Taiwan

China has launched a volley of trade curbs against Taiwan in addition to live-fire military drills, as US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island despite ...

However, the move was widely seen as politically driven. The Chinese State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Wednesday that it will punish two Taiwan organisations with close links to “die-hard” secessionists — the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and International Cooperation and Development Fund. The Chinese commerce ministry said in a separate notice that it would “suspend the export of natural sand to Taiwan” from Wednesday, without providing details.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan has drawn bipartisan support at home and backing among the world's democracies.

China and Russia have closely aligned their foreign policies in recent years, with Moscow backing China over Taiwan and Beijing refusing to criticize Russia for invading Ukraine, while accusing the U.S. and NATO of provoking the conflict and leveling punishing economic sanctions against Russia. “We vehemently denounce any external force’s interference in the issue of Taiwan, and fully support the Chinese government’s just stand to resolutely defend the sovereignty of the country and territorial integrity,” a government spokesperson was quoted as saying. The Chinese response has sparked concerns about a new Taiwan Strait crisis, similar to that of 1995-96, when China held threatening military exercises and bracketed the island with missile strikes in waters north and south of its main ports. China in 2016 severed contacts with independence-leaning Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen over her refusal to endorse its insistence that the island and mainland are part of a single Chinese nation. “But our position on Taiwan is clear,” he added. Meanwhile, China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory with no right to an independent identity, has rallied support among fellow authoritarian states.

The United States House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, departed Taiwan on Wednesday, ending a controversial landmark visit that Beijing responded to with threats ...

China is the victim,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said. Pelosi, second in line to the presidency, is the highest-profile elected US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. As it hosted Pelosi, Taiwan struck a defiant tone, with a furious China gearing up for military exercises dangerously close to the island’s shores in retaliation for the visit.

US lawmaker Nancy Pelosi has ended her Taiwan visit. She had arrived on Tuesday evening in Taipei alongside some congressional delegations...

She went ahead with the trip despite concerns from Washington of possible attack from China. The visit stood as a show of support by the US for Taiwan despite China’s threat of invasion. Her going to Taiwan had raised international concerns because of the budding Chinese-Taiwan crisis.

The Chinese navy is positioning warships around the island, including its two aircraft carriers that have left port in recent days, in what officials described ...

“They’re expanding their strategic nuclear capability and capacity, and long-range detection and targeting — the U.S. no longer has a monopoly on that.” Beijing warned commercial airlines to avoid wide swaths of airspace encircling Taiwan between Aug. 4 and 7 in what amounts to a no-fly zone over major commercial routes. John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, on Tuesday said the U.S. will not engage in “saber-rattling.” Four U.S. warships are already close by in the Pacific, including the aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln, on what the Navy said were routine deployments. But this time, the drills are closer to Taiwan, and China’s naval might has grown significantly over the past 25 years. Taipei is trying to figure out how to reroute critical both ship and air traffic, as the closure zones are strategically positioned outside of Taiwan’s largest ports, forming a ring around the island. The tweets include the hashtag “FreeandOpenIndoPacific.” It remains unclear what role China’s two aircraft carriers, Liaoning and Shandong, might play in the exercises, but both ships have left their ports in recent days and are at sea. The Chinese defense ministry released a map of six zones surrounding the island where it plans to conduct the drills, some of which potentially overlap with Taiwan’s territorial waters. China has never before flown aircraft or launched missiles into Taiwan’s territorial waters — something that could happen during the drills, said Bonnie Glaser, an East Asia analyst at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The Chinese navy is positioning warships around the island, including its two aircraft carriers that have left port in recent days, in what officials described as a blockade. But there are signs Beijing is planning more provocative military actions during the upcoming exercise.

“The more unhappy the [Chinese Communist Party] is, the happier I am,” Ingrid Ho, 35, a Taipei resident, told The Washington Post on Wednesday. “Pelosi coming ...

“We expect that they will continue to react over a longer-term horizon,” he added. Zamake Chang, 30, an engineer from Taoyuan, said Wednesday that he spent the day looking at flights from Taiwan’s main airport to see whether any have been disrupted. On Thursday, China blacklisted two Taiwanese nonprofits affiliated with Taiwan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, a move that local reports say is a response to Pelosi’s visit. One held up a sign calling Pelosi an “American witch.” Pelosi has been a longtime critic of the Chinese Communist Party, winning her fans among those who support Taiwan’s independence. “Maybe it’s that Taiwanese people are used to being scared,” Ho said.

China plans to escalate its military exercises near Taiwan, prompting fears of a fresh crisis in the region.

Yet some experts say Xi’s response to Pelosi’s visit is likely to be as much about domestic issues in China as it is about asserting power. Taiwan has never been part of the People’s Republic of China and says it is already a sovereign nation with no need to declare independence. There have been several crises in the Taiwan Strait, most recently in 1995. According to Justin Bassi, executive director for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, China’s military exercises will probably be calibrated to avoid escalation from the US. China flexed its military muscle with months of military drills, including firing missiles 35 miles from Taiwan’s ports. Ahead of the exercises, which are due to begin on Thursday, Taiwan said 27 Chinese warplanes had entered its air defence zone.

