China fires back at US claims of aggression as it admits to developing new weapons - Financial Times

China’s defence minister has strongly pushed back against US accusations of aggression, and sought to present Beijing as a responsible power and western countries as outsiders undermining stability in Asia.

The stance came as Beijing tried to avoid a further escalation in tensions over Taiwan, after a meeting between General Wei Fenghe and US defence secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday that was dominated by discussions about the island that were described as “frank, positive and constructive”.

Austin had also warned Beijing against “a steady increase in provocative and destabilising military activity near Taiwan”, telling the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore on Saturday that the US would maintain “our own capacity to resist any use of force” against the country.

In his own address on Sunday, Wei said China aimed to be “a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a protector of the international order and a provider of public goods”, using a keynote phrase coined by Chinese president Xi Jinping.

Wei’s remarks came as defence and foreign policy officials and analysts at the forum confronted China over the threats against Taiwan, aggressive interceptions of western countries’ military aircraft in the South China Sea and ambitions to build footholds for its expanding armed forces.

China’s message regarding Taiwan remained inflexible but not more belligerent than usual. Wei claimed that it was “China’s Taiwan” and reiterated that Beijing perceived annexation of the island as a historic mission that “absolutely must be achieved” and for which its military would be ready to fight.

But Wei said peaceful unification remained “the biggest hope of the Chinese people, and we continue to hold the greatest sincerity and are willing to make the biggest effort” to achieve it.

“Wei laid out a fairly compressive position that I viewed as firm, but didn’t break any new ground,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund. “He repeated the statement [China’s president] Xi [Jinping] made to [Joe] Biden last November that China will do its utmost to pursue peaceful reunification.”

However, China’s mild messaging also belied a position that remained hardline in substance. One US official said People’s Liberation Army officers had told their US counterparts in recent months that the Taiwan Strait was not international waters. “That sounds like a new position, and has operational implications,” Glaser said.

While Beijing has in the past mostly complained about US support for Taiwan, Wei also objected that “other countries” were interfering in China’s affairs over the island.

“He put out a veiled statement acknowledging they are watching what other countries are doing in support of Taiwan,” said Meia Nouwens, an expert on the Chinese military at IISS, the think-tank and organiser of the conference.

Wei also defended the PLA’s rapid modernisation and expansion.

He said it was natural that China was developing new weapons, when asked by the Financial Times about a highly advanced Chinese hypersonic weapon test in July 2021 that shocked the Pentagon.

“Many countries are testing weapons. There is no surprise that China is doing so,” Wei said. “These weapons are for protecting the national interest of China . . . It is natural for us to have some new weapons.”

The FT reported last year that the PLA had tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic weapon that flew around the world and fired a missile as it flew over the South China Sea.

The Chinese foreign ministry previously denied the FT report, saying China had tested a space plane. Wei’s comments marked the closest Beijing has come to confirming the hypersonic weapons test.

“[General] Wei has acknowledged that the test last year was a weapons demonstration, contradicting earlier alibis from the foreign ministry,” said Ankit Panda, a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The subtext to his comments is that we should expect more such tests, perhaps, as China continues to modernise.”

“We still don’t understand whether China intends to field such a weapon, however,” he added.

Follow Kathrin Hille and Demetri Sevastopulo on Twitter

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50LzhlM2ZiZTBlLWU0N2UtNGYzNC1hM2JmLTAwNzQzNDE5OThjZNIBAA?oc=5

2022-06-12 08:14:07Z
1463744835

Gun laws: Thousands take to the streets across the US demanding action on tightening controls - Sky News

Thousands of people have rallied in Washington DC and across the US to demand politicians tighten gun controls.

It comes after 19 children and two teachers were killed last month at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, but there have been many other examples of mass shootings.

In Washington DC, Martin Luther King Jr's granddaughter Yolanda King said the country had reached a turning point and laws needed to change.

Image: A rally was organised in Austin, with one person holding a sign that reads "is your child next"?

"This time is different because this isn't about politics," she said. "It's about morality. Not right and left, but right and wrong, and that doesn't just mean thoughts and prayers. That means courage and action."

