Taipei | Sept 7

AFP - Taiwan's premier quit Monday over the government's handling of last month's deadly typhoon as the China-friendly administration struggled to end its worst crisis since it came to power.

Liu Chao-shiuan's surprise announcement ended weeks of speculation about the political fallout of Typhoon Morakot, which was the worst to hit Taiwan in half a century and killed over 600.

"Someone has to take political responsibility," Liu told a hastily-called press conference. Later Monday, a spokesman for President Ma Ying-jeou said the chief secretary of Taiwan's ruling party had been named as the new premier.

"The president decided to appoint Wu Den-yih, the secretary general of the Kuomintang party, as the new premier," Wang Yu-chi told reporters.

Liu's resignation comes after severe public criticism of the way the government tackled the typhoon. Anger over the government's response to the crisis has proved its toughest challenge since taking power over 15 months ago.

imagine that!

Tania Branigan/Beijing & Justin McCurry/Tokyo | Aug 10

The Guardian - • Up to 600 people feared buried as record rainfall hits island
• China evacuates 1 million from east coast provinces
• Deadly tropical storm Etau triggers floods in Japan

Hundreds of people are missing in a village in Taiwan after it was buried by a mudslide when typhoon Morakot struck the island yesterday morning, a police official has reported.

At least 34 people have died and millions of others been affected across east Asia after Morakot and a separate tropical storm battered China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan.

Southern Taiwan suffered its worst flooding for half a century as the typhoon dumped up to 2.5 metres (8.2ft) of rain.

The official, surnamed Wang, said around 100 people from Hsiao-lin village, in Kaohsiung county, had been rescued by military helicopter or other means, according to Associated Press.

Lin Chien-chung, a rescued resident, told the Taipei-based United Evening News he believed 600 people were buried in the mudslide and that it covered "a large part" of the village. Hsiaolin is thought to have around 1,000 inhabitants.

Taipei | July 9

AFP - Sex workers in Taiwan have cautiously welcomed a government plan to legalise prostitution, but the scheme is being opposed by an alliance of women's groups who fear it will breed crime and violence.

A red-light area similar to Amsterdam's famed canalside sex-for-sale district has been proposed for the capital Taipei, with legal and zoning measures due in place within six months.

Prostitutes and their supporters say they see a ray of hope after many years of campaigning for legalisation to protect them from both customers and police, but some are concerned about being moved into special zones.

Taipei | June 15

DPA - Three Taiwan university students have invented a motorcycle helmet
that can generate electricity and power a scooter's lights.

Cheng Shiu University outside the south-western city of Kaohsiung announced the invention Friday, saying it plans to find a factory to mass-produce the helmets.

The students fixed five tiny fans that are also generators onto the front of the helmet so that when the motorcycle starts running, wind blow the fans and the fans produce electricity, said Professor Chen Feng-shih, who supervised the invention.

Through a Bluetooth wireless transmitter, the power is sent to the motorbike to power the scooter's front and back lights, brake light and direction indicators.

It can also power a pair of direction indicator and brake lights on the back of the helmet.

May 21

BBC - A large number of goats in Taiwan may have died of exhaustion because of noise from a wind farm.

A farmer on an outlying island told the BBC he had lost more than 400 animals after eight giant wind turbines were installed close to his grazing land.

The Ministry of Agriculture says it suspects that noise may have caused the goats' demise through lack of sleep.

The power company, Taipower, has offered to pay for part of the costs of building a new farmhouse elsewhere.

A spokesman for the company said the cause of the goats' deaths still needed to be investigated, but that it doubted the goats died from the noise.

Taipei | May 15

AFP - Taiwan's pro-independence opposition will take to the streets this weekend in what they say will be the biggest anti-China rally since the island's Beijing-friendly administration came to power.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is hoping for a turnout of 300,000 for the march through downtown Taipei, and for a further 100,000 to attend an all-night sit-in protest in the presidential office square.

"We want to tell the world that Taiwan's future is not up to President Ma Ying-jeou or the Kuomintang (KMT)," DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang said, ahead of Ma's first anniversary as the president.

