China Taiwan Diplomacy

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.

Beijing has sponsored cut-price trips to China for hundreds of Taiwanese politicians ahead of key elections on the island, according to Taiwan sources and documents, unnerving officials with a broad campaign that one called "election interference".

A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would have "disastrous results" for the world, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told AFP in an interview Wednesday, citing the island's strategic importance for the semiconductor industry and global shipping lanes.

The head of Taiwan's China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council will visit the United States to meet officials and speak at think-tank events to help garner international support for the island, his department said on Friday.

China has a plan to "isolate" India and Japan and project its power with an aim to control the Indian Ocean region, a US lawmaker warned on Thursday. Beijing, he said, has its eyes set on Taiwan, which it claims as part of China. The American lawmaker went on to say that Beijing's plan is to turn neighbouring country Taiwan into "a major nuclear an...

President-elect Donald Trump broke with decades of cautious US diplomacy on Friday to speak with the president of Taiwan, at the risk of provoking a serious rift with China.

The Chinese government said on Saturday it had stopped a communication mechanism with Taiwan because of the refusal of the self-ruled island's new government to recognise the "one China" principle, in the latest show of tension between the two.

Taiwan carried out military drills today with naval chiefs assuring residents the island is safe, as concerns grow that tensions will escalate with China after recent presidential elections.

China's Defence Ministry said today people shouldn't read too much into a state media broadcast of live-fire military and landing drills, just days after a landslide election win by an independence-leaning opposition party in Taiwan.

For China, whose President Xi Jinping is already taking an increasingly muscular approach to claims in the East and South China Sea, the question of Taiwan trumps any other of its territorial assertions in terms of sensitivity and importance.

China said today it would allow transit stops in Taiwan for its citizens travelling from three Chinese cities, allowing people from the mainland to travel on from the island for the first time.

Taiwan's president was due to leave for Central America later Sunday to shore up diplomatic ties despite a truce with China after decades of "dollar diplomacy".

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.

Beijing has sponsored cut-price trips to China for hundreds of Taiwanese politicians ahead of key elections on the island, according to Taiwan sources and documents, unnerving officials with a broad campaign that one called "election interference".

A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would have "disastrous results" for the world, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told AFP in an interview Wednesday, citing the island's strategic importance for the semiconductor industry and global shipping lanes.

The head of Taiwan's China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council will visit the United States to meet officials and speak at think-tank events to help garner international support for the island, his department said on Friday.

China has a plan to "isolate" India and Japan and project its power with an aim to control the Indian Ocean region, a US lawmaker warned on Thursday. Beijing, he said, has its eyes set on Taiwan, which it claims as part of China. The American lawmaker went on to say that Beijing's plan is to turn neighbouring country Taiwan into "a major nuclear an...

President-elect Donald Trump broke with decades of cautious US diplomacy on Friday to speak with the president of Taiwan, at the risk of provoking a serious rift with China.

The Chinese government said on Saturday it had stopped a communication mechanism with Taiwan because of the refusal of the self-ruled island's new government to recognise the "one China" principle, in the latest show of tension between the two.

Taiwan carried out military drills today with naval chiefs assuring residents the island is safe, as concerns grow that tensions will escalate with China after recent presidential elections.

China's Defence Ministry said today people shouldn't read too much into a state media broadcast of live-fire military and landing drills, just days after a landslide election win by an independence-leaning opposition party in Taiwan.

For China, whose President Xi Jinping is already taking an increasingly muscular approach to claims in the East and South China Sea, the question of Taiwan trumps any other of its territorial assertions in terms of sensitivity and importance.

China said today it would allow transit stops in Taiwan for its citizens travelling from three Chinese cities, allowing people from the mainland to travel on from the island for the first time.

Taiwan's president was due to leave for Central America later Sunday to shore up diplomatic ties despite a truce with China after decades of "dollar diplomacy".