Month: April 2026

It is the first time the leaders of the KMT and the Communist Party have met in nine years and comes at a time of heightened cross-strait military tensions. Here are the main takeaways from the press conference. A ‘choice of war or peace’ In a clear reference to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s criticism of her trip to the mainland, Cheng said she hoped that “no political party in Taiwan uses cross-strait peace as a tool” to get votes. Advertisement This mattered, she said, “because this is the choice…

China plans to launch its first rocket from open waters in the South China Sea, in a display of a more flexible, long-range maritime launch capability. The 31-metre (102-foot) tall, solid-fuelled Jielong-3 is expected to lift off at 7.30pm on Saturday from the Dong Fang Hang Tian Gang, a converted barge operating in international waters, according to a leaked schedule circulating on Chinese social media. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all the islands and rock features in the South China Sea and in their adjacent waters. Rival claimants include the…

Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), will speak to the press in Beijing at 2pm on Friday, hours after her historic meeting with Communist Party chief Xi Jinping. It was the first meeting between leaders of the two parties in nine years after then-KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu visited the mainland in November 2016. During the meeting on Friday morning, both Xi and Cheng highlighted a message of peace across the strait. “Compatriots on both sides are… South China Morning Post

Growing wheat in sand may be regarded as impossible in most countries. But China’s “desert wheat farms” have survived repeated sandstorms and continue to grow following an initial trial in the country’s largest desert, as part of an ongoing effort to combat desertification and unlock the land’s potential for strengthening national food security. Two years ago, on the fringes of the Taklamakan Desert in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, China launched an unprecedented project to plant wheat… South China Morning Post

Communist Party chief Xi Jinping met Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), in Beijing on Friday. Their meeting marked the first time a sitting KMT chairperson had met with the Communist Party leadership since November 2016, when then-KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu visited the mainland. Cheng has described her six-day trip, which began on Tuesday in Shanghai, as a “journey of peace”. During her visits to Shanghai and Nanjing, she repeatedly emphasised… South China Morning Post