However, just 32 per cent of 1,019 people surveyed this week by the TVBS cable news network backed the march, which organisers said is aimed at stopping the island's sovereignty from being undermined by the KMT's close ties with China.

Forty-four per cent said they opposed the rally.

Taipei | Feb 5

AFP - Taiwan is considering building a bridge to mainland China in the latest sign of warming ties between the cross-Strait rivals, an official said Thursday.

President Ma Ying-jeou asked Taiwan's top economic planners to conduct a feasibility study when he visited Kinmen, a Taiwan-controlled fortified island group off the Chinese mainland, in August.

The bridge would link Kinmen with Xiamen, a city in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, at a cost of up to NT$13.2 billion (US$390.5 million).

"President Ma inquired about the progress of the feasibility study last night," presidential office spokesman Wang Yu-chi told reporters.

But Wang denied reports that the president "ordered" construction of the proposed bridge, saying the final decision would depend on the results of the study.

Dec 31

AFP - Chinese President Hu Jintao called Wednesday for military dialogue with Taiwan, in another sign of rapidly improving ties between the former arch enemies.

"The two sides can pick the right time to engage in exchanges on military issues and explore setting up a military and security mechanism to build mutual trust," Hu said.

This would help "improve the situation in the Taiwan Straits and lessen military and security concerns" he said in a speech broadcast live on national television.

Hu made the call in an address to mark the 30th anniversary of a message from China to "compatriots in Taiwan" which called for reunification of the two sides by peaceful means.

December 23

BBC - Two giant pandas have begun their journey from China to Taiwan, a gift from Beijing to a self-governing island it considers part of Chinese territory.

Fortified by a breakfast of carrots and steamed buns, the pandas left the mountains of Sichuan for the airport in the provincial capital, Chengdu.

Hundreds of security guards and armed police have been deployed on the route.

A BBC correspondent says the high security reflects the sensitivity of any event that involves Taiwan.

Roads to Chengdu airport have been closed and a flight chartered specially for the pandas.

The pandas are China's gift to Taiwan amid warming ties.

Taipei | Nov 13

AFP - Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian has not eaten since being detained over a corruption probe, in protest at what he insists is a politically-motivated investigation, his lawyer said Thursday.

Chen, whose pro-independence stance in office set him against Beijing, has repeatedly accused the island's China-friendly government of being behind the allegations of embezzlement, money laundering, taking bribes and forgery.

Chen had only drunk water since entering a detention centre early Wednesday and had not eaten a proper meal since late Tuesday, lawyer Cheng Wen-long said.

"He intends to stop eating in protest," Cheng told reporters after visiting the former leader, who he said was "in an okay condition now."

A court ordered Chen locked up Wednesday, capping 24 hours of high political drama that saw a defiant Chen led away in handcuffs, taken to hospital after saying he had been beaten by police, and then finally put behind bars.

Taipei | Nov 6

AFP -

The streets of central Taipei came to a standstill on Thursday as tens of thousands of protesters chanted slogans and blew air horns to protest closer ties with China being promoted by their leaders.

The demonstrators were determined to express their outrage at the presence of Chen Yunlin, Beijing's top negotiator on Taiwan affairs, who was heading a large delegation of Chinese officials and business people visiting the island.

Demonstrators said they were also angry that a meeting between Taiwan's democratically-elected President Ma Ying-jeou and Chen had been moved forward by several hours, a move they suspected was to avoid any discomfort for the Chinese official with a show of widespread public anti-China sentiment.

Ma had been embarrassed by demonstrations on Wednesday that saw Chen trapped inside a building for several hours before police could secure him safe passage back to his hotel.

Tania Branigan | Beijing | Nov 5

The Guardian - China and Taiwan moved closer to overcoming six decades of hostilities today, as they signed deals drastically expanding direct flights and allowing shipping links across the Formosa strait.

The agreement follows a dramatic thaw in relations over the last six months, since the election of Taiwan's new president, Ma Ying-jeou. The island broke away from the mainland at the end of the civil war in 1949.

