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Tag: Tsai Ing-wen

  • Ruling-party candidate Lai Ching-te wins Taiwan’s presidential election

    Ruling-party candidate Lai Ching-te wins Taiwan’s presidential election

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    Ruling-party candidate Lai Ching-te has emerged victorious in Taiwan’s presidential election, and his opponents have conceded after ballots were cast at thousands of polling stations in a tight three-way race. 

    The result in Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary election will chart the trajectory of relations with China over the next four years. At stake is the peace and stability of the 110-mile-wide strip of water between the Chinese mainland and the self-governed island, which is claimed by China as its own. China had previously called the election a choice between peace and war. 

    President Biden said Saturday that the United States does not support Taiwan’s independence after being asked by reporters about his reaction to the elections as he was leaving the White House. 

    “We do not support independence,” Mr. Biden said. 

    Lai is the vice president of the island’s governing Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP. 

    Lai, who also goes by the name William Lai, and incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen reject China’s sovereignty claims over Taiwan, a former Japanese colony that split from the mainland amid civil war in 1949. They have, however, offered to speak with Beijing, which has repeatedly refused to hold talks and called them separatists. Beijing has strongly opposed Lai’s election. 

    Taiwan Election
    Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Lai Ching-te votes in southern Taiwan’s Tainan city on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. 

    Ng Han Guan / AP


    “Every election in Taiwan is significant because of the potential for Beijing reacting in a way that could contribute to further instability in the region,” Taipei-based political analyst Michael Cole told CBS News ahead of the election. 

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Lai on his election win, and congratulated the “Taiwan people for once again demonstrating the strength of their robust democratic system and electoral process.” 

    “The United States is committed to maintaining cross-Strait peace and stability, and the peaceful resolution of differences, free from coercion and pressure. The partnership between the American people and the people on Taiwan, rooted in democratic values, continues to broaden and deepen across economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties,” Blinken said.

    Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, congratulated Lai in a statement released Saturday morning. Johnson had met with Taiwan’s ambassador to the U.S., Alexander Yui, and conveyed his support for security and democracy in the region. 

    Johnson added that he would ask the chairs of relevant House Committees to lead a delegation to Taipei after Lai is inaugurated in May. 

    Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took to X on Saturday to offer congratulations.

    Beijing is believed to have favored the candidate from the more China-friendly Nationalist party, also known as Kuomintang, or KMT. Its candidate, Hou Yu-ih, has also promised to restart talks with China while bolstering national defense. He promised not to move toward unifying the two sides of the Taiwan Strait if elected.

    The other leading candidate was Ko Wen-je, of the smaller Taiwan People’s Party, or TPP. A former mayor of Taipei, he had drawn the support of young people wanting an alternative to the traditional parties, which have largely taken turns governing since the 1990s. 

    For Tony Chen, a 74-year-old retiree who voted in Taipei in the hour before the polls closed, the election boiled down to a choice between communism and democracy.

    “I hope democracy wins,” he said. He added that more Taiwanese were open to China’s model of governance decades ago, when the Chinese economy was growing by double digits annually, but are repulsed by the crackdown on civil liberties that has occurred under current Chinese President Xi Jinping.


    Polls open in Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election

    07:04

    Stacy Chen, 43, said she has always voted for DPP because “Taiwan is an independent country.” She said she wanted her son to grow up in a country that is separate from China. 

    CBS News stringer Joanne Kuo said that she dreads a Chinese takeover of Taiwan and could not live under the ruling of the Chinese Communist Party.

    “I don’t see how that can fit Taiwanese people’s values of democracy, of freedom,” Kuo said after voting in the election.

    “Hong Kong’s experience in recent years is something that the Taiwanese most assuredly do not want for themselves,” said Cole, of the International Republican Institute in Taipei, before the election. 

    Beside the China tensions, domestic issues such as the dearth of affordable housing and stagnating wages have dominated the campaign. Taiwan’s economy is estimated to have grown just 1.4% last year. That partly reflects inevitable cycles in demand for computer chips and other exports from the high-tech, heavily trade-dependent manufacturing base, and a slowing of the Chinese economy.

