Thursday 31,October 2024 {HMC} With domestic hot-button issues dominating the final week of the U.S. presidential campaign, any mention of the U.S.-China competition by candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump has been through the lens of domestic concerns, analysts say.

“American voters are more concerned about domestic issues. Polls show that the so-called China threat ranks behind the economy, immigration, abortion, climate, democracy and other issues for voters,” said Liu Yawei, director of the Carter Center’s China Program.

According to a survey released by YouGov, a U.S. polling organization, only a minority of voters listed U.S. foreign policy as one of the top three issues for them. The survey found Trump’s supporters cared slightly more about foreign policy than Harris’ supporters.

China and domestic policies

Any mention of China has largely been in the context of domestic issues.

In an October 27 rally in New York City, Trump mentioned China twice, saying that if the United States and China were to go to war, the U.S. would “beat them,” and that he would “pass the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act, meaning if China or any other country charges us a 100 or 200% tax or tariff, we [the United States] will then charge them a 100 or 200% tax or tariff.”

Harris made no mention of China during a rally on the same day in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

Trump has focused on the potential economic effects of competition with China as it relates to American jobs, highlighting trade concerns, flooding of goods, and unfair business practices.

“China has been killing us in trade for years. If I get elected, that’s going to stop,” said Trump at a rally in Cedar Rapids Iowa, in July.

At the Republican National Convention in July, Trump condemned China over several matters including an accusation that Beijing has taken away jobs in the American auto manufacturing industry and that China has posed threats Taiwan.

At a rally in April, Trump said many migrants coming to the U.S. from China are men of “military” or “fighting” age who may be coming here to form a sort of “army.”

Trump has also mentioned China in the context of the fentanyl crisis in the U.S.

“They’re flooding our country with illegal drugs like fentanyl, killing Americans. This has to end, and it’s going to end when we bring tough measures back against China,” he said at a town hall event in New Hampshire in May.

Although Harris has had less to say about China on the campaign trail, she mentioned China at the Democratic National Convention in August, saying she would work to ensure the United States wins the competition on being the global leader in artificial intelligence and space.

She “advocates ‘de-risking’ — reducing interdependence between the United States and China in arenas of advanced technology, principally to ensure that Washington is not assisting Beijing’s military modernization — but she has warned against a tariff-centric economic policy toward China,” said Ali Wyne, a senior researcher at the International Crisis Group, as he described her policies on China.

But the two candidates and their respective political parties have more in common than differences in their rhetoric on China, said Dennis Wilder, the CIA’s former deputy assistant director for East Asia and the Pacific and National Security Council’s (NSC) director for China under President George W. Bush.

“China has not been debated in this election because the American public and political class almost universally share the same negative views of China. Polling shows favorable views of China in the U.S. in single digits.”

While Washington’s policies toward Beijing can impact domestic issues such as jobs and cost of products, conflicts in other parts of the world have also overshadowed U.S. policy toward China in the eyes of many American voters, analysts said.

“Strategic competition between the United States and China is not top of mind for American voters. They are more concerned about the state of the economy and the cost of health care, said Wyne.

“And to the extent that foreign policy issues are shaping their considerations, they are understandably focused on a raging war between Russia and Ukraine and the potential for a regional war in the Middle East.”

Thursday 31,October 2024 {HMC} A strong Typhoon Kong-rey made landfall on Taiwan’s east coast on Thursday, the largest storm by size to hit the island in nearly 30 years, closing financial markets, causing hundreds of flights to be canceled and reducing rail services.

The typhoon knocked out power to nearly half a million households, the government said.

The storm hit the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast county of Taitung, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration, with strong winds and torrential rain affecting almost all the island.

The fire department reported one person had died when their truck hit a fallen tree in central Taiwan.

At one point a super typhoon, Kong-rey slightly weakened overnight but remained powerful as the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane packing gusts of more than 250 kph (155 mph), according to Tropical Storm Risk.

