WWIII

Vietnam's coast guard visits Philippines for joint drills as both face maritime tensions with China

JIM GOMEZ and JOEAL CALUPITAN
Mon, August 5, 2024



Colonel Hoang Quoc Dat, vice Commander of Vietnam Coast Guard Region 2, from left, Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Arnaldo Lim and Captain Le Xuan Truong, Commanding Officer, Ship 8002, Flotilla 21, Vietnam Coast Guard Region 2, pose for a photo in Manila, Philippines, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, as a Vietnamese coast guard ship arrives in Manila for a joint exercise with the Philippine coast guard.

(AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Vietnamese coast guard ship arrived in Manila on Monday for a four-day goodwill visit and joint exercises as the two countries attempt to put aside their own territorial disputes in the face of rising tensions with China over control of key features in the South China Sea.

The Philippines and Vietnam are among the most vocal critics of China’s increasingly hostile actions in the disputed waters, a key global trade and security route. The neighboring Southeast Asian countries themselves have overlapping claims in the busy sea passage along with Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan and the disputes are regarded as an Asian flashpoint and a delicate fault line in the U.S.-China regional rivalry.

As the host's coast guard personnel waved Philippine and Vietnamese flags and a brass band played under the morning sun at Manila’s harbor, a 2,400-ton Vietnamese coast guard ship with 80 crewmembers docked. Some of its officers saluted from the lower and upper decks of the 90-meter white ship.


During its stay in Manila, the two coast guard forces are expected to hold talks and tour each other’s ships. They will hold joint search and rescue drills along with fire and explosion contingency drills in Manila Bay, on the western coast of northern Philippines facing the South China Sea.

“This is a good template, a good way to deescalate the situation,” Philippine coast guard spokesperson Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said. “This shows that even rival claimants can have an opportunity to nurture a relationship.”

Col. Hoang Quoc Dat, who headed the Vietnamese coast guard's delegation, said in a speech that their Manila port call was a way to strengthen the two countries' "cooperative relationship for mutual benefit."

“This will promote and enhance the efficiency of information sharing and the coordination in maritime law enforcement, in accordance with international law,” he said and added such friendly collaboration contributes to "the preservation and protection of the region’s maritime security and safety.”

In a separate goodwill engagement last month, Vietnamese and Philippine navy forces played volleyball, football and tug-of-war games in the Vietnam-occupied Southwest Cay in the South China Sea’s hotly contested Spratly archipelago, according to Vietnamese and Philippine officials.

In June, Vietnam said it was ready to hold talks with the Philippines to settle their overlapping claims to the undersea continental shelf in the South China Sea, while China has long claimed much of the entire seaway and vowed to defend its territorial interests at all costs.

After a violent June 17 confrontation in the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea between Chinese forces — armed with knives, axe, and improvised spears — and Filipino navy personnel, China and the Philippines reached a temporary agreement last month to prevent further clashes that could spark a major armed conflict in the atoll.

A week after the deal was forged, Philippine government personnel transported food and other supplies to Manila’s territorial ship outpost at the shoal, which has been closely guarded by the Chinese coast guard and navy ships, no confrontations were reported.

The Philippines, however, has vowed to press on with efforts to strengthen its territorial forces and defense and expand security alliances with Asian and Western countries.

NATO IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

Germany and the Philippines agree to rapidly finalize a defense pact to address security threats
JIM GOMEZ
Sun, August 4, 2024 




German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, left, meets with his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024.

 (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)


MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Germany and the Philippines agreed Sunday to rapidly finalize a defense pact that would allow joint military training and possible sale of German weapons to address security threats, including China’s growing aggression in the South China Sea, which Manila’s defense chief said was “the sole cause of tensions” and conflicts in the disputed waters.

China has long claimed much of the entire seaway, a key global trade and security route, and vowed to defend its territorial interests at all costs.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the proposed Arrangement on Defense Cooperation that he and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius discussed in talks in the capital, Manila, could be concluded as early as this year given current security concerns. Both underscored the need for countries to press diplomatic efforts under the U.N. Charter to attain “just and lasting peace” from Ukraine to Asia’s flashpoints.

Without mentioning China by name, both defense chiefs expressed in a joint statement their strong opposition to “any unilateral attempt to advance expansive claims, especially through force or coercion.” They also “reaffirmed their staunch commitment to freedom of navigation, overflight and other peaceful uses of the seas consistent with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea."

The Philippines and its longtime treaty ally, the United States, and other Western countries have frequently accused China of undermining those international principles with Beijing’s increasingly hostile actions, including the use of powerful water cannons, military-grade laser and blocking and other dangerous maneuvers against Philippine ships in the disputed South China Sea. Meanwhile, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos' administration has moved to expand security alliances with friendly Asian and Western governments.

Beijing has accused Washington of instigating trouble and threatening the stability of the region by boosting the deployment of U.S. forces, warships and jets and working with countries like the Philippines to try to contain China’s rise.

The proposed defense deal would allow joint training, possible weapons sale, security information sharing and closer collaboration between the German and Philippine armed forces, the defense chiefs said.

Responding to a question in a news conference with Pistorius, Teodoro said: “There is only one cause of conflict in the South China Sea. ... It is China’s illegal and unilateral attempt to appropriate most, if not all, of the South China Sea as their internal waters."

"That is the sole cause of tensions,” he added.

"The Philippines is not provoking China. We do not seek war, yet we are mandated not only by our constitution but as an obligation to our countrymen to protect whatever areas whether be jurisdiction or rights that rightfully belong to the exclusive benefit of Filipinos,” Teodoro said.

Pistorius underscored Germany’s support for a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea on historic grounds. The decision was based on the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS.

"This ruling remains valid without any exemptions,” Pistorius said. “We need to do more than stand up for UNCLOS. We need to contribute to de-escalation. This is only possible if we keep all channels of communication open including those with China.”

After an alarmingly violent June 17 confrontation in the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea between Chinese forces, who were armed with knives, axe, and improvised spears, and Filipino navy personnel, China and the Philippines reached a temporary agreement last month to prevent further clashes that could spark a major armed conflict in the hotly disputed atoll.

A week after the deal was forged, Philippine government personnel transported food and other supplies to Manila’s territorial ship outpost at the shoal, which has been closely guarded by the Chinese coast guard and navy ships, and no confrontations were reported.

