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December 21, 2024
 

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Ben Blanchard
A Taiwanese coast guard ship (left) monitors a Chinese coast guard ship a few nautical miles from Taiwan's northeastern coast on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Dec 13, 2024
China's 'drills that dare not speak their name' put Taiwan on alert
Analysts say that Beijing's activities, conducted in near silence and followed by an opaque statement, are meant to create confusion.
A giant TV screen shows news footage of military drills conducted in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan, by the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, in Beijing on Oct. 14.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 3, 2024
Taiwan watching Chinese carrier movements as drills could start over weekend
Beijing could launch large-scale drills to coincide with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's trip to the Pacific this week that includes visits to Hawaii and Guam.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te waves to the crowd on the island's national day in Taipei on Oct. 10.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 27, 2024
China could launch military drills near Taiwan over president's Pacific visit
President Lai Ching-te will start a visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and was also planning stops in Hawaii and possibly the U.S. territory of Guam.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te is planning a stopover in Hawaii as part of an overseas trip starting in the coming weeks, sources said.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 15, 2024
Taiwan president plans Hawaii visit on sensitive trip to Pacific, sources say
Six sources briefed on the visit said that the president is planning a stopover in Hawaii as part of an overseas trip starting in the coming weeks.
Taiwanese flags are seen at the Ministry of National Defense of Taiwan in Taipei on Dec. 26, 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 29, 2024
'Taiwan independence' explained
A brief look at the history of the island and its status in the world today.
A man spreads fertilizer on a paddy field in Ilan County, Taiwan, in 2008.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 23, 2024
Preparing for a Chinese blockade, Taiwan maps out wartime food plans
China's latest war games around the island, carried out last week, included blockading key ports and areas, and assaulting maritime and ground targets.
Former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (left) and current President Lai Ching-te wave during the latter's inauguration ceremony outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei on May 20.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 7, 2024
Former Taiwan President Tsai to make sensitive Prague visit, sources say
Tsai will visit Prague and deliver a speech at Forum 2000, which begins on Oct. 13, according to the three sources.
Japanese radio equipment maker Icom director Yoshiki Enomoto shows its model IC-V82 device, which the company said they stopped production in 2014, during an interview at its headquarters in Osaka on Thursday.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Sep 21, 2024
Hack of Hezbollah devices exposes dark corners of Asia supply chains
Counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product.
The Chinese navy aircraft carrier the Shandong in the Pacific Ocean southeast of Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture, on Tuesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 11, 2024
Taiwan monitors surge of Chinese warplanes headed to Pacific carrier drills
The Chinese military exercises coincide with a NATO summit in Washington, where a draft communique says Beijing continues to pose systemic challenges to security.
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te visits soldiers and air force personnel in Hualien, Taiwan, on May 28.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 24, 2024
Autocracy is 'evil,' Taiwan president says after China threatens death for separatism
China, viewing Taiwan as its territory, openly opposes Lai, labeling him a "separatist" and conducting military exercises shortly after his inauguration last month.
Taiwanese soldiers run during the annual Han Kuang anti-landing drill in New Taipei City last July.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 23, 2024
Taiwan war games to mimic combat as closely as possible
A senior Taiwan defense official said there was an urgent need to rethink how the drills were conducted.
A nuclear-powered Type 094A Jin-class ballistic missile submarine of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy is seen during a military display in the South China Sea on April 12, 2018. The submarine that surfaced in the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday appeared to be one of this class.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 18, 2024
Taipei keeping watch after Chinese submarine surfaces in Taiwan Strait
Pictures of the surfaced craft, which appears to be a nuclear-armed Jin-class ballistic missile submarine, were taken by Taiwanese fishermen.
A giant screen showing news footage of military drills conducted in areas around the island of Taiwan by the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), in Beijing on May 24
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2024
Taiwan says China is 'nibbling away' at its space, trying to create a new normal
Chinese pressure keeps Taiwan out of most international bodies, causing it to face a huge amount of obstruction in its attempts to take part in international organizations.
Taiwanese soldiers participate in battlefield rescue training in Taipei on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 1, 2024
Taiwan on alert for post-inauguration Chinese drills
China has a strong dislike of Taiwan's President-elect Lai Ching-te, believing him to be a dangerous separatist.
A demonstrator holds flags of Taiwan and the United States in support of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during an stopover after her visit to Latin America, in Burlingame, California, in January 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 4, 2024
'Staunch friend' of Taiwan to become top U.S. envoy in Taipei: sources
Sources have said that Raymond Greene, currently deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, will take on the role.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and Taiwan Navy chief Tang Hua attend the delivery ceremony of six made-in-Taiwan Tuo Chiang-class corvettes at a port in Yilan, Taiwan, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 30, 2024
Taiwan's navy chief to visit U.S. next week, sources say
Tang Hua will visit the United States from next week to attend a military ceremony and discuss how to boost bilateral naval cooperation.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visits army bases ahead of the Lunar New Year in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Feb. 6.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 21, 2024
Citing safety risk, Taiwan president skips South China Sea visit
The official said the South China Sea had been highly militarized, and that the trip may cause international controversy.
Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te speaks at a meeting at the presidential palace in Taipei on Feb. 22.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 1, 2024
Taiwan faces steady 'drip' of pressure as China tightens pre-inauguration squeeze
Officials in Taipei fear Beijing could further squeeze the island's room to maneuver without resorting to direct conflict.
Taiwan's coast guard said it would continue to use radar, surveillance and patrols to ensure the "harmony and safety" of the waters near the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands, which are close to China's shores.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 21, 2024
Taiwan drives away Chinese coast guard boat as tensions rise
The Chinese coast guard vessel had entered Taiwan's waters near Kinmen a day after officers from the agency boarded a Taiwanese tourist boat.
China announced on Sunday that its coast guard would begin regular patrols and set up law enforcement activity around the Taiwan-controlled islands of Kinmen.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 20, 2024
China coast guard 'triggers panic' by boarding Taiwanese tour boat
A Taipei minister said such vessels — both Chinese and Taiwanese — were not illegal and that they commonly enter the other side's waters by accident.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
A year after going private, structural reforms bearing fruit for Toshiba
Toshiba's Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Koji Ikeya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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