Palau president calls for global joint resistance against the threat of CCP China

Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

China pressures Palau to sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Palau president calls for global joint resistance

Reporter : Li Haoyue / Editor : Li Lin / https://www.epochtimes.com/b5/24/10/31/n14361857.htm / Image : On 29 September 2022, Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. delivered a speech when meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department in Washington, DC. (Sarah Silbiger/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The Chinese Communist Party continues to exert pressure in an attempt to coerce the Pacific island nation of Palau to sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. (Huishuren) once again disclosed the CCP’s bad behavior and accused the CCP of violating its national sovereignty. He called on democratic countries around the world to jointly resist the threat of the CCP.

According to a report by Bloomberg on Wednesday (30 October 2024), Whipps said in an interview that the country is facing increasing pressure from the Chinese Communist Party, which is trying to coerce Palau to stop supporting Taipei, especially during the upcoming national election. 

"This is exactly the challenge that countries that believe in freedom, democracy and the rule of law need to unite to resist. Otherwise, we may be engulfed," Whipps said.

Palau will hold a general election next Tuesday (5 November 2024), the same day as the U.S. presidential election.

Palau is an archipelago country located in northern Australia with a population of only about 20,000 people. Washington and Beijing have been vying for influence in the region, which is not only home to vital shipping lanes and communications cables but is also rich in fisheries and seabed minerals.

Whipps also expressed dissatisfaction with the unauthorized entry of Chinese vessels into Palau's exclusive economic zone, warning that the struggle for geopolitical influence was intensifying and would pose a serious threat to countries in the region.

He stressed that Pacific countries must safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity to cope with geopolitical challenges.

After the CCP induced Nauru to announce that it would cut off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in early 2024, only 12 countries in the world maintained diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Whipps is also concerned about CCP China’s restrictions on tourist visits to Palau, which poses a threat to the country’s tourism-reliant economy.

In July 2024, Whipps said that the Chinese Communist authorities’ pressure on the country had reached a “new level” and the Chinese Communist government issued a travel warning recommending not to travel to Palau.

In 2017, the Chinese Communist Party began to ban state-run tour groups from visiting Palau, causing the number of tourists to the country to plummet. This has prompted Palau to pay more attention to exploring new markets.

Whipps has been supporting the U.S. government in strengthening diplomatic relations with the Pacific region and is considering strengthening security ties with the United States and even deploying U.S. missile defense systems.

In addition, former President Tommy Remengesau Jr. is running against Whipps in the hope of being re-elected. Remengesau Jr. also firmly supported diplomatic relations with Taiwan when he was in office.

Analysis: Trump's support among African-American voters could break the deadlock

 Direct translation 

Reporter : Jack Phillips/Compiled by Chen Ting / https://www.epochtimes.com/b5/24/11/1/n14362315.htm / Image : Left: On 18 October 2024, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris spoke at a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Right: On October 20, 2024, Republican presidential candidate Trump took the stage at a town hall campaign event held at the Lancaster County Convention Center in Lancaster, Pa. (Bill Pugliano, Win McNamee/Getty Images)

A poll analysis by TIPP Insights shows that the competition between Trump and Kamala Harris is very fierce, but based on Trump’s popularity among African-American voters, his vote share could break the deadlock and swing the election in his favour.

According to an analysis report released by the US polling agency TIPP Insights on Thursday (31 October 2024), Trump and Harris each have an approval rating of 48%.

The poll showed that Trump "made significant progress" among African-American voters, with his vote share increasing by 8.1 percentage points and among voters with high school degrees, by 13.9 percentage points. In addition, Trump also made progress among people over 65 years old, with his vote share increasing by 8 percentage points.

"Trump's gains among minority voters could break the current deadlock," TIPP wrote in the report.

The pollster did not say whether Harris or Trump made gains among other minority groups, such as Latinos, Asian Americans or Native Americans. However, TIPP pointed out that the increase and decrease in the support of the two candidates can best be seen from the perspective of education level.

According to TIPP data, Harris' support among college-educated voters increased by 6.3 percentage points and her support among neutral voters increased by 5 percentage points.

According to TIPP data, Trump cannot win the popular vote because the Democratic Party still has significant advantages in New York and California, while the Republican-dominated Texas can only "partially offset" the population advantages of these two states.

