Welcome back to TLDR's Daily Briefing for Tuesday 1st April 2025. In today's episode, Myanmar's earthquake death toll, South Korea's impeachment drama, and a record-breaking Supreme Court election in the US. But first, tensions are rising in the Taiwan Strait. Today, China has kicked off large-scale military and coast guard exercises around Taiwan, the latest round in Beijing's escalating campaign to assert its territorial claim on the island.
Taiwan's president Lai Ching-tae, who took office last May, has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan's sovereignty. In recent months, Lai has taken steps to strengthen the island's defense, including holding Taiwan's most serious civil defense mobilization drills in decades and announcing plans to restore military trials in peacetime to counter Chinese infiltration. and influence operations.
Last month, he called China a hostile foreign force and proposed measures to combat Chinese espionage and infiltration, angering the Chinese government, which has, in response, called him a separatist and a parasite. The Chinese army the People's Liberation Army or PLA bombarded social media with nationalistic hashtags and released several videos declaring it was closing in on Taiwan, depicting a full-scale assault on the island.
Another graphic shared by the military depicted Lai as an insect being roasted over an open fire. The PLA routinely sends aircraft and ships near Taiwan, conducting what they term combat readiness patrols. President Lai's administration has noted an uptick in these military maneuvers since he took office last May, with the most recent drills occurring in mid-March. However, the exercises initiated this week are reported to be the most extensive maritime operations to date.
According to Taiwan's defense ministry, 19 PLA vessels were recorded near Taiwan between Monday and Tuesday. Notably, the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong has come closer to Taiwan's military response zone than ever before. of the island's coast.
In a public statement, the Chinese Coast Guard justified these manoeuvres as in line with the One China principle. Taiwan's defence ministry have condemned the actions, as did the spokesperson for Taiwan's presidential office, linking it to other recent exercises near Australia. New Zealand, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and in the South China Sea.
China's drills took place just after Pete Hegseth, the US Defence Secretary, wrapped up his visits to Japan and the Philippines, where he criticised China and said Japan was indispensable for tackling Chinese aggression. Meanwhile, in a statement, the American Institute in Taiwan, which functions as the US's diplomatic presence on the island, reaffirmed Washington's commitment to supporting Taiwan against China.
You're listening to TLDR's Daily Briefing. If you want more explainers on what's happening in the world, then you should check out TLDR's other channels. Today, we released videos on Turkish President Erdogan's troubles and the UK government's fiscal rules. You can find those videos linked in the description or show notes for this episode, or by searching for TLDR on YouTube or Nebula.
Days after a devastating earthquake hit water on Myanmar, the death toll from the disaster has surpassed 2700 people. The full extent of the damage caused by the 7.7 magnitude quake is hard to assess, as it left many areas across Myanmar without power and telephone connections, and damaged roads and bridges. In a report on the earthquake, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said,
survivors and provide life-saving aid. Meanwhile, in neighbouring Thailand, rescuers in the capital Bangkok continue to search through the ruins of an under-construction skyscraper that collapsed during the earthquake, but acknowledge that the odds of finding survivors is slim. An Israeli airstrike has killed four people in the southern suburbs of Lebanon's capital Beirut, the second such strike in five days, adding further pressure on the fragile ceasefire that was struck last year.
The strike reportedly killed Hezbollah official Hassan Badir and three others, including a woman. South Korea's Constitutional Court will finally deliver its long-awaited ruling on President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment this Friday, the 4th of April at 11am local time.
The verdict will come almost four months after Yoon was impeached by the National Assembly, following his short-lived imposition of martial law in early December, which sparked a prolonged and ongoing political crisis in the country. If the court overturns Yoon's impeachment, he will be returned to the presidency to serve the remainder of his term through to May 2027.
However, if his impeachment is upheld, Yoon will be fully removed from office and new presidential elections will be held within 60 days. And finally, today is election day in the US state of Wisconsin, as voters go to the polls in a state Supreme Court race that has turned into a proxy battle for national politics and is a key litmus test on the first few months of Donald Trump's second term in office.
The election is to a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and provides an opportunity for conservatives to flip the court's 4-3 liberal majority. The Republican-aligned candidate Brad Schimmel has been backed by President Trump, Elon Musk and others. Musk has thrown himself into the race.
as groups affiliated with Musk have spent at least $18.2 million backing Schimmel, and Musk has personally campaigned in the state and controversially handed out several million-dollar checks to voters as part of his push. The Democratic-aligned candidate, Susan Crawford, has been backed by the likes of Barack Obama and has received donations from billionaires including George Soros.
As a result of the massive spending on both sides, exceeding $90 million in total, the contest is said to be the most expensive court race on record in the United States. That's all for today. We'll be back with you tomorrow, so make sure you're subscribed wherever you listen. In the meantime, if you want to support the show, then consider grabbing a copy of our physical magazine, Too Long. The next edition coming out this month covers the world's 25 most influential people.
as ranked by us, the TLDR team, and you, the TLDR audience. Inside, we unpack who these influential people are, explain how they got their influence and tell stories about how they choose to wield this immense power. The entire thing is beautifully designed, contains a bunch of other stories and runs over 72 pages of our best journalism. If you're interested you can use the code TLDRdaily at checkout to get £2 off your copy which brings the cost of a subscription down as low as £5.99.
Buying too long helps to fund all of our journalism, so make sure you do check it out. You can find the link in the podcast description. This was a TLDR News production, hosted by Georgina Finley, written by Nadja Lovadinov and Rory Taylor, and produced by Scarlet Watchorn. Thanks for listening and we'll be back again tomorrow.