Free Republic

Taiwan, normally hostile to China, has offered its earthquake-hit neighbour one of its biggest outpourings of aid to demonstrate gratitude for help it received when it suffered a similar disaster in 1999. Taiwan's government is offering T$2 billion (36.5 million pounds), so much that one lawmaker is questioning the source of the funds, for relief in China's Sichuan province, where a magnitude 7.9 quake on Monday has killed at least 15,000. The public has massed another T$2.2 billion, local media said. Taiwan companies and entrepreneurs are pledging nearly 300 million yuan ($42.9 million), while others, including president-elect Ma Ying-jeou, donated...

The Bush administration is divided over plans to sell Taiwan advanced F-16 jets, with the State Department opposing the sale and the U.S. military favoring the transfers. Defense officials say the U.S. Pacific Command, which is in charge of U.S. forces in Asia and would lead any U.S. defense of Taiwan from Chinese attack, wants the White House to approve the sale and do so sooner rather than later because of the growing imbalance of military forces in the area.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States Air Force had considered a plan to drop nuclear bombs on China during a confrontation over Taiwan in 1958 but it was overruled, declassified documents showed Wednesday. When he learned about it, President Dwight Eisenhower instead required the Air Force to initially use conventional bombs against Chinese forces if the crisis escalated, according to previously secret US Air Force history. The president's instructions seemingly astounded the Air Force top brass but the author of one of the studies released said US policymakers recognized that atomic strikes had "inherent disadvantages" because of the fall-out danger...

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The United States may post Marines at its unofficial embassy in Taiwan - a small but symbolically significant change in its delicate political relationship with the self-ruled island. A State Department advertisement in the English-language Taipei Times newspaper called for contractors to construct quarters for Marine security guards at a new U.S. compound in the capital, Taipei. Since the U.S. switched its recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, there have been no marine guards at its Taipei facility - the American Institute in Taiwan - in keeping with its deliberately low political profile. It is customary...

Taiwan's President-elect Ma Ying-jeou received a huge gift over the weekend — support from China's leader for two of Ma's proposals that could boost tourism and the island's economic growth

Taipei - The number of people in Taiwan who described ties between Taipei and Beijing as friendly has jumped since the two administrations held their first dialogue in 1993, an opinion poll released Monday found. Thirty-nine per cent of the respondents said relations were friendly, compared with 32 per cent after the 1993 meeting in Singapore, according to a poll conducted by the China Times daily [Taiwan-based paper, unaffiliated with the mainland] after Taiwan vice president-elect Vincent Siew met with Chinese President Hu Jintao over the weekend in China. Only 22 per cent thought China is still hostile toward Taiwan,...

Former US secretary of state Colin Powell hailed Sunday a landmark encounter between China's President Hu Jintao and Taiwan's vice president-elect as "good news for the region." Powell made the remark after meeting Taiwan's Vincent Siew, who held 20 minutes of talks with Hu the day before in the highest-level contact ever between China and Taiwan.

) - Taiwan's vice president-elect said Friday he hoped to "melt the ice" with China in an historic encounter with Chinese President Hu Jintao expected here following decades of animosity. Flashing his trademark smile, Vincent Siew arrived at the Boao resort, on the east coast of the tropical Chinese island of Hainan, where he was scheduled to meet for 20 minutes with Hu on Saturday as part of the Taiwanese delegation.

ON MARCH 22, Taiwan's citizens, demonstrating their commitment to a free and open political system, overwhelmingly elected Ma Ying-jeou, the candidate of the Nationalist Party, as their new president. With 76% of eligible voters turning out, Ma beat the Democratic People's Party candidate, 58% to 42%. This represents Taiwan's second peaceful transition of power through free and fair national elections; the first came in 2000, when incumbent President Chen Shui-bian, of the DPP, defeated the Nationalists, who had maintained one-party rule for nearly half a century.

Following its lopsided victory in the legislative elections of Jan. 12, Taiwan's Nationalist Party (or Kuomintang) has nailed down control of that vital island by electing its candidate as president of the Republic of China for a four-year term. This has been hailed in some American quarters as a victory for those who favor an accommodation between Taiwan and Beijing, but don't be deceived. The Kuomintang was Sun Yat-sen's party, which lost control of the mainland to the communists in 1949 but has maintained itself on the staunchly independent island of Taiwan ever since. Eight years ago, it lost control...