    Taiwan Elections
    Supporters of the Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Lai Ching-te attend a rally in southern Taiwan’s Tainan city on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024.

    Ng Han Guan / AP


    For Ben Wang, 44, the vote was more about altering the dynamic between Taiwan’s main opposing parties, the DPP and the KMT. A potential attack by China could not be pre-empted by anything Taiwan would do, he said.

    Taiwan’s election is seen as having “real and lasting influence on the geopolitical landscape,” said Gabrielle Reid, associate director with the global intelligence consultancy S-RM.

    “The outcome of the vote will ultimately determine the nature of ties with China relative to the West and will have strong bearing on the state of play in the South China Sea,” she said.

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  • China military drills simulate blockade of Taiwan

    China military drills simulate blockade of Taiwan

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    China military drills simulate blockade of Taiwan – CBS News


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    China has completed three days of military drills meant to simulate a blockade of Taiwan. The drills included an aircraft carrier and nuclear-capable bombers as tensions continue to ramp up following a meeting between House Speaker McCarthy and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. Elizabeth Palmer reports.

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  • China Vows ‘Forceful’ Measures After McCarthy-Taiwanese President Meeting

    China Vows ‘Forceful’ Measures After McCarthy-Taiwanese President Meeting

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    TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China vowed reprisals against Taiwan Thursday after a meeting between the U.S. House Speaker and the island’s President, saying the U.S. was on a “wrong and dangerous road.”

    Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday in a show of U.S. support for the self-ruled island, which China claims as its own, along with a bi-partisan delegation of more than a dozen U.S. lawmakers.

    The Biden administration has said there is nothing provocative about the visit by Tsai, which is the latest of a half-dozen to the U.S. Yet, it comes as the U.S.-China relationship has fallen to historic lows, with U.S. support for Taiwan becoming one of the main points of difference between the two powers.

    But the formal trappings of the meeting, and the senior rank of some of the elected officials in the delegation from Congress, could lead China to view it as an escalation. No speaker is known to have met with a Taiwan president on U.S. soil since the U.S. broke off formal diplomatic relations in 1979.

    In response to the meeting, Beijing said it would take “resolute and forceful measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” in a statement issued early Thursday morning by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    It urged the U.S. “not to walk further down a wrong and dangerous road.”

    By Thursday afternoon, there was no overt sign of a large-scale military response as of Thursday afternoon as China had done previously.

    “We will take resolute measures to punish the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and their actions, and resolutely safeguard our country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said a statement from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Thursday morning, referring to Tsai and her political party as separatists.

    Chinese vessels were engaged in a joint patrol and inspection operation in the Taiwan Strait that will last three days, state media said Thursday morning. The Fujian Maritime Safety Administration said its ship, the Haixun 06, would inspect cargo ships and others in the waters which run between Taiwan and China as part of this operation.

    Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday evening it had tracked the China’s Shandong aircraft carrier passing through the Bashi Strait, to Taiwan’s southeast. On Thursday morning, it tracked three People’s Liberation Army navy vessels and one warplane in the area around the island.

    The PLA regularly flies warplanes towards Taiwan and sends navy ships around the island in a pressure campaign that has escalated in recent years.

    U.S. Congressional visits to Taiwan have stepped up in frequency in the last year, with the American Institute in Taipei, the de facto embassy announcing the arrival of another delegation Thursday.

    House Foreign Affairs Committee head Michael McCaul of Texas is leading a delegation of eight other lawmakers for a three-day visit to discuss regional security and trade, according to a statement from AIT.

    At the Wednesday meeting, Tsai and McCarthy spoke carefully to avoid unnecessarily escalating tensions with Beijing. The two, standing side by side at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, acknowledged China’s threats against the island government.

