From the New York Times, a city on the brink:
Syria Border Town, Kobani, Falling to ISIS, Leader of Turkey Says
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said Tuesday that the Syrian border town of Kobani, under siege from Islamic State fighters, was about to fall to the militants despite United States-led airstrikes on the group.
Asserting that aerial attacks alone may not be enough to stop the fighters’ advance, Mr. Erdogan called for more support for insurgents in Syria who are battling the Islamic State, and reiterated Turkey’s earlier call for a no-fly zone and a buffer zone along the border. Yet he stopped short of committing Turkey to any ground operation, something he has long said would require an international agreement and a no-fly zone.
His comments highlighted a key sticking point between Turkey and Washington: President Obama wants Turkey to take stronger action against the Islamic State, while Mr. Erdogan wants the American effort to focus more on ousting Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. Turkey has long supported the armed opposition to Mr. Assad.
One reaction, via Reuters:
French discussing Kobani action with Turks: minister
France said on Tuesday it was vital to act in order to stop Islamic State’s advance on the northern Syria border town of Kobani, and was discussing with Turkey what could be done.
“A lot is at stake in Kobani and everything must be done so that the Daesh terrorists are stopped and pushed back,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the French parliament.
“A tragedy is unfolding, and we must all react.”
And another reaction, via BBC News:
Kurds protest against Turkey as IS advances on Kobane
Kurds across Turkey have vented their anger at the government’s lack of military support for the defenders of the Syrian border town of Kobane being attacked by Islamic State militants.
Police used tear gas and water cannon as unrest spread to at least six cities. At least three protesters died.
Turkish troops and tanks have lined the border but have not crossed into Syria. Fresh US-led air strikes have tried to repel IS, but Turkey’s president warned Kobane was “about to fall”.
Kurdish protests weren’t limited to Turkey, as RT reports:
Kurds storm EU parliament, stage rallies across Europe demanding crackdown on ISIS
Program notes:
Dozens of Kurdish protesters have stormed into the European Parliament building in Brussels, demanding swift military action against militants from the Islamic State group to save the majority-Kurd Syrian town of Kobani from annihilation.
Another reaction, via the Guardian:
Battle between Isis and Syrian Kurds for Kobani sparks unrest in Turkey
President Erdog(an says ground operation necessary to defeat militants as thousands protest over government’s inaction
Fighting between Kurdish forces and Islamic State (Isis) militants for the Syrian border town of Kobani fuelled rising tensions inside Turkey on Tuesday as thousands of protesters took to the streets to voice anger and frustration about the inaction of the Ankara government.
In a graphic illustration of the domestic and regional impact of the deepening crisis, demonstrations turned violent and Turkish police used teargas and water cannon. Curfews were imposed on several towns in the province of Mardin.
Following a warning from the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdog(an, that Kobani was “about to fall”, one man was reported to have been killed by a bullet to the head in Varto in the eastern province of Mus when police allegedly fired live ammunition.
And from the Associated Press, a latest domestic terror alarm:
FBI: Militants may be working on plan to strike US
An al-Qaida cell in Syria that was targeted in American military airstrikes last month could still be working on a plan to attack the United States or its allies and is “looking to do it very, very soon,” the head of the FBI says. “Given our visibility we know they’re serious people, bent on destruction,” FBI Director James Comey said.
The Khorasan Group, a small but battle-hardened band of al-Qaida veterans from Afghanistan and Pakistan, was the target of U.S. strikes near Aleppo, Syria.
In an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Comey said the militants were “working and, you know, may still be working on an effort to attack the United States or our allies, and looking to do it very, very soon.”
Another one across the Atlantic, via BBC News:
Arrests ‘may have foiled terror attack planning in UK’
Four men have been arrested in London as part of an investigation into Islamist-related terrorism, Scotland Yard has said.
Whitehall officials told the BBC the arrests “may have foiled the early stages” of a plan to attack the UK. The four men, aged 20 and 21, were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism.
Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said it was a “quite serious case”.