Despite rain in the nation's capital, thousands gathered at the National Mall holding up placards, including one that said: "Children aren't replaceable, senators are. Vote".

Advertisement

A middle school-age girl carried a sign that read: "I want to feel safe at school".

District of Columbia mayor Muriel Bowser told the rally in her city: "Enough is enough.

More on United States

Related Topics:

"I speak as a mayor, a mom, and I speak for millions of Americans and America's mayors who are demanding that congress do its job. And its job is to protect us, to protect our children from gun violence."

The group March For Our Lives, created by survivors of the 2018 shooting that killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, organised the rallies.

Image: Gloria Cazares, mother of Jackie Cazares, who was killed in Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, at the march in Austin, Texas

The group's co-founder David Hogg said: "If our government can't do anything to stop 19 kids from being killed and slaughtered in their own school, and decapitated, it's time to change who is in government."

US President Joe Biden, who was in California when the Washington rally began, said his message to the demonstrators was "keep marching", adding that he was "mildly optimistic" about legislative negotiations to address gun violence.

The House of Representatives has passed bills to raise the age limit to buy semi-automatic weapons and establish federal "red flag" laws.

Image: David Hogg survived the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida, hugs Manuel Oliver, father of Joaquin Oliver, one of the victims of the shooting

Read more:
More than 700 people shot dead in the US since the Texas school shooting

But such initiatives have traditionally stalled or been heavily watered down in the Senate.

Democratic and Republican senators had hoped to reach an agreement this week on a framework for addressing the issue and held further talks on Friday, but no deal was announced.

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L3Rob3VzYW5kcy10YWtlLXRvLXRoZS1zdHJlZXRzLWFjcm9zcy10aGUtdXMtZGVtYW5kaW5nLWFjdGlvbi1vbi1ndW4tbGF3cy0xMjYzMjMxNtIBcGh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2FtcC90aG91c2FuZHMtdGFrZS10by10aGUtc3RyZWV0cy1hY3Jvc3MtdGhlLXVzLWRlbWFuZGluZy1hY3Rpb24tb24tZ3VuLWxhd3MtMTI2MzIzMTY?oc=5

2022-06-12 07:30:00Z
1459060932

US pledges to maintain military capacity to defend Taiwan - Financial Times

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin accused China of stepping up coercive behaviour towards Taiwan as he stressed that Washington would maintain its military capacity to resist any force that threatened the country.

Speaking at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue defence forum in Singapore, Austin said China was engaging in provocative behaviour across the Indo-Pacific region that ranged from dangerous naval and aerial manoeuvres to increasingly assertive military activity around Taiwan.

“We’ve witnessed a steady increase in provocative and destabilising military activity near Taiwan,” Austin said on Saturday. “That includes PLA aircraft flying near Taiwan in record numbers in recent months.

Addressing an audience that included General Wei Fenghe, China’s defence minister, Austin said there had been an “alarming increase” in unsafe aerial intercepts and confrontations at sea by Chinese military ships and aircraft.

Austin referred to recent incidents in which Chinese air force fighter jets conducted “dangerous intercepts” in the South China Sea and East China Sea of aircraft flown by US allies — in a reference to Australia and Canada.

Speaking several weeks after President Joe Biden said in Tokyo that the US would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan from any Chinese attack, Austin said Washington would adhere to the Taiwan Relations Act by ensuring that Taiwan maintained a sufficient defence capability.

“And it means maintaining our own capacity to resist any use of force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardise the security or the social or economic system of the people of Taiwan,” he added.

Austin stressed that US policy towards Taiwan had not changed and that the administration remained opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo across the Taiwan Strait — from Taipei or Beijing.

His comments came as US officials have grown increasingly worried about the Chinese threat to Taiwan, over which China claims sovereignty.

Austin used his speech to highlight the Biden administration’s efforts to boost co-operation with allies, including the Quad — a security group that includes the US, Japan, Australia and India — and the Aukus security pact agreed by the US, UK and Australia last year.

