TAIPEI — China is intentionally mischaracterizing World War II-era documents to put pressure on and isolate Taiwan given those agreements made no determination of the island’s ultimate political status, the de facto US embassy in Taipei said.

The 80^th anniversary of the war’s end has been marked by a bitter dispute between Taipei and Beijing on its broader historical meaning and relevance today.

The Beijing government says documents like the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation support its legal claims of sovereignty over the island, as the wording states Taiwan was to be “restored” to Chinese rule, Taiwan being a Japanese colony at the time.

The Chinese government at the time was the Republic of China, which then in 1949 fled to Taiwan after losing a subsequent civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists.

Republic of China remains Taiwan’s formal name, and its government says no World War II agreements made any mention of Mr. Mao’s People’s Republic of China because it did not exist then, thus Beijing has no right to claim Taiwan now.

“China intentionally mischaracterizes World War II-era documents, including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, and the Treaty of San Francisco, to try to support its coercive campaign to subjugate Taiwan,” the American Institute in Taiwan said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters on Monday.

“Beijing’s narratives are simply false, and none of these documents determined Taiwan’s ultimate political status.”

The San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed by Japan in 1951 renouncing its claims to Taiwan, though the island’s sovereignty is left unresolved in it. Beijing says the treaty is “illegal and invalid” given it was not a party to it.

The United States ended official ties with Taipei in 1979 when it recognized Beijing but remains the island’s most important international backer.

Washington follows a “one China policy” under which it officially takes no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty and only acknowledges China’s position on the subject.

“False legal narratives are part of Beijing’s broader campaign to try to isolate Taiwan from the international community and constrain the sovereign choices of other countries regarding their interactions with Taiwan,” added the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy.

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sept. 3 oversaw a massive military parade in Beijing to mark the war anniversary.

Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung expressed his thanks for the US mission’s statement.

“Our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and the People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan in the international community,” Mr. Lin said in a statement. — Reuters

WASHINGTON — The man arrested in the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk is not cooperating with authorities, but investigators are working to establish a motive for the shooting by talking to his friends and family, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said on Sunday.

Mr. Cox said the accused gunman, Tyler Robinson, 22, would be formally charged on Tuesday. He remains in custody in Utah.

Investigators have yet to piece together why Mr. Robinson allegedly scaled a rooftop at Utah Valley University during an outdoor event and shot Mr. Kirk in the neck at long range on Wednesday.

Mr. Kirk, a staunch ally of President Donald J. Trump and co-founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was killed by a single rifle shot during the event attended by 3,000 people in Orem, about 40 miles south (65 kilometers) of Salt Lake City.

The killing fueled fears of a spike in political violence in the United States and an ever-deepening divide between the left and the right.

Mr. Robinson has not confessed to investigators, Mr. Cox told the ABC program This Week.

“He is not cooperating, but all the people around him were cooperating, and I think that’s very important,” the Republican governor said.

One person who is apparently talking to investigators is Mr. Robinson’s roommate, who was also a romantic partner, Mr. Cox said, citing the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Cox described the roommate as “a male transitioning to female,” and said the roommate has been “incredibly cooperative.”

Reuters has not been able to locate the roommate, or representatives for the roommate, to seek comment. Reuters could not determine who is serving as Mr. Robinson’s legal representative.

Asked on CNN’s State of the Union program whether the roommate’s gender identity is relevant to the investigation, Mr. Cox said, “That’s what we’re trying to figure out right now… It’s easy to draw conclusions from that, and so we’ve got the shell casings, other forensic evidence that is coming in — and trying to piece all of those things together.”

Investigators found messages engraved into four bullet casings, which included references to memes and video game in-jokes. An affidavit filed by authorities in the case described these messages. One of the inscriptions, according to the affidavit, read: “hey fascist! CATCH!” followed by a combination of directional arrows, an apparent reference to a sequence of button presses that unleashes a bomb in a popular video game.

Another casing, according to the affidavit, read, “If you read This, you are GAY Lmao,” short for “laughing my ass off.”

Mr. Kirk’s charged rhetoric, which often involved anti-LGBT and anti-immigrant comments, attracted legions of conservatives, but also engendered strong feelings from liberals and drew widespread criticism.

