World

The US relationship with China faces a test as Taiwan elects a new leader

Published

2 years ago

January 12, 2024

The US relationship with China faces a test as Taiwan elects a new leader

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington’s relationship with Beijing will face its biggest test since the leaders of the two countries met in November, as the United States seeks to keep the Taiwan Straits calm after Taiwanese v oters select a new president this weekend.

At stake is the peace and stability of the 110-mile-wide (177-kilometer-wide) strip of water between the Chinese mainland and the self-governed island. Any armed conflict could put Washington head-to-head against Beijing and disrupt the global economy.

China fears that a victory in Saturday’s election by the front-runner would be a step toward independence and has suggested to Taiwan’s voters that they could be choosing between peace and war.

Washington is prepared to work with both Taipei and Beijing to avoid miscalculations and an escalation in tensions, regardless of which presidential candidate wins, officials and observers say.

A senior White House official said the U.S. will keep channels of communication open with China and will stay in close contact with Taiwan to “reinforce both our support for Taiwan’s democratic processes and also our strong commitment to peace, stability and the status quo.” The official spoke to reporters on Thursday on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans.

President Joe Biden plans to send an unofficial delegation of former senior officials to the island shortly after the election. The U.S. has no formal ties with Taiwan and sending an official delegation would enrage Beijing, which considers the island Chinese territory.

Anticipating a “period of higher tensions” ahead, the official said the U.S. is preparing for different reactions from Beijing, depending on the election results, that may range from no response to military actions.

On Saturday, the island of 23 million people will choose a new president to replace Tsai Ing-wen, who has served the limit of two terms. The election has drawn high attention because Beijing is opposed to front-runner Lai Ching-te, the candidate from the governing Democratic Progressive Party, which is known for its pro-independence learnings. This has raised concerns that a Lai win could trigger a military response from the mainland.

Beijing has vowed to unify with Taiwan, by force if necessary. Any military action could draw in the United States, which provides Taiwan with military hardware and technology under a security pact.

Washington, while not taking sides on Taiwan’s sovereignty, opposes any unilateral change to the status quo by either side. It has shown no official preference for any candidate.

Biden, when meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November in California, stressed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits. Xi pressed Biden to support China’s peaceful reunification with the island and told him “the Taiwan question remains the most important and most sensitive issue in China-U.S. relations.”

No matter who wins Saturday’s election, Washington will engage with the new Taiwanese government to strengthen ties and focus on deterring military aggression from Beijing, lawmakers and observers have said.

“The U.S. will exchange notes with Taiwan to preserve stability and for Taiwan to be resilient going forward,” said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund.

“Regardless of who wins, the American people will stand with the people of Taiwan and the vibrant, beautiful democracy of Taiwan,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois said Wednesday at a discussion hosted by Politico. “And that’s on a bipartisan basis.” He is the ranking Democrat on a House select committee regarding strategic competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party.

Republican Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky said at the same discussion that the U.S. and all of Taiwan’s political parties believe in deterrence. “We will work with whoever wins this election to reestablish and strengthen that deterrence,” Barr said.

The overwhelming support among Taiwanese for maintaining the status quo means U.S. policy would largely stay the course regardless of who wins the election, said Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“No one wants to provoke a war, and the current situation is minimally acceptable to almost everyone, whether in Taiwan, mainland China, or the United States,” Kennedy said.

All of Taiwan’s presidential candidates have come to see a solid relationship with the U.S. as strong deterrence against a hostile takeover of the island by Beijing, said Rorry Daniels, managing director of the New York-based Asia Society Policy Institute.

If elected, Lai is unlikely to rock the boat by taking drastic steps toward statehood, as his party has proved to be prudent and pragmatic under Tsai, observers say.

“Tsai has built a positive image in Washington,” said John Dotson of the Washington-based think tank Global Taiwan Institute. “She’s turned out to be very moderate in office.”

While Tsai has infuriated Beijing by refusing to acknowledge Taiwan as part of China, she also has refrained from moving toward declaring independence. Lai would be expected to follow in her footsteps. Washington would likely see a Lai presidency as a “third Tsai term,” Dotson said.

But a Lai win could trigger angry responses from Beijing, including military exercises near the island. Experts say Beijing likely would be restrained because it is eager to protect the U.S.-China relationship, especially after the Biden-Xi meeting in November.

The challenge for Taipei and for Washington would be to manage Beijing’s anxiety that Taiwan could be “creeping into independence,” said Daniels of the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Lai is closely trailed by Hou Yu-ih, the candidate from the opposition Kuomintang party. Beijing is accused of waging an influence campaign in favor of Hou, whose party sees Taiwan as part of China, although not necessarily under Beijing’s rule. Yet a Kuomintang victory would not upend U.S. policy, given that popular opinion on the island overwhelmingly favors the status quo, observers say.

Should Hou be elected, Washington, which has a history of working with the Kuomintang, would be prepared to engage with him to continue strengthening U.S-.Taiwan relations, and any easing in cross-strait tensions that would come with his election could allow the U.S. to focus on other issues, said Brian Hart, a fellow of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

A warmer cross-strait relationship could bring new complexities to U.S.-China relations. “There will be more to coordinate,” Daniels said. But as Beijing would likely put pressure on a Kuomintang government to move toward reunification, Washington could help Hou manage that pressure, she said.

The third candidate, Ko Wen-je of the newly minted Taiwan People’s Party, could be the biggest challenge for Washington if he were to be elected. His party has yet to be tested and build a relationship with Washington, but observers note that Ko has expressed interest in working with the U.S.

“The Biden administration has gone out of its way to have no preference,” Hart said. “There’s an opportunity regardless who wins. The U.S. is truly not trying to weigh in on this.”

