Liu Yifei, who stars as Chinese heroine, has voiced support for Hong Kong police during suppression of protests
Calls to boycott Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan have been reignited ahead of its release on Friday, with Thai pro-democracy activists joining those vowing to shun the film.
Controversy over Mulan erupted last year, when its star, Liu Yifei, voiced support for police in Hong Kong, who have been accused of using excessive force against protesters.
Continue reading...Footage shows a girl, 3, in Taiwan being lifted high into the air after becoming entangled in the strings of a kite. The unidentified girl was taking part in a kite festival on Sunday in the seaside town of Nanliao when she was hoisted several metres into the air by the giant, long-tailed orange kite. News reports said the girl was frightened but suffered no physical injuries in the incident.
Girl became entangled in tail of giant kite at festival and was rescued unharmed
A three-year-old girl in Taiwan has been caught up in the strings of a kite and lifted high into the air in front of horrified onlookers, before being rescued unharmed.
The unidentified girl was taking part in a kite festival on Sunday in the seaside town of Nanliao, near Hsinchu City, when she became entangled in a giant, long-tailed orange kite and was hoisted off the ground by several metres.
Continue reading...The 500kg missile system was revealed days after the highest-level US visit to Taiwan in four decades
A new Chinese weapons system has been unveiled on state media amid growing tensions with Taiwan and the US.
Chinese state TV ran reports over the weekend about the Tianlei 500, which translates as Sky Thunder, a 500kg precision-guided munitions dispenser and air-to surface missile. The Tianlei can carry six types of submunitions and attack different targets, a senior engineer said in the report.
Continue reading...Nations from New Zealand to Cuba closed borders promptly with strict quarantine rules, but the UK won’t admit its ‘serious mistake’
Island nations have an advantage when it comes to stopping travellers importing disease, be it Covid or other infections.
Seas are usually harder to cross than land, and beaches are easier to police. There are no cross-border towns, and fewer ways to sneak over frontiers.
Continue reading...Joseph Wu tells visiting US health secretary Taiwan lives under constant threat of its freedoms being quashed by Beijing
China is trying to turn Taiwan into another Hong Kong, the island’s foreign minister warned on Tuesday as he met with a senior US official making a historic diplomatic trip.
A crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong has gathered pace since China imposed a sweeping security law on the financial hub in June, with opposition politicians disqualified and activists arrested.
Continue reading...In thinly veiled comments, coronavirus taskforce chair Alex Azar praises island as ‘model of transparency and cooperation’ during pandemic
A senior US official is to lead a delegation to Taiwan in the highest-level visit since 1979 to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and to “celebrate the shared values” of the two democracies – prompting China to urge the US not to “send the wrong signals to Taiwan secessionists”.
The US health secretary, Alex Azar, said he would be the first cabinet member to visit in six years, in the most significant trip there since the US formally cut diplomatic ties decades ago to pursue relations with the Chinese Communist party. Taiwan said the visit would take place in the coming days.
Continue reading...Nation’s first popularly elected president oversaw transition from martial law to democracy
Lee Teng-hui, known as Taiwan’s “father of democracy” and its first popularly elected president, has died, according to a statement from his family.
Lee, who oversaw Taiwan’s transition from martial law to one of the most vibrant democracies in Asia, died of septic shock and multiple organ failure at Taipei Veterans general hospital on Thursday evening. He had been in hospital for more than five months after choking while drinking milk and later contracting pneumonia. He was 97 years old.
Continue reading...Brawls erupted inside and outside Taiwan’s parliament on Friday over the disputed nomination by President Tsai Ing-wen of a senior aide to a top government watchdog post, which the main opposition party has said is cronyism
Continue reading...Troops deploy fighter jets and warships in biggest annual war games as tensions rise
Taiwanese soldiers have fought off simulated coastal assaults from China during their biggest annual live-fire exercises of the year, as Beijing ramps up military pressure on the island.
The five-day drill, which began on Monday, tests how democratic Taiwan’s armed forces would repel an invasion from its neighbour.
Continue reading...Activists estimate at least 200 protesters are in Taiwan, where authorities have discreetly allowed them to stay by extending tourist visas
After fleeing to Taiwan from the frontlines of the Hong Kong protests, Ben suffered a recurrent nightmare for months: he dreamed his fellow protesters were being tortured by police, but he couldn’t help.