Paul Haenle, director of Carnegie China, a think-tank, said Austin’s speech “struck the right balance”, noting that the US defence secretary said US policy towards Taiwan had not changed while “stressing that key components of that policy are helping Taiwan maintain a sufficient self-defence capability and maintain a robust US capacity to resist any Chinese use of force”.

Austin spoke one day after meeting Wei, in what was the first senior-level meeting between the militaries since Biden assumed office.

China’s defence minister Wei Fenghe, centre, ahead of a meeting with US defence secretary Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the Shangri-La forum on Saturday © Caroline Chia/Reuters

Despite putting a positive spin on the meeting between the defence chiefs, China launched a blistering riposte to Austin’s speech.

“The US has already messed up Europe and the Middle East, do they now also want to mess up Asia? We will absolutely not allow that,” said Lieutenant General Zhang Zhenzhong, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission.

In what the Chinese delegation called Beijing’s official response to Austin, Zhang rejected the US defence secretary’s pledge that Washington was not seeking a new cold war, an Asian Nato or a region split into hostile blocs.

“Their words do not match their deeds,” Zhang said. “The true intention of the US is to use this to maintain their hegemonic system. They are trying to create small circles by roping in some countries.” He added that the US Indo-Pacific strategy was one of geopolitical rivalry and bloc competition.

Pointing to the Global Security Initiative, a still-vague security concept proposed by President Xi Jinping in April, Zhang said China was a “sustained contributor to and firm supporter of regional peace” and a provider of public goods, in contrast with the US, which he called the “biggest source of instability” and a “backstage manipulator”.

Zhang also warned Washington against further support for Taiwan. The US had “seriously hollowed out and undermined” its pledge to stick to a one-China policy, he said, pointing to Washington’s approval on Wednesday of the sale of $120mn worth of spare parts for warships to Taipei.

Steps taken by the US in the past year were a reminder that Taiwan was the one issue with the biggest potential to lead the geopolitical rivals into conflict, Zhang said, adding: “This is extremely dangerous.”

Wei is scheduled to address the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday morning.

Major General Guo Ruobing, commander of the National Security College at the National Defence University, sharply dismissed Austin’s criticism of Chinese intercepts of Australian and Canadian military aircraft. “They are the ones disturbing stability,” he said, adding that “the US always says one thing but does another”. Washington has repeatedly rejected such Chinese criticism by pointing out that its aircraft fly in international airspace.

Austin outlined three areas where the US was working more closely with allies, including sharing research and development to ensure they had the right capabilities to deter aggression and stepping up exercises and training.

He added that the US Coast Guard was boosting its presence in the Indo-Pacific, a shift illustrated by the fact that Admiral Linda Fagan was the first Coast Guard commandant to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Follow Demetri Sevastopulo and Kathrin Hille on Twitter

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2EwMzIyNjdkLWUwNDctNDQ5MC1hOGU5LThiMmQ4YmYzMjdjNtIBAA?oc=5

2022-06-11 06:19:22Z
1463744835

US pledges to maintain military capacity to defend Taiwan - Financial Times

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin accused China of stepping up coercive behaviour towards Taiwan as he stressed that Washington would maintain its military capacity to resist any force that threatened the country.

Speaking at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue defence forum in Singapore, Austin said China was engaging in provocative behaviour across the Indo-Pacific region that ranged from dangerous naval and aerial manoeuvres to increasingly assertive military activity around Taiwan.

“We’ve witnessed a steady increase in provocative and destabilising military activity near Taiwan,” Austin said on Saturday. “That includes PLA aircraft flying near Taiwan in record numbers in recent months.

Addressing an audience that included General Wei Fenghe, China’s defence minister, Austin said there had been an “alarming increase” in unsafe aerial intercepts and confrontations at sea by Chinese military ships and aircraft.

Austin referred to recent incidents in which Chinese air force fighter jets conducted “dangerous intercepts” in the South China Sea and East China Sea of aircraft flown by US allies — in a reference to Australia and Canada.

