WASHINGTON: In their most serious rebuke against Beijing, NATO allies on Wednesday called China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine and expressed concerns over Beijing’s nuclear arsenal and its capabilities in space.
The sternly worded final communiqué, approved by the 32 NATO members at their summit in Washington, makes clear that China is becoming a focus of the military alliance. The European and North American members and their partners in the Indo-Pacific increasingly see shared security concerns coming from Russia and its Asian supporters, especially China.
Beijing insists that it does not provide military aid to Russia but has maintained strong trade ties with its northern neighbor throughout the conflict. It also accuses NATO of overreaching and inciting confrontation in the Indo-Pacific region.
In the communiqué, NATO member countries said China has become a war enabler through its “no-limits partnership” with Russia and its large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base.
“This increases the threat Russia poses to its neighbors and to Euro-Atlantic security. We call on the PRC, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with a particular responsibility to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, to cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort,” read the communiqué, which referred to China by the abbreviation of its official name, the People’s Republic of China.
“The PRC cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation,” the document says.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said China provides equipment, microelectronics and tools that are “enabling Russia to build the missiles, to build the bombs, to build the aircraft, to build the weapons they use to attack Ukraine.”
He said it was the first time all NATO allies have stated this so clearly in an agreed document.
The Chinese embassy in Washington on Wednesday said China is neither a creator of nor a party to the Ukraine crisis. “China does not provide weapons to the parties to the conflict and strictly controls the export of dual-use articles, which is widely applauded by the international community,” said Liu Pengyu, the embassy spokesman.
He said China’s normal trade with Russia is “done aboveboard” and “beyond reproach.”
Danny Russel, a former assistant secretary of state for Asia, called the new wording by NATO “an extraordinary step,” particularly because it was coupled with the warning that Beijing continues to pose “systemic challenges” to European interests and security.
“It is a mark of how badly Beijing’s attempt to straddle Russia and Western Europe has failed and how hollow its claim of neutrality rings,” said Russel, who is vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “China’s attempts at divide-and-conquer have instead produced remarkable solidarity between key nations of the Euro-Atlantic and the Asia-Pacific regions.”
Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the statement is “highly significant” because it signals to China that Europe, just like the US, also condemns support to Russia.
“The US believes that Europe has influence in Beijing, and that while China will not pay any attention to US condemnation, they will pay attention to European condemnation because just because Europe trades with China, China also trades with Europe,” Bergmann said.
In this year’s final declaration, NATO member countries reiterated their concerns that China poses “systemic challenges” to Euro-Atlantic security. It was first raised in 2021.
The alliance said China has been behind sustained, malicious cyber and hybrid activities, including disinformation and expressed concerns over China’s space capabilities and activities. It also raised alarms that China is rapidly expanding and diversifying its nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a larger number of sophisticated delivery systems.
Liu, the Chinese embassy spokesman, said China handles such issues “in a responsible manner with transparent policies.”
“Hyping up the so-called ‘China threat’ is completely futile,” Liu said, adding Beijing firmly opposes NATO’s use of regional hotspot issues to smear China and incite a new Cold War.
In Washington, where leaders of NATO nations are convening this week to mark the coalition’s 75th anniversary, President Joe Biden said the alliance must not fall behind Russia, which is ramping up weapon production with the help of China, North Korea and Iran.
Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea have sent their leaders or deputies to the NATO summit in Washington this week. They are partners, not members, of the alliance.
In the final declaration, NATO members affirmed the importance of the Indo-Pacific partners to the alliance and said they were “strengthening dialogue to tackle cross-regional challenges.”
NATO and the Indo-Pacific partners plan to launch four projects to support Ukraine, bolster cooperation on cyber defense, counter disinformation and work on artificial intelligence. The NATO members said these projects would “enhance our ability to work together on shared security interests.”
NATO allies call China a ‘decisive enabler’ of Russia’s war in Ukraine
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NATO allies call China a ‘decisive enabler’ of Russia’s war in Ukraine
- NATO Secretary-General said China provides equipment, microelectronics and tools that are “enabling Russia to build the missiles, to build the bombs, to build the aircraft, to build the weapons they use to attack Ukraine”
US suspends visas for Gazans after far-right influencer posts
- The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a US-based charity, called on the Trump administration to “reverse this dangerous and inhumane decision”
WASHINGTON: The US government said Saturday it is suspending visitor visas for Gazans after a far-right influencer with the ear of President Donald Trump complained that wounded Palestinians had been allowed to seek medical treatment in the United States.
