The State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs referred to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei” in a tweet Thursday — a bow to China’s demands that Taiwan not be recognized as a separate country but part of China.
The three biggest U.S. airlines – American, Delta, and United – finally caved on Tuesday to China’s demands and changed their websites to no longer describe Taiwan as a country distinct from China. It might at best be seen as partial capitulation at the last possible moment, as the airlines now list Taiwan’s capital of Taipei as a city without a country instead of “Taipei, Taiwan.”
The United States officially opened its new “American Institute in Taiwan” complex in Taipei on Tuesday, in a ceremony attended by senior U.S. and Taiwanese officials, including Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen. China formally protested the ceremony as a “serious violation of the ‘One China’ principle” and said it “negatively impacts China-U.S. relations.”
A survey released by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy on Thursday suggested the vast majority of Taiwanese prefer to maintain the status quo in their uneasy relationship with China, but they are ready to fight if China attempts to impose reunification through military force.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council is crying foul after Beijing indefinitely suspended screenings of the movie Missing Johnny, whose star Lawrence Ko has evidently been blacklisted for favoring Taiwanese independence.
China reacted with fury after the U.S. Senate passed the Taiwan Travel Act on Wednesday, condemning it as a serious violation of the “One China” principle and stepping up its efforts to isolate Taipei. In fact, the Taiwanese interpret some of China’s warnings as threats of military action.
China lodged strong objections to the Taiwan Travel Act this week as it emerged from the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week and headed for a vote. China warns that the bill, which would enable American officials to travel to Taiwan for meetings with their counterparts and vice versa, would damage relations between America and China and threaten regional stability.
China has evidently exceeded its tolerance for democracy along its fringes. There are reports this week that a Taiwanese pro-democracy activist mysteriously vanished during a visit to Macau, while the leaders of 2014’s democracy protests in Hong Kong have been politely arrested.
A man attacked and beheaded a four-year-old girl in Taiwan as she and her mother headed to a metro station in Taipei.
A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan early Saturday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Tsai Ing-wen tallied up 56 percent of the vote to become Taiwan’s first female president on Saturday. Her election also marks the end of eight years in power for the Kuomintang Party, which was much more favorably aligned with China than Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party.
A flammable substance, possibly meant for use in a stage performance, exploded in midair at the Formosa Fun Coast water park in Taiwan on Saturday night, creating an immense fireball that injured at least 510 people, 183 of them badly enough to require intensive care at hospitals, according to CNN.
