Free Republic

BEIJING (AFP) – China said it urged the United States in defence talks here to cancel an arms sale to Taiwan and stay away from waters where the two powers were recently involved in high-seas standoffs. China also urged all sides to exercise restraint over North Korea's recent nuclear sabre-rattling, Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian of the People's Liberation Army told reporters.

Taiwan to build 3rd-generation warplane with Russia's help Europe News Jun 19, 2009, 1:44 GMT Taipei - Taiwan plans to build its third-generation warplane with Russian technology as the United States has refused to sell Taiwan F-16C/Ds, a newspaper reported Friday. The Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC), which sent personnel to Russia for instruction from Russian experts, has finished designing the third-generation warplane, the China Times quoted an unnamed military official as saying. The as-yet-unnamed third-generation warplane will have twin engines and be able to take off and land with a short airstrip, the official said. During the design process,...

Chinese TV host accused of spying By Jamil Anderlini and Kathrin Hille in Beijing Published: June 12 2009 17:55 | Last updated: June 12 2009 17:55 The host of a military affairs show on Chinese state television has been thrust into the centre of an espionage scandal after a report in a state newspaper said she was suspected of spying for Taiwan. Fang Jing, a 38-year-old veteran of China Central Television, denied the allegations from The China Daily, the English-language mouthpiece of the Chinese government, including suggestions that she had been seduced by a Taiwanese man eight years her junior....

At a recent meeting with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (�伯雄), Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Taiwan Affairs Office Chairman Wang Yi (王毅), stated that the basis for mutual trust between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait was “opposition to Taiwanese independence.”

Taiwanese feel deeply for the tragic death of former South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun, who jumped off a cliff in his hometown early Saturday morning. Roh, entangled in corruption charges implicating his family members and questioned last month in a bribery investigation, left behind a note to his family, his attorney Moon Jae In said at a televised briefing Saturday. “The president left his home at around 5:45 a.m. to climb Mount Bonghwa, and appears to have jumped off a rock at the top of the mountain at around 6:40 a.m.,” Moon told reporters at the briefing in Busan...

Taiwan's advanced auto parts suppliers won't be easy takeover targets for China's mainland automakers. In a long-shot bid to become global brands, China's automakers want better technology. Taiwan's advanced auto parts suppliers want further inroads into China's auto market, now the world's biggest. Now that China and Taiwan are drawing closer in their economic embrace, is this a match made in heaven? Not so fast. Taiwan's Big Three auto parts suppliers--Tong Yang Industry, TYC Brother Industrial and Depo Auto Parts Industrial--are all family-controlled. That means they will not easily cede control or direct stakes to mainland investors, particularly as they...

A Defense Department official was charged Wednesday with feeding classified information to an agent for the Chinese government.

A Taiwanese man became a sitting target for a snake, which bit his groin as sat on the toilet at his rural home, local media reported on Monday. "As soon as he sat down, he suddenly felt a knife-like pain and reacted instinctively by standing up," the China Times said. "When he looked down, he saw the big snake." The 51-year-old man, from Nantou County, was under medical care with minor injuries, a director at Puli Christian Hospital said. "As soon as he has passed the risk of infection, he can go," the director, who declined to be named, said....

Chiang Kai-shek ranks as one of the most despised leaders of the 20th century. Famously derided as "Peanut" and "General Cash-My-Check," the leader of China's Nationalist government bedeviled the Allied war effort in World War II with his lackluster defense of his country. His corrupt and brutal regime squandered billions of dollars in American aid and drove the Chinese into the arms of the communists. He died in exile a deluded despot, relegated to a footnote in modern Chinese history. Or so the conventional story goes. Now, however, Jay Taylor's new biography, "The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for...

China Adds Precision Strike To Capabilities Apr 8, 2009 By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. China has been developing and purchasing weapons for precision-strike warfare. This is the hard edge of the PeopleÂ’s Liberation ArmyÂ’s (PLA) doctrinal drive toward using increasingly sophisticated information technologies such as C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) to improve the capabilities of weapon systems (DTI March, p. 39). The PLAÂ’s near-term goals appear to be greater asymmetric capabilities to target U.S. naval assets in the western Pacific and in space as part of an anti-access strategy. Long-term, however, greater precision will be a...

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A TAIWANESE newspaper's April Fools' Day story that two giant pandas gifted by China were fakes backfired as politicians and zoo officials failed to see the funny side. The English daily Taipei Times ran a story on Wednesday's science section saying that the animals had been exposed as 'Wenzhou brown forest bears that had been dyed' to resemble pandas. It also quoted a fictional zookeeper as saying that she became suspicious when the bears 'began to spend almost all of their waking hours having sex,' as pandas are known for their low sex drive. 'Their behavior caused chaos. Children screamed...

