Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

US drones deal in pipeline: sources

Taipei Times

A US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone sits in a hanger at the Amari Air Base in Estonia on July 1. SeaGuardian drones, which are also manufactured by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, are similar to Reaper drones.
Photo: Reuters

The US is negotiating the sale of at least four sophisticated aerial drones to Taiwan for the first time, aircraft that can keep watch over huge swathes of sea and land, six US sources familiar with the negotiations said.

Why China would not take Taiwan

Jerome Keating

With its passing of Hong Kong’s new National Security Law, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to tighten its noose on Hong Kong.

Gone is the broken 1997 promise that Hong Kong would have free, democratic elections by 2017. Gone also is any semblance that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) plays the long game.

All the CCP had to do was hold the fort until 2047, when the “one country, two systems” framework would end and Hong Kong would rejoin the “motherland.”

A Xinjiang militia guards Xi’s empire

Taipei Times Editorial

US President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday last week announced it would impose sanctions on the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a vast paramilitary organization that is directly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and has been linked to human rights violations against Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

The sanctions follow US travel bans against other Xinjiang officials and the passage of the US Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which authorizes targeted sanctions against mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials, in response to Beijing’s imposition of national security legislation on the territory.

Top US health official to visit Taiwan

Taipei Times

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar speaks at an event at the White House in Washington on July 7.
Photo: EPA-EFE

US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar is to lead a delegation to Taiwan — the highest-level visit by a US Cabinet official since the two sides cut formal relations in 1979.

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