“From the U.S. perspective, what we want Taiwan to do at a higher degree is to invest in its defense, to deter China’s aggression,” Hart said.

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World

A look at some of the contenders to be Iran’s supreme leader after the killing of Khamenei

Published

7 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

A look at some of the contenders to be Iran’s supreme leader after the killing of Khamenei

Iran’s leaders are scrambling to replace Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years before he was killed in the surprise U.S. and Israeli bombardment.

It’s only the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen. Potential candidates range from hard-liners committed to confrontation with the West to reformists who seek diplomatic engagement.

The supreme leader has the final say on all major decisions, including war, peace and the country’s disputed nuclear program.

In the meantime, a provisional governing council composed of President Masoud Pezeshkian, hard-line judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and senior Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi is guiding the country through its biggest crisis in decades. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that a new supreme leader would be chosen early this week.

The supreme leader is appointed by an 88-member panel called the Assembly of Experts, who by law are supposed to quickly name a successor. The panel consists of Shiite clerics who are popularly elected after their candidacies are approved by the Guardian Council, Iran’s constitutional watchdog.

Khamenei had major influence over both clerical bodies, making it unlikely the next leader will mark a radical departure.

Here are the top contenders.

Mojtaba Khamenei

The son of Khamenei, a mid-level Shiite cleric, is widely considered a potential successor. He has strong ties to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard but has never held office. His selection could prove awkward, as the Islamic Republic has long criticized hereditary rule and cast itself as a more just alternative.

Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi

Arafi is a member of the provisional government council. The senior Shiite cleric was handpicked by Khamenei to be a member of the Guardian Council in 2019, and three years later he was elected to the Assembly of Experts. He leads a network of seminaries.

Hassan Rouhani

Rouhani, a relative moderate, was president of Iran from 2013 to 2021 and reached the landmark nuclear agreement with the Obama administration that U.S. President Donald Trump scrapped during his first term. Rouhani served on the Assembly of Experts until 2024, when he said he was disqualified from running for reelection. Rouhani criticized it as an infringement on Iranians’ political participation.

Hassan Khomeini

Khomeini is the most prominent grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He is also seen as a relative moderate, but has never held government office. He currently works at his grandfather’s mausoleum in Tehran.

Ayatollah Mohammed Mehdi Mirbagheri

Mirbagheri is a senior cleric popular with hard-liners who serves on the Assembly of Experts.

He was close to the late Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a fellow hard-liner who wrote that Iran should not deprive itself of the right to produce “special weapons,” a veiled reference to nuclear arms.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirbagheri denounced the closure of schools as a “conspiracy.”

He is currently the head of the Islamic Cultural Center in Qom, the main center for Islamic teaching in Iran.

World

US cleared to use British bases for limited strikes on Iranian missile capabilities

Published

8 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

US cleared to use British bases for limited strikes on Iranian missile capabilities

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The U.S. has been cleared to use British bases for limited strikes on Iran’s missile capabilities after Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed off on the plan, and while U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey stated on Sunday Britain had “stepped up alongside the Americans.”

“The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source, in their storage depots or the launchers which are used to fire the missiles,” Starmer confirmed in a recorded statement to the nation.

“The U.S. has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose,” he said. “We have taken the decision to accept this request.”

The decision came amid escalation across the Middle East in the wake of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory missile and drone attacks, raising fears of a broader regional conflict.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed off on a plan to use British bases for limited strikes on Iranian missile capabilities. (Kin Cheung / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

On Feb. 28, in the wake of Operation Epic Fury, Starmer confirmed British planes “are in the sky today” across the Middle East “as part of coordinated regional defensive operations to protect our people, our interests and our allies.”

Healey went on to disclose Sunday that two Iranian missiles were fired in the direction of Cyprus, where Britain maintains key sovereign base areas.

The Royal Air Force confirmed that Typhoon jets operating from Qatar as part of the joint U.K.-Qatar Typhoon Squadron successfully intercepted an Iranian drone heading toward Qatar.

About 300 British personnel are stationed at a naval facility in Bahrain, where Iranian missiles and drones struck nearby areas.

“We’re taking down the drones that are menacing either our bases, our people or our allies,” Healey told “Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips” on Sky. “We’ve stepped up alongside the Americans. We’ve stepped up our defensive forces in the Middle East. We’re flying those sorties.”

ISRAEL’S LARGEST EVER MILITARY FLYOVER HAMMERS IRANIAN MILITARY TARGETS

British Defense Secretary John Healey stressed that the U.K. had “no part” in the American-Israeli strikes on Iran. (Peter Nicholls/Pool via Reuters)

Healey also made sure to stress that the U.K. had “no part” in the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and insisted all British actions were defensive. “All our actions are about defending U.K. interests and defending U.K. allies,” he said.

When asked if the U.K. would join the U.S. in offensive action, Healey said, “I’m not going to speculate,” according to Sky News.

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Downing Street also confirmed Feb. 28 that Starmer and President Donald Trump had spoken by phone about the “situation in the Middle East,” the BBC reported.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Downing Street for comment.

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.

World

Pakistan calls troops, orders 3-day curfew as 24 killed in pro-Iran rallies

Published

9 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Pakistan calls troops, orders 3-day curfew as 24 killed in pro-Iran rallies

Army deployed and some areas in northern Gilgit-Baltistan region put under curfew after deadly violence over Khamenei’s killing.

By AFP, Anadolu and The Associated Press

Published On 2 Mar 2026

Pakistan has called in the military and imposed a three-day curfew in some areas following deadly protests over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint United States-Israeli attack on Saturday.

At least 24 people were killed and dozens injured in clashes between protesters and security forces across the country on Sunday, prompting authorities to tighten security around the US embassy and consulates.