Taiwan seeks advanced U.S. jet fighters 14:23 | 26/ 03/ 2009 BEIJING, March 26 (RIA Novosti) -- Taiwan is looking to buy U.S. "fifth-generation'' fighter jets featuring stealth and vertical takeoff capabilities, a Chinese daily reported on Thursday. "Taipei has plans to buy an F-35 modification with vertical takeoff to provide support to naval infantry operations," Jin Nian Jiancao said. It said there were two main reasons Taipei wanted to buy F-35s. "Firstly, the existing fleet of Taiwanese fighters can be easily destroyed with Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missiles deployed in mainland China," it said. "Secondly, F-35s will make Taiwan less...

The strategy of a "diplomatic truce" with the People's Republic of China implemented by President Ma Ying-jeou and his Kuomintang government faces its severest test yet in the wake of the election of leftist television journalist Mauricio Funes as president of El Salvador last weekend. The triumph by Funes, the candidate of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, a former revolutionary guerrilla movement, over former National Civic Police director Rodrigo Avila of the far-right ARENA (Nationalist Republican Alliance) by a 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent margin March 15, ends 20 years of consecutive ARENA. Since winning the race, Funes has...

Only four years after World War II had ended and two years after modern India, Pakistan and Israel were created, the Republic of China (ROC), originally established in 1911, was reborn on Taiwan in 1949. Since then it has grown from a refugee haven for people fleeing Communist China to a thriving nation of over 23 million citizens -- and today it is rarely remarked upon in the western media. On April 10 this once Dutch, then Chinese, then Japanese island colony will celebrate thirty years of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) -- the legal action by the United States...

The U.S. government has declined to make a long-awaited sale of block 52 F-16s to Taiwan for fear of upsetting China. The White House blocked the $4.9 billion deal for 66 advanced F-16s last year and there was little hope of it being revived this year. It's seems the United States doesn't want to give them to Taiwan, mainly because mainland China would oppose the sale. In 2006 the U.S. had already blocked the sale to Taiwan of 66 F-16C/D block52s after the island's parliament repeatedly failed to approve funds for an earlier arms package. Then in July 2008, the...

Red China’s Veto Power by: Daniel Allen, February 25, 2009 As policymakers scramble to develop economic escape routes and bulwarks against future crises, one consideration that should not be neglected is foreign trade. The ideal partner for a new free trade agreement (FTA) that benefits both sides, according to the Heritage Foundation, is Taiwan. Speakers at Heritage argued that not only does a free trade agreement with Taiwan make sense right now, but the international political environment is making the option increasingly realistic. Walter Lohman, Director of the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, hosted a discussion at Heritage...

A pending lawsuit says the U.S. owns Formosa and that island residents are non-citizen U.S. nationals. What will Obama do?

New research into language evolution suggests most Pacific populations originated in Taiwan around 5,200 years ago. Scientists at The University of Auckland have used sophisticated computer analyses on vocabulary from 400 Austronesian languages to uncover how the Pacific was settled. “The Austronesian language family is one of the largest in the world, with 1200 languages spread across the Pacific,” says Professor Russell Gray of the Department of Psychology. “The settlement of the Pacific is one of the most remarkable prehistoric human population expansions. By studying the basic vocabulary from these languages, such as words for animals, simple verbs, colours and...

Obama will need to ready himself for demands from friends and threats from enemies. China released a report, timed to coincide with the new President taking office, that ‘advises’ the US that weapon sales to Taiwan harm the relationship between China and the US. Given that China is sitting on over a $ trillion of US Treasury Bonds (more than the report below cites according to economists in the know), you can be sure that Washington takes notes of disapproval from China very seriously. The following report is from Associated Press: China made a rare appeal for cooperation between its...

HP-1359 SNIPPET: "Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of Treasury today designated two Taiwanese individuals and two Taiwanese entities pursuant to Executive Order 13382, an authority aimed at freezing the assets of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their supporters, and at isolating them from the U.S. financial and commercial systems. "Proliferators depend on access to the international financial and commercial systems to support their dangerous trade," said Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. "Our action today exposes a North Korean procurement channel, and we urge governments and companies worldwide to cut this channel off entirely." Alex...

