Free Republic

Which nation is richer, Belarus or Luxembourg? If you look at total economic output, you might be tempted to say Belarus. The GDP of Belarus, after all, is almost $72 billion while Luxembourg’s GDP is less than $60 billion. But that would be a preposterous answer since there are about 9.5 million people in Belarus compared to only about 540,000 folks in Luxembourg. It should be obvious that what matters is per-capita GDP, and the residents of Luxembourg unambiguously enjoy far higher living standards than their cousins in Belarus. This seems like an elementary point, but it has to be...

Development of ATD-X jet part of Tokyo's effort to upgrade its defence capabilities; analysts warn it could spark claims of arms race in Asia The ATD-X's engines produce 5,000kg of thrust. Photo: SCMP A prototype of Japan's first domestically produced stealth fighter will get airborne before the end of the year, a significant development in Tokyo's efforts to improve its defence capabilities. Known as the Advanced Technology Demonstrator-X (ATD-X) fighter, the aircraft is being developed by the defence ministry's research institute and a number of private companies, primarily Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told the Diet's defence committee...

A Finnish company says that it has solved a problem that has vexed the designers of ultra-tall skyscrapers such as the 828-meter Burj Khalifa in Dubai or the 509-meter Taipei 101 in Taiwan – and we'll pause for a moment to let you guess what that problem might be. Ready? It's the fact that elevators are currently limited to a maximum travel distance of around 500 meters. The Burj Khalifa, in fact, has an elevator that holds the world record for the longest travel distance: 504m (1,654 feet). And what's keeping elevators from exceeding that limit? Time for another pause...

China should not doubt the U.S. commitment to defend its Asian allies and the prospect of economic retaliation should also discourage Beijing from using force to pursue territorial claims in Asia in the way Russia has in Crimea, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. Daniel Russel, President Barack Obama's diplomatic point man for East Asia, said it was difficult to determine what China's intentions might be, but Russia's annexation of Crimea had heightened concerns among U.S. allies in the region about the possibility of China using force to pursue its claims. "The net effect is to put more pressure...

For the first time in history, the Taiwan Parliament (Legislative Yuan) was occupied by protesters, who fought against a trade agreement with China. = Live Update = Live broadcast stream of the protest Inside the Parliament http://www.ustream.tv/channel/longson3000 Outside the Parliament https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj9Dy0IMmi0 At 08:00 3/19. Rumor goes that the government had called police from other cities to Taipei. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=631719033567182&id=523369387735481 At 06:20 3/19. The 2000 protesters oudside the Parliament started to REMOVE the police. Numerous policemen were lifted by protesters and moved out of the Parliament. At 06:00 3/19 Police started to remove protesters from the floor. Fei-Fan Lin (林飛帆), the leader...

China's top envoy to Germany has warned the West against punishing Russia with sanctions for its intervention in Ukraine, saying such measures could lead to a dangerous chain reaction that would be difficult to control. In an interview with Reuters days before the European Union is threatening to impose its first sanctions on Russia since the Cold War, ambassador Shi Mingde issued the strongest warning against such measures by any top Chinese official to date. "We don't see any point in sanctions," Shi said. "Sanctions could lead to retaliatory action, and that would trigger a spiral with unforeseeable consequences. We...

This is from a YouTube posting of a Flash Mob in Taipei, Taiwan and a Lunar New Year Celebration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHnAkbB-IYs&feature=youtu.be

The prominent realist international relations scholar John Mearsheimer says there is a greater possibility of the U.S. and China going to war in the future than there was of a Soviet-NATO general war during the Cold War. Mearsheimer made the comments at a lunch hosted by the Center for the National Interest in Washington, DC on Monday. The lunch was held to discuss Mearsheimer’s recent article in The National Interest on U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East. However, much of the conversation during the Q&A session focused on U.S. policy towards Asia amid China’s rise, a topic that Mearsheimer...

A Chinese billionaire is offering $1B Hong Kong dollars -- or $143,400,000 CAD [$129,574,375.80 USD] -- to any man who can turn his lesbian daughter straight. Cecil Chao Sze-tsung told a Malaysian newspaper his daughter is single, despite the fact she had a commitment ceremony with her longtime partner in 2012, and it's not too late to change her mind about men. But Gigi Chao told the South China Morning Post her father could offer up his entire fortune: "I don't think my dad's offering of any amount of money would be able to attract a man I would find...

The giant rubber duckie that has been going around the globe for the past few months—bringing peace and joy to all of humanity—has exploded in Taiwan. RIP good old yellow duckie.

