The chief executive of the American chip maker Nvidia visited Beijing on Thursday, days after the US issued fresh restrictions on sales of the only AI chip it was still allowed to sell to China. Jensen Huang’s surprise visit was on the invitation of a trade organisation, according to a social media account affiliated with state media. The official broadcaster China Central Television said Huang met Ren Hongbin, the head of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, where he said he hopes “to continue to cooperate with…
Tag: Taiwan
Taiwan president warns of China’s ‘infiltration’ effort
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Thursday that China has deepened its influence campaigns and infiltration against the democratic island, pledging measures to tackle Beijing’s efforts to “absorb” Taiwan. Taiwan has accused China of stepping up military drills, trade sanctions and influence campaigns against the island in recent years to force the island to accept Chinese sovereignty claims. Speaking to reporters after holding a meeting with senior security officials, Lai said Beijing had used Taiwan’s democracy to “absorb” various members of society, including organized crime groups, media…
China warns US after Senate passes aid bill worth billions to Taiwan – video
Beijing has warned Washington to stop arming Taiwan after the US Senate approved a bill that includes $8bn for countering China’s actions threatening America’s allies in the Indo-Pacific region. The package covers a wide range of parts and services aimed at maintaining and upgrading Taiwan’s military hardware and is meant to counter the threat of invasion by China, which claims the island as its own territory. Separately, Taiwan has signed billions in contracts with the US for the latest-generation F-16V fighter jets, M1 Abrams tanks and the Himars rocket systems,…
Taiwan pledges to remove 760 statues of Chinese dictator Chiang Kai-shek
Taiwan’s government has pledged to remove almost 800 statues of Chiang Kai-shek, the Chinese military dictator who ruled the island for decades under martial law, but whose legacy remains a point of contentious debate. In 2018 the government established a transitional justice committee to investigate the rule of the former generalissimo, who was president of the Republic of China (ROC) – in China and then in Taiwan – until his death in 1975. Among its recommendations was to remove the thousands of statues from public spaces. Speaking to Taiwan’s legislature…
US Navy flies aircraft through Taiwan Strait a day after US-China defense talks
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The U.S. 7th Fleet said a Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, a day after U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs held their first talks since Nov. 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations,” the release said. Although the critical…
China’s Xi, former Taiwanese president push unification
Taipei, Taiwan — Chinese leader Xi Jinping met former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday, wrapping up an 11-day “journey of peace” aimed at promoting unification between Taiwan and China. Although unification with authoritarian China has little support in democratic Taiwan, according to public opinion polls, Ma and Xi used the meeting to promote a vision they say looks to avert conflict and highlights shared historic and cultural roots instead of differences. Following a 15-second handshake in front of some cameras,…
China and Taiwan are destined for ‘reunification’, Xi tells former president
Xi Jinping has met the former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou, in what analysts said was an attempt to promote peaceful unification as the only alternative to military annexation of Taiwan. Ma, who was leading a student delegation to China, met Xi in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People, a venue typically reserved for foreign leaders meeting with senior Chinese officials. Xi used the meeting to emphasise his belief that Taiwan and China were destined for what he terms “reunification”. “External interference cannot stop the historical trend of reunion…
Taiwan war games to simulate repelling Chinese drill that turns into attack
Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan’s annual war games this year will practice “kill” zones at sea to break a blockade and simulate a scenario where China suddenly turns one of its regular drills around the island into an actual attack, the defense ministry said on Tuesday. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its territory, has been staging regular exercises around the island for the past four years, to pressure Taipei to accept Beijing’s claim of sovereignty, despite Taiwan’s strong objections. Taiwan starts its main annual Han Kuang exercises this month…
Taiwan earthquake: over 600 people remain stranded days after disaster
Rescuers in Taiwan planned to bring in heavy equipment on Saturday to try to recover two bodies buried on a hiking trail, while more than 600 people remained stranded in various locations, three days after the island’s strongest earthquake in 25 years. Four people remain missing on the same Shakadang Trail in Taroko national park, famed for its rugged mountainous terrain. Search and recovery work was set to resume after being called off on Friday afternoon because of aftershocks. At least 12 people were killed by the magnitude 7.4 earthquake…
Taiwan earthquake rescuers face threat of landslides, rockfalls
HUALIEN, Taiwan — Rescuers in Taiwan faced the threat of further landslides and rockfalls in their search Friday for a dozen people still missing from this week’s earthquake, as the death toll rose to 12 and some of the stranded were brought to safety. Searchers discovered two more bodies after Wednesday’s quake of magnitude 7.2 struck the sparsely populated, largely rural eastern county of Hualien, stranding hundreds in a national park as boulders barreled down mountains, cutting off roads. As some 50 aftershocks rattled the area overnight, some felt as…