Ten months on from seeking refuge in Taiwan, his feeling of helplessness has eased and his fighting spirit has returned. He is among dozens of former Hongkongers who are finding ways to resist Beijing from Taiwan.
Continue reading...Infections keep falling in EU but reports suggest Russian death toll much higher than official figures
France is to lift its state of emergency on 10 July, Denmark said opening its bars, restaurants and malls had not led to a rise in infections, and Austria will reopen its border with Italy next week as EU nations pursue their steady exits from lockdown.
However, Germany extended its coronavirus travel warnings for more than 160 countries outside Europe until the end of August and reports suggested that Moscow’s death toll may be twice as high as Russia’s official figures.
Continue reading...President Tsai Ing-wen pledges ‘necessary assistance’ after a resurgence in protests against newly proposed security legislation from Beijing
Taiwan will provide the people of Hong Kong with “necessary assistance”, President Tsai Ing-wen has said, after a resurgence in protests in the Chinese-ruled territory against newly proposed national security legislation from Beijing.
Taiwan has become a refuge for a small but growing number of pro-democracy protesters fleeing Hong Kong, which has been convulsed since last year by protests.
Continue reading...Plenty of countries with male leaders have also done well. But few with female leaders have done badly
On 1 April, the prime minister of Sint Maarten addressed her nation’s 41,500 people. Coronavirus cases were rising, and Silveria Jacobs knew the small island country, which welcomes 500,000 tourists a year, was at great risk: it had two ICU beds.
Jacobs did not want to impose a strict lockdown, but she did want physical distancing observed. So she spelled it out: “Simply. Stop. Moving,” she said. “If you don’t have the bread you like in your house, eat crackers. Eat cereal. Eat oats. Eat … sardines.”
Continue reading...Belizean national Lee Henley Hu Xiang accused of ‘colluding with foreign anti-China forces’
China is prosecuting its first foreign national for involvement in the Hong Kong protests, which racked the city for much of last year.
State media said on Friday that Guangzhou city’s national security bureau had finished investigations into Lee Henley Hu Xiang, a Belizean national and Taiwan resident, and his case had been transferred to the Guangzhou people’s procuratorate for prosecution.
Continue reading...As global deaths pass 100,000, White House adviser also cautions against lifting restrictions
The World Health Organization has warned that a premature lifting of restrictions on peoples’ movements by countries fighting the coronavirus pandemic could spark a “deadly resurgence”, as global deaths from the virus passed the grim milestone of 100,000.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, said it was working with countries on ways in which lockdowns could be gradually eased, but said doing so too quickly could be dangerous.
Continue reading...After the Sars outbreak on the island state in 2003, when 150,000 were quarantined, Taiwan vowed to be better prepared next time
As I stepped into a cosy restaurant in Taipei, the waiter signalled for me to stop, then ran at me, gun in hand. He held it near my forehead, then – click – my temperature was checked. He look relieved as he ushered me to a corner table.
Taiwan’s capital (population 2.7 million) is on high alert. Temperature checks, face masks and hand sanitisers are the new normal as the city, and the island state, unifies in its battle against contagion.
Continue reading...Beijing’s draconian measures to contain outbreak have delayed global transmission
The World Health Organization is having to perform a diplomatic balancing act over the new coronavirus outbreak, caught between China – whose draconian measures to contain the disease have delayed transmission to the rest of the world –and China’s critics, who say its behaviour is typical of its disregard for human rights.
At every press briefing, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has defended China’s handling of the epidemic in the face of critical questions, very often from US journalists. At the end of January, when Tedros declared a public health emergency of international concern – having put it off a week earlier under what was assumed to be pressure from Beijing – he praised China for protecting the rest of the world.
Continue reading...Win marks dramatic comeback for party that campaigned against unification with China
Tsai Ing-Wen has been re-elected as Taiwan’s president, as voters delivered a sharp rebuke to Beijing by choosing a leader who had campaigned on protecting their country from China.
As results came in on Saturday following a quiet day of voting in schools, temples, and community centres across the island, Tsai, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), quickly established a lead over her opponent, Han Kuo-yu, of the Kuomintang, which promotes closer ties with China.
Continue reading...Air force general Shen Yi-ming died when aircraft carrying 13 people went down near Taipei
Taiwan’s top military official was among eight people killed when a helicopter crash-landed on Thursday in a mountainous area near the capital, Taipei, the defence ministry has said.
The chief of general staff, air force general Shen Yi-ming, died in the incident while five of the 13 people onboard survived, the military.
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