Transcript

9.30.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of The Washington Post for Tuesday,
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September thirtieth, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, RADIOI is
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a reading service intended for people who are blind or
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of other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed
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in material. You read it for today is Cindy Fraser.
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Today's front page headlines from The Washington Post are net
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Nyahuo agrees to Trump's Gaza plan. Hama's official says it
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will review proposal which calls for its disarmament. Next, fun
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and truce still out of reach. No breakthrough in Trump meeting.
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Senate has two chances today to avert shut down. Our
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next headline military brass question hexcess strategy shift in priorities
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for armed forces draws unusual level of criticism. Next Lally
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Weymouth nineteen forty three to twenty twenty five. Journalists from
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Graham family with glitz and grit. Next behind Taiwani's party,
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Chinese espionage and a gang group members at Nexus of
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Politics and organized Crime help advance Beijing's interests on the island.
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And the final headline from to day's front page, deployment
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to Portland is riddled with uncertainties. Now, let's turn to
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our first item entitled net Nyahu agrees to Trump's Gaza plan.
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Ramas's official says it will review proposal which calls for
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its disarmament by Michael Bernbaum and Emily Davies. His RIVN
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netnahu agreed Monday to a U. S
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backed deal to end nearly two years of war in
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Gaza amid a fresh push by President Donald Trump, but
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obstacles to peace remained, amid questions about whether Hamas would
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also sign on. His reading signof was a significant moment
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in the twisting conflict, which has been marked by deals
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and dip willmatic initiatives that have quickly fallen apart. The
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initiative agreed to Monday was notable because it appeared to
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have high level Israeli by in along with assent from
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neighboring Arab nations, but it remained unclear whether Hamas would
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agree to a deal that would lead to its disarmament
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and potential exile from Gaza. Nor was it clear that
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net Yahoo could square his sharp opposition to Palestinian's datehood
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with a plan that on paper could go down that road. Trump,
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speaking after more than two hours of meetings at the
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White House betrayed little of that caution, declaring with no
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evidence that the deal was likely to result not just
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in peace in Gaza, but a comprehensive restructuring of thousands
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of years of Middle Eastern relations. Trump called it a
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beautiful day, potentially one of the great days ever in civilization.
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Speaking alongside Netanyahu at the White House, the deal the
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White House published Monday foresees hostilities ceasing immediately and hostages
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being released within seventy two hours of both sides agreeing
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to the deal. Today is a historic day for peace,
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the President said. Even has he acknowledged that Hamas had
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not yet agreed to the deal, Let's call it eternal
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peace in the Middle East. I'm hearing that Hamas wants
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to get this done too, and that's a good thing,
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Trump said, adding that if Hamas doesn't agree, the White
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House would give Israel full backing to do what you
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have to do. Net Yahoo, speaking after Trump, praise the U. S.
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President's efforts with flowery language. We're taking a critical step
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towards both ending the war in Gaza and setting the
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stage for dramatically advancing peace in the Middle East, the
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Israeli leaders said, I support your plan to end the
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war in Gaza, which achieves our warrings. Ahamas officials said
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that the organizationation would review the proposal. We do not
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wish for the war to continue, senior Hamas official Tahar
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al Munu told Alarbi TV. We will examine any proposal
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that does not conflict with the interests of the Palestinians.
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But Nunyahu hedged with details that could make it difficult
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for Arab nations to sign on pledging to maintain an
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Israeli security presence inside Gaza for the foreseeable future. The
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twenty point agreement released by the White House on Monday
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would pull Israeli forces back from Gaza in phases. Hamas
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members who commit to peaceful coexistence with Israel and hand
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over or destroy their weapons would be given amnesty, and
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members who choose to leave would be granted safe passage
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to other countries. There would be a broader effort to
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demilitarize Gaza. Many of the points in the agreement lack details,
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potentially giving Israel opportunities to slow or halt the pro
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of handing Gaza back to full Palestinian control. The agreement
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differed from a plan that the White House circulated last
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week by giving Israeli security forces a larger role in
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training a local administrative force and in maintaining control of
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Gaza's extensive border areas, and it envisions an Israeli pulled
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out from territory that is linked to demilitarization that requires
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ongoing agreement from the Israeli government, another change to the
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original plan that won backing from Arab nations and that
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would have the effect of slowing or stopping Israel's departure
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from Gaza. Still, many Arab and Muslim majority nations praised
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Trump's efforts. On Monday, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
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the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt
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said in a joint statement that they welcomed President Trump's
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announcement of his proposal. The Palestine and Authority also backed
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the plan in a statement. Even as net Nyahu lavished
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praise on Trump, he peppered his support for the plan
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with conditions that appeared to aim at addressing his far
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right coalition partners who don't want him to stop the war.
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Hamas Will be disarmed, Gaza will be demilitarized, Israel will
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retain security responsibility. He said. Israel will conduct further withdrawals
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linked to the extent of disarmament and demilitarization, but will
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remain in the security perimeter for the foreseeable future. But
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he added that if Hamas didn't agree to the deal,
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he would escalate Israel's effort to eliminate any possible security
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threat from Gaza. This can be done the easy way,
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or it can be done the hard way, but it
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will be done, net Nyahu said. Net Nyahu did not
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make eye contact with Trump, even as he called him
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a friend. The mood between the two leaders appeared to
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lighten after net Nahou played off Trump's pronunciation of the
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Abraham Accords. But back home, net Nyahu will face pressure
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from his influential right wing and far right allies, who
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have long rejected withdrawing from Gaza and have demanded that
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Israel permanently occupy the strip. In recent weeks, his National
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Security Minister Irma Ben Gvir has called for building an
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Israeli settlement for police officers on the Gaza beach, and
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his Finance Minister Besileel Smotrich has threatened to withdraw from
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the coalition and collapse the government if Israel did not
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proceed with a full military occupation of the enclave. Jonathan Pennakoff,
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director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the
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Atlantic Council, said other Israeli political parties might be willing
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to join net Yahoo to save his government if the
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far right were to quit in protest over ending the war. Politically,
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this deal is more likely to come to fruition than
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any other in the past months, in part because Israel's
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political scene has changed as the country gets closer to elections.
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Pennakoff said. The Israeli sanov came after Netnyahu called Katari
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Prime Minister Mohammed bin aldiraman Aldani at Trump's Behast, to
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apologize for the airstrike on an apartment building in the
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Katari capital of Doha where senior Hamas officials were gathered.
