Theresa Fallon
“Many people would like to see China play a constructive role, but I think now that we're in the third year of the war, this idea is wearing a bit thin.”
20 hours ago
Mahjoob Zweiri
“What we have witnessed in the past few hours is that they talk about an agreement on the first stage. It could be understood that Hamas wants to release itself from the pressure globally, including the United States. So, they are giving concessions on the first stage, which leads to 40 days of ceasefire and exchange of captives. I think 33 old and sick captives. And then moving on to other stages. But we are seeing that we are going back to the main conditions, which means we are still talking about the main principles [complete ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza] that Hamas talked about. As the time of some sort of agreement on the first stage came, the Israeli military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to say actually, there is no agreement: We will go to Rafah regardless of any agreement. It reflects the divisions within the Israelis and crisis within the Israeli politics. On the other hand, Hamas has been more cautious. They do not want to show real progress made but they also do not want to say things have not changed. I think it's obvious some change has happened otherwise we would not expect [CIA chief] William Burns to be in the region.”
20 hours ago
Theresa Fallon
“Many people would like to see China play a constructive role, but I think now that we're in the third year of the war, this idea is wearing a bit thin.”
20 hours ago
Mahjoob Zweiri
“What we have witnessed in the past few hours is that they talk about an agreement on the first stage. It could be understood that Hamas wants to release itself from the pressure globally, including the United States. So, they are giving concessions on the first stage, which leads to 40 days of ceasefire and exchange of captives. I think 33 old and sick captives. And then moving on to other stages. But we are seeing that we are going back to the main conditions, which means we are still talking about the main principles [complete ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza] that Hamas talked about. As the time of some sort of agreement on the first stage came, the Israeli military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to say actually, there is no agreement: We will go to Rafah regardless of any agreement. It reflects the divisions within the Israelis and crisis within the Israeli politics. On the other hand, Hamas has been more cautious. They do not want to show real progress made but they also do not want to say things have not changed. I think it's obvious some change has happened otherwise we would not expect [CIA chief] William Burns to be in the region.”
20 hours ago
“Our strategy is to line up allies in a low-key manner and work on building consensus before pursuing any official application [to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)]. That way, things tend to happen smoothly as a matter of course. China, on the other hand, surprised the world when it moved to officially join the trade pact of 11 Pacific Rim countries, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan and New Zealand. Beijing's surprise bid for inclusion does not mean Taipei should feel pressured into making a parallel bid. There's no set timetable for inclusion after an official bid. There are certain procedures, and there has to be consensus from member countries that inclusion is appropriate.”