Latest news with #TaiwanStrait
South China Morning Post
12 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Taiwan's former leader Ma Ying-jeou calls for ‘peaceful and democratic' unification
Former Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou proposed that unification between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should be achieved peacefully and democratically – rejecting the use or threat of force – in a rare unscripted moment during a speech on the mainland on Thursday. Advertisement It marked the first time Ma, also the former chairman of the mainland-friendly Kuomintang (KMT), has explicitly expressed his views on unification during his four visits to mainland China. His current trip started on June 14 and ends on Friday. 'My position is that the two sides of the strait should pursue peaceful and democratic unification,' said Ma, who served as Taiwan's leader from 2008 to 2016. He made the remarks at a Chinese cultural event in Dunhuang , a city in Gansu province, according to Taiwan's United Daily News on Thursday. He went on to clarify that unification should not be achieved through 'the use or threat of force' and must 'respect the will of the people of Taiwan', according to the report. The comments – delivered off-script during a carefully arranged visit – were addressed to roughly 180 attendees, which included Song Tao , head of the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office. Advertisement In response to Ma's surprise comment, Song said in his remarks following Ma's speech that 'the future and destiny of Taiwan should be jointly decided by all Chinese people on both sides of the strait', according to a separate report by United Daily News.
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Are Trump's Iran strikes a ‘wake-up call' for China on US unpredictability?
As US air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities call into question the anti-war stance of US President Donald Trump, they may also reinforce Beijing's assumptions about the unpredictability of the US administration, according to diplomatic observers. The attacks could bolster belief in Beijing that Washington might intervene in regional conflicts, prompting stronger strategic preparations in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, they added. During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly pitched himself as an anti-war president and a peace broker, promising to put 'America first' by ending US involvement in risky and expensive overseas conflicts. The conflict makes Iranian newspaper headlines in Tehran on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Should Taiwan worry about the US being bogged down in the Mideast again?
A US war in the Middle East could leave its armed forces stretched too thin to respond swiftly to a Taiwan Strait crisis, analysts on the island warned after the US launched multiple precision strikes on nuclear-related sites in Iran on the weekend. While US President Donald Trump was quick to describe the operation as a 'very successful attack', defence analysts and lawmakers in Taipei suggested that American attention could be diverted from the Taiwan Strait Their core concern: that the United States, already deeply engaged in supporting Ukraine, would have fewer military resources and less political bandwidth to respond swiftly should Beijing move against Taiwan. 'There's no question Taiwan remains a core US interest,' said Li Da-jung, professor of international relations at Tamkang University in New Taipei City. 'But if America finds itself managing two major conflicts at once, we have to ask: how many resources can it realistically spare for us, should Beijing choose that moment to act?'
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Beijing's ‘massive' build-up raises threat of Taiwan Strait conflict: Nato chief
Beijing's 'massive' military build-up increases the threat of conflict across the Taiwan Strait in a way that could draw Russia and thus European forces into the fray, Nato's secretary general warned on Monday. Advertisement South Korea , Speaking to reporters ahead of this week's Nato summit in The Hague, Mark Rutte also said Nato enjoyed a close relationship with its Indo-Pacific partners – namely Japan Australia and New Zealand – as it ramped up the member states' defence industrial base. On the question of whether Nato would follow the US and come to its aid if Beijing tried to invade Taiwan , Rutte said the group's Indo-Pacific partners were 'very, very aware' of the People's Liberation Army 's 'massive' military build-up now under way. The Nato chief pointed to several Chinese defence companies ranking among the world's top arms makers in arguing that Beijing's expansion had reached levels that were 'never' before seen. Rutte said the associated defence industrial production capabilities could have a 'huge impact' on not just the Indo-Pacific region but also European security.
Telegraph
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
An unarmed Royal Navy warship has just quietly struck a blow for freedom
Freedom of Navigation (FON) is a cornerstone of the international order – and it's one that must be exercised or it can disappear. It's not just a legal principle under the UN Convention on the Law Of the Sea (UNCLOS), but a live issue. Today, nearly every global choke point is under stress. The Red Sea has had Freedom of Navigation (FON) challenged successfully by the Houthis since December 2023. The current uneasy ceasefire there has not restored sufficient confidence for the larger merchant ships to consider routing through there again. The Black Sea was nearly closed after Russia's invasion, until Ukraine's naval ingenuity restored free passage for its grain exports. The Strait of Hormuz is in the telescope today as commentators try and guess if the US is about to get involved in the Iran campaign and what that could mean for FON in the Strait of Hormuz. The Danish Straits and the Northern Sea Route are also now contested in different ways. Meanwhile, in the part of the world many deem the most important, HMS Spey has just conducted a Freedom of Navigation patrol in the Taiwan Strait, the first by the Royal Navy since the 2021 carrier strike group deployment dispatched HMS Richmond through there. HMS Spey, alone, unafraid, and basically unarmed, did the same on Wednesday. This raises a few interesting points. As the British office in Taipei noted after the 2021 patrol: 'Wherever the Royal Navy operates, it does so in full compliance with international law and exercises its right to freedom of navigation and overflight provided by UNCLOS.' Yet China tries to claim that the Taiwan Strait is its own and it has the right to deny passage through it. China also tries to claim that nearly all of the South China Sea belongs to it too. So who is right? From a UK and general international perspective this is an easy one. China's claims have no legal basis whatsoever – as found by the Hague's ruling against them in 2016 invalidating their claim to the 'nine-dash line'. China described the Hague ruling as 'null and void'. As importantly, their actions in the China Sea are repeatedly in breach of normal, professional and disciplined maritime behaviours. Close passes, ramming, fire hoses, lasers and so on are behaviours that you would wish to avoid whether you think you are in your own waters or not. It's all part of a broader attempt to 'normalise illegal' until the international community becomes deaf to it, and then you advance one more step. FONOPs, as conducted by Spey, are part of the counter to this. That she is unarmed is also interesting because it made the inevitable outrage from Chinese state run media look pretty silly. Screaming and yelling at an unarmed patrol boat is not a good look. It doesn't seem like she was shadowed through the transit in the way we do when Russian warships pass the UK. Again this is indicative of Spey not being an actual threat, perhaps. It's also of note that were it not for Taiwan's Foreign Ministry publicly praising the operation, we might not have found out about it at all. 'Do it but don't shout about it' appears to have been our Ministry of Defence's – reasonable – communications posture for this one. What does this mean as our Carrier Strike Group closes on the region? Without the Spey dash, one would have assumed that they would have detached a frigate to do it later this year as per the 2021 playbook. Was this FONOP done to set the conditions and judge the reaction before doing it again with a larger, better armed ship, or is that it for now? The final point is the worth of these unarmed patrol ships. With two in the Indo-Pacific, one in the Mediterranean, one in the Caribbean and one in the Falklands, they have more than paid back the paltry sum it cost to buy them. They are also one of the few remaining bastions of faraway fun left in an overstretched fleet and a good command opportunity for those aspiring to higher rank. In other words, it would be madness to either bring them back to the UK or dispense with them altogether. But it's a sad reflection on the state of Defence, and Defence thinking, that both these options are now likely. In an increasingly unstable world, and with missiles in the air every night, there is a temptation to assume that every naval interaction will result in high-intensity combat. In fact the opposite is true. The vast majority of naval interactions are like this one. Benign, challenging, occasionally threatening (both ways) but ultimately designed to set the conditions to avoid conflict. Spey's contribution, whilst small, is part of this wider picture and her captain and ship's company should be commended for doing it. Without such operations Chinese legal perceptions will become international reality – at which point Freedom of Navigation in this critical part of the world is forever compromised.
