🇹🇼🇺🇸 Taiwan kicks off annual Han Kuang war games with computerized simulations

Taiwan has kicked off five days of computerized war games aimed at potential attacks by Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army, with US military personnel expected to be acting as observers.

The tabletop drills began at the Hengshan Military Command Centre in Taipei on Monday, Taiwanese military officials said. As in previous years, the exercise will also feature a live-fire segment, which will be staged in July.

Military spokesman declined to say if the US had sent observers to take part in the online drills. But Taiwanese Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng had confirmed earlier this month that US military personnel would join in both the computerized and live-fire segments of the Han Kuang exercise.

#Taiwan #USA

@asianomics

🇹🇼 Taiwan excluded from WHO annual assembly

Taiwan failed in its efforts to gain an invitation to the World Health Organization's annual assembly.

The annual assembly in Geneva on Monday decided not to extend Taiwan an invitation to the event which runs from May 21-30. China and Pakistan urged members to reject Taiwan's inclusion.

#Taiwan

@asianomics

🇹🇼🇨🇳 Taiwan sends up fighters as Chinese warplanes cross strait's median line

Taiwan's air force scrambled into action on Sunday after spotting 10 Chinese warplanes crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan's defense ministry said that on Sunday it had detected 24 Chinese air force planes, including J-10, J-11, J-16 and Su-30 fighters, as well as H-6 bombers.

This is the second time in less than a week that Taiwan has reported renewed Chinese military activity, after 37 Chinese military aircraft on Thursday flew into the island's air defense zone.

#Taiwan #China

@asianomics

🇵🇾🇹🇼 New Paraguay president stresses South American country’s ties with Taiwan

President Santiago Peña said Paraguay and Taiwan are “not just allies, but also brothers” when he was sworn in as the South American country’s new president.

Peña took the presidential oath outside the government palace in the capital of Asunción in a ceremony attended by several regional leaders and Taiwan’s Vice President William Lai.

“We will build alliances and cooperation with a geostrategic vision, seeking horizontal agreements,” Peña said, noting that the country’s relationship with Taiwan “is an example of this.”

Taiwan had become a thorny issue during Paraguay’s presidential campaign as Peña’s main challenger argued the alliance had become too costly because it prevented the small country from pursuing business opportunities with China.

#Paraguay #Taiwan

@asianomics

🇹🇼🇺🇸 Taiwan vice president stops over in New York on way to Paraguay

Taiwan Vice President William Lai arrived in New York at the start of a sensitive US stopover.

Lai, the front-runner to become Taiwan's president in elections in January, is officially making only transit stops in the United States on his way to and from Paraguay for the swearing in of its president next week.

Neither Taiwan nor the US have given exact details about his US schedule, which both are aiming to keep low key, according to officials briefed on the trip.

#Taiwan #USA

@asianomics

🇨🇳🇹🇼 China launches drills around Taiwan in response to VP's US trip

China's military began drills around Taiwan on Saturday, saying it was a "serious warning" to separatist forces in a widely expected response to a visit by Vice President William Lai to the United States.

The People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command, which has responsibility for the area around Taiwan, said in a brief statement it was carrying out joint naval and air combat readiness patrols around the island.

It said it was also holding joint exercises and training of naval and air forces, focusing on subjects such as ship-aircraft coordination and seizing control, to test the forces' "actual combat capabilities".

#China #Taiwan

@asianomics

🇹🇼🇨🇳 Taipei mayor to visit China

The mayor of Taipei will visit Shanghai at the end of this month for an annual city forum, his office said.

Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, from the main opposition party the Kuomintang, which traditionally favors close relations with China, will go to Shanghai on Aug. 29-31 for the Taipei-Shanghai City Forum, which was first held in 2010.

The Kuomintang has pushed to resume contacts with China since pandemic controls were lifted, saying that dialogue was needed now more than ever given the tensions over Taiwan.

#Taiwan #China

@asianomics

🇹🇼🇨🇳 Taiwan expects to deploy two new submarines by 2027

Taiwan hopes to deploy at least two new, domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly equip later models with missiles, to strengthen deterrence against the Chinese navy and protect key supply lines.

President Tsai Ing-wen, who initiated the program when she took office in 2016, is expected to launch the first of eight new submarines on Thursday.

Admiral Huang Shu-kuang, Tsai's security adviser, who is leading the program, said a fleet of 10 submarines - which includes two Dutch-made submarines commissioned in the 1980s - will make it harder for the Chinese navy to project power into the Pacific.

#Taiwan #China

@asianomics

🇹🇼🇨🇳 Taiwan ruling party candidate will maintain status quo, engage with China

Taiwan's ruling party presidential candidate Lai Ching-te said on Tuesday he would maintain the status quo and pursue peace through strength if elected, remaining open to engagement with Beijing under the preconditions of equality and dignity.

"Peace is priceless and war has no winners," Lai told reporters in a press conference in which he appeared alongside his vice presidential running mate Hsiao Bi-khim.

However, "accepting China's one-principle proposition is not true peace," Lai said. "Peace without sovereignty is just like Hong Kong. It is fake peace."

#Taiwan #China

@asianomics

🇯🇵 #Tsunami #Taiwan
🔻Due to the earthquake with epicenter in Taiwan, 3 meters high Tsunami waves expected in the region
⚠️The estimated arrival times of the tsunami:
👉Miyakojima-Yaeyama region, at 9:30 a.m.
👉Okinawa main island region, at 10 a.m.

🔻Debido al terremoto con epicentro en Taiwán, se esperan un tsunami de 3 metros de altura en la región.
⚠️Los tiempos de llegada estimados del tsunami son:
👉Región de Miyakojima-Yayama, a las 9:30 a.m.
👉Región de la isla principal de Okinawa, a las 10 a.m.