Taiwan says did not dismantle U.S. missile parts 2 hours, 44 minutes ago Taiwan's defense minister on Thursday said the island did not dismantle and examine nuclear missile parts mistakenly shipped by the United States, in an incident which has angered China and embarrassed Washington. The U.S. military was supposed to ship helicopter batteries to Taiwan, but instead sent fuses used as part of the trigger mechanism on Minuteman missiles, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. Taiwan returned the parts to the U.S. last week. No nuclear material was shipped to Taiwan, Pentagon officials said. Taiwan's Defence Minister Tsai Ming-hsien was...

China on Wednesday expressed its "grave concern and strong displeasure" over what the United States said was an accidental shipment of ballistic missile components to Taiwan. China has asked the United States "to thoroughly investigate this incident, and report their findings to the Chinese side in a timely, truthful and detailed manner," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement on the ministry's Web site. "We once again remind the United States to abide by the Sino-U.S. joint communique of August 17, and cease arm sales to Taiwan and contact with the Taiwanese military, in order to avoid damaging...

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that it mistakenly shipped non-nuclear components for an intercontinental ballistic missile to Taiwan but has recovered them and launched an investigation. At a news conference, air force secretary Michael Wynne said the mis-shipped items were four electrical fuses for nose cone assemblies for ICBMs. He also said they were delivered to Taiwan in 2006 and had been sent instead of helicopter batteries ordered by Taiwan. The fuses were manufactured for use on a Minuteman strategic nuclear missile but contain no nuclear materials. "This could not be construed as being nuclear material. It is a...

Pentagon admits mistaken arms shipment 6 minutes ago The Pentagon has announced that it mistakenly shipped non-nuclear ballistic missile components to Taiwan from a U.S. Air Force base in Wyoming. It said the items have been returned to the United States. At a news conference, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said Tuesday that the misshipped items were four nose cone assemblies for ballistic missiles. He also said it was sent instead of helicopter batteries that had been ordered by Taiwan, he said. Wynne said the matter is under investigation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that it mistakenly shipped non-nuclear ballistic missile components to Taiwan from a U.S. Air Force base in Wyoming.

Ebullient after a decisive victory in Saturday's election, Ma predicted he could reach agreement with Beijing on a wide range of delicate issues because, unlike President Chen Shui-bian, he is willing to put aside the question of whether this self-ruled island should be considered an independent nation or a part of China.

Why is China behaving as it is in Tibet? What makes Tibet so important to the government in Beijing? At the heart of the matter is the fact that nothing worries China's rulers more than when the country's unity is called into question. And nothing makes them more anxious than their fear that a regional dispute might, if not brought to an end quickly, steamroll into national disintegration. Kosovo's recent declaration of independence sharpened the Chinese government's anxieties over the protests in Tibet. Although supporters of Kosovo's independence argue that it sets no international precedent, China's rulers fear otherwise. Moreover,...

Why is China behaving as it is in Tibet? What makes Tibet so important to the government in Beijing? At the heart of the matter is the fact that nothing worries China's rulers more than when the country's unity is called into question. Kosovo's recent declaration of independence sharpened the Chinese government's anxieties over the protests in Tibet. Although supporters of Kosovo's independence argue that it sets no international precedent, China's rulers fear otherwise. Moreover, Taiwan's presidential election has further ratcheted up the tension for China's government. ... This is the fear gnawing at China's rulers as they confront the...

Ma has based his campaign on promises to reverse the pro-independence direction of outgoing President Chen Shui-bian and leverage China's white-hot economic boom to re-energize Taiwan's ailing high-tech economy. He has proposed a formal peace treaty with Beijing that would demilitarize the Taiwan Strait, 100-mile-wide waterway that separates the two heavily armed sides. But he has drawn the line at unification, promising it would not be discussed during his presidency. Economically, he wants to lower barriers to Taiwanese investment on the mainland — it already amounts to more than $100 billion — and begin direct air and maritime links between...

Article written on 20th about an asset mgr investing in Taiwan because he is sure KMT candidate Ma will merge Taiwan's market with China. Bloomberg link

CHINA is ramping up its security presence in and around Tibet following deadly violence there, with witnesses saying today they had seen hundreds of military trucks pouring into the region. Georg Blume, a journalist with German newspaper Die Zeit and one of the latest foreign reporters to be expelled from Lhasa, described a large troop presence in the Tibetan capital. "I have seen one convoy of at least 200 trucks with 30 military personnel on top of each, so that was around 6,000 troops there which I could see moving on one day,'' Blume told the BBC shortly before leaving...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. aircraft carriers, including the USS Kitty Hawk, have been sent to the Taiwan region for training exercises during this weekend's Taiwanese election, a U.S. defense official said on Wednesday. The two warships were "responsibly positioned" in the Pacific Ocean somewhere east of Taiwan and would remain in place through Saturday's presidential election and referendum on U.N. membership, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He declined to elaborate on the positions of the two ships and could identify only the Kitty Hawk by name.

