32 Monday May 23 2022 | the times
Wo r l d
President Biden will urge leaders in the
Indo-Pacific today to counter the rising
economic and military threat posed by
China, as President Xi surges ahead
with plans to develop the world’s most
powerful navy.
Biden, on his first tour of Asia as
president, will meet Fumio Kishida, the
Japanese prime minister. They are
expected to discuss Japan’s plans to ex-
pand its military in response to China.
Tokyo proposes to double its defence
budget to about £86 billion, breaking
restrictions imposed after the Second
World War, as fears grow of threats
from China, Russia and North Korea.
Its military spending would rise to 2 per
cent of GDP, the benchmark set by
Nato members.
“Things have changed,” Biden said.
“There is a sense among the democra-
cies in the Pacific that there’s a need to
co-operate much more closely. Not just
militarily, but in terms of economically
and politically.”
The Japan Times reported that Kishi-
da would tell Biden that Tokyo was
seeking a “counterstrike capability”
with mobile or submarine-launched
missiles and command and control sys-
tems. Biden is expected to assure Japan
that it remains part of the US policy of
“extended deterrence”, which includes
a “nuclear umbrella” to protect allies.
China’s navy has held military exer-
cises near Japan’s southwestern islands,
including Okinawa. It has also prac-
tised for an invasion of Taiwan, includ-
ing sending ships this month to “encir-
cle” the island.
Satellite pictures showed shipyards
in China expanding. Work on the coun-
try’s third aircraft carrier appears to be
“almost complete”. Two nuclear-pow-
ered ballistic missile submarines and
another nuclear-powered attack sub-
marine are also under construction.
Ni Lexiong, a maritime expert at the
Shanghai University of Political
Science and Law, told the South China
Morning Post yesterday that China was
trying to move away from its reliance
on Russian weapons. He said that many
of its “conventional weapons systems
and combat concepts have been inher-
ited or copied from the Russian mili-
tary’s predecessor, the Soviet Union
army. The raging fights between the
Russians and Ukrainians have put
China in an embarrassing situation.”
For the past decade China has made
the modernisation of its navy, which is
the second biggest after America’s, a
key objective.
“Construction of a powerful, modern
navy is a key sign of building a world-
class army,” Xi said this month. “It is a
critical part to realise the great
rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
A new shipyard is being built next to
Any summit with Kim Jong-un
would depend on the North
Korean leader’s willingness to
engage, President Biden has said.
The American leader ended a
three-day trip to South Korea
yesterday after meeting the newly
elected President Yoon. The two
presidents discussed the nuclear
threat posed by Kim.
Asked if he would meet the
dictator, Biden said “that would
depend on whether he was sincere
and whether he was serious”.
North Korea may be preparing
for a new nuclear test, according
to US intelligence reports. Biden
said: “We are prepared for
anything North Korea does.”
Asked if he had a message for
Kim, Biden said: “Hello... period.”
He said the US had offered
coronavirus vaccines to North
Korea, which has reported nearly
2.5 million cases of “fever”, with
almost 10 per cent of its
population taken ill. “We’ve
offered vaccines, not only to North
Korea but to China as well,” Biden
said. “We’ve got no response.”
His approach offered a contrast
to the diplomacy of President
Trump, who met Kim in
Singapore in 2018 and Vietnam in
2019 after sharing threats against
North Korea on social media.
Trump once boasted of receiving
“love letters” from the dictator.
Biden and President Yoon said
in a statement that they were open
to expanding joint military drills
that Trump had scaled back. Biden
said close co-operation
demonstrated “our readiness to
take on all threats together”.US is open to
meeting Kim
‘if he’s sincere’
Keiran SouthernWe must resist
China’s bullying,
Biden tells allies
the Jiangnan shipyard on the Yangtze
River in Shanghai, which has itself been
expanded, and new facilities to build
submarines have been set up upstream
in the central city of Wuhan, according
to Naval News, a website based in Paris
that focuses on naval defence. A ship-
yard in Huludao, in the northeastern
province of Liaoning, which builds
nuclear submarines, has also been
enlarged, the website said.