Beijing and Taipei have agreed to set aside contentious political issues to work on improving economic links - important to both at a time of worldwide gloom.

October 3

BBC - The US government has notified Congress of plans to supply Taiwan with arms worth more than $6bn (£3.4bn).

The sales include advanced interceptor missiles, Apache helicopters and submarine-launched missiles.

Correspondents say the decision is likely to anger China, which regards Taiwan as its territory and opposes US military support of the island.

The move could also complicate efforts to get North Korea, an ally of Beijing, to end its nuclear programme.

The US Defence Security Co-operation Agency (DSCA) said the sales would "help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance and economic progress in the region".

Jim Lobe | Oct 2

Asia Times - Former United States deputy defense secretary and World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz is embroiled in a geostrategic conflict of interests through his chairmanship of a US arms-control advisory panel as well as the US-Taiwan Business Council. At the heart of the matter is a pending US$11 billion arms package for Taiwan.

Related: US urged to bolster missile, space defenses against China: paper

From Xinhuanet:

Chinese President Hu Jintao and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush discussed bilateral relations and the financial upheavals in the United States in a phone conversation on Monday morning Beijing time...

The Chinese president also praised the good momentum of the development of the Sino-U.S. ties in recent years in various areas.

He said China is ready to work with the U.S. side to intensify dialogue, exchanges and cooperation, and properly handle issues concerning mutual interests and of major concern, particularly the Taiwan question, in a bid to push forward the sustained and steady development of the Sino-U.S. constructive and cooperative ties.

The italics are mine. Translation: "You want a loan? Give us Taiwan."

So much for principles.

Caroline Gluck | Taipe | July 18

BBC - Large groups of Chinese tourists are set to begin arriving in Taiwan as restrictions are further relaxed.

Most will fly in on newly inaugurated direct weekend charter flights, which began operating earlier this month.

China had promised that that from Friday it would allow up to 3,000 of its citizens to visit Taiwan every day.

The move is another sign of how ties between the two sides have warmed since the election of Taiwan's President, Ma Ying-jeou.

Nearly 2,000 Chinese tourists will arrive in Taiwan this weekend, all travelling in mandatory tour groups.

Mandatory?

July 4

BBC - The first regular direct flight from mainland China to Taiwan for nearly 60 years has landed at Taipei's airport.

Since the two sides split in civil war in 1949, travellers have had to fly via a third destination - apart from a few special flights during major holidays.

The flight from Guangzhou marks the beginning of regular non-stop direct flights between a number of cities.

The flights will be on weekends only but are seen as a big step in improved relations between the two sides.

Shino Yuasa | Tokyo | June 16

LA Times - Nine Taiwanese coast guard vessels entered Japanese waters Monday near disputed islands in the East China Sea to accompany a ship of protesters angry over the sinking nearby of a Taiwanese fishing boat, officials said.

Japan immediately denounced the incident as a violation of its territorial waters, amid a spike in tensions over the islands, known as Diaoyutai in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese. Officials in Taiwan called it a mission to uphold its sovereignty over the disputed territory.

The vessels and the protest ship were in Japanese waters for about two and a half hours near the islands, defying repeated warnings from Japanese patrol boats, the Japanese coast guard said in a statement.

Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration Vice Minister Cheng Chang-hsiung said the protesters got less than two-thirds of a mile (less than 1 kilometer) from an island in the chain, where they were blocked by nine Japanese patrol vessels. Cheng said Taiwan dispatched nine patrol vessels to protect the protesters' ship along the way.

Jonathan Adams | Taipei | June 14

CSM - Taiwan and China sealed a deal on cross-strait charter flights and tourism Friday in Beijing, in the first formal talks between the two sides in nearly a decade. The deal comes amid a rapid thaw in cross-strait relations under Taiwan's new president, Ma Ying-jeou, who took power May 20.

Analysts cautioned that Friday's deal was just the first – and easiest – step on the long and difficult road toward reconciliation between the two bitter rivals. Critics in Taiwan said President Ma had made too many concessions to China too soon.

