Senior US diplomat arrives in Taiwan as officials downplay Trump comments

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday that he would seek a strong trade relationship with the US after President Donald Trump suggested he would slap Europe with tariffs after he hit America’s biggest trading partners — Canada, Mexico and China — with import taxes.
Starmer spoke to reporters while hosting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at his country estate on the eve of a mission to improve relations with the European Union.
“In the discussions that I have had with President Trump, that is what we have centered on, a strong trading relationship,” he said. “So it is very early days.”
Canada and Mexico ordered retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump’s announcement that the US on Tuesday will stick a 25 percent levy on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10 percent on goods from China. Trump said he “absolutely” plans to impose tariffs on the EU.
The UK left the EU in 2020, following a referendum in 2016. Trump, who supported the Leave side in the Brexit vote, has not yet said whether he plans to target the UK with tariffs.
The tit-for-tat tariffs have triggered fears of a global trade war.
“Tariff increases really right across the world can have a really damaging impact on global growth and trade, so I don’t think it’s what anybody wants to see,” British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC.
Starmer is heading to Belgium to meet with EU chiefs Monday, where the UK leader is aiming for a relationship “reset”.
While ruling out rejoining the EU trade bloc five years after Brexit, Starmer said he wants to forge a closer relationship on defense, energy and trade.
“I think that is certainly in the UK’s best interest, I do believe it’s in the EU’s best interest, and already I hope that in the last seven months there’s been a manifest difference in approach, tone and relationship,” he said.
Starmer hosted Scholz at Chequers, the prime minister’s country residence in Buckinghamshire 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of London, where the two leaders discussed Ukraine and the Middle East, according to a Starmer spokesperson.
The prime minister spoke of their common approach to “key issues and challenges,” including their shared commitment to Kyiv as the war with Russia enters its fourth year this month.
The two agreed that Russia’s invasion had emphasized the need to beef up and coordinate defense production across Ukraine, according to a readout of the meeting from a Starmer spokesperson. The UK and Germany signed a defense pact in October, described by officials as the first of its kind between two NATO member countries, to boost European security amid rising Russian aggression.
The British government’s strategic defense review later this year will include lessons learned in Ukraine and the need to outmaneuver Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hostile acts across the continent, Starmer said.
Starmer thanked Scholz for visiting in the middle of a difficult re-election campaign. Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats are lagging in the polls behind the center-right Christian Democratic Union and the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, with three weeks to go before the Feb. 23 vote.
“When I started as prime minister seven months ago now, I was determined to strengthen the relationship between our two countries — already very good, but I thought it could be stronger on a number of fronts,” said Starmer, leader of the center-left Labour Party. “And thanks to your leadership, I think we’ve made real progress.”
Scholz said the visit that included a walk around the grounds of the estate and a lunch was a “good sign of the very good relations between our two countries, and indeed between the two of us.”

WASHINGTON: Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven rich democracies have strongly condemned a major offensive by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and urged M23 and the Rwanda Defense Force to halt their offensive.
In a statement released by Canada, which holds the G7 presidency, the foreign ministers said they were particularly concerned about the capture of Minova, Sake, and Goma, and urged the parties to protect civilians.
“This offensive constitutes a flagrant disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Congo,” the statement said, citing a big increase in displaced civilians and worsening humanitarian conditions.
Meanwhile, Rwanda welcomed on Sunday calls for a summit of two African regional groups to discuss the escalating conflict.
It is the latest escalation in a mineral-rich region bedeviled by decades of fighting involving dozens of armed groups, and has rattled the continent with regional blocs holding emergency summits over the spiraling tensions.
The 16-nation South African Development Community on Friday called for a summit with the eight-country East African Community to “deliberate on the way forward regarding the security situation in Congo.”
The Rwandan Foreign Ministry said it “welcomes the proposed joint summit,” adding in a statement it had “consistently advocated for a political solution to the ongoing conflict.”
The SADC emergency session was not attended by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda — which is not a member of the bloc — but Congolese leader Felix Tshisekedi was present virtually.
Earlier in the week, Kagame appeared at an EAC emergency session when the DR Congo president was absent.
The SADC meeting was convened after soldiers from two member states, South Africa and Malawi, were killed in the fighting around Goma where they were deployed.
Some were part of Southern African Development Community Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In Sunday’s statement, Rwanda’s Foreign Ministry criticized the presence of the force in DR Congo, saying it should “not be there because they are adding to the problems that already existed.” Kagame has made similar remarks previously.
While Rwanda has never admitted to military involvement in support of the M23 group a UN report last July said it had roughly 4,000 troops in eastern DR Congo, and accused Kigali of having “de facto” control over the group.
Rwanda alleges that DR Congo supports and shelters the FDLR, an armed group created by former Hutu leaders who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The intensified fighting has provoked fears of a humanitarian crisis.
In a region already home to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people, the fighting has forced another 500,000 people to flee their homes, said the UN.
Separately, reports said two Tanzanian soldiers have been killed in clashes in the last 10 days in eastern Congo.
“Following a series of attacks in the areas of Sake and Goma carried out by M23 rebels, JWTZ (Tanzania People’s Defense Force) has lost two soldiers,” army spokesperson Gaudentius Ilonda said.
He confirmed that four others had been wounded and were currently receiving treatment in Goma.
Ilonda said the remaining units — without giving any further details — “continue to carry out their duties under the guidance of SADC.”
Preparations were underway to repatriate the bodies of the Tanzanian soldiers, he added.
So far 13 South Africans, three Malawians, and a Uruguayan national have died in the DR Congo clashes.