Imagine what would happen if Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee member Sean Lien (連勝文) invited you for a cup of tea in his apartment in The Palace in Taipei. Now imagine that, instead of standing on ceremony like a normal guest, you insisted that the meeting could only go ahead if he agreed that the luxury apartment actually belonged to you. No matter how much of a gentleman Lien may be, he would probably raise his middle finger and tell you in no uncertain terms to get lost.

This combination photograph shows US President Donald Trump, left, in Washington on Tuesday last week, and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Feb. 22 in Beijing.
Photo: AP

The US has agreed to brief Taiwan before and after US President Donald Trump’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Florida on Thursday and Friday, a national security official said yesterday.

At a news conference in Taipei yesterday, from second left, Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong, New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang and former Sunflower movement leaders Lin Fei-fan and Chen Wei-ting demand that China immediately release Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

Taiwanese and Hong Kong democracy activists yesterday called for the immediate release of human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), who has been detained incommunicado in China for two weeks.