Asia-pacific

  Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers his speech at a dinner marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Sept. 30, 2024. TAIPEI, Taiwan — It is "impossible" for the People\'s Republic of China to become Taiwan\'s motherland because Taiwan has older political roots, the island\'s President Lai Ching-te said Saturday. Lai, who took office in May, is condemned by Beijing as a "separatist." He rejects Beijing\'s sovereignty claims, saying that the island is a country called the Republic of China, which traces its origins back to the 1911 revolution that overthrew the last imperial dynasty. The republican government fled to Taiwan in 194...

  FILE - Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, second from left, listens to a briefing during a missile launcher demonstration at a military base on Penghu Island on Sept. 6, 2024. China, which considers Lai a "separatist," is expected to closely monitor his Double Ten Day remarks WASHINGTON — A top U.S. official said the United States expects differences across the Taiwan Strait to be resolved peacefully and opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo as Taiwan prepares to celebrate the founding of the Republic of China on Thursday. The People\'s Republic of China, or PRC, celebrates its national day on October 1, marking the founding of the country in 1949. Taiwan chooses October 10, known as Double Ten Day, to celebrate the ...

  FILE - This picture taken on November 19, 2022 shows a Golden Horse trophy being held by Taiwanese actor Berant Zhu after he won Best Supporting Actor at the 59th Golden Horse Film Awards. Taipei, Taiwan — Organizers of Taiwan\'s premier film festival report a huge increase this year in entries from China, despite a ban imposed by Beijing six years ago on participation in the festival by Chinese filmmakers and actors. As many as 100 Chinese entries had been submitted for Golden Horse Awards in recent years, in defiance of the ban and without apparent consequences. But this year organizers say the number of movies and documentaries submitted from China shot up to 276. More than a dozen of the Chinese films are potential finalists, some ...

  Honor guards lower the Taiwanese flag during a ceremony at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 12, 2024. TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan reported a Chinese aircraft carrier group sailing to the island\'s south on Sunday, as China\'s military put out a video saying it was "prepared for battle" amid concerns in Taipei about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, detests its president Lai Ching-te as a "separatist," and the Chinese military routinely operates around the island. Last week at his keynote national day speech, Lai said the People\'s Republic of China had no right to represent Taiwan, but that the island was willi...

  In this screen grab from video released by the Taiwan Coast Guard, a member of the Taiwan Coast Guard monitors a China Coast Guard boat as it passes near the coast of Matsu islands, Taiwan, Oct. 14, 2024. (Taiwan Coast Guard via AP) China’s People’s Liberation Army launched a new round of military exercises in waters around Taiwan on Monday, as Beijing increases military pressure against the island democracy four days after its leader rejected the Chinese government’s claim over Taiwan. The Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command said it’s conducting a joint military exercise titled “Joint Sword-2024B” in waters around northern, southern and eastern Taiwan, as well as the northern end of the Taiwan Strait. The command issued a statem...

  FILE - A man watches a news program about Chinese military drills surrounding Taiwan, on a giant screen outside a shopping mall in Beijing on October 14, 2024. Taipai, Taiwan — Taiwan\'s defense ministry on Tuesday detailed the surge in Chinese warplane activity around the island during war games the previous day, saying it had detected a record 153 Chinese military aircraft. China held a single day of what it called "Joint Sword-2024B" drills on Monday as a warning to "separatist acts," following last week\'s national day speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te that Beijing denounced. In its daily update on Chinese military activity around the island in the previous 24 hours, Taiwan\'s defense ministry said it spott...

  Taiwanese officials said on Oct. 18, 2024, that South Africa has ordered Taiwan to move its Taipei Liaison Office — shown here on Nov. 16, 2022 — from the capital, Pretoria, to Johannesburg. TAIPEI, TAIWAN — South Africa has ordered Taiwan\'s representative office to relocate outside of the capital, a Taipei Foreign Ministry official said Friday, blaming Chinese pressure for the decision. China considers self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has sought to whittle down the number of countries that recognize its claim to statehood. "We have been asked to move our representative office out of the capital [Pretoria]," an official from Taiwan\'s Foreign Ministry told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Our reasonable conc...

  FILE - People look at the view from an observation point in Nangan Township, in the Matsu Islands, Taiwan, on October 15, 2024. taipei, taiwan — Taiwan\'s defense ministry said on Tuesday that live fire Chinese drills in a province facing the island are part of routine annual drills but also possibly part of China\'s "deterrence effect" in the waters of the Taiwan Strait. China\'s Maritime Safety Administration, in a notice late Monday, said an area around Niushan island in Fujian province would be closed off for four hours beginning at 9 a.m. on Tuesday for live fire drills. Niushan also sits just south of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands. Taiwan\'s defense ministry said in a statement that those exercises were part of rou...

  FILE -China's aircraft carrier Liaoning sails into Hong Kong to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army garrison's presence in the city on July 7, 2017. Taipei, Taiwan — A Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, Taiwan\'s defense minister said, a day after Beijing held a live-fire exercise near the self-ruled island. China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and has ramped up military activity around the island in recent years to pressure Taipei into accepting its claims of sovereignty. "The Liaoning is passing through the Taiwan Strait now, sailing north along the west of the median line (of the passage) and we are closely monitoring it," D...

  Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te (C) attends a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou in Kinmen on Oct. 25, 2024. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said Friday the island will not cede an inch of its territory, as China maintains military pressure on Taipei to accept its claim of sovereignty. Lai made the remarks during a visit to the Kinmen islands off China for the 75th anniversary of a victory over communist forces in the Battle of Guningtou. It followed a fortnight of intense military activity in the Taiwan Strait -- the sensitive waterway that separates China and Taiwan -- with troops from both sides holding drills. "(We) will not yield an inch of ground in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu to...