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During his first visit to Asia as US president, Barack Obama issued a joint statement with Chinese President Hu Jintao. References to Taiwan in the statement suggest that the situation is evolving in a direction unfavorable to the country. Obviously this situation is not good for Taiwan. The Obama-Hu talks have indeed been a big diplomatic victory for China. With regard to Taiwan, however, the Ma administration has accepted the idea of “one China.” At the same time, it is dismantling Taiwan’s strongest line of defense — its democracy. When so much has been given away, what grounds can we...

US eases Taiwan’s fears over China TAIPEI, Nov 24 — The United States has moved quickly to reassure Taiwan, less than a week after President Barack Obama’s visit to China, by sending a senior diplomat to Taipei to allay fears that the island’s interests have been compromised.Raymond Burghardt, chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy here, flew into Taipei on Sunday, just five days after Obama met Chinese President Hu Jintao last Tuesday. “President Obama did not in any way change our long-standing position on Taiwan,” Burghardt told reporters after meeting Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng...

President Obama hosted a “townhall” meeting in Shanghai, accepting questions from his Chinese audience. One questioner gave Obama the opening to discuss the prospect of arms sales to Taiwan, an issue that is sure to arise when the President meets with Hu Jintao in Beijing. Unfortunately, rather than forthrightly stating that the United States, in line with longstanding policy and the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), was prepared to sell Taiwan defensive weapons, President Obama said nothing at all. Instead, he chose to dodge the question, noting that the US favored “dialogue and negotiations.” The problem is that this answer does...

Taiwan shelves 9 Mirage jets due to lack of spare parts Asia-Pacific News Taipei The Taiwan Air Force has shelved nine Mirage 2000-5 jets due to a lack of spare parts supplied by France, a newspaper report said Sunday. The China Times quoted an unnamed Air Force official as saying that the jets had been mothballed with assistance from France. The planes had undergone tests so that they could be reactivated, even for combat missions, he said. The delivery of pare parts could resume by the year-end, the official said. The China Times report comes one month after lawmaker Lin...

<p>Taiwan said Wednesday that its giant neighbour China has started building its first aircraft carrier, a move analysts have said could raise military tensions in the region. The head of Taiwan's National Security Bureau told parliament construction of the carrier had begun, Lin Yu-fang, a legislator of the ruling Kuomintang party, told AFP.</p>

Taiwan says China starts building first aircraft carrier Agence France-Presse First Posted 19:44:00 11/04/2009 Filed Under: Military, Foreign affairs & international relations TAIPEI – Taiwan said Wednesday that its giant neighbor China has started building its first aircraft carrier, a move analysts have said could raise military tensions in the region. The head of Taiwan's National Security Bureau told parliament construction of the carrier had begun, Lin Yu-fang, a legislator of the ruling Kuomintang party, told AFP. However, the security chief, Tsai Teh-sheng said the carrier's construction "has not been smooth" and that the Chinese navy may struggle to put...

It’s time for a science experiment! In a large plastic bag, collect the following: the solid bits from the kitty litter, or the equivalent output from Fido, a week’s worth of table scraps, some wilted cabbage (not lettuce), whatever juice is left at the bottom of a few cans, and a pound or two of firm tofu. Tie the bag loosely and stick it under the sun, preferably somewhere rats or raccoons can find it and burrow around a bit. If it can be managed, encourage a few cockroaches and flies to take up residence. If the daytime temperature is...

Taiwan's air force said Friday it was planning to upgrade the island's U.S.-made and indigenous fighter jets to maintain the balance of air power across the Taiwan Strait. The upgrades are aimed at boosting the fighters' performance and avoid a "gap in Taiwan's war-fighting capabilities," the island's semi- official Central News Agency reported Friday. The upgrades would seek to address "the trend of the tipping of the military balance in the Taiwan Strait," the air force reportedly said, without elaborating. On Thursday Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu told lawmakers that the military was considering mothballing the some 60 French-made Mirage models...

Defense ministry to consider proposal to mothball Mirage fighters Central News Agency 2009-10-22 06:34 PM Taipei, Oct. 22 (CNA) Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu promised Thursday to consider a proposal to mothball the Air Force's Mirage fighter jets in light of their low performance and high maintenance costs. Kao said the Ministry of National Defense (MND) will carefully evaluate issues such as how to maintain the balance of combat capabilities across the Taiwan Strait, before making a decision on the matter. In the meantime, the Air Force will work with the French manufacturer in an effort to fix the...

