Latest news with #China-policy
The Sun
7 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Czech intel: China plotted to intimidate Taiwan VP-elect
PRAGUE: Chinese diplomats and secret service followed Taiwan's Vice-President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim and planned to intimidate her physically when she visited Prague last year, Czech military intelligence said on Friday. Hsiao visited the Czech Republic in March 2024. Prague does not have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan but has fostered warm relations with the democratically-governed island, which China views as its own territory. Czech media reported last year that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light when following her car. Czech public radio news website said on Thursday that the Chinese had also planned to stage a demonstrative car crash. Czech Military Intelligence spokesman said Chinese diplomats in Prague had taken actions that violated diplomatic rules. 'This consisted of physically following the vice-president, gathering information on her schedule and attempts to document her meetings with important representatives of the Czech political and public scene,' spokesman Jan Pejsek said in emailed comments to Reuters. 'We even recorded an attempt by the Chinese civil secret service to create conditions to perform a demonstrative kinetic action against a protected person, which however did not go beyond the phase of preparation.' A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, commenting on the matter, denied any wrongdoing by Chinese diplomats and also said the Czech Republic had interfered in China's internal affairs by allowing Hsiao's visit to go ahead. The Czech Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Chinese ambassador over the incident at the time but did not comment further on Friday. TAIWAN PROTESTS Taiwan's China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council said the Chinese actions 'seriously threatened the personal safety of Vice President Hsiao and her entourage'. 'The Mainland Affairs Council today protested and strongly condemned the Chinese communist's bad behaviour and demanded that the Chinese side should immediately explain and publicly apologise,' it said. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said: 'Chinese diplomats have always abided by the laws and regulations of the countries in which they are stationed.' 'China urges the parties concerned not to be provoked and exploited by separatist forces for Taiwan independence, and to not make a fuss over nothing, engage in malicious speculation, and interfere with and undermine the relations between the two countries.' Hsiao assumed office, along with President Lai Ching-te, on May 20 last year. Czech relations with China have cooled in recent years. The Czechs accused China in May of being behind a cyberattack on the foreign ministry. Czech politicians have visited Taiwan and former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visited Prague last October.
Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Czechs say China followed, planned intimidation of Taiwan vice-president
PRAGUE - Chinese diplomats and secret service followed Taiwan's Vice-President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim and planned to intimidate her physically when she visited Prague last year, Czech military intelligence said on Friday. Hsiao visited the Czech Republic in March 2024. Prague does not have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan but has fostered warm relations with the democratically-governed island, which China views as its own territory. Czech media reported last year that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light when following her car. Czech public radio news website said on Thursday that the Chinese had also planned to stage a demonstrative car crash. Czech Military Intelligence spokesman said Chinese diplomats in Prague had taken actions that violated diplomatic rules. "This consisted of physically following the vice-president, gathering information on her schedule and attempts to document her meetings with important representatives of the Czech political and public scene," spokesman Jan Pejsek said in emailed comments to Reuters. "We even recorded an attempt by the Chinese civil secret service to create conditions to perform a demonstrative kinetic action against a protected person, which however did not go beyond the phase of preparation." A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, commenting on the matter, denied any wrongdoing by Chinese diplomats and also said the Czech Republic had interfered in China's internal affairs by allowing Hsiao's visit to go ahead. The Czech Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Chinese ambassador over the incident at the time but did not comment further on Friday. TAIWAN PROTESTS Taiwan's China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council said the Chinese actions "seriously threatened the personal safety of Vice President Hsiao and her entourage". "The Mainland Affairs Council today protested and strongly condemned the Chinese communist's bad behaviour and demanded that the Chinese side should immediately explain and publicly apologise," it said. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said: "Chinese diplomats have always abided by the laws and regulations of the countries in which they are stationed." "China urges the parties concerned not to be provoked and exploited by separatist forces for Taiwan independence, and to not make a fuss over nothing, engage in malicious speculation, and interfere with and undermine the relations between the two countries." Hsiao assumed office, along with President Lai Ching-te, on May 20 last year. Czech relations with China have cooled in recent years. The Czechs accused China in May of being behind a cyberattack on the foreign ministry. Czech politicians have visited Taiwan and former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visited Prague last October. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