The longstanding territorial conflicts between the neighboring Asian countries, which also involve Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, have continued, however, along with a scathing war of words.

___

Associated Press video journalist Joeal Calupitan contributed to this report.




Germany, Philippines agree defense pact over South China Sea

Diego Mendoza
Sun, August 4, 2024 


The News

The Philippines and Germany agreed a new defense deal Sunday as Manila seeks to bolster its diplomatic support to counter Beijing’s vast maritime claims in the South China Sea.

The agreement focuses on “mutual understanding regarding capabilities, training [and] exchange of information,” said the Philippines’ defense minister, suggesting Germany could supply military equipment to the Philippines in the future. Berlin is “strongly opposed [against] any unilateral attempt to advance expansive claims” in the region, Germany’s defense minister said.

China and the Philippines have sparred for months over South China Sea territory, and the two countries recently signed a “tentative agreement” to end hostilities. But Beijing has continued to express frustration toward Manila, prompting the Philippine government to look to Europe and the US for support.
Know More

The German-Philippine defense pact comes as China gets ready to appoint a new ambassador to Germany. Whomever Beijing chooses will have to immediately deal with Berlin’s accusations that Beijing coordinated a cyber espionage attack against a federal cartography agency in 2021.

Germany, Philippines working on defence cooperation deal

DPA
Sun, August 4, 2024


German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (L) is greeted by his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro before a bilateral meeting. Soeren Stache/dpa

Germany and the Philippines on Sunday said they are working on a defence cooperation agreement, to be signed later this year, that would expand training between their armed forces and armaments cooperation.

The Philippines has been pushing to boost its external defences amid escalating tensions with China in the disputed South China Sea, and has been signing defence cooperation deals with other countries.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, who was visiting Manila, pledged to conclude the military policy agreement by the end of the year, and maybe as soon as October.

Cooperation could occur in air defence, coastal defence "and possibly the procurement of transport aircraft," Pistorius said after meeting Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.

Both said that human rights were also a topic of discussion.

Germany wants to increase its involvement in Asia. To this end, the Cabinet adopted guidelines on Germany's policy in the Indo-Pacific region in 2020. Military cooperation is a key element.

To kick off his trip, Pistorius visited the German navy, which is participating in the world's largest naval manoeuvre, Rimpac, with two ships off Hawaii. Air force soldiers took part in an exercise in Japan for the first time. In the middle of the month, German soldiers and combat aircraft will be in India for training, in another first.

In contrast, defence cooperation with the new partners in the Indo-Pacific region is progressing more slowly. A new arms export control law is in the pipeline, but is still a long way off.

Enhancing bilateral relations

In a joint statement, Pistorius and Teodoro said they "strongly opposed any unilateral attempt to advance expansive claims, especially through force or coercion," amid security challenges in both Asia and the Pacific, and Europe.

"Recognizing the wide array of opportunities for enhancing bilateral defense relations in light of security challenges that both countries face, the ministers committed to conclude a broader arrangement on defence cooperation," the ministers said.

"To this end, the ministers are committed to establish long-term relations between the armed forces and specifically to expand training cooperation and bilateral exchanges," the statement added.

"The ministers, moreover, intend to explore opportunities to further expand the bilateral armaments cooperation and to engage in joint projects."

While stressing that the enhanced cooperation was not directed at a specific country amid the Philippines' dispute with China over the South China Sea, Pistorius told a press conference: "All countries must be able to enjoy freedom of navigation, regardless of the economic strength or geographic size. This is what we stand up for together with our partners."

Teodoro said the enhanced cooperation would help the Philippines protect its sovereignty and the rights of its people, such as fishermen who are being deprived of their livelihood amid China's aggressive action in the South China Sea - including in areas that are part of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

"There is only one cause of conflict in the South China Sea, particularly in the West Philippine Sea - it is China's illegal and unilateral attempt to appropriate most if not all of the South China Sea as their internal waters," Teodoro said.

"The Philippines is not provoking China. We do not seek war," he added.

China, which claims almost the entire South China Sea, has taken increasingly aggressive actions in the area in recent years. It has ignored a 2016 ruling by an international arbitration court that it has no legal or historical basis for its expansive claims.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims to the area, which is believed to be rich in natural resources.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (L) speaks during a joint press conference with his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro (Not Pictured). Soeren Stache/dpa

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (2nd L) meets with his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro (2nd R). Soeren Stache/dpa

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO FREE TRADE?!
Chinese businesses hoping to expand in the US and bring jobs face uncertainty and suspicion

OH RIGHT IT'S A MARXIST IDEA

DIDI TANG
Sun, August 4, 2024 



WASHINGTON (AP) — It was billed as the “biggest ever economic development project” in north Michigan when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2022 welcomed a Chinese lithium-ion battery company’s plan to build a $2.36 billion factory and bring a couple thousand jobs to Big Rapids.

But now the project by Gotion High-Tech is in the crosshairs of some U.S. lawmakers and local residents.

Leading the charge is Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, who accuses the Chinese company of having ties to forced labor and says he fears it could spy for Beijing and work to extend China's influence in the U.S. heartland. Gotion rejects the accusations.


“I want to see this area have more jobs and investments, but we must not welcome companies that are controlled by people who see us as the enemy and we should not allow them to build here,” Moolenaar said at a recent roundtable discussion in Michigan.

Lured by the large U.S. market, Chinese businesses are coming to the United States with money, jobs and technology, only to find rising suspicion at a time of an intensifying U.S.-China rivalry that has spread into the business world.

U.S. wariness of China, coupled with Beijing's desire to protect its technological competitiveness, threatens to rupture ties between the world's two largest economies. That could hurt businesses, workers and consumers, which some warn could undermine the economic foundation that has helped stabilize relations.

“This is a lose-lose scenario for the two countries,” Zhiqun Zhu, professor of political science and international relations at Bucknell University, said in an email. “The main reason is U.S.-China rivalry, and the U.S. government prioritizes ‘national security’ over economic interests in dealing with China.”

Lizhi Liu, an assistant professor of business at Georgetown University, said the trend, along with the decline of U.S. investments in China, could hurt China-U.S. relations.

“Strong investment ties between the two nations are crucial not only for economic reasons but also for security, as intertwined economic interests reduce the likelihood of major conflicts or even war,” she said.