China pointing about 1,500 missiles at Taiwan: Taipei official by Staff Writers Taipei (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 China now has about 1,500 missiles pointed at Taiwan, with no signs that the build-up is about to stop anytime soon, a spokesman for the island's government said Monday. The figure includes short-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, the defence ministry spokesman told AFP on condition of anonymity. "The number of missiles has been rising. We don't know when it will stop increasing," said the spokesman. He was speaking ahead of the release Tuesday of the ministry's annual report, which will include an...

China has trained some 400,000 troops for an amphibious takeover of Taiwan and could resort to using commercial and cargo ships to ferry soldiers and arms in a surprise attack on the island, according to a key defense report issued by Taiwan's military on Tuesday. The National Defense Report of the Republic of China (Taiwan), 2009, warns of an ongoing military buildup across the Taiwan Strait, even amid warming cross-strait relations under President Ma Ying-jeou, who took office last year on vows to improve ties with China. Published roughly once every two years, the document is considered Taiwan's defense white...

National Security: On the eve of a visit by China's No. 2 ranking military officer, the Obama administration loosens export controls on technology that will benefit Chinese missile development. It's deja vu all over again. The Pentagon has announced that Chinese Gen. Xu Caihou will visit the United States and meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Oct. 26. Xu is vice chairman of the People's Liberation Army Central Military Commission. While here, Xu will visit American military installations around the U.S., including the U.S. Pacific Command. Perhaps Xu will bring with him a note of thanks for the administration's...

Taiwan has carried out its largest-ever missile exercise, less than a fortnight after China showed off advanced ballistic weaponry in a massive National Day parade, local media said Wednesday. The missiles were launched on Tuesday from the secretive and tightly guarded Chiupeng base in southern Taiwan and could strike major Chinese cities, the United Daily News reported. President Ma Ying-jeou, who has been criticised for being too friendly with China, was among the observers of the exercise, the paper said, citing a "reliable military source". The test came after China, which has vowed to take back Taiwan, celebrated 60 years...

Taiwan in talks with Germany over four subs: report by Staff Writers Taipei (AFP) Oct 7, 2009 Taiwan is considering purchasing four German-built submarines that had been rejected by the Greek Navy, a report said Wednesday. According to Next Magazine, Taiwan's military approached Kiel-based shipbuilder Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) for four Class 214s after Athens rejected them for not meeting standard requirements. "The defence ministry has sent personnel to Germany, who have discussed a deal with the shipbuilder," the popular Taipei-based weekly said, citing an unnamed military source. Taiwan's defence ministry said it was not aware of the report and would...

<p>Upgraded missiles will feature prominently in China's military parade on Thursday which celebrates 60 years of Communist Party rule, the Xinhua news agency said, citing a commander of the service that controls nuclear weapons.</p> <p>Foreign observers will be watching to see what weapons the People's Liberation Army shows off.</p>

Note: The following text is a quote: Jury Convicts Defense Department Official of Unlawful Communication of Classified Information and Making False Statements James Wilbur Fondren Jr., was convicted by a federal jury today on charges involving providing classified information to a man working with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and lying to the FBI about it. Fondren was convicted of one count of unlawfully communicating classified information to an agent of a foreign government and two counts of making false statements to the FBI. He was acquitted of two unlawful communication of classified information, one count of conspiracy to...

United States President Barack Obama and members of his administration are going to great lengths to explain the reasons why the US abruptly changed course with respect to its anti-missile strategy for Europe. In the process, little or nothing has been said about the impact of this new plan on Asia. Silence or not, both China and Japan must assess the consequences of this activity because what the US is now proposing for Europe in terms of missile defense is right in line with what has been unfolding all along in East Asia, where the US Navy forms the front...

The Obama administration has proposed the possible pull out of all 40 F-16s from Misawa AB to the government of Japan. The discussion are supposed to have taken place back in April and have only now been released. The move could possibly start at the end of the year with the agreement of the new incoming administration of Democratic Party of Japanese leader Yukio Hatoyama. As part of the same strategic review plan the US has also told Japan that they may also remove 50 or so F-15s from its base in Kadena, Okinawa. Both proposals are pending as the...

TAIPEI (Dow Jones)--The Taipei District Court sentenced former President Chen Shui-bian to life in jail Friday, after finding him guilty of corruption, including embezzlement, influence peddling and bribery, during his time in office. Chen was absent from the sentencing - which the judges had approved - in a sign of protest against the ruling. The sentencing comes after other members of the former first family, including Chen's wife, son and daughter, were found guilty last week of perjury and other charges, and given jail sentences. The court also fined Chen NT$200 million and stripped him of his civil rights, meaning...