    “America’s support for the people of Taiwan will remain resolute, unwavering and bipartisan,” McCarthy said at a news conference later. He also said U.S.-Taiwan ties are stronger than at any other point in his life.

    Tsai said the “unwavering support reassures the people of Taiwan that we are not isolated.”

    More than a dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including the House’s third-ranking Democrat, had joined the meeting.

    During Tsai and McCarthy’s meeting they spoke of the importance of Taiwan’s self-defense, of fostering robust trade and economic ties and supporting the island government’s ability to participate in the international community, Tsai said.

    But she also warned, “It is no secret that today the peace that we have maintained and the democracy which have worked hard to build are facing unprecedented challenges.”

    “We once again find ourselves in a world where democracy is under threat and the urgency of keeping the beacon of freedom shining cannot be understated.”

    The United States broke off official ties with Taiwan in 1979 while formally establishing diplomatic relations with the Beijing government. As part of its recognition of China, the U.S. “one-China policy” acknowledges that Beijing lays claim to Taiwan, but does not endorse China’s claim, and the U.S. remains Taiwan’s key provider of military and defense assistance.

    The U.S. also has a policy of strategic ambiguity, where it does not explicitly say whether it will come to Taiwan’s aid in the case of a conflict with China.

    Last summer, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taiwan to meet with Tsai. China has reacted to past trips by Taiwanese presidents through the U.S., and to past trips to Taiwan by senior U.S. officials, with shows of military force. After Pelosi’s visit, China responded with its largest live-fire drills in decades, including firing a missile over the island.

    Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war and have no official relations, although they are linked by billions of dollars in trade and investment.

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  • Taiwanese president meets with Kevin McCarthy in California

    Taiwanese president meets with Kevin McCarthy in California

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    Taiwanese president meets with Kevin McCarthy in California – CBS News


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    Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on Wednesday. Taiwan is hoping that the U.S. will help protect it from China. Elizabeth Palmer reports.

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  • Taiwan extends compulsory military service to 1 year

    Taiwan extends compulsory military service to 1 year

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    TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan will extend its compulsory military service from four months to a year starting in 2024, President Tsai Ing-wen said Tuesday, as the self-ruled island faces China‘s military, diplomatic and trade pressure.

    Taiwan, which split from the mainland in 1949 during a civil war, is claimed by China. The decades-old threat of invasion by China has sharpened since Beijing cut off communications with Taiwan‘s government after the 2016 election of Tsai, who is seen as pro-independence.

    China’s People’s Liberation Army in particular has stepped up its military harassment, sending fighter planes and navy vessels toward Taiwan on a near-daily basis in recent years. In response, the island’s military actively tracks those movements, which often serves as training for its own military personnel.

    The longer military service applies to men born after 2005, and will start Jan. 1, 2024. Those born before 2005 will continue to serve four months, but under a revamped training curriculum aimed at strengthening the island’s reserves forces.

    “No one wants war,” Tsai said. “This is true of Taiwan’s government and people, and the global community, but peace does not come from the sky, and Taiwan is at the front lines of the expansion of authoritarianism.”

    The White House welcomed the announcement on conscription reform, saying it underscores Taiwan’s commitment to self-defense and strengthens deterrence.

    “We will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability in line with our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act and our one-China policy,” the White House said, adding it continues to oppose any unilateral changes in the status quo by either China or Taiwan.

    Beijing has often used military exercises to respond to moves it views as challenging its claims to sovereignty.

    In August, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, and China responded with the largest-scale military exercises it’s held in decades, because it saw Pelosi’s visit as an official diplomatic exchange. Although the U.S. is the island’s largest unofficial ally, the two governments technically do not have diplomatic relations, as Washington does not formally recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state.

    The plan sets Taiwan up for increasing its defense capabilities but what remains to be seen is how well the Defense Ministry will carry out the reforms, said Arthur Zhin-Sheng Wang, a defense expert at Taiwan’s Central Police University.