KMT candidate Ma Ying-Jeou confirmed to hold US Green Card, despite his protestations otherwiseFrom China Times, March 17th, page A4, lower right. Taiwan activist Tong-Ren Tsai filed this press release about the KMT Candidate's Green Card and got back this response (in English): It has been confirmed through US immigration sources that the subject has an active Alien Registration number and is confirmed to be a permanent legal resident of the United StatesFor a backgrounder, Taiwan's presidential election is on March 23rd, this Saturday. Ma Ying-Jeou is the Hong Kong born mayor of Taipei, current head of the KMT party,...

John McCain is at least as determined as George W. Bush to stay the course in Iraq and more confrontational than the president on foreign policy issues ranging from Russia and China to North Korea. The perception that McCain is less bellicose than the administration is belied by his own positions. He's skeptical about Bush's plan to provide nuclear fuel to North Korea. He has signaled he would be tougher on China. And he called Russia's elections ``rigged'' even as Bush said he wanted a ``close'' relationship with the president-elect. ``On Russia and China, he is clearly more hawkish than...

China said Tuesday its defence spending would jump 17.6 percent this year but insisted the rise was moderate, amid a flare-up in tensions with the United States over Beijing's growing military muscle. Military spending in 2008 will reach 417.8 billion yuan (57.2 billion dollars at the end-2007 exchange rate), a spokesman for China's parliament told reporters ahead of the legislature's annual session beginning Wednesday. As Jiang Enzhu announced the figures, he also renewed a warning to rival Taiwan that its plans for a March 22 referendum on United Nations membership was putting an already uneasy peace between the two sides...

When I got into Taipei last night it was downright cold. I expected it to be cool, but it is cold. The heat in the hotel was non existant. Most of the buildings do not have conditioned air and office workers are working in jackets. A fellow engineer in Taipei told me that snow is showing up in the nearby mountains and that fish are dying because of the cold weather. There have been deaths in Southern China due to the cold. In the north, it is so cold, it cannot snow since the cold air is drying up the...

The plight of Kosovo, a newly independent nation on the edge of Europe, strikes an empathetic chord in Taiwan because neither appears welcome in the United Nations. Taiwan was among the first to recognize Kosovo's Feb. 17 declaration of independence, along with the United States and European powers including Britain, France and Germany. But Russia's rejection of an independent Kosovo came with a pledge to block the landlocked Balkan state of 2 million from entering the United Nations. "It is the same with Taiwan," said Chen Shui-bian, president of the Republic of China, as Taiwan calls itself formally. "It is...

Taiwan bans certain steel exports for first time By Kathrin Hille in Taipei Published: February 21 2008 03:53 | Last updated: February 21 2008 03:53 Taiwan has banned exports of certain steel products for the first time, in a move that could further contribute to the squeeze in global steel supply. From March 5, exports of small billets and rebars will be banned for three months, and exports of H beams and scrap steel will be subject to government approval on a case-by-case basis, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Thursday. The measure is an attempt to protect the...

CHINA reacted angrily to Taiwan's expression of support for Kosovo's independence declaration, bluntly telling the island it had no right to offer an opinion on the subject. "It is known to all that as a part of China, Taiwan has no right or eligibility to give the so-called 'recognition' (to Kosovo)," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement. Mr Liu was responding to a statement from Taiwan welcoming Kosovo's unilateral declaration yesterday of independence from Serbia. "Self-determination is a right recognised by the United Nations, and it is the people who are masters of their nation's future," the...

HANOI, VIETNAM: A man has died of bird flu in Vietnam's second human death from the virus in a week, health officials said Friday (15 Feb), blaming poultry consumption during the Lunar New Year holiday and recent cold spells for the spread of the illness. The 27-year-old man died Thursday (14 Feb) night in a Hanoi hospital. He became ill earlier this week after eating infected chicken at his home in Ninh Binh province, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Hanoi, said Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the Ministry of Health's Preventive Medicine Department. Test results showed he was...