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The White House said the strike, which killed a Katari
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security officer, infuriated Qatar, a close ally of Washington that
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for years has served as a mediator between Israel and
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Hamas at the request of both Washington and Israel. It
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also frustrated Trump, who condemned the strike publicly, and he
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appeared Monday to side with Gatari leaders who had demanded
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an apology before continuing any further mediation between the warring sides.
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In the three way call that included Trump and the
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Qatari and Israeli leaders, Knight Nyahu expressed deep regret that
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Israel's missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar unintentionally killed
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the Qatari serviceman, the White House said in his statement.
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He further expressed regret that in targeting Hamas' leadership during
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hostage negotiations, issue A violated Qatari sovereignty, and he affirmed
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that Israel will not conduct such an attack again in
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the future. Trump, who came into office vowing to end
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the fighting, has renewed efforts in recent weeks to reach
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a peace deal. Until now, his attempts have failed to
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gain momentum and offered little relief for suffering Palestinians. With
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the U S leader growing increasingly frustrated by nat Nyahu's
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handling of the war, the president met last week on
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the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly with the
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leaders of the Arab and Muslim majority nations to shock
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the deal, and net Nyahu and White House officials spent
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the week end discussing the details of the plan. French
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President Emanuel Macron, who clashed with Trump over Makron's recognition
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of Palestinian's statehood last week, said he supported the peace effort.
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I welcome President at Real Donald Trump's commitment to ending
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the war in Gaza and securing the release of all hostages.
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MacLuran posted on x I expect Israel to engage resolutely
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on this basis. Ramas has no choice but to immediately
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release all hostages and follow this plan. Net Yah has
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spent parts of Sunday in meetings with US officials, including
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Trump Envoy Steve Whitcock and Trump's son in law Jared Kushna,
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hashing out terms of the plan. Trump's plan, which was
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crafted with heavy input from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair,
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would hold the door open to an eventual Palestinian state.
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It would begin with the immediate cessation of military operations,
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would freeze battle lines in place, and would require Ramas
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to release all twenty living hostages and the remains of
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more than two dozen believed dead within seventy two hours.
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All of Hamas's offensive, weapony would be destroyed. According to
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a twenty point version of the plan released by the
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White House on Monday. For now, Gaza would be run
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by a transitional technocratic Palestinian committee that is responsible for
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administering day to day public services for its residents. The
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committee would be overseen by a Board of Peace run
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by Trump, and it would include Blair, with other members
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and heads of state to be announced. That governance would
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remain in place until the Palestinian authority has completed reform
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efforts and takes back control of Gaza, a potential pathway
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to reunited Palestinian control of the West Bank and Gaza
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that could eventually lead to Palestinian statehood. The plan was
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initially twenty one points, but one of the demands was
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the Israeli apology to Qatar that was accomplished on Monday.
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The plan could finally be a meaningful step forward to
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ending the war, getting the hostages home, and ending the
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humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, said Ilan Goldenburg, who worked on
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Gaza peace plans as a senior White House adviser in
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the Biden administration. However, it is critical that President Trump
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hold all of the party's feet to the fire and
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not get drawn into a multi month negotiating process which
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will only serve to prolong the conflict and result in
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even more depth and destruction. Net Na, who has expressed
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opposition to a Palestinian state, but maintaining conditions for one,
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is a key demand for both the Palestinians and Israel's
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Arab neighbors. Everybody is just waiting to see what is
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going on, what net Nyaho is going to approve, and
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what he is going to say no to, so we
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can give a complete idea of the vision of Egypt
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toward this American proposal, said a former Egyptian official with
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knowledge of the talks, whose spoke on the condition of
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anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. Arab leaders felt that until recently,
13:07
there was no sense of urgency from Trump about ending
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the war, the former official said. The person said regional
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leaders believe that a European push to recognize a Palestinian
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state changed that dynamic, but some prominent Arab voices said
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it was possible Trump could achieve peace through ongoing pressure
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on net Yahu. President Trump should not take no for
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an answer from net Nyahu, said former Egyptian Foreign Minister
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Amr Musa. The best outcome, he said, would be that
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Trump leads a movement toward peace. He said Egypt's red
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lines are that there be no eviction of Palestinians from Gaza,
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along with the acceptance of a Palestinian state. Gerry She
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and Jerusalem. Claire Parker and Cairo Hazambalushka in Toronto, their
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Soroka and Tel Aviv, and Karen Deyan and Onomita Kallar
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in Washington contributed to this report. Our next item is
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entitled funding truce still out of reach, no breakthrough in
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Trump meeting. Senate has two chances to day to avert
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shut down by Riley Begging, Hannahn Adenson and Marianna soomayor
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A government shut down early Wednesday looked increasingly likely after
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a White House meeting with congressional leaders left Democrats and
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Republicans no closer to agreeing on how to fund continued operations.
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I think we're headed into a shutdown because the Democrats
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won't do the right thing. Vice President J. D. Vann
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said after the meeting. Democratic leaders said they raise their
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concerns about health care with President Donald Trump, who Senate
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Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, Democrat from New York, said
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seemed to understand for the first time the magnitude of
14:53
this crisis and indicated that the two sides remained far
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apart on an agreement. Republican leader signaled that they were
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unwilling to consider democrats demands, and they urged Senate Democrats
15:05
to agree to a GOP plan. The House has already
15:08
passed that would extend current funding until November twenty first.
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If Congress fails to approve a funding extension by the
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end of Tuesday, spending laws will expire and the U.
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S Government will become a bare bones operation, continuing only
15:24
functions necessary to protect life or public property. The Senate
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is expected to vote on two proposals Tuesday that, if passed,
15:33
would avert a shutdown, but Republicans and Democrats remain steadfastly
15:37
opposed to the other party's plan, and neither proposal is
15:41
expected to get enough votes. Republicans are proposing to extend
15:45
funding through November twenty first to buy more time for
15:49
bipartisan negotiations over full year appropriations bills. They have rejected
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Democrats' requests for health care changes along with the extension,
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arguing the Democrats should accept the bill because it does
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not include any controversial policy priorities and would keep the
16:05
government running. This is purely a hostage taking exercise on
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the part of Democrats. We are willing to sit down
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and work with them on some of the issues they
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want to talk about, whether it's the extension of premium
16:18
tax credits with reforms, We're willing to have that conversation,
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said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican from South Dakota.
