The president of Paraguay has offered solidarity to Taiwan. The South American nation is one of just 14 nations formally recognising Taiwan as a country.
“Paraguay expresses its solidarity with the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the context of the threats it has been subjected to,” Mario Abdo Benítez said on Twitter.
Continue reading...Island accuses Beijing of planning to breach sovereign territory in wake of controversial visit by Nancy Pelosi
China is to begin a series of unprecedented live-fire drills that would effectively blockade the island of Taiwan, just hours after the departure of US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, whose controversial visit this week has sparked fears of a crisis in the Taiwan strait.
Taiwan has characterised the drills, which will last until Sunday afternoon – and will include missile tests and other “military operations” as close as nine miles to Taiwan’s coastline – as a violation of international law.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretary calls US House speaker’s trip ‘perfectly reasonable’ and urges China to de-escalate
Liz Truss has criticised China’s “inflammatory” response to a senior US politician visiting Taiwan and called for a de-escalation ahead of military drills expected over the coming days.
Hours after the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, ended a historic trip to the island about 100 miles east of China, the UK foreign secretary said her meetings with human rights activists and others were “perfectly reasonable”.
Continue reading...South Korea calls for dialogue and Japan conveys concerns over drills, while North Korea praises China
The historic visit to Taiwan of the US House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has provoked a furious response from China, and heightened fears of a crisis in the Taiwan strait. In Asia and beyond, the visit has put governments on edge.
Continue reading...Defence review to be announced
The government is announcing a defence force review today, which it wants completed in about six months. Is this in response to China?
It’s because we need an ADF that is well-positioned to meet our security challenges over the next decade and beyond.
And we have inherited, as you all know, some real capability issues, some of which have been well publicised in the media. It is important that we look at how we ensure the Australian defence force can meet our security challenges, not just now, but in the years ahead. So, you know, I welcomed this and the prime minister and the defence minister will be having – we’ll have more details about this later today.
Continue reading...US House speaker leaves island as China orders live-fire drills off coast
The US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has said Beijing cannot prevent world leaders from travelling to Taiwan, as she departed from the island on Wednesday to continue her tour of Asia.
In a newly released statement that summarised her trip, Pelosi expressed her admiration for Taiwan’s democracy and criticised China’s ruling Communist party for obstructing Taiwan on the world stage.
Continue reading...Hyperbolic tenor of debate shows lack of knowledge of country’s unique political situation, Taiwanese Americans say
Nancy Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan has inflamed US-China relations anew, with China’s military announcing it will conduct live-fire exercises around the island and state media condemning the visit as “stupid, reckless and dangerous”. Meanwhile, US commentators across the ideological spectrum, from Thomas Friedman to Tucker Carlson to Code Pink, have called Pelosi’s trip a reckless provocation to war.
But to Taiwanese Americans who have spent a lifetime grappling with the island’s strange geopolitical status, the hyperbolic tenor of the debate over Pelosi’s visit is indicative of how little most Americans know or care about the people of Taiwan.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Another area of tension lies between the US and Russia, which Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has ratcheted up again this morning.
On his daily call with the media, Peskov said any talks on a possible prisoner exchange involving US basketball star Brittney Griner needed to be discreet, and that “megaphone diplomacy” would not achieve results, Reuters reports.
Continue reading...Stoic, often fatalistic population paid little attention to talk of House speaker’s visit – until it was confirmed
At a central Taipei branch of a popular bank on Tuesday, a few clients came to Joseph Chiu, a teller, with an odd request: to withdraw millions of kuai from their accounts. “They worry the bank will close its doors tomorrow,” he said during an afternoon streetside smoke break.
Chiu said he wasn’t worried about such an event, and there is no indication that it is even a possibility, but it was a small sign that among Taiwan’s stoic, often fatalistic population, something had shifted this week.
Continue reading...Analysis: House speaker’s arrival is likely to inflame relations between the US and China without making Taiwan safer
In the era of US-China geopolitical competition, Joe Biden has been keen to ensure great power politics do not lead to uncontrollable escalation. Yet the trip to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, is threatening to break what administration officials call “guardrails”. She is the highest-ranking member of Congress to visit the island since 1997.
The move, which is a welcome and a bold assertion of democratic principle to Pelosi’s supporters, has certainly rattled Beijing in a politically sensitive year for China’s ruling Communist party. Xi Jinping is expected to be anointed for an extraordinary third term in the party’s five-yearly congress in the next few months. It also comes as the People’s Liberation Army is celebrating the 95th anniversary of its founding.
