In their first call since November, Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned US president Donald Trump to be “prudent” about supplying arms to Taiwan, according to a readout of their call provided by China’s foreign ministry. “President Xi emphasised that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” the readout said. “China must safeguard its own sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will never allow Taiwan to be separated. The US must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence.” Hours later, the self-ruled island’s president, Lai…
Tag: Taiwan
Keir Starmer walks tightrope over myriad issues in quest to bolster China ties
Vow to bring ‘stability and clarity’ to the UK’s approach to Beijing on first visit by a British prime minister in eight years will be sorely tested Keir Starmer has travelled to China with a vow to bring “stability and clarity” to the UK’s approach to Beijing after years of what he described as “inconsistency” under the Tories, but a series of issues may get in the way of his efforts to improve relations with the economic powerhouse. Continue reading… The Guardian
China’s top ranking general under investigation for alleged violations amid ongoing purge of leadership
China’s most senior general is under investigation, China’s defence ministry has confirmed, in the highest profile case to date in an aggressive anti-graft purge of senior military leadership in recent months. Zhang Youxia serves as second-in-command under president Xi Jinping as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission – the supreme command body – and has long been seen as Xi’s closest military ally. The ministry announced on Saturday that Zhang and Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of the CMC’s joint staff department, were under investigation for suspected serious violations of…
China blocks Nvidia H200 AI chips that US government cleared for export – report
Suppliers of parts for Nvidia’s H200 have paused production after Chinese customs officials blocked shipments of the newly approved artificial intelligence processors from entering China, according to a report. Reuters could not immediately verify the report, which appeared in the Financial Times citing two people with knowledge of the matter. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment made outside regular business hours. Nvidia had expected more than one million orders from Chinese clients, the report said, adding that its suppliers had been operating around the clock…
Thousands of Chinese Fishing Boats Quietly Form Vast Sea Barriers
China pressing European countries to bar Taiwan politicians or face crossing a ‘red line’
Chinese officials have been pushing “legal advice” on European countries, saying their own border laws require them to ban entry to Taiwanese politicians, according to more than half a dozen diplomats and officials familiar with the matter. The officials made demarches to European embassies in Beijing, or through local embassies directly to European governments in their capital cities, warning the European countries not to “trample on China’s red lines”, according to the European diplomats and ministries who spoke to the Guardian. The manner of the approaches varied – some to…
Morality, military might and a sense of mischief: key takeaways from Trump’s New York Times interview
1. US is in Venezuela for the long haul When asked how long he would be “running Venezuela”, Trump said it would be “much longer” than a year. After Trump initially claimed that the US was running the South American country, in the hours after the operation that seized President Nicolás Maduro, members of Trump’s cabinet sought to downplay America’s role in its governance. Since then however, Trump has continued to assert that he is in fact “in charge”. Saturday’s operation in Caracas has been described by some as a…
‘Mad fishing’: the super-size fleet of squid catchers plundering the high seas
In a monitoring room in Buenos Aires, a dozen members of the Argentinian coast guard watch giant industrial-fishing ships moving in real time across a set of screens. “Every year, for five or six months, the foreign fleet comes from across the Indian Ocean, from Asian countries, and from the North Atlantic,” says Cdr Mauricio López, of the monitoring department. “It’s creating a serious environmental problem.” Just beyond Argentina’s maritime frontier, hundreds of foreign vessels – known as the distant-water fishing fleet – are descending on Mile 201, a largely…
‘It ought to provide a deterrent’: what US action in Venezuela means for Taiwan
Perception that Chinese-made weapons could not stop a ‘decapitation strike’ may give Beijing pause for thought The sight of a hostile regional superpower launching an overnight raid to depose the leader of a smaller neighbouring country could easily have sent pulses in Taiwan racing. The US on Saturday revealed the details of a surprise raid to capture Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was whisked away to the US, where he was frogmarched into a court in New York on Monday. Continue reading… The Guardian
China threatened to cancel key trade talks after UK minister’s Taiwan visit in June
China threatened to cancel high-level trade talks with the UK earlier this year over a government minister’s visit to Taiwan, the Guardian can disclose. Beijing told the British government it would pull its first trade and economic dialogue with the UK in seven years after Douglas Alexander, then a trade minister, travelled to Taipei in late June. The engagement threatened to scupper the UK-China trade and economic commission (Jetco), which ultimately did go ahead after diplomats privately scrambled to contain the diplomatic fallout with Beijing. Peter Kyle flew to China…