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But as a right now, this is a hijacking of
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the American people. Democrats have offered a counterproposal that would
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extend funding through October thirty first, and include several of
16:36
their preferred policy changes, including about one trillion dollars from
16:40
medicaid by reversing cuts from the GOP tax and spending law,
16:44
a permanent extension of subsidies for people buying health insurance
16:48
on the Affordable Care Act market place, and restrictions on
16:51
the president's ability to clawback spending approved by Congress. They
16:56
say Republicans would be blamed for a shutdown because GOP
16:59
leaders have refused to negotiate with them, although at least
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seven Democrats would have to vote to pass a funding extension,
17:06
even if all Republicans voted for the GOP bill. Republican
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senators Ran Paul from Kentucky and Lisa Markowski from Alaska
17:15
have said they will vote against it without changes. Trump's
17:19
meeting with leaders of both political parties Monday afternoon came
17:23
after he abruptly canceled a similar meeting last week, citing
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what he called democrats un serious and ridiculous demands. Trump
17:32
told Democrats he'd like to make a deal on the subsidies,
17:35
said one person in the room for the meeting, speaking
17:37
on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks. Another
17:41
person familiar with a White House's position, also speaking on
17:45
the condition of anonymity, said the President was open to
17:49
discussing the issue, but separate from funding the government. They
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need to do the right thing, keep the government open,
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and then we can talk about it. That person said.
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Some modern Republicans support democrats call to extend or make
18:03
permanent the Affordable Care Act subsidies put in place during
18:07
the COVID nineteen pandemic, arguing that constituents would face increased
18:11
health care costs if the subsidies expire. But adding that
18:15
policy to the funding extension would create challenges. Members of
18:19
the ultra conservative House Freedom Caucus have pledged to vote
18:22
against any funding package that includes an extension to the
18:26
ACA subsidies. Republican leadership must not cut a deal at
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the eleventh hour to extend the very COVID era inflationary subsidies,
18:35
crushing working families with unaffordable insurance. Representative Chip Roy, Republican
18:41
from Texas wrote on x the Republican proposal passed in
18:45
the House on September nineteenth, primarily along party lines, but
18:49
with the support of one Democrat, Representative Jared Golden from Maine.
18:54
The Senate took up the Republican and Democratic proposals that afternoon,
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and both failed to get the sixty votes needed under
19:01
the chamber's rules. The House had been scheduled to come
19:04
back to Washington from Aurashashana recess this week, but Speaker
19:08
Mike Johnson, Republican from Louisiana, said the Chamber would not
19:12
reconvene until October seventh, leaving the Senate to pass a
19:16
House measure or force a shut down. House Democrats, however,
19:20
were still planning to return to the capital on Monday.
19:24
It is unclear which policy compromise might get enough Democrats
19:28
to support the funding extension, but many have indicated that
19:32
a promise to negotiate over extending the ACA subsidies would
19:35
not be enough. These people have been trying to repeal
19:39
and displace people off the Affordable Care Act since twenty ten.
19:43
House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffrey's, Democrat from New York, told
19:47
reporters Monday and on behalf of the American people were
19:51
supposed to simply take their word that their willing to negotiate.
19:55
The American people know that would be an unreasonable thing
19:58
for us to do. The White House Office of Management
20:01
and Budget ratcheted up the pressure on Democrats last week
20:05
by directing federal agencies to consider mass firings under a
20:09
shut down, with the firings not reversed, one's funding is restored.
20:14
The Budget Office urge agencies to prioritize layoffs in any
20:17
program that is not funded by another law, such as
20:21
the Republican's One Big Beautiful Bill enacted in July, and
20:25
that does not align with Trump's priorities. The GOP backed
20:29
law passes summer provided ample resources to ensure that many
20:33
core Trump administration priorities will continue uninterrupted, o MB officials
20:38
road in the memo, programs that did not benefit from
20:41
an infusion of vanitary appropriations will bear the brunt of
20:44
a shut down. The memo reflects months of tensions between
20:48
Congress and Trump's Budget Office over spending powers. House Appropriations
20:53
Committee Chairman Tom Cole, Republican from Oklahoma, told reporters Monday
20:58
that the best way for Congress to retain its spending
21:01
authority in this fight is to pass the funding extension
21:05
and continue working on bipartisan appropriations bills. The power of
21:09
the purse pretty clearly rests with Congress as long as
21:12
we do our job, and if we continue to do
21:15
our job, then I don't think they'll have any undue influence,
21:18
he said. If we don't, if we stumble into a shutdown,
21:22
then they got to do their job. We can avoid
21:25
that by just keeping the government open and continuing to talk.
21:29
Democrats say the threat of additional federal layoffs hasn't broken
21:33
their result, in part because they think the administration would
21:37
seek to continue firing federal workers even without a shutdown.
21:41
If we're going to pass a budget for the United
21:43
States government, we need to save health care for millions
21:47
of Americans period. Why won't Republicans take that deal? Won't
21:52
even negotiate over it? Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat from Massachusetts,
21:56
said in an interview. This is a battle of and
22:01
also a pretty clear dividing line between where Trump and
22:04
the Republicans stand and where the Democrats are ready to
22:07
hold the line and fight. The Office of Personnel Management
22:11
released more than seventy pages of new guidance detailing how
22:15
federal agencies should handle a possible shutdown. Although much of
22:19
the information was standards identical to what OPM publishes ahead
22:23
of every shutdown, Trump officials made a few key edits
22:26
over the weekend that suggest the administration is preparing to
22:30
implement mass layoffs. A whole section added Sunday is devoted
22:35
to reductions in force or RIfS, the federal term for firings.
22:40
The section begins with a strong suggestion that agencies should
22:43
begin deciding whom to cut immediately in consultation with their
22:47
staff lawyers. It notes that any federal employees responsible for
22:52
caring at rifks will be asked to keep working during
22:55
a shutdown. OMB has determined that agencies are authorized direct
23:00
employees to perform work necessary to administer the RIFF process
23:04
during the lapse and appropriations. The updated guidance states furloughed
23:09
federal employees who otherwise would be barred from working during
23:12
a shutdown would be allowed to check their federal emails
23:15
on government devices to see whether they'd been laid off,
23:19
The document says, and agencies are specifically allowed to process
23:24
terminations as part of their orderly shut down procedures. It notes,
23:28
but most federal agencies do not seem to have begun
23:31
preparing for mass firings as directed. Over the past several days,
23:36
shut down related communications to staff and meetings at multiple agencies,
23:40
including the State Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
23:45
have not included discussions of layoffs, according to records obtained
23:49
by The Washington Post and several employees who spoke on
23:52
the condition of anonymity to describe private deliberations, and one
23:56
Interior Department meeting about the shutdown set as staffer there,
24:01
leadership began by declaring that they could not discuss media
24:04
reports about reductions in force. The reticence did nothing to
24:08
calm fears employees are freaking out. The staffers said gravely disracted.