‘STAY ALERT’: A staffer in the Presidential Office’s Department of Special Affairs and a friend were taken into custody on suspicion of handing classified documents to ChinaChinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (�育昇) yesterday called on the government to conduct a “thorough national security check” on Presidential Office staffers after one was taken into custody on Wednesday night for allegedly spying for China. Wang Ren-bing (王�炳), a senior specialist at the Presidential Office’s Department of Special Affairs, was taken from the Presidential Office on Wednesday afternoon after a group of investigators with a search warrant conducted a search of...

Okay, I'll start: 1) Blagojevich walks scott free 2) My salary continues to remain stagnate 3) The bailout results in a massive debt to taxpayers with zero benefit to them 4) Iran aquires nuclear weapons and we (including Bush) failed to do anything about it 5) Jamie Gertz continue's to become even more attractive as she ages

Hu proposes cross-Straits military ties By Wu Jiao (China Daily) Updated: 2009-01-01 08:32 Comments(0) PrintMail President Hu Jintao proposed on Wednesday that the mainland and Taiwan "engage in contacts and exchanges on military issues at a proper time", and explore the setting up of a mutual military trust system. Photo taken on Dec. 31, 2008 shows a ceremony commemorating the 30th anniversary of the announcement of Message to Compatriots in Taiwan held in Beijing, capital of China. The Chinese mainland commemorated the 30th anniversary of the announcement of Message to Compatriots in Taiwan here Wednesday with a ceremony attended by...

BEIJING, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- President Hu Jintao said Wednesday China will respond positively if secessionists in Taiwan give up efforts to gain the island's independence. The Chinese leader urged Taiwan's former ruling Democratic Progressive Party to end its "secessionist activities." "If the party could abandon its 'Taiwan independence' stance, we would make a positive response to them," the official Xinhua news agency reported Hu as saying.

Taiwan on Trial by: Jesse Masai, December 05, 2008 The health of democracy within the tiny nation of Taiwan came under scrutiny at the Heritage Foundation recently. Former Deputy Minister of the National Science Council Ching Jyh Shieh described his 50 days of detention without trial at the hands of the Taiwanese government. Crowded in small cells, Shieh had seen the pain of incarceration without trial. Arrests are arbitrary, he said, and the evidence circumstantial. “One is jailed for supposed danger to others, reason of possible flight from the country, possibility to destroy evidence and to collude with others, yet...

BEIJING, Nov. 28 -- China on Friday executed a man convicted of passing sensitive military and political information to Taiwan a day after notifying his relatives through diplomatic channels that they would have a second chance to visit him, his daughter said. Austrian Deputy Ambassador Stefan Scholz relayed the news of the execution late Friday afternoon to the family of Wo Weihan, 60, according to Wo's daughter Ran Chen. Chen is an Austrian citizen and had been appealing for clemency through diplomatic channels since arriving in Beijing on Monday. She said she had been told her father was executed by...

TAIPEI (AFP) — Everyone in Taiwan will be given more than 100 US dollars in shopping vouchers in a government bid to boost the economy amid the global credit crisis, the prime minister announced Tuesday. Under the scheme, the island's 23 million people regardless of age or wealth will be given 3,600 Taiwan dollars (109 US), Premier Liu Chao-shiuan told reporters. He added that the programme would cost some 82 billion Taiwan dollars, while those people who donated their coupons would be able to file for tax deductions.

Former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水�) entered prison yesterday after a court spent 11 hours discussing the prosecutors' request to detain him on suspicions of misusing the state affairs fund and money laundering. As he had predicted himself on several occasions, Chen became the first-ever former head of state in Taiwan to be jailed. Under the current law, he can be detained for a maximum of 40 days. The Taipei District Court started evaluating the request from the Special Investigation Division of the Supreme Prosecutors Office Tuesday evening at 8 p.m., but Chen complained he felt unwell because a police officer...

When the American people homes and stocks dropped they lost faith in the Republican Party who was at the helm at the time. It doesn’t matter if Obama was taking in more money then any other candidate from those most responsible for their losses. Finger pointing goes in all directions without a clear understanding of who is to blame. Some goodhearted, naïve Americans again think that democrats can indeed be the answer. The American people’s losses voted to remove Republicans and now we have elected someone far worse then even Jimmy Carter. We have elected man that has been raised...

Under normal circumstances, these young Taiwanese professionals would be doing just what about any other people their age would do on a Saturday afternoon: rest, or go shopping. But for the three or four sitting at the table sipping cappuccinos and smoking cigarettes, shopping is the last thing on their mind. It’s only a couple of days before the arrival of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yulin (陳雲林) and already their anxiety is palpable. Like many others this past week, they are planning on demonstrating his presence in Taiwan, as well as the Ma...