The announcement came one day after a series of furious social media posts by Laura Loomer, who is known for promoting racist conspiracy theories and claiming that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job.
“All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days,” the State Department, which is led by Marco Rubio, wrote on X.
In a series of posts on X Friday, Loomer called on the State Department to stop giving visas to Palestinians from Gaza who she said were “pro-HAMAS... affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and funded by Qatar,” without providing evidence.
Loomer’s target was the US-based charity HEAL Palestine, which said last week it had helped 11 critically wounded Gazan children — as well as their caregivers and siblings — arrive safely in the US for medical treatment.
It was “the largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the US,” the charity said on its website.
“Truly unacceptable,” Loomer wrote in another X post. “Someone needs to be fired at @StateDept when @marcorubio figures out who approved the visas.”
“Qatar transported these GAZANS into the US via @qatarairways,” she said. Qatar is “literally flooding our country with jihadis,” she added.
Loomer said she had spoken to the staff of Republican Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, adding that they were “also looking into how these GAZANS got visas to come into the US.”
Republican Congressman Randy Fine explicitly commended Loomer after the visa change was announced, in a sign of her sway over some US policy.
“Massive credit needs to be given to @LauraLoomer for uncovering this and making me and other officials aware. Well done, Laura,” Fine wrote on X.
The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a US-based charity, called on the Trump administration to “reverse this dangerous and inhumane decision.”
Over the last 30 years the charity has evacuated thousands of Palestinian children to the US for medical care, it said a statement.
“Medical evacuations are a lifeline for the children of Gaza who would otherwise face unimaginable suffering or death due to the collapse of medical infrastructure in Gaza.”
Though Loomer holds no official position, she wields significant power, and is reported to have successfully pushed for the dismissal of several senior US security officials she deemed disloyal to Trump.
In July, Loomer took aim at a job offer made to a highly qualified Biden-era official for a prestigious position at the West Point military academy. The Pentagon rescinded the offer one day later.
Trump also fired the head of the highly sensitive National Security Agency, Timothy Haugh, and his deputy Wendy Noble in April at the apparent urging of Loomer, after she met with the president at the White House.
“No other content creator or journalist has gotten as many Biden holdovers fired from the Trump admin!” Loomer posted on X Saturday.
As security tightens, migrants take more risks to reach Europe
- Experts say migrants are adapting to stricter EU measures at borders and becoming more reliant on smugglers and newer, often more dangerous routes
LONDON: The number of people arriving illegally in Europe has fallen in 2025, but experts warn that irregular migration will persist as conflict and economic hardship intensify and migrants forge new pathways to avoid tougher security measures.
Arrivals fell by 20 percent in the first six months of the year, continuing 2024’s downward trend, according to the EU’s border agency Frontex, which credited the drop to increased cooperation with transit countries.
Since 1 million people entered Europe irregularly during the so-called migrant crisis in 2015, the EU has taken an increasingly tough stance on illicit arrivals.
However, experts say migrants are adapting to stricter EU measures at borders and becoming more reliant on smugglers and newer, often more dangerous routes.
While overall numbers are down, arrivals have not decreased across every route to Europe, and new corridors have emerged as migrants and smugglers adapt. “As one route declines, others usually surge or re-emerge,” said Jennifer Vallentine, an expert at the Mixed Migration Center, a research organization.
Irregular crossings dropped to 240,000 in 2024 after surpassing 300,000 in 2022 and 2023 for the first time since 2016.
Amid the downward trend, a new Mediterranean Sea corridor between Libya and Greece has emerged, with more than 7,000 people arriving in Crete this year.
The Greek government has proposed a new law to criminalize illegal entry and impose a temporary ban on asylum applications.
“Harsh restrictions won’t stop the need and desire to migrate, and with irregular migration the only option for some, smuggler services will stay in demand,” said Vallentine.
The main irregular entry points across the Mediterranean and over the Greek-Turkish land border have remained consistent over the last decade.
But activity on specific routes has fluctuated as people try to avoid increasing surveillance and border controls, according to experts. The EU has sought to shutter access at key entry points, said Helena Hahn, an expert at the European Policy Center think tank.
The bloc has struck deals with Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, key departure points for crossing the Mediterranean, bolstering the countries’ border forces with speed boats and surveillance and offering cash in exchange for preventing illegal migration.
