SOLIDARITY: A group of European lawmakers condemned China’s aggressive moves, while the foreign minister of Lithuania said Taiwan ‘cannot become a second Ukraine’
A German parliamentary delegation would visit Taiwan in the first week of October, German lawmaker Holger Becker on Monday told visiting Democratic Progressive Party legislators Fan Yun (范雲) and Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) at the Bundestag in Berlin. Asked by Fan whether he is worried about possible reprisals from Beijing, such as banning him and his family from entering China, Becker said he is more interested in visiting Taiwan, as “now is the time for democracies to stand together.” Fan and Lin also met with German officials to exchange views on digital education and governance. Investing in digital infrastructure and protecting equal rights to
As China waged extensive military exercises off Taiwan, a group of US defense experts in Washington was focused on their own simulation of an eventual — but for now entirely hypothetical — US-China war over the nation. The unofficial what-if game is being conducted on the fifth floor of an office building not far from the White House, and it posits a US military response to a Chinese invasion in 2026. Even though the participants bring a US perspective, they are finding that a US-Taiwan victory, if there is one, could come at a huge cost. “The results are showing that under
DRILLS CONTINUE: China’s creation of a restricted zone across the median line of the Taiwan Strait challenges a 70-year-old fact, a ministry of defense official said
The nation’s military fully complies with international rules and guidelines when responding to Chinese military drills, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, vowing to continue defending Taiwan in accordance with international law. China on Thursday launched four days of military drills around Taiwan proper in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei. The drills were expected to end on Sunday, but neither Beijing nor Taipei confirmed their conclusion, although the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said it had seen some evidence suggesting at least a partial drawdown. However, China yesterday said the drills would continue, saying “the
A senior Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman has prompted a storm of ridicule online, after a late-night post in which she used restaurant listings to assert Beijing’s claim over Taiwan. “Baidu Maps show that there are 38 Shandong dumpling restaurants and 67 Shanxi noodle restaurants in Taipei,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) posted on Twitter late on Sunday. “Palates don’t cheat. #Taiwan has always been a part of China. The long lost child will eventually return home,” she added. Hua’s post came at the end of a week of tensions around the Taiwan Strait, during which Beijing raged at a
WRONG TIMING: The delegation’s trip has not only disappointed Taiwanese, but could send a wrong message to the global community, Tsai Ing-wen said
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) yesterday left with a delegation for a trip to China, drawing fire for visiting at a time when Beijing has been conducting intensive military drills to pressure Taiwan. Before boarding, he told reporters that the delegation would be visiting Taiwanese communities and students in China, and possibly meet with Chinese officials. The Mainland Affairs Council on Tuesday night said that it was not the right time for political party members to visit China, as Beijing has been conducting military exercises since Thursday last week. President Tsai Ing- wen (蔡英文), chairperson of the Democratic
‘MILITARY PLAYBOOK’: It would have taken far longer for the PLA to put together the drills had they actually been in response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit, Joseph Wu said
China is using military drills to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan, and its anger over US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit is just an excuse, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. Speaking in English at a news conference in Taipei, Wu accused China of “gross violations of international law.” “China has used the drills in its military playbook to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan,” he said. “It is conducting large-scale military exercises and missile launches, as well as cyberattacks, disinformation and economic coercion, in an attempt to weaken public morale in Taiwan.” He said the Chinese
The organizers of WorldPride 2025 have canceled the Kaohsiung event because its licensing group, InterPride, demanded that it remove “Taiwan” from the event’s name, they said in a statement yesterday. Kaohsiung was to host WorldPride Taiwan 2025 after being granted the right by the global LGBTQ advocacy group. However, the WorldPride 2025 Taiwan Preparation Committee said that InterPride recently gave “abrupt notice” asking it to change the name of the event and use “Kaohsiung” instead of “Taiwan,” even though it applied for the event using “Taiwan” in its name. The name was initially chosen for its significance to the Taiwanese LGBTQ community, as
SAFEGUARDING PEACE: While Beijing appears to have scaled down its military drills around Taiwan, it will not cease its provocations, the president told air force officers
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that China’s threat of force is undiminished, even though Beijing’s largest- ever military drills around the nation seemed to be scaling down. Furious about a visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China launched ballistic missiles and deployed multiple aircraft and warships in the past few days to simulate sea and air attacks. China on Wednesday said it would keep up patrols, but had “completed various tasks” around Taiwan, signaling a possible end to the war games even while keeping up pressure. Taiwan has also been conducting relatively small-scale, annual exercises, scheduled before
The Chinese air force is today to send fighter jets and bombers to Thailand for a joint exercise with the Thai military. The training is to include air support, strikes on ground targets and small and large-scale troop deployment, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a statement on its Web site. Beijing’s expanding military activities in the Asia-Pacific region have alarmed the US and its allies and form part of a growing strategic and economic competition that has inflamed tensions between the world’s two largest economies. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in June visited Thailand as part of an effort
Starting on Monday, international travelers to Taiwan will no longer be required to provide a negative COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken 48 hours before departure, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday. Following the removal of the test requirement for inbound Taiwanese travelers on July 14, the policy is to be extended to “all arriving travelers,” said Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the center. “We want to remind travelers to Taiwan that they are still required to comply with other COVID-19 regulations,” he said, adding that the policy was made for their