Speaking several weeks after President Joe Biden said in Tokyo that the US would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan from any Chinese attack, Austin said Washington would adhere to the Taiwan Relations Act by ensuring that Taiwan maintained a sufficient defence capability.

“And it means maintaining our own capacity to resist any use of force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardise the security or the social or economic system of the people of Taiwan,” he added.

Austin stressed that US policy towards Taiwan had not changed and that the administration remained opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo across the Taiwan Strait — from Taipei or Beijing.

His comments came as US officials have grown increasingly worried about the Chinese threat to Taiwan, over which China claims sovereignty.

Austin used his speech to highlight the Biden administration’s efforts to boost co-operation with allies, including the Quad — a security group that includes the US, Japan, Australia and India — and the Aukus security pact agreed by the US, UK and Australia last year.

Paul Haenle, director of Carnegie China, a think-tank, said Austin’s speech “struck the right balance”, noting that the US defence secretary said US policy towards Taiwan had not changed while “stressing that key components of that policy are helping Taiwan maintain a sufficient self-defence capability and maintain a robust US capacity to resist any Chinese use of force”.

Austin spoke one day after meeting Wei, in what was the first senior-level meeting between the militaries since Biden assumed office.

China’s defence minister Wei Fenghe, centre, ahead of a meeting with US defence secretary Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the Shangri-La forum on Saturday © Caroline Chia/Reuters

Despite putting a positive spin on the meeting between the defence chiefs, China launched a blistering riposte to Austin’s speech.

“The US has already messed up Europe and the Middle East, do they now also want to mess up Asia? We will absolutely not allow that,” said Lieutenant General Zhang Zhenzhong, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission.

In what the Chinese delegation called Beijing’s official response to Austin, Zhang rejected the US defence secretary’s pledge that Washington was not seeking a new cold war, an Asian Nato or a region split into hostile blocs.

“Their words do not match their deeds,” Zhang said. “The true intention of the US is to use this to maintain their hegemonic system. They are trying to create small circles by roping in some countries.” He added that the US Indo-Pacific strategy was one of geopolitical rivalry and bloc competition.

Pointing to the Global Security Initiative, a still-vague security concept proposed by President Xi Jinping in April, Zhang said China was a “sustained contributor to and firm supporter of regional peace” and a provider of public goods, in contrast with the US, which he called the “biggest source of instability” and a “backstage manipulator”.

Zhang also warned Washington against further support for Taiwan. The US had “seriously hollowed out and undermined” its pledge to stick to a one-China policy, he said, pointing to Washington’s approval on Wednesday of the sale of $120mn worth of spare parts for warships to Taipei.

Steps taken by the US in the past year were a reminder that Taiwan was the one issue with the biggest potential to lead the geopolitical rivals into conflict, Zhang said, adding: “This is extremely dangerous.”

Wei is scheduled to address the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday morning.

Major General Guo Ruobing, commander of the National Security College at the National Defence University, sharply dismissed Austin’s criticism of Chinese intercepts of Australian and Canadian military aircraft. “They are the ones disturbing stability,” he said, adding that “the US always says one thing but does another”. Washington has repeatedly rejected such Chinese criticism by pointing out that its aircraft fly in international airspace.

Austin outlined three areas where the US was working more closely with allies, including sharing research and development to ensure they had the right capabilities to deter aggression and stepping up exercises and training.

He added that the US Coast Guard was boosting its presence in the Indo-Pacific, a shift illustrated by the fact that Admiral Linda Fagan was the first Coast Guard commandant to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Follow Demetri Sevastopulo and Kathrin Hille on Twitter

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2EwMzIyNjdkLWUwNDctNDQ5MC1hOGU5LThiMmQ4YmYzMjdjNtIBAA?oc=5

2022-06-11 05:04:00Z
1463744835

'Historically unprecedented' January 6 hearing damning for Trump - Financial Times

Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney had two jobs on Thursday night as they began a series of televised hearings in which they hope to prove Donald Trump incited an attempted coup against the US government.

The Democrat and the Republican leading the congressional investigation into last year’s attack on the US Capitol aimed to provide a compelling narrative of the events of January 6 2021, and to lay the groundwork for a possible prosecution of the former president for his alleged role in them.

