The South Korean military announced on Friday ( May 24 ) that it had detected signs of potential preparations for a satellite launch in the North’s effort to put a second military reconnaissance craft in orbit. A North Korean military official said that South Korea and US intelligence agencies areContinue Reading
Beijing: On Thursday ( May 23 ), China conducted “punishment” drills all over Taiwan in what it billed as a response to” separatist acts” by deploying heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks in response to state media’s criticism of newly elected president Lai Ching-te.
The workouts, in the Taiwan Strait and around parties of Taiwan- managed islands that sit next to the Chinese coast, come only three weeks after Lai took company, a person Beijing calls a” dissident”.
China views Taiwan, which is politically governed, as its own place, and has condemned Lai’s opening statement on Monday, which called on China to cease its threats and said the two straits were” not inferior to each other.”
On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Lai “disgraceful”.
Lai has frequently rebuffed offers to meet with China. He says just Taiwan’s people may consider their potential and rejects Beijing’s independence claims.
The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army ( PLA ) said it had started joint military drills, involving the army, navy, air force and rocket force, in areas around Taiwan at 7.45am local time.
The training are being conducted in the Taiwan Strait, the northwest, south and east of Taiwan, as well as places around the Taiwan- managed islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin, the order said in a speech, the first time China’s exercises have included areas round these islands.
According to Chinese state media, China carried out mock strikes of high-value military targets, including ships, using live missiles, and sent out dozens of fighter jets carrying live missiles.
The drills, dubbed” Joint Sword- 2024A”, are scheduled to last for two days. However, unlike a similar” Joint Sword” exercise in April last year, these drills are tagged” A”, opening the door to potential follow- ups.
Taiwan’s defense ministry criticized the exercises, claiming that it had dispatched forces to areas around the island, that its air defenses and land-based missile forces were tracking targets, and that it had faith in its ability to defend its territory.
The ministry said the start of military exercises on this occasion highlights” China’s” militaristic mentality as well as its inability to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
ONLINE Tickets Record amounts of foreign tourists are visiting Japan, with regular customers exceeding three million for the first time in March and then again in April. The flow has not been widely viewed, just as it has been in different tourist spots, such as Venice, which recently introduced aContinue Reading
“FALSE PEACE” He added that he would prefer exchanges with China “on the basis of equality and dignity,” stressing that Taiwan’s independence should not be exchanged for financial prosperity. ” Accepting China’s ‘ one- China ‘ process is not true serenity”, he said, referring to a Beijing theory that TaiwanContinue Reading
On Sunday ( May 19 ), the day before Taiwan’s electorate president-elect Lai Ching-te, hundreds of opposition supporters gathered in Taipei to protest four more years of Democratic Progressive Party ( DPP ) rule. Lai will take over as Taiwan is increasingly subject to increasing diplomatic and military forces fromContinue Reading
KINMEN, Taiwan: Standing on the beach of Taiwan’s Kinmen area, Chinese tourists snap photos of the sky of China’s Xiamen area that is clearly visible across the piece of waters separating them. Visitors can stand on a beach where anti-landing peaks jut out for the best view of Xiamen’s buildings,Continue Reading
North Korea has fired off cruise missiles, military rockets, and fast weapons in recent months, in what the nuclear-armed nation claims is an effort to improve its defenses, with the launch the most recent of a series of ever more advanced tests. Seoul and Washington have accused North Korea ofContinue Reading
SINGAPORE: Five days before Mr William Lai Ching- te’s opening as Taiwan’s president, its military government detected 45 Taiwanese military aircraft around Taiwan, the highest individual- day number this year. On Wednesday, twenty-six of the flights flew over the middle range of the Taiwan Strait, which had once been a formal boundary between the two countries.  ,
When Taiwan’s China-friendly opposition party Kuomintang ( KMT ) lawmakers made a friendly appearance on the Chinese mainland last month, China announced it would restart travel for Fujian residents to Taiwan’s Matsu islands and later permit group tours to other areas of the territory.  ,
China added that Taiwan’s importation of fruit and other agricultural and fishing products may be approved.
According to observers, this” vegetable and stick” strategy will probably continue and grow as China’s preferred method of dealing with Taiwan as Mr. Lai assumes Ms Tsai Ing-wen’s role becomes more crucial in Beijing’s calculations as a tussle for impact with the West and economic challenges at home.
Mr Lai won a historic third successive presidential term for the independence- leaning Democratic Progressive Party ( DPP ) in January’s elections, beating the KMT’s Mr Hou Yu- ih and Mr Ko Wen- je of the Taiwan People’s Party ( TPP ).
Taiwan will benefit from Beijing’s clear message to Mr. Lai, according to observers: If it cooperates to forge deeper cross-strait connectivity, it could face retaliation if it attempts to distance itself from China, which views the self-governing area as a part of its country that needs to be reunited with the mainland.
Analysts predict that Taiwan will progressively turn to other nations for economic and diplomatic gain as Mr. Lai attempts to maintain the cross-strait status quo of no declaring freedom.
However, there are limitations on what Taipei you do, and it might be trying to avoid being stonewalled by the lack of a parliamentary majority. There are also some very specific limitations on how far Ms. Lai you advance or enhance Ms. Tsai’s New Southbound Policy, which promotes closer financial and person-to-people ties with South and Southeast Asian nations as well as Australia and New Zealand.
Dr. Hoo Tiang Boon, interact professor at the School of Social Sciences at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), told CNA that” China is essentially the main financial backbone for all the countries in the region.”
” They have to be very aware of and sensitive to Chinese considerations, and ( Southeast Asian nations ) will be very cautious to be seen as forging closer links with Taiwan.”
Depending on the person and bash that is in charge of Taiwan, cross-strait relations have ebbed and flowed.  ,
Ties were strained from 2000 to 2008 when the DPP’s Chen Shui- bian was senator. They significantly improved under the leadership of Mr. Ma Ying-jeou, including a monument meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015, before deteriorating once more when Tsai Ing-wen, the DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen, took over in 2016.
Problems surfaced during her annual speech, which Beijing criticised as an “incomplete check solution” for never explicitly recognising the 1992 discussion.
Wu claimed that security agreements like those signed by the US, Australia, and Japan and the new AUKUS agreement between Australia, Britain, and the US help China stay out of the place and prevent it from becoming even more intense. Wu expressed confidence in Taiwan’s connection with the US, sayingContinue Reading
EXPLORING DEMAND , By around 2027, worldwide demand for advanced, energy- successful semiconductors is expected to explode as AI and electronic technologies deeper enter people’s daily lives, Higashi said. In the hope that Japan, a again world-leading technology pioneer, may regain its border with AI, US tech companies like Google andContinue Reading