"National polls reflect this imbalance, with a large number of blue state voters tilting the numbers toward the Democrats. But in the Electoral College, the popular vote is irrelevant." The analysis pointed out that in 2020, even if Trump won the popular vote he lost about 4.5%, but in the three swing states, as long as he won about 45,000 more votes, he might win the presidential election that year.

"Some media ignored this key fact and hyped up the idea that Trump could not win," the polling agency said. "What are the facts? The election is still very close."

A RealClearPolitics compilation of recent national polls shows that as of Thursday afternoon, Trump had a 0.5 percentage point advantage over Herkins. Compared with polls from the same period in 2020, Democratic candidate Biden's advantage over Trump at that time was 8 percentage points. In 2016, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton led Trump by 5.9 percentage points.

RealClearPolitics' aggregation shows Trump leading by an average of about 1 percentage point in seven battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia.

In 2020, Biden led Trump by an average of 4 points in these states, while Clinton had a 5-point advantage in 2016.

Third-party candidates also accounted for a share of the overall support. TIPP pointed out that Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 0.9% support and independent candidate Cornell West received 1% support. About 1.7% of respondents said they were still unsure who to vote for.

So far, voters appear to be heeding the call to vote early. Registered Republican voters headed to the polls to cast their ballots in person ahead of Election Day, with record early turnout in battleground states such as Georgia and North Carolina.

Statistics from the UF Election Lab show that as of 11.22 p.m. ET on Thursday, about 65 million people had cast early votes, including more than 34 million early in-person votes and nearly 31 million Mail-in ballots.

More than two dozen states have counted the number of early voters by political party. Slightly more registered Democrats have voted so far, about 12.33 million. Meanwhile, about 11.6 million registered Republican voters have already cast their ballots, data shows.

Election data compiled by the university shows that among early voters, about 4.6 million were Republicans, about 1 million more votes than Democrats. About 8.3 million Democrats have returned mail-in ballots so far, compared with only about 6.5 million Republicans. About 19.3 million Democrats have applied for mail-in ballots, while Republicans have applied for about 13.6 million.

As the election day approaches, both Trump and Harris are planning a series of campaign activities, hoping to step up their sprint in the final stage to gain the support of more voters.

There is no "Xi Thought" in the Chinese Communist military newspaper news

 Direct translation

Zhou Xiaohui: Military newspaper news is abnormal again, and there is no "Xi Thought"

Commentary : Zhou Xiaohui / Editor: Li Anda / Source: Epoch Times / https://www.aboluowang.com/2024/1101/2123614.html / Image : The Politburo meeting of the CPC Central Committee held on 28 October 2024 was unusual. After the words "Xi Thought" disappeared, the reports of the CPC military newspaper and military website also showed unusual signs again. (Photo by New Tang Dynasty)

After the Xinhua News Agency of the Communist Party of China reported the Politburo meeting of the Communist Party of China on 28 October 2024, and the words "Xi Jinping Thought" disappeared, the reports of the Communist Party of China's military newspaper and military network also showed abnormalities again.

On 30 October 2024, the news of the Communist Party of China's military newspaper and military network stated that with the approval of the Central Military Commission, the General Office of the Central Military Commission recently issued the "Implementation Outline for the Prosperity and Development of a Strong Military Culture" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Outline"). On October 31, the news stated that Xi Jinping recently signed an order to issue the "Interim Regulations on the Management of Reserve Personnel". Comparing these two news reports, we will find that the biggest difference is the presence or absence of "Xi Jinping Thought".

