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LAST UPDATE | 5 Aug 2022
CHINA’S FOREIGN MINISTRY has announced unspecified sanctions against US House speaker Nancy Pelosi after her visit to Taiwan this week prompted fury and shows of military force from Beijing.
A Chinese foreign ministry statement said that Pelosi had disregarded China’s concerns and resolute opposition to her visit to the self-ruled island.
Pelosi was the highest-ranking US official to visit the island in 25 years. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and opposes it having its own engagements with foreign governments.
China has announced sanctions on a number of US officials in recent years for acting against what it views as its core interests and speaking out on human rights issues in Hong Kong and the northwestern region of Xinjiang, often without specifying punitive measures.
Earlier, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said that Chinese military exercises aimed at Taiwan – including missiles fired into Japan’s exclusive economic zone – represent a “significant escalation”.
The military drills were launched by China after Pelosi’s visit sparked fury in Beijing.
At a news conference in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, Blinken said: “China has chosen to over-react and use Speaker Pelosi’s visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait.”
Blinken also said the US stands in “strong solidarity” with Japan following the “dangerous actions China has taken”.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Cambodia, Blinken said that Pelosi’s visit was peaceful and did not represent a change in American policy towards Taiwan.
Pelosi had earlier said that China will not isolate Taiwan by preventing US officials from travelling there.
She made the remarks in Tokyo during the final leg of an Asia tour highlighted by the visit to Taiwan.
“They [China] may try to keep Taiwan from visiting or participating in other places, but they will not isolate Taiwan by preventing us to travel there,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi said her trip to Taiwan was not intended to change the status quo for the island but to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait.
She praised Taiwan’s democracy, including its progress in diversity and success in technology and business, and criticised China’s violations of trade agreements, proliferation of weapons and human rights problems.
Additional reporting by AFP.
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The last thing you should do is listen to ordinary people’s opinions on complex technical topics. Look at Brexit.
Listen to what the technical experts are saying, and they are all to a man saying that Cork city needs to be extended to give it a critical mass which is important for many reasons.
@Fred Jensen: at the cost of the county though. Even the financial rebate being proposed is only for 5 years before review and doesn’t factor in lost revenue to the county council from developments they have already partially paid for.
There is also a concern the the financial model maybe unachievable in the short term for the city council
Majority of ordinary people in the county are dead set against the city council taking over. Increase in rates…no or little investment in these new areas…theyll become back waters.
@Tony Skillington: the extended City Council should have more money to spend as it wouldn’t have to subsidise the rest of the county council. The council of course might struggle
@Tony Skillington: so who is responsible for that traffic jam they call Douglas??
@Michael Collins: that’s in the county at present. So the county
@Tony Skillington: are they? Must people living in Douglas probably aren’t even aware that they are in fact living in the county. The county would have a stronger case if they hadn’t been pushing people out to far flung places to live. Cork is relatively small yet they seem to think living in Mallow and commuting would be better than living near the city.
May as well extend it to Midleton, Mallow, Macroom and Bandon seeing as ye are on such a roll lads.
So is Limerick city now bigger than Cork City ??as they have extended their boundary, and encompassed a far greater population than Cork city..
@Gary Heslin: limerick city doesn’t exist. It is now part of the county limerick. But the old boundary had a greater land area than Cork city has presently with half the population.
@prop joe: Incorrect. Limerick City still exists. It may be a unity authority with the county but it still has a border, as such. Population including suburbs 95k.
Why has Cork City got its own council ?
@sportsmad: like must urban areas it is governed locally. The counties we have presently where drawn up by the British 400 hundred years ago and don’t really make sense anymore. We should look at all county boundaries.
@prop joe: I’d like to see West Limerick and North Kerry join as one county!
@Colm O’Sullivan: I would like to see from west clare to the cork border, from north tipp to the cork border and east waterford to the cork border all come under the cork banner.
It has a bigger population than half of the counties in Ireland as it is, if the proposed expansion is approved, only 2 counties in the Republic will have a bigger population.
have your say