14/05/2026

THURSDAY | MAY 14, 2026

FOLLOW

ON YOUTUBE

8

Malaysian Paper

/theSunMedia /

Ahead of summit, China warns arms sales to Taiwan

BRICS urged to condemn war on Iran NEW DELHI: The US-Israeli war on Iran is set to cast a shadow over a two-day meeting of the foreign ministers of the BRICS grouping here. The grouping, which originally included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has expanded over the years with the inclusion of Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Iran had urged India to use the BRICS platform to build a consensus condemning US and Israeli actions. The main differences have emerged between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, which are on opposing sides of the front line in a war launched by the US and Israel on Feb 28. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is likely to attend the gathering. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is also expected to attend the meeting. It was not immediately clear who will represent the UAE during the meeting. The latest round could be tense after reports that UAE and Saudi Arabia carried out military strikes on Iran in retaliation for Iranian strikes. Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said in March that some BRICS members were involved directly in the conflict, due to which it had been “difficult for us to forge a consensus”. Another ministry official told Reuters India was hopeful to get a joint statement after the latest round of meetings with foreign ministers. “Glad that the foreign ministers from all the BRICS countries, except China who is otherwise tied up, are coming. This is a good sign on efforts to build a BRICS coalition around a matter of interest to emerging economies and the global south,” said former Indian diplomat Manjeev Singh Puri. “Of course political solutions are difficult but the fact that they are meeting today is positive and hopefully it will lead to a way forward.” Soaring energy prices caused by the war have prompted many BRICS nations, including India, to introduce emergency measures to protect their economies and consumers. So far China has taken a nominally neutral stance, given its robust ties with both Iran and Arab states. China will be represented by its Ambassador to India Xu Feihong to fill in for their Foreign Minister Wang Yi who is unlikely to travel with President Donald Trump visiting Beijing this week. – Reuters wrongdoing by the Dali crew”. Synergy Marine expressed concern over the Justice Department keeping the Dali crew members in the US for over two years “despite evidence that their actions were timely and reasonable under the circumstances”. The three were charged with conspiracy to defraud the US and causing the death of six workers on the bridge, alongside other charges including providing false statements and documents to the NTSB. The two Synergy corporations are also charged with violations of the Clean Water Act, Oil Pollution Act, and Refuse Act for the discharge of pollutants into the Patapsco River. According to the indictment, the Dali lost power twice in a four-minute span, as it was leaving the Port of Baltimore, causing it to crash into the Key Bridge. The Justice Department said the defendants are accused of relying on a flushing pump to supply fuel to two of the Dali’s four generators but the flushing pump was not designed to automatically restart following a blackout, and the Dali’s generators could not operate without a fuel supply. The indictment alleged that if the Dali was using proper fuel supply pumps, the vessel would have regained power in time to safely navigate under the bridge. – Reuters

o Washington approved US$11 b Taipei package

BEIJING: China reiterated its strong opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan yesterday, calling on Washington to honour its commitments ahead of US President Donald Trump’s arrival for a summit here. The issue of democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, and weapons sales to Taipei is certain to be discussed during two days of meetings this week between Trump and President Xi Jinping. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties. In December, the Trump administration announced a US$11 billion (RM43 billion) weapons package for Taiwan, the largest ever. Zhang Han, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan is an internal issue and a matter for the Chinese people. “We firmly oppose the United States engaging in any form of military ties with China’s Taiwan region, and firmly oppose the United States selling weapons to China’s Taiwan region. This position is consistent and unequivocal,” she said in Beijing. Taiwan is the “core of China’s core interests” and honouring the commitments made by successive US administrations are “international obligations that the US side is duty-bound to fulfil”, Zhang added. The US officially takes no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty under Washington’s “One China” policy, but acknowledges, without accepting, Beijing’s position that the island is China’s. Trump will be in China less than a week after Taiwan’s opposition-controlled parliament approved only two-thirds of a US$40 billion special defence budget that President Lai Ching-te had requested, funding superintendent in the March 2024 collision of the cargo ship Dali that destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and killed six construction workers. Separately, Maryland State Attorney General Anthony Brown said the state reached a final settlement of US$2.25 billion (RM8.8 billion) with Grace Ocean Pte Limited and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, the owner and operator of the Dali ahead of a June 1 trial date. The settlement does not resolve Maryland’s claims against the shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries. The Justice Department said the collision caused at least US$5 billion in damage and significant environmental damage. The National Transportation Safety Board last year found a single loose wire in the electrical system caused a breaker to unexpectedly open, launching a sequence of events that led to two vessel blackouts and a loss of propulsion and steering. The Dali’s operators, Synergy Marine, based in Singapore, and Synergy Maritime, based in Chennai, India along with Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, 47, an Indian national who worked for both firms as the technical superintendent for the Dali , are charged with conspiracy, wilfully failing

Paramilitary police officers checking a photographer’s camera in Beijing yesterday, ahead of Trump’s arrival. – REUTERSPIC

Reuters reported in March that a second arms package, worth some US$14 billion, could be approved after Trump gets back from China, but its current status is unclear. On Tuesday, Lai, who rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit the island is a “sovereign, independent nation” and beacon of democracy that would not bow to pressure. Zhang said Taiwan is a part of China. Wu Cheng, spokesperson for Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party, said it didn’t matter what China said because Taiwan had its own government, sovereignty, military and democracy. – Reuters

US arms purchases but cutting domestic programmes like drones. A senior US official said on Sunday that the US was disappointed by the approval of defence spending short of what Washington believes is needed. A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that the biggest risk for Taipei was that Beijing would use that reduced budget as leverage with Trump. China could “argue that Taiwan’s legislature opposes buying weapons and that the US should respect the will of the Taiwanese people – to persuade Trump to halt or reduce support for Taiwan”, the official said.

US indicts two operators, individual over Baltimore bridge collapse WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department said on Tuesday that a grand jury indicted two foreign operators and a shoreside

The steel frame of the Francis Scott Key Bridge sits on top of the Dali on March 26, 2024. – AFPFILEPIC

against the charges, saying the NTSB had determined the cause was “a defect outside of Synergy Marine’s control”. They said they were deeply disappointed in the criminal charges suggesting the NTSB and other evidence “clearly refutes any allegations of

to immediately inform the US Coast Guard of a known hazardous condition, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and false statements. Prosecutors said Nair is believed to be in India. The two Synergy companies said in a statement they would defend themselves