The News Diet
The News Diet
President Biden's remarks on Taiwan and China, Australia's elections, and the Taliban's newest restrictions on women
President Biden's remarks on Taiwan and China, Australia's elections, and the Taliban's newest restrictions on women. Let's be informed so we can get on with our day.
It’s Tuesday, May 24. Welcome to The News Diet, a healthier alternative for staying informed. I’m your host, Michele Carroll.
Today I’m going to talk about President Biden’s recent remarks on Taiwan and China, Australia’s elections, and also the Taliban’s newest restrictions on Afghan women.
Let’s be informed so we can get on with our day.
—
During a news conference in Tokyo yesterday, President Biden said he would be willing to have the US military get involved in defending Taiwan, should China attempt to take over the territory.
Audio clip: NYT, https://nyti.ms/3Ga4AW4
This is seen as controversial because up to now the US, along with many other nations around the world, have been very careful with making any official declarations regarding their support for Taiwan. The reason for this is because Taiwan and China are currently teetering on a potential conflict, so siding with Taiwan could be seen as going against China, who is a huge world power and a country the US conducts a lot of trade with.
Context on the situation is that communist China still considers Taiwan as a part of its country, but democratic Taiwan considers itself an independent country as of several decades ago. In fact, the nation has done quite well in that time, building a robust, developed economy.
The disagreements between the two sides has caused quite a balancing act for the international community. Some organizations avoid declaring Taiwan its own country, like the UN; but 13 other countries do recognize its sovereignty, and others, like the US, haven’t declared an official stance, but maintain a positive relationship with them - which doesn’t make China happy.
So President Biden saying that he would be willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, could send an unfavorable message to Beijing.
In terms of the “One China Policy” that Biden references in the news conference, this is a diplomatic acknowledgment that the US does recognize China’s government over Taiwans, but it’s not a stance on Taiwan’s sovereignty.
So, as you can see, this is a complicated geopolitical situation that keeps much of the global community on its toes. Comparisons are often made between this scenario and the current Russia-Ukraine conflict, where Russia is attempting to reclaim Ukrainian territory decades after its breakaway.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/23/world/asia/biden-taiwan-china.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-38285354
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan#Republic_of_China_(1945%E2%80%931949)
https://www.taiwan.gov.tw/content_7.php
https://borgenproject.org/taiwan-from-poor-to-prosperous/
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-that-recognize-taiwan
--
Australian voters have elected a new prime Minister - Anthony Albanese, of the left-leaning Labor Party; after almost a decade of the right-leaning party holding office.
Albanese’s campaign focused on the issues of climate change, where he aims to bring down gas emissions to 0 by 2050, as well as gender politics, Indigenous people relations, and also the current focus on Asian economics and geopolitics, as China seeks to expand its influence as a world power, as well as India and Indonesia.
Albanese was sworn in yesterday, and today he is off to the Tokyo security summit to meet with President Biden, as well as the Japanese and Indian Prime Ministers. On the trip, votes continued to be counted to determine the political makeup of the Parliament of Australia.
--
A few weeks ago, I talked about how the Taliban in Afghanistan enacted an order for all women to cover themselves from head to toe while in public. Well last week the Taliban’s Ministry of Vice and Virtue mandated that all female news anchors cover their faces while on TV. By Sunday, most wore coverings that hid their hair and faces other than their eyes.
When the Taliban took control of the country following the US withdrawal last summer, the group tried convincing the international community that their approach to women would be milder this time around, compared to their original stint in power back in the 90s, when women were restricted from most parts of public life like education and careers. But so far, policies and mandates directed towards Afghan women have reflected much of the restrictions of that time.
For example, women are also told to only leave the home when necessary and are barred from attending school after the sixth grade. If violated, then their male heads of households will receive punishment, possibly in the form of jail time.
Since the US withdrawal, Afghanistan has been dealing with political, cultural, and economic instability.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/afghanistan-taliban-mandate-face-coverings-women-news-anchors
—
It’s Tuesday, May 24. And you’ve just been informed. Now it’s time to get on with your day. I’m Michele Carroll. Thanks so much for listening.
If you like The News Diet, be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you listen to your podcasts so you can always get the latest episode; and leave a review as we all know how that helps boost a show’s visibility! If you have any suggestions on how I can improve the show, I definitely want to hear from you. I want The News Diet to be as valuable as possible for you, so if you feel compelled, please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or Instagram @TheNewsDiet, or directly to my email, Feedback@thenewsdiet.com.