Usually people in Taipei walk quite slowly. Notoriously so. But at 1.27pm on Thursday some were almost sprinting through the busy shopping district of Ximen. They knew they had three minutes to get where they needed to be without being stuck in the nearest underground bunker for the half an hour. At 1.30pm exactly, deafening sirens wailed across the city, and a text hit every mobile phone warning that “the enemy has launched a missile attack toward northern Taiwan”. Cars and buses pulled over in Ximen, and everyone was ushered…
Tag: Taiwan
Australia won’t commit in advance to joining hypothetical US-China conflict, Pat Conroy says
Australia will refuse any US request to join a “hypothetical” conflict with China over Taiwan and won’t make any advance commitment, the defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, has said, amid reports Washington is seeking such promises in discussions over the Aukus submarines. Conroy called on China to be more transparent about its military buildup, but said any commitment to war would be the sole power of the Australian government of the day. It came after multiple reports this week that the Pentagon was seeking guarantees from Australia and other allies…
Map: Tracking Typhoon Danas
1-day forecast precipitation Very light Heavy Extreme 1-day risk Share of customers without power Sources and notes NYT
Dalai Lama celebrates his 90th birthday, triggering geopolitical questions for the future
Leaders from India, the United States and Taiwan offered their support to Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on his 90th birthday on Sunday, a landmark anniversary raising geopolitical questions for the future. Tibetans fear China will eventually name a rival successor to the Dalai Lama, bolstering Beijing’s control over Tibet, the territory it poured troops into in 1950 and has ruled ever since. The man who calls himself a “simple Buddhist monk” celebrated in India, where he has lived since he and thousands of other Tibetans fled Chinese…
China ‘planned car collision’ during Taiwan vice-president’s visit to Prague
Taiwan’s vice-president has said she will not be intimidated after reports by Czech intelligence that Chinese officials planned to stage a car collision when she was in Prague last year. Hsiao Bi-khim visited the Czech Republic in March 2024, in the first overseas visit by her and Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, after winning the election in January. It was reported at the time that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following her car – under police escort – from the airport. This week Prague intelligence officials told…
US attacks on Iran redraw calculus of use of force for allies and rivals around globe
For US allies and rivals around the world, Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran have redrawn the calculus of the White House’s readiness to use force in the kind of direct interventions that the president said he would make a thing of the past under his isolationist “America First” foreign policy. From Russia and China to Europe and across the global south, the president’s decision to launch the largest strategic bombing strike in US history indicates a White House that is ready to employ force abroad – but reluctantly and under…
The Australia-US alliance is facing a decisive test, and not just over the Middle East | Hugh White
Would Australia go to war to support the United States in conflict with China over Taiwan – or elsewhere? The government avoids discussing the question, let alone answering it, by dismissing it as hypothetical. But it will not go away, for two reasons. First, the possibility of us going to war over Taiwan looms over the whole debate about our military preparedness and defence spending, and gives it urgency. That is because choosing to fight China alongside the US is a scenario in which Australia would find itself drawn into…
Malfunctions, overreactions and a steep learning curve: wargaming a Chinese attack on Taiwan
A series of war games in Taiwan has highlighted significant vulnerabilities in how the island and its supporters would respond to a Chinese annexation attempt, as well as growing questions over how much reliance can be placed on the volatile Trump administration. Last week former senior military and government officials from the US, Japan, and Taiwan convened in Taipei for a tabletop exercise, led by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation. The event was described as the first civilian-led military simulation held in Taiwan, testing responses to…
Hong Kong police tell people not to download ‘secessionist’ mobile game
Hong Kong police have warned people against downloading a Taiwan-developed mobile game which they say is “secessionist” and could lead to arrest. The game, Reversed Front: Bonfire, allows users to “pledge allegiance” to various groups linked to locations that have been major flashpoints or targets for China including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Manchuria, in order to “overthrow the communist regime” known as the “People’s Republic”. While some aspects and place names of the game’s worldview are imagined, the website says the game is “a work of NON-FICTION”…
Four ex-staff of Taiwan’s ruling party charged with spying for China
Taiwan prosecutors have charged four former staffers in the ruling Democratic Progressive party with spying for China while they worked in senior positions. The four include a former aide to Lai Ching-te, when he was vice-president and for a time during his current presidency, and a senior staffer to Joseph Wu, then foreign minister and now national security chief. They have been accused of sharing state secrets with China over a prolonged period of time, including “important and sensitive diplomatic information” that significantly harmed national security, prosecutors alleged in a…