But U.S. lawmakers believe the stakes are high. Sen. Marco Rubio said at a July hearing that China is not only a military and diplomatic adversary for the U.S. but also a “technological, industrial and commercial” opponent.

“The technological and industrial high ground has always been a precursor of global power,” said Rubio, a Republican from Florida. He argued that U.S. foreign policy should take into account the country's commercial, trade and technological interests.

The bipartisan House Select Committee on China has warned that widespread adoption in the US. of technologies developed by China could threaten long-term U.S. technological competitiveness.

U.S. public sentiment against Chinese investments began to build up during President Barack Obama's administration, in a pushback against globalization, and were amplified after President Donald Trump came into office, said Yilang Feng, an assistant professor of business at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who studies economic nationalism and resistance to foreign direct investments in the U.S.

“The scale has increased, so has the intensity,” Feng said.

As President Joe Biden's administration seeks to revive American manufacturing and boost U.S. technological capabilities, many politicians believe Chinese companies should be kept out.

“Can you imagine working for an American company working tirelessly to develop battery technology and then you find out that your tax dollars are being used to subsidize a competitor from China?” Moolenaar said as he campaigned against the Gotion project in his congressional district in a state that is critical in the presidential election.

Whitmer's office has declined to comment on the project. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation told The Associated Press it has received “bipartisan support at all levels” to move forward with the project, which will create up to 2,350 jobs.

Danielle Emerson, spokesperson for MEDC, said the project is "critical to onshore the battery supply chain and create thousands of good-paying local jobs, which reduces our reliance on overseas disruptions and further protects our national security.”

Local residents of Green Charter Township, however, revolted against the project over its Chinese connections last year when they removed five officials who supported it in a recall election.

Also in Michigan, a partnership between Ford and CATL, another Chinese battery manufacturer, has been scaled back, following pushback over CATL's potential connections to China's ruling party.

In Worcester, Massachusetts, the Chinese biotech company WuXi Biologics paused construction of a large facility a few weeks after lawmakers introduced a bill that would, over data security concerns, ban U.S. entities receiving federal funds from doing business with a number of China-linked companies, WuXi Biologics included.

John Ling, who has helped South Carolina and Georgia attract Chinese businesses for nearly two decades, said geopolitics have been getting in the way in recent years. Chinese companies are less likely to consider South Carolina after the state senate last year approved a bill banning Chinese citizens from buying property, even though the bill has yet to clear the statehouse, Ling said.

Data by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show the total investments by China in the U.S. fell to just under $44 billion in 2023, from a high point of $63 billion in 2017, although first-year expenditures rose to $621 million in 2023, up from $531 million in 2022 but drastically down from the high of $27 billion in 2016. The figures include acquisitions, new business establishments and expansions.

Thilo Hanemann, a partner at the research provider Rhodium Group, said there's been an upswing in new Chinese investments in the U.S. following a major decline, prompted by the end of disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for Chinese companies to go overseas when margins at home are dwindling.

U.S. policymakers are worried that Chinese companies, beholden to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, could pose national security risks, he said, while Beijing is concerned that overseas investments could lead to Chinese technology leakage.

“Chinese companies are in between a rock and a hard place, dealing with both domestic governments in terms of not letting them go abroad and then the U.S. or host governments that have concerns," Hanemann said.

Yet, Chinese investors may still find the U.S. market appealing “due to its high consumption levels and judicial independence," said Liu of Georgetown University.

In 2022, Michigan beat out several other states in luring Gotion, according to the governor’s office. Keen to revive its manufacturing base, the state offered a package of incentives, including $175 million in grants and the approval of a new zone that could save the company $540 million. Local townships approved tax abatements for Gotion to build a factory to make components for electrical vehicle batteries.

In Green Charter Township, the new board dropped support for the project and rescinded an agreement that would extend water to the factory site, only to be rebuked by a U.S. district judge.

The future of the plant remains uncertain, as Moolenaar is rallying support for his bill that would prevent Gotion from receiving federal subsidies. He has accused the company of using forced labor, after congressional staff discovered links between the company and Xinjiang Production Construction Corps., a paramilitary group sanctioned by the U.S. Commerce Department for its involvement in China's forced labor practice.

Chuck Thelen, vice president of manufacturing of Gotion North America, in recent town hall meetings called the forced labor accusations “categorically false and clearly intended to deceive.”

By allowing the Chinese company to build a plant in Michigan, it would help “onshore a technology that has been vastly leapfrogged" outside of the U.S., he said.

It doesn't amount to “a Chinese invasion,” Thelen said. “This is a global approach, an energy solution.”

COUNTERING THE HEGEMON IN AFRIKA

China's drills with Tanzania and Mozambique show 'blended approach' to military diplomacy

South China Morning Post
Sun, August 4, 2024 

Troops have started tactical training in a trilateral counterterrorism drill between China, Tanzania and Mozambique, as Beijing steps up its military diplomacy with African countries.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted battlefield surveys and set up command posts ahead of the start of the "Peace Unity-2024" military exercise, which is set to run until mid-August.

They also held some tactical training using armoured fighting vehicles and self-propelled assault guns at the Tanzanian military's Chinese-built comprehensive training centre in Mapinga, Bagamoyo district, in the days leading up to the official start of the joint drill on July 29.

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Beijing has sent ground units from the PLA Central Theatre Command as well as a naval flotilla from the Southern Theatre Command to take part in the East African exercise.

The joint drill will have a range of benefits for both China and the African countries taking part, analysts have said, not just in military training but also in strengthening political ties.

Paul Nantulya, a China specialist at the National Defence University's Africa Centre for Strategic Studies in Washington, said the exercise would entail land and sea-based counterterrorism operations, boarding and seizure, anti-piracy patrols and joint maritime patrols.

"It is what I call a 'blended approach' to military-to-military partnership," Nantulya said.

On the non-military side, he said the Chinese contingent would host cultural and deck receptions, as well as vessel open days for the public, as part of China's military and cultural diplomacy.

"This is part of what I term 'blended military engagement' that mixes military, defence, political, diplomatic, cultural and commercial engagement," Nantulya said.

The Chinese navy contingent taking part in the drills are from the 45th naval escort force, and include the guided missile destroyer Hefei, plus the Qilianshan and Wuzhishan - both amphibious dock landing ships.

Nine operations will be practised at sea, according to China's defence ministry, including port joint defence, counterterrorism tactics, boarding and seizure operations, visit board search and seizure, anti-terrorism and anti-piracy, and joint maritime patrols.