    Taiwan’s current 4-month-long military conscription requirement was widely panned by the public as being too short and not providing the training that professional soldiers actually need. The government had slashed it down from a year to four months in 2017 as it was transitioning the army into an all-volunteer corps.

    Of Taiwan’s 188,000-person military, 90% are volunteers and 10% are men doing their required four months of service.

    A poll from the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation in December found that among Taiwanese adults, 73.2% said they would support a one-year military service. That support was across party lines, the survey found, spanning the Democratic Progressive Party and the more China-friendly Nationalist Party.

    “This is one of the basic steps that should have been done a long time ago,” said Paul Huang, a research fellow at the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation. Huang said the implementation period in 2024, when Taiwan will elect a new president, meant that Tsai was “passing the buck” to her successor.

    Among the youngest demographic group of 20-24, however, 37.2% said they opposed extending the military service, and only 35.6% said they would support an extension.

    ———

    AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Taiwan’s President billed midterms as all about China. Now she’s resigning as party chief | CNN

    Taiwan’s President billed midterms as all about China. Now she’s resigning as party chief | CNN

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    Tainan, Taiwan
    CNN
     — 

    Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has resigned as the leader of the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, after her party suffered heavy losses in mid-term elections.

    The DPP’s losses in Saturday’s vote come as a heavy blow for Tsai as she had tried to frame the election – technically a local affair to choose city mayors, councilors and county chiefs – as a way to send a message against Beijing’s rising bellicosity toward the island.

    Beijing has been increasingly assertive in its territorial claims over Taiwan in recent months, and in August launched large-scale military exercises around the island in response to a controversial visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

    But Tsai’s appeal to link the issues appears to have done little to boost the fortunes of her party, which is often outperformed by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party in local ballots.

    The KMT – which is widely seen as friendlier to Beijing and advocates greater economic ties with mainland China – is expected to win mayoral elections in 13 counties, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency. Tsai’s party, by comparison, is expected to win only five – one fewer than in the last local election.

    “We humbly accept the results of the election and the decision of the people of Taiwan,” Tsai wrote on Facebook on Saturday night.

    She added that she had already resigned as party chief to “fully bear the responsibilities”.

    However, Tsai will remain as President. Her presidential term ends in 2024.

    The result comes despite escalating rhetoric from Beijing. China’s leader Xi Jinping told a Communist Party meeting last month that “the wheels of history are rolling on towards China’s reunification” and that Beijing would never renounce the use of force to take Taiwan.

    Analysts said the result showed voters were more focused on domestic issues like the economy and social welfare.

    “Taiwanese voters have become desensitized to China’s military threat. And hence there isn’t quite as much of a perceived urgency to making the issue of survival front and center,” said Wen-ti Sung, a political scientist with the Australia National University’s Taiwan Studies Program.

    “The DPP’s China threat card is facing diminishing marginal returns over time.”

    That assessment tallied with the thoughts of voter Liao Su-han, an art curator from the central Nantou county who cast a ballot for the DPP but said Beijing’s recent actions were not a major factor in deciding her vote.

    “China’s military threat has always been there, and it did not just begin this year,” she said.

    “As Taiwanese, we are pretty used to China’s rhetoric that they want to invade us all the time, so [it] did not have a big impact on who I’m voting for.”

    Eric Su, a 30-year-old account manager who lives in New Taipei City, said while he voted for Tsai in the presidential election, he supported a KMT candidate because they are stronger on local issues.

    “In a presidential election, I consider more about global issues, because a president can influence our economy and international standing,” he said.

    “In a mayoral election, I care more about what a candidate can bring to local residents, such as infrastructure planning and child subsidies.”

    The KMT, also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party, ruled over China between 1912 and 1949, when it retreated to Taiwan after losing a civil war to the Chinese Communist Party.

    The KMT set up its own government on the island – having taken control of it from Japan after the second world war – while the Communist Party took control of mainland China. Ever since, the Communist Party has harbored ambitions of “reunification” with Taiwan – by force, if necessary.