And the latest from Japan via Kyodo News:
Man allegedly trying to join Islamic State planned trip Tues.: sources
A 26-year-old Japanese university student who police suspect planned to go abroad to join the Islamic State militant group as a “fighter” made a travel plan to leave Japan for Syria on Tuesday after giving up a trip in mid-August, investigative sources said.
The student, who is on a leave of absence from Hokkaido University and lives in Tokyo, was questioned Monday on a voluntary basis by the Metropolitan Police Department’s public security bureau, which also conducted a raid on several locations in Tokyo.
He is suspected of violating a Penal Code provision that stipulates punishment by imprisonment between three months and up to five years for a person preparing or plotting to wage war against a foreign state in a personal capacity.
From the Guardian, a revelation and a complication:
Syria discloses four secret chemical weapons facilities, UN says
News raises concerns Islamic State could get hold of remaining stockpiles a year after UN joint mission set out to destroy them
Syria has declared four chemical weapons facilities it had not previously disclosed, a special representative of the United Nations secretary general told the security council on Tuesday. The news heightened concerns that the Syrian government has not been fully open about its chemical weapons program.
Diplomats said Sigrid Kaag told them during closed consultations that three of the facilities are for research and development and one is for production, and that no new chemical agents have been associated with the four sites.
The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, tweeted: “Must keep pressure on regime so it doesn’t hide CW capability.”
And from the Express Tribune, more U.S. drone kills in Pakistan:
US drone strikes in North Waziristan kill at least eight suspected militants
Missiles from US drones hit a gathering of militants and a suspected training camp in North Waziristan in two separate attacks on Tuesday, killing at least 8 people, intelligence officials said.
Attacks by US drones have intensified in recent months after a pause in the first half of this year. Tuesday’s attacks mark the third and fourth drone strike in three days.
In the first attack, three missiles from the unmanned aircraft hit a suspected training camp in the Shawal area of North Waziristan just after midday, two intelligence officials told Reuters. Six suspected militants were reported killed and nine injured, they said.
In the second attack, missiles hit a gathering of militants on a mountain in the Datta Khel region in North Waziristan, killing two people and wounding at least four on Tuesday evening, said intelligence officials.
The Intercept covers a reaming from Rahm:
Panetta Says Rahm Emanuel Cussed Him Out for Cooperating With Torture Inquiry
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta, in his new book, describes being summoned to a White House meeting and cussed out by President Obama’s chief of staff after he agreed to give the Senate intelligence committee access to documents chronicling the agency’s use of torture during the Bush administration.
“The president wants to know who the fuck authorized this release to the committees,” Rahm Emanuel, who served as Obama’s chief of staff and enforcer in 2009 and 2010, is quoted as saying while slamming the table for emphasis.
Panetta’s book, Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace, is a blunt account of his time as Obama’s CIA director and, later, Secretary of Defense.
He describes being micromanaged and second-guessed by White House aides who seemed focused on political appearance over substance. White House pushback on the Senate torture inquiry, which came despite Obama’s pledge to run the most transparent administration ever, is in that way typical – as is Emanuel’s profane tirade. (Emanuel, as I’ve written before, saw even the most deeply moral and legal decisions in purely political terms.)
The National Journal covers spooky litigation:
The FBI’s Secret Surveillance Program Is About to Go on Trial
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear a case this week that could have seismic implications for how the government spies on Americans.
A federal appeals court this week will review whether the government can secretly conduct electronic surveillance on Americans without first obtaining a warrant.
The case, to be brought before a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on Wednesday, could have sweeping digital-privacy implications, and it represents one of the most direct challenges to the legal authority for government spying in the post-Snowden era. Many observers expect the case to ultimately reach the Supreme Court.
At issue is whether the FBI can use so-called national security letters, or NSLs, to compel companies to hand over communications data or financial records of certain users for the purposes of a national security investigation. These letters permit the FBI to collect telephone and Internet data of suspects without court approval and they often place a gag order on companies, which prevents them from disclosing the government order.
The Guardian another spooky suit:
Twitter lawsuit seeks right to inform users of US government surveillance
Company cites first amendment right to free speech
ACLU says Twitter ‘doing the right thing’
Twitter has filed a lawsuit against the US government in which it asks to be allowed to publish information about government surveillance of users, the company announced today.
