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TAIPEI, Feb 11, 2024 (AFP) – Eight Chinese balloons were detected around Taiwan for the second straight day, with five flying directly over the island, Taipei’s defence ministry said Sunday. The ministry said the balloons were spotted on Saturday, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday, at an altitude of 12,000 to 35,000 feet. Five of the balloons flew directly over the island, and one grazed its northern tip, according to a map […]
TAIPEI, Feb 6, 2024 (AFP) – TSMC will build a second foundry in Japan, the semiconductor giant and its local partners announced Tuesday, weeks before its first in the country officially opens. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — which counts Apple and Nvidia as clients — controls more than half the world’s output of silicon wafers, used in everything from smartphones to cars and missiles. In recent years, it has had to navigate geopolitical tussles between […]
SYDNEY, Jan 23, 2024 (AFP) – Taiwanese diplomats on Tuesday said they were confident of retaining “a strong bond” with key partner Tuvalu as speculation mounted that the Pacific micronation could soon switch its allegiance to Beijing. The dwindling list of countries that officially recognize Taiwan shrunk earlier this month when Nauru abruptly severed diplomatic ties in favor of Beijing. With Tuvalu heading to the polls on Friday, some Pacific watchers have questioned whether Beijing […]
TAIPEI, Jan 22, 2024 (AFP) – A record six Chinese balloons were detected around Taiwan, with one flying directly above the island, Taipei’s defence ministry said Monday. Five were seen near the northern coastal city of Keelung while one flew above the island near southern Pingtung county, a map released by the ministry showed. The defence ministry, which releases daily data on China’s military presence around Taiwan, said the balloons were all spotted on Sunday […]
TAIPEI, Jan 18, 2024 (AFP) – More than 20 Chinese warplanes were detected around Taiwan, with 11 crossing a sensitive median line separating the self-ruled island from China, Taipei’s defence ministry said Thursday, the first significant show of force since the weekend’s presidential election. The ministry, which releases data daily on the Chinese military presence around Taiwan, said Thursday that 24 warplanes and 5 ships had been detected in the 24 hours leading up to […]
WASHINGTON, Jan 13, 2024 (AFP) – The United States on Saturday congratulated Taiwan’s president-elect Lai Ching-te, but maintained that Washington does not support independence for the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing. Asked by reporters for Washington’s position on Taiwan, where independence-leaning Lai has pitched himself as a defender of the island’s democratic way of life, US President Joe Biden said: “We do not support independence.” In a statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken saluted Lai […]
BEIJING, Jan 13, 2024 (AFP) – China said “reunification” with Taiwan remained “inevitable” after president-elect Lai Ching-te won Saturday’s pivotal election on the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own. Lai, branded by China as a threat to peace, won an unprecedented third consecutive term for Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after he pitched himself as the defender of the island’s democratic way of life. In a statement issued after Lai emerged as […]
By Amber Wang and Damon Wake TAIPEI, Jan 14, 2024 (AFP) – Taiwan on Sunday told China to “face reality” and respect its election result, after voters defied Beijing’s warnings and chose pro-sovereignty candidate Lai Ching-te as president. Voters spurned Beijing’s repeated calls not to vote for Lai, delivering a comfortable victory for a man China’s ruling Communist Party sees as a dangerous separatist. Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its territory and has never renounced […]
By Amber WANG and Xinqi SU TAIPEI, Jan 13, 2024 (AFP) – Taiwan’s president-elect Lai Ching-te vowed Saturday to defend the self-ruled island from “intimidation” by China, after voters defied warnings from Beijing and swept him to election victory. Lai — branded by Beijing as a threat to peace in the flashpoint region — secured an unprecedented third consecutive term for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Saturday’s poll after a raucous campaign in which […]
By Dene CHEN, Xinqi SU TAIPEI, Jan 11, 2024 (AFP) – China warned Taiwan’s voters Thursday to make the correct choice in the island’s weekend elections, describing the presidential frontrunner as a “severe danger” who would threaten peace by following the “evil path” of independence. Democratic Taiwan is two days from a pivotal election that is being watched from Beijing to Washington because the next president will determine the island’s future relations with an increasingly […]
TAIPEI, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – The Taiwanese people “will resist” China’s attempts to influence the island’s January 13 election, frontrunner presidential candidate Lai Ching-te told AFP on Wednesday as he hit the campaign trial 10 days before the pivotal poll. Beijing claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory, and rejects the stance of Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party which maintains that Taiwan is “already independent”. Dubbed a “troublemaker” and a “separatist” by Beijing, […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Dec 30, 2023 (AFP) – Taiwan’s presidential candidates clashed on Saturday over their positions on the self-ruled island’s relations with China, in a debate before an upcoming vote closely watched from Beijing to Washington. Democratic Taiwan is two weeks from the pivotal election, the results of which could determine Taipei’s future ties with an increasingly bellicose China. Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory, has vowed to take it by force if […]