    When the KMT first fled to Taiwan, its then-president Chiang Kai-shek ruled the island with an iron fist and implemented decades of martial law to crack down on political dissent.

    After decades of struggle by pro-democracy campaigners, Taiwan was gradually transformed from authoritarian rule into a democracy, and it held the first direct presidential election in 1996.

    The KMT is now widely seen as friendlier to Beijing than the ruling DPP, and it accepts a so-called “1992 consensus”, a tacit understanding that both Taipei and Beijing acknowledge they belong to “one China”, but with different interpretations of what that entails.

    Tsai, on the other hand, has refused to acknowledge the consensus. The position of her DPP is to defend Taiwan’s status quo as an independent government and expand its international space against an increasingly assertive Beijing.

    Among the more notable victories in Friday’s mayoral races was that of Chiang Wan-an – the great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek. He will become the next mayor of Taipei after beating the DPP’s Chen Shih-chung, who served as Taiwan’s health minister during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    In a statement on Saturday night, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the election results showed that most people in Taiwan valued “peace, stability and a good life”. It said Beijing will continue to “firmly oppose Taiwan independence and foreign interference.”

    However, experts said the KMT’s victory did not necessarily reflect a shift in how Taiwan’s public viewed their relationship with mainland China.

    “The election was voted on bread-and-butter issues, and I disagree that it signals a major impact on Taiwan’s cross-strait policies,” said J. Michael Cole, a Taipei-based senior adviser for International Republican Institute.

    “The outcome of this election is not reflective of what voters will be looking for in choosing the next president.”

    Sung at Australia National University said it was too early to speculate over the KMT’s chances of winning the next presidential election in 2024, but felt this result had given it a boost.

    “The KMT is now better positioned to be the (party) that unifies the opposition and attracts all the anti-status quo protest votes against the current administration,” he said.

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  • Biden-Xi summit: What Biden wants, what Xi wants

    Biden-Xi summit: What Biden wants, what Xi wants

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    PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — There won’t be concessions from the U.S. side. No real deliverables, which is government-speak for specific achievements. Don’t expect a cheery joint statement, either.

    During President Joe Biden’s highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, the leaders will be circling each other to game out how to manage a relationship that the U.S. has determined poses the biggest economic and military threat.

    At the same time, U.S. officials have repeatedly stressed that they see the two countries’ interactions as one of competition — and that they want to avoid conflict.

    Here’s a look at what each side is hoping to achieve out of the leaders’ first in-person encounter as presidents, to be held on the island of Bali in Indonesia:

    FOR THE UNITED STATES

    Essentially, Biden and other U.S. officials are trying to understand where Xi really stands.

    In a news conference shortly before leaving Washington, Biden said he wanted to “lay out … what each of our red lines are, understand what he believes to be in the critical national interests of China, what I know to be the critical interests of the United States.”

    That mission has become all the more imperative since the conclusion of the Community Party congress in Beijing, during which Xi secured a norm-breaking third term as leader, empowering him even further.

    It’s a goal that will be much more readily achieved in person, White House officials say, despite Biden and Xi’s five video or phone calls during the U.S. president’s term.

    Biden told reporters on Sunday that he’s “always had straightforward discussions” with Xi, and that has prevented either of them from “miscalculations” of their intentions.

    “I know him well, he knows me,” Biden said. “We’ve just got to figure out where the red lines are and what are the most important things to each of us, going into the next two years.”

    The U.S. president will want to send a message to Xi on White House concerns about China’s economic practices. Taiwan is sure to come up, and Biden will want to emphasize to Xi that the U.S. will stand ready to defend the self-governing island should it come under attack by China. Biden also will seek to make clear his concerns about Beijing’s human rights practices, as he has in their previous interactions.

    Biden will also use the meeting to press for a more aggressive posture from Xi on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Chinese leader has largely refrained from public criticism of Vladimir Putin’s actions while declining to actively aid Moscow by supplying arms.