24:15
Some publicly posted contingency plans for the shutdown make no
24:20
mention of possible layoffs, including documents shared by the Labor
24:23
Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. One
24:27
person familiar with HHS's decision making behind the guidance noted
24:31
that o p m's directions suggested only that federal agencies
24:35
consider layoffs. Kadia Gooba, Marianna Olfaro, and Theodoric Mayer contributed
24:41
to this report. Our next item for to Day's front
24:45
page is entitled Military brass question Hexcess strategy Shifting priorities
24:51
for armed forces draws unusual level of criticism by Noah Robertson,
24:56
Tera copp, Alex Horton, and Dan Mamoeuth. Military leaders have
25:01
raised serious concerns about the Trump administration's forthcoming defense strategy,
25:06
exposing a divide between the Pentagon's political and uniformed leadership.
25:11
As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summons top grass to a
25:15
highly unusual summon in Virginia on Tuesday, According to eight
25:19
current and former officials, the critiques from multiple top officers,
25:24
including General Dan Kane, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
25:27
staff come as Hexseth re orders U s military priorities,
25:32
centering the Pentagon on perceived threats to the homeland, narrowing
25:36
US competition with China, and downplaying America's role in Europe
25:40
and Africa. President Donald Trump will attend the abrupt gathering
25:44
of Generals and admirals and Marine Corps based Quantico, where
25:47
Hecseth is expected to deliver remarks on military standards and
25:51
the warrior ethos, even as uniformed leaders fear mass firings
25:56
or a drastic reorganization of the combatant command structure and
26:00
military hierarchy. The debate over the National Defense Strategy, the
26:05
Pentagon's primary guide for how it prioritizes resources and positions
26:09
US forces around the world, is the latest challenge for
26:13
top military officials navigating the Trump administration's unorthodox approach to
26:18
the armed forces. People familiar with the editing process, who,
26:22
like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe
26:25
sensitive deliberations, described a growing sense of frustration with a
26:30
plan they consider myopic and potentially irrelevant given the President's
26:35
highly personal and sometimes contradictory approach to foreign policy. Pentagon
26:41
spokesperson Sean Parnell declined to comment on the substance of
26:45
the classified document or whether concerns had been raised in
26:48
the editing process. Secretary hexap has tasked the development of
26:53
a national defense strategy that is laser focused on advancing
26:57
President Trump's common sense America First, Peace or Strength agenda,
27:01
Parnell said in a statement. This process is still ongoing.
27:06
Trump political appointees within the Pentagon's Policy Office, including some
27:10
officials who have previously criticized long standing American commitments to
27:15
Europe and the Middle East, drafted this strategy, now in
27:18
its final edits. The draft plan has been shared widely
27:22
with military leaders from the global combatant commands to the
27:26
Joint Chief of Staff, some of whom questioned what his
27:29
priorities would mean for a force designed to respond to
27:32
crises around the globe. According to three people familiar with
27:35
the matter, dissent during the drafting process is normal, but
27:40
the number of officials concerned about the document and the
27:43
depth of their criticism is unusual. Several people said Kine
27:48
shared his concerns with top Pentagon leadership in recent weeks.
27:51
According to two people familiar with the matter, he gave
27:55
hex f very frank feedback, One of the two people said,
27:59
noting that pent On policy chief Elbridge Colby was also
28:02
included in the discussion. I don't know if Headset's even
28:06
understands a magnitude of the NDS, which is why I
28:09
think Kin tried so hard, the second person said. Kin
28:14
has tried to get the NDS to remain focused on
28:17
preparing the military to deter and if necessary, defeat China
28:22
in a conflict. Hexth and its policy officials have signaled
28:26
that the Pentagon will withdraw some forces from Europe and
28:30
consolidate commands in a way that unnerves some U. S allies,
28:34
particularly amid Russia's war with Ukraine and its recent repeated
28:39
incourasions in too NATO airspace. For years, Pentagon's strategy has
28:44
been anchored in the idea that the nation's best defense
28:48
was in building and maintaining strong military alliances abroad. Critics
28:54
of that approach within the administration have argued that it
28:57
has mired the US in expensive wars on foreign soil
29:01
instead of securing domestic U. S interests. Trump's approach so
29:05
far has largely been to proud allies to spend more
29:09
on their own defense at times, alienating Republican defense hawks
29:13
in Congress who are also urging higher defense spending at home.
29:18
While Trump has undertaken bombing campaigns in Yemen and Ran,
29:22
his main focus has been surging the military toward missions
29:26
close to American soil. Under his command, this year, the
29:30
Pentagon has struck alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea,
29:34
deployed U S troops and weapons to the southern border,
29:38
and sent the National Guard and Marines to U S
29:40
cities where they have aided deportation efforts and sought to
29:44
curtail what the President has called out of control urban crime.
29:49
Some of those domestic deployments are being challenged in court.
29:53
Over the weekend, Trump on social media ordered troops to Portland, Oregon,
29:58
saying he was allowing them to to use quote full
30:01
force to protect immigration and Customs enforcement agents whose operations
30:05
have drawn sporadic protests in the city. Hexas said Sunday
30:10
in a memo to the Oregon National Guard that the
30:13
mission would include the federalizing of about two hundred Guard members.
30:18
Much of the internal criticism of the new strategy regards
30:21
to document's emphasis on the threats to the U S. Homeland,
30:25
even as China continues a rapid military build up that
30:29
uniform leaders have warned is narrowing the US's edge in
30:32
the Pacific. According to several people familiar with the matter,
30:36
there are still substantial sections of the document that do
30:39
focus on China, but these are largely concentrated on the
30:43
threat of an attack on Taiwan rather than global competition
30:46
with the US's largest adversary. Five people said Kolby has
30:51
long warned that the US military is unprepared for the
30:54
risk of a Chinese invasion and call for Washington to
30:58
shift attention and resources towards the problem. There's a concern
31:02
that it's just not very well thought out. One former
31:06
official set of the strategy. The document's tone is also
31:10
far more partisan than past strategies, saying the Biden administration
31:15
caused an erosion of America's military and rhetoric, similar to
31:18
Hexath's speeches, two people familiar with the plans said. Hexath meanwhile,
31:24
is leading an overhaul of the armed forces, promising to
31:27
cuts to roughly eight hundred generals and admirals overseeing the
31:30
U s military by twenty percent and redraw the lines
31:34
of the US combatant commands. The Secretary has already fired
31:38
senior officers, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Charles Q. Brown,
31:43
Junior and Chief of Naval Operations, and Melisa Franchetti. A
31:47
disproportionate number of women have been relieved during the sackings.