The vessels arrived in Tanzania shortly after Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark finished providing a week of medical services to the nation during its Mission Harmony-2024.

In March, China's 45th naval fleet, including guided-missile destroyer Urumqi, missile frigate Linyi and comprehensive replenishment vessel Dongpinghu, also visited Tanzania and Mozambique.

It is all part of Beijing's bid to strengthen and entrench political, commercial, ideological, cultural and wider defence ties, as well as increase China's global prestige among African audiences, Nantulya said.

China also hopes to achieve interoperability with select African militaries, showcase and advertise its military assets to secure more customers, and test and field new equipment and doctrine, he added.

African countries benefit too. They enhance their exposure and diversify their foreign defence ties, Nantulya said. They also get professional military training, secure alternative sources for weapons and strengthen political ties.

China had been increasing its military exercises with African countries before the Covid pandemic hit, said David Shinn, a China-Africa specialist and professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. But the global health crisis put a stop to them.

"The PLA is now resuming them, but apparently focusing on counterterrorism," Shinn said.

Theoretically, Shinn said any African military exercise with a more advanced army is a positive development. In this case, he said the key to success would be the relevance of the exercise to the particular terrorist challenges in Mozambique and Tanzania.

Mozambique has been battling Islamic State-backed insurgents in its Cabo Delgado region on the Tanzania border. The insurgency has claimed more than 4,000 lives and displaced thousands more since 2017, and affected key investments for gas production.

Tanzania has emerged as a key destination for China's military cooperation, with the current exercise their fourth joint drill since 2014.

"China has a long-standing relationship, particularly with the Tanzanian People's Defence Force, and holds periodic exercises with it," Shinn said.


PLA troops assemble for the joint military drill with Tanzania and Mozambique. Photo: Weibo alt=PLA troops assemble for the joint military drill with Tanzania and Mozambique. Photo: Weibo>

Other possible African candidates for counterterrorist exercises with China, he said, were Somalia - though the US and Turkish militaries were already engaged there - and the Sahel countries, those south of the Sahara, where Russia's Wagner Group and Africa Corps were already engaged.

Shinn said Nigeria could perhaps be the location of China's next exercise. Last year, three PLA warships made port calls in the country, where China has invested heavily in the construction of railway lines as well as the Lekki Deep Sea Port.

Zhou Yuyuan, deputy director at the Centre for West Asian and African Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said the counterterrorism theme for the current joint military drill showed the Chinese defence ministry's commitment to it.

"But overall, this joint exercise remains a regular military exchange or military diplomacy," Zhou said.

It will also be a "warm-up for this year's FOCAC summit", Zhou said, referring to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation event to be held in Beijing next month.

He added that the three Chinese warships taking part in the exercise were the main battleships of the PLA Navy and could provide important practice for future maritime security cooperation between African countries and China.

Francois Vrey, a professor emeritus of military science and a research coordinator at the Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, noted that Tanzania and Mozambique both border the Western Indian Ocean, which ties into China's Maritime Silk Road and gives all three countries a common interest in stable seas in the region.

The anti-terrorism theme for the drill was not unexpected, he said, given that China had a vested interest in the offshore gas fields off the coast of northern Mozambique, with the Tanzanian side also entering the fold.

"China thus has an interest in landward and maritime stability in and off these two countries," Vrey said. "This exercise is military diplomacy - and what better than bringing your 'grey hulls' into the picture?"

Vrey said Mozambique showed a Western military footprint - largely through the West's training support to help it counter the Cabo Delgado insurgency.

"I think China is clever in its use of its navy as it is more impressive, albeit temporary. What one must watch is when Chinese army elements arrive, although this element is largely stationed in Djibouti and the landward part of the exercise can be navy-heavy or perhaps involve Chinese marines," Vrey said.

China currently has thousands of military personnel stationed at its first overseas naval base in Djibouti, which officially opened in 2017, with an aim to protect Chinese investments and citizens in Africa.

Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

WOLF WARRIORS
China's naval commandos rode electric skateboards into a combat exercise with drones disguised as birds, then left in a pickup truck

Matthew Loh
Sun, August 4, 2024 

China's naval commandos rode electric skateboards into a combat exercise with drones disguised as birds, then left in a pickup truck


Chinese state TV showed armed commandos riding electric skateboards in a combat exercise.


The naval special forces also deployed drones designed to flap like an eagle and a sparrow.


The live-fire exercise was held to commemorate the People's Liberation Army's 97th anniversary.

China's special forces showcased electric skateboards, jet surfboards, and other gadgets in a combat demonstration televised on Thursday.

The state's China Military TV aired the live-fire exercise, which was held at the Nanchang Infantry Academy in Jiangxi to commemorate the People's Liberation Army's 97th anniversary.

In the TV segment, several soldiers from the Jiaolong Commandos, an elite amphibious unit under the Chinese navy, were shown riding jet-powered surfboards in a garden lake.

A Chinese naval commando rides on a jet-powered surfboard at a military academy.Screenshot/China Military Bugle (People's Liberation Army)


One commando launched a winged drone designed to resemble a sparrow.

Later, a half-dozen commandos armed with assault rifles exited a treeline on powered skateboards — which a state TV narrator said were electric.

Chinese troops rode electric skateboards on a paved road for the exercise.Screenshot/China Military Bugle (People's Liberation Army)

As they sped down a paved road, one commando at the head of the pack held a drone designed to look like a giant eagle. The drone eventually flapped away as he hurled it into the air while operating the skateboard.

A Chinese commando on an electric skateboard threw a drone designed to look like an eagle at a televised combat exercise.Screenshot/China Military TV

As they entered a compound with firing targets, one of the troops released a handheld drone carried by four small propellers, which rushed into a wall and exploded.

The commandos advanced through a field on their skateboards, dismounting to shoot targets and throwing a flare.

Several then showcased an explosive breach on a plywood structure and retrieved a dummy, which they stowed onto a pickup truck.

Chinese troops showcased a breach of a plywood wall.Screenshot/China Military Bugle (People's Liberation Army)

The entire team then gathered and departed the area in the pickup.

Chinese commandos left the combat area in a pick-up truck.Screenshot/China Military Bugle (People's Liberation Army)

Other televised demonstrations included the use of a jetpack, similar to one tested by Gravity Industries for the UK's Royal Marines, a surveillance quadcopter drone, and a remote-controlled drone that ripped through a paper target.