“Cooperation with North African countries has certainly played a role in reducing arrivals,” said Hahn.
Arrivals across the Central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy and Malta decreased by 58 percent from 2023 to 2024, which the International Organization for Migration attributed to more boats being stopped at sea and migrants returned to Libya and Algeria.
But the organization also said the EU-North Africa partnerships contribute to increased activity on the Atlantic Ocean route from West Africa to the Canary Islands.
The Central Mediterranean route emerged as the sea’s busiest after the EU struck a deal with Turkiye in 2016, paying Ankara €6 billion ($6.95 billion) to care for Syrians who had fled their country’s civil war.
Turkiye also agreed to “take any necessary measures” to block new illegal routes into the EU.
Over the last decade, Europe has spent billions on surveillance systems and detection equipment and has posted Frontex staff at its external and internal borders.
The Western Balkan Route that connects arrivals in Greece with Western Europe via an arduous journey through the Balkan states has been a target of these efforts and last year, Frontex reported detections of irregular crossings on the route had dropped by 78 percent from 2023.
But the IRC only recorded a 16 percent drop over the same time period, which the organization said suggests people are traveling more covertly to avoid detection. “There’s a lot of deterrence, but it just makes people take more dangerous routes,” said Martha Roussou, a senior advocacy adviser at the International Rescue Committee, a global humanitarian charity.
Migrants are paying smugglers higher fees and traveling more quickly by night, stopping less often to seek help, according to the IRC.
The EU is set to triple its spending on borders in the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework to €81 billion.
“(Europe’s) reactive approach fails to acknowledge migration as both inevitable and beneficial,” said Vallentine.
“Until regular and accessible pathways are established, we will continue to see irregular migration — and smuggling networks will continue to adapt to facilitate it.”
UK to prosecute 60 people for supporting banned pro-Palestine group
- More than 700 people have been arrested since it was banned as a terrorist group in early July, including 522 people arrested at a protest last weekend for displaying placards backing the group
LONDON: At least 60 people will be prosecuted for “showing support” for the recently proscribed Palestine Action group, in addition to three already charged, London’s Metropolitan Police said.
“We have put arrangements in place that will enable us to investigate and prosecute significant numbers each week if necessary,” the Met said in a statement.
More than 700 people have been arrested since it was banned as a terrorist group in early July, including 522 people arrested at a protest last weekend for displaying placards backing the group — thought to be the highest ever recorded number of detentions at a single protest in the UK capital.
“The decisions that we have announced today are the first significant numbers to come out of the recent protests, and many more can be expected in the next few weeks,” said Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson.
“People should be clear about the real-life consequences for anyone choosing to support Palestine Action,” said Parkinson.
The first three people were charged earlier this month with offenses under the Terrorism Act for backing Palestine Action, after they were arrested at a July demonstration.
According to police, those charged for such offenses could face up to six months imprisonment, as well as other consequences.
“I am proud of how our police and CPS (prosecution) teams have worked so speedily together to overcome misguided attempts to overwhelm the justice system,” Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said. In a statement following the latest mass arrests, Interior Minister Yvette Cooper defended the Labour government’s decision, insisting: “UK national security and public safety must always be our top priority.”
“The assessments are very clear — this is not a nonviolent organization,” she added.
The government outlawed Palestine Action on July 7, days after it took responsibility for a break-in at an air force base in southern England that caused an estimated £7.0 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft.
The group said its activists were responding to Britain’s indirect military support for Israel amid the war in Gaza.
Britain’s Interior Ministry has insisted that Palestine Action was also suspected of other “serious attacks” that involved “violence, significant injuries and extensive criminal damage.”
Critics, including the UN, Amnesty International, and Greenpeace, have criticized the proscription as an overreach of the law and warned that the ensuing arrests threaten free speech.
The UK’s Liberal Democrat party said that it was “deeply concerned about the use of terrorism powers against peaceful protesters.”
Malawi’s restless youth challenged to vote in polls
BLANTYRE: At a rally of pounding drums and ululating women, star Malawian rapper Fredokiss urged young people to vote in next month’s elections despite their disenchantment with the government and the choice of main presidential candidates, all aged over 70.
More than half of the population of the impoverished central African country is under 35 and the turnout on Sept. 16 of young voters — who made up 54 percent of registered voters in the 2019 election — is seen as a potential game-changer.