Continue reading...People’s Liberation Army announces targeted military operations as it calls visit a ‘malicious provocation’
Nancy Pelosi has landed in Taiwan for a controversial visit to the self-ruled island, offering “unwavering commitment” to supporting its democracy as already heightened tensions with China escalate.
Timed with her arrival, China’s ministry of defence said the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had been put on “high alert” and announced a series of targeted military operations, including missile tests in the waters east of Taiwan and drills encircling the main island for four days after Pelosi leaves.
Continue reading...National security council says speaker has ‘right to visit’ after China warns its military would ‘not sit idly by’
The US national security council (NSC) has insisted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “has the right to visit Taiwan”, amid reports that she will be landing on the island on Tuesday – a move that China has vowed to respond to forcefully.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington on Monday, NSC spokesman John Kirby said Pelosi has visited Taiwan before “without any incident”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Tom Tugendhat likely to lead trip later this year as London’s relationship with Beijing deteriorates
Britain’s House of Commons foreign affairs committee is planning a visit to Taiwan later this year – probably in November or early December – despite rising tensions in the region, the Guardian has learned.
Sources say the trip – which was originally scheduled for early this year but was postponed due to one member of the delegation testing positive for Covid – was intended to show Britain’s support for the democratically run island, which China considers its own.
Continue reading...Employees of contractor questioned over alleged vandalism after colourful murals painted over
A popular cultural attraction and one of Taiwan’s most “Instagrammable” sites has allegedly been defaced by the operators contracted to run it, after they were told to move out for six months while restoration work was conducted.
It was discovered on Friday that many of the walls of the Rainbow Village had been covered with paint overnight. Police detained 14 employees of the Rainbow Creative Co for questioning over the alleged vandalism, including the company’s head, Wei Pi-Jen, who defended their actions as a protest rather than “malicious destruction”. They were released on Sunday.
Continue reading...Reports that House speaker could visit Taiwan have riled China; analysts say she may yet do so in unofficial capacity
The US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has begun a tour of Asia but questions remain over whether it will include a stop in Taiwan.
In a press release on Sunday, Pelosi said a delegation would travel to the Indo-Pacific “to reaffirm America’s strong and unshakeable commitment to our allies and friends in the region”.
Continue reading...PLA carries out ‘live-fire exercises’ after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told not to visit the island democracy
China said it was conducting military exercises off its coast opposite Taiwan after warning Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, to scrap possible plans to visit the island democracy.
The ruling Communist party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), was conducting “live-fire exercises” near the Pingtan islands off Fujian province from 8am to 9pm, the official Xinhua news agency said. The Maritime Safety Administration warned ships to avoid the area.
Continue reading...Japan’s foreign minister tells Washington audience world at ‘historical crossroads’ and that Russian invasion of Ukraine must not succeed
Japan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, has sounded the alarm about China’s behaviour in the Indo-Pacific during a visit to Washington, saying the “logic of brute force” was gaining more traction over the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific.
Referring to Chinese and Russian joint bomber flights near Japan in May, Hayashi said stronger military coordination between China and Russia was emerging as a security concern. “We are currently standing at a historical crossroads, one fraught with a sense of crisis,” he told the Centre for Strategic and International Studies thinktank on Friday. “We are facing a watershed moment.
Continue reading...US president reiterates opposition to undermining peace in Taiwan amid tension over potential Pelosi trip
The Chinese president has warned Joe Biden against “playing with fire” over Taiwan in a highly anticipated phone call that lasted more than two hours on Thursday, as tensions remain high over the House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s possible trip to the island next month.
“Those who play with fire will be perished by it. It is hoped that the US will be clear-eyed about this,” said Xi Jinping, according to a Chinese statement. He also urged the US to implement the three joint communiques that serve as the foundation for relations between the two countries “both in word and in deed”. Xi vowed “resolutely” to safeguard China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity and said this is “the firm will of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people”.
Continue reading...US-China tension rising as Michael McCaul and Anna Eshoo say they were invited to travel with House speaker
Nancy Pelosi has invited senior lawmakers to join her on a trip to Taiwan, according to a member of the House foreign affairs committee, providing the first apparent confirmation of the widely speculated visit.
The potential visit by the US House speaker to Taiwan is at the centre of spiralling tensions involving the island, China and the US, which analysts fear are at their most dangerous point in decades.
Continue reading...Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper support visit to ‘freedom-loving Taiwan’ but Biden concerned any trip would antagonise Beijing
Plans for Nancy Pelosi, the US House speaker, to visit Taiwan have prompted opposition from China and the American military but support from Republicans in Washington, including former members of the Trump administration.
Trump’s second secretary of defense, Mark Esper, told CNN: “I think if the speaker wants to go, she should go.”
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