Taiwan Says Chinese Air Force Conducts Drills Over Island’s South

EU Nations Can Restrict Vendors Under New 5G Guidelines, Huawei at Risk

BRUSSELS—EU countries can restrict or exclude high-risk 5G providers from core parts of their telecoms networks, new EU guidelines show, dealing a potential blow to China’s Huawei Technologies. The non-binding recommendations, set out in an EU document seen by Reuters, are part of a set of measures aimed at addressing cybersecurity risks at national and EU-wide level, in particular concerns related to China’s Huawei, though they do not identify any particular country or company. The document, which lays out guidelines agreed by EU member states, warned of the risks of interference by a third country in the 5G supply chain, as well the risk of depending on a single supplier, to justify a tough line. EU countries should assess the risk profile of suppliers on a national or EU level…

TAIPEI—Chinese air force planes passed through the narrow Bashi Channel to the south of Taiwan on a long-range exercise on Jan. 23, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said, the first such drills near the island publicized since Taiwan held elections this month.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory to be taken by force if needed. It has routinely sent bombers and other aircraft close to the island since President Tsai Ing-wen first took office in 2016.

Beijing believes Tsai is pushing for the island’s formal independence.

Tsai says Taiwan is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name. She won re-election by a landslide this month on a platform of standing up to China.

In a short statement, the Defense Ministry said Chinese aircraft including H-6 bombers and KJ-500 early warning and control aircraft flew to the south of Taiwan through the Bashi Channel which separates the island from the Philippines.

After carrying out drills above the Pacific Ocean the aircraft returned to China, the ministry said.

Taiwan’s armed forces have a well-honed system to monitor and respond to such drills, it added, without giving details or saying whether Taiwanese fighter jets were scrambled.

China’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Following Tsai’s re-election earlier this month, Chinese state media suggested the country could flex its muscles near Taiwan to register Beijing’s continued displeasure with Tsai.

The seas around Taiwan are a closely-watched zone not only for Taipei and Beijing.

A U.S. warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait last week, and the U.S. Navy has been conducting sporadic sailings there since 2018.

China sailed its latest aircraft carrier, the Shandong, through the Taiwan Strait twice in the run-up to Taiwan’s Jan. 11 election. Taiwan denounced that as attempted intimidation.

By Ben Blanchard

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Some Kenyans Say Chinese-Built Railway Leaves Them in the Dust

KIU, Kenya—The soporific buzz of bees fills the abandoned train station at Kiu, a two-hour drive from Kenya’s capital Nairobi. Rusting rail sleepers lay on the grass outside; a slender snake slithers away after footsteps disturb its sunbaked snooze. A new Chinese-built rail track lies about 500 meters away from the old colonial-era railway station, which closed down in 2012. But the new high-speed trains thunder through without stopping; Kiu is just a dusty blur glimpsed through the window. Residents of this eastern Kenya town serving 6,000 people, feel bereft without their station and the old railway line, which they depended on to get to work, or the nearest hospitals. Traveling by road is a slow and costly alternative. Opened in 2017, the new $3.3 billion railway is part of…