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- U.S. Would Take Military Action if China Attacks Taiwan: Bernie Sanders (2020-02-24)
(CNA, By Chiang Yi-ching) United States Senator Bernie Sanders, who is vying for the Democratic Party's nomination for president, said Sunday that if elected, he would be prepared to take military action if China attacked Taiwan. <Accessed 2020-02-24> - Signatures for Petition to Recall Han Pass 450,000 (2020-02-20)
(Taipei Times, By Shih Hsiao-kuang) More than 450,000 signatures have been collected for the second-phase petition of a campaign to recall Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), with that number expected to surpass 500,000 by the middle of next month, Wecare Kaohsiung founder Aaron Yin (尹立) said yesterday, urging Han to “know when to quit.” <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Tech Event to Fight Disinformation Opens (2020-02-20)
(Taipei Times/CNA) The “US-Taiwan Tech Challenge: Countering Disinformation and Propaganda,” opened yesterday in Taipei as part of efforts by the two nations to develop innovative technologies to curtail the spread of disinformation. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Taiwan Says Ban on Italian Pork Not Retaliatory (2020-02-20)
(CNA, By Emerson Lim) Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Thursday that the government's ban on pork imports from Italy was not related to the European country's restriction of flights to Taiwan over coronavirus fears. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - President Receives Former U.S. Official, Thanks Him For Support (2020-02-20)
(CNA, By Emerson Lim and Wen Kuei-hsiang) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received Randall Schriver, a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense, at the Presidential Office Thursday and thanked him for his support for U.S. arms sales to Taiwan during his stint in the post. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Virus Outbreak: Lawmakers Back WHO Participation for Taiwan (2020-02-22)
(Taipei Times, By Sean Lin) Lawmakers across party lines yesterday issued a joint statement calling for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO and its decisionmaking body, the World Health Assembly (WHA), and urging the global health body to make a distinction between Taiwan and China. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Premier Touts Cabinet’s Achievements (2020-02-22)
(Taipei Times, By Sean Lin) Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei touted his Cabinet’s achievements in areas ranging from disease prevention, the cultural and creative sectors, and renewable energy to collaborations with the indigenous defense industry. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - COVID-19 Origin Could Be Natural or Synthetic: NTU Professor (2020-02-22)
(CNA, By Chen Chih-chung and Matthew Mazzetta) A professor at National Taiwan University's (NTU) College of Public Health on Saturday waded into the highly contentious debate over the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus, saying that the virus could indeed be synthetic, but that much more research is needed before a definitive conclusion can be reached. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Taiwanese Military Personnel Returning From 29 Countries to be Quarantined (2020-02-24)
(Taiwan News, By Huang Tzu-ti) Military personnel who have traveled to any of the 29 countries on which travel warnings have been imposed will be subject to a 14-day quarantine after returning as Taiwan beefs up efforts to stem the spread of the Wuhan virus (COVID-19). <Accessed 2020-02-24> - Satisfaction with Taiwan's Government Hits New High Amid Wuhan Virus Scare (2020-02-24)
(Taiwan News, By Ching-Tse Cheng) As more and more countries fall victim to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), the Taiwanese government's preventive measures against the epidemic have resulted in a historically high satisfaction rate among its citizens, according to a survey released Monday (Feb. 24). <Accessed 2020-02-24> - Police Arrest 674 Suspects, Seize Weapons in Taoyuan (2020-02-24)
(Taipei Times, By Jason Pan) Taoyuan police have arrested 674 suspected gang members, and seized illegal weapons and drugs, Taoyuan police chief Chen Kuo-ching (陳國進) told a news conference on Saturday. <Accessed 2020-02-24> - Air Force Command, CAA Censured for 2018 F-16 Crash (2020-02-24)
(CNA, By Flor Wang and Wang Cheng-chung) The Control Yuan, Taiwan's government agency watchdog, censured the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and the Air Force Command on Monday for their roles in an F-16 crash in New Taipei in 2018 and required them to make improvements. <Accessed 2020-02-24> - President Hosts, Thanks US Think Tank Head (2020-02-21)
(Taipei Times/CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday received Project 2049 Institute chairman Randall Schriver, a former US assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, at the Presidential Office in Taipei and thanked him for facilitating the sale of F-16V jets to Taiwan. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - U.S., Taiwan in Search of Technology to Fight Disinformation (2020-02-19)
(CNA, By Emerson Lim) The U.S.-Taiwan Tech Challenge: Countering Disinformation and Propaganda, a two-day event, opened Wednesday as part of efforts between Taiwan and the United States in search of innovative technologies to combat disinformation. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - U.S. Urges EU to Use 5G by Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Seen on Par with Huawei (2020-02-19)
(Reuters, By Sergio Goncalves) EU countries have no reason to use 5G mobile technology from Huawei because Sweden’s Ericsson (ERICb.ST), Finland’s Nokia (NOKIA.HE) and South Korea’s Samsung (005930.KS) are on par with the Chinese group in the field, a senior U.S. diplomat said. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - China Threatened to Harm Czech Companies Over Taiwan Visit: Letter (2020-02-19)
(Reuters, By Raphael Satter and Nick Carey) Beijing threatened to retaliate against Czech companies with operations in China if a senior Czech lawmaker went ahead with a planned visit to Taiwan, according to a diplomatic letter seen by Reuters. <Accessed 2020-02-23>
