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Free Malaysia Today
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Denmark's Rasmussen heading to China for meetings
Lars Lokke Rasmussen's upcoming visit marks 75 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. (EPA Images pic) COPENHAGEN : Denmark's foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen will travel to China on Saturday for high-level meetings, just days after a visit by former Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen to Copenhagen drew strong condemnation from Beijing. Rasmussen is due to meet China's foreign minister Wang Yi and trade minister Wang Wentao on a three-day visit marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, a Danish foreign ministry statement said on Thursday. The visit comes after Tsai Ing-wen this week met Danish lawmakers and gave a speech at a democracy summit in Copenhagen that accused China of intensifying cyber-attacks and military exercises against Taiwan. She also criticised what she referred to as China's 'expansionist ambitions.' She was attending the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, organised by former Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Alliance of Democracies, seen by senior Taiwan leaders as an important venue to get Taiwan's message out to the world. The Chinese embassy in Copenhagen criticised Denmark for hosting Tsai and said it disregarded 'international consensus on the one-China principle'. 'The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affairs that allow no interference by any foreign government, organisation or individual,' it said in an emailed comment. Tsai, who is also visiting Britain this week, has become a symbol of Taiwan's defiance against China's military threats. Denmark, like most countries, has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan but maintains informal relations with the democratically-governed island. 'Our one-China policy remains firm, while it is clear that we do not see everything the same way, and, on some points, China poses a challenge,' said Rasmussen, who has promoted a pragmatic approach to China as foreign minister and earlier, as prime minister. Diplomatic relations with China reached a low point after a visit by Dalai Lama to Copenhagen in 2009. Ties improved when Denmark later accepted a Chinese offer to send two pandas to Denmark as part of China's so-called 'panda diplomacy.'
Free Malaysia Today
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Former Taiwanese president to make sensitive visit to Britain this week
Beijing has repeatedly denounced former president Tsai Ing-wen as a 'separatist' (AFP pic) TAIPEI : Former Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen will visit Britain this week at the invitation of British lawmakers, a trip that comes as London is trying to improve ties with Beijing and China ramps up efforts to diplomatically isolate the island. Britain, like most countries, has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but the economic and political exchanges between the two sides have increased as Beijing ratchets up military threats to force Taipei to accept its sovereignty claim over the democratic island. Tsai, who stepped down in May last year, has become a symbol of Taiwan's defiance against China's military threats. She is currently in Lithuania and will travel to Denmark and then Britain later this week, her office said. Tsai was invited by 'friends in Britain's parliament' in a trip that is designed to deepen friendship between Taiwan and Britain, the office said in a statement, adding Tsai, who has a doctorate from the London School of Economics, will meet with unspecified British politicians. Britain's foreign office did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside of office hours in London. China's foreign ministry also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tsai had been due to visit London in October of last year, but that coincided with a trip to Beijing by British foreign secretary David Lammy at a time London was trying to reset strained ties with China and Tsai did not end up going. Tsai last year visited the Czech Republic, France, Belgium and Canada, drawing condemnation from Beijing which has repeatedly denounced Tsai as a 'separatist'. Despite a lack of formal ties, Taiwan sees Britain as an important democratic partner. In 2023, Taiwan and Britain signed an Enhanced Trade Partnership Arrangement and Britain is also one of the countries which has helped Taiwan with its indigenous submarine programme, a vital part of Tsai's push to boost Taiwan's defence against China's threat. China says Taiwan is one of its provinces with no right to the trappings of a state, a position Taipei's government strongly rejects.
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Taiwan ex-president Tsai Ing-wen to visit UK as China ratchets up threats against Taipei
Former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will visit Britain this week at the invitation of British politicians, a trip that comes as London is trying to improve ties with Beijing and China ramps up efforts to diplomatically isolate the island. Britain, like most countries, has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but the economic and political exchanges between the two sides have increased as Beijing ratchets up military threats to force Taipei to accept its sovereignty claim over the democratic island. Tsai, who stepped down in May last year, has become a symbol of Taiwan's defiance against China's military threats. She is now in Lithuania and will travel to Denmark and then Britain later this week, her office said. Tsai was invited by 'friends in Britain's parliament' in a trip that is designed to deepen friendship between Taiwan and Britain, the office said in a statement, adding Tsai, who has a doctorate from the London School of Economics, will meet unspecified British politicians. Britain's Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside office hours in London. China's foreign ministry also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tsai had been due to visit London in October last year, but that coincided with a trip to Beijing by British foreign secretary David Lammy at a time when London was trying to reset strained ties with China. Tsai did not end up going. Tsai last year visited the Czech Republic, France, Belgium and Canada, drawing condemnation from Beijing which has repeatedly denounced Tsai as a 'separatist'. Despite a lack of formal ties, Taiwan sees Britain as an important democratic partner. In 2023, Taiwan and Britain signed an Enhanced Trade Partnership Arrangement and Britain is also one of the countries that has helped Taiwan with its indigenous submarine programme, a vital part of Tsai's push to boost Taiwan's defence against China's threat. China says Taiwan is one of its provinces with no right to the trappings of a state, a position Taipei's government strongly rejects.
