Fearful of Chinese intervention in Taiwan, the Pentagon has released a report that states that China has closed ‘key gaps’ in its military technology. According to the US government’s annual report on China’s defensive capabilities, China will have a fully modernised military by 2020. China, on the other hand, has dismissed the report, calling it “cock and bull”.

The stability of Asia – Pacific region hangs in a gentle balance. The world at large, and especially the US, have known for a long time that China has ambitions of expansion, and any military manoeuvrings in that region give cause for concern. more…

America’s dominance in Asia could reach an all time low if China’s communist party succeeded in furhter undermining Taiwan’s independence and autonomy. Official White House sources have confirmed last week that the Obama administration will not be providing Taipei with the 66 new F16C/D fighter jets it has been asking for since 2006. Instead the US will focus it’s attention on fixing Tawain’s older F16’s and improving their radar guidance systems. more…

The Venice film festival has become the focus of the increasingly bitter row between Taiwan and China regarding the sovereignty of the Taiwanese state. Protests have been filed by Taiwan’s Government Information Office and Taiwanese production company ARS after big budget movie Seediq Bale was listed as originating from Taiwan AND China.

Seediq Bale produc r Jimmy Huang was quick to confirm that the movie is a “pure Taiwan-made film and not a film made by Taiwan and China.” The movie in question is Taiwan’s biggest budget production of all time costing around $24.3m and the subject matter, the 1930 Wushe Incident where the people rose up against the colonial Japanese forces, may have made the film makers particularly sensitive to the issue of Taiwanese Independence from China.

The issue of Taiwan’s independence is a very sensitive political issue. China’s communist government does regard the pacific island as part of their territory but Taiwan disputes this. The film festival has a history of listing Taiwanese productions as “Taiwan, China” as it did so in 2007 with Ang Lee’s Lust. It may be that the film organisers are wary of the political issue or it could also be that the inclusion of China in the film listing is because the movie’s executive producer John Woo is from Hong Kong.

Either way Taiwanese movie companies have long been sensitive to this issue. 2010 saw the cancellation of a Taipai week at the Shanghai film festival because film makers were opposed to their movies being listed as “Taiwan, China” instead of being from Taiwan
as a separate territory.

This fall, a special group of students will arrive at Taiwanese universities: Roughly 2,000 young men and women from 41 universities in the PRC. They will become the first from Mainland China to enroll in full degree programs in Taiwan in more than 60 years. This development seems to be another sign of the warming ties between the former rivals breaking down yet another barrier that have separated them in the past. After the Civil War, China and Taiwan split in 1949 though Beijing still considers the island part of its territory and has threatened to invade should Taiwan move toward formal independence. But ties improved dramatically when Beijing-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou came to power on a platform of boosting economic ties with China. Accordingly, the plan is a result of talks between the two governments last year with the goal of forging closer trade ties and promoting educational exchange between the two countries. more…

The following words, spoken by Qiu Qiming on China’s state TV, provoked a storm of support on the Chinese blogosphere: “If nobody can be safe, do we want this speed? Can we live in apartments that do not fall down? Can the roads we drive on in our cities not collapse? Can we travel in safe trains? And if there is a major accident can we not be in a hurry to bury the trains? Can we afford the people a basic sense of security?”

News anchor Qiming asked some key questions that were, judging from the social media reaction to his statements, shared by other Chinese citizens. He was referring to the crash in Wenzhou province between two trains that left around 190 injured and 39 dead. The crash provoked widespread concern in China and the Communist party’s attempts to dampen the public scrutiny has provoked protest. more…

During the Canadian Foreign Minister’s first trip to China between July 16 to 20, Canada didn’t discuss China’s human right record in public. Foreign Minister John Baird set aside that sensitive topic to close-door meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Mr. Yang Jiechi. Baird refused to discuss the closed-door meetings’ substance. It should be recalled that Mr. Yang is the Chinese official who denied Chinese police involvement in the downtown Beijing assaults of foreign journalists last Feb 27. The denials came despite video evidence and several witness testimonies to the opposite. more…

via US Air Force

Taiwan’s congressional supporters are ramping up the pressure on the Obama administration to approve the sale of new F-16 fighterjet units to the island nation. The pressure notched up a level higher when one pro-sale senator vowed to delay the confirmation of a new deputy secretary of state if there is no movement on the F-16 sale. Taiwan’s congressional allies’ actions have provoked countermaneuvers from mainland Chinese officials. Chinese dignitaries have visited senators, Obama administration officials, former officials, and personnel form other institutions to voice their opposition to the proposed F-16 sale. more…

joanho via stock.xchng

There is good news if you plan a trip to Hong Kong or Macao in the next months. As of July 15, Taiwan’s de facto embassies in the SAR (special administrative regions) gain new status receive the official name Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Macau, respectively. More than simply a new name for the same old thing, the agreement made between the SAR and the ROC last week recognizes the true status of both offices, and gives our government more possibilities in promoting Taiwan in the regions, especially in areas such as tourism, culture, education, or trade. With the recognition come new opportunities. On a very basic level, it means that ROC officials now have a status that affords them certain rights and privileges afforded to members of the diplomatic corps. Officials already speak of a “new stage” in the relationship between the SAR and the ROC. more…

The partially government owned Chunghwa Telecom Co. announced today that it planned to renew the license for New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD) amidst political pressures to reverse an earlier decision to discontinue the service in August. For those of you unfamiliar with NTD TV: In 2001, it was founded by members of Falun Gong in New York City and is heavily invested in human rights topics. Rumor has it that Chunghwa had been under pressure from the CCP because of the fact that NTDs broadcasts could be received in mainland China where Falung Gong is banned. Until now the views of the Taiwanese government to extend the license with NTD had been ignored. But the protest came from all sides of political spectrum: Tsai Ing-wen, chairman of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Wang Jin-ping, the president of Taiwan’s legislature, and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang. There have even been some US and European voices protesting the ROC government’s decision to suppress freedom of speech by turning down NTD’s application. more…

photo © 2006 Tobin | more info (via: Wylio)After the Japan catastrophe, the nuclear debate has been underway in Taiwan for quite some time. Now, finally, the DPP is introducing some anti-nuclear bills into the Legislative Yuan aimed at suspending the construction of Taiwan’s fourth nuclear power plant, located in New Taipei City. DPP 2012 presidential candidate and party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen also wants to prohibit extending the lifespan of the country’s three existing nuclear power plants, in effect calling for a nuclear-free Taiwan by 2025. more…