In the suit, filed in the US district court of Northern California, Twitter requests “relief from prohibitions on its speech in violation of the first amendment”.
In a blog post, Ben Lee, Twitter’s vice-president, legal, said: “Our ability to speak has been restricted by laws that prohibit and even criminalise a service provider like us.”
Currently, he said, Twitter is restricted by law from disclosing the number of requests it receives for user data through either National Security Letters (NSLs) or Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court orders – “even if that number is zero”.
On to the hacking front, first with the Guardian:
Jennifer Lawrence denounces nude photo hack as a ‘sex crime’
Actor says websites are responsible and that the theft and online publication of photos are ‘a sexual violation’
Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence has called the theft and publication of nude photos of her a “sex crime” in the actor’s first public comments since dozens of nude celebrity photos werestolen by hackers.
“It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime,” Lawrence told Vanity Fair contributing editor Sam Kashner in an interview to promote new movie Serena. “It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting.”
“The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That’s why these websites are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it. It’s so beyond me. I just can’t imagine being that detached from humanity. I can’t imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside.”
The Verge covers spooky evasion:
Surveillance drives South Koreans to encrypted messaging apps
Millions of users have fled the country’s largest chat program after new crackdown on speech
Two weeks ago, Kakao Talk users in South Korea users got an unpleasant surprise. After months of enduring public criticism, President Park Geun-Hye announced a crackdown on any messages deemed as insulting to her or generally rumor-mongering — including private messages sent through Kakao Talk, a Korean messaging app akin to WhatsApp or iMessage. Prosecutors began actively monitoring the service for violations, promising punishment for anyone spreading inappropriate content.
In response to the crackdown, South Koreans have voted with their feet, heading en masse to encrypted chat programs hosted outside the country, particularly an app called Telegram known for its encryption features. Based in Germany, Telegram reports roughly 1.5 million new South Korean users have signed up in the past seven days, giving the app more than 50 million users worldwide. Telegram’s Markus Ra says it’s not the only country where government controls have made Telegram an attractive option. “People frequently come to Telegram looking for extra security — some of them from countries with censorship issues,” Ra says. “What really makes us happy is that the users stay when the privacy scandals have died away.”
Telegram offers an option for “secret chats” that use end-to-end encryption, which means that the company facilitates key exchange but doesn’t hold the keys itself and can’t decrypt any of the messages. Created by Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov, the app’s offshore location makes legal compulsion much more difficult for South Korean prosecutors. Telegram’s South Korean user base is still just a fraction of Kakao’s 35 million users — the vast majority of cell-phone owners in South Korea — but the rapid growth shows how much privacy features can pay off in the face of high-profile censorship.
From the Associated Press, there’s an ap for that:
US investigators expand kid predator-catching app
An iPhone app designed to enlist the public’s help to catch fugitive and unknown suspected child predators led law enforcement officials to a suspect less than 36 hours after it became available. A year later, they are hoping to greatly expand their reach by making the app available in Android and Spanish versions, officials announced Tuesday.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations introduced the “Operation Predator” app for Apple products in Sept. 2013.
“This app is one piece of our commitment to ensuring child predators have absolutely nowhere to hide,” Acting ICE Director Thomas Winkowski said in a statement about the expansion.
From the Los Angeles Times, a victory in Ferguson:
Police in Ferguson can’t forbid protesters to stand still, judge rules
Officers in Ferguson, Mo., violated the Constitution by requiring peaceful protesters to keep moving rather than stand still during demonstrations that followed the Aug. 9 police shooting of an unarmed man, a federal judge said Monday.
U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry issued a preliminary injunction ordering Ferguson authorities not to adopt such a policy again. Perry emphasized that police are free to place reasonable restrictions on protests and “to use the full range of lawful means” to control and disperse crowds and to protect people from violence and vandalism.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit brought by Mustafa Abdullah, an ACLU worker, against St. Louis County and the superintendent of the Missouri Highway Patrol.