While not used on a wider scale by other major militaries, personal electric vehicles are starting to appear in combat zones. Russian military bloggers recently reported that Russian troops in Ukraine have been using electric scooters to move quietly between positions.

In the Donbas, pro-Russian militias were also reported to be using motorcycles to avoid being spotted by drones.

The fighting in Ukraine has heightened interest around the world in cheaper, more versatile weapons like first-person drones.

The US Army, for example, asked in its fiscal budget for 2025 for $2.4 billion to develop low-cost drones.

FASCISM U$A

Russell Vought, a Project 2025 architect, is ready to shock Washington if Trump wins second term

RICHARD LARDNER
Sun, August 4, 2024 



 President Donald Trump listens as acting director of the Office of Management and Budget Russel Vought speaks during an event on "transparency in Federal guidance and enforcement" in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russell Vought sounds like a general marshaling troops for combat when he talks about taming a “woke and weaponized” federal government.

He recently described political opposition as “enemy fire that’s coming over the target,” while urging allies to be “fearless at the point of attack” and calling his policy proposals “battle plans.”

If former President Donald Trump wins a second term in November, Vought may get the opportunity to go on the offensive.

A chief architect of Project 2025 — the controversial conservative blueprint to remake the federal government — Vought is likely to be appointed to a high-ranking post in a second Trump administration. And he’s been drafting a so-far secret “180-Day Transition Playbook” to speed the plan’s implementation to avoid a repeat of the chaotic start that dogged Trump’s first term.

Among the small cadre of Trump advisers who has a mechanic’s understanding of how Washington operates, Vought has advised influential conservative lawmakers on Capitol Hill, held a top post in the Trump White House and later established his own pro-Trump think tank. Now, he’s being mentioned as a candidate to be Trump’s White House chief of staff, one of the most powerful positions in government.

“If we don’t have courage, then we will step away from the battle,” Vought said in June on former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s ‘War Room’ podcast. “But our view is that’s where the country needs us, and we’re not going to save our country without a little confrontation.”

Conservative blueprint to change the government

Led by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, Project 2025 is a detailed 920-page handbook for governing under the next Republican administration. A whirlwind of hard-right ambitions, its proposals range from ousting thousands of civil servants and replacing them with Trump loyalists to reversing the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of medications used in abortions. Democrats for months have been using Project 2025 to hammer Trump and other Republicans, arguing to voters that it represents the former president’s true — and extreme — agenda.

Trump in recent weeks has sought to distance himself from Project 2025. He posted on social media he has not seen the plan and has “no idea who is in charge of it, and, unlike our very well received Republican Platform, had nothing to do with it.”

His campaign said Tuesday that Project 2025’s “demise would be greatly welcomed.” That same day, Paul Dans, the project’s executive director and a former Trump administration personnel official, stepped down.

Trump’s attempts to reject the blueprint are complicated by the connections he has with many of its contributors. More than two dozen authors served in his administration, including Vought, who was director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

The Trump campaign did not respond to questions about which Project 2025 proposals the former president opposes or whether Vought would be offered a high-level government position in a new Trump term.

Vought did not respond to an interview request or to questions first emailed in February to his think tank, the Center for Renewing America, which played a key role in creating Project 2025.

Those who know Vought described him as fiercely dedicated to Trump’s cause, if not to the former president himself.

“A very determined warrior is how I would see Russ,” said a former Trump administration official who worked with Vought in the White House and requested anonymity to speak candidly about him. “I don’t think he thinks about whether or not he likes Donald Trump as a person. I think he likes what Donald Trump represents in terms of the political forces he’s able to harness.”

Washington insider

Born in New York and raised in Connecticut, Vought has described his family as blue collar. His parents were devout Christians. Vought’s father, a Marine Corps veteran, was a union electrician and his mother was a schoolteacher.

Vought’s father, nicknamed Turk, didn’t stand for idleness or waste. Mark Maliszewski, an electrician who knew him, recalled that after a job Turk Vought would scold his co-workers if they tossed out still usable material.

“He’d go over and kick the garbage can,” Maliszewski said. “He’d say: ‘What is this? If those were quarters or dollars in that garbage can, you’d be picking them up.’”

Russell Vought graduated in 1998 from Wheaton College, a Christian school in Illinois that counts the famed evangelist Billy Graham among its alumni. He moved to Washington to work for Republicans who championed fiscal austerity and small government.

“I worked with a lot of different staff people and as far as work ethic, tenacity, intellect, knowledge (and) commitment to principle, Russell was one of the more impressive people I worked with,” said former GOP Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, who hired Vought in 2003.

After honing his credentials as a fiscal hawk, Vought was named policy director of the House Republican Conference, the party’s primary messaging platform chaired at the time by then-Rep. Mike Pence, who went on to serve as Indiana governor and Trump’s vice president.

Vought left Capitol Hill for a lobbying organization attached to the Heritage Foundation. When Trump was elected, Vought became OMB’s deputy director.

His confirmation hearing was contentious. Liberal Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders accused him of using Islamophobic language when he wrote in 2016 that Muslims “do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and they stand condemned.”

Vought told senators his remarks were taken out of context and said he respected the right of every person to express their religious beliefs.

The Senate confirmed him to be OMB’s No. 2 by a single vote. He became acting director in early 2019 after his boss, Mick Mulvaney, was named Trump's acting chief of staff. Vought was confirmed as OMB director a year and half later as the COVID-19 pandemic was sweeping the globe.

OMB is a typically sedate office that builds the president’s budget and reviews regulations. But with Vought at the helm, OMB was at the center of showdowns between Trump and Congress over federal spending and the legal bounds of presidential power.

After lawmakers refused to give Trump more money for his southern U.S. border wall, the budget office siphoned billions of dollars from the Pentagon and Treasury Department budgets to pay for it.

Under Vought, OMB also withheld military aid to Ukraine as Trump pressured President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate President Joe Biden and his son. Vought refused to comply with a congressional demand to depose him during the subsequent Democrat-led House investigation that led to Trump’s first impeachment. The inquiry, Vought said, was a sham.

Following Trump's exit from the White House, Vought formed The Center for Renewing America. The organization’s mission is to be “the tip of the America First spear” and “to renew a consensus that America is a nation under God.”

