Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Examining ‘complete reunification’

Paul Lin 林保華

On Monday morning last week, many Chinese investors woke up anticipating a raft of new stimulus measures to save the Chinese economy during an official Chinese Communist Party (CCP) news conference.

Instead, by about 5am the CCP had launched military exercises surrounding Taiwan. State media announced that China would “completely reunify” Taiwan with its “ancestral homeland.”

The refurbished Liaoning aircraft carrier, which had only days prior returned to its home berth at Yuchi Naval Base in China’s Shandong Province, was rushed back out to sea to traverse the Bashi Channel separating Taiwan and the Philippines to take its position for the exercises.

DPP proposes bill to update collusion law

Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) and other lawmakers have proposed amendments to the Criminal Code defining four crimes of collusion with foreign powers.

As collusion, which is currently not well-defined under the law, carries a severe penalty, judges tend not to invoke it, Shen said.

After consulting with the National Security Bureau, he and other DPP members have proposed defining four types of criminal behavior that would fall under the category of collusion.

Being ready for China’s aggression

Taipei Times Editorial

Four days after Double Ten National Day, China announced a new round of military exercises around Taiwan titled “Joint Sword-2024B.” As the name implies, Monday’s exercises are a follow-up to its “Joint Sword-2024A” exercises in May, which were ostensibly a response to the content of President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration speech, but, as the title suggests, were intended to routinize large-scale military exercises around Taiwan.

International observers in general viewed Lai’s National Day speech as restrained and measured.

“Lai’s speech demonstrated restraint, refraining from breaking new ground, repeating well-known positions,” Council on Foreign Relations research fellow David Sacks said.

US official lauds Taiwan’s resilience

Taipei Times

The US “strongly supports” Taiwan to enhance its whole-of-society resilience, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China, Taiwan and Mongolia Michael Chase said at the Global Taiwan Institute’s annual symposium in Washington on Wednesday, adding that the Legislative Yuan should approve the Executive Yuan’s military budget in favor of “Taiwan’s military defense modernization.”

“Taiwan must be able to deter, degrade and delay potential Chinese aggressions,” even though a cross-strait conflict is neither imminent nor inevitable, Chase said in his closing remarks.

“We support Taiwan’s military in its efforts to acquire asymmetric [warfare] capabilities that are low-cost, mobile, distributed, resilient and lethal,” he said.

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