Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan has applied to join an 11-nation Pacific trade group, Cabinet officials said Thursday, setting up a potential clash with rival Beijing over the status of the island democracy.

Taiwan’s application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership might be disrupted if China, which applied last week, is admitted first, said John Deng, a minister without portfolio.

TAIPEI, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Taiwan proposed on Thursday extra defence spending of T$240 billion ($8.69 billion) over the next five years, including on new missiles, as it warned of an urgent need to upgrade weapons in the face of a "severe threat" from giant neighbour China.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has made modernising the armed forces - well-armed but dwarfed by China's - and increasing defence spending a priority, especially as Beijing ramps up its military and diplomatic pressure against the island it claims as "sacred" Chinese territory.

TAIPEI, Sept. 15 (Reuters) - Taiwan is a "sea fortress" blocking China's expansion into the Pacific and is willing to share with other democracies its knowledge of countering Beijing's efforts to undermine it, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told a U.S. audience on Wednesday.

The United States, like most countries, does not have formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, but is the democratically ruled island's most important international backer and arms supplier.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Chanthu drenched Taiwan with heavy rain Sunday as the storm’s center passed the island’s east coast heading for Shanghai.

On the Chinese mainland, the government issued a typhoon warning for Shanghai and warned of possible torrential rains.

Airline flights and train service in Taiwan were suspended Saturday as the storm approached. The Central News Agency reported more than 2,000 people were evacuated from flood-prone areas of the east coast county of Hualien.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Airline flights, ferries and train service were canceled as Typhoon Chanthu roared toward Taiwan on Saturday and authorities warned of high wind and heavy rain along the island’s south and east coast.

Chanthu’s center was forecast to pass Taiwan’s east coast on Sunday, but its edge should dump rain on land, the Central Wealth Bureau announced.

Chanthu was southeast of Taiwan’s southern tip, moving north with winds of 173 kph (108 mph) and gusts up to 209 kph (130 mph), according to the CWB.

TAIPEI, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan's air force scrambled on Sunday against renewed Chinese military activity, with its defence ministry reporting that 19 aircraft including nuclear-capable bombers had flown into Taiwan's air defence identification zone.

Chinese-claimed Taiwan has complained for a year or more of repeated missions by China's air force near the self-ruled island, often in the southwestern part of its air defence zone near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.

TAIPEI, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Taiwan launched a new English-language news and media streaming platform on Monday aiming to give it a greater voice on the world stage and help to tackle Beijing's "squeeze" of the Chinese-claimed island on the world stage.

Taiwan+, backed by T$775 million ($28 million) in government funding, will broadcast content online focusing on news, as well as features about Taiwan, from food and tourism to culture and technology.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen received her first dose of the island’s domestically developed coronavirus vaccine on Monday, launching its rollout to the public.

The vaccine, made by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp., was given emergency approval by regulators in July using a shortcut that prompted fierce opposition from parts of Taiwan’s medical and scientific community.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A Chinese citizen journalist serving a four-year sentence after reporting on the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in the city of Wuhan is in ill health after staging a long-running hunger strike, according to a lawyer who spoke with her family.

TAIPEI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Taiwan has rejected an application for the emergency use of UBI Pharma's (6562.TWO) COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the government said on Monday, though the president said she would get a separate domestic shot in a show of support for the scheme.

Although Taiwan has ordered millions of Moderna (MRNA.O) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L) shots, developing a local vaccine has been a major goal and it is due next week to start administering its first domestic vaccine, made by Medigen Vaccine Biologics (6547.TWO).