The Jewish Home | JUNE 2, 2022
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The Week In News
Biden Supports and Isolates China
Biden, he said, “believes this decade will be decisive. The Biden administration strategy can be summed up in three words: invest, align, compete. “Beijing is determined to lead, but given America’s advantages, the competition is ours to lose – not only in terms of developing new technologies, but also in shaping how they’re used around the world, so that they’re rooted in democratic values, not authoritarian ones.”
Russia Seizes Army Radio Station
U.S. President Joe Biden is working to strike a balance between enabling China and isolating it. In an address at George Washington University, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S.’s relationship with China is the “most serious, longterm challenge” to the global balance. He added, “China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and increasingly, the economic diplomatic military and technological power to do it. Beijing’s vision would move us away from the universal values that have sustained so much of the world’s progress over the past 75 years. “Put simply, the United States and China have to deal with each other for the foreseeable future. That’s why this is one of the most complex and consequential relationships of any that we have in the world today.” But, Blinken added, “Competition need not lead to conflict. We do not seek it. We will work to avoid it. But we will defend our interests against any threat.” Though Blinken acknowledged that China had grown in the past 50 years, he said that “under President Xi, the ruling Chinese Communist Party has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad.” He also noted human rights violations, violations of trade rules, and its control in Hong Kong, asserting, “Beijing insists that these are somehow internal matters, that others have no right to raise. That is wrong.” Regarding trade, Blinken said that Beijing seeks “to make China less dependent on the world and the world more dependent on China. “For our part, we want trade and investment as long as they’re fair, and don’t jeopardize our national security.”
Pro-Russian troops have captured the telecommunications tower of the Ukrainian Army FM radio station in Svetlodarsk, Ukraine. After the capture, the Russian army shut down the radio station’s broadcasts. According to the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the radio station was seized after they “liberated” the city, which is located in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast region. On May 26, the militia announced, “Infocenter of Svetlodarsk is under the control of the allied forces.” “After the liberation of Svetlodarsk, the soldiers of the joint forces, specialists of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the People’s Militia of the DPR and the Donetsk RTPC stopped broadcasting the Ukrainian radio channel ‘Army FM’ and two analog TV channels. “At the same time, the base stations of Ukrainian mobile operators in the area of hostilities were promptly disabled. “Svetlodarsk was liberated by the joint grouping of troops of the Russian Federation, LPR and DPR. The defense line of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was broken in the vicinity of Svetlodarsk. The city was liberated from Ukrainian occupation. Fighting continues in the Novoluhanske area.” According to Ukrainian officials, Russian forces have attacked more than 40 towns in the eastern Donbas region. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to make it easier for Ukrainians in occupied areas to become citizens of Russia.