A ROW between China and the US over port visits to Hong Kong has extended into a renewed move by Beijing to prevent foreign naval vessels sailing through the 180km-wide Taiwan Strait. The first of a series of incidents causing friction between the countries came last month, when two US minesweepers, the Patriot and the Guardian, were caught in a tropical storm in the South China Sea. They sought shelter in Hong Kong's deep harbour, but their request was rejected. Under Hong Kong's constitution, defence and foreign relations issues are the responsibility of Beijing. Admiral Gary Roughead, the US chief...

BEIJING, Feb 3 (Reuters) - China raised the pressure on Taiwan a month ahead of its referendum on U.N. membership, warning authorities there that they were courting danger and may have to pay a heavy cost. Beijing used strong wording in its first official reaction to Taiwan's announcement on Friday that it would go ahead with a Mar. 22 vote on whether to seek U.N. membership under the name "Taiwan" against opposition from the United States and China. Declaring the decision a significant step in Taiwan's attempt to attain formal independence, China said the referendum threatened peace in the Asia-Pacific...

BEIJING (AFP) - China warned Saturday that Taiwan's decision to hold a referendum on trying to join the United Nations could threaten peace in the Asia Pacific region, state media said. Taiwan announced on Friday it would hold two referendum on bidding to join the world body at the same time as presidential elections next month. China said the decision to hold one of the referendum on whether to bid for membership under the name "Taiwan" was a move towards formal independence by the island, the official Xinhua news agency said. China regards Taiwan as a province awaiting reunification, by...

Did China Triumph in Taiwan? by: Emmanuel Opati, January 28, 2008 The result of last week’s local election in Taiwan in which the opposition Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) won an overwhelming majority over the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) reinforces the influence of China in Taiwan. Although in his victory speech, the leader of KMT, Ma Ying-jeou told his supporters that “the KMT did not beat the DPP. The DPP was defeated by itself. People have cast a vote of no-confidence in the DPP government,” analysts believe this sent a signal about China as a rising Asian power. Speaking...

"But might this growing reliance on space and cyberspace become a dangerous dependence, a fatal weakness? Air force officers talk of space being America's Achilles heel. Satellites move in predictable orbits and anybody who can reach space can in theory destroy a satellite, even if only by releasing a cloud of “dumb” pellets in its path—using a shotgun rather than a hunter's rifle to kill the orbiting “bird”. The precise nature of these weaknesses is a well-guarded secret. But wargames simulating a future conflict over Taiwan often end up with the “Red Force” (China) either defeating the “Blue Force” (America)...

Taiwan warship gets supersonic missiles TAIPEI—Taiwan has installed locally developed anti-ship missiles on a warship in a significant boost of its naval defense against rival China, a report said Friday. The supersonic Hsiung-feng (Brave Wind) 3 missiles were seen on the Perry-class Cheng Kung frigate in the southern port of Tsoying on Thursday, said the United Daily News. The paper quoted commander-in-chief Admiral Wang Li-shen as saying that defense authorities will determine how to deploy the missiles and on which warships after testing is completed. It also cited an unnamed navy official as saying that the authorities hope to wrap...

Military balance tilting toward China Toshinao Ishii Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent The military balance between China and Taiwan is turning in China's favor due to its huge defense spending that showed double-digit growth for the nine consecutive years from 1989. Taiwan is said to have superiority over China in maritime and air force strength. But China has built up its naval force remarkably in recent years. According to the defense white paper for 2007, China possesses 70 frigates and destroyers as against 30 held by Taiwan. China overwhelms Taiwan in the possession of submarines 60 to four. China's marine research vessels...

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/01/airforce_china_strategy_080121/

Woman searching for father discovers ... it's her boss Tue Jan 22, 6:25 AM ET TAIPEI (AFP) - A Vietnamese woman searching for her father worked at his home in Taiwan for seven months without realising who he was before the relationship came to light, her father and police said Tuesday. Tran Thi Kham, 40, travelled to Taiwan in 2005 hoping to find her biological father, who fell in love with her Vietnamese mother in Hong Kong in 1967, police said. Tran's mother became pregnant but was forced to return home for family reasons. She died two months after giving...

Text of report in English by Taiwanese Central News Agency website [By Flor Wang] Taipei, Jan. 17 (CNA) - President Chen Shui-bian said Thursday on a weekly online newsletter published by the Presidential Office that China will not stop suppressing Taiwan no matter who wins the presidency in the March 22 election. "China will continue sparing no efforts to block Taiwan's global presence until it has succeeded in making Taiwan a province of China," Chen wrote in the newsletter. Against such a backdrop, Malawi's announcement Jan. 14 that it has switched its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China has nothing...

