Latest news with #YimouLee
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
We will never forget Tiananmen crackdown, Taiwan and US say on 36th anniversary
By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard TAIPEI (Reuters) -The world will never forget China's 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Taiwan's president and the top U.S. diplomat said on the 36th anniversary of an event Beijing treats as taboo and allows no public remembrance. The events on and around the central Beijing square on June 4, 1989, when Chinese troops opened fire to end the student-led pro-democracy protests, are not publicly discussed in China and the anniversary is not officially marked. Public commemorations take place in overseas cities including Taipei where senior Taiwan government leaders often use the anniversary to criticise China and urge it to face up to what it did. Lai, in a post on Facebook on Wednesday, praised the courage of those who took part in the protests, saying human rights are a concept shared by Taiwan and other democracies that transcend generations and borders. "The commemoration of the June 4 Tiananmen incident is not only to mourn history, but also to perpetuate this memory," said Lai, who Beijing detests as a "separatist" and has rejected his repeated offers of talks. "Authoritarian governments often choose to silence and forget history, while democratic societies choose to preserve the truth and refuse to forget those who gave their lives - and their dreams - to the idea of human rights," he added. "Not only do we refuse to forget history, we will implement our core values every day." U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday praised the courage of the Chinese people who were killed in the bloody crackdown. "Today we commemorate the bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, as well as those who continue to suffer persecution as they seek accountability and justice for the events of June 4, 1989," Rubio said in a statement. "The CCP actively tries to censor the facts, but the world will never forget," he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. SECURITY TIGHT IN HONG KONG Before dawn on June 4, 1989, Chinese tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square, crushing weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations by students and workers. China has never provided a full death toll, but rights groups and witnesses say the figure could run into thousands. China blamed the protests on counter-revolutionaries seeking to overthrow the ruling Communist Party. The Tiananmen Mothers, which represents relatives of those killed, put out this week their annual statement calling for a public accounting of what happened. "The executioners of that year have passed away one after another, but as the continuation of the ruling party, the current government has a responsibility to respond to and address the Tiananmen Massacre," Zhang Xianling, whose son Wang Nan was killed, said in a video message. In Hong Kong, where thousands used to gather to mark the anniversary before China's imposition of a national security law in 2020, security was tight around Victoria Park, the site of the previous mass candlelight vigils. Hong Kong's leader John Lee said on Tuesday police would take stringent enforcement actions against any acts endangering national security. A performance artist was forced to leave the vicinity of the park and a shop selling small white candles was raided by customs officials on Tuesday. One jailed pro-democracy activist, Chow Hang-tung, is staging a 36 hour hunger strike in prison to mark the anniversary.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Exclusive-China flexes military muscle with East Asian naval activity, sources say
By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard (Reuters) -China has flexed its muscles this month by sending an unusually large number of naval and coast guard vessels through a swathe of East Asian waters, according to security documents and officials, in moves that have unnerved regional capitals. Since early May, China deployed fleets larger than usual, including navy, coast guard and other ships near Taiwan, the southern Japanese islands and the East and South China Seas, according to three regional security officials and documents of regional military activities reviewed by Reuters. On May 21 and May 27, for instance, China deployed nearly 60 and more than 70 ships, respectively, around three-quarters of them naval, the documents show. These included guided-missile frigates, destroyers and coast guard boats. Beijing also dispatched two aircraft carrier groups, with the Shandong now in the busy waterway of the South China Sea and the Liaoning off the southeastern coast of Taiwan, the documents show. "They are exerting pressure on the whole of the first island chain amid global geopolitical uncertainties," said one security official. The reference is to waters stretching from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing the seas around China's coast. "They are trying to reinforce their dominance," the source said, adding that drills this month by the Liaoning, the oldest of China's three aircraft carriers, simulated attacks on foreign ships and aircraft around the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. There was an "obvious" stepped-up Chinese naval presence this month, added a second source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as did the first, citing the sensitivity of the intelligence assessment. "China clearly wants to show these are its home waters and it can operate when and where