On the first task, experts said afterwards, they succeeded. Using a damning mixture of video footage, audio recordings and live testimony, the committee showed how far-right groups planned and organised a riot with the intention of stopping Joe Biden being certified as president.

They also showed that Trump had urged them on from his Twitter feed and from a podium outside the White House, and then watched the violence on television, raging at advisers who urged him to call off his supporters.

Their second task, however, based on Thursday night’s evidence, is likely to prove more difficult. While Cheney argued Trump had “summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack”, the committee has not yet proven that he colluded with the insurrectionists directly.

Thompson said after the hearing there would be further evidence of contact between the rioters and Trump’s inner circle. Legal experts say this could be critical to any criminal case.

“What this committee has done in such a short space of time is historically unprecedented,” said Ankush Khardori, a former federal prosecutor. “But what you also saw last night was how much they have been hampered by the unwillingness of those around Trump to be frank and courageous.”

Yet Thursday’s hearing was not without some candour from the former president’s inner circle.

In taped testimony, William Barr, Trump’s former attorney-general, called the former president’s claims that the election had been rigged “bullshit”. Jason Miller, one of Trump’s closest aides, acknowledged the former president’s own data experts told him he had lost. Even Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, said she “accepted” Barr’s conclusions.

The committee also presented the most comprehensive and comprehensible account yet of what happened on January 6.

With the help of James Goldston, a former president of ABC News, the committee put together a harrowing video of protesters moving towards the Capitol, storming it and rampaging inside.

The presentation used footage taken from television crews, protesters and the documentarian Nick Quested, and spliced it together with audio recordings from officers working that day. “Declaring it a riot,” said an officer at 2.39pm. “I need more support,” another yelled as he was swamped by the mob. “We lost the line. We’ve lost the line.”

And as the crowd screamed profanities and threw projectiles at the officers in front of them, the committee overlaid a now famous recording of Trump talking about the attack later in the year. “They were peaceful people,” he said. “The love in the air, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Members also showed footage of contacts between the two far-right groups at the heart of the violence: the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, the latter of which moved in battle formation as they stormed the Capitol.

But despite the committee’s showmanship, the question of any possible ramifications for Trump remains unclear. One of the most important audience members for Thursday night’s broadcast was Merrick Garland, the Biden-appointed attorney-general who has come under pressure from progressives to bring charges against Trump.

The leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who were crucial figures in the insurrection, have been charged with sedition, while Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, two former Trump aides, have been charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to testify.

But charging the former president would be more difficult, legally and politically, experts say.

Trump’s supporters are already claiming the committee is conducting a witch hunt. Their grievances will only be amplified if the justice department charges the former president but fails to prove in court either that he colluded with rioters or that he intended for them to break into the Capitol.

A large gap in the committee’s narrative was what Trump was doing in the 187 minutes between the attack starting and him issuing a plea for his supporters to “go home”.

Members laid out some tantalising hints, painting a picture of him “yelling” at advisers who tried to get him to issue a statement, and even suggesting he agreed with protesters calling for the execution of his vice-president Mike Pence.

But so far they have not shown any contact between the president or his inner circle and the rioters themselves, evidence that would prove vital if criminal charges are to follow.

The committee also showed hints that some of those close to Trump knew what was going to occur before it happened. “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow,” Bannon said the day before. But members have not yet provided conclusive evidence that Trump himself directed the violence or intended for it to happen.

Even if he is not prosecuted, Democrats hope these hearings might destroy his support in public and in Congress, just as the televised Watergate hearings did for Richard Nixon 50 years ago.

“One of [the committee’s] jobs was to make a difference at the ballot box,” said Norman Eisen, a former US ambassador who advised the congressional committee that conducted Trump’s first impeachment. “They needed to show that the 2022 and 2024 elections are going to be referendums on whether we want our country to go the way of democracy or Trumpery — and they did that.”

