TAIPEI — Pro-independence candidate William Lai looks on course to win the Taiwanese presidential election on Saturday in a result that risks inflaming tensions between Beijing and Washington in the South China Sea. The election has been billed as the first major global geopolitical watershed of 2024, pitting the U.S. against China in a battle … Read more
TAIPEI — Taiwan has been slow to learn the lessons from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and should be accelerating a shift away from big-ticket warplane and warship projects and switching to agile weaponry like drones and mobile air-defense systems that could cause China major problems, a retired top military official told POLITICO. Lee Hsi-ming, who … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. Western warplanes and guided missiles roared through the skies over Yemen in the early hours of Friday in a dramatic response to the worsening crisis engulfing the region, where the U.S. and its allies are facing a direct confrontation with Iranian-backed militants. The strikes … Read more
Does turbulence bring you terror? Help, of sorts, is at hand, in the form of rankings that reveal the most turbulent airports and routes in the world, which at least arm nervous flyers with the knowledge of where to avoid. The lists have been drawn up by turbulence forecast website turbli.com, which analysed over 150,000 long-haul and … Read more
Officials from both sides discussed areas of cooperation, including “energy transition, methane, circular economy, low-carbon provinces/states and cities”, the ministry said. Xie was appointed as China’s first special climate envoy in 2021, the same year Kerry was appointed as America’s special presidential envoy for climate. Asia at risk as Cop28 deal falls ‘far short’ of … Read more
BEIJING — China has lifted its ban on imports of Belgian pig products, five years after an outbreak of African swine flu slashed the sector’s access to the crucial Asian market. The news was announced on Friday morning by China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and General Administration of Customs, which said in a joint statement that … Read more
Mr Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT), China’s preferred contender, has emerged as the main challenger to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate William Lai, who wishes to continue the incumbent president’s foreign policy. The other candidate they will face is former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je of the small Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), only … Read more
BEIJING — You stay out of our politics, we’ll stay out of yours: that’s the message delivered by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo to Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Friday. In a statement to the press ahead of his meeting with President Xi Jinping’s No. 2, De Croo told Beijing not to meddle in … Read more
Despite the criticisms, Mr Chen said he still found his experience studying in China invaluable. He said that Taiwanese youths need more exposure in order to truly understand China, before passing judgement themselves. The cross-strait integration plan unveiled by the Chinese State Council is part of China’s longstanding strategy to foster closer ties with Taiwan. … Read more
Sefa Ozel | E+ | Getty Images Russia is still obtaining large volumes of Western technology critical to its war in Ukraine, even as sanctions show some sign of taking hold, new analysis shows. China, Hong Kong, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have been increasingly important in funneling critical components to Russia, according to … Read more
