Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/27
By: Claudia Liu and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Dec. 27 (CNA) Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) confirmed Tuesday that Taiwanese fighter jets were deployed and took photos of China’s first aircraft carrier as it sailed in waters off eastern Taiwan recently.

Feng said the military has many ways to conduct reconnaissance and collect information, and sending fighter jets to monitor the movement of the Liaoning and its escorting ships was one of them.

Asked why the military did not publish the photos of the Chinese ships as Japanese Self-Defense Forces did, Feng said it was not necessary.

Feng said China had said beforehand that it would conduct far-sea training, and because the Japanese Self-Defense Forces published photos of the mission, “there is no need for us to do so.”   [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 26, 2016
By: By Joseph Yeh

The military on Sunday said it was closely monitoring the movements of a Chinese naval fleet near Taiwan in the western Pacific, warning it would “launch responsive measures if necessary.”

Military spokesman Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said they had been watching the People’s Liberation Army Navy fleet — led by the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier — “very closely” as it headed for the western Pacific for an open-sea training exercise.

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said it was paying particular attention to the Liaoning and the accompanying fleet of guided-missile destroyers, frigates and supply ships. The ministry said it would be observing whether they are headed to the South China Sea via Bashi Channel to join with the South China Sea fleet at the conclusion of the exercise.

In doing so, the fleet is expected to skirt the south of Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), the MND said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 22, 2016
By: Chen Wei-han and Alison Hsiao / Staff reporters

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday said that China was the

reason Sao Tome and Principe broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan, while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus said foreign relations are tied to cross-strait issues and asked the government to pragmatically adjust its diplomatic strategy regarding Beijing.

DPP caucus secretary-general Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) said that China was apparently behind more efforts to isolate the nation, citing the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ announcement on its Web site of the African nation’s decision immediately after the move was declared.

Beijing continues to suppress Taiwan’s international presence, despite the olive branch President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has offered in a bid to maintain close links and the cross-strait “status quo,” Liu said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 18, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Mainland China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force posted a photo

Saturday on its microblog allegedly showing a Xian H-6K jet bomber flying within visible range of Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山), Taiwan’s highest mountain.

The photo triggered speculation that China’s government was looking to demonstrate its military capability amid mounting cross-strait tensions.

But Ministry of National Defense spokesman Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said reports that the bomber could have been flying over Taiwan’s Yushan (北大武山) were “pure speculation” by mainland Chinese news media. Chen said the MND had been closely monitoring any military movements by the PLA.

On Friday, the PLA posted photos of a Xian H-6K bomber and its escort fighters on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging service similar to Twitter, but the photos didn’t show any relative position of the aircraft or any identifiable landmarks.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/13
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Dec. 13 (CNA) In the event that a Chinese military aircraft enters Taiwan’s air space, the ROC military will handle the situation “fearlessly without evasion or weakness,” a Ministry of National Defense (MND) official said on Tuesday.

The approach adopted by the military would vary depending on whether the aircraft was hostile or not, Chung Shu-ming (鍾樹明), director of the ministry’s Joint Operations Division, said at a regular press briefing.

He was responding to a question on how the military would handle an encroachment by China, an issue that recently raised concern after Chinese military aircraft flew close to Taiwan’s air defense identification zone twice in two weeks.

Chung said the ROC military monitors China’s military maneuvers closely and was fully aware of the two operations.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/09
By: Rita Cheng and Lilian Wu

Washington, Dec. 8 (CNA) The U.S. Congress on Thursday passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2017, which included for the first time a section on senior military exchanges with Taiwan.

The Senate voted 92-7 to pass the bill Thursday, after it was voted through the House of Representatives 375-34 on Dec. 2.

Section 1284 of the final version passed after coordination between the House and the Senate states: “It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Defense should conduct a program of senior military exchanges between the United States and Taiwan that have the objective of improving military-to-military relations and defense cooperation between the United States and Taiwan.”

Such a program should be conducted at least once each calendar year in both the United States and Taiwan, according to the act.    [FULL  STORY]

China hopes U.S. ‘does not allow her transit, and does not send any wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence forces”

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/06
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday (Dec. 6) that it is urging the U.S. to not allow Taiwanese

President Tsai Ing-wen to transit through the country on her way to a visit to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Latin America, according to Reuters.

China hopes the United States “does not allow her transit, and does not send any wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence forces”, the ministry said in a statement sent to Reuters.

Tsai is planning to visit three of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Central America early next month. The Liberty Times reported that Tsai is planning to transit in New York early next month on her way to visit Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, citing a source close to the government’s foreign ministry.

However, Taiwan’s Presidential Office has not officially confirmed that Tsai would indeed be visiting Taiwan’s Central American allies next month. Guatemala’s Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales did tell Reuters on Tuesday that Tsai was due to visit from Jan. 11 -12, but did not give details about a possible meeting between Tsai and Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales.    [FULL  STORY]

On Wednesday Leung and Yau lost an appeal against an earlier Hong Kong court ruling that disqualified them after they insulted China while taking their oaths last month.

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/01
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

China warned Taiwan not to fan the flames of a fledgling independence movement in Hong Kong,

according to a Reuters report on Wednesday.

The report said Chinese leaders are concerned about recent unrest and a resurgence of calls for independence in Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” agreement.

Beijing took upon itself to interpret Hong Kong’s Basic Law in November to bar independence-leaning city lawmakers, Baggio Leung, 30, and Yau Wai-ching, 25, from taking office, the report said.

On Wednesday Leung and Yau lost an appeal they filed against an earlier Hong Kong court ruling that disqualified them after they insulted China while taking their oaths last month.

The appeal court ruled that the pair has no grounds for taking the oath again according to law. The pair has not confirmed whether they will take their case to Hong Kong’s highest court, the Court of Final Appeal.

Legislators of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have reportedly extended their support to Leung and Yau, an act that was condemned by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO).    [FULL  STORY]

INTERACTION:The goal of the forum is to reduce the negative effects and damage caused to cross-strait relations by President Tsai Ing-wen, the KMT’s Alex Tsai said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 03, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) annual forum with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began

yesterday in Beijing and a new panel — the political panel — was created to “explore possibilities for cross-strait political talks,” KMT Vice Chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢) said.

At the opening ceremony, Chan said the forum has taken place since 2006 and during those years “the KMT had been in opposition, became the ruling party [in 2008] and has now again become the opposition.”

“Looking back on the 10-year history of the forum, we see that the resolutions made in the past have been adopted by the governments in each side of the Taiwan Strait and turned into policies that greatly benefited the people,” he said.

Chan said that government officials of both sides had participated in the forum over the past eight years to discuss possible policies, which was “a rare page in history.”    [FULL  STORY]