Tag: Taiwan

US warship sails through Taiwan Strait

  TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — A United States warship has sailed through the Taiwan Strait, Taipei’s defence ministry said Friday, the first such passage since the island resoundingly re-elected its independence-leaning president. The warship was on a “routine mission”, the ministry said, as it traversed the stretch of water that divides the self-ruling island from the authoritarian Chinese mainland. The waterway bristles with hardware on both sides and China views any sail-by as a breach […]

Taiwan’s Tsai wins landslide in stinging result for China

  by Amber WANG / Jerome TAYLOR Agence France Presse TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen declared a landslide victory in Saturday’s election as voters delivered a stunning rebuke of Beijing’s campaign to isolate the self-ruled island and handed its first female leader a second term. Tsai, 63, announced her victory as thousands of jubilant supporters cheered and waved flags outside her party headquarters with the ongoing vote count revealing an all but […]

Taiwan votes in crucial election as China’s shadow looms

by Amber WANG / Jerome TAYLOR Agence France Presse Taiwanese voters headed to the polls on Saturday for a closely watched presidential and parliamentary election in which the island’s fraught relationship with China is taking centre stage. Long queues formed outside election stations before polls opened across the island at 8 am (0000 GMT) with initial results expected late in the evening. The vote will reverberate far beyond Taiwan’s borders, with the two main candidates […]

Taiwan rivals in final election push as China’s shadow looms

by Jerome TAYLOR TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan’s presidential rivals will hold mass rallies later Friday in a final push to convince voters ahead of a closely watched election that looks set to infuriate China and send ripples far beyond its borders. Some 19 million people are eligible to vote on Saturday to choose between two leaders with very different visions for Taiwan’s future — in particular how close the self-ruled island should tack to […]

Taiwan’s military chief killed in chopper crash

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan’s military chief was killed in a helicopter crash on Thursday, the defense ministry said, just days before the island goes to polls to elect a new president. The chief of the general staff, Shen Yi-ming, was among eight senior officers — including three major-generals — who died when their Black Hawk helicopter smashed into mountains near Taipei. The 62-year-old general and his entourage were on a routine mission to visit […]

Protests send Hong Kongers to Taiwan in search of new lives

by Amber Wang, with Yan Zhao in Hong Kong KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AFP) — Protests that have paralyzed Hong Kong for nearly six months is pushing residents to seek new lives abroad, with many turning to nearby democratic Taiwan to escape the uncertainty at home. Taiwan has long attracted Hong Kongers seeking an alternative to their city’s frenetic pace and sky-high rents. But the number granted short-term and permanent residency in Taiwan rose nearly 30 percent […]

Taiwan’s wheelchair athletes find love on the dance floor

  by Sean Chang  TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwanese athletes Vincent Kuo and Ivy Huang each discovered an electric talent for wheelchair dancing on their own — but it was when they were paired up together that the sparks really flew. Part of the island’s last generation of polio survivors, they have spent years perfecting their dance routines. Currently ranked world number two, the recently-married couple are in Germany this weekend to compete in the […]

Pig infected with African swine fever washes up in Taiwan

BEIJING, China (AFP) — A floating dead pig infected with African swine fever washed up in Taiwan last week, according to a UN report, which also recorded a fresh mainland China outbreak and an attempt to illegally transport infected pigs. China’s swine herd has been devastated by the outbreak of the disease, first reported by the government in August last year. An update on the crisis from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the […]

Iglesia Ni Cristo in Taiwan holds “Lingap for OFWs”

(Eagle News) — The Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) recently held an outreach activity to help overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taiwan. During the “Lingap for OFWs” in Taiwan, hundreds of goodwill bags were distributed to OFWs there. The Lingap for OFWs is a project of the INC Executive MInister Brother Eduardo V. Manalo to help Filipinos working abroad. The INC activity there, held after a worship service officiated by the INC Executive Minister, […]

Beijing says no one can stop Taiwan ‘reunification’

Beijing, China (AFP) —  China’s defense minister made an uncompromising call Monday for the “reunification” of Taiwan with the mainland, telling a high level defense forum that the process was something “no force” could stop. Self-ruled Taiwan is viewed by China as a renegade province which will eventually be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary, after the two sides split in 1949 after a civil war. China will not stop in its efforts […]

Attempts to split China risk ‘smashed’ bodies: Xi

BEIJING, China (AFP) — President Xi Jinping has warned that any attempts to split China would result in “bodies smashed and bones ground to powder”, amid four months of anti-Beijing unrest in Hong Kong. Xi issued the dire message during a weekend visit to Nepal, according to a foreign ministry statement released on Sunday. “Anyone who attempts to split any region from China will perish, with their bodies smashed and bones ground to powder,” Xi […]

Last body retrieved after Taiwan bridge collapse

  TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwanese rescuers on Thursday retrieved the body of the last missing person killed when a bridge collapsed two days ago, smashing onto fishing boats moored underneath. A total of six fishing workers from Indonesia and the Philippines were killed in the incident, which also left 12 people injured according to the National Fire Agency. The body of the last missing Filipino was recovered from the waters around noon, ending a […]