McCain tilts towards Taiwan, Obama may favor China By Ralph Jennings Ralph Jennings Thu Oct 30, 1:23 am ET TAIPEI (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate John McCain would seek to defend Taiwan and play hard ball with China if he comes to office, but Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama would further sideline Taipei as he courts Beijing. Analysts say neither candidate would radically change today's status quo, but the former World War Two commander McCain is seen favoring Taiwan, which Americans of his generation called "Free China" but which now struggles for an international voice. China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled...

On Saturday the Dalai Lama made a quiet statement of desperation, signaling the frustration of decades of failed efforts to win fair treatment for Tibetans living within China’s borders. “As far as I’m concerned, I’ve given up,” reports quoted the Dalai Lama as saying, referring to his attempts to engage Beijing in meaningful talks on human rights abuses and the lack of autonomy in Tibet. With these heartbreaking words, the exiled spiritual leader conceded what independent observers have long recognized: Beijing has not and will not move one inch on Tibet. For all the differences between Taiwan, a sovereign country,...

Tens of thousands join anti-China rally in Taiwan by Amber Wang Sat Oct 25, 8:03 am ET TAIPEI (AFP) – Tens of thousands of protesters joined a major anti-China rally Saturday to denounce Taiwan's warming ties with Beijing, which they say threaten the self-ruled island's sovereignty. The demonstrators, many dressed in the opposition Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) green, marched through Taipei's streets waving flags and chanting. They hit out at the visit of Beijing's top negotiator in little over a week, and voiced anger at a series of Chinese export scandals including milk products tainted by industrial chemical melamine. "Opposing...

Half a million protesters are expected to turn up at a rally today against an upcoming visit by a top Chinese envoy, Taiwan's main opposition party said yesterday. In a move which could further stoke opposition to the closely-watched visit, former president Chen Shui-bian yesterday branded the envoy a 'rebel communist' and called for his 'apprehension'. The visit by Mr Chen Yunlin - the highest-ranking Chinese official to set foot in Taiwan since 1949 - has triggered fears among some that it may push the island towards unification with China against their wishes. He is tentatively slated to arrive in...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7681556.stm Pro-independence protesters in Taiwan have jostled a Chinese envoy to the ground and attacked his car. The attack on Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, in the city of Tainan, was shown on television news broadcasts.

In China, tasteless and colorless melamine has been part of the food chain for a long time. Its addition to SanluÂ’s milk powder has now created a global panic over contaminated Chinese foodstuffs. And this was not the first time. In May last year, companies in ChinaÂ’s Jiangsu and Shandong provinces added melamine to wheat protein and barley protein powder, which caused thousands of pets in the US, Canada and other countries to fall ill or die. More than 60 million pet food products were recalled. Feed for 20 million chickens, hundreds of thousands of cultivated fish and thousands of...

/begin my translation National Security Bureau Director Cai Chaoming: SARS was the biochem warfare agents 2008-10-06 13:45: 14 Cheng Ping Toxic milk scandal erupts in mainland China, and the joke among Internet users is that this is mainland China launching biochemical agents. Although such an accusation is indeed a joke, National Security Bureau Director Cai Chaoming said today at the (Taiwanese) legislature's hearing that National Security Bureau has the evidence that the SARS virus, which drove entire Taiwan into panic several years ago, was the biochemical (warfare) agents. Furthermore, after the United Nations expert's investigation, serious suspicions were raised on...

(English-language translation) Taipei - Taiwan awaits the arrival to the island of a Guatemalan business delegation that will conduct commercial consultations with island businessmen to strengthen cooperation, the Taiwan Foreign Trade Development Council reported today. The delegation will visit the island on October 6-17 and will tour Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung to speak to businessmen from all parts of Taiwan. According to Council officials, the Guatemalans' objective is to promote exports from their country to the island, especially coffee, lumber, medications, and crafts. Taiwan is interested in strengthening its commercial ties with Guatemala, one of the island's 12 political allies...

6 Air Force, 2 Army Generals Punished For Shipment Of Nuclear Fuses To Taiwan Eight generals, ranging in rank from one to three stars, have been disciplined as a result of the mistaken shipment of fuses for nuclear warheads to Taiwan, The Associated Press has learned. Defense officials said Wednesday that the six Air Force and two Army generals were given disciplinary letters that vary in seriousness but often can end careers or hopes of promotion. The officers are mainly in logistical jobs and were involved to some degree in the mistaken shipment to Taiwan of four electrical fuses for...