- Hun Sen Is More Worried About Beijing Than the Coronavirus (2020-02-23)
(Foreign Policy, By Audrey Wilson) “Please continue our cooperation with China. Do not ban flights from China. Do not ban China’s sea transportation, and do not ban Chinese tourists,” he said at a press conference on Jan. 30. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Countering China’s Influence Campaigns at European Universities (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Ivana Karásková) China’s efforts to manipulate academic discourse in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) cannot be easily discerned, yet there are examples that indicates the risks are real. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - The Ordeal of the Diamond Princess Crew (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Sribala Subramanian) Crew members took to social media, asking their governments to get them off the ship. Some responses were encouraging. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Czech Companies the Latest Target of Chinese Retaliation for Taiwan Ties (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Nick Aspinwall) The letter said that “China is the largest foreign market for many Czech companies like Skoda Auto, Home Credit Group, Klaviry Petrof and others.” It added that Czech companies doing business in China “will have to pay for Chairman Kubera’s visit to Taiwan.” <Accessed 2020-02-23> - China’s Leaders Say Nation Yet to Turn Corner in Coronavirus Fight (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Ken Moritsugu) China’s leadership sounded a cautious note Friday about the country’s progress in halting the spread of the new virus that has now killed more than 2,200 people, after several days of upbeat messages. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - COVID-19: Dr. Zhong Nanshan Is In (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Marjorie Perry) In an interview with Chinese media, he posed the question, “What’s the point of being the world’s number one in GDP if eating, drinking and breathing are all in doubt?” <Accessed 2020-02-23> - ASEAN Diplomats Praise China’s Handling of Virus Outbreak (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Jim Gomez) Southeast Asia’s top diplomats praised China’s handling of the virus outbreak and pledged Thursday to help fight the disease that emerged in a central Chinese city and spread in the region and around the world. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - New Coronavirus Cases Decline in China as Counting Method Revised Again (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Ken Moritsugu) New cases of a novel coronavirus in China have again declined, up just 394, after authorities on Thursday again changed how they count new daily infections. They are now discounting cases that came back negative after laboratory tests. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - What Does the New Australia-ASEAN Informal Defense Ministers’ Meeting Mean for the Future of Security Ties? (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Prashanth Parameswaran) And as Reynolds herself noted in her remarks, beyond symbolism and status, this would also provide more opportunities for Australia and ASEAN to engage on defense issues and further develop this aspect of their relationship. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Kyrgyz-Chinese Joint Venture Scrapped After Protests (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Catherine Putz) The protestors were unambiguous about their opposition, holding banners with slogans like “We Are Against the Logistics Center,” and “No Kyrgyz Land To China!” <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Coronavirus: The View From the Chinese Himalayas (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Elisabeth Forster) Ethnic tensions thus inevitably color the local response to the coronavirus in Garze. “You might be able to convince a hotel to let you stay. It’s the Chinese people we do not want,” a Tibetan explained. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - China, Southeast Asia Hold Emergency Meeting on Coronavirus Outbreak (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Jim Gomez) They pledged to intensify “timely sharing” of information within the bloc and with China and the World Health Organization. While affirming policies of maintaining openness for ASEAN economies and borders, the heads of state underscored “the need to coordinate and standardize measures to ensure proper health inspection at borders and entry points of ASEAN member states.” <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Huawei 5G Debate Causes Rift Between Western Powers (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Joshua Mcdonald) Earlier this month, details from a high-level meeting between British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and members of the Australian parliament’s Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees were leaked to the press. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Before and Beyond 5G: Central Asia’s Huawei Connections (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Umida Hashimova) Huawei and Central Asian countries have special and long-lasting relations that are here to stay. This bilateral cooperation extends beyond the technical domain and exists at the people-to-people and policy levels.<Accessed 2020-02-23> - The US Is Losing the 5G Fight, But Hampering China Is Not the Solution (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Enea Gjoza) However, the current U.S. strategy is unlikely to succeed because it is based on two faulty premises: that allies will subordinate their economic interests to U.S. demands, and that the U.S. can outcompete China through a strategy of market denial rather than superior value creation. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Questions About China’s DF-17 and a Nuclear Capability (2020-02-23)
(The Diplomat, By Ankit Panda) Even if a system is nuclear-capable (or dual-capable) in an intelligence assessment, that does not imply that it has any assigned nuclear role in practice. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Coronavirus Spreads as New Cases Double in South Korea (2020-02-22)
