China-taiwan Conflict, Asia | featured news

The sign inside the mausoleum of Chiang Kai-Shek tells visitors to “please bow or show your respects” to the general who fought a bloody civil war against Mao Zedong and then fled China for Taiwan, where he spent years plotting to retake the mainland from its Communist rulers.

At the 228 Memorial Museum, a shrine to the victims of a 1947 massacre by Chinese troops, staff were in mourning Sunday following the re-election of Ma Ying-jeou, a president they think wants to turn Taiwan over to China.

In unusual praise for China, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday that Beijing deserved credit for its relatively mild response to Washington's announcement last month of a $5.8 billion arms sale to Taiwan.

A prosecutor says a Taiwanese political science professor has been detained for providing data on visiting Chinese activists to Beijing. Huang Mou-hsin says Wu Chang-yu of Central Police University was detained Friday pending filing of formal charges.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman said Monday that Beijing “firmly opposes” the Obama administration’s plans to upgrade Taiwan’s aging fleet of F-16 fighter jets, but the measured tone suggested Chinese leaders may want to avoid sparking a full-scale confrontation with Washington over the issue.

China will have 2,000 missiles aimed at its rival Taiwan by the end of the year, several hundred more than the current number, despite fast-warming trade ties between the two sides, an island defense study said.

China and Taiwan, political rivals separated by 60 years of history and hostility, highlighted their growing economic links Tuesday by signing a trade cooperation agreement that could dramatically increase the flow of goods across the narrow Taiwan Strait.

A scheduled flight from the Taiwanese capital of Taipei to the eastern Chinese city of Shanghai was diverted to a nearby Chinese airport Saturday after a passenger told cabin crew his luggage contained explosives....

Taiwan has effectively dropped a request for U.S. submarines to help shore up the balance of power with political rival China, a military source said on Tuesday, dissolving what could be a new rift in tense Sino-U.S.

China has said it will impose unspecified sanctions on U.S. firms selling weapons to Taiwan in retaliation for the U.S. announcement that it planned to sell $6.4 billion of arms to Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.