Taiwan will not bow to pressure by Beijing and will defend its democratic way of life, President Tsai Ing-wen said Sunday, following a spike in incursions by Chinese warplanes into its air defence zone.Self-governed Taiwan's 23 million people live under the constant threat of invasion by authoritarian China, which views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary."The more we achieve, the greater the pressure we face from China," Tsai sa

Do the United States (US) and China have an agreement on Taiwan’s political status?The question was raised on Tuesday when US President Joe Biden told reporters that he and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, had agreed to “abide by the Taiwan agreement”, leaving many around the world scratching their heads.Biden made the remark at the White House in response to a reporter’s question about rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait, with Beijing sending more than 150 military planes towards Taiwan

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that relations between Beijing and Taipei were "grim" on Sunday, urging the island's main opposition party to help seek "unification of the country."China views self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and vows to retake it one day, by force if necessary.Xi has become the most bellicose leader since Mao Zedong, describing the seizure of the island as "inevitable."In a congratulatory letter to Eric Chu – the ne

Taiwan has rolled out a domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine to the public, with President Tsai Ing-wen receiving her first dose at a Taipei hospital to demonstrate her confidence in the safety of the jab.Made by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp., the vaccine was given emergency approval by regulators in July using a shortcut that prompted fierce opposition from parts of Taiwan’s medical and scientific community.

An explosion near Thai capital Bangkok's international airport Monday left a plastics factory in flames, killing at least one firefighter and wounding 29 people, officials said.Heavy plumes of black smoke could be seen rising up to the sky from the city's downtown 35 kilometres (21 miles) away, as helicopters continued to dump fire suppression foam from the air on the site.The blast occurred around 3:00 am at Taiwan-based Ming Dih Chemical Co., located on the outskirts of Bangkok ne

President Xi Jinping has hailed China's "irreversible" course from humiliated colony to great power at the centenary celebrations for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Thursday, in a speech reaching deep into history to remind patriots at home and rivals abroad of his nation's – and his own – ascendancy.Speaking above the giant portrait of Mao Zedong, which dominates Tiananmen Square, from the podium where the famous chairman proclaimed the People's Republic of Chi

The United States (US) and China clashed in rare talks Friday as President Joe Biden made his international debut at the G7 summit, with his administration pressing Beijing on COVID, Taiwan and human rights.Secretary of State Antony Blinken, joining Biden at the summit of industrial democracies in England, spoke by telephone with senior Chinese official Yang Jiechi – their first talks since a heated in-person encounter in Alaska in March.As Biden used his first presidential trip abroad to unv

5 June was World Environmental Day (WED). It is an annual celebration and the springboard of the United Nations (UN) in facilitating awareness and action for the protection of the environment.

Late last month, the American actor John Cena issued a grovelling public apology after having referred to Taiwan as a “country” in an interview to promote his latest film. Though he was using the term to refer to a linguistic media market with a discrete distribution channel, not to the status of the island of Taiwan in international law, the Chinese government would make no allowance for such distinctions. What are we to make of this episode?

Thousands of police were deployed in Hong Kong on Friday and the organiser of the territory’s now-banned annual vigil of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown arrested, as the authorities tried to prevent people from gathering for any kind of remembrance of the events of 1989.Hong Kong usually holds a mass vigil to remember those killed when soldiers stormed the square, which was packed with protesters calling for democracy, but police have banned the events for the past two years blaming the co