Wednesday Briefing: Taiwan considers a changed U.S.

February 26, 2025

	By Emmett Lindner

Good morning. We’re covering Taiwan considering its precarious position and Britain increasing its military spending.

Plus, the mic turns 100.

A man in a suit walks past military personnel dressed in orange jumpsuits.

President Lai Ching-te at a military base in eastern Taiwan last month. Chiangying-Ying/Associated Press

Taiwan watches as Trump turns on Ukraine

Taiwan could be forced to consider its political future as President Trump turns against Ukraine and abandons Western efforts to punish Russia. Ukraine and Taiwan share a kinship: small democracies laid claim to by hulking, authoritarian neighbors.

President Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s president, has already been trying to prevent any serious breach with Trump. This month, he announced that the country would increase military spending. He also said the island — which has more semiconductor fabrication plants than any other place in the world — would come up with proposals in response to Trump’s demand that more such plants be built in the U.S.

As China continues to send fighter jets and warships nearly every day to probe Taiwan’s defenses, the island’s ability to deter a potential attack hinges on whether the U.S. stands ready to help and even send forces.

Diplomacy: Trump doesn’t appear to have a strong commitment to Taiwanese democracy. Some fear he might put Taiwan’s interests at risk if he negotiates a big trade deal with Beijing. Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has told Trump that Taiwan is a key concern in their relationship.

At sea: Taiwanese authorities said yesterday they had detained a cargo ship crewed by Chinese nationals, which they believe may have severed an undersea communications cable.

Men standing on tanks unfold a large British flag.

Robert Ghement/EPA, via Shutterstock

Britain said it would increase military spending

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said yesterday that Britain would significantly raise its military spending by 2027. The increase was intended to send a powerful signal about burden sharing to Trump ahead of their meeting at the White House tomorrow.

The increase would amount to a spending rise of 13.4 billion pounds per year on defense, and would be paid for by scaling back on overseas development aid. Starmer said he regretted the cuts, but he presented them as a temporary measure because of the challenging new security environment.

Context: Trump’s recent statements about Ukraine have reinforced fears that the U.S. is retreating from its decades-long commitment to Europe’s defense. NATO’s secretary general also recently called on members to spend “considerably more” than 3 percent of economic output on defense.

More on Trump

The Trump administration said it would start handpicking which reporters were allowed to ask the president questions in the daily press pool.
A band of moderate Republicans in Congress sharply criticized the Trump administration for siding with Russia on U.N. resolutions regarding the war in Ukraine.
The federal office that manages polar research has fired workers, raising fears about a reduced U.S. presence in Antarctica and the North Pole.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, epitomized how Europe’s leaders are trying to navigate Trump: Flatter first, then gently resist.
A group of 21 tech-focused civil servants who were working with Elon Musk’s efficiency office resigned rather than aid his efforts.
More than 230,000 Canadians have signed a petition to revoke the billionaire Musk’s Canadian citizenship and passport.
Track Trump’s actions since he took office.

A man in a suit walks with other men. A camera is seen in background.

Ahmed al-Shara, Syria’s interim president, center, in Damascus yesterday. Omar Albam/Associated Press

Syria’s new leader called for national unity

Ahmed al-Shara, Syria’s interim president, called for unity yesterday during a two-day conference in Damascus meant to chart the country’s future after decades of dictatorship. The gathering brought together hundreds of people from Syria’s many religious sects and ethnic groups, as well as journalists, community leaders and activists.

But one major player was absent: The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the U.S.-backed militia that controls much of Syria’s northeast. The current government had told the group that it would have to disarm and join a unified national military before it could attend the dialogue.

An unlikely path: The contrast between al-Shara’s jihadist past and his current pragmatic, nationalistic views has left Syrians wondering what he actually believes and how he will govern.

MORE TOP NEWS

A .gif that illustrates the now-safe trajectory of an asteroid.

NASA JPL/CNEOS

Space: NASA gave the “all clear” after the odds dropped to nearly zero that the asteroid 2024 YR4 would smash into Earth.
Tesla: The company said that some drivers in China would be able to use its Autopilot feature to help with lane changes and other more advanced tasks.
South Korea: Four workers were killed, and six others were injured when part of a highway bridge collapsed near the city of Cheonan, officials said.
U.S.: America’s biggest egg producer has seen rising revenues and profits. Now some Democrats are calling for an investigation.
Crypto: OKX, a crypto firm based in Seychelles, agreed to pay more than $500 million for operating illegally in the U.S.
Airlines: A Delta Air Lines flight in the U.S. made an emergency landing after the crew reported “possible smoke” inside the aircraft.
Germany: Looking to better understand the recent success of the AfD, the country’s far-right party? Our newsletter The Interpreter can help.
Music: Drake’s back at No. 1 on the charts for his collaborative album with PartyNextDoor, “Some Sexy Songs 4 U.”
A.I.: A thousand musicians, including Kate Bush and Billy Ocean, released a “silent record” to protest a government proposal in Britain that would let artificial intelligence use their work.

Sports

Soccer: Why Premier League giant Manchester United is cutting up to 200 jobs.
Basketball: Cole Anthony is just over two meters tall, but the Orlando Magic star has somehow never dunked in an N.B.A. game.
Formula 1: The league’s preseason game of “smoke and mirrors” will be more important than ever as this season may be one of the closest yet.

MORNING READ

Books scattered on a table, shot from above.

Yuki Sugiura for Booker Prize Foundation

The majority of the books nominated for this year’s International Booker Prize are under 200 pages long. This isn’t because of some “much-prophesied loss of attention span,” as the chair of the judging panel put it. The 13 nominees, he said, were simply the best and “don’t have a wasted word.” Check out the full list.

Lives lived: Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who leaped onto President John F. Kennedy’s limousine as it came under fire in 1963, died at 93.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

A woman sits on a chair, shaded by a man holding an umbrella, as horses parade around a corral.

Marina Abramovic, seated. Fred Ramos for The New York Times

A grand spectacle: Marina Abramovic, the grandmother of performance art, presented her latest works at a house designed by Luis Barragán, the famous Mexican architect.
(Very) shabby chic: So-called thrashed clothes — garments resembling something closer to rags — are coveted by vintage fanatics.
Going home: The Metropolitan Museum of Art is returning the bronze head of a griffin to Greece after determining that it was likely stolen in the 1930s.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

ARTS AND IDEAS

A black-and-white close-up of a person in a tuxedo, with an old fashioned microphone positioned in front of them.

Photo Illustration by The New York Times; H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock, via Getty Images

100 years later, this thing is still on

A century ago this week, the musician Art Gillham entered a studio in New York to test a soon-to-be-transformative tool: the microphone. That was the moment when the record industry left the acoustic era and went electric.

The effects were felt across genres and styles. Instruments could be reproduced more faithfully. Standup basses were no longer outperformed by blaring horns. But the biggest beneficiaries were pop singers — microphones gave them personality, like Hollywood stars.

Read more about the device that changed music.

RECOMMENDATIONS

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Armando Rafael for The New York Times

Cook: This shortcut chicken korma uses cashew butter to save prep time.

Hunt: Here are several homes in Nice, France, for less than 700,000 euros.

Read: “The Secret Public” traces how music popularized queer culture.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Emmett

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