Taiwan court convicts Chen, imposes life sentence By PETER ENAV, Associated Press 1 hr 54 mins ago TAIPEI, Taiwan – A Taiwan court imposed a life sentence on former President Chen Shui-bian after convicting him of corruption Friday, marking a watershed in the island's turbulent political history. Chen's wife Wu Shu-chen was also convicted of corruption and received the same life sentence, said court spokesman Huang Chun-ming. "Chen Shui-bian and Wu Shu-chen were sentenced to life in prison because Chen has done grave damage to the country, and Wu, because she was involved in corruption deals as the first lady,"...

Japan's leader-in-waiting has a delusional vision for his country and its relationship with the rest of Asia. Yukio Hatoyama dreams of an Asian union, a utopia free of rapacious American capitalism, a region bound together by fraternity and a common currency. Were Hatoyama a soapbox orator his fantasizing could be dismissed as twaddle, but he isn't. He's about to become the next prime minister of the world's No. 2 economy, following his party's victory Sunday in a general election. In an op-ed piece, "A New Path for Japan," that ran in The New York Times recently, the leader-in-waiting revealed his...

Taiwan readies for Dalai Lama visit as China fumes By Ralph Jennings TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's president has not ruled out a chance meeting with the Dalai Lama when the Tibetan spiritual leader visits next week, officials said on Friday, a move that would sour the island's recent closer ties with China. Beijing brands the India-based Dalai Lama as a separatist and has lashed out at Taiwan's opposition, which invited the Dalai Lama subject to President Ma Ying-jeou's approval. China's reaction is also seen as a blow to Ma, elected in 2008 pledged to improve relations with Beijing, but only...

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou on Thursday approved a visit next week by the Dalai Lama to the typhoon-hit island in a move analysts say could damage Taipei's efforts to improve ties with China. "We have decided to the Dalai Lama's visit to pray for the souls of the deceased and seek blessings for the survivors of the typhoon," Ma told reporters in central Nantou county. The Dalai Lama, whom Beijing has accused of trying to split Tibet from China and reacts angrily to any country or territory hosting him, said last year that he wanted to visit Taiwan but Ma...

...Obama plans to make his first visit to China in mid-November, U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. announced today during his first meeting in Beijing with journalists....Huntsman, who arrived in China the night before, chatted with journalists in the front yard of this diplomatic residence in downtown Beijing. The Republican former governor of Utah was flanked by his wife and three of his seven children

The bilateral relationship between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is vitally important, touching on a wide range of areas including, among others, economic policy, security, foreign relations, and human rights. U.S. and PRC interests are bound together much more closely now than even a few years ago. The Administration of President Barack Obama has inherited not only more extensive policy mechanisms for pursuing U.S.-China policy, but a more complex and multifaceted relationship in which the stakes are higher and in which U.S. action may increasingly be constrained. Economically, the United States and the PRC have become...

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — For the first time since Washington cut official ties with Taiwan in 1979, the U.S. military is dispatching humanitarian relief to the island to aid victims of Typhoon Morakot. "In direct support of the U.S. Department of State, the Secretary of Defense authorized U.S. Pacific Command to provide assistance to Taiwan in response to the typhoon," U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Master Sgt. Donald Preston said Monday. Two Marine Corps C-130 aircraft from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on Okinawa have delivered humanitarian relief supplies and four CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters embarked onboard the USS Denver from...

No body, just title.

Yang Chiu-hsing, magistrate of Kaohsiung, said yesterday he is considering turning the mudslide-destroyed village of Siaolin into a memorial park. “I think we should keep Siaolin as a park in memory of those we believe were buried alive,” said the magistrate of the southern Taiwan county, who opposes the rebuilding of the village. One reason for Yang's consideration to create the memorial park is that most of the residents do not want more excavation of tens of thousands of tons of mud to locate the approximately 200 people buried and presumed dead. They do not want heavy construction equipment crushing...

More than 390 people are believed to have been buried alive in the village worst affected by a massive mudslide caused by Typhoon Morakot. A National Fire Agency disaster relief centre spokesman told the BBC's Cindy Sui of the fears for Hsiaolin Village. This is the first time the government has released a firm estimate on the number of people they believe might have been killed. Thousands of people are still stranded by the worst by mudslides and floods. The typhoon struck Taiwan at the weekend, causing the worst flooding in 50 years, and leaving at least 116 people confirmed...

Hotel Swept into River after Typhoon Source:Xinhua Updated: 2009-8-10 11:08:53 A six-storey hotel building leans before falling into a flooded river after Typhoon Morakot hit Taitung county, eastern Taiwan, August 9, 2009. People watch as a six-storey hotel building leans before falling into a flooded river. A collapsed hotel building is seen in flood waters.

