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The Biden administration has concluded that China "is flirting with the idea of seizing control of Taiwan as President Xi Jinping becomes more willing to take risks to boost his legacy," the Financial Times reports.                     

Why it matters: An invasion of Taiwan, the self-governed island claimed by Beijing, would force the U.S. to decide whether to go to war with China to defend an implicit ally.

  • The recent conclusion by the Biden administration is based on Chinese behavior during the past two months a senior U.S. official told FT.
  • After a show of force by Chinese bombers off Taiwan just after President Biden took office, the State Department said: "We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan."

Adm. John Aquilino, nominee to head U.S. forces in the Pacific, warned the Senate Armed Services Committee this week that the threat to Taiwan "is much closer to us than most think," CNN reported.

Adm. Philip Davidson, current head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, testified earlier this month that the Chinese military is building up offensive capability, making the threat to Taiwan "manifest during this decade — in fact, in the next six years."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.