Vought has defended the concept of Christian nationalism, which is a fusion of American and Christian values, symbols and identity. Christian nationalism, he wrote three years ago, “is a commitment to an institutional separation between church and state, but not the separation of Christianity from its influence on government and society.”

The only way to return America to the country the Founding Fathers envisioned is “radical constitutionalism,” Vought said on Bannon’s podcast. That means ensuring control of the executive branch rests solely with the president, not a vast federal bureaucracy.

Anticipating the fights to achieve this, Trump’s backers need to be “fearless, faithful and frugal in everything we do,” he said.

A declaration of less independence

Vought’s center was part of a coalition of conservative organizations, organized by the Heritage Foundation, that launched Project 2025 and crafted a detailed plan for governing in the next Republican administration.

The project’s public-facing document, “Mandate for Leadership,” examined nearly every corner of the federal government and urged reforms large and small to bridle a “behemoth” bureaucracy.

Project 2025 calls for the U.S. Education Department to be shuttered, and the Homeland Security Department dismantled, with its various parts absorbed by other federal offices. Diversity, inclusion and equity programs would be gutted. Promotions in the U.S. military to general or admiral would go under a microscope to ensure candidates haven’t prioritized issues like climate change or critical race theory.

The blueprint also recommends reviving a Trump-era personnel policy that seeks to reclassify tens of thousands of federal workers as political appointees, which could enable mass dismissals.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University history professor and author of "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present,” criticized Project 2025 as “a recipe for mass chaos, abuses of power, and dysfunction in government.”

The overarching theme of Project 2025 is to strip down the “administrative state.” This, according to the blueprint, is the mass of unelected government officials who pursue policy agendas at odds with the president’s plans.

In his public comments and in a Project 2025 chapter he wrote, Vought has said that no executive branch department or agency, including the Justice Department, should operate outside the president’s authority.

“The whole notion of independent agencies is anathema from the standpoint of the Constitution,” Vought said during a recent appearance on the Fox Business Network.

Critics warn this may leave the Justice Department and other investigative agencies vulnerable to a president who might pressure them to punish or probe a political foe. Trump, who has faced four separate prosecutions, has threatened retribution against Biden and other perceived enemies.

Diminishing the Justice Department’s independence would be a “radically bad idea,” said Paul Coggins, past president of the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys.

“No president deserves to sic the Justice Department on his political enemies, or, frankly, to pull the Justice Department off his political friends,” he said.

It is not clear what job Vought might get in a second Trump administration. He could return as OMB director, the job he held at the end of Trump's presidency, or an even higher-ranking post.

“Russ would make a really, really good (White House) chief of staff,” Mulvaney said.

Whatever the position, Vought is expected to be one of Trump’s top field commanders in his campaign to dominate Washington. ___

Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

CLIMATE CRISIS

Torrential rains have claimed more than 150 lives in China in the past 2 months

Associated Press
Updated Mon, August 5, 2024 



In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers work in the aftermath of flash floods in Ridi Village, Kangding City, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern China's Sichuan Province on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024

(Liu Kun/Xinhua via AP)


BEIJING (AP) — Landslides and flooding have killed more than 150 people around China in the past two months as torrential rainstorms batter the region.

The search was ongoing Monday for victims of a flood and mudslide in a mountainous Tibetan area in Sichuan province that left nine people dead and 18 others unaccounted for, state media said.

The early Saturday morning disaster destroyed homes and killed at least seven people in the village of Ridi, state broadcaster CCTV said in an online report. Two more people died after a nearby bridge between two tunnels collapsed and four vehicles plummeted.


China is in the middle of its peak flood season, which runs from mid-July to mid-August, and Chinese policymakers have repeatedly warned that the government needs to step up disaster preparations as severe weather becomes more common.

An annual government report on climate said last month that historical data shows the frequency of both extreme precipitation and heat has risen in China, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

A heat warning was in effect Monday in parts of eastern China, where temperatures were expected to top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in several cities including Nanjing, and 37 C (98 F) in nearby Shanghai on the coast.

There have been a series of deadly rainstorms since June.

Days of intense rain from the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi, which weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall in China about 10 days ago, killed at least 48 people in Hunan province and left 35 others missing last week.

Authorities said Friday that the death toll from an earlier storm in July that knocked out a section of a bridge in Shaanxi province in the middle of the night had risen to 38 people, with another 24 still missing. At least 25 cars fell into a raging river that washed some of them far downstream.

In mid-June, at least 47 died from flooding and mudslides after extremely heavy rain in Guangzhou province. Six more people died in neighboring Fujian province.

Intense rains have also taken hundreds of lives elsewhere in Asia this summer, including devastating landslides that killed more than 200 people in south India last week.

The remnants of Typhoon Gaemi also drenched northeastern China and North Korea, overflowing the Yalu River that divides them and inundating cities, towns and farmland.

Taiwan is making a TV show about a Chinese invasion. And it’s hitting close to home

Nectar Gan and Eric Cheung, CNN
Sun, August 4, 2024 at 7:30 PM MDT·9 min read

Following a military blockade, panic and chaos rip through a besieged island: residents scramble to withdraw cash, foreign nationals rush to be evacuated, riots break out in prisons and television networks are hacked into broadcasting enemy propaganda.

These fictitious scenes have stirred emotion and imagination in Taiwan over what an imminent Chinese invasion may look like, since their release last month in a trailer for “Zero Day,” a forthcoming Taiwanese television series.

The 10-part show is the first in Taiwan to dramatize a possible invasion by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). That threat has loomed over the self-governing island for decades but is now gaining pace as a more powerful and aggressive China ruled by the Communist Party increasingly flexes its military might, pushing tensions to new heights.

The 17-minute trailer hit close to home in Taiwan, making headlines in local media and garnering more than a million views on YouTube.

“As a 21-year-old, I almost burst into tears when I watched it. Every scene in those 17 minutes felt so close to us. Maybe one day in the future, these scenarios will become the reality around us,” said a top comment with more than a thousand upvotes.

But the show also attracted criticism, including from opposition politicians, who said it created panic and exaggerated the crisis.

The specter of war is nothing new for Taiwan, a progressive democracy living in the shadow of authoritarian China, which views the island as its own territory and has vowed to seize it by force if necessary.

Many of Taiwan’s 23 million people have grown used to Beijing’s military threats, even as they become more regular and prominent under Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader.