AsiaOne
4 days ago
- Politics
- AsiaOne
China says Taiwan president spreading 'heresy' with sovereignty speech, Asia News
BEIJING — China on Monday (June 23) accused Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te of "heresy", hostility and provocation, after a speech in which he said the island is "of course" a country and there is historical evidence and legal proof to back this up. Beijing says democratically governed Taiwan is "sacred" Chinese territory that has belonged to China since ancient times, and that the island is one of its provinces with no right to be called a state. Lai and his government strongly reject that view, and have offered talks with China multiple times but have been rejected. China calls Lai a separatist. China's Taiwan Affairs Office, responding to Lai's Sunday evening speech, said he had intentionally distorted history to promote his Taiwan independence agenda and that the island has never been a country. "It was a 'Taiwan independence' declaration that blatantly incited cross-strait confrontation, and a hodgepodge of 'Taiwan independence' fallacies and heresies full of errors and omissions," it said in a statement. "The fallacies fabricated by Lai Ching-te in contravention of history, reality and jurisprudence will only be swept into the rubbish heap of history." Responding, Taiwan's China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council said Lai was simply stating historical facts and Beijing's belief the island has been Chinese since ancient times and is not a country is "just a fabricated lie without any basis". "We call on the Chinese communist authorities to face up to the fact that the Republic of China objectively exists and the status quo in the Taiwan Strait that 'the two sides are not subordinate to each other'," it added in a statement. In 1949, the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, and that remains the island's formal name. Lai has repeatedly said that only Taiwan's people can decide their future, and that, as the People's Republic of China has never ruled the island, it has no right to claim it or speak on its behalf. Taiwan has over the past five years faced stepped-up military and political pressure from China, including war games. [[nid:719376]]
Straits Times
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Taiwan is not ruling out ‘political warfare' by China, coast guard says
China calls Mr Lai Ching-te, who completes a year as Taiwan's president on May 20, a 'separatist'. PHOTO: AFP Taiwan is not ruling out 'political warfare' by China, coast guard says TAIPEI - Taiwan's coast guard said on May 19 that China could try to disrupt public morale on the island ahead of President Lai Ching-te's one-year anniversary this week, after images surfaced on social media of a person planting a Chinese flag on a Taiwan beach. China calls Mr Lai, who completes a year in office on May 20, a 'separatist', and has rebuffed his offers for talks. Mr Lai rejects China's sovereignty claims over the democratic and entirely separately governed island, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future. Last week, Taiwan's China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council said Beijing could hold more military drills to 'stir up trouble' around the anniversary. On May 18, images posted on Chinese social media showed a man who claimed to have sailed across the Taiwan Strait on a small boat landing on a remote beach and planting a Chinese flag, before returning to China. The video was later deleted. On May 16, Taiwan's coast guard said it had arrested two Chinese nationals after they sailed into Taiwan illegally on a rubber boat and landed on a beach on the island's northwest coast. Asked about the two incidents, Mr Hsieh Ching-chin, deputy head of Taiwan's coast guard, said China has been taking the opportunity for a while now to carry out drills and use other pressure tactics. 'It cannot be ruled out that on the anniversary of President Lai's inauguration, the Chinese communists will again use similar tactics and videos to engage in political warfare to disrupt the morale of our people,' he told reporters. Mr Hsieh said the video of the flag planting was indeed taken on the beach in Taiwan's Taoyuan, but whether by someone who crossed over from China, or was helped by someone in Taiwan to film it, was still being investigated. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Iraqi News
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Iraqi News
China holds live fire drills in East China Sea but Taiwan says none nearby