And from intelNews, curious:
Estonia arrests Russian ex-KGB intelligence officers
Authorities in Estonia have announced the arrest of two Russian citizens, said to be former employees of the Soviet-era KGB, who allegedly crossed into Estonian territory without a permit.
The men have been identified as Alexandr Ladur, 54, and Mikhail Suhoshin, 64, and are reportedly retired intelligence officers. Estonian border police said the two men were apprehended while sailing on the river Narva, which flows from Lake Peipsi into the Baltic Sea and forms part of the border between Estonia and Russia.
The two Russian citizens are being held on charges of illegally entering Estonian territory and resisting arrest.
After the jump, the latest on the Mexican student murders and the arrest of suspects in a congressional slaying, Morocco going to pot, Cold War 2.0 heats up both in the under and beneath the waves, an Indo/Pakistani border dispute turns violent, on to Hong Kong with fading protests as businesses grow restive and both sides agree to Friday talks, the two Koreas trade shots at sea, Japan seeks U.S. help in the Game of Drones against China, Japan pushes a submarine deal Down Under, Washington aims a jab at Japan over Comfort Women revisionism, and Taiwan launches its own submarine program. . .
From the Associated Press, a takeover in Mexico:
Mexico federal police take over city after attacks
On the day 43 students disappeared in this southern Mexican town, the mayor’s wife was giving a speech to local dignitaries on family social services.
In another town, it could have been a normal scene. But tough-looking civilians guarded Maria de los Angeles Pineda Villa, a woman with alleged family ties to organized crime. A police force that state and federal officials accuse of being infiltrated by drug gangs patrolled the streets.
Into this combustible mix came the students from a radical rural teacher’s college that had defied drug cartel extortion in the past. Well-known for blocking highways and other protests, they arrived with plans to solicit donations from passers-by.
Many never made it back home after the Sept. 26 police attack that killed six and injured at least 25. Officials are conducting DNA tests to determine if some of the students are among 28 charred bodies found last weekend in freshly covered mass graves.
From BBC News, major arrest in a legislator’s death:
Mexico arrests four over congressman Gomez Michel murder
Police in Mexico have arrested four men in connection with the recent killing of governing PRI party congressman Gabriel Gomez Michel. The men were arrested in the western state of Jalisco. Police released no further details.
Mr Gomez Michel, 49, and his driver were abducted in broad daylight on a motorway leading to Jalisco airport on 22 September. Their bodies were found a day later in the boot of their burnt car.
The authorities have so far not established a motive for the killings
And from left field, via the Associated Press:
Morocco mulls legal pot growing, breaking taboo
Abdelkhalek Benabdallah strode among towering marijuana plants and checked the buds for the telltale spots of white, indicating they are ready for harvest.
By September much of the crop has been picked and left to dry on the roofs of the stone-and-wood huts that dot the Rif valley, the heart Morocco’s pot-growing region. Benabdallah openly grows the crop, despite the risk: “We are regularly subject to blackmail by the gendarmes,” he said as he scythed through stalks and wrapped them into a bundle.
Morocco’s marijuana farmers live in a strange limbo in which the brilliant green fields are largely left alone, while the growers face constant police harassment. A new draft law may bring some reprieve: It aims to legalize marijuana growing for medical and industrial uses, in a radical step for a Muslim nation that could alleviate poverty and social unrest. But it faces stiff opposition in this conservative country, as well as the suspicions of farmers themselves, who think politicians can do nothing to help them.
Cold War 2.0 heats up, from the Washington Post via Guardian Weekly:
China, Russia and US test the boundaries of international airspace
A resurgent Russia and Chinese efforts to project power further afield draws US response and leads to rise in mid-air encounters
A recent spate of dangerous mid-air encounters between American military aircraft and Chinese and Russian planes over the Pacific Ocean are the result of increasingly assertive strategies by both US adversaries to project power far beyond their borders, according to the top US Air Force commander in the region.
Air Force General Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, the head of US Pacific Air Forces, said China’s naval and air forces in particular are “very much continuing to push” and becoming more active in international waters and airspace in Asia.
“They still talk about the century of humiliation in the last century. They still talk about this as the rise of China,” Carlisle said in an interview. “They still talk about this as their great nation. And they want to continue to demonstrate that.”
