WASHINGTON — World Bank (WB) President Ajay Banga on Tuesday warned that a significant widening of the Israel-Gaza war could lead to major impacts on the global economy, calling the steep loss of civilian lives in the region “unconscionable.”

Speaking in a Reuters NEXT Newsmaker interview, Mr. Banga said the war has had a relatively small impact on the global economy thus far, but a significant widening of the conflict would draw in other countries that are larger contributors to global growth, including commodity exporters.

“First of all, I think this unbelievable loss of life — women, children, others, civilians, is just unconscionable on all sides,” Mr. Banga said. “The economic impact of this war, on the other hand, depends a great deal on how much this spreads.”

“If it spreads regionally, then it becomes a completely different issue because now you start going into places that are far larger contributors to the world economy, both in terms of dollars, but also in terms of minerals and metals and oil and the like,” he said.

Some Western countries are pushing for a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, as well as in Gaza, though the United States, Israel’s strongest ally, has expressed its continued support and is sending it an anti-missile system and troops.

Israel launched the offensive against Hamas after the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage to Gaza, by Israeli tallies. More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive so far, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

Israeli strikes have also killed at least 2,350 people over the last year in Lebanon and left nearly 11,000 wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry, and more than 1.2 million people have been displaced.

Mr. Banga said war damage from Israeli strikes on Gaza is now probably in the $14-20 billion range, and destruction from Israel’s bombing of southern Lebanon will add to that regional total.

Mr. Banga said the World Bank had provided $300 million, six times what was normally given, to the Palestinian Authority to help it manage the crisis on the ground, but that was small compared to the “large number” it would ultimately need.

He said the multilateral development bank had also assembled a group of experts from Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Europe, the US and Egypt to study what short- and longer-term actions it could take if a peace agreement could be reached.

“We’re going to have to figure out how to have that publicly discussed and debated and then find the resources for it,” he said, adding that the effort would require private and public resources. — Reuters

BEIJING/TAIPEI — China will never commit to renouncing the use of force over Taiwan, the government in Beijing said on Wednesday after another bout of war games and a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the scene of a famous defeat for Taiwanese forces.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, staged a day of large-scale drills around the island on Monday that it said were a warning to “separatist acts” following last week’s national day speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te.

“We are willing to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the utmost sincerity and endeavor,” Mr. Chen Binhua, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a regular press briefing in Beijing.

“But we will never commit ourselves to renouncing the use of force,” he said.

That is, however, aimed at the interference of “external forces” and the very small number of Taiwan separatists, not the vast majority of Taiwan’s people, Chen said. Taiwan has close though unofficial relations with the United States, a major arms supplier, and its allies.

“No matter how many troops Taiwan has and how many weapons it acquires, and no matter whether external forces intervene or not, if it (Taiwan) dares to take risks, it will lead to its own destruction,” he added.

“Our actions to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity will not cease for a moment.”

Chinese state media reported on Wednesday that President Xi had arrived the previous day on Dongshan island in China’s Fujian province, which faces Taiwan and where in 1953 China beat off an invasion attempt by Taiwan-based military.

The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists. No armistice or peace treaty has ever been signed.

Mr. Xi was on the island to learn about efforts to revitalize the countryside and the “passing on of red genes and strengthening the protection of cultural heritage”, the official People’s Daily said, referring to the color of the Communist Party.

The report made no mention of Taiwan.

‘NEGATIVE EFFECT’
Taiwan’s government rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.

Speaking to reporters in Taipei earlier on Wednesday, Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen said China’s drills had backfired given the international condemnation they generated, especially from Washington.

“The Chinese communists’ military exercise has created a negative effect in that it made the international community more supportive of Taiwan,” he said.

Mr. Lai, in his Oct. 10 speech, said China has no right to represent Taiwan, but the island was willing to work with the government in Beijing to combat challenges like climate change, striking both a firm and a conciliatory tone which Taiwan officials said was a show of goodwill.

Mr. Chen, the Chinese spokesperson, said Mr. Lai had stuck to his “stubborn separatist position.”

“There was no goodwill to speak of,” Mr. Chen said.

Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed.

China’s military on Monday held open the possibility of more drills around Taiwan depending on the level of “provocation.”

Mr. Tsai said the government remained on alert for further military action.

“We cannot rule out any possibilities,” he said.

China has over the past five years sent warships and warplanes in the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis.

On Wednesday morning, in its daily update of Chinese activities in the previous 24 hours, Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had detected 22 Chinese military aircraft and five navy ships around Taiwan. — Reuters

REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his protectionist trade policies and other fiscal proposals, dismissing suggestions that they could drive up the federal debt, antagonize allies and harm the US economy.

“We’re all about growth. We’re going to bring companies back to our country,” the former president said in a sometimes-tense interview at the Economic Club of Chicago.

The interviewer, John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, cited projections by budget analysts that Mr. Trump’s plans would add $7.5 trillion to the federal debt through the year 2035, more than twice that of policies favored by Mr. Trump’s Democratic opponent in the Nov. 5 election, Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Mr. Trump maintained that his trade policies — which call for pricey tariffs on goods not only from rivals such as China but allies such as the European Union — would revitalize American manufacturing and yield enough revenue to ease concerns about ballooning the deficit.

Some trade experts have argued those tariffs could damage the US economy, jeopardize jobs and drive up consumer prices.

“All you have to do is build your plants in the United States, and you won’t have any tariffs,” Mr. Trump said. “I agree it’s going to have a massive effect, a positive effect, not a negative.”

Mr. Trump reiterated that he would levy a high tariff on vehicles assembled in and imported from Mexico — as high as 200%, he said. And he said he would impose duties on imported cars from countries such as Germany in order to force foreign companies to manufacture their products in the US.

When Mr. Trump was told that his efforts might annoy allies the US needs to compete against China, he responded by saying, “Our allies have taken advantage of us more than our enemies.” — Reuters