“Young people have the numbers, we have the voice,” the 37-year-old rapper-turned-politician said on the sidelines of the recent event in the southern city of Blantyre, a part-rally and part-street party held in a swirl of the red colors of his United Transformation Movement.
“We are the ones who will choose the next president — whether we like them or not — and the next MPs and councillors,” said Fredokiss, whose real name is Fredo Penjani Kalua.
But with campaigning in full swing, many young voters said they were uninspired by the familiar faces running to unseat President Lazarus Chakwera, 70, and his Malawi Congress Party, which has been accused of mismanagement since regaining power in 2020.
Chakwera took office following 2020 elections after the previous year’s poll was nullified over charges of widespread irregularities.
His main challengers are two former presidents: Peter Mutharika, 85, of the Democratic Progressive Party, and People’s Party candidate Joyce Banda, 74.
At 51, former central bank governor Dalitso Kabambe — candidate for another of the major parties, the UTM — is a spring chicken in comparison.
“This is our country, our home. We have to make it better,” said Fredokiss, who is running for the second time for a seat in parliament after losing out in 2019.
Nearly three-quarters of Malawi’s more than 21 million people live in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank.
Months of inflation nearing 30 percent and crippling fuel shortages have made the economy a key issue in the largely rural and underdeveloped country, which is rich in natural resources but heavily indebted and dependent on foreign aid.
Fredokiss uses his music to denounce nepotism, tribalism and cronyism in Malawian politics, and to criticize the exploitation of local labor by foreign businesses and the crushing weight of youth unemployment.
“Governments and politicians are not providing solutions for young people: jobs, business opportunities, real hope,” Fredokiss said. “That’s why many are disgruntled. But this election should be the start, not the end, of our action.”
“It’s the same old faces with the same tired promises,” said a 30-year-old shopkeeper in the capital, Lilongwe, who would only give her name as Sandra.
“I registered hoping for fresh candidates with real ideas, but none have shown up — so why waste my vote?”
“None of the candidates make sense to me, so why pretend my vote would?” said Robert Chimtolo, 30, who runs the Maphunziro youth empowerment non-profit organization.
Sixty percent of the under-35 electorate turned out at the 2019 vote compared to 80 percent of older voters, according to election commission figures.
UK must bring sick, injured children from Gaza ‘without delay,’ MPs say
- Remove barriers preventing evacuations immediately, urges group of 96 parliamentarians
- Letter to senior ministers says medical, humanitarian catastrophe reaching ‘horrific proportions’
LONDON: The British government must bring sick and injured Palestinian children from Gaza to the UK “without delay,” a group of MPs has said.
The cross-party group of 96 parliamentarians made the appeal in a letter to senior government ministers, the BBC reported.
Children in the Palestinian enclave are at risk of imminent death, and any barriers preventing their evacuation to Britain must be removed, they said.
Responding to Gaza’s “decimated” healthcare system requires adequate funding and a detailed timeline for child evacuations, the MPs added.
UN children’s charity UNICEF has said that more than 50,000 Palestinian children have been killed or injured since the beginning of the Gaza war in late 2023.
The medical and humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave has reached “horrific proportions,” said the MPs’ letter, which was coordinated by Dr. Simon Opher, a Labour MP and GP.
Signatories to the letter, addressing the health, home, and foreign secretaries, said they were working with Medecins sans Frontieres to expedite the evacuation of injured and ill Palestinian children to Britain.
The children and their families must be allowed to claim asylum after their treatment is completed, the letter said.
The UK Home Office previously said that biometric checks would be carried out before Palestinian children and their carers travel to the UK, a decision that was questioned by the letter’s signatories.
Plans to evacuate seriously ill or injured children from Gaza were being carried out “at pace,” the government said earlier in August.
A spokesperson said: “We are accelerating plans to evacuate children from Gaza who require urgent medical care, including bringing them to the UK for specialist treatment where that is the best option.”
Several hundred Palestinian children are expected to be evacuated as part of the scheme.
Since late 2023, the UK has channeled funding toward the treatment of injured and seriously ill Palestinians in hospitals across the Middle East.
Liz Harding, of MSF’s UK branch, welcomed the MPs’ letter and called on the government to waive its biometric visa requirement.
Britain must “urgently act on its commitment by creating a dedicated, publicly funded pathway based on clinical need, not bureaucracy,” she added.