Taipei, Dec. 31 (CNA) Taiwan's Air Force will showcase its upgraded Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDF) Jan. 16, when the Ching-kuo fighter jets will be armed with locally developed Wan Chien weapons systems, the Air Force said Tuesday. Seventy-one out of more than 120 on-duty IDFs saw upgrades by state-run Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. to reinforce air-to-ground combat capacity on the decade-old jets. To take some of the burden off of the nation's F-16 fleet, Wan Chien (literally "ten thousand swords") systems have been added to the IDFs, giving the fighters the ability to fire cluster bombs with a range of...

Taiwan, like many other nations during the last two decades, is finding that moving from conscription to an all-volunteer military is not easy. For two years now the military has been only able to recruit 30 percent of the soldiers it needs to be all-volunteer by 2014. This is not going to happen until the legislature moves to increase pay and benefits for volunteer soldiers, something taxpayers are not enthusiastic about. If nothing is done to attract more volunteers and conscription is halted on schedule the armed forces will shrink and the ability of the nation to defend itself will...

Taipei, Dec. 26 (CA) The United States has begun delivery of submarine-launched Harpoon missiles this year, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) has said in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The anti-ship cruise missiles will become operational on Taiwan's two Dutch-built combat-capable submarines, the Tuesday report said. The NT$5.87 billion (US$195.46 million) deal, to be fulfilled between 2008 and 2016, is aimed at extending the country's undersea force's strike capability, the MND said. The deal reportedly includes 32 UGM-84L sub-launched Harpoon Block II missiles along with two UTM-84L exercise missiles and two weapon control systems, according to media coverage....

After an internal debate, the Obama administration has decided to tell American commercial airlines to comply with China's demands to be notified of any flights through a broad swath of international airspace that it has claimed as an air defense zone, officials said Friday. Even as the United States continued to send military planes into the zone in defiance of China's declaration, officials said they expected civilian planes to go along with Beijing's new demands out of an abundance of caution. Officials said they were worried about an accident or unintended confrontation that could endanger civilian passengers. The administration’s decision...

The Chinese Defense Ministry last week expanded its Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea, unilaterally increasing its claim on the Japanese administered Senkakus Islands. China is demanding that any aircraft in the Zone must identify themselves and obey air traffic control from Beijing. Any “threats” over the disputed area will be identified, monitored, or engaged according to Chinese policy. Past history has included verbal threats and close formation ramming by outdated fighters. U.S. Response China and Japan both claim ownership of the islets known as the Senkakus while China identify them as Diaoyu. Located in the middle...

The West African nation of Gambia has cut off relations with Taiwan, the latest country to spurn the island for its mainland rival China. Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Chen confirmed the move but declined to give a reason behind the move by Banjul, which seems almost certain to lead to the establishment of formal ties between Gambia and China. … With the loss of Gambia, Taiwan is now recognized by 22 countries, mostly small and impoverished nations in Latin America, the Caribbean and the south Pacific. Swaziland, Sao Tome and Principe and Burkina Faso are its only remaining diplomatic allies...

New Bird Flu Surfaces in Taiwanese Woman Published: Nov 13, 2013 By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, A novel variant of avian influenza A infected a 20-year-old woman in Taiwan. Note that the woman was treated in May and made a complete recovery, with no indication that she spread the novel virus to anyone else. A novel variant of avian influenza A infected a 20-year-old woman in Taiwan, investigators there are reporting. It is the first reported case of an H6N1 avian virus infecting and causing disease in a human, although very similar viruses are endemic in chickens in the...

TAIPEI, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou on Monday said that he will not promote "Two Chinas," "one China, one Taiwan" or "Taiwan independence," inside or outside the island. Ma, also chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) party, made the comments during a speech at a KMT meeting. He said the relationship between Taiwan and the mainland is not a state-to-state one but a special relationship in many aspects. In his speech, Ma reviewed the KMT's efforts over the last five years since the party returned to power. He described them as "beneficial and tangible for the public in...

La Fayette frigates' missile upgrade set for 2017 Taipei, Nov. 4 (CNA) The surface-to-air missiles on the Navy's fleet of La Fayette Class frigates will be replaced with a more advanced system starting in 2017, a senior Naval officer said Monday. The U.S.-made RIM-72C Sea Chaparral missiles will be replaced with Taiwan's own Sky Sword IIs, Navy Chief of Staff Kao Tien-chung said when answering questions at the Legislative Yuan's Foreign and National Defense Committee. The ship-based Sky Sword II, or Tien Chien II, is a variant of the radar guided air-to-air missile developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science...

Taiwan has angrily demand that Apple Inc. alter its new map application, which identifies the island nation as a province of China. Users of the iOS 7 and version 10.9 of OS X for the new iPhone and computers have discovered that any search for "Taiwan" automatically produced simplified Chinese characters that read "China Taiwan province." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei instructed its office in San Francisco to demand that Apple make an immediate correction to the software. "We have made representations to Apple," Kelly Hsieh, head of the ministry's Department of North American Affairs, told reporters in...