Taiwan

TAOYUAN, Taiwan (AP) — Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou departed for a tour of China on Monday, in what he called an attempt to reduce tensions a day after Taiwan lost one of its few remaining diplomatic partners to China.

The ex-president is visiting in a private capacity, bringing a delegation of academics and college students for exchanges, as well as members of his family, but the trip is loaded with political meaning.

TAIPEI/TEGUCIGALPA, March 23 (Reuters) - The Honduran foreign minister is travelling to China to "promote" the establishment of diplomatic ties, an official said, signalling the end is most likely near for the country's decades-long relations with Taiwan.

At stake is China's growing footprint in Central America, once a steadfast base for Taiwan and where the United States is worried about Beijing's expanding influence in its backyard.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro tweeted last week her government would seek to open relations with China.

TAIPEI, March 19 (Reuters) - Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou will visit China this month, his office said on Sunday, the first time a former or current Taiwanese leader has visited since the defeated Republic of China government fled to the island in 1949.

The trip will be at a time of heightened tensions between Beijing and Taipei as China keeps up its military and political pressure to try and get democratically-elected Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty.

TAIPEI, March 13 (Reuters) - Taiwan's defence spending this year will focus on preparing weapons and equipment for a "total blockade" by China, including parts for F-16 fighters and replenishing weapons, the military said in a report.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, staged war games around the island in August, firing missiles over Taipei and declaring no-fly and no-sail zones in a simulation of how it would seek to cut Taiwan off in a war.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — With Chinese leader Xi Jinping receiving a norms-breaking third five-year term as president on Friday, the other six men who serve with him on the ruling Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee are beginning to take up their new portfolios.

All are party veterans with close personal and professional ties to Xi, China’s most powerful figure in decades.

Chief among them, the party’s second-in-command Li Qiang is widely expected to take over as premier, nominally in charge of the Cabinet and caretaker of the economy.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Six men sit alongside Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the ruling Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, handling major portfolios from propaganda to corruption fighting.

All are party veterans with close personal and professional ties to Xi, China’s most powerful figure in decades.

Their roles are expected to come more into focus during the ongoing session of the National People’s Congress, China’s ceremonial legislature.

NANGAN, Taiwan (AP) — In the past month, bed and breakfast owner Chen Yu-lin had to tell his guests he couldn’t provide them with the internet.

Others living on Matsu, one of Taiwan’s outlying islands closer to neighboring China, had to struggle with paying electricity bills, making a doctor’s appointment or receiving a package.

TAIPEI, March 6 (Reuters) - Taiwan Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng warned on Monday the island has to be on alert this year for a "sudden entry" by the Chinese military into areas close to its territory amid rising military tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

China has stepped up its military activities around Taiwan in recent years, including almost daily air force incursions into the island's air defence identification zone.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The U.S. has approved more arms sales to Taiwan, including $619 million worth of munitions for F-16 fighter jets, in a decision likely to be yet another point of friction between the U.S. and China, which claims the island as its own territory.

The State Department said in a statement Wednesday night it had approved sales of missiles to be used with the F-16s as well as equipment to support the missiles. That includes AGM-88 anti-radiation missiles, as well as air-to-air missiles and launchers.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A delegation of U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday met with Taiwan’s president, who promised to deepen military cooperation between the two sides despite objections from China, which claims the island as its own territory.

The group was one of many U.S. delegations President Tsai Ing-wen has welcomed in recent years even as Beijing has stepped up diplomatic and military harassment of Taiwan.