China is set to stage military drills around Taiwan from Thursday to Sunday to protest a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei.

This has happened on numerous occasions when Chinese warplanes have entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone in recent years. But what is "international law?" Consequently, not all countries have an air defense identification zone. "Under that principle, then perhaps we decide that international law applies, in which case Taiwan's airspace extends to 12 miles beyond its baseline. "The reality is Taiwan exists. So for all intents and purposes, Taiwan is a country," Thompson said.

State media frame military exercises in six areas around self-ruled island as war plan rehearsal.

“There is no justification to use a visit as a pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait,” a statement from the G7’s foreign ministers’ said. Beijing had threatened “serious consequences” if she went ahead with the visit. “It is normal and routine for legislators from our countries to travel internationally. “We immediately fired flares to issue warnings and to drive them away. “If the conventional missiles of the PLA were to be launched from the mainland toward the west of Taiwan and hit targets to its east, this means that the missiles would fly over the island, which is unprecedented,” the paper quoted another Chinese mainland military expert Zhang Xuefeng as saying. On Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense described China’s military activities as “irrational” and with the “intention of changing the status quo and undermining regional peace and stability”.

Beijing says large-scale drills around island have started; Taiwan defence ministry said its website suffered cyber attacks and went offline temporarily.

It also reiterated “Asean member states’ support for their respective One-China Policy”. They continue to harass us and increase our air defence pressure.” The official describes todays events so far, saying about 10 Chinese navy ships briefly crossed the median line before they were “driven away” by Taiwanese navy boats. Taiwan’s ministry of defence said its armed forces are “operating as usual” and monitoring surroundings. The six identified zones surround the island, and occasionally overlap with Taiwanese territorial waters. “The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted long-range live-fire shooting training in the Taiwan Straits on Thursday at around 1:00 p.m. and carried out precision strikes on specific areas in the eastern part of the Taiwan Straits,” state broadcaster CGTN added.

Taiwan braced for the Chinese military to start firing in exercises being held around the island in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit, ...

Live-fire drills in six areas surrounding the island began as planned at noon Thursday, Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television reported. The PLA’s Eastern Theater Command conducted long-range shooting drills in the Taiwan Strait around 1 p.m. on Thursday, CCTV said, adding that a “precise strike” was carried out in an unspecified area in the eastern part of the Taiwan Strait. It gave no other details.

TAIPEI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - China launched unprecedented live-fire military drills in six areas that ring Taiwan on Thursday, a day after a visit by U.S. ...

Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only the Taiwanese people can decide the island's future. I think we should thank Comrade Pelosi." There were no signs of significant protests or calls to boycott U.S. products. They continue to harass us," the Taiwanese source said. read more read more

While the mood in Taipei was celebratory, China warned of repercussions as it prepared for live-fire drills that would mark a direct challenge to what ...

Now, it appears the US is caught in the web of a diplomatic dilemma with its Taiwan policy. On the one hand, it abides by the “One China” policy, which recognises only one Chinese government, giving it formal ties with Beijing and not Taiwan. Although Taiwan is self-ruled, China sees it as part of the mainland China and a visible part if the “One China” policy under the sovereign authority of Beijing.

Administration officials say they are hoping China's military exercises last only a few days, but they are discussing their options if the movements expand ...

That view has changed somewhat in recent months as the war in Ukraine has jolted Taiwan’s military and the public, prompting a greater embrace of the “porcupine” strategy. “Instead of announcing a military blockade they may instead announce an extended military exercise around Taiwan that closes or disrupts shipping routes for 30, 60, 90 days. While Taiwan’s military is sometimes allowed to participate in defense symposiums, it is rarely invited to join large multinational military exercises because most countries do not officially recognize it as a nation. “They could also help more in terms of technology transfer, to support our indigenous weapons development programs.” It is even more complicated by the continuing debate over how to help Taiwan become a “porcupine,’’ or a country too well defended for China to invade. Moreover, Taiwan’s defense budget hovers at around $17 billion a year, though it has committed to spend an additional $8 billion on armaments over the next several years. “This is one of the scenarios that is difficult to deal with,’’ said Bonny Lin, who directed the Taiwan desk at the Pentagon and held other defense positions before moving to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, where she heads the China Power Project. “If a military exercise transitions to a blockade, when does it become clear that the exercise is now a blockade? They have also argued that without an explicit security guarantee from the United States, it would be too risky for Taiwan to give up its lethal weapons. Administration officials say that based on their assessments a full cutoff of access to Taiwan is unlikely — in large part because it would hurt China’s own economy at a time of severe economic slowdown. But their assessment was that China’s strategy is to intimidate and coerce, without triggering a direct conflict. It was also when China’s military packed a fraction of the punch it now boasts, including anti-ship missiles developed to deter American warships from getting close. That question may soon be tested for the first time in a quarter of a century.

The text of the following statement was released by the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United ...

There is no change in the respective one China policies, where applicable, and basic positions on Taiwan of the G7 members. There is no justification to use a visit as pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait. It is normal and routine for legislators from our countries to travel internationally. We are concerned by recent and announced threatening actions by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), particularly live-fire exercises and economic coercion, which risk unnecessary escalation.