Taiwan mudslide may have buried 600 villagers By Ralph Jennings and Yoko Kubota 37 mins ago TAIPEI/TOKYO (Reuters) – A mudslide triggered by torrential rains from a typhoon may have buried up to 600 villagers in mountainous southern Taiwan, disaster officials said on Monday. More than 50 people have died in tropical storms striking the Phillipines, Taiwan, China and Japan. The death toll so far in Taiwan stood at 15, with 55 missing and 32 hurt, since Typhoon Morakot struck the island on Friday and remained in the area through the weekend before battering China's populous east coast. Rescue squads...

Ukraine military hovercraft to equip Chinese navy Posted : Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:17:37 GMT Kiev - China's navy is to purchase four Ukrainian military hovercraft in a 315-million-dollar deal potentially shifting the South China Sea naval balance, the Interfax news agency reported. A shipbuilding firm in Ukraine's Black Sea port Feodosia will construct two Zubr (translation - Bison) class craft, and a second pair of vessels will be built in China under the supervision of Ukrainian technicians. A Ukrainian government publication listing state contracts confirmed the order without giving its value. Officials at the Morye shipyard in Feodosia declined...

A major new report from the US recommends that Taiwan develop its defense industry and be prepared to fight alone if China launches an all-out attack. Released this week in Washington by the Taiwan Policy Working Group, Deter, Defend, Repel and Partner: A Defense Strategy for Taiwan says that Taipei should be ready to respond to an “array of threats and military contingencies” including intimidating live-fire exercises, a blockade, seizure of an outlying island or a full-scale invasion. The report stresses that even though cross-strait tensions have been significantly reduced under the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英�), the Republic...

RAND study: Now China wins Taiwan Straits air war Nearly 10 years after a RAND study predicted the US side easily beats China in an air war over the Taiwan Straits, the think-tank has published a new monograph online today that reverses its former opinion. Now, a People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) bristling with a newly acquired arsenal -- including Su-27 and J-10 fighters, AA-12 and PL-12 missiles, and short-range ballistic missiles -- defeats the US side. Moreover, the PLAAF defeats the US side with or without F-22s, with or without access to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and...

Researchers in Taiwan have discovered what the believe is the island's oldest civilization, dating back about 20,000 years and belonging to a pygmy-like people that came from China, Southeast Asia or beyond, the team leader said on Friday. Taiwan's government-run Academia Sinica, which found more than 200 stone tools at the Ba Hsien Cave excavation site on the island's east coast, will return next year to seek clues on who was living there, leader Tsang Chen-hua said. The civilization was probably a dark-skinned people similar to Negritos, a term that covers several ethnic groups of short stature in isolated parts...

Defense Spending: The TARP bailout may hit $24 trillion, but the Senate says the F-22 is too expensive to build and maintain. So why are the Japanese so desperate to buy this "unnecessary" Cold War weapon?By a vote of 58-40, the Senate on Tuesday voted to remove $1.75 billion set aside in a defense bill to build seven more F-22 Raptors, adding to the 187 stealth technology fighters already in the pipeline. After some hope the production lines would be kept open, the Senate succumbed to arguments by the administration and others that the fighter was too expensive, too hard...

BEIJING (AFP) – China said it urged the United States in defence talks here to cancel an arms sale to Taiwan and stay away from waters where the two powers were recently involved in high-seas standoffs. China also urged all sides to exercise restraint over North Korea's recent nuclear sabre-rattling, Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian of the People's Liberation Army told reporters.

Taiwan to build 3rd-generation warplane with Russia's help Europe News Jun 19, 2009, 1:44 GMT Taipei - Taiwan plans to build its third-generation warplane with Russian technology as the United States has refused to sell Taiwan F-16C/Ds, a newspaper reported Friday. The Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC), which sent personnel to Russia for instruction from Russian experts, has finished designing the third-generation warplane, the China Times quoted an unnamed military official as saying. The as-yet-unnamed third-generation warplane will have twin engines and be able to take off and land with a short airstrip, the official said. During the design process,...

Chinese TV host accused of spying By Jamil Anderlini and Kathrin Hille in Beijing Published: June 12 2009 17:55 | Last updated: June 12 2009 17:55 The host of a military affairs show on Chinese state television has been thrust into the centre of an espionage scandal after a report in a state newspaper said she was suspected of spying for Taiwan. Fang Jing, a 38-year-old veteran of China Central Television, denied the allegations from The China Daily, the English-language mouthpiece of the Chinese government, including suggestions that she had been seduced by a Taiwanese man eight years her junior....