Taiwan’s weather administration put the typhoon’s size at the biggest to hit the island since 1996.

“I hope that everyone in the country will co-operate in avoiding disaster and refraining from engaging in dangerous behavior such as wave watching during the typhoon,” President Lai Ching-te wrote on his Facebook page.

Administration forecaster Gene Huang said after hitting the east coast it would head toward the Taiwan Strait as a much weakened storm and urged people across the island to stay at home due to the danger of high winds.

Environmental officials were working on Thursday to prevent oil leaking from a Chinese cargo ship beached against rocks on Taiwan’s northern coast after losing power in turbulent weather.

Warnings for destructive winds of more than 160 kph (100 mph) were issued in Taitung, whose outlying Lanyu island recorded gusts above 260 kph (162 mph) before some of the wind-barometers there went offline.

“It was terrifying last night. Many people on the island didn’t sleep, worrying about something happening to their house,” Sinan Rapongan, a government official on Lanyu, also known as Orchid Island, told Reuters.

Some roofs had been damaged and more than 1,300 homes had lost power but so far no injuries had been reported, she added.

Parts of eastern Taiwan recorded one meter (3.3 feet) of rainfall since the typhoon began approaching on Wednesday.

The defense ministry has put 36,000 troops on standby to help with rescue efforts, while almost 10,000 people have been evacuated from high risk areas ahead of time, the government said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and major supplier to companies like Apple and Nvidia, said it has activated routine typhoon alert preparation procedures at all its factories and construction sites.

“We do not expect significant impact to our operations,” it said in an emailed statement.

Taiwan’s transport ministry said 314 international flights had been canceled, along with all domestic flights.

Taiwan’s high speed railway, which connects major cities on its populated western plains, continued to operate with a much-reduced service.

Kong-rey is forecast to graze China along the coast of Fujian province on Friday morning. China’s financial hub Shanghai is bracing for potentially the worst rains in more than 40 years.

Subtropical Taiwan is frequently hit by typhoons. The last one, Typhoon Krathon, killed four people earlier this month as it passed through the south of the island.

Thursday 31,October 2024 {HMC}  America’s presidential election next week comes just after Iran marks the 45th anniversary of the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis — and for many, tensions between Tehran and Washington feel just as high as they did then.

Iran remains locked in the Mideast wars roiling the region, with its allies — militant groups and fighters of its self-described “Axis of Resistance” — battered as Israel presses its war in the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas and its invasion of Lebanon amid devastating attacks against Hezbollah. At the same time, Iran still appears to be assessing damage from Israel’s strikes on the Islamic Republic last Saturday in response to two Iranian ballistic missile attacks.

Iran’s currency, the rial, hovers near record lows against the dollar, battered by international sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program of enriching uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.

In public spaces, women still openly defy Iran’s mandatory law on the headscarf, or hijab, a result of the mass demonstrations over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini that still haunts the country.

That has left a feel of fatalism among some on the streets of the capital, Tehran, as Americans cast ballots for either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump. Many are split on which candidate would be better for their country — if at all.

“All U.S presidents elected after the (1979) revolution had the same views about Iran and I think that’s unlikely to change,” said Sadegh Rabbani, 65.

Harris and Trump have offer hard-line views on Iran

Both candidates have either undertaken or expressed tough stances on Iran.

In 2018, Trump unilaterally pulled America out of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers, setting off years of attacks across the Middle East even before Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Trump has been briefed on Iranian plots to retaliate against him, as well over his decision to launch a 2020 drone strike that killed Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad.

SOURCE VOA NEWS 

Thursday 31,October 2024 {HMC} Muse Bihi Abdi, the President of Somaliland, asserted that Somaliland will not back down from implementing the Memorandum of Understanding it signed with Ethiopia, despite any opposition or pressure from external parties.

In an interview with the BBC, the president stated, “Nothing has changed; it remains as it was.” Bihi, who leads the self-declared independent state, continued, “Everyone is waiting for when the operational document will be finalized.”