Cold War 2.0, submariner department, via Want China Times:
US in submarine arms race with Russia and China
The United States is launching a submarine arms race against China and Russia, Kalyan Kumar, a political analyst from New Delhi, writes in a comment piece written for the Australian edition of the International Business Times on Sept. 27.
As Vice Admiral Michael Connor, the US Navy’s Atlantic Submarine Force commander, had told Fox News previously, the rapid development of ballistic missile submarines by Russia and China will require a matching deployment of US submarines. Russia announced its decision to upgrade its submarine fleet and even released photos of the Akula II-class nuclear submarines last week.
Kumar said that the United States is concerned about Russia as it retains its nuclear capability from the Soviet era. Russia is cultivating this capability and appears to harbor aspirations for greater territory and influence. China is also working to increase the number of its ballistic missile submarines, according to Connor. A report by the Office of Naval Intelligence noted that the PLA Navy has evolved from a littoral force to a force capable of a wide range of missions.
From the Times of India, a border dispute turns violent:
Pakistan targets BSF posts, villages; India hits back with heavy fire
India has turned the heat on Pakistan with massive retaliatory fire in response to ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) as well as the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir, leading to civilian casualties on both sides.
After five Indian civilians were killed and 34 injured in heavy fire from across the border in Arnia sub-sector of Jammu on Monday, which was followed by Pakistan targeting 40 BSF border outposts and adjoining villages through the night, India retaliated in even greater measure. Intelligence agencies tracking reports in Pakistani media on Tuesday estimated that more than 15 Pakistani civilians had died in the firing by BSF soldiers, mainly in the Sialkot sector.
No casualties were, however, reported on the Indian side in the latest exchange of fire.
On to Hong Kong with fading protests, first with the Guardian:
Protests fade in Hong Kong as demonstrators take stock
As much of Hong Kong returns to work, the question is now whether Beijing will act on the message sent to China
They carried umbrellas and goggles for the teargas, but also textbooks and homework. The mass pro-democracy movement that seized the streets of Hong Kong has been obviously and overwhelmingly youthful.
With numbers shrinking rapidly, and hopes of winning meaningful reform fading even faster, the question now is what lies ahead for these “angry – but peaceful” young men and women. Will the unprecedented protests embolden them to fight for their beliefs in future, or convince them that resistance to Beijing’s will is futile?
“People are criticising what we are doing as pointless and saying we won’t achieve anything, but history has shown us that is not the case,” student leader Joshua Wong told the crowd last week. “All our actions are like planting a seed.”
And businesses get riled, via South China Morning Post:
Patience wears thin among Hong Kong businesses over Occupy protests
Business groups say their takings are down and call on the protesters to pull out of major shopping districts so they can recover
Patience among businesses is wearing thin as the Occupy Central protest – along with the traffic jams it has set off – entered its 10th day.
Yesterday, groups of business owners and residents took part in three separate events to complain about disruptions to their sales and operations caused by blocked streets, in an attempt to pressure the pro-democracy movement to halt its action.
Twenty groups representing small and medium enterprises issued a joint call for protesters to pull out of the prime shopping districts of Mong Kok and Causeway Bay first, before formal talks with the government begin.
Talks ahead, via BBC News:
Hong Kong protests: Formal talks agreed as protests shrink
Representatives of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters have agreed to hold formal talks with the government.
No date has been set but the students made it clear the talks would be called off if the remaining demonstrators were cleared from the streets by force.
As the protests continued for their second week, crowds began to die down early on Tuesday. Pro-democracy activists are protesting at China’s plans to vet candidates when Hong Kong holds elections in 2017.
More from South China Morning Post:
Students and Hong Kong government reach breakthrough on talks to end Occupy Central stand-off
Students at forefront of protests agree to meet top government officials on Friday; Legco meeting postponed for a week amid safety fears
Students at the forefront of the pro-democracy protests that have swept the city have agreed to hold talks with top government officials including Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Friday to find a solution to the political impasse.
The agreement was reached after preliminary talks between the Federation of Students and Undersecretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Lau Kong-wah.