it wants," the source said. China's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment. LIVE FIRE DRILLS Over the past two weeks China declared several live-fire drill areas off its coast, including last week one directly facing southwestern Taiwan. Last Wednesday, Chinese state television showed images of amphibious drills in the southern province of Fujian, across the strait from Taiwan, but did not give an exact location. This week, Japan has been tracking the Liaoning and its accompanying warships through the southern Japanese islands and into the Western Pacific. China seems to be trying to improve its capacity to operate far from the Chinese coast, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said. "The Japanese government intends to keep a close eye on relevant movement and do its utmost in carrying out monitoring and surveillance activities," he told reporters on Wednesday. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the ships' activities were in line with international law and practice and Japan should "look at them objectively and rationally". China has kept up its stand-off with the Philippines in the South China Sea, where its foreign ministry on Friday urged the Philippines to immediately stop "infringement and provocation". The Philippine Navy's spokesperson on South China Sea issues, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, told Reuters that China's "illegal presence" in the maritime zones of Southeast Asian states "has been disturbing the peace in the region and is contrary to pronouncements of its 'peaceful rise'." The spike in Chinese military activity has also come as Taiwan President Lai Ching-te marked the anniversary this month of a year in office. China has staged three major rounds of war games since the inauguration of Lai, whom it calls a "separatist". On Wednesday, Taiwan's defence ministry said the Liaoning was off the island's southeast coast, adding that Taiwan would raise its combat preparedness in line with the threat level.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Exclusive-China flexes military muscle with East Asian naval activity, sources say
By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard (Reuters) -China has flexed its muscles this month by sending an unusually large number of naval and coast guard vessels through a swathe of East Asian waters, according to security documents and officials, in moves that have unnerved regional capitals. Since early May, China deployed fleets larger than usual, including navy, coast guard and other ships near Taiwan, the southern Japanese islands and the East and South China Seas, according to three regional security officials and documents of regional military activities reviewed by Reuters. On May 21 and May 27, for instance, China deployed nearly 60 and more than 70 ships, respectively, around three-quarters of them naval, the documents show. These included guided-missile frigates, destroyers and coast guard boats. Beijing also dispatched two aircraft carrier groups, with the Shandong now in the busy waterway of the South China Sea and the Liaoning off the southeastern coast of Taiwan, the documents show. "They are exerting pressure on the whole of the first island chain amid global geopolitical uncertainties," said one security official. The reference is to waters stretching from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing the seas around China's coast. "They are trying to reinforce their dominance," the source said, adding that drills this month by the Liaoning, the oldest of China's three aircraft carriers, simulated attacks on foreign ships and aircraft around the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. There was an "obvious" stepped-up Chinese naval presence this month, added a second source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as did the first, citing the sensitivity of the intelligence assessment. "China clearly wants to show these are its home waters and it can operate when and where it wants," the source said. China's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment. LIVE FIRE DRILLS Over the past two weeks China declared several live-fire drill areas off its coast, including last week one directly facing southwestern Taiwan. Last Wednesday, Chinese state television showed images of amphibious drills in the southern province of Fujian, across the strait from Taiwan, but did not give an exact location. This week, Japan has been tracking the Liaoning and its accompanying warships through the southern Japanese islands and into the Western Pacific. China seems to be trying to improve its capacity to operate far from the Chinese coast, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said. "The Japanese government intends to keep a close eye on relevant movement and do its utmost in carrying out monitoring and surveillance activities," he told reporters on Wednesday. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the ships' activities were in line with international law and practice and Japan should "look at them objectively and rationally". China has kept up its stand-off with the Philippines in the South China Sea, where its foreign ministry on Friday urged the Philippines to immediately stop "infringement and provocation". The Philippine Navy's spokesperson on South China Sea issues, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, told Reuters that China's "illegal presence" in the maritime zones of Southeast Asian states "has been disturbing the peace in the region and is contrary to pronouncements of its 'peaceful rise'." The spike in Chinese military activity has also come as Taiwan President Lai Ching-te marked the anniversary this month of a year in office. China has staged three major rounds of war games since the inauguration of Lai, whom it calls a "separatist". On Wednesday, Taiwan's defence ministry said the Liaoning was off the island's southeast coast, adding that Taiwan would raise its combat preparedness in line with the threat level.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China ramps up business charm offensive towards Taiwan alongside political pressure, study shows