(New York Times, By Choe Sang-Hun and Derrick Bryson Taylor) The coronavirus spread to more countries and the numbers of new cases and deaths outside of China climbed, with special concern focused on South Korea, where infections doubled in a single day — raising fears that another Asian country was losing control of the escalating epidemic. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - As China Fights the Coronavirus, Some Say It Has Gone Too Far (2020-02-20)
(New York Times, By Keith Bradsher) Some Chinese business figures are taking an unusual public stand, saying the containment efforts threaten to strangle the economy if applied too broadly. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Coronavirus Worsens U.S.-China Ties and Bolsters Hawks in Washington (2020-02-19)
(New York Times, By Steven Lee Myers and Edward Wong) But if hard-liners in the U.S. administration were hoping for a united, anti-China message from Washington, that goal has been undermined by President Trump. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Ex-North Korean Diplomat Runs for South Korean Parliament (2020-02-19)
(New York Times, By Choe Sang-Hun) A former North Korean diplomat who fled his embassy posting has become the first defector to run for South Korea’s Parliament, saying on Wednesday that he was motivated by Seoul’s forced repatriation of two North Korean fishermen who wanted to defect to the South. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - China Expels 3 Wall Street Journal Reporters as Media Relations Sour (2020-02-19)
(New York Times, By Alexandra Stevenson) China said on Wednesday that it would expel three Wall Street Journal reporters working in mainland China, a significant escalation of Beijing’s pressure on the foreign news media. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - U.S. Designates China’s Official Media as Operatives of the Communist State (2020-02-18)
(New York Times, By Lara Jakes and Steven Lee Myers) The move is the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to counter Beijing’s influence and intelligence operations in the United States. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - How Vietnam is Using Fishing Trawlers to Keep An Eye on China’s Military (2020-02-23)
(South China Morning Post, By Liu Zhen) Vietnamese trawlers – some with militia on board – are intruding repeatedly into Chinese waters near the southern island of Hainan as Hanoi steps up its presence in the South China Sea, according to Chinese diplomatic observers. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - China’s Arms Industry Back in Business despite Disruption by Coronavirus (2020-02-23)
(South China Morning Post, By Minnie Chan) The Chinese arms industry resumed full production early this month amid the prolonged coronavirus outbreak, as military experts said the People’s Liberation Army should keep up its weaponry programmes in the face of rising security challenges in the region. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Huawei Pushes US to Release Secret Files on HSBC-Meng Wanzhou Ties as Legal Battle Broadens (2020-02-21)
(South China Morning Post, By Zhou Xin) Huawei Technologies has asked the US government to release a long list of documents related to the extradition case against chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, according to a letter filed by the company’s US lawyers to the Court for the Eastern District of New York. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Coronavirus ‘Dents Plans’ for EU-China Investment Deal by September (2020-02-21)
(South China Morning Post, By Stuart Lau) The coronavirus epidemic has reduced prospects for China and the European Union reaching a landmark investment deal in time for a September summit, the EU’s top trade official said on Wednesday. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - US Must Be Ready for Military Clash with China, Pentagon Official Chad Sbragia Says (2020-02-21)
(South China Morning Post, By Mark Magnier) The United States must prepare for a possible military conflict with China by developing new weapons, strengthening ties with allies and improving the Pentagon’s efficiency, a senior Trump administration official said on Thursday. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - China Postpones Year’s Biggest Political Gathering amid Coronavirus Outbreak (2020-02-17)
(South China Morning Post, By Jun Mai) China’s annual parliamentary meeting, which was scheduled for early March, will almost certainly be postponed because of the Covid-19 outbreak. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - US President Donald Trump Warns Germany Huawei 5G Deals Will Put Intelligence Sharing at Risk (2020-02-17)
(South China Morning Post, By Stuart Lau) President Donald Trump warned Germany that the United States will cut off intelligence sharing if Berlin does not ban Chinese telecoms company Huawei Technologies from its 5G infrastructure. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Ending Philippines-US Military Pact Will Affect South China Sea Disputes: Analysts (2020-02-16)
(South China Morning Post, By Meaghan Tobin) After years of threatening to abandon the Philippines’ military alliance with the United States, President Rodrigo Duterte last week confirmed plans to terminate the agreement governing the presence of American troops, a key part of one of Southeast Asia’s major security partnerships. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - ADMM+ a Plus for Mitigating US–China Rivalry (2020-02-22)
(East Asia Forum, By See Seng Tan) With both China and the United States initiating competing and exclusive regional visions and diplomatic structures, ASEAN-centric platforms such as the ADMM+ are more relevant than ever before. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - Huawei’s Quest for Self-reliance (2020-02-14)
(East Asia Forum, By Mark Manantan) Under the auspices of Made in China 2025, the key for Huawei’s survival is developing its own indigenous technologies — an ambition conceived in the pre-Trump era. <Accessed 2020-02-23> - PacNet #8 – Who Cares if the US Is in a “New Cold War” with China? (2020-02-21)
(Pacific Forum, By Jacob Stokes) How US policymakers answer such questions will shape Sino-American relations much more than generalized observations on Cold Wars or lack thereof. <Accessed 2020-02-23>