Part of the problem for committee members, however, is that unlike Nixon, Trump has always done the things for which he is criticised in public. He once claimed: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”

Indeed, the most compelling evidence of him having organised the attempted coup was from his own Twitter feed. “Big protest in D.C. on January sixth,” he wrote on December 19. “Be there, will be wild!”

Some lawyers believe these hearings will differ from the Watergate ones in how much was done in secret as opposed to in the open. But they warn that even if there was no cover-up, Trump could still face criminal charges if it can be shown he deliberately incited or helped organise a riot.

Eisen said: “You can only shoot people in the middle of Fifth Avenue so many times before someone is going to arrest you and put you in jail.”

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2UyMjZjMzQ3LTlkMmUtNGY2Ny1iM2E3LWVmZWY0MDFlZTdjN9IBAA?oc=5

2022-06-10 17:11:52Z
1454483032

US to end Covid testing requirement for international air travellers - Financial Times

The US has agreed to lift its Covid-19 testing requirement for international air travellers entering the country following intense lobbying by US politicians and the business community.

Beginning on Sunday, international air passengers will no longer be required to show a negative Covid test to enter into the US, a White House official confirmed.

However, the official said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would evaluate the policy “based on the science and in context of circulating variants”, suggesting the requirement could be reinstated should the country see a significant resurgence in cases or a new fast-spreading variant.

The long-awaited move lifts a policy that has been in place since January 2021 and comes after the US health agency in April dropped its mask-use requirement for air travellers.

More than 40 mayors representing cities including Miami, San Francisco, Houston and Atlanta wrote to the Biden administration earlier this week asking them to lift the requirement, citing the negative impact it was having on local businesses.

“American cities are still struggling to regain international visitors after more than two years of pandemic-related restrictions,” wrote the group of bipartisan mayors, noting that international visitation was still 78 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.

“Our constituents and our businesses suffered greatly from this steep decline in international travel spending, and they cannot fully recover until this vital sector of the US economy rebounds,” the mayors said, noting that 40 other countries had lifted their pre-departure testing requirements.

Their appeal followed similar requests by members of Congress including a bipartisan congressional delegation from Nevada and 30 Republican senators.

Airline executives had also expressed their frustration at the pandemic-related travel requirement. American Airlines chief executive Robert Isom said last week “I think we’re all frustrated. We’re really frustrated”.

Business advocacy groups on Friday welcomed the reversal.

“Today marks another huge step forward for the recovery of inbound air travel and the return of international travel to the United States,” said US Travel Association president Roger Dow.

He noted that more than half of overseas travellers had citied the pre-departure testing requirement “as a major deterrent for inbound travel to the US” in a recent Morning Consult survey for the group.

A recent analysis by the travel industry trade group found that lifting the requirement could bring in 5.4mn additional visitors to the US and an additional $9bn in travel spending for the remainder of 2022.

“The lifting of this requirement will enable the industry to lead the way toward a broader US economic and jobs recovery,” Dow said.

Additional reporting by Kiran Stacey in Washington

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50LzE5Y2I4OGNkLTJmMDgtNDdhNy05NGZkLWZmOWUzOTQ5OGY5MdIBAA?oc=5

2022-06-10 16:12:23Z
1465139094

Five asylum seekers will not be sent to Rwanda, Home Office says, as hearing challenging plan begins - Sky News

Five asylum seekers fighting their deportation from the UK to Rwanda will not be sent to the African country, the Home Office has said.

This story is out of date - go here to read about the High Court's decision to allow the first flight to go ahead next week

The news came as part of submissions by Home Office lawyers to the High Court on Friday as a bid began to block a deportation flight under the government's controversial new asylum seeker removal policy.

Five people due to be deported next week have now had their removal directions cancelled.

Two campaign groups - Detention Action and Care4Calais - joined the PCS Union and four individual asylum seekers bringing legal action against the Home Office after it announced the first group of people would be sent to Rwanda on Tuesday.

Advertisement

Lawyers for almost 100 additional migrants have submitted legal challenges asking to stay in the UK.

Downing Street has said Boris Johnson is still hopeful that the first flight will go ahead next week. The court was also told that a second flight may be scheduled for Thursday, something the Home Office denied.

