The head of a Taiwanese sea search-and-rescue group urged Beijing and Taipei to resume cooperation on maritime emergencies. Joint drills ceased in 2016, impacting safety in the busy Taiwan Strait.
Head of a Taiwanese sea search-and-rescue group urges joint maritime emergency drills with China. The Taiwan Strait is a high-risk zone, and cooperation stopped in 2016.
Beijing's top Taiwan affairs official, Wang Huning, stated that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait require a "joint answer" from people on both sides. He noted the complex and severe situation, particularly since Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te took office, while acknowledging enthusiastic participation from Taiwan despite official bans.
Taiwan's military conducted a live-fire exercise, firing U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets towards the Taiwan Strait, simulating a response to a potential Chinese invasion. This marks the first time the rockets were fired into the waters separating the island from mainland China.
KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun called Donald Trump's opposition to Taiwan's independence a "positive first step" towards reducing tensions. She stated that the KMT's stance aligns with the "one China" principle, aiming to maintain the status quo and minimize war likelihood.
KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun states that cross-strait peace can be maintained if Taiwan avoids "de jure independence" and emphasizes a credible military deterrent and dialogue framework.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian condemned a joint statement by Japan and the Philippines emphasizing Taiwan Strait stability, calling their maritime boundary talks illegal and a betrayal of national interests.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on May 2nd that there is no change in the US policy of maintaining the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. He also mentioned that the sale of arms to Taiwan, worth $14 billion, is still under review.
KMT Chair Sophia Chan plans a two-week US visit starting June 1 to advocate for "normalization of Taiwan Strait peace." She emphasizes investing in peace over war and criticizes the DPP's "Taiwan independence" stance.
Following the Trump-Xi meeting, the US maintains strategic ambiguity on cross-strait issues, exerting "dual deterrence" to secure its interests in the Asia-Pacific. Both sides aim to maintain the status quo for peace and stability.
Taiwan's defense ministry reported detecting 4 Chinese military aircraft and 6 naval vessels operating around the island on Sunday. Three aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait median line into Taiwan's ADIZ. This follows a day of heightened activity with 16 aircraft and 8 vessels.
US Ambassador to Japan, George Glass, stated the US's commitment to maintaining the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. He welcomed Japan's increased defense spending and its ability to exercise "counterattack capabilities," seeing it as beneficial for US-Japan capabilities. Japanese Ambassador to China, Kenichi Sugiyama, also commented on the US-China talks, emphasizing the significance of building a "constructive strategic stable relationship" and expecting a peaceful resolution to Taiwan issues through dialogue.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian stated that maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is the greatest common ground between China and the US. She urged the US to adhere to the One China principle and the three Sino-US joint communiqués, and to avoid sending wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces.
The US should oppose Taiwan independence to avoid conflict with China and stabilize markets, as tolerating independence would erode the foundation for a peaceful settlement.
Beijing’s study of the wars in Iran and Ukraine could sharpen its ability to wage information warfare against Americans during a Taiwan Strait conflict, exposing vulnerabilities in US preparedness, experts said on Wednesday. S. Clinton Hinote, a retired US Lieutenant General, said he was “impressed” with the propaganda coming out of Iran since the outbreak of the war in February, warning that Beijing would deploy similar tactics if conflict erupts over Taiwan. “That’s coming,” he told a...
A Taiwanese official has begun a more than 10-day visit to the United States, with engagements planned at think tanks, with overseas Taiwanese communities, and potentially with policymakers. The official, identified only as Cheng, emphasized that the trip focuses on substantive strategic dialogue rather than ceremonial visits. At the core of her pitch is a rejection of what she describes as the "false binary" of choosing between Beijing and Washington.
An opinion piece arguing that US and allied naval passages through the Taiwan Strait constitute deliberate provocation rather than legitimate navigation rights. The author contends Japan is using these tensions to justify rebuilding its defense industry and reversing post-WWII military restrictions, expressing concern about the revival of Japanese militarism eight decades after the pacifist constitution was imposed.
French President Emmanuel Macron stated in interviews with Japanese broadcaster NHK and at Seoul's Yonsei University that France does not want to be under the hegemony of China or the United States, emphasizing the objective of avoiding becoming 'vassals of two hegemonic powers.' He also met with the Dalai Lama's representative to the EU in late March, expressing his high esteem for the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
China issued a “strong protest” after a Japanese destroyer, travelling to military exercises in the Philippines, passed through the Taiwan Strait on the anniversary of an 1895 treaty ceding the island to Japan. Friday’s voyage was a “deliberate provocation”, said Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry. The 14-hour passage by the JS Ikazuchi “once again exposes the dangerous plot of some people in Japan to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait and undermine peace and stability...
Tensions in East Asia reached a fresh peak with a Japanese warship’s transit of the Taiwan Strait on a historically freighted date for China. According to the PLA Eastern Theatre Command, the Japanese destroyer JS Ikazuchi spent 14 hours navigating the sensitive waterway on Friday, the anniversary of the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki or Treaty of Maguan, an unequal treaty that forced the then-ruling Qing dynasty administration to cede Taiwan to Japanese colonial rule. In a commentary on Saturday,...
