DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: China might impose a blockade, conduct limited force operations, use an air and missile campaign, or resort to an invasion, the report said
The US Department of Defense has identified four possible military courses of action that China could take against Taiwan, but did not offer any guess on when Beijing might be ready to act. In an annual report to the US Congress released on Tuesday titled Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2022, the department gave a broad overview of China’s military capabilities, strategy, ambitions and intentions. The report devoted significant space to developments related to Taiwan, against which it said China had intensified diplomatic, economic, political and military pressure last year. For example, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
PRESS FREEDOM: Britain called reports that a BBC journalist was beaten and detained ‘unacceptable’; China said the reporter did not present his credentials
Chinese authorities yesterday eased some COVID-19 rules, but affirmed their severe “zero COVID” strategy after protesters demanded Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) resign in the biggest show of opposition to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in decades. The government made no comment on the protests or the criticism of Xi, but the decision to ease at least some of the restrictions appeared to be aimed at quelling anger. It was not clear how many people were detained since protests began on Friday and spread to cities, including Shanghai and Beijing. The city government of Beijing yesterday announced that it would no longer
The first large-scale study of a four-day workweek has come to a startling close: Not one of the 33 participating companies is returning to a standard five-day schedule. Data released Tuesday show the organizations involved registered gains in revenue and employee productivity, as well as drops in absenteeism and turnover. Workers on a four-day schedule also were more inclined to work from the office than home. “This is important because the two-day weekend is not working for people,” said lead researcher Juliet Schor, an economist and sociologist at Boston College who partnered with counterparts at University College Dublin and Cambridge University. “In
China launched 1.4 billion cyberattacks against Taiwan from September 2019 to August 2020, a new report by a Japanese government-funded think tank said. The attacks largely aimed to spread disinformation in Taiwan, with its authors assessing China’s cognitive warfare against Taiwan to be a “great threat,” the Japanese Ministry of Defense-affiliated Defense Research Institute said on Friday. The institute has published its China Security Report annually since 2011. This year’s report focused largely on cognitive warfare. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has been undertaking large-scale reforms since 2015, including the establishment of regional command centers for its land, sea and air forces, and
Chinese universities sent students home and police fanned out in Beijing and Shanghai to prevent more protests yesterday after crowds angered by severe anti-virus restrictions called for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to resign in the biggest show of public dissent in decades. Authorities have eased some controls after demonstrations in at least eight mainland cities and Hong Kong — but showed no sign of backing off their larger “zero COVID” strategy that has confined millions of people to their homes for months at a time. Security forces have detained an unknown number of people and stepped up surveillance. With police out
PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE MEETING: The statement by the former US representative came as Congress is poised to back US$10 billion to bolster Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities
Former US representative Will Hurd yesterday said visiting Taiwan has made him realize that China’s “one country, two systems” framework is not a feasible solution for Taiwan. Hurd, who is visiting Taiwan with an international delegation, made the remarks when meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office in Taipei. There is bipartisan support for Taiwan in Washington, with Republicans and Democrats agreeing that only the 23.5 million Taiwanese can decide the nation’s future, said Hurd, a trustee at the Washington-based German Marshall Fund think tank. Former German lawmaker Marieluise Beck said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed mindsets
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is planning to offer advanced 4-nanometer chips when its new US$12 billion plant in Arizona opens in 2024, an upgrade from its previous public statements, after US customers such as Apple Inc pushed the company to do so, according to people familiar with the matter. TSMC is expected to announce the new plan when US President Joe Biden and US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo visit the facility near Phoenix for a ceremony on Tuesday next week, the people said. The TSMC plant had been slated to make 5-nanometer semiconductors, a standard that would be far
Taipei on Friday rejected Hanoi’s characterization of its recent live-fire drill near Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) as “illegal,” saying that Taiwan’s claim to the small island in the South China Sea was “unquestionable.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a statement that the comments made by its Vietnamese counterpart about the military’s routine live-fire drills near Itu Aba on Tuesday were “unacceptable.” Earlier on Friday, Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang called Taiwan’s military activity “a serious violation of Vietnam’s territorial sovereignty,” saying it had caused tensions and complicated the situation in the region. Hang
DEMOCRATIC STIRRINGS: The protests in China signal the dawn of a new era in which Chinese will no longer remain silent and will rise up against tyranny, Wang Dan said
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday called on China to respond to its people’s demands and change its harsh COVID-19 policy as mass protests spread across cities. Demonstrations have erupted in China against the government’s strict “zero COVID” policy after restrictions reportedly delayed rescue efforts in a deadly fire on Thursday in Urumqi, Xinjiang, leading to 10 deaths. The world, including Taiwan, is closely watching the protests that are unfolding in China as more people become disgruntled with its excessive virus restrictions, the council said in a statement, urging Beijing to make gradual changes to its strict epidemic prevention rules so that
Mask easing: Teachers are allowed to take their masks off while lecturing indoors, but students should keep theirs on, as COVID-19 measures ease this week
The Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday released new on-campus COVID-19 prevention guidelines, stating that masks can be taken off while exercising, singing, dancing, performing, taking photographs, dining, drinking, video and voice recording, hosting events, presenting speeches and lecturing outdoors. Large outdoor events organized by schools should comply with the mask regulations issued by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), it added. The new guidelines came into effect yesterday, and people in Taiwan are no longer required to wear masks outdoors for the first time since May 19 last year. The CECC announced the easing of the mask mandate on Monday, adding that it
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked the legislature of the Netherlands after the Dutch House of Representatives passed two pro-Taiwan resolutions. A resolution urging Amsterdam to use all possible means to enhance ties between Taiwan and the Netherlands and the EU passed the lower chamber of the Dutch Parliament with 129 yes votes and 21 no votes, the ministry said. The resolution was jointly proposed by Dutch representatives Kees van der Staaij, who leads the Reformed Political Party, and Sjoerd Sjoerdsma of Democrats 66, who last month visited Taiwan as a member of a delegation from the Dutch Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on
The government will keep a close watch on changes in China and respond in a timely manner, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday amid concern that Beijing might try to divert attention from domestic unrest by attacking Taiwan. Protests have erupted in China against the government’s strict “zero COVID” policy after restrictions reportedly delayed rescue efforts in a deadly fire on Thursday in Urumqi, Xinjiang, leading to 10 deaths. Asked whether Beijing might use Taiwan to divert attention from domestic troubles, Su told reporters that the world — including Taiwan — has already moved to coexist with COVID-19. It is no wonder that
INDO-PACIFIC FOCUS: Taiwan’s foreign ministry hailed the two presidents for an unprecedented reference to cross-strait peace in their statement after a state dinner
US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday pledged that their countries would “coordinate on our concerns” regarding China and reiterated the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. “The presidents reaffirm the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Biden and Macron said in a joint statement after they held talks at the White House. “The United States and France will continue to coordinate on our concerns regarding China’s challenge to the rules-based international order, including respect for human rights, and to work together with China on important global issues like climate change,”
CRACKDOWN COMING? Beijing warned that authorities would ‘crack down’ on protests, while footage taken in Guangzhou showed people battling with police
Chinese students studying in the US on Tuesday held a candlelight vigil for the people killed in a blaze in an apartment in Xinjiang’s Urumqi, while protests continued in China yesterday against COVID-19 lockdowns, which have been blamed for the deaths, even though Beijing warned of a “crackdown.” At the University of Southern California, students held candles and blank sheets of white paper while calling for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to step down and chanting: “Down with the Chinese Communist Party [CCP].” One of the students, who gave his name as Jason, told reporters: “I would feel ashamed if I did
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) founder Jack Ma (馬雲) has been living in Tokyo for almost six months after disappearing from public view following China’s crackdown on the tech sector, the Financial Times reported yesterday, citing multiple unnamed sources. The billionaire has kept a low profile since the crackdown, which has included Chinese regulators scrapping the initial public offering of Ma’s Ant Group Co (螞蟻集團) and issuing Alibaba with record fines. However, the Times said he has spent much of the past six months with his family in Tokyo and other parts of Japan, along with visits to the US and Israel. The
‘DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE’: The vigilance of the US and EU amid increased threats from authoritarian regimes shows that democracies are resolved to uphold order, MOFA said
Maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is the consensus of democracies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, after a meeting of US and EU officials on the Indo-Pacific region. The ministry’s remarks followed a joint statement on Friday by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino that expressed concern about China’s provocations in the Strait. The US, the EU and other like-minded countries have over the past few months made many public statements about upholding peace and stability in the Strait, showing that cross-strait peace is a consensus among democracies,
Former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin (江澤民) died yesterday, state media reported, hailing him as a great communist revolutionary who helped quell democracy protests in 1989. He was 96. Jiang took power in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, in which the military used deadly force to end demonstrations and led China toward its emergence as a global economic powerhouse. The major bodies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced his death through a letter that expressed “profound grief.” “Jiang Zemin passed away due to leukemia and multiple organ failure in Shanghai at 12:13pm on Nov. 30, 2022, at the age of 96, it
FACTORY TUMULT: The departure of new workers impact production less than the quarantines imposed on existing employees, a worker at China’s ‘iPhone city’ said
Turmoil at Apple Inc’s key manufacturing hub in Zhengzhou is likely to result in a production shortfall of almost 6 million iPhone Pro units this year, a person familiar with assembly operations said. The situation remains fluid at the plant and the estimate of lost production could change, the person said, asking not to be named discussing private information. Much depends on how quickly Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the Taiwanese company that operates the facility, can get people back to assembly lines after violent protests against COVID-19 restrictions. If lockdowns continue in the weeks ahead, production could be set further
LUNAR NEW YEAR PEAK: Taiwanese who are in China should get vaccinated and consider returning early, as infection rates are expected to increase, the CECC said
China faces five major problems once COVID-19 begins spreading there, with a peak in infections likely during the Lunar New Year holidays, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), said yesterday. Wang wrote on Facebook that according to the center’s data, the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in China is worth noting, as the new Omicron subvariants BF.7 and BA.5.2 spreading in China are highly infectious and are more transmissible than the previously dominating Omicron subvariants. “The virus cannot be eliminated even under China’s strict control measures,” he wrote. “Its policy
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