    “We believe that, of course, every country in the world should do more to prevail upon Russia, especially those who have relationships with Russia, to end this war and leave Ukraine,” said U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

    Finally, U.S. officials say they’re eager to see where the two superpowers could actually collaborate. Though there are numerous areas in which Biden and Xi won’t see eye to eye, the White House has listed several issues where they conceivably could, including health, counternarcotics and climate change.

    FOR CHINA

    Xi has yet to give a wish list for talks with Biden, but Beijing wants U.S. action on trade and Taiwan.

    Perhaps most importantly, the Group of 20 gathering in Bali and the meeting with Biden give China’s most powerful leader in decades a stage to promote his country’s image as a global player and himself as a history-making figure who is restoring its rightful role as an economic and political force.

    China pursues “increasingly assertive foreign and security policies aimed at changing the international status quo,” Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister who is president of the Asia Society, wrote in Foreign Affairs. That has strained relations with Washington, Europe and China’s Asian neighbors, but Xi is unfazed and looks set to be more ambitious abroad.

    The meeting is “an important event of China’s head-of-state diplomacy toward the Asia Pacific,” said a foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian. He said Xi will “deliver an important speech” on economic growth.

    Zhao called on the Biden administration to “stop politicizing” trade and embrace Beijing’s claim to sovereignty over Taiwan, the self-ruled island democracy that split with the mainland in 1949 and never has been part of the People’s Republic of China.

    Beijing wants Washington to lift tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump in 2019 and to pull back on increasing restrictions on Chinese access to processor chips and other U.S. technology. Biden has left most of those in place and added curbs on access to technology that American officials say can be used in weapons development.

    “The United States needs to stop politicizing, weaponizing and ideologizing trade issues,” Zhao said.

    Xi’s government has stepped up efforts to intimidate the elected government of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen by flying fighter planes near the island and firing missiles into the sea.

    Beijing broke off talks with Washington on security, climate cooperation and other issues after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August in a show of support for its government.

    “The United States needs to stop obscuring, hollowing out and distorting the ‘one-China principle,’” said Zhao, referring to Beijing’s stance that Taiwan is obligated to join the mainland under Communist Party leadership.

    Another goal for Xi: Don’t get COVID-19.

    The G-20 will be only Xi’s second foreign trip in 2 1/2 years while his government enforces a severe “Zero COVID” strategy that shut down cities and kept most visitors out of China.

    Xi broke that moratorium by attending a September summit with Putin and Central Asian leaders. But he skipped a dinner and photo session where Putin and others wore no masks.

    ———

    McDonald reported from Beijing.

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  • Taiwan’s Tsai says no backing down to Chinese aggression

    Taiwan’s Tsai says no backing down to Chinese aggression

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    TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan won’t back down in the face of “aggressive threats” from China, the president of the self-governing island democracy Tsai Ing-wen said Tuesday, comparing growing pressure from Beijing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Tsai’s comments follow the conclusion of the twice-a-decade congress of China’s Communist Party at which it upped its long-standing threat to annex the island it considers its own territory by force if necessary.

    The party added a line into its constitution on “resolutely opposing and deterring” Taiwan’s independence “resolutely implementing the policy of ‘one country, two systems,’” the formula by which it plans to govern the island in future.

    The blueprint has already been put in place in the former British colony of Hong Kong, which has seen its democratic system, civil liberties and judicial independence decimated.

    Speaking to an international gathering of pro-democracy activists in Taipei, Tsai said democracies and liberal societies were facing the greatest host of challenges since the Cold War.

    “Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is a prime example. It shows an authoritarian regime will do whatever it takes to achieve expansionism,” Tsai said.

    “The people of Taiwan are all too familiar with such aggression. In recent years, Taiwan has been confronted by increasingly aggressive threats from China,” she said, listing military intimidation, cyber attacks and economic coercion among them.

    The rising Chinese threat has spurred calls on Taiwan for additional defense investments and a lengthening of the term of national service required of all Taiwanese men.