Excerpt - TAIPEI - The United Nations has rejected Taiwan's bid to join the global body, blocking the island's 16th such attempt, officials said on Thursday. Taiwan this month launched a bid to join the 16 UN Specialised Agencies rather than seeking full membership to the global body. The move was seen as an olive branch to Beijing, which views Taiwan as part of its territory. However, the UN General Committee on Wednesday decided not to put Taiwan's proposal on the agenda of the UN plenary session. ~ snip ~

Taipei, Sept 03: Taiwan called on Wednesday for expansion in cooperation on oil exploration and development with China amid warming ties between the two rivals. The CPC Corp, Taiwan, the island's state-run oil refiner, said it has proposed to work with China's CNOOC Ltd to explore possible oil reserves in the East China Sea. "We have expressed the willingness to CNOOC to work together in the East China Sea," CPC Vice President Chu Shao-hua told media. "CPC is waiting for CNOOC's response, hoping both sides will kick off talks on the proposal," he said. CPC and CNOOC set up a...

Taiwan's relations with Japan will remain stable despite the sudden resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. That's the word from Taiwan's foreign ministry on Monday. Fukuda abruptly announced his resignation after less than a year in office. The ministry said that Taiwan appreciates Fukuda's efforts to promote ties with Taiwan. It said Japan's Taiwan policy is not expected to be affected by a leadership change. Taro Aso, secretary-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is reported to be a likely successor to Fukuda. Taiwan's Legislative President Wang Jin-pyng said Aso has always been friendly to Taiwan. Wang said Taiwan...

Taiwan plans to mass-produce ship-to-ship missiles to boost its naval defences against China, the United Evening News reported Friday. The defence ministry has set aside more than US 71.75 million to manufacture the locally-designed Supersonic Hsiung-feng 3, the United Evening News said. The defence ministry declined to comment on the report. Analysts say the Hsiung-feng 3 can be fitted with a variety of guidance systems and can function as a ship-to-ship, land-attack or anti-radar missile. With a range of at least 130 kilometres, the missile has been designed to counter China’s Russia-made equivalent, analysts say.

In an ongoing effort to seek peace with China, Taiwan dropped plans to develop missiles that can cruise to China, media reports said. An unnamed military official said that Taipei has dropped plans to develop missiles that could travel up to 1000 km. The government made the decision to drop the missile plan after the National Security Council and the Defense Ministry reached the consensus that Taiwan should focus on self-defense rather than develop attack weapons. However, they said that country would go ahead with the production of the HF-2 missiles with ranges of 600 to 800 km, some of...

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou on Sunday renewed pledges to promote peace with China on the 50th anniversary of a battle between the rivals. "We cannot change the history of the '823 bombardment' but we can create a peaceful future so the sacrifices of the soldiers and civilians are worthwhile," Ma said while visiting the former battle ground of Kinmen. Kinmen, a Taiwan-controlled fortified island group just kilometres (miles) off China's southeastern Xiamen port, is a constant reminder of lingering hostility between the two sides, which split in 1949 after a civil war. The Chinese People's Liberation Army of Mao Zedong...

Taipei - Four Taiwan men involved in a car accident quit arguing about who was to blame after they discovered a numerology twist in their birthdates, a television channel reported on Tuesday. The four-car collision occurred on Monday evening in a highway tunnel in Chiayi County, west Taiwan. No one was injured in the accident, but when the four men went to a police station to file a report, they saw their birthdates were June 6, July 7, August 8 and September 9, TVBS reported. The succession of 6/6, 7/7, 8/8 and 9/9 was so unusual that the men forgot...

It's a restaurant in Taiwan with a modern decor and a full-on toilet theme. The thorough implementation includes toilet chairs, urinal sconces, and even commode shaped serving pieces. Probably not the best place to bring a child in potty training... Toilet Bowl Taipei Metro, Hsinpu Station, Exit 1 (02) 8253-7767 YouTube - Toilet Bowl , Taiwan

Citing "our tragic history," Obama clears the way for even more corruption in the Aloha State.

Early in 2001, President Bush approved the export of arms to democratic Taiwan. At the time, Bush said the United States would do "whatever it takes" to defend its tiny, besieged Pacific ally. That was yesterday. Today, it's looking more like Bush was just kidding. How else to explain the administration's recent decision to freeze $16 billion worth of the arms deals? Bush approved the sale of Patriot missiles, Apache helicopters, and submarines to Taiwan more than seven years ago. Since then Taiwan has also requested 66 F-16 fighter jets to replace its aging planes. The Taiwanese legislature has appropriated...