Agency, Sydney.
Published by: Jeet Kumar
Updated Thu, 10 Mar 2022 12:54 AM IST
Summary
Australia’s intelligence chief Andrew Shearer said Chinese President Xi Jinping is devising a plan to dominate the Indo-Pacific region and overtake the US as the world’s leading power.
hear the news
Expansion
Andrew Shearer, director general of the Office of National Intelligence, said Chinese President Xi Jinping is drawing up a plan to dominate the Indo-Pacific region and overtake the US as the world’s leading power. “As geopolitical threats will center around technology, including the use of cyber attacks, Australia must strengthen its cyber security without restricting itself to trade and information-sharing,” he said.
“We need a growing, open economy so that we can meet the government’s commitment to increasing defense spending, but it cannot be a zero-sum tradeoff between economics and security,” he said. To this, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of Shearer’s remarks.
Israeli President arrives in Turkey to normalize relations
Israel’s President Isaac Hergos arrived in Turkey on Wednesday in an attempt to quell the bitterness of their troubled relationship. This is the first visit by an Israeli president to Turkey in the last 14 years. Hergoz is also scheduled to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan in Ankara. After this he will go to Istanbul to meet the Jewish community of Turkey.
Turkey and Israel were once close allies, but relations deteriorated during Erdoan’s tenure when he began to vocally criticize Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians. Israel is angered by Erdoan’s closeness with Hamas. Israel considers Hamas to be a terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip.