Liz Truss’s plan to visit Taiwan called ‘worst kind of Instagram diplomacy’

The Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee has launched a blistering attack on Liz Truss over the former prime minister’s planned trip to Taiwan, calling it “the worst kind of Instagram diplomacy”. Alicia Kearns said she thought Truss’s trip planned for next week was little more than a vanity project aimed at keeping her profile high after her brief spell as prime minister last year. Truss is planning to travel to show “solidarity” with the Taiwanese people amid aggression from Beijing. Taiwan is a self-governing democracy, but Beijing…

China preparing fresh pretext to practise future attacks, says Taiwan foreign minister

Taiwan’s government believes China is preparing to find another “pretext for practising their future attack” on the island, its foreign minister has said, after a record-breaking year of military threats and incursions. Joseph Wu also suggested cross-strait communications may diminish even further now that Xi Jinping has secured his third term, with last month’s extraordinary political purges of rival Communist party members severing the few unofficial ties remaining. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian in Taipei, Wu said the Chinese military threat was “getting more serious than ever”, with…

The most powerful man in China since Mao: Xi Jinping is on the brink of total power

This week in Beijing, Xi Jinping will preside over one of his country’s great shows of political theatre and seal a long-planned political triumph, consolidating his power and extending his rule. The Chinese Communist party is poised to formally hand Xi another five years as party boss, and therefore leader of the country, at a summit that will also move his allies into key roles and elevate the status of his writings on power and government. The 20th Party Congress will – barring unprecedented last-minute drama – confirm him as…

Taiwan crisis: China defends calling off US military talks as exercises set to resume

China’s defence ministry defended its shelving of military talks with the United States in protest against Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei last week, as its military said it would continue drills around Taiwan on Monday. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) posted online that it would practise anti-submarine attacks and sea raids on Monday, following four days of unprecedented drills around the self-ruled island. Defence ministry spokesperson Wu Qian defended the decision to suspend military channels, saying in an online post on Monday: “The current tense situation in the Taiwan Strait…

Taiwan says China making simulated attack on main island

China’s military has pressed ahead with its largest ever military drills, targeting Taiwan with what the island’s government called a simulated attack, including further incursions over the median line and drone flights over Taiwan’s outlying islands. Western pushback on China’s live-fire drills, launched in response to a visit to Taiwan by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, earlier in the week, also continued, with condemnation from senior US officials and foreign ministers from Australia and Japan. Beijing vociferously objected to Pelosi’s visit, which it said violated its “one-China principle”, a…

Senior Taiwan defence official found dead in hotel room; China aircraft and ships ‘simulated attack drills’ – live

From 1h ago Senior Taiwan official died of heart attack, local media say The Taiwan official who was found dead in his hotel room on Saturday morning (see 5.52am) died of a heart attack, according to official media reports cited by Reuters. Authorities said there was no sign that anyone had broken into his room. Ou Yang Li-hsing was deputy head of the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, where he supervised various missile production projects. He was 57. <gu-island name="TweetBlockComponent" deferuntil="visible" props="{"element":{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement","html":" A senior official leading Taiwan's…

China halts US cooperation on range of issues after Pelosi’s Taiwan visit

Relations between the world’s two largest economies have plummeted into further uncertainty as China halted ties with the US on a range of critical issues – from talks on the climate crisis to dialogue between their militaries – following the visit to Taiwan earlier this week by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi. The declaration of the series of “countermeasures” came as Beijing for a second day staged massive military drills surrounding the island of Taiwan and also announced sanctions against Pelosi and her direct family members for what it…

Taiwan crisis: China begins second day of military exercises in face of US condemnation

The US has condemned China’s launch of ballistic missiles around Taiwan during major military exercises as an “overreaction”, as multiple Chinese ships and planes again crossed the median line on Friday. The aggressive military displays by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) began on Thursday in response to US house speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, and have raised tensions across east Asia. Hundreds of PLA air force and navy craft are involved in the exercises across six zones surrounding Taiwan and encroaching into its territorial seas. At least 11 Dongfeng…

US watching Chinese military drills ‘very closely’ as ballistic missiles fired into Taiwan strait – live

From 3h ago US watching China military drills ‘very closely’ The US has been watching the Chinese military exercises near Japan “very very closely,” said John Kirby, the US’s National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications. In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, Kirby said: “We’ve been watching this very, very closely. It’s concerning. It’s not just concerning to us, but it’s concerning, of course, to the people of Taiwan. It’s concerning to to our allies in the region, especially Japan.” In recent days, China has been conducting its largest-ever…

‘Outright farce’: Chinese foreign minister on Pelosi’s Taiwan visit – video

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has described US house speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan as a ‘complete farce’ at meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Cambodia. ‘The irreversible historical trend of Taiwan’s return to the motherland cannot be changed. Those who offend China will surely be punished.’ The United States was violating China’s sovereignty under the guise of democracy, he said The Guardian