Asia Politics

Middle East conflict: Israeli delegation visits Taiwan in show of commitment to ties as war continues at home

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“With your support, bilateral interactions have recently been very close,” Tsai said at a meeting with the delegation. During their 30-year informal relationship, Taiwan and Israel have signed 33 agreements to strengthen exchanges in education, public health and other areas, including most recently a tourism agreement signed last month. 03:47 World leaders call for de-escalation … Read more

Big aftershocks rock Hualien county in Taiwan weeks after 7.2 earthquake

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Taiwan’s Hualien county was hit by a series of earthquakes – with the highest magnitude at 6.3 – in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The county, along the east coast of the island, experienced the two strongest shocks in about six minutes, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration which recorded a 6.0-magnitude quake at … Read more

Taiwan will tear down all remaining statues of Chiang Kai-shek in public spaces

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Taiwan’s government will remove all remaining statues of late president Chiang Kai-shek from public spaces in what is seen as a bid to erase his legacy and the historical link with mainland China. Chiang ruled the island for nearly three decades until his death in 1975. He had led his Nationalist or Kuomintang troops to … Read more

Rescuers in China’s Guangdong race to save residents from flooding after heavy rain pummels province

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Helicopters and rubber boats were deployed as rescuers raced against time to save residents from flooding in south China’s Guangdong province following heavy rainfall. In the city of Shaoguan in the north of the province, where large areas are flooded and landslides have been reported, rescuers were sent to relocate trapped residents and transport food … Read more

Exclusive | ‘Reform and opening up are not dead’, but today’s China ‘looks risky’: veteran observer David Lampton

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Deng Xiaoping reflected his personal experience in the Cultural Revolution and earlier experience in Europe, and all this was reflected in the manner in which he promoted his policies. Then, president Jiang Zemin came along and not only reflected his experience in the Soviet Union but also his exposure to Western-style thinking in his youth … Read more

China issues ‘once in a century’ flood warning for Guangdong’s Bei River zone

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Northern and western Guangdong have been battered by intense rainstorms since Friday, breaking rainfall records for April in many places. The cities of Qingyuan, Shaoguan, Huizhou and capital Guangzhou have been particularly hard hit, prompting flood alerts and rainstorm warnings for three days in a row. According to the National Meteorological Centre, most of the … Read more

Chinese nationalists take aim at Japanese animation master Miyazaki’s WWII film

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The mixed responses came despite Miyazaki’s well-known anti-war stance in Japan, where he made headlines in 2015 as he urged his country’s leaders “to say clearly that aggressive war was completely wrong, having brought enormous damage to the Chinese people”. Miyazaki, a co-founder of Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli and director of films such as … Read more

US House passes bills to aid Ukraine, bolster Taiwan, threaten TikTok ban

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While the House took separate votes on the four bills they are expected to be bundled together as one package to send to the Senate. The catch-all foreign policy bill containing the TikTok proposal also tackles China’s role in fentanyl and sanctions evasion and restricts data brokers from sending sensitive American data to foreign adversaries. … Read more

Opinion | Taiwan’s incoming government faces tough task to win back public

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The following week, mainland Chinese coastguard troops boarded and searched a Taiwanese cruise ship near Quemoy. Two Taiwanese fishermen were also detained on March 18, one of whom was handed back. The other remains in mainland custody after being found to be a Taiwanese soldier. Given Quemoy’s proximity to the mainland, Taiwan would probably struggle … Read more

Opinion | Why Germany has little choice but to continue to cosy up to China

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Xi mainly repeated well-known phrases. “Together we can breathe more stability and security into the world,” he told the chancellor – and said China was not involved in the Ukraine crisis. But the real message of the trip was somewhat different. Despite Germany’s China strategy published last year – in which Beijing is defined as … Read more