Former Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou will visit mainland China later this month, his third visit in the past two years, in another push to promote people-to-people exchanges amid elevated cross-strait tensions. Ma will lead a delegation of Taiwanese youth to visit the cities of Harbin in the northeast and Chengdu in the southwest on a … Read more
Former Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen is set to visit Canada on Wednesday in yet another overseas trip expected to provoke a strong reaction from Beijing. “[Tsai] will highlight the unwavering commitment of the Taiwanese people to safeguarding democracy and freedom and reaffirm Taiwan’s determination to collaborate with the international community in contributing to global stability … Read more
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
In August 2018, Taiwanese writer Lung Ying-tai’s collection of essays – mostly about her love for her mother – was published in mainland China. It became a bestseller. Lung, who served as Taiwan’s minister of culture from 2012 to 2014, sold nearly 300,000 copies of her book in mainland China – an astonishing figure for … 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
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 is making a further push towards war readiness with renewed focus on its civil defence capacities, a move analysts fear may further provoke the mainland. The island has set clear goals to strengthen its civil defence capabilities as part of the mandate of a special committee created in June by Taiwan’s leader, William Lai … Read more
UNPOPULAR REFORM BILL The legislation grants the parliament power to summon the president to give regular reports and answer lawmakers’ questions. The measure also extends to companies and the general public. Tens of thousands of citizens took to the streets to protest the law’s legitimacy. The Bills were driven by the two main opposition parties … Read more
The agency warned other aircraft and vessels to avoid the restricted zone during these periods. The Taiwanese navy will also conduct sea-launched missile drills from August 20-23 and August 27-30 in three restricted areas: waters off Taitung, east of the southern county of Pingtung, and near Green Island and Orchid Island. “Similar to last year, … Read more
The remark was a reference to a long-abandoned plan by the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek to “recover” the mainland after his Kuomintang (KMT) forces lost a civil war with the Communists and fled to the island in 1949 to set up an interim government. Before he died in 1975, Chiang had vowed to use Taiwan … Read more