The Independent
08-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Taiwan marks 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day by highlighting threats from China
Taiwan marked the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day on Thursday by making broad comparisons to threats from China, whose leader Xi Jinping was in Russia for commemorations as Moscow continues its invasion of Ukraine. 'Peace is priceless, and war has no winners. History has taught us that no matter the driving reason or ideology, military aggression against another country is an unjust crime that is bound to fail," Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te told diplomats in Taipei. 'Authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy, and greater inequality,' he added. Turning more directly to China's threats, Lai said that both Taiwan and Europe were 'now facing the threat of a new authoritarian bloc.' 'We are seeing our decades-old undersea cables, crucial for communications and cybersecurity, being sabotaged. We are seeing external interference in our elections, crucial for healthy democratic development, through the spread of misinformation and disinformation, sowing intentional division in society. We are seeing our fair, free and open international rules-based markets being tested by all manner of gray-zone activities, dumping, pressures and intrusions,' Lai said. Lai's remarks came during Taiwan's first-ever official commemoration of VE Day and at a time when Taiwan is making a diplomatic push for closer ties with fellow democracies that nevertheless have no formal ties with the island in deference to Beijing. Former President Tsai Ing-wen is visiting Lithuania and Denmark from Friday, while Foreign Affairs Minister Lin Chia-lung is visiting Texas. China fought alongside the Allies in Asia during World War II and received some military assistance from the then-USSR. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory to be annexed by force if necessary and says it has no right to international recognition. Just 12 countries, mostly small island nations in the South Pacific and Caribbean, have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Lai said that those who cherish peace 'cannot sit idly by and allow aggression. The outbreak of the war in Europe certainly had much to do with an authoritarian regime seeking to satisfy its expansionary ambitions, but its wider spread throughout Europe had much more to do with a lack of vigilance toward acts of aggression.' China's Xi, who has said Taiwan's absorption by his authoritarian Communist regime is inevitable, was meanwhile being lauded by Russian President Vladimir Putin as 'our main guest' at the Victory Day festivities. The Russian leader noted that he and Xi would discuss bilateral and global issues at their summit in Moscow. Xi is visiting for four days at a time when fighting with Ukraine, which Russia invaded more than three years ago, has closed airports in the Moscow region. The two leaders will also discuss Russia's supply of oil and gas to China, as well as cooperation within BRICS — the bloc of developing economies that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa but has since expanded to more countries. Putin and Xi have met over 40 times as their governments align their foreign policies to challenge the Western-led liberal democratic world order. China has offered strong diplomatic support to Moscow since the 2022 invasion and has emerged as a top market for Russian oil and gas, helping fill the Kremlin's war chest. Russia also has relied on China as the main source of machinery and electronics to keep its drones and other parts of its military machine running after Western sanctions curtailed high-tech supplies. Beijing hasn't provided weapons to use in Ukraine, but has backed the Kremlin diplomatically, blaming Western threats against Russia's security for sparking the war. China also has strongly condemned Western sanctions against Moscow, while Russia has consistently voiced support for Beijing on issues related to Taiwan. Taiwan's government is the inheritor to the Nationalist regime of Chiang Kai-shek, which battled Japanese invaders throughout the 1930s and up to the war's end in 1945. It was ultimately driven from China by Mao Zedong's Communist forces in 1949 and has since transitioned to a full democracy with strong but unofficial ties to the U.S., the EU, Japan and other industrialized democracies. Chiang's regime also provided visa-free entry for thousands of European Jews, who settled in Shanghai during the war years, saving them from the Holocaust.
