Taiwan

China's aircraft carrier sails by Taiwan as tensions grow

Taipei - Muslimchronicle

China's sole operational aircraft carrier passed through the Taiwan Strait Wednesday, the island's defence ministry said, as Beijing steps up pressure on its democratic rival. It comes weeks after Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen warned against what she called China's "military expansion" -- the increase of air and naval drills around the island since she came to power in May 2016. Beijing views the self-rulingRead more

Taiwan passports recalled over picture mix-up

Taipei - Muslimchronicle

Taiwan has had to scrap 200,000 new passports after an embarrassing design blunder mistakenly swapped an image of an airport in Washington for the island's main airport. The head of consular affairs resigned and another official was demoted Wednesday over the fiasco as online pundits joked Taiwan had become the "51st state" of the United States. The mockery reflects Taiwan's delicate politicalRead more

Taiwan filmmaker's vibrant vision

Taipei - Muslimchronicle

From the migration of purple butterflies to the crafting of bamboo steam baskets, Taiwan's leading 3D film director has spent a decade painstakingly capturing the island's beauty. After a life-threatening tumour left him partially deaf and blind in one eye in 2002, Charlie Chu moved away from making television series and music videos, instead seeking to focus on life's precious details. HisRead more

Taiwan's creative campaign for traditional characters

Taipei - Muslimchronicle

As a growing number of people around the world learn simplified Chinese instead of the more complicated traditional characters, young creatives in Taiwan are fighting to promote what they fear will become a dying art. Introduced by the Chinese Communist Party in the 1950s to boost literacy, the simplified version of the script uses fewer strokes and is now theRead more

Taiwan president arrives in Hawaii

Honolulu - Muslimchronicle

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen landed in Honolulu on Saturday en route to the island’s diplomatic allies among Pacific nations and set off for a visit to a Pearl Harbor memorial, despite strong objections to the visit from China. China regards self-ruled Taiwan as sovereign territory and regularly calls it the most sensitive and important issue between it and the US,Read more

China ready to 'defeat' Taiwan independence: Xi

Beijing - Muslimchronicle

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a stern warning to Taiwan Wednesday, saying that Beijing has the will and power to thwart any attempts at independence. Addressing a twice-a-decade gathering of the Communist Party in Beijing, Xi warned that China has "the resolve, the confidence, and the ability to defeat separatist attempts for Taiwan independence in any form". "We will neverRead more

Taiwan president to visit Pacific allies amid China pressure

Taipei - Muslimchronicle

Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen will visit three Pacific nations in the next month, the foreign ministry said Friday, as fears grow of China influencing its dwindling list of allies. It comes after Panama cut official ties with Taiwan in June, choosing instead to form diplomatic relations with China — leaving the island with only 20 nations worldwide that recognize itRead more

Qualcomm slapped with record antitrust fine in Taiwan

Taipei - Muslimchronicle

Taiwanese authorities have imposed a record fine of nearly $800 million (SR3 billion) on Qualcomm for antitrust violations in the latest of a string of setbacks for the US computer chip giant. Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission slapped Qualcomm with a fine of Tw$23.4 billion ($774 million) for harming market competition and manipulating prices following an investigation launched in 2015. “Qualcomm’sRead more

Taiwan to bolster military but still seeks peace: president

Taipei - Muslimchronicle

Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen pledged on Tuesday to bolster the island’s military but added it will not “seek war” amid tensions with its biggest rival China. Cross-strait relations have rapidly deteriorated since Tsai took office last May, with Beijing cutting all official communications with Taipei as it does not trust her traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party. The two sides splitRead more

Taiwan's battle with betel nut addiction

Nantou - Muslimchronicle

For years Huang Sheng-yi helped feed Taiwan’s addiction to the betel nut, planting thousands of the trees on his mountainous farm. Today he has felled most of them, incentivized by the government to grow something else, as part of its push to reduce availability of the nut, which is a stimulant and also a known carcinogen linked to oral cancer.Read more