In the present circumstances concerning the Ukraine crisis, three players have been actively involved -- Russia, Ukraine, and the West -- but China is looking even more closely.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province, has not ruled out the use of force to unify the island with the mainland and has in recent months escalated fighter jet flights over Taiwanese airspace.
"China sent a Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane into Taiwan's ADIZ," Taiwan News reported citing the country's Ministry of National Defense.
Govt facilitates and promotes interactions in areas of trade, investment, tourism, culture, education and other such people-to-people exchanges.
The bi-partisan group of lawmakers from the US House of Representatives arrived in Taiwan on Thursday night and were planning to meet with senior leaders including Tsai, said the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy. No further details were provided about their itinerary.
Joe Biden has invited 110 countries to a virtual summit on democracy. The list of invitees includes Taiwan.
Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen commissioned into service 64 upgraded F-16V fighter jets at an air force base in Chiayi on Thursday.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry said in a biennial report that Beijing is employing “gray zone" tactics to ratchet up pressure on the self-governing island republic which China claims as its own territory.
Tsai Ing-wen is the first Taiwanese leader in decades to publically admit the presence of US troops for training, however, she stopped short of disclosing the number of personnel.
The Biden administration’s pullout from Afghanistan underscored a broader shift in U.S. focus away from counterterrorism and so-called rogue states like North Korea and Iran.
The U.S. does not openly contest China’s claim to Taiwan, but is committed by law to ensure the island can defend itself and to treat all threats toward it as matters of “grave concern.”
At least 11 people found on the scene were sent straight to the morgue, said the head of the fire dept addressing journalists at the site of the fire.
China claims Taiwan as part of its national territory although the island has been self-ruled since it split from the communist-ruled mainland in 1949 after a long civil war.
China has publicly said that it plans to merge Taiwan to the mainland even if it has to annex it militarily.
The sortie included 34 J-16 fighter jets and 12 H-6 bombers, among other aircraft, according to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense. Taiwanese air force scrambled the jets and monitored the movement of the Chinese warplanes on its air defense system.
The Defense Ministry said 20 planes took part in the daytime flights on Saturday and another 19 at night. It identified most of them as J-17 and SU-30 fighter jets.
Four candidates, including incumbent chair Johnny Chiang, had competed for the leadership of the party that has advocated closer relations with Beijing. That means agreeing to Beijing’s demand that it regard Taiwan as a part of China, something Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party has refused to do.
Taiwan had remained largely free of COVID-19 for a year and half during the pandemic until an outbreak driven by the alpha variant spread across the island in May.
Japan believes rising tension surrounding Taiwan requires its attention “with a sense of crisis” as China intensifies military activities in the area and the United States steps up support for the self-governing island.
Hundreds of Tibetans, Uyghur Muslims and Hong Kongers held a protest march across downtown Toronto and marched towards Chinese consulate to denounce 100th anniversary of Communist Party of China.
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