31:52
The Pentagon's interim defense strategy, which The Washington Post first
31:56
reported in detail in March, included a similar focus on
31:59
Tip Juan and homeland defense, going as far as to
32:03
urge Pentagon leaders to assume risk in other parts of
32:06
the globe to meet both priorities. That interim document also
32:11
hinted as the emerging strategy to use military personnel in
32:15
a more assertive role at home and abroad. The Pentagon
32:19
was directed by Hegsath to prioritize efforts to seal our borders,
32:24
repel forms of invasion, including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking,
32:29
human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities, and deport
32:33
illegal aliens in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.
32:37
According to the document, next Lally Weymouth nineteen forty three
32:43
to twenty twenty five, journalists from Graham family with Glitz
32:48
and Grit by Harrison Smith. Lally Weymouth, a roving journalist
32:53
and high society fixture who interviewed diplomats, dictators, and other
32:57
world leaders for The Washington Post and new publications at
33:01
her family, the Grahams, owned for decades, died September twenty
33:06
ninth at her home in Manhattan. She was eighty two.
33:09
The cause was pancreatic cancer, said her daughter, Katherine Weymouth.
33:14
As a granddaughter, daughter, sister, and mother of five Washington
33:19
Post publishers, Miss Weymouth mood in social circles that helped
33:22
shape American media and government, from the camelot age of
33:26
John F. Kennedy to the dawn of the Trump era.
33:29
More than fifty years later. As a young girl, she
33:32
attempted to teach her mother, Katherine Graham, the twist in
33:36
preparation for dance parties at the White House. She later
33:39
swapped stories about her father, Philip L. Graham, with former
33:43
President Lyndon B. Johnson, a family friend. To celebrate her
33:47
mother's seventieth birthday, she organized a glittering six hundred person
33:51
party that drew President Ronald Reagan as well as fashion
33:55
designer Oscar de la Renta Henryett Kissinger helped her craft
34:00
the guest list. Donnelly Graham, her younger brother, was tapped
34:04
to succeed their mother as publisher of the Post in
34:06
nineteen seventy nine. Miss Weymouth pursued a career outside the paper,
34:11
at least initially, Mom decided on one child, Don, she
34:16
told Washingtonian Magazine in twenty eleven when asked if she
34:19
was disappointed not to be chosen as Catherine Graham's successor.
34:23
I didn't want to go to the Post. I wanted
34:26
to make it on my own. While based out of
34:29
New York City, Miss Weymouth freelanced for Esquire, New York Magazine,
34:33
and the Sunday magazine of the New York Times, writing
34:36
profiles of Henry Ford, the second FIAT executive, Giannia and Janelli,
34:41
and philanthropist Dorothy Buffam Chandler, whose son Otis ran the
34:46
Los Angeles Times. By the early nineteen eighties, Miss Weymouth
34:50
had turned to foreign affairs, filing opinion pieces with a
34:54
focus on the Middle East. Writing for the Los Angeles Times,
34:58
she explored the motivation behind Israel's nineteen eighty five bombing
35:02
of the Palestine Liberation organization headquarters in Tunisia, and looked
35:07
favorably on the prospects of the contrast the right wing
35:10
militants battling Nicabagua's Marxist government. Yet her focus was less
35:15
on making an ideological argument than on offering exclusive access
35:20
to world leaders. Leveraging her connections in media and politics,
35:25
she interviewed PLO chairman Yasser Arafat for Parade magazine in
35:29
nineteen eighty two during israel siege of Beirut. Three years later,
35:34
she spoke with West German Chancellor Helmut Cohl for The
35:38
La Times, becoming the first American journalist to do so,
35:42
after a controversial visit in which Cole took Reagan to
35:45
a military cemetery containing the graves of Nazi s S soldiers.
35:51
These young people haven't done anything, Cole said of the
35:54
fallen troops, many of whom were drafted. They just served
35:58
and were killed in action. Miss Weymouth joined the Post
36:01
in nineteen eighty six, rising to become a senior associate editor,
36:06
while publishing her interviews in Outlook, the paper's commentary and
36:09
analysis section. She also wrote for a newsweek another Grand
36:13
Family holding, where she held the title of special diplomatic
36:17
correspondent until twenty ten, when the publication was put up
36:21
for sale. Over the decades, she interviewed democratically elected officials,
36:26
including every Israeli prime minister from a Nachembegen to Benjamin
36:30
net Nyahu, as well as despots and strongmen. She spoke
36:35
with Saddam Hussein in his heavily guarded office, with his
36:38
trusted interpreter at his side and a pistol at his hip,
36:42
as she put it in a nineteen eighty four LA
36:44
Time story, and interviewed Malmar Gadaffi in side a tent
36:48
at his compound in Libya. Another subject, Alexander Lushenko, told
36:54
her he took issue with his nickname Europe's last dictator
36:58
Belarus and Lukashenko, he said in a post interview, do
37:01
not have the resources to be a dictator. Miss Weymouth
37:05
interviewed Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski in twenty twenty two, one
37:10
month before Russia invaded Ukraine. Anne spoke with former Pakistani
37:14
Prime Minister Benezir Bhutto in two thousand and seven, in
37:18
what miss Weymouth described as the last interview before Bhuto's assassination.
37:23
She walked me out of her house and said, the
37:26
security services say there's a threat of an attack against me.
37:29
In ten days, Miss Weymouth recalled in a Newsweek interview
37:33
she was killed two weeks later. Miss Weymouth could be
37:37
single minded in pursuit of a story, irritating some journalists
37:41
who found her imperious and accused her of big footing
37:44
foreign correspondence, using her privileged status to win exclusives. Detractor
37:50
said her preferred interview format, the Q and A, was
37:53
an inadequate vehicle for in depth journalism. Profiling Miss Weymouth
37:57
in nineteen ninety Spy magazine rod that her columns read
38:01
at times like open forms for the third world tough
38:04
guy she interviews. Yet Miss Weymouth also showed a willingness
38:09
to spar with her subjects. During a rare nineteen ninety
38:12
eight interview with Slovdan Moloseovich, she pressed the Serbian strong
38:16
man on allegations of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and media's censorship.
