FirstFT: Taiwan president warns ‘democracy is under threat’

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

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

“We’re stronger after 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 wishes 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 underneath its management indefinitely.

Joe Biden’s administration repeatedly warned China to not use the assembly as a pretext for higher aggression, however hours earlier than the assembly China’s Individuals’s Liberation Military despatched its latest plane service by 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 corporate leaders, insurance coverage veteran Evan Greenberg has referred to 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 conserving tabs on right this moment:

• India financial coverage: The Reserve Financial institution of India will announce its repurchase charge choice right this moment.

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

As at all times, thanks for studying FirstFT. Tell us when you’ve got any suggestions at firstft@ft.com.

5 extra high tales

1. Kyiv is prepared to debate the way forward for Crimea with Moscow if its forces attain the border of the peninsula, a high adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy informed the FT. The feedback by the deputy head of Zelenskyy’s workplace, are the most explicit statement of Ukraine’s interest in negotiations because it reduce 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 may 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 may set off a surge in makes an attempt by organised felony gangs to extort hefty ransoms from companies and their customers.

3. The Swiss authorities has reduce bonuses for about 1,000 senior bankers at Credit score Suisse, with the manager group dropping their excellent variable pay fully, after the lender’s rescue by its rival UBS final month. The bonuses reduce have been worth up to a total of SFr60mn ($66.1mn).

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

5. Johnson & Johnson has proposed an $8.9bn settlement to resolve tens of hundreds of lawsuits alleging its talcum powder brought about most cancers in what could be the largest product liability settlement in bankruptcy history, in response to legal professionals.

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 totally different agenda. The illusion that Taiwan could have it both ways is over.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Opinion: The US dangers reversing 9 many years of vastly profitable coverage that lifted tens of tens of millions out of poverty by waging war on trade, 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 Money podcast, we talk about how Pakistan restoration plans after record-breaking floods.

Chart of the day

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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 convince country’s investors they need its low-cost passive funds, and now has plans to exit the enterprise, in response to three folks acquainted with the matter.

Take a break from the information

Nicolas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio are identified to have bid towards 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 the most highly prized works of art.

Extra contributions from Gordon Smith and Tee Zhuo