But Hsin-mei Cheng, the showrunner of “Zero Day,” worried that her fellow Taiwan citizens have grown “too numb” to the danger of an impending conflict.

“Frankly, everyone has their own fears and imaginations about the war, but in our daily lives, many avoid it or even pretend it doesn’t exist,” the journalist-turned-screenwriter told CNN.

“But as the crisis looms larger over the past two years, I think it’s about time we take a hard look at it and open this Pandora’s box,” she said.

Hsin-mei Cheng, the showrunner of "Zero Day," says she hopes the show can serve as a wakeup call to the people of Taiwan. - Courtesy Hsin-Mei Cheng

A first in Taiwan

In late 2022, more than half a year into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and months after former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei prompted a massive show of force from Beijing, Cheng decided to turn China’s threats against Taiwan into a TV drama.

It was an unprecedented project in an industry that had traditionally shunned sensitive political topics, Cheng said, but she found no shortage of like-minded partners along the way.

Robert Tsao, a chip tycoon and one of Taiwan’s richest men, became the show’s first major investor. The tech billionaire who founded Taiwan’s first semiconductor company, UMC, has previously warned of China’s threat and donated tens of millions of dollars to help Taiwan bolster its defense.

Cheng also assembled a team of 10 directors, each responsible for an episode in “Zero Day” that tells an independent story. Her main criterion for picking the crew: not afraid of being banned by China.

The vast Chinese market of 1.4 billion people has long been a draw for Taiwan’s actors and directors. But as tension rises across the strait, Taiwanese artists are increasingly faced with a choice between vocally toeing Beijing’s political line or being blocked from its lucrative market.

“The existence of this series shows that there are investors and talents who are willing to resist China’s aggression, and there’s a market for them,” said Lo Ging-zim, who directed the show’s trailer and one of the episodes.

“We are all worried and anxious about Taiwan’s present and future, and we hope to contribute what we can with our own skills.”

The crew films a scene inside Taiwan's Presidential Office Building. - Courtesy Howard Yu

Taiwan’s government and its military were supportive of the series, too.

The Presidential Office allowed the show to film on its premises, including a room where the president delivers addresses. And with the military’s approval, the production crew shot scenes aboard a warship during its routine drills.

Getting the authorities on board wasn’t easy.

“It took a lot of communication and persuasion at first,” Cheng said. But the officials understood the importance of the issue at stake and the power of films and TV shows in shaping public perception, she added. “Eventually, they decided it could be a good thing if someone makes a TV series about it.”

The show also received funding from Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture. But Lo, the director, stressed it was part of a broader program to support the island’s film and TV industries.

Neither the funding nor the access for filming gives the government any right to interfere with the production, Lo said, adding that “not a single word of the script had been modified by the government.”

“This is not a political propaganda video or patriotic film,” he said.

That level of artistic and political freedom would be impossible in mainland China and even in the city of Hong Kong, which once boasted a comparatively free and outspoken film industry that has been tamed in recent years as part of a wider crackdown.

Some Hong Kong artists have since moved to Taiwan, including Chapman To, who is starring in “Zero Day.” A vocal supporter of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, To became a naturalized Taiwanese citizen in 2022.

The shooting of “Zero Day”, which started in March, is expected to be wrapped up by the end of November and the show is planned for broadcast in Taiwan next year.

The production team is also in touch with streaming services including Netflix for a potential international release, though discussions are still in the early stages, Lo said.

"Zero Day" crew shoots a scene abroad a Taiwanese warship. - Courtesy Howard Yu
‘Red infiltration’

Most of the series takes place in the week-long countdown to “Zero Day” – the day of the fictional attack.

It starts with Beijing imposing a naval and aerial blockade on Taiwan, under the pretext of search and rescue for a PLA aircraft that “vanished” near the island. In the final episode, Chinese soldiers make landing in Kinmen, a frontline island controlled by Taiwan.

Cheng noted the show doesn’t feature many bloody scenes of military combat – instead, much of the focus is placed on “red infiltration” by China’s ruling Communist Party.

“For me, the war has already begun in Taiwan. It is not being fought through guns and cannons, but through information and infiltration. It’s permeating our daily lives,” she said.

Taiwan officials have increasingly warned against China’s cognitive warfare operations, including disinformation campaigns to sway public opinion.

In “Zero Day,” Chinese infiltration and cognitive warfare takes on many forms – from the lure of money and power to the threat of violence.

In the trailer, a Taiwanese influencer casually encourages her fans to give up the fight and endorse a “peace agreement” with Beijing while livestreaming herself savoring an ice cream; elsewhere, a group of felons walk free from prison and instigate unrest, attacking those who refuse “unification.”

Neither of these scenarios are unimaginable. Thanks to the island’s free speech protections, which were hard won after decades of martial law rule, it is not unusual to see Taiwanese celebrities and influencers parroting Beijing’s talking points. Meanwhile, Taiwan authorities have long publicly accused certain organized crime groups of spreading pro-Chinese Communist Party influence.

In another chilling scene in the trailer, the president’s emergency address to Taiwan is hacked during a live broadcast, with an AI deepfake declaring war on China. Then, television screens across the island abruptly cut to a newscast on Chinese state TV. With an eerie smile, an anchor in a pink suit announces, “the PLA promises all Taiwanese compatriots will be fully protected” and urges them to report any “pro-independence forces” in hiding.

A scene from the trailer of "Zero Day" shows pro-Beijing supporters hanging up banners calling for unification. - Courtesy Howard Yu

Su Tzu-yun, a military expert at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research who has served as an adviser to “Zero Day,” said the series would be “an important force in countering China’s ‘gray zone tactics’” – or actions just below what might be considered acts of war.

“In the face of fear, people can build up confidence, and this can indirectly and partially offset China’s influence warfare.” he said. “At the same time, when this film is shown on international streaming platforms, viewers around the world can learn about Taiwan from a new perspective,” he added.

The teaser has drawn praise as well as criticism.

Some blamed the series for creating panic. Lee Yen-hsiu, a member of parliament from the opposition Kuomintang party – which in recent decades has pushed for closer ties with China – accused the show of exaggerating the threat of war and further deterring international tourists from visiting Taiwan.

Others accused the trailer of making the Taiwan government look too feeble in the face of aggression from China – which has a military, population and economy that dwarfs Taiwan’s.

Lo, the director, said the government’s capability and Taiwan’s social cohesion were deliberately weakened in the show to highlight the power of Chinese infiltration – and alert Taiwanese people to be more vigilant in real life.

“We want to explore what part of humanity will show up in such a state – would it be fragility, fear and greed or courage and empathy?” he said.

“I believe every Taiwanese person has their own version of Zero Day attack in their mind. We were just the first to make it into a series.”

Cheng didn’t mind the mixed reaction.

“We all think it’s a good thing. As long as the show generates attention and discussion, it means that it resonates with something in people’s hearts,” she said.

Cheng said she didn’t want the show to cause division in Taiwan. During the production process, the crew tried to search for a common denominator that could represent the aspirations of all Taiwanese people.

They found an answer and placed it in the trailer – in the form of a line in the presidential address – “We will always believe, without choices, there’s no freedom. Without freedom, there’s no Taiwan.”

“I hope the show can serve as a wakeup call to the Taiwanese people: what should we do when we still have the right to choose?” Cheng said.

Thousands of Moroccans protest after Hamas leader's killing

AFP
Sat, August 3, 2024

Thousands gathered in the Moroccan capital Rabat to protest the killing of Ismail Haniyeh and the war in Gaza (FADEL SENNA)

Thousands of Moroccans protested in Rabat on Saturday in support of Palestinians and to condemn normalisation with Israel, holding portraits of killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, AFP journalists reported.

Hamas called for a "day of rage" on Friday for the burial of its chief Ismail Haniyeh, killed two days earlier in a strike in Iran which the Islamist movement and Tehran have blamed on Israel.

Waving Palestinian flags, and brandishing pictures of Haniyeh and a cardboard coffin adorned with his image, thousands of people marched to the parliament building with black and white keffiyeh scarves, which are symbols of the Palestinian cause, draped across their shoulders.

"Greetings from Rabat to our Gazan friends and to the Al-Qassam (Brigades)", the crowd chanted, referring to the armed wing of Hamas.

"The people want the end of normalisation", they also chanted, a message also carried on their placards, the AFP journalists reported.

Some in the crowd burnt an Israeli flag, the journalists saw.

"Ismail Haniyeh was a leader of Palestine, he is a symbol that motivates us to protest," Halima Hilali, 64, told AFP.

The war in Gaza "is a shame for humanity" she added.

Nabil Nasseri, 42, who travelled from the neighbouring city of Sale, said, "Demonstrating is the least we can do to help our Palestinian brothers, I think all Muslims should do it".

"We cannot have relations with a group of criminals, we want the end of relations" with Israel, he added.

The rally was organised by the National Action Group for Palestine, which brings together leftist groups and the Islamist Justice and Development Party.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war on October 7, sparked by an unprecedented Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, several large demonstrations have taken place in Morocco calling for the end of normalisation, while open opposition to diplomatic ties had previously been limited.

Morocco established official ties in Israel in 2020 as part of the US-led Abraham Accords.

The North African kingdom has officially called for "the immediate, complete and permanent halt to the Israeli war on Gaza", but has not publicly discussed undoing normalisation.

Hamas and Tehran have promised to avenge the death of Haniyeh, who was in Iran for the inauguration of the country's new president, raising fears of a flare-up in the region amid the war in the Gaza Strip.

cgo/fka/srk/dcp

Mali severs diplomatic relations with Ukraine for providing intelligence to rebels for Wagner ambush

AnneClaire Stapleton and Mitch McCluskey, CNN
Sun, August 4, 2024



Mali has severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine after the country supplied intelligence to Malian rebels involved in an ambush against Wagner Group forces in July.

“The transitional government of the Republic of Mali condemns the hostility of the authorities of Ukraine who do not observe that Mali has always called for a peaceful settlement of the crisis between the Russian Federation and Ukraine,” government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga said in a televised statement on Sunday.

Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), previously said Kyiv had provided the militants with intelligence for the attack, saying on Ukrainian television in late July that “the rebels received necessary information, which enabled a successful military operation against Russian war criminals.”


The attack was claimed by a Tuareg rebels group along with the al Qaeda affiliate in the Sahel, JNIM (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin). Known for ad hoc cooperation, they appear to have collaborated to trap the Russian convoy.

After the attack, JNIM claimed that a “complex ambush” had wiped out the convoy, killing 50 Russians and several Malian soldiers, and published videos showing several vehicles ablaze as well as dozens of bodies in the area. A Tuareg militant group spokesman said some Malian troops and Russian fighters had also been captured during the battle.

According to some unofficial Russian Telegram channels, as many as 80 Russians were killed. That would make it by far the worst loss for Russian paramilitaries in several years of operating in Africa, as the Kremlin has sought to use proxy forces to challenge Western influence across the Sahel and central Africa and prop up unstable regimes.

Previous reporting contributed by CNN’s Tim Lister, Avery Schmitz and Darya Tarasova.


Russians pay homage to Wagner fighters killed in MaliReuters
Sun, August 4, 2024 







People in Moscow pay tribute to Wagner mercenaries killed in Mali

MOSCOW (Reuters) - In the shadow of the Kremlin, more than 70 Russians paid homage on Sunday to Wagner fighters killed in a major battle with Mali rebels and Islamist fighters, one of the mercenary group's most deadly defeats in Africa.

The Wagner mercenary group said last month its fighters and Malian soldiers had taken losses in heavy fighting against Tuareg rebels and Islamist fighters from an al Qaeda affiliate near Mali's border with Algeria.

Mali's northern Tuareg rebels said they had killed at least 84 Russian Wagner mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers during days of fierce fighting in late July.

In Moscow, just a few hundred metres from the Kremlin, dozens of Russians came to mourn the fallen Wagner fighters, a Reuters journalist said.

One man, dressed in military clothing and wearing Wagner badges, kneeled before pictures of the group's fighters killed in Mali.

Beneath flags with the Wagner motto of "Blood, Honor, Motherland, Courage", some lit candles. One woman on knees wept before a picture of a Wagner fighter. Others laid red carnations below pictures of the dead.

None of those asked for comment at the makeshift memorial would speak to Reuters.

Mali, where military authorities seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, is battling a years-long Islamist insurgency. It has said Russian forces there are not Wagner mercenaries but trainers helping local troops with equipment bought from Russia.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by David Holmes)