By Yimou Lee TAIPEI (Reuters) -Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese joined industry events in China such as conferences and trade fairs supported by the Chinese government in 2024, a study showed on Tuesday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward the island alongside military pressure. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own despite Taipei's objections, has long taken a carrot and stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing's point of view. Taiwan security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing's influence campaigns to sway Taiwan public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of such programmes have not previously been systematically reported. About 39,374 Taiwanese last year joined more than 400 business events supported or organised by government units across China, according to the study by Taiwan Information Environment Research Center (IORG), a Taiwan-based non-government organisation. IORG's research analysed more than 7,300 articles posted by a news portal run by China's top Taiwan policy maker, the Taiwan Affairs Office. These articles offered event details, including the scale, location and agenda and were examined by AI-assisted tools and verified by IORG researchers. The number of Taiwanese attending state-supported business events in China represented a 3% increase from 2023, IORG said, adding the agriculture, tourism and biotechnology and medical industries were among the top sectors. "These are common industries in which the Chinese Communist Party exerts political pressure on Taiwan through economic means," the IORG report said. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The ruling Communist Party's fourth-ranked leader, Wang Huning, told an internal meeting on Taiwan in February that Beijing was working to expand people-to-people exchanges in a bid to "deepen cross-strait integration and development," state news agency Xinhua reported at the time. The 2024 events surveyed by IORG included a June job fair in southeast China's Fujian province targeting more than 1,500 Taiwanese university graduates. "Reward and punishment always go hand-in-hand in the Chinese influence campaigns on Taiwan," IORG co-director Yu Chihhao told Reuters. "Military drills and intimidation are punishment; cross-strait business cooperations are reward." China staged two days of war games near Taiwan this month. (Reporting By Yimou Lee. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China ramps up business charm offensive towards Taiwan alongside political pressure, study shows
By Yimou Lee TAIPEI (Reuters) -Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese joined industry events in China such as conferences and trade fairs supported by the Chinese government in 2024, a study showed on Tuesday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward the island alongside military pressure. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own despite Taipei's objections, has long taken a carrot and stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing's point of view. Taiwan security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing's influence campaigns to sway Taiwan public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of such programmes have not previously been systematically reported. About 39,374 Taiwanese last year joined more than 400 business events supported or organised by government units across China, according to the study by Taiwan Information Environment Research Center (IORG), a Taiwan-based non-government organisation. IORG's research analysed more than 7,300 articles posted by a news portal run by China's top Taiwan policy maker, the Taiwan Affairs Office. These articles offered event details, including the scale, location and agenda and were examined by AI-assisted tools and verified by IORG researchers. The number of Taiwanese attending state-supported business events in China represented a 3% increase from 2023, IORG said, adding the agriculture, tourism and biotechnology and medical industries were among the top sectors. "These are common industries in which the Chinese Communist Party exerts political pressure on Taiwan through economic means," the IORG report said. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The ruling Communist Party's fourth-ranked leader, Wang Huning, told an internal meeting on Taiwan in February that Beijing was working to expand people-to-people exchanges in a bid to "deepen cross-strait integration and development," state news agency Xinhua reported at the time. The 2024 events surveyed by IORG included a June job fair in southeast China's Fujian province targeting more than 1,500 Taiwanese university graduates. "Reward and punishment always go hand-in-hand in the Chinese influence campaigns on Taiwan," IORG co-director Yu Chihhao told Reuters. "Military drills and intimidation are punishment; cross-strait business cooperations are reward." China staged two days of war games near Taiwan this month. (Reporting By Yimou Lee. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
