FirstFT: Taiwan president warns ‘democracy is beneath risk’

Good morning. As we speak we begin in California, the place Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy met Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen, turning into probably the most high-profile US official to satisfy a Taiwanese president on American soil.

Following the assembly, Tsai urged continued assist for her nation and warned that “democracy is beneath risk”.

“We’re stronger once we are collectively,” Tsai mentioned following the assembly, which included a bipartisan group of 18 lawmakers.

The assembly on Wednesday marked a compromise between McCarthy’s and Tsai’s needs for a extra high-profile US-Taiwan engagement and efforts to keep away from a violent response from Beijing. China claims Taiwan is a part of its territory and has threatened to annex if Taipei refuses to submit beneath its management indefinitely.

Joe Biden’s administration repeatedly warned China to not use the assembly as a pretext for larger aggression, however hours earlier than the assembly China’s Folks’s Liberation Military despatched its latest plane provider by way of the Bashi Channel, which separates Taiwan and the Philippines, on its first navigation coaching within the western Pacific, Taiwan’s defence ministry mentioned.

Within the newest signal of how deepening geopolitical divisions are worrying company leaders, insurance coverage veteran Evan Greenberg has known as on the US to “tone down rhetoric and symbolism round Taiwan” and give attention to preserving peace and stability within the area.

Right here’s what else I’m holding tabs on in the present day:

India financial coverage: The Reserve Financial institution of India will announce its repurchase price resolution in the present day.

Xi meets EU leaders: Emmanuel Macron mentioned he would search to persuade Xi Jinping to take “a shared accountability for peace” in Ukraine, when he and Ursula von der Leyen meet the Chinese language president in the present day.

As at all times, thanks for studying FirstFT. Tell us you probably have any suggestions at [email protected].

5 extra prime tales

1. Kyiv is prepared to debate the way forward for Crimea with Moscow if its forces attain the border of the peninsula, a prime adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed the FT. The feedback by the deputy head of Zelenskyy’s workplace, are probably the most express assertion of Ukraine’s curiosity in negotiations because it minimize off peace talks with the Kremlin final April.

Extra Russia information: The US state division is getting ready to declare American journalist Evan Gershkovich wrongfully detained, a designation that can escalate Washington’s efforts to safe his launch from Russia.

2. A hacking assault at Japan’s largest IT firm is spilling throughout the nation’s company sector, with cyber safety specialists warning that it might set off a surge in makes an attempt by organised felony gangs to extort hefty ransoms from corporations and their clients.

3. The Swiss authorities has minimize bonuses for about 1,000 senior bankers at Credit score Suisse, with the manager staff shedding their excellent variable pay totally, after the lender’s rescue by its rival UBS final month. The bonuses minimize had been price as much as a complete of SFr60mn ($66.1mn).

4. Chamath Palihapitiya instructed traders in his firm Social Capital that he has questioned “the aim of leverage” altogether, after a collapse in share costs put strain on a stock-backed line of credit score. Ortenca Aliaj particulars Palihapitiya’s annual letter, which opines on the tip of zero-interest price coverage.

5. Johnson & Johnson has proposed an $8.9bn settlement to resolve tens of 1000’s of lawsuits alleging its talcum powder induced most cancers in what can be the most important product legal responsibility settlement in chapter historical past, in keeping with attorneys.

The Large Learn

Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen has delivered a constant and blunt message: within the face of Chinese language threats to annex the nation, Taiwan must have the US at its again. However her predecessor Ma Ying-jeou has been touring China, pushing a really completely different agenda. The phantasm that Taiwan might have it each methods is over.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

Opinion: The US dangers reversing 9 a long time of vastly profitable coverage that lifted tens of tens of millions out of poverty by waging struggle on commerce, writes Martin Wolf.

Trump world: From Florida to New York and again, it’s been a surreal two days in Trump world, write FT’s Joshua Chaffin and Joe Miller.

🎧 Local weather disaster: Who ought to pay to rebuild Pakistan? On this episode of the Behind the Cash podcast, we talk about how Pakistan restoration plans after record-breaking floods.

Chart of the day

After abandoning plans for its personal mutual fund firm in China in 2021, Vanguard doubled down on a partnership with native monetary group Ant. However the US-based $8tn fund supervisor has struggled to persuade nation’s traders they want its low-cost passive funds, and now has plans to exit the enterprise, in keeping with three folks accustomed to the matter.

Take a break from the information

Nicolas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio are recognized to have bid in opposition to each other for the cranium of a Tarbosaurus bataar. Others with deep pockets will get their probability this month when Trinity, a 67mn-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, goes on sale at Koller Auctions. The reserve means that dinosaurs have entered the realm reserved for probably the most extremely prized artistic endeavors.

Extra contributions from Gordon Smith and Tee Zhuo