Bihi accused Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of mounting opposition to the agreement, stating, “Hassan Sheikh has launched a campaign against Ethiopia.” He emphasized that the deal was struck between Somaliland and Ethiopia, not with Somalia’s federal government.

“We have been two separate independent countries, two governments, for 34 years. Everyone knows this,” Bihi said, reiterating Somaliland’s claim to sovereignty.

The Somaliland president pointed to escalating regional tensions following the agreement, claiming “a war was planned” and that Egypt’s involvement has complicated matters. He specifically referenced the recent military cooperation agreement between Somalia and Egypt, characterizing it as an attempt to “suppress the Somaliland people’s desire for independence.”

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ethiopia and Somaliland, signed in early January 2024, aims to grant Ethiopia sea access in exchange for recognition of Somaliland. Ten months after its signing, the MoU is still awaiting implementation.

In February, Somaliland announced that it was “on course without any wavering, and remains seized” of the MoU’s implementation, appointing a technical team, a group of international legal experts, and a high-level advisory group to guide the process.

In September, Somaliland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Essa Kayd, informed international diplomatic missions in Hargeisa that the MoU between Somaliland and Ethiopia “is finalized, and a formal legal agreement is imminent.” However, Ethiopia has largely remained quiet about any practical progress on the MoU.

Somalia has opposed the MoU from the start, escalating tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia. Somalia has strengthened its ties with Ethiopia’s rivals, particularly Egypt and Eritrea, forming what observers describe as an “axis against Ethiopia” to pressure Ethiopia to reconsider its position on the MoU signed with Somaliland.

Addressing the implementation timeline, Bihi attributed delays to standard diplomatic processes rather than external pressure, noting that “international agreements often take years to implement.”

Bihi dismissed Somalia’s criticism of the Ethiopia agreement, pointing to existing Ethiopian-Somali ties. “There are many Somalis in Ethiopia, and they even hold positions within the government. So why is Somalia accusing us of signing an agreement with Ethiopia?” he said.

The president further alleged that Egypt is exploiting Somalia in its dispute with Ethiopia over the Nile River. “It’s not right for them to drag Somalia into this regional conflict, considering they have their own problems,” Bihi stated, suggesting that Egypt’s military agreement with Somalia extends beyond the Nile dispute to target Somaliland directly.

“The idea is to use Egypt by signing a security agreement with them and then using them against Somaliland,” Bihi claimed, adding that “Egypt has its own problems and won’t benefit from this situation.”

Bihi, who is seeking re-election in November 2024, expressed willingness to engage in dialogue with Somalia, provided there is recognition of Somaliland’s claimed independence. “If President Hassan recognizes that we are two separate governments and is interested in dialogue with us, that would be good,” he said.

Hiiraan online

Thursday 31,October 2024 {HMC} Somali government has welcomed the United Nations Security Council’s unanimous decision to transition the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) into a temporary mission over the next two years, beginning November 1, 2024.

In a resolution passed on Wednesday, the Security Council approved the creation of the United Nations Transitional Mission in Somalia (UNTMIS), which will replace UNSOM, established in 2013 to support Somalia’s transition to democracy and rule of law. The new mission aims to shift UNSOM’s responsibilities to the Somali Federal Government and local UN agencies by October 31, 2026.

The Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs hailed the decision aligned with its proposal to gradually phase out UNSOM, enabling Somalia to strengthen its sovereignty and institutional independence. The proposal, presented in August through UN Secretary-General António Guterres, came after months of collaborative discussions between Somali officials and UNSOM’s joint technical committee.

“This diplomatic milestone reflects the shared vision of the United Nations and Somalia for a peaceful, resilient nation, equipped to guide its own national agenda and engage as a strong international partner” stated the Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The transitional mission, now called UNTMIS, will focus on supporting free and fair elections and human rights protection during its first year, with some responsibilities transferring to Somali authorities by the end of year one.

UN missions can only be deployed with the agreement of the host country. In Africa in particular, the UN has been facing hostility in recent years.