Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Blockade would be act of war: minister

Taipei Times

A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be an act of war and have far-reaching consequences for international trade, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday, after drills by China last week practiced such a scenario.

Beijing has over the past five years staged almost daily military activities around Taiwan, including war games that have practiced blockades and attacks on ports.

China’s latest war games named “Joint Sword-2024B” were carried out on Monday last week, which Beijing said included simulating blockading ports and areas, and assaulting maritime and ground targets.

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.

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