
Livvy Dunne and Paul Skenes hit Hawaii for a Pittsburgh Pirates teammate’s wedding. While there, Dunne showed off her former LSU gymanstics skills while in a bikini jumping off a boat with an insane move.
Skenes is coming off his second season with the Pirates where he won his first Cy Young Award on a night where Dunne stole his thunder in a head-turning black dress.
The 23-year-old Dunne finished her fifth and final season of gymanstics at LSU and has been living the influencer life since. Skenes and her bought an apartment in New York City after losing out on Babe Ruth’s old one, and a new dream house in Jupiter, Florida, where they were seen struggling to put furniture together like most couples.
Livvy Dunne has cheesy Paul Skenes joke after Pirates pitcher wins Cy Young Award
They left that all behind to hit up pitcher Jared Jones and his fiancée Rylie Fox’s wedding in Kauai. Skenes was seen enjoying himself in the water where Dunne called her boyfriend a “merman.”
And Dunne was seen in her blue bikini on a boat.
Livvy Dunne flaunts new house in Tiger Woods’ neighborhood with pool selfie
That’s when she let her athletic gene take over for the crowd and decided to do a crazy twisting backflip off the side of the boat.
She just missed that landing, but it was a great effort.
Dunne has said she misses gymnastics while practicing some moves. For a minute she got to relive her athletic glory years while with Skenes and friends in Hawaii.
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Hawaii
US, China held maritime security talks in Hawaii, Chinese navy says
BEIJING, Nov 22 (Reuters) – The U.S. and Chinese militaries this week held “frank and constructive” maritime security talks, the Chinese navy said on Saturday, as the two superpowers gradually restore military-to-military communications after several months of trade tensions.
The working-level meetings took place November 18-20 in Hawaii, according to a posting on the official social media account of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
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“The two sides had frank and constructive exchanges … mainly exchanging views on the current maritime and air security situation between China and the U.S.,” China’s navy said in its posted statement.
China also criticised U.S. freedom-of-navigation operations in the statement. These are frequently carried out in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, international waters over which China claims sovereignty.
“China … resolutely opposes any infringement and provocation,” China’s navy said in its statement, referring to those maritime and overflight transits by U.S. forces.
Both sides also discussed “typical cases of naval and air encounters between the two militaries … to help the front-line naval and air forces of China and the U.S. interact more professionally and safely,” it said.
China has been steadily boosting air, naval and coast guard deployments around democratically-governed Taiwan, which it claims as its own. Taiwan’s government rejects China’s claims of sovereignty over the island.
The Pentagon has been pushing for improved communications with China over its military modernisation and regional posture, calling for greater transparency on its nuclear weapons build-up and more theatre-level discussions with military commanders.
The working group will have a follow-up meeting in 2026, the statement said.
Reporting by Laurie Chen; Editing by Tom Hogue
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Hawaii
Let These Oceanfront Resorts Convince You to Book That Hawaii Vacation
In 2012, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison acquired 98% of Lānaʻi, a rural island off Maui known for its rural, upcountry vibe (there’s only about 30 miles of paved roads) and its two Four Seasons–operated hotels: the 213-room Four Seasons Lānaʻi and the 96-room, wellness-focused Sensei Lānaʻi. The latter, created in partnership with Ellison’s own hospitality brand, Sensei, is powered by the cutting-edge research of renowned oncologist and professor Dr. David Agus, whose philosophy centers on three pillars: Move, Rest, and Nourish. Surrounded by pine-covered mountains and blending Hawaiian and Japanese design influences, this adults-only retreat is conceived as a distraction-free sanctuary—a place to disappear for a few days and focus wholly on your health. “I stayed at both Four Seasons’ properties when I visited Lanai a few years ago; my time at both, but especially at Sensei, felt like a reverie,” shopping director Talia Abbas shares. “An oasis in every sense of the word, you feel the weight of the world lifted off your shoulders surrounded by the lush greenery and the serene mountain air.”
The experience begins with a biomarker session, a body-composition analysis, and a one-on-one consultation with a nutritionist. Additional tech-driven assessments may follow, from thermal body scans to pinpoint inflammation to HRV monitoring for a closer look into a guest’s physiological state. “The consultation took place in one of the privates hales, and was followed up by a massage targeting the inflammation, and a soak in the private onsen pool,” Abbas shares. “I’ve never felt more relaxed.” The “Move” component can take many forms: horseback riding through cook-pine forests, aerial yoga, tackling obstacles in the outdoor adventure park, or simply wandering the resort’s vast sculpture garden, dotted with large-scale works by artists like Fernando Botero and Jaume Plensa. Yet for many guests, the highlight is the spa. Ten standalone spa hales are each outfitted with ofuro soaking tubs, infrared saunas, and outdoor onsen pools—inviting hours of relaxation post-treatment day and night.
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