"Building a strong military culture" was proposed by the leader of the Communist Party of China. In the report of the 20th National Congress, the leader stated that it is necessary to "prosper and develop a strong military culture and strengthen the fighting spirit". According to the previous articles praising the military culture in military newspapers and military websites, when talking about strengthening military culture, the party leader must be mentioned. Moreover, when explaining the direction of strengthening military culture, Marxism and Xi Jinping Thought must be used as guidance. The guiding position of Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military must be established. The core must be maintained, and the system of responsibility of the Chairman of the Military Commission must be maintained and implemented, etc. Therefore, when reporting on the documents issued by the General Office of the Central Military Commission and the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission, as well as the regulations issued by Xi Jinping’s signing of orders, it is common practice for military newspapers and military websites to mention Xi Jinping Thought in the first paragraph. The news on the 31st about Xi Jinping signing an order to issue the "Interim Regulations on the Management of Reserve Personnel" followed this practice, and the first paragraph mentioned that "the "Regulations" adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and thoroughly implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military". However, what is strange is that in the news released on the 30th about the issuance of the "Implementation Outline" by the General Office of the Central Military Commission, not only was Xi Jinping Thought not mentioned, but even Xi Jinping's name disappeared from beginning to end. The report mentioned that strengthening the military culture requires adhering to the essence of Marxist military theory and thought, and it seems to be deliberately ignoring Xi and his previously highly praised military strengthening thought. Such a reporting method should not be decided by ordinary editors.

So, is this the case with all the news about the General Office of the Central Military Commission issuing documents to the entire army? Obviously not. Take the relevant news from January this year to date as an example.

In the news reported on 10 July 2024 that the General Office of the Central Military Commission issued the "Decision on Comprehensively Implementing the Strategy of Political Military Construction in the New Era and Deepening the Political Training of the Army", it not only mentioned the "Party Central Committee with Xi Jinping as the core", but also mentioned that the military political training "must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and deeply implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Army", as well as "two establishments", "four consciousnesses", "two maintenances" and the implementation of the Chairman of the Military Commission's responsibility system.

In the news reported on 20 June 2024 that the General Office of the Central Military Commission issued the "Measures on Adhering to Hard Work and Frugal Military Construction to Improve the Quality and Efficiency of Military Construction", "Xi Thought" and "Xi Thought on Strengthening the Army" were also mentioned.

In the news report on 17 January 2024 about the "Work Methods for Recruiting Soldiers in Military Schools" issued by the General Office of the Central Military Commission, there is also the cliché of "adhering to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and thoroughly implementing Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military".

It can be inferred from this that it is customary to mention "Xi Jinping Thought" and "Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military", and it is indeed abnormal not to mention it, especially in the news about Xi's "Strong Military Culture". Is this another sign that Xi's military power has fallen into the hands of others? It is possible that the General Office of the Central Military Commission obeyed Zhang Youxia's orders, and Zhang Youxia replaced Xi's position in the military as the first vice chairman. Another sign before this was that Zhang Youxia visited Vietnam not long ago, and not only was he treated with courtesy by the Vietnamese party, government and military leaders, but he also spoke in a different tone than before. In addition, there was no detail about Xi Jinping in the Vietnamese report.

It is not surprising that the report on the order signed by Xi is still in accordance with the past practice. Before the CCP is ready to announce what happened, it has to maintain the face of its Chairman of the Military Commission on the surface.

However, there is no sign that Zhang Youxia has won the full support of other members of the Military Commission in the military. For example, Miao Hua, director of the Political Department of the Military Commission, was born in Fuzhou and is a naval admiral. He has a close relationship with Xi Jinping, who once served in Fujian. During the two sessions, he praised Xi with all his words, such as "I feel that the whole party, the whole country and the whole army have an extremely firm belief in supporting the 'two establishments'", "The core is at the helm, the ideological guidance and the desire of the top and bottom are our winning codes for seeking success in difficulties and turning crises into opportunities", etc. It is reported that the political work system of the Chinese Communist Party's military, which Miao Hua has been in charge of for more than six years, has been a corruption-stricken area in history, and Miao Hua may be the "most corrupt in the military".

In the relevant reports on the military documents issued by the Political Department of the Military Commission under Miao Hua from January to October this year, all mentioned "Xi Thought", and some also mentioned "Xi Thought on Strengthening the Military" and "establishment and maintenance". Like Xi's staunch supporters Cai Qi and Li Xi, he is still defending his position as the "one man".

The abnormality of the reports of official media and military newspapers, as well as the fact that the just-concluded meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China did not confirm the time for the Fourth Plenary Session, seem to indicate that there is still a struggle within the top leadership. For the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party who have broken the status of "one person", it is obvious that there is no way out, and whether they can follow the will of heaven, follow the trend of history, and give an account of history will also determine their future.