Japan, with India, Australia and
America makes up the so-called Quad
group, a strategic alliance that is a
cornerstone of US attempts to counter
China’s influence in the region.
Biden is also expected to announce
countries that will be members of a new
Indo-Pacific trade pact. Officials have
said that Taiwan will not be included,
dealing a blow to its hopes of closer
links with the US. Including Taiwan
would have angered China, which does
not recognise the island’s right to self-
rule and has vowed to bring it under its
control.
“We are looking to deepen our eco-
nomic partnership with Taiwan includ-
ing on high-technology issues, includ-
ing on semiconductor supply,” Jake Sul-
livan, the US national security adviser,
said. “But we’re pursuing that in the first
instance on a bilateral basis.”
In an apparent tit-for-tat response to
Biden’s trip to Asia, China is seeking to
bolster ties with Latin America and
negotiate security pacts with Pacific
nations.
“We hope that the US will match its
words with deeds and work with coun-
tries in the region to promote solidarity
and co-operation in the Asia-Pacific,
instead of plotting division and con-
frontation,” Wang Wenbin, a spokes-
man for the Chinese foreign ministry,
said. “It should join efforts to foster an
open and inclusive circle of friends in
the Asia-Pacific, instead of putting to-
gether a closed and exclusive ‘clique’. It
should do more to contribute to peace
and development in the Asia-Pacific,
instead of creating turbulence and
chaos in the region.”
Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minis-
ter, has been speaking to his counter-
parts in Uruguay, Ecuador and Nicara-
gua, telling them that Beijing opposes
“some countries clinging to the Cold
War mentality and attempting to split
the international community through
ideological confrontation”.
Citing officials in the US and allied
countries, the Financial Times reported
that China was negotiating security
deals with two more Pacific nations,
after reaching an agreement with the
Solomon Islands. Its talks with Kiribati
were the most advanced, the news-
paper said.
The Solomon Islands and Kiribati
established relations with China in
2019 after severing ties with Taiwan.
Nicaragua switched its allegiance from
Taiwan to China last year.Japan
Didi Tang Beijing
Keiran Southern
President Biden took part in an event
in Seoul honouring Korean soldiersF
or more than
90 years the
statue of Christ
the Redeemer
has towered over
Rio de Janeiro, serving as
a symbol for Brazil.
Now, a small upstart
Brazilian town is building
its own bigger, lookalike
Jesus. Encantado, a town
of only 23,000 people inChrist rises over
Brazilian town to
top Rio’s statue
Statues of Christ
Christ the King
Poland
Christ the 51m
Redeemer
Brazil
38mChrist the Protector
Brazil
43mHeight includes plinthFun is part of the pitch
Baseball in hand, decked out in bright
yellow kit, the pitcher stands ready.
Then something unusual happens.
Three team-mates join him in a Tik-
Tok-friendly dance routine, to the
apparent bewilderment of the waiting
batter. The pitcher then lets fly, right
into the mitt of his catcher.
Welcome to baseball, Savannah
Bananas-style. The team, based in
Georgia, is offering a high-octane form
of America’s pastime and has taken the
show on the road over the past threeUnited States
Keiran Southern Los Angelesmonths, winning fans across the US in
exhibition games. And the crowds are
loving it.
The more eye-catching aspects of
“Banana ball” include a two-hour limit
on matches and a rule that if a fan in the
stands catches a ball, the batter is out.
Jesse Cole, 38, owns the Bananas and
serves as part-impresario and part-
mascot, playing ringmaster while
dressed in a yellow tuxedo and top hat.
“We’re going to have fun,” he said of
his team’s games. “More than anything,
everyone right now is hungry for fun.”
Cole, inspired by Walt Disney and
the 19th-century American showman