Taiwan

October 29, 2024 11:11 AM

What is ‘Taiwan independence’ and is Taiwan already independent?

Chinese President Xi Jinping asked U.S. President Joe Biden last year to toughen the language the United States uses when discussing its position on Taiwanese independence, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the private conversation. Below are some questions and answers about what is meant by the term "Taiwan independence": WHAT IS TAIWAN'S HISTORY AND FORMAL NAME TODAY? Formerly known as Formosa, the island has been home to indigenous people for thousands of years, before the Dutc...

October 14, 2024 2:33 PM

China launches war games around Taiwan, drawing anger in Taipei, concern from Washington

China's military launched a new round of war games near Taiwan on Monday, saying it was a warning to the "separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces", drawing condemnation from the Taipei and U.S. governments. Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, had been on alert for more war games since last week's national day speech by President Lai Ching-te. Lai's address was condemned by Beijing after he said China had no right to represent Taiwan even as he offered...

October 4, 2024 12:24 PM

Taiwan re-opens, mopping up after Typhoon Krathon

Southern Taiwan worked on Friday to clear up damage from flooding and high winds after Typhoon Krathon slammed into a major port city, while most of the rest of the island resumed work and financial markets re-opened. Krathon, now downgraded to a tropical depression, hit land in the southwestern city of Kaohsiung, inundating streets, blowing out the windows of some buildings and scattering debris amid record-breaking winds. While the rest of Taiwan resumed work, the governments in Kaohsiung an...

October 3, 2024 12:45 PM

Weakened but still strong Typhoon Krathon slams into Taiwan, two dead

A weakened Typhoon Krathon slammed into southwestern Taiwan on Thursday (October 3), hitting the island with a storm that has killed two people so far and forced it to shut down a second day with hundreds of flights grounded and financial markets closed. Krathon made landfall as a much weaker category 1 typhoon around midday at the major port city Kaohsiung. The government, though, still warned people to stay at home given torrential rain, strong winds and storm surges coinciding with...

September 23, 2024 7:25 PM

Taiwan’s allies urge UN to include Taiwan in global body

Permanent representatives from nine of Taiwan's diplomatic allies have written a joint letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, advocating for Taiwan's inclusion in the UN, according to the Central News Agency (CNA). The letter, signed by representatives from Belize, Eswatini, Guatemala, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), and Tuvalu, calls on the UN to address what the allies describe as "malicious distort...

September 20, 2024 9:52 AM

Components for pagers used in Lebanon blasts are not from Taiwan, minister says

Components used in thousands of pagers that detonated on Tuesday in Lebanon were not made in Taiwan, Taiwan's economy minister said on Friday. Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said this week it did not manufacture the devices used in the attack, and that they were made by a Budapest-based company BAC which has a license to use its brand. "The components are low-end IC (integrated circuits) and batteries," Economy Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told reporters. When he was pressed on whether the parts in the pa...

September 4, 2024 3:38 PM

Waste not: Taiwan workshop turns trash into sunglasses

Plastic bottle caps, food packaging, single-use utensils and scrapped toys are just some of the throw-away items that have been given a new life at a zero-waste workshop in Taipei. Customers get hands-on experience in the recycling process, taking plastic waste brought from home, and softening and moulding it into a pair of sunglasses within two hours. "What we are trying to show in the Trash Kitchen is to let you see, feel, touch within minutes how this process can actually work without secon...

August 23, 2024 12:21 PM

On frontline island, Taiwan president rejects China’s rule for freedom

Taiwan wants to continue its free way of life and rejects being ruled by China's Communist Party, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Friday, visiting a frontline island between the two sides to mark a key battle with Chinese forces. Taiwan has controlled the Kinmen and Matsu islands, which lay just off the Chinese coast, since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taipei in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists. No peace treaty or armistice has ever been sign...

August 15, 2024 4:15 PM

Northeastern Taiwan rattled by 5.7 magnitude quake, no immediate reports of damage

A 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck off Taiwan's northeastern county of Yilan on Thursday, the island's central weather administration said, with no immediate reports of damage. The quake shook buildings in the capital, Taipei. The quake had a depth of 9 km, the weather administration said, and was just off its northeastern shore. Subway services in Taipei continued at a lower speed immediately after the quake, authorities said. Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone ...

July 25, 2024 10:45 AM

Two dead as Typhoon Gaemi hits Taiwan, sinks freighter

Typhoon Gaemi swept through northern Taiwan on Thursday, killing two people, triggering flooding and sinking a freighter offshore before heading across the sea and into China where it is expected to dump more torrential rain. Gaemi made landfall around midnight (1600 GMT Wednesday) on the northeastern coast of Taiwan in Yilan county. It is the strongest typhoon to hit the island in eight years and was packing gusts of up to 227 kph (141 mph) before weakening, according to the Central Weather Ad...