    “However, even under constant threats, the people of Taiwan have never shied away from the challenges” and have fought to work against authoritarian forces looking to undermine their democratic way of life, Tsai said.

    Tsai was speaking at the opening ceremony of the World Movement for Democracy’s Steering Committee, which is chaired by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa.

    Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949 and Taipei enjoys strong U.S. military and political support, despite the lack of formal military ties.

    Despite having just 14 official diplomatic allies, Taiwan has drawn increasing backing from major nations, including Japan, Australia, the U.S., Canada and across Europe.

    A recent visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi enraged Beijing, which responded with military exercises seen as a rehearsal of a blockade of the island.

    On Monday, Tsai met with a German parliamentary delegation focusing on human rights, who expressed concern about how Taiwan would handle threats from China.

    “Taiwan is really facing military threats,” delegation head Peter Heidt said. “From Germany’s point of view, changes to the cross-strait status quo, if any, must be based on peaceful means. Also, these changes must be made after both sides have reached a consensus.”

    Also on Tuesday, Taiwanese Premier You Si-kun was meeting with Ukrainian lawmaker Kira Rudik and Lithuanian politician Zygimantas Pavilionis. Taiwan has strongly condemned the Russian invasion and at least one Taiwanese citizen is reportedly fighting with Ukrainian forces.

    The Ukrainian conflict has focused new attention on if and when China might launch military action against Taiwan, given that a solid majority of Taiwanese reject Beijing’s calls for “peaceful reunification.”

    A full-scale invasion across the 160-kilometer (100-mile) -wide Taiwan Strait remains a daunting prospect for China despite its recent massive military expansion, especially in its naval and missile forces.

    However, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s securing of another five-year term in office has some observers speculating he may be looking to move up the schedule for bringing Taiwan under China’s control.

    Among personnel changes at China’s congress that concluded Saturday, Gen. He Weidong was elevated to second vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. He was formerly head of the Eastern Theater Command, which would be primarily responsible for operations against Taiwan should hostilities break out.

    ———

    Follow AP’s coverage of the Asia-Pacific region at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

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  • German lawmakers oppose China military threats toward Taiwan

    German lawmakers oppose China military threats toward Taiwan

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    TAIPEI, Taiwan — Any changes to the China-Taiwan relationship must come about peacefully, a visiting German lawmaker said Monday, two days after China’s ruling Communist Party wrote its rejection of Taiwan independence into its charter.

    A German parliamentary delegation focusing on human rights met Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen at her office on Monday. The lawmakers expressed interest in how Taiwan would handle threats from China.

    “Taiwan is really facing military threats,” delegation head Peter Heidt said. “From Germany’s point of view, changes to the cross-strait status quo, if any, must be based on peaceful means. Also, these changes must be made after both sides have reached a consensus.”

    China claims Taiwan as its territory and says the self-governing island about 160 kilometers (100 miles) off its east coast must come under its control.

    The Chinese Communist Party, on the last day of a major congress that confirmed a third five-year term for leader Xi Jinping, inserted a statement into the party constitution on Saturday “resolutely opposing and deterring separatists” seeking Taiwan’s independence.

    “We note Xi Jinping’s intimidation against Taiwan in China’s 20th party congress. We also note the reaction of mainland China after Pelosi visited Taiwan,” he said, referring to the large-scale military drills held after the visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in July.

    Tsai did not refer to the amending of the Communist Party’s constitution in her remarks. But her government’s Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement Saturday urging China to break away from the mindset of confronting or even conquering the island, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

    The statement said their differences should be resolved in a peaceful manner.

    At the opening of China’s weeklong party congress, Xi said Beijing would continue to strive for peaceful “reunification” with Taiwan but refused to renounce the possible use of force. The two sides split in 1949 after a civil war.

    Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council responded that the island’s 23 million people have the right to decide their own future and urged Beijing to stop imposing its political framework and its military coercion.

    The German delegation arrived on Sunday and was expected to leave on Wednesday. It is the second German parliamentary group visiting Taiwan this month.

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