"Eventually, the two sides will reach the end of the list of things they can agree on easily, and the process will slow down," says Shelley Rigger, an expert on cross-strait relations at Davidson College in North Carolina.

Debby Wu | Taipei | April 19

AP - The United States may post Marines at its unofficial embassy in Taiwan - a small but symbolically significant change in its delicate political relationship with the self-ruled island.

A State Department advertisement in the English-language Taipei Times newspaper called for contractors to construct quarters for Marine security guards at a new U.S. compound in the capital, Taipei.

Since the U.S. switched its recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, there have been no marine guards at its Taipei facility - the American Institute in Taiwan - in keeping with its deliberately low political profile.

George Friedman | April 15

Stratfor - China is an island. We do not mean it is surrounded by water; we mean China is surrounded by territory that is difficult to traverse. Therefore, China is hard to invade; given its size and population, it is even harder to occupy. This also makes it hard for the Chinese to invade others; not utterly impossible, but quite difficult. Containing a fifth of the world’s population, China can wall itself off from the world, as it did prior to the United Kingdom’s forced entry in the 19th century and under Mao Zedong. All of this means China is a great power, but one that has to behave very differently than other great powers.

Boao, China | April 13

AP - They've spent nearly six decades bickering, pointing weapons at each other and thinking of reasons not to talk. But over the weekend, China and Taiwan began what appears to be a bold new effort to ease tensions that have long threatened to spark a war.

It began with a hastily arranged meeting Saturday between Taiwanese Vice President-elect Vincent Siew and Chinese leader Hu Jintao. Both were attending a business conference on the tropical Chinese island of Hainan, and they agreed to sit down for a 20-minute chat.

Although the visit was brief and mostly focused on economics, it was historically significant and loaded with symbols that are extremely important in Chinese culture.

Julian E. Barnes & Ben DuBose | Washington | March 26

Los Angeles Times - The U.S. military mistakenly shipped parts from a Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile to Taiwan, Pentagon officials announced Tuesday in the second incident to come to light in recent months in which nuclear weapons were mishandled.

Pentagon officials said the material sent to Taiwan consisted of four electrical fuses for the ICBM nose cones. The fuses, used to trigger nuclear weapons, do not contain nuclear material.

But experts on nuclear security said the mistaken transfer showed a serious deterioration in the safeguards and controls that the U.S. military has over its nuclear warheads.

"This is really unbelievable," said Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, which advocates reducing the number of nuclear weapons. "If the Russians had shipped triggers to Tehran we would be going nuts right now."

U.S. officials anxiously notified China of the error, but experts did not expect Beijing to react with alarm because of long-standing U.S. policies against arming Taiwan with nuclear weapons.

Jeffrey has more at Arms Control Wonk

Taipei | March 22

AFP - Taiwanese began voting early Saturday in a presidential election expected to turn on the slowing economy and hopes their new leader will mend damaged relations with China.

The poll is being watched closely by Beijing and Washington for signs of a shift in approach after eight years of tensions under outgoing President Chen Shui-bian.

It pits Harvard-educated Ma Ying-jeou of the opposition Kuomintang, who is considered the frontrunner, against pro-independence ruling party chief Frank Hsieh.

Jane Rickards | Taipei | February 3

WaPo -

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian inaugurated a runway on one of the disputed Spratly Islands on Saturday and insisted the archipelago belongs to Taiwan despite claims by China and several other Asian countries.

Chen's one-day round-trip voyage was designed to dramatize Taiwan's claim to the string of islands with the kind of gesture for which he has become famous during more than seven years as leader of this self-ruled island. Disregarding other countries' assertions, he declared the island he visited, Taiping Dao, "an intrinsic part of our territory," according to a statement from his office.

"From the beginning, we have had our brothers in the military and coastal patrol stationed here, and we have in succession set up relevant atmospheric, humanitarian and ecological testing facilities, occupying and administering this island for half a century," he added.

The Spratly Islands, more than 100 rocky islets, reefs and atolls in the South China Sea, are claimed in full or in part by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei. They are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and potential oil and gas deposits.