SOCIAL MEDIA ADS: Airport police have been warning Taiwanese bound for Cambodia and Thailand against trafficking rings and have stopped 23 people so far
The Control Yuan has said it would investigate reports that some Taiwanese were imprisoned, tortured, sexually assaulted and threatened with organ harvesting after accepting part-time jobs in Cambodia and Myanmar. Control Yuan members Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) and Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) said Taiwanese might be being trafficked in the two countries. Local media have over the past few months reported that trafficking rings and human resources agencies have been placing job advertisements on social media for positions such as customer service workers or casino staff in Southeast Asian countries, Yeh said. However, once there, Taiwanese have had their personal documents seized and been forced
China’s latest military drills around Taiwan have not changed the US’ assessment that Beijing would not try to seize Taiwan militarily in the next two years, US Undersecretary of Defense Colin Kahl told a news conference at the Pentagon on Monday. Beijing launched the drills on Thursday in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier last week, raising concerns that it is taking a more aggressive posture in the Taiwan Strait. In June, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley said there was a low probability of China taking over Taiwan militarily in the
THAAD: Yoon Suk-yeol has vowed to abandon his predecessor’s pledge not to deploy any more batteries, saying they are critical to defense
China and South Korea yesterday clashed over a US missile defense shield, threatening to undermine efforts by the new government in Seoul to overcome long-standing security differences. The disagreement over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system installed in South Korea emerged after an apparently smooth first visit to China by South Korea’s foreign minister this week. China, contending that the THAAD’s powerful radar could peer into its airspace, curbed trade and cultural imports after Seoul announced its deployment in 2016, dealing a major blow to relations. A senior official in South Korea’s presidential office yesterday told reporters that the THAAD is
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed China’s threat to use force to annex Taiwan, saying that it was disrupting peace in the Taiwan Strait and the region. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office earlier yesterday issued a white paper laying out how it intends to claim Taiwan through a range of economic incentives and military pressure. “We are ready to create vast space for peaceful reunification, but we will leave no room for separatist activities in any form,” said the paper, the first it has issued on Taiwan since 2000. China will “not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of
US DEAL INKED: Next year’s defense budget would be NT$15.4bn higher than this year’s, while the long-term plan to service Patriot systems would cost NT$2.52bn, sources said
Taiwan’s Patriot missiles are getting a maintenance package of NT$2.52 billion (US$84.1 million) over four-and-a-half years from the US, a notification about the deal issued by the Ministry of National Defense showed on Thursday. The US Department of State in February approved the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s request to offer a maintenance package for Taiwanese Patriot PAC-2/GEM and Patriot PAC-3 missile defense systems, said a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity. US-made Patriot missile defense systems are designed to shoot down hostile aircraft and ballistic missiles, capabilities that experts said Taiwan urgently needs amid China’s frequent incursions into its
‘ORDINARY PEOPLE’: A man watching Taiwanese military drills said that there would be nothing anyone could do if the situation escalates in the Taiwan Strait
Many people in Taiwan look upon China’s military exercises over the past week with calm resignation, doubting that war is imminent and if anything, feeling pride in their nation’s determination to defend itself. After a visit to Taiwan last week by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China has sent ships and aircraft across an unofficial buffer between Taiwan and China’s coast and missiles over Taipei and into waters surrounding the nation since Thursday last week. However, Rosa Chang, proudly watching her son take part in Taiwanese military exercises that included dozens of howitzers firing shells into the Taiwan Strait off
BOLSTERING TIES: The US is ‘developing an ambitious road map for trade negotiations’ with Taiwan and plans to continue transits through the Taiwan Strait, a US official said
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed “sincere gratitude” toward the US for taking “concrete actions” to maintain security and peace in the Taiwan Strait and the region, after the White House on Friday said it would boost trade with Taiwan and insist on the right of air and sea passage in the area in response to China’s “provocative” behavior. A new trade plan is to be unveiled within days, while US forces are to transit the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks, US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell told reporters in a teleconference. The statement came after Beijing
The US is imposing export controls on technologies that support the production of advanced semiconductors and turbines, protecting against their “nefarious” military and commercial use. The innovations “are essential to the national security” of the US and meet the criteria for the protection, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security said in a statement on Friday. The agency creates and enforces export restrictions. “Advancements that allow technologies like semiconductors and engines to operate faster, more efficiently, longer and in more severe conditions can be game changers in both the commercial and military context,” US Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry
South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin was set for his first visit to China yesterday as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s government seeks to reassure Beijing about their relationship, despite stronger ties with the US and tensions over Taiwan. Park is scheduled for a three-day stay in the eastern port city of Qingdao, during which he would hold talks with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅), South Korea’s foreign ministry said. Park is the first high-level official to travel to China since Yoon took office in May. His trip comes after Beijing expressed outrage over US House of
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