US president-elect Donald Trump made Taiwan a focal point of his 2024 campaign, advocating increased defence spending by the island and casting a critical eye on its semiconductor dominance. While some Taiwanese officials have dismissed these statements as campaign rhetoric, Trump’s repeated calls for Taiwan to pay “protection fees” and increase its defence spending to … Read more
China’s top spy agency has called on the public to identify and report oceanic buoys that may be in use by a foreign military and could be used against submarines. Oceanic buoys are versatile marine observation devices mainly used to monitor oceanographic conditions, water quality and weather data. They play a critical role in maritime … Read more
The People’s Daily published a commentary on Thursday that vowed to uproot the “historical narrative of Taiwan independence” – a narrative it said has been pushed by Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te. The warning came after Lai used the Friday anniversary of Taiwan’s return to China from imperial Japan after World War II to commemorate … Read more
Chinese internet regulators are removing social media accounts that use fake information to hype the country’s military strength, including false reports of “cyberwarfare” in the South China Sea. A sample post from June on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, read: “Breaking news: China and the US engaged in 12 hours of cyber warfare, causing Luzon … Read more
Kuma Academy, which encourages the Taiwanese public to prepare for war with the mainland and stand up for the island, was sanctioned on October 14 for “propagating secessionist ideas” and serving as a base for “independence separatist activities”. Also sanctioned were two prominent academy figures – Puma Shen, one of its founders, and business tycoon … Read more
The semi-official Taiwanese body responsible for liaising with mainland China has suggested sending a couple of deer across the Taiwan Strait as a peace offering. Luo Wen-jia, secretary general of the Straits Exchange Foundation, said the body was considering offering a mainland zoo a pair of Sika deer named he he and ping ping – … Read more
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited a coastal island just across the Taiwan Strait a day after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) wrapped up massive military drills around Taiwan. Xi inspected Dongshan county in the southeastern province of Fujian on Tuesday afternoon, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The Taiwan-facing island county has served as a regular base … Read more
Taiwan has signed contracts to purchase nearly 1,000 killer drones from the United States, bolstering its asymmetric warfare capabilities amid rising cross-strait tensions. According to a government procurement website, the Taiwanese army signed two contracts with the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington’s de facto embassy in Taipei, on Tuesday. The contracts, valued at a total … Read more
Taiwan’s leader William Lai Ching-te said in a speech on Double Tenth Day that mainland China has no authority to represent the island as the two sides are not subordinate to each other – remarks that are likely to provoke Beijing. In marking the 113th anniversary of its founding Lai said, “The Republic of China … Read more
Beijing has accused Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te of escalating hostility after his recent comments that the People’s Republic of China could not be the island’s motherland. Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Lai had not only tried to deceive and intimidate the Taiwan people, harming their interests, but was … Read more