At a recent meeting with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (�伯雄), Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Taiwan Affairs Office Chairman Wang Yi (王毅), stated that the basis for mutual trust between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait was “opposition to Taiwanese independence.”

Taiwanese feel deeply for the tragic death of former South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun, who jumped off a cliff in his hometown early Saturday morning. Roh, entangled in corruption charges implicating his family members and questioned last month in a bribery investigation, left behind a note to his family, his attorney Moon Jae In said at a televised briefing Saturday. “The president left his home at around 5:45 a.m. to climb Mount Bonghwa, and appears to have jumped off a rock at the top of the mountain at around 6:40 a.m.,” Moon told reporters at the briefing in Busan...

Taiwan's advanced auto parts suppliers won't be easy takeover targets for China's mainland automakers. In a long-shot bid to become global brands, China's automakers want better technology. Taiwan's advanced auto parts suppliers want further inroads into China's auto market, now the world's biggest. Now that China and Taiwan are drawing closer in their economic embrace, is this a match made in heaven? Not so fast. Taiwan's Big Three auto parts suppliers--Tong Yang Industry, TYC Brother Industrial and Depo Auto Parts Industrial--are all family-controlled. That means they will not easily cede control or direct stakes to mainland investors, particularly as they...

A Defense Department official was charged Wednesday with feeding classified information to an agent for the Chinese government.

A Taiwanese man became a sitting target for a snake, which bit his groin as sat on the toilet at his rural home, local media reported on Monday. "As soon as he sat down, he suddenly felt a knife-like pain and reacted instinctively by standing up," the China Times said. "When he looked down, he saw the big snake." The 51-year-old man, from Nantou County, was under medical care with minor injuries, a director at Puli Christian Hospital said. "As soon as he has passed the risk of infection, he can go," the director, who declined to be named, said....

Chiang Kai-shek ranks as one of the most despised leaders of the 20th century. Famously derided as "Peanut" and "General Cash-My-Check," the leader of China's Nationalist government bedeviled the Allied war effort in World War II with his lackluster defense of his country. His corrupt and brutal regime squandered billions of dollars in American aid and drove the Chinese into the arms of the communists. He died in exile a deluded despot, relegated to a footnote in modern Chinese history. Or so the conventional story goes. Now, however, Jay Taylor's new biography, "The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for...

China Adds Precision Strike To Capabilities Apr 8, 2009 By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. China has been developing and purchasing weapons for precision-strike warfare. This is the hard edge of the PeopleÂ’s Liberation ArmyÂ’s (PLA) doctrinal drive toward using increasingly sophisticated information technologies such as C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) to improve the capabilities of weapon systems (DTI March, p. 39). The PLAÂ’s near-term goals appear to be greater asymmetric capabilities to target U.S. naval assets in the western Pacific and in space as part of an anti-access strategy. Long-term, however, greater precision will be a...

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A TAIWANESE newspaper's April Fools' Day story that two giant pandas gifted by China were fakes backfired as politicians and zoo officials failed to see the funny side. The English daily Taipei Times ran a story on Wednesday's science section saying that the animals had been exposed as 'Wenzhou brown forest bears that had been dyed' to resemble pandas. It also quoted a fictional zookeeper as saying that she became suspicious when the bears 'began to spend almost all of their waking hours having sex,' as pandas are known for their low sex drive. 'Their behavior caused chaos. Children screamed...

Taiwan seeks advanced U.S. jet fighters 14:23 | 26/ 03/ 2009 BEIJING, March 26 (RIA Novosti) -- Taiwan is looking to buy U.S. "fifth-generation'' fighter jets featuring stealth and vertical takeoff capabilities, a Chinese daily reported on Thursday. "Taipei has plans to buy an F-35 modification with vertical takeoff to provide support to naval infantry operations," Jin Nian Jiancao said. It said there were two main reasons Taipei wanted to buy F-35s. "Firstly, the existing fleet of Taiwanese fighters can be easily destroyed with Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missiles deployed in mainland China," it said. "Secondly, F-35s will make Taiwan less...

The strategy of a "diplomatic truce" with the People's Republic of China implemented by President Ma Ying-jeou and his Kuomintang government faces its severest test yet in the wake of the election of leftist television journalist Mauricio Funes as president of El Salvador last weekend. The triumph by Funes, the candidate of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, a former revolutionary guerrilla movement, over former National Civic Police director Rodrigo Avila of the far-right ARENA (Nationalist Republican Alliance) by a 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent margin March 15, ends 20 years of consecutive ARENA. Since winning the race, Funes has...