La reprise en main autoritaire d’Hongkong par Pékin, en 2020, a achevé de convaincre les Taïwanais que la formule « un pays, deux systèmes » n’était qu’un leurre. D’ailleurs, selon l’édition 2021 de l’étude que mène chaque année l’université Chengchi, 63 % des Taïwanais ne s’identifient que comme taïwanais, un record, tandis que 31 % s’identifient à la fois comme taïwanais et chinois (en baisse) et 2,7 % comme uniquement chinois.  
 
Moins de 8 % des Taiwanais se déclarent pour l’unification avec la Chine, à plus ou moins long terme. L’immense majorité est pour le maintien du statu quo, voire, à terme, l’indépendance.

Dire que les Taïwanais sont des Chinois est incorrect. La société taïwanaise est très diverse. Moi-même, je suis taïwanaise, et je suis aussi indigène polynésienne. À Taïwan, il y a 1,5 million de personnes appartenant à des peuples indigènes. Et la majorité des Taïwanais ont des ancêtres indigènes. Par exemple, la grand-mère de la présidente est une indigène Paiwan. Quant à moi, je suis une Pangcah, ou Amis. Ce n’est qu’un exemple pour comprendre que Taïwan a ses propres histoires, traditions et identités, totalement différentes de la Chine. Même si nous parlons mandarin, cela ne veut pas dire que nous sommes chinois. Historiquement, nous avons eu des immigrants de Chine, depuis 400 ans. Nous partageons donc des éléments culturels. Mais cela ne veut pas dire que nous faisons partie de la Chine, comme elle le clame.

Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Spokeswoman Joanne Ou called on the United Nations (U.N.) Thursday (Oct.21) not to misinterpret Resolution 2758 and exclude Taiwan from international society — on the resolution's five decade anniversary.
 
She emphasized it only determines the issue of China's representation in the U.N., and does not mention that Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China (PRC), nor does it authorize the PRC to represent the people of Taiwan in the U.N.
 
Ou condemned the U.N. secretariat for misinterpreting Resolution 2758, echoing China's argument that, "Taiwan is a province of China.” This, she said, was the basis for preventing the country from participating in conferences and depriving Taiwan's media from covering events.
 
“The U.N.’s sweeping obstruction of Taiwan’s 23.5 million people from participating in the U.N. system is contrary to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the purposes for which the organization was established,” Ou said.
 
MOFA said Taiwan has long been a democratic country, a fact that is widely recognized by the international community. Only the democratically elected government of Taiwan has the right to represent its people in international organizations such as the U.N., Ou said.
 
“The government of the PRC has not ruled Taiwan for a single day and naturally has no right to voice for Taiwanese.”

La présidente de Taïwan affirme que l’île ne cédera pas aux pressions de la Chine
« Plus nous réalisons de choses, plus la pression exercée par la Chine est forte », a déclaré Mme Tsai. « Nous espérons un apaisement entre nos deux pays et n’agirons pas de manière irréfléchie, mais il ne faut pas croire que le peuple taïwanais cédera aux pressions », a-t-elle ajouté.
 
« Nous continuerons à renforcer nos défenses et à montrer notre détermination à nous défendre afin de garantir que personne ne puisse forcer Taïwan à emprunter la voie que la Chine nous a tracés. En effet, cette voie n’offre ni un mode de vie libre et démocratique à Taïwan, ni la souveraineté à nos 23 millions d’habitants. »
 
Toute communication officielle avec Taipei a été rompue depuis l’élection en 2016 de Mme Tsai, Pékin intensifiant la pression économique, diplomatique et militaire sur le territoire. Mme Tsai est honnie par Pékin, car elle considère Taïwan comme un pays « déjà indépendant », et rejette le principe d’une seule Chine.
 
Elle a proposé des pourparlers avec Pékin, qui les a rejetés, et dimanche elle a réitéré son appel à un dialogue « d’égal à égal » avec a Chine.

Ironically, as a contrasting sign of Taiwan’s independence, Taiwan is granted visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 146 countries, while China is only granted such access to 78. Of all those countries, only 15 officially recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, and when they do so, they still do it under the outdated name of the ROC.

Un porte-parole de la partie continentale de la Chine a exprimé vendredi sa forte opposition à toute tentative de recherche de l'"indépendance de Taiwan" par le biais de prétendus amendements constitutionnels.

China's ICBC to provide $470 bln of energy financing over next 5 yrs

wait, power outages make the news in China How lazy journalism is that

A civilian professor at the Air War College on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, pleaded guilty to making false statements to a federal agent.
 
According to court documents, Xiaoming Zhang, 69, a naturalized citizen of Chinese descent living in Montgomery, Alabama, began working as an Air War College (AWC) professor in July 2003. During his tenure at the AWC, Zhang would travel to China on a regular basis for work-related purposes, research and to visit family living there.
 
Beginning sometime in 2012, Zhang developed a relationship with a known foreign official working with the Shanghai Municipal Government. Records indicate that Zhang met with the official in person on approximately six occasions and exchanged approximately 40 emails with him from December 2012 to January 2017. At some point during this period, Zhang became aware that the official was using, or attempting to use, their relationship to gain access to sensitive information in Zhang’s possession, as well as to make contact with other potentially valuable individuals.

Zhang pleaded guilty to making false statements to a federal agent and faces a maximum of five years in prison at sentencing. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

In the early summer, with less than five months to go before a critical United Nations climate conference in Scotland, John F. Kerry told President Biden that he wouldn’t achieve his goal of tackling climate change, a key administration priority, unless the U.S.-China relationship improved.

China warns Slovakia, Czech Republic ahead of Taiwanese minister’s visit

China has warned Slovakia and the Czech Republic that nobody should harbour any illusions about the “necessary measures” Beijing will take to defend its sovereignty, ahead of a visit to both European countries by Taiwan’s foreign minister.
 
Beijing claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and is always angered by visits of senior Taiwanese officials to other countries, viewing it as covert support for the island’s claims to be a state.
 
Taiwanese foreign minister Joseph Wu’s rare Europe trip next week will first take him to a forum in Slovakia organised by a local think tank.
 
He will then go to Prague to meet the speaker of the Czech parliament’s upper house, Milos Vystrcil, and city mayor Zdenek Hrib.

Asked if China will take steps against the two European countries, he said China “will take proper and necessary measures to firmly defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity. No one should have [any] illusions about this.”

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to revoke the operating license of the US subsidiary of China Telecom.
 
China's largest telecommunications company has 60 days to discontinue services in a country where it has operated for nearly 20 years. The FCC cited national security concerns for its decision to block the Chinese state-owned business.
China-Telecom
 
The FCC claimed that China Telecom "is subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government and is highly likely to be forced to comply with Chinese government requests without sufficient legal procedures subject to independent judicial oversight."

Secretary Antony Blinken@SecBlinken
Taiwan is a critical partner to the United States and a democratic success story. Taiwan should have meaningful participation in the @UN system, especially as we face an unprecedented number of global challenges.

In a move sure to provoke Beijing, a delegation from the European Parliament will travel to Taiwan next week, as lawmakers push for closer ties with Taipei.  
 
The small party plans to travel early next week, according to multiple sources familiar with the schedule, taking high-level meetings with senior Taiwanese government officials.  
 
Leading the delegation will be Raphael Glucksmann, a French MEP and outspoken critic of China who was sanctioned by Beijing in March in a dramatic tit-for-tat escalation in bilateral tensions.