Lau said Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung and Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam Chi-yuen would join Lam at the talks, which are scheduled to start at 4pm on Friday. Media coverage will be allowed, though the meeting will be closed to the public. The venue for the meeting is yet to be decided.
Despite the talks, Federation of Students’ deputy leader Lester Shum said the protests would continue until there were clear signs of progress.
The two Koreas trade shots at sea, via Global Times:
S. Korea, DPRK trade warning fires in western sea border
Naval ships of the two Koreas traded warning fires in the western sea boundary after a patrol ship of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) violated the disputed maritime border, Yonhap News Agency and YTN reported Tuesday.
One DPRK patrol ship sailed around 1 km south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) at about 9:50 am, violating the disputed western sea border, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) was quoted as saying.
A South Korean high-speed boat, or called PGM (guided missile patrol gun boat), issued warning communications to make the DPRK ship return to its territorial waters, but the DPRK ship stayed there until the South Korean ship issued warning fires with machine gun.
Japan seeks U.S. help in the Game of Drones against China, via Want China Times:
Japan seeks US help to deal with China’s maritime expansion
The Japan Self-Defense Force has requested assistance from the United States in defending the Japanese administration of the Diaoyutai (Senkaku or Diaoyu) islands, reports the Tokyo-based Asahi Shimbun.
Chinese boats began to conduct routine patrols in the area around the disputed islands after the Japanese government nationalized them in September 2012. Akinori Eto, the new Japanese defense minister, advocated a stronger military relationship with the US to deal with global security threats during a budget committee meeting of the house on Saturday.
Eto said it is time for Tokyo to request assistance from Washington under Article Five of the US-Japan Security Treaty to deter the encroachment of Chinese military in the East China Sea. Revisions have also been suggested for the first time to the US-Japan Defense Cooperation Guidelines because the original document did not specify how Japan should deal with a situation in which Chinese special forces disguised themselves as fishermen.
Japan pushes a submarine deal Down Under, from the Yomiuri Shimbun:
Japan eyes sub exports to Australia / Soryu world’s largest diesel submarine
Japan is expected to begin discussions with the Australian government about exporting domestically developed submarine technology, including the state-of-the-art Soryu Class submarine, which would be the first of its kind, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The two countries are likely to reach an agreement to begin discussions on the joint development of submarines at a meeting between Defense Minister Akinori Eto and his Australian counterpart, David Johnston, who will probably visit Japan later this month, according to sources.
With an eye on China’s maritime expansion into the Asia-Pacific region, the government aims to step up security cooperation with Australia through the provision of advanced submarine technology, the sources said.
And Washington aims a jab at Japan over Comfort Women revisionism, via the Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Experts Challenge Abe View of ‘Comfort Women’
Four U.S. experts have weighed in on the debate over whether erroneous reporting by the Asahi newspaper over “comfort women”–women forced to serve Japanese soldiers at wartime brothels–damaged Japan’s international reputation.
The experts said now-discredited testimony by a Japanese man named Seiji Yoshida, who said he had helped abduct Korean women for sexual slavery, didn’t influence U.S. views of the issue. In August, Asahi withdrew articles from the 1980s and 1990s that had cited the testimony.
The four experts–Dennis Halpin of John Hopkins University, Mindy Kotler of Asia Policy Point, Mike Mochizuki of George Washington University and Larry Niksch of the Center for Strategic and International Studies–were involved in drafting a 2007 resolution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. The resolution said Japan “should formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Forces’ coercion of young women into sexual slavery.”
And for our final item, via Want China Times, Taiwan sets its sites on subs:
Taiwan to build its own submarines: official
After waiting in vain to purchase submarines from the US, Taiwan has begun preparing to build vessels on its own, Taiwan’s deputy defense minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said Monday.
Chiu, who led a Taipei delegation to the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference 2014, said that in addition to acquiring submarines from abroad, Taiwan is aggressively developing defensive weapons on its own and was preparing to build its own submarines.
The deputy minister also urged Washington to continue providing Taiwan with the technology and weapons it needs to defend itself, especially advanced fighter jets and diesel-electric submarines.
