30/04/2026

THURSDAY | APR 30, 2026

8

China again touts benefits of peaceful union

Court increases Yoon’s sentence

SEOUL: A South Korean appeals court increased the sentence of jailed former president Yoon Suk Yeol yesterday to seven years for obstructing justice, up from five years. A lower court had handed Yoon the initial sentence in January after he was found to have used presidential security agents to block his own arrest. Both Yoon and the prosecution lodged appeals – he argued that the arrest warrants against him were based on an “unlawful investigation”, while special prosecutors said his punishment should be 10 years given his “egregious” crimes. “The court sentences the defendant to seven years in prison,” a judge at the Seoul High Court said yesterday, calling Yoon’s actions “highly reprehensible”. “The defendant not only sought to obstruct the lawful execution of warrants by prosecutors and others,” he said in his verdict. “(He) also issued unlawful instructions to public officials of the presidential security service, who are national civil servants, attempting to use them as if they were private guards for his personal protection.” Yoon, who appeared in court wearing a black suit and white shirt, showed little emotion as he listened to the verdict. The appeals court also upheld his conviction for abuse of power for excluding Cabinet members from a meeting to plan the imposition of martial law. It overturned his acquittal by a lower court of abuse of power for ordering his defence of the martial law declaration to be distributed to foreign media. And it upheld the lower court’s conclusion that Yoon had prepared falsified documents, but had not actually used them. Yoon’s lawyers told AFP they would appeal to the Supreme Court. Yoon is also serving a life sentence for the much more serious crime of leading an insurrection, a result of his failed attempt to impose martial law in 2024. – AFP India rolls out heat wave relief measures NEW DELHI: Several Indian states have rolled out relief measures amid sweltering temperatures. The Indian Meteorological Department said maximum daytime temperatures were in the range of 40-46 º Celsius across most parts of the country, except the Himalayan region, northeast Bihar and northeast India. Earlier this month, authorities in the Indian capital, New Delhi, announced several measures for schools, including ringing bells to remind students to drink water regularly amid the summer heat. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said guidelines had been issued to ensure public safety. Among the measures are mandatory rest periods for workers from 1pm to 4pm, along with arrangements for water and shade. In schools, priority will be given to ensuring access to cool drinking water for children, and the transport department will install water counters at bus stops, Gupta said. Other states have also initiated measures, including revising school timings, while authorities in the eastern state of Odisha have announced summer holidays for schools from Monday in view of the heat. The state also reported the deaths of two school teachers who were part of a census exercise, allegedly due to sunstroke. “In view of the temperatures, people should take precautions. Vulnerable groups, including the elderly, need to be more careful,” said Dr D Bahera, a respiratory medicine specialist. – Bernama

o Taiwan rebuffs offer

“Unification packaged as peace will inevitably bring endless troubles to our nation,” he said. “China is frequently conducting grey zone operations and military exercises in the waters surrounding the Taiwan Strait, while employing a combination of military, legal, informational, and psychological means, in an attempt to alter the status quo in the strait and the broader region.” Taiwan says China uses “grey-zone” activity – irregular tactics to exhaust a foe without resorting to open combat – on a daily basis, including regularly sending warships and warplanes near the island. China says its military activities around Taiwan are “entirely justified and reasonable”. China has offered Taiwan a Hong Kong style “one country, two systems” form of autonomy, though no major political party in Taiwan supports that. – Reuters

huge market and Taiwan’s own strengths in science, technology and talent. “Peaceful reunification will inject greater certainty and growth potential into Taiwan’s investment and business environment, representing an unprecedented opportunity and the greatest source of confidence for Taiwan’s economic development,” he said. Taiwan is a major producer of the world’s most advanced semiconductors, which are powering the artificial intelligence megatrend and its economy is booming, growing 8.68% last year, its fastest rate in 15 years, and is expected to expand 11.3% in the first quarter. Lai says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future and that Beijing has no right to claim the island. Speaking to senior military officers in Taipei yesterday, Lai said that only by strengthening Taiwan’s own defence capabilities can genuine peace be ensured.

BEIJING: Taiwan’s economy will see unprecedented opportunities should it agree to union with China, Beijing said yesterday as it continues to try to persuade Taipei to accept its rule, which President Lai Ching-te’s government has repeatedly rejected. China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has since late last year begun a new campaign to convince the island of the benefits of what it calls “peaceful reunification”, though Beijing has also refused to renounce the use of force. Speaking at a weekly news briefing in Beijing, Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan’s economy would be “reinvigorated with new vitality”, drawing on the advantages of China’s

Queen Camilla, Charles, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greeting the crowd on the White House lawn on Tuesday. – AFPPIC

King Charles, Trump toast ties WASHINGTON: Britain’s King Charles and President Donald Trump hailed their countries’ longstanding ties at a White House state dinner on Tuesday despite the US president claiming the monarch agreed with him on Iran’s nuclear weapons.

that Trump has repeatedly disparaged and called for continued support for Ukraine as it battles Russia’s invasion. Invited guests included Apple boss Tim Cook, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, and two-time Masters-winning golfer Rory McIlroy, who was born in Northern Ireland. The king and the president also struck a light-hearted tone, with Charles joking about Trump’s recent comments that allies would be speaking German if not for US support in World War II. “Dare I say that, if it wasn’t for us, you’d be speaking French,” Charles said, referring to the contest between the colonial powers of Britain and France before US independence 250 years ago. – AFP

agrees with me even more than I do – we’re never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon.” Trump has repeatedly lambasted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his opposition to the Iran war and there is no indication that Charles has shown support for the US leader’s stance. Nevertheless, both leaders strongly praised the “special relationship” between Britain and Washington, putting aside however briefly the transatlantic tensions. In his toast, Charles said he was “here to renew an indispensable alliance which has long been a cornerstone of prosperity and security”. Yet Charles pointedly mentioned the importance of international alliances like Nato

Over a lavish meal, Charles echoed the tone of his earlier speech to Congress in which he urged London and Washington to stick together, without directly mentioning the tensions over the war. But in his toast to a gala dinner attended by tech titans and golfer Rory McIlroy, Trump made his first public comments on the sensitive topic during the four-day visit by the British royals. “We have militarily defeated that particular opponent,” Trump said at the dinner. “Charles