38:22
Why are you shutting down newspapers, she asked, They are
38:24
completely free. Journalists are not free if they get fined
38:28
every time they say something that is the law of Serbia.
38:32
I understand you used to allow more freedom. The press
38:36
is completely free. No, that's not true. The press is
38:40
completely free, Melissovik consisted. But if you publish lies, you
38:44
must pay a penalty. Fred Hyatt, the post longtime editorial
38:48
page editor, once observed that Miss Weymanth's columns offered a
38:52
chance to read leader's words elicited by smart questions but
38:57
unfiltered by pundits. Lowly could be demanding and difficult, but
39:02
she had the passionate instincts of a good journalist, said
39:05
Foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius, who edited her stories while
39:09
leaving Outlook in the late nineteen eighties. She loved to
39:13
find people who had something important to say and interview them,
39:16
and she loved to make news. In the time I
39:19
was her editor, she had scoops about the war in Afghanistan,
39:22
the machinations in the Middle East, and a dozen other subjects.
39:27
Outside of journalism, Miss Weymouth was known for hosting star
39:31
studded parties, including an annual lunch for attendees of the
39:34
World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Each summer, she organized
39:39
a Fourth of July bash that doubled as her July
39:42
third birthday celebration, held at her Southampton home on Long Island.
39:46
It was such a staple of the Hampton social scene
39:49
that its cancelation in twenty twenty, at the height of
39:52
the coronavirus pandemic, prompted a story in The New York Post.
39:57
Miss Weymouth throws the Hamptons of that unites hundreds of politicians, financiers,
40:03
and socialites over fried chicken, cornbread, champagne and American fly cookies.
40:08
The paper reported, noting that two years earlier, first daughter
40:12
of Vanka Trump, danced among guests including Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer,
40:17
former New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, and filmmaker
40:21
Steven Spielberg. For years, Miss Weymouth also hosted a Newsweek
40:26
Washington Post reception that celebrated the White House Correspondence Association dinner,
40:31
where she appeared with friends and acquaintances from New York.
40:35
Her special guest at the twenty eleven dinner was Donald Trump,
40:38
who was then in the news for promoting further conspiracy
40:42
theories about President Barack Obama. In his speech at the dinner,
40:46
Obama ridicule Trump hammering away at the celebrity Apprentice host,
40:51
who was sitting next to Miss Weymouth. It was a
40:54
transformative moment. According to Roger Stone, Trump's long serving political adviser,
41:00
I think that is the night that he resolves to
41:02
run for president. Stone said in a twenty sixteen p
41:05
b S front Line documentary. I think that he is
41:08
kind of motivated by it. Maybe I'll just run. Maybe
41:12
I'll show them all a terrific advantage. Elizabeth Morris Graham
41:17
was born in Baltimore on July third, nineteen forty three,
41:21
the first of four siblings and her parents only daughter. Lally,
41:25
as she was nicknamed, grew up in Washington and at
41:28
her family's northern Virginia farm, Glen Welby. Looking back on
41:32
our early childhood, Miss Weymouth described her mother as a
41:36
little Georgetown housewife who walked the dog with her daughter
41:39
and shopped it safeway. Her father was the person I
41:42
cared for most in the world, a witty newspaperman and
41:46
former military intelligence officer who encouraged her interest in world affairs.
41:51
The family had owned the post since nineteen thirty three,
41:54
when Miss Weymouth's maternal grandfather, Eugene Mayer, bought the newspaper
41:59
at bankruptcy. Miss Weymouth's father succeeded him as publisher. In
42:03
nineteen forty six. Miss Weymouth graduated from the private Madeira
42:08
School in McLean, Virginia, and studied American history and literature
42:12
at Radcliffe College, now part of Harvard University. By the
42:16
time she enrolled, her father was increasingly struggling with bipolar disorder,
42:21
then known as manic depression. He could be warm and vibrant,
42:25
the fizz in our lives, as Katherin Graham put it
42:28
in her Pulitzer Prize winning memoir Personal History. He could
42:32
also undergo violent mood swings, drinking and acting erratically. In
42:38
nineteen sixty two, Miss Weymouth's mother discovered that he was
42:41
having an affair with a newsweek's staffer, whom he told
42:44
friends he planned to marry. The Graham's marriage fractured, but
42:48
Miss Weymouth remained close to both parents, serving as a
42:51
pillar of strength and stability, as her mother put it.
42:55
Her father was eventually checked into a psychiatric hospital during
42:58
a visit to Glenwellby. He died by suicide in nineteen
43:02
sixty three. Miss Weymouth was twenty at the time a
43:05
junior in college. The night before her father's funeral, she
43:09
accompanied her mother to a Washington Post board meeting, where
43:12
Catherine Graham, who succeeded her husband as publisher, announced that
43:16
the paper would stay in the family. In her memoir,
43:20
Graham recalled that Miss Weymouth was wearing just a nightgown
43:23
and robe when she hopped in the car to drive
43:26
with her to the event. Miss Weymouth provided her with
43:29
handwritten notes that Graham said she relied on in making
43:33
her address to the board. It touches me still, Graham
43:36
wrote that this young girl, who was, if anything, more
43:39
devastated than I, could scribble out this simple but correct
43:43
sequence of thoughts and jump in the car in her
43:46
nightclothes to put them in my hand. In nineteen sixty four,
43:50
Miss Weymouth married Yon Weymouth, an architect who later designed
43:54
the Salvador Dahlis Museum in Florida and worked with I
43:57
Am Pay on the remodeling of the Louver. Yon's sister,
44:01
Tina Weymouth, became the bassist in the Banned Talking Heads.
44:05
Miss Weymouth and her husband had two daughters, Catherine and
44:08
Pamela Almah Weymouth but soon divorced. She never remarried, but
44:12
over the years was romantically linked to left wing journalist
44:15
Alexander Cockburn and on the other end of the political spectrum,
44:20
conservative commentator Eric Brindele. At the imitation of her friend
44:25
George Weidenfeld, a British publisher, Miss Weymouth edited a nineteen
44:29
seventy three book of essays Thomas Jefferson, The Man, His World,
44:34
His Influence. Three years later, during the country's by centennial year,
44:40
she looked back on American life a century earlier, writing
44:43
the text to America in eighteen seventy six, The Way
44:47
We Were, an illustrated companion assembled by graphic designer Milton Glazier.