Mr. Robinson, a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College, part of Utah’s public university system, was taken into custody at his parents’ house, about 260 miles (420 kilometers) southwest of the crime scene after a 33-hour manhunt.

INVESTIGATORS SEARCH FOR MOTIVE
Relatives and a family friend alerted authorities that he had implicated himself in the crime, Mr. Cox said previously.

While Mr. Robinson was raised by religious parents in a deeply conservative region of the state, “his ideology was very different than his family,” Mr. Cox said on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press program, without going into specifics.

State records show Mr. Robinson was a registered voter but not affiliated with any political party. A relative told investigators that Mr. Robinson had grown more political in recent years and had once discussed with another family member their dislike for Mr. Kirk and his viewpoints, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Mr. Robinson was “not a fan” of Mr. Kirk’s, Mr. Cox said on Sunday.

The killing has stirred outrage among Mr. Kirk’s supporters and condemnation of political violence across the ideological spectrum.

Mr. Trump has blamed “the radical left” for Mr. Kirk’s death, despite a lack of evidence, even as he and his allies have often invoked violent rhetoric against their opponents.

“The problem is on the left,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Sunday. “A lot of people that you would traditionally say are on the left… (are) already under investigation.”

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who faced an arson attack in April, said Mr. Trump had an obligation to lower the temperature.

“Violence transcends party lines — and the way to address it and have true peaceful debate is for leaders to speak and act with moral clarity. That needs to start with the President,” he said on social media.

Mr. Cox assigned some blame to social media, saying it has played a “direct role” in every political assassination attempt in recent years.

Mr. Trump has credited Mr. Kirk with driving young voters to conservatism. His Turning Point movement says it has more than 800 chapters across college campuses. Mr. Kirk’s widow on Friday said the movement’s efforts would go forward.

A memorial event for Mr. Kirk will be held on Sept. 21 in Glendale, Arizona, his organization said. — Reuters

CANBERRA — Australia will suffer more frequent and extreme climate events, often happening simultaneously, which will strain industry, services and infrastructure, a government report said on Monday, ahead of the announcement of a new emissions target.

Among the conclusions of the most comprehensive assessment of risks to Australia posed by climate change were that heatwaves will become more frequent and deadly, while rising sea levels will put millions at risk and plants and animals will have to move, adapt or die.

Northern parts of the country, remote communities and outer suburbs of major cities will be particularly susceptible, Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said in a statement.

“No Australian community will be immune from climate risks that will be cascading, compounding and concurrent,” he said.

“Australians are already living with the consequences of climate change today, but it’s clear every degree of warming we prevent now will help future generations avoid the worst impacts in years to come.”

Australia aims to cut carbon emissions by 43% by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Mr. Bowen said the government would soon announce an “ambitious and achievable” emissions reduction target for 2035.

The previous right-of-center government was considered by clean energy advocates a global laggard for its emissions policies. Renewable energy projects have faced backlash from communities and conservative politicians and media.

Opposition leader Sussan Ley said Australia should cut emissions but not at any cost and the government should avoid alarmist language.

“Any (emissions reduction) target must pass two simple tests: it must be credible, and it must be upfront about the cost to households and small businesses,” she said in a statement.

Australia is a major exporter of natural gas and coal. The government last week gave the go-ahead for the country’s second-largest liquefied natural gas plant to operate until 2070.

Monday’s report said Australia was already 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than historical levels. It said a 3-degree warming would raise the number of extreme heatwave days to 18 a year from four now and the duration of marine heatwaves to nearly 200 days from 18 now.

The number of deaths from heatwaves in Sydney could increase by 444% in that scenario, it said, while some forests and marine life may perish.

Three degrees of warming would raise sea levels by another 54 centimeters by 2090, allowing saltwater ingress to impact fresh water supply and putting more than 3 million people in coastal communities at high risk of flooding.

Health and emergency services would face pressure, rebuilding costs would rise, property values would fall, and hotter, drier weather would damage crop yields and stress livestock, the report said.

The government also on Monday released a national adaptation plan that Mr. Bowen said would guide Australia’s response to the report’s findings.

“Our whole country has a lot at stake,” Mr. Bowen said. “This report is a reminder, if we needed one, that the cost of inaction will always outweigh the cost of action.” — Reuters