More on Migrant Crossings

Related Topics:

A No 10 spokesman said: "Yes. You're aware of the ongoing court case today but we've set out our position on why we think this is the right approach."

The Home Office "intends to make arrangement for a further flight or flights to Rwanda this year", its lawyer said.

But organising any before the end of the full court hearing would "depend on how many individuals leave on the flight on Tuesday", he added.

Those taking the action have asked that if the decision goes in their favour, the flight should be halted completely - meaning the ruling would not just apply to the asylum seekers they are representing.

'It's not safe'

In the first stage of legal action, brought today, Raza Husain QC told the High Court: "The system is not safe. It is not that it is not safe after July, it is just not safe.

"You may be arbitrarily denied access to it. If you do get into it, there are concerns about the impartiality of the decision-making."

He continued: "The evidence is that if you are not from a neighbouring country, then there are high levels of rejection."

Mr Husain said this included asylum seekers from Syria, who are largely accepted by the UK system.

"The procedure is simply unsafe," he said.

Home Office asks court to reject legal challenge

In court documents, Home Office lawyers urged the court to reject the application, arguing it "fails at the first stage", adding: "The claimants have not identified a serious issue to be tried, still less the strong case they allege for the grant of relief at trial."

The High Court was told that the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, had a number of concerns about the asylum process in Rwanda, including discriminatory access to asylum - including for LGBT people - a lack of legal representation and interpreters, and difficulties in appealing.

The High Court is due to hear a further challenge to the policy on Monday, brought by refugee charity Asylum Aid and supported by fellow campaign group Freedom From Torture.

Care4Calais says it was aware of around nine Afghans; 35 Sudanese; 18 Syrians; 14 Iranians; 11 Egyptians as well as Iraqi, Pakistani, Albanian, Algerian, Chadian, Eritrean, Turkish and Vietnamese people who were told they could be put on the first flight.

'Cruel' and 'inhumane'

The scheme, which the government said would provide "safe and legal" routes for migrants has been described as "inhumane" and "cruel" by human rights organisations.

Under the plans, those illegally seeking refuge in the country would be placed on chartered flights to Rwanda where they would enter the Rwandan asylum system and not be considered for return to the UK.

It comes as the latest figures show more than 10,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK so far this year.

Follow the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts,  Google Podcasts,  Spotify, Spreaker

James Wilson, deputy director of Detention Action, said: "In her desire to punish people for seeking asylum by forcing them on to a plane to Rwanda, Priti Patel has overstepped her authority.

"By rushing through what we say is an unlawful policy, she is turning a blind eye to the many clear dangers and human rights violations that it would inflict on people seeking asylum.

"It's vital that new government policies respect and uphold the laws that we all, as a society, have agreed to follow. That's why we're seeking an injunction to keep this plane to Rwanda from leaving the runway."

Home Office defends 'world-leading partnership'

Image: Home Secretary Priti Patel

A Home Office spokeswoman previously said: "We have been clear from the start that we expected legal challenges, however we are determined to deliver this new partnership.

"We have now issued formal directions to the first group of people due to be relocated to Rwanda later this month. This marks a critical step towards operationalising the policy, which fully complies with international and national law."

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMihQFodHRwczovL25ld3Muc2t5LmNvbS9zdG9yeS9maXZlLWFzeWx1bS1zZWVrZXJzLXdpbGwtbm90LWJlLXNlbnQtdG8tcndhbmRhLWhvbWUtb2ZmaWNlLXNheXMtYWhlYWQtb2YtaGVhcmluZy1jaGFsbGVuZ2luZy1wbGFuLTEyNjMxMjQ50gGJAWh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2FtcC9maXZlLWFzeWx1bS1zZWVrZXJzLXdpbGwtbm90LWJlLXNlbnQtdG8tcndhbmRhLWhvbWUtb2ZmaWNlLXNheXMtYWhlYWQtb2YtaGVhcmluZy1jaGFsbGVuZ2luZy1wbGFuLTEyNjMxMjQ5?oc=5

2022-06-10 14:26:15Z
1463938920