Latest news with #RepublicOfChina
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
China says Taiwan president spreading 'heresy' with sovereignty speech
BEIJING (Reuters) -China on Monday 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." 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. 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. Taiwan has over the past five years faced stepped-up military and political pressure from China, including war games.
Wall Street Journal
6 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Taiwan Central Bank Stays on Hold Amid Resilient Growth
Taiwan's central bank again left interest rates unchanged as the export-reliant economy remained resilient in the face of tariff headwinds. The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) kept its benchmark discount rate at 2.000% on Thursday, marking a fifth consecutive hold. The decision was expected by all eight economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Reuters
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Taiwan's storied Palace Museum must expand its global horizons, president says
TAIPEI, June 13 (Reuters) - Taiwan's National Palace Museum, home to one of the world's biggest collections of imperial Chinese treasures, must expand its horizons internationally to let the "world see Taiwan", President Lai Ching-te said on Friday as it marked its centenary. The museum was re-established in Taiwan in 1965 after the Republic of China government lost a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists and fled to the island in 1949, taking with them thousands of cases of antiques once owned by China's emperors, saving them from destruction during and after the revolution. While it is a top tourist attraction, the presence of so many Chinese artefacts has over the years caused discomfort to those Taiwanese who champion the island's separate and distinct identity from China. Speaking to inaugurate an exhibit of French impressionist and early modernist paintings from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lai said the National Palace Museum was a "state asset". "The National Palace Museum not only needs to deepen its roots locally, it also needs to deepen them internationally. We need to go into the world, to let the world see Taiwan, but also to bring the world to Taiwan," he said at the museum, located in Taipei's foothills. "The National Palace Museum is not only the National Palace Museum of Taiwan, but also the National Palace Museum of the world, and I believe these values should be strongly supported by the international community." A competing institution remains in Beijing, the similarly named Palace Museum, though the National Palace Museum is not planning any joint anniversary events with China. Quincy Houghton, the Met's Deputy Director for Exhibitions and International Initiatives, speaking at the event with Lai, praised the close relations between the museums, including in 1996 when the National Palace Museum sent some of its collection to the Met. "We are honoured to collaborate with the National Palace Museum on its very special centennial year," she said. Works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne are on show at the National Palace Museum until mid-October.
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
China can't decide whether we are a country, Taiwan foreign minister says
TAIPEI, May 21 (Reuters) - China has no right to decide whether or not Taiwan is a country given it chooses its own government, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on Wednesday, adding that he would be happy to shake the hand of his Chinese opposite number in friendship. China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory and has stepped up military and political pressure to assert those claims, including increasing the intensity of war games, saying the island is one of its provinces with no right to be called a state. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te and his government strongly reject that view, and have offered talks with China multiple times but have been rejected. China calls Lai a "separatist". Asked by Reuters what he would say to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi should they ever meet, Lin said that given the opportunity he would definitely shake hands with him. "What the nature is of cross-Taiwan Strait relations can be discussed, but we are all human. First, extend the hand of friendship. If he shook my hand, that would be a good start," he said at a press briefing to mark the first anniversary of Lai taking office. "If he takes his hand back, that's his problem." Taiwan's formal name is the Republic of China, the name of the government which in 1949 fled to the island after losing a bloody civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, who established the People's Republic of China. "Whether or not Taiwan is a country is not up to Wang Yi, nor the People's Republic of China, to say. The whole world sees us as a country. We choose our governments democratically. It is our business what our name is." China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The chances Lin and Wang could meet are low. Neither government recognises the other, officials do not visit each other, and Taiwan is not a member of most international bodies due to China's objections. Lai on Tuesday reiterated an offer to talk to China, saying he sought peace but that the island must also boost its defences. China responded by saying his comments were a "two-faced tactic" that were a "waste of effort and doomed to fail". Taiwan's government has warned that Beijing could mark the anniversary with more military drills.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Taiwan denounces Russia, China for distorting World War Two history
By Ben Blanchard TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan criticised Russia and China on Friday for distorting World War Two history, saying Chinese communist forces made "no substantial contribution" to fighting Japan and instead took the opportunity to expand their own forces. Taiwan has this year sought to cast the war as a lesson to China in why aggression will end in failure, reminding the world it was not the government in Beijing that won the war. The Chinese government at the time was the Republic of China, part of the U.S., British and Russian-led alliance, and its forces did much of the fighting against Japan, putting on pause a bitter civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists whose military also fought the Japanese. The republican government then fled to Taiwan in 1949 after finally being defeated by Mao, and Republic of China remains the democratic island's official name. Responding to comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Chinese President Xi Jinping that the war was won under the leadership of China's communist party, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said it was the Republic of China government and people who fought and ultimately won. "The Chinese communists only took the opportunity to expand and consolidate communist forces, and made no substantial contribution to the war of resistance, let alone 'leading' the war of resistance," it said. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Xi is in Moscow to attend Friday's military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe. In a joint statement with China, Russia reaffirmed that Taiwan was an "inseparable part of the People's Republic of China" - a position the government in Taipei strongly disputes. The government in Beijing says that as it is the successor state to the Republic of China it has a legal right to claim Taiwan under the text of the 1943 Cairo Declaration and 1945 Potsdam Declaration, the island at the time being a Japanese colony. Taiwan's foreign ministry said those documents confirmed that it was the Republic of China which had sovereignty over Taiwan. "At the time, the People's Republic of China did not exist at all," it said. "Any false statements intended to distort Taiwan's sovereign status cannot change history, nor can they shake the objective facts recognised by the international community." China labels Taiwan President Lai Ching-te a "separatist". He rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.
