'We will not provoke confrontation': Taiwan slams China's ‘aggressive' military posturing, calls for talks
Chinese pressure on Taiwan had escalated over the past few years, but the island's people were peace-loving, Hsiao said while talking to the media at the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents' Club in Taipei.
"We do not seek conflict; we will not provoke confrontation," she said, reiterating President Lai Ching-te's offer of talks between Taipei and Beijing.
The dispute between the two nations involves China's claim over democratic Taiwan as part of its own territory.
Beijing also called President Lai Ching-te a "separatist".
The Taiwanese president has repeatedly offered talks with China, but has been rebuffed. Since 2022, Beijing has staged at least six rounds of major war games around Taiwan.
Hsiao further said for decades Taiwan's people and business have contributed to China's growth and prosperity, which has been possible only in a peaceful and stable environment.
"Aggressive military posturing is counterproductive and deprives the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait of opportunities to pursue an agenda of growth and prosperity," the vice president said. "Defending the status quo (with China) is our choice, not because it is easy, but because it is responsible and consistent with the interests of our entire region."
In 2023, China imposed sanctions on Hsiao for the second time, but they have little practical effect as senior Taiwanese officials do not travel to China and Chinese law has no jurisdiction over the entirely separately governed island.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian in Beijing said whatever Taiwan's governing Democratic Progressive Party said or did, both sides of the strait belonged to "one China".
On the Taiwan-United States tariff talks, Hsiao said: "With the United States, our negotiators are literally working around the clock to strive to reach an agreement on reciprocal tariffs to achieve trade balance while also promoting further bilateral cooperation in technology, investments and other areas."
Taiwan , a major semiconductor producer, is facing challenges following US President Donald Trump's April announcement that the island would be subject to a 32 per cent tariff, which was subsequently suspended to facilitate talks.
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The Hindu
5 minutes ago
- The Hindu
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Mint
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China EV brands Zeekr, Neta inflated car sales using insurance scheme
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That was more than half the sales of 117,000 vehicles it reported over the 15 months. Zeekr, a premium EV brand owned by Geely, used the same method to book early sales in late 2024 in the southern city of Xiamen through its main dealer there, state-owned Xiamen C&D Automobile, according to dealers, buyers and sales receipts seen by Reuters. Vehicles booked as sold before reaching a buyer are called "zero-mileage used cars" in the Chinese auto industry. The practice has emerged out of cutthroat competition for sales in the world's largest auto market, which is reeling from a brutal, years-long price war caused by chronic overcapacity. The industry faces a moment of reckoning, with state media calling out the zero-mileage car practice, China's cabinet pledging to regulate "irrational" competition, and other central government bodies organising meetings with the industry's largest players to express concern about such methods. 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In a separate Chinese-language statement published on its official Weibo account on Sunday, Zeekr said the policies put on these vehicles were "mandatory traffic accident insurance". " firmly opposes practices such as the sale of 'zero-mileage used cars' that disrupt the industry order," the company said, adding that the exhibition vehicles were "in a legal sense, always brand new and unregistered car products." Zeekr did not respond to Reuters queries about using these cars to book sales. Li Yanwei, an analyst with the China Automobile Dealers Association, said he believed the firms carried out such practices to embellish their financial reports and achieve their performance goals. "This way of whitewashing performance is not advisable," he wrote on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Saturday. Analysts and investors tracking China's auto industry gauge performance and estimate inventory levels with two sets of sales data. Wholesale numbers reported by automakers to the industry association show sales from automakers to dealers, while retail data compiled from insurance registration records show the sales to users. Last month the state-owned People's Daily, the mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party, published an editorial condemning the sale of zero-mileage used cars domestically and listing a litany of harms the practice brings upon the industry and buyers. This month four dealer associations based in the wealthy Yangtze River Delta urged automakers to set them more reasonable sales targets and incentive policies, saying, without providing details, that dealers were being forced to falsify sales. Neta booked sales early by arranging insurance policies for cars before sending them to dealers, according to records shared with Reuters and a dealer for the brand. The records contain details for each car and the insurance policies purchased on them, with the names of the insurance agents. Dealers were able to refer to these when they found a buyer to transfer the policy to, according to copies seen by Reuters. The company booked early sales of 64,719 cars this way. "In Neta's case, the company made it clear to dealers that the cars were insured ahead of time and therefore counted as sold," said the dealer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fears of retaliation from the company. "We had to explain to buyers that the traffic insurance was complementary and remind them it would expire earlier and should be renewed on time," he said. But three Neta buyers, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the dealerships had not told them the policies had begun well before the purchase date, only finding out when the policies expired. The dealer said Neta started doing this in late 2022 to obtain EV subsidies that were set to end that year. Neta's sales peaked in 2022 when it was ranked as the eighth-largest maker of new EVs in China with sales of 152,000 vehicles. Sales fell last year to 87,948 vehicles, including 23,399 exported, and it sold 1,215 cars in the first quarter of 2025, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The brand has been in financial trouble since late 2024, and its owner, Zhejiang Hozon New Energy Automobile, entered bankruptcy proceedings in China last month, according to state media. The Neta dealer said many of the zero-mileage used cars he received from the company remained in his warehouse, unsold. The company "only had one message: Just do it, everyone else is doing it". Zeekr, which is being privatised by Geely Auto, booked sales with the help of Xiamen C&D, which runs dealerships for Zeekr and other brands. Xiamen C&D insured and registered the vehicles under the names of two subsidiaries in December, allowing Zeekr to count the sales before year-end, according to four dealers and two buyers, as well as a receipt shared with Reuters. Zeekr dealers sold some of the cars in subsequent months to buyers in other cities such as Beijing and Chongqing, the sources said. "The Zeekr salesman said the car would be 3,000 yuan less than a car I would get from the store and I would also get a charging coupon worth 10,000 yuan," said a buyer in another southern city. He declined to be named, citing concerns of retaliation from the automaker. The China Securities Journal reported that most of the owners it spoke to said their cars were insured by Xiamen C&D and its affiliates. China Automobile Dealers Association data showed that 2,508 of the 2,737 sales Zeekr booked in Xiamen in December were sold to companies, while 257 went to individual buyers. But data published by Xiamen's vehicle administration bureau showed just 271 cars registered in December for license plates, which genuine buyers generally obtain once they receive their cars. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