China's military held long-range, live-fire drills in the East China Sea on Wednesday in an escalation of exercises around Taiwan, saying it was practicing precision strikes on port and energy facilities, but Taiwan said none took place nearby. The exercises follow a rise in Chinese rhetoric against Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, who China called a "parasite" on Tuesday, and come on the heels of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Asia visit, during which he repeatedly criticized Beijing. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly denounced Lai as a "separatist." Lai, who won election and took office last year, rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future. China's Eastern Theater Command said that on Wednesday as part of the Strait Thunder-2025A exercise its ground forces had conducted long-range, live-fire drills into the waters of the East China Sea, though it did not give an exact location. "The drills involve precision strikes on simulated targets of key ports and energy facilities, and have achieved desired effects," it said, without elaborating. Taiwan's benchmark stock index briefly slipped into the red after the announcement, but closed up 0.1%. China's Maritime Safety Administration announced late Tuesday a closed zone for shipping due to military drills until Thursday night in an area off the north part of the eastern province of Zhejiang, more than 500 km (310 miles) from Taiwan. A senior Taiwan defense official told Reuters that was outside its "response zone", and Taiwan's defense ministry said it had not detected any live fire drills around the island itself. China's military published a video it said was of the live fire drills that showed rockets, rather than ballistic missiles, being launched and hitting targets on land, and an animation of explosions over Taiwanese cities including Tainan, Hualien and Taichung, all home to military bases and ports. The words "Control energy corridors, disrupt supply routes, block clandestine routes to docks" then appear on the screen. The aircraft carrier Shandong also took part in drills, to the east of Taiwan, focused on integrated operations between naval and air forces and "multi-dimensional blockade and control", China's military said. Taiwan has denounced China for holding the drills. Taiwan's defense ministry said it had detected so far on Wednesday 36 Chinese military aircraft, against 76 for the previous day, adding Taiwan had activated its own "rapid response exercise" for a second day saying it was needed to boost the alert level in case of a sudden Chinese move. China's recent pressure against Taiwan also included a call last week for people to email reports about separatist activity. Chiu Chui-cheng, head of Taiwan's China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council minister, said that given the rising risk of visiting China, people should carefully consider whether they need to go, including to Hong Kong and Macau. WAR GAMES China had not formally named Tuesday's drills. China called two rounds of major war games last year around the island Joint Sword-2024A and Joint Sword-2024B. Chinese state television said Tuesday's activities were not part of Strait Thunder-2025A, hence they did not have that name, and cited a military expert as saying this demonstrated the armed forces' ability to adapt to rapidly evolving combat situations. "No matter what the name is, it cannot cover up the naked provocative nature of the drills and their mentality of threatening Taiwan's people," Taiwan defense ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang told reporters in Taipei. China's widely read Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, said advanced equipment had been used, pointing to pictures from the military showing YJ-21 air-launched ballistic missiles slung under H-6K bombers. The H-6K is an extended-range strike aircraft, while the YJ-21 is an advanced anti-ship weapon. H-6 aircraft, some of which are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, have been involved in past drills around Taiwan, and also spotted over the disputed South China Sea. Previous Chinese war games have also practiced precision strikes and blockading the island. Taiwan has not reported any travel disruptions because of the drills. The United States, Taiwan's most important international backer and main arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, condemned the exercises. "Once again, China's aggressive military activities and rhetoric toward Taiwan only serve to exacerbate tensions and put the region's security and the world's prosperity at risk," the U.S. State Department said in a statement. Japan and the European Union also expressed concern. "The EU has a direct interest in the preservation of the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. We oppose any unilateral actions that change the status quo by force or coercion," an EU spokesperson said. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China was "firmly opposed" to such comments, saying Taiwan was a purely internal affair that brooked no outside interference. Taiwan has lived under the threat of Chinese invasion since 1949 when the defeated Republic of China government fled to the island after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, though the two sides have not exchanged fire in anger for decades. source: The Asahi Shimbun