44:53
The book included a lengthy chapter on the great fortunes
44:56
and the rise of high society, reflecting Miss Weymouth's abiding
45:00
interest in what she called the rich of America, a
45:03
group that included captains of industry who frequented her Upper
45:07
East Side home, mingling with New York writers and artists.
45:12
At one nineteen seventy seven party in her apartment, miss
45:15
Weymouth washed in horror as Norman Mailer, feeding with Gorgidal,
45:20
threw a drink in Vidal's face and punched his rival
45:23
in the mouth. The two men traded blows in the
45:25
living room as Miss Weymouth begged for someone to intervene.
45:29
Shut up, She recalled New York Magazine co founder Clay Falker, saying,
45:34
this fight is making your party at times. Miss Weymouth
45:38
traveled to Washington to help her mother at the Post
45:41
during a month's long pressman strike in nineteen seventy five.
45:45
She headed to the mail room one night with her
45:47
nine year old daughter, Catherine, who stood on a box,
45:50
as Graham later remembered it, while helping to wrap papers.
45:54
Before joining the post, Miss Weymouth was in talks with
45:58
ex Newsweek correspondent or Not de Borchgrave, editor of the
46:02
newly founded Washington Times, to join his paper in's debt.
46:06
The New York Times reported that their conversations helped pave
46:09
the way for Miss Weymoth's hiring at the Post, where
46:12
her mother, by then the chairman of the board, had
46:15
reportedly tried to avoid accusations of nepotism by limiting the
46:19
number of family members who worked at the company. Kathy
46:23
Graham died in two thousand one. Her namesake, Miss Weymouth's daughter,
46:28
Katherine Weymouth, later served as publisher for six years before
46:32
stepping down in twenty fourteen after seeing the newspaper through
46:35
its sale to Jeff Bezos. Survivors include Miss Weymoth's two
46:40
daughters and her brothers Don and Stephen Graham, an English
46:43
professor of Bard College, and five grandchildren. Her brother, William W. Graham,
46:49
a lawyer and philanthropist, died by suicide in twenty seventeen.
46:54
Late in life, Miss Weymouth conducted four or five interviews
46:57
a year, most recently traveling to Doha to sit down
47:00
with Katardi Prime Minister Mohammed bin al Duraman Alfani for
47:05
peace at Ran in May, on the eve of Trump's
47:07
official visit to the country. Miss Weymouth had little interest
47:12
in being interviewed herself, once writing that she was uncomfortable
47:16
with personal revelation. Still, in nineteen seventy six, she agreed
47:20
to sit down with People magazine after publishing her second book.
47:24
Asked if there were any drawbacks to growing up rich,
47:27
she replied, yes, but either you decide you have a problem,
47:31
or you view your family as a terrific advantage and say,
47:34
let's go forward. Our next article is entitled Behind Taiwanese Party,
47:40
Chinese espionage and a gang group members at nexus of
47:45
politics and organized crime help advance Beijing's interests on the island.
47:50
By Katharina Northrop and Pailin Wu from Taipei, Taiwan. On
47:56
a muggy afternoon in downtown Taipei, a self confessed gang
48:00
member turned political party leader emerged from a black Cadillac
48:03
Escalae to a cheering crowd. Then Chang'an Mo took to
48:08
the stage to deliver a forceful speech advocating for Taiwan's
48:12
unification with China. Both sides of the Taiwan Strait are
48:16
one family, Chang told the assembled rally. Only with peaceful
48:20
unifications will Taiwan definitely be safe. Chang is a founder
48:25
of the Chinese Unification Promotion Party CUPP, which promotes the
48:30
idea that Taiwan should be absorbed into China. But the
48:34
CUPP is not just a political party, it is also
48:38
closely tied to organized crime groups. According to Taiwan's Interior Ministry,
48:44
to the government, their organization is a gang, said Sawyer Mars,
48:48
Taiwan's deputy Interior Minister, who is also known as Ma
48:52
Cha Yong in an interview. Many leading members of the
48:57
CUPP have a background in organized crime, according to mars Off,
49:02
and through the Bamboo Union, an underground criminal group that
49:06
experts say is involved in drug smuggling and online fraud. Chang,
49:11
also known as the White Wolf, freely admits to once
49:15
being a member of the Bamboo Union. US court documents
49:18
say he was leader of the gang. The idea of
49:22
unification that Chang and the CUPP promote may be a
49:25
minority one here, but it is a fundamental belief of
49:29
the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. The Communist Party has
49:33
never ruled Taiwan a vibrant democracy, but Chinese leader Shishinping,
49:39
who has laid out a vision for rejuvenating the Chinese nation,
49:43
has made taking control of the island, which he views
49:46
as a breakaway province, one of his key political goals.
49:50
Xi has made clear that he is willing to use
49:53
force if necessary to achieve this sing and China has
49:57
in recent years tried to intimidate Taiwan with displays of
50:01
military might. It has also stepped up efforts to spread
50:04
disinformation in propaganda. The US and Taiwanese governments have said
50:09
in criticism of Beijing's tactics. A month long Washington Post
50:14
investigation found that CUPP members use their status at the
50:18
nexus of organized crime and politics to advance Beijing's interests
50:22
in Taiwan, including threatening critics of the Chinese Communist Party,
50:27
trumpeting Chinese propaganda, and even trying to recruit spies for
50:32
China on the island. Chang acknowledged that there are indeed
50:36
some gang members within the CUPP, but said in an
50:40
interview that the party works for the shared happiness of
50:43
Taiwan and China, which he claimed can best be achieved
50:47
through peaceful unification. China's Taiwan Affairs office did not respond
50:52
to a request for comment. The Post's investigation draws upon
50:57
court records, corporate filings, and social media posts, as well
51:01
as interviews with Taiwanese domestic security and intelligence officials with
51:06
direct knowledge of CUPP activities. The Post also spoke with
51:10
Taiwanese lawmakers, CUPP and Bamboo Union members, and experts on
51:15
organized crime in Taiwan, and former U S intelligence officials.
51:20
The court records alone underscore the breadth of CUPP members activities.