A Chinese attack submarine and destroyer confronted the U.S. carrier Kitty Hawk and its battle group in the Taiwan Strait, sparking a tense 28-hour standoff that brought both sides to a battle-ready position. The American ships were heading to Japan following China’s sudden cancellation of a scheduled Thanksgiving port call in Hong Kong when they encountered the Chinese vessels, according to the Navy Times, which cited a report in a Chinese-language newspaper in Taiwan. The Times reported that the encounter caused the carrier group “to halt and ready for battle, as the Chinese vessels also stopped amid the 28-hour confrontation.”...

/begin my excerpt U.S. Carrier Kitty Hawk was in 28-hour Standoff with Chinese Submarine Tense battle-ready standoff in Taiwan Strait (Hong Kong=Yonhap News) Chung Juho = U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk (and its battle group) had 28-hour battle-ready standoff with a Chinese submarine and a missile destroyer in Taiwan Strait last November, it has been revealed. This was the first military standoff between U.S. and China since the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996. According to Jan. 16 dispatch by China Times in Taiwan, on Nov. 23 last year, Kitty Hawk battle group was en route to Japan after China...

Election mania is gripping the United States, where Americans are turning out in droves for one of the most exciting primary seasons in memory. But elsewhere in the world, voters are looking at their own electoral contests with a dollop of trepidation and, in some cases, a healthy dose of dread. Taiwan Parliamentary elections on Jan. 12 and presidential elections on Mar. 22 The contenders: The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its presidential candidate, former Prime Minister Frank Hsieh, square off against former Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou and his opposition Kuomintang Party (KMT), which supports improved relations with mainland...

Taiwanese are now weighing up the impact of the weekend's landslide electoral victory to the Opposition Party, the Guomindang, which promises to build stronger relations with mainland China. It is a blow to those who want formal independence from Beijing and a more independent Taiwan. Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has taken full responsibility for the weekend's loss and has also resigned as chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party won only 27 seats in Taiwan's new 113 seat assembly. The party, which had been pushing for a seat at the United Nations and formal...

(please see article at link) With all votes counted, the official Central Election Commission said the Nationalists had won 81 seats in the 113-seat legislature, against only 27 for the DPP, with four going to Nationalist-leaning independents, and one to a Nationalist satellite party.

When Kevin Lin reached the finish line of a 250km ''ultra-marathon'' in Ant-arctica last year, he wrapped himself in his national flag. It wasn't for warmth. ''I'm proud to represent my country at such a moment - it's as simple as that,'' he says. The Taiwanese endurance athlete, now 31, was the overall champion in the Four Deserts series of races through some of the harshest terrain in the world. Lin is a national hero. His compatriots love him for winning, and for doing it in the name of their country. They have nicknamed the slightly built, ascetic-looking young runner...

(BEIJING) - China has chosen 13 people of its own to represent the island of Taiwan, over which Beijing claims sovereignty, state media said on Saturday, on the same day Taiwanese went to the polls to elect a new parliament. The 13 were chosen "via a secret ballot", the official Xinhua news agency said, and will sit in China's largely rubber stamp National People's Congress, which meets once a year. China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island at the end of a civil war in 1949. Beijing has never renounced the use...

Taipei - Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang (KMT) has won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections. The KMT, which wants closer ties with China, secured 72 percent of parliament's 113 seats. President Chen Shui-bian's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, the DPP, saw its support nearly halved, dropping to 24 percent. The president has announced his resignation as party leader. Analysts say the DPP's defeat is the result of an ailing economy, corruption scandals involving the president and strained relations with China. The KMT seeks closer ties with China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province. The parliamentary poll is seen as a key...

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) thrashed the ruling DPP in legislative elections on Saturday, strengthening its bid to recapture the presidency in March and heralding better relations with China. With all the votes counted, the KMT had won 81 seats in the 113-member parliament, or 72 percent, according to the Central Election Commission. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party won just 27 seats, or 24 percent, the rest going to other parties. Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's president since 2000, resigned as DPP chairman when the magnitude of his party's loss became clear, saying he should take responsibility for...

Comparing three ethnic Chinese militaries By ANDREI CHANG Column: Military Might Published: January 12, 2008 HONG KONG, China, China, Taiwan and Singapore all share the Chinese language and culture. Yet due to their different positions in the international sphere and the capabilities of their respective military industries, the three have chosen very different military strategies and weapons systems. It is interesting to compare the three approaches. First, in terms of military strategy, China is now gradually transforming itself from the passive defense of the Cold War years to today's active defense, with balanced offensive and defensive capabilities. China's navy is...