51:25
One has been charged in an ongoing case with accepting
51:28
millions of dollars from the Chinese Communist Party to distribute
51:32
pro Beijing propaganda, particularly messages condemning critics of the Chinese
51:37
government and promoting the strength of China's military forces. Three
51:41
others were convicted of trying to recruit Taiwanese military officials
51:45
to spy Parveijing. Yet another, a man who Taiwanese officials
51:50
say is a senior leader in both the CUPP and
51:54
the Bamboo Union, was found guilty of buying signatures to
51:57
get a candidate running on brokering friendliers ties with Beijing
52:01
on the ballot in Taiwan's twenty twenty four presidential election.
52:06
Some of these defendants have denied the charges against them,
52:09
while Chang described many of the accusations and legal actions
52:13
against the CUPP as politically motivated. In addition, CUPP members
52:19
frequently meet officials from central and local governments in China,
52:23
as well as from the United Front Work Department, the
52:26
Chinese Communist Party agency charged with expanding Beijing's global influence.
52:31
According to the court records, social media accounts, and interviews
52:35
with Taiwanese officials, the CEOPP may be a marginal political
52:40
party here and just one small part of Beijing's coercion
52:44
efforts against Taiwan, but it is significant enough to warrant
52:48
being denounced by Taiwanese President Lei Chidi. Lay in March
52:53
described the CUPP as a conduit for Chinese espionage. Through
52:58
groups such as the CUPP, China has been taking advantage
53:02
of democratic Taiwan's freedom, diversity, and openness to recruit gangs,
53:07
the media, commentators, political parties to carry out actions to divide,
53:13
destroy and subverts from within. The president said Taiwan's Interior
53:19
Ministry has started the process to dissolve the party, and
53:22
Mars said the government has launched criminal probes involving at
53:26
least one hundred thirty four CUPP members. In August, Taipei
53:31
issued a wanted notice for Chang Sun Chang Wei, who
53:35
has also been affiliated with the CUPP but is suspected
53:38
by the Taiwanese government of being in Hong Kong over
53:42
an embezzlement case. Changui did not respond to a request
53:45
for comment, but on Facebook slammed the case as political persecution.
53:50
Officials in Taipei are particularly concerned about the potential for
53:54
COUPP to be weaponized in the event of a Chinese
53:58
invasion of Taiwan. These pro unification individuals or gang members
54:04
help the Chinese Communist Party with organizing and gathering intelligence
54:08
during peace time, said Poulaye, who has overseen several investigations
54:13
into c u p P members as director of the
54:16
Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau's National Security Operations Division. But
54:22
in the times of war, they can become highly effective
54:25
collaborators from within. Since they're already working for the c CP,
54:29
they can carry out sabotage everywhere if a cross straight
54:33
conflict breaks out, said Ye, who is sometimes called a
54:36
c CP spy killer in Taiwan. Chang does not see
54:41
a potential role for his party members should Taiwan be
54:44
forcibly reunited with China. I encourage every one in Taiwan
54:49
to engage with mainland China, Chang said, sitting in his
54:52
office next to a statue of former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.
54:57
If Beijing invades Taiwan, he added, though those who have
55:00
been in touch with China can step forward. Cross train
55:03
communication is crucial and a very important channel for the
55:07
future survival of Taiwanese people. Said Chang, who was wearing
55:11
a vest with a slogan encouraging Taiwanese people to avoid
55:14
becoming cannon fodder and a potential war with China. Taipei's
55:19
concern that the CCP is a fifth column is bolstered,
55:22
according to officials and crime analysts, by the group's access
55:26
to weapons on an island with virtually no civilian gun us.
55:31
Taiwanese authorities have seized nearly two hundred firearms from CUPP
55:36
and Bamboo Union members with ties to the CUPP in
55:40
the past five years, according to internal Taiwanese government data
55:44
obtained by the Post. The growing stockpile of weapons is worrying,
55:48
said Lin Piyu, an expert on China's military threat to
55:52
Taiwan who now serves as a counselor for the ruling
55:55
Democratic Progressive Party DPP in New Taipei City. Under China's command,
56:01
they could sabotage Taiwanese society with these firearms. A life
56:06
of crime. Chang, who is now an energetic seventy seven,
56:10
said he entered Taiwan's criminal underworld as a young transplant
56:14
from China when the civil war in China ended in
56:18
nineteen forty nine, with a Communist party's victory, the losing
56:22
Kuomintang or nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan. Chiang's family, along
56:28
with a million other Chinese people, fled with them, and
56:31
Chang took Taiwanese citizenship. At sixteen, he joined the Bamboo Union,
56:37
a new gang made up of uprooted Mainlanders, he said.
56:41
In his early thirties, Chang moved to the United States
56:43
to attend graduate school at the University of Nevada in
56:46
Las Vegas. He became the head of the Bamboo Union
56:49
in the U s. According to US court documents, he
56:53
was convicted on drug smuggling charges and served nearly a
56:56
decade in US prison, part of a wide ranging US
56:59
and diet and against the gang. Chang still denies the charges.
57:04
Returning to Taiwan after his release, Chang was soon declared
57:08
wanted by Taiwan's government amid a crackdown on organized crime,
57:12
and he moved in nineteen ninety six to China, where
57:15
he lived for nearly twenty years. By that time, Taiwanese
57:19
gangs had expanded in China and many members had set
57:22
up profitable businesses there. According to Kolin chin An expert
57:26
on Taiwan's organized crime at Rutgers University at Newark. Chang,
57:30
for his part, tried his hand at investing, setting up
57:33
a group that he said, took a stake in Strategic Sports,
57:37
a large manufacturer of sport and motorcycle helmets in nineteen
57:41
ninety six. Beijing willingly let some Taiwanese with connections to
57:46
organized crime establish small fiefdoms in China, said Benjamin Sando,
57:50
a fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute think tank who
57:54
studies the Bamboo Union. China saw them as a potential
57:57
tool to influence Taiwan. He said the Chinese authorities were
58:02
far more permissive to Taiwan these fugitives and Taiwanese gangs
58:05
in China than they were to Chinese gangs. Sando said,
58:09
what better people to use than gangsters, because gangsters will
58:12
do anything for a price. This concludes the ridding of
58:16
the Washington Post for to Day Tuesday, September thirtieth, twenty
58:20
twenty five. Your reader for to Day has been Cindy Fraser.
58:24
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program,
58:28
please feel free to call us. Studied five nine forty
58:31
two six three nine zero, Thank you for listening, and
58:35
now please stay tuned for continued programming on Radio I