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June 08, 2025
 

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Ben Blanchard
The Taiwanese coast guard conducts its annual drill in southern Taiwan, simulating the seizure of a ferry by 'international terrorists,’ in collaboration with Taiwan's military to board and take back control of the boat and evacuate casualties, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 8, 2025
Taiwanese coast guard, military drill to better face China's 'grey zone' threat
Taipei has repeatedly complained about Chinese activities such as undersea cable cutting and sand dredging around the island, designed to pressure it without direct confrontation.
Security personnel keep watch near the portrait of late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong displayed on the Tiananmen Gate, in Beijing on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 4, 2025
We will never forget Tiananmen crackdown, Taiwan and U.S. say on 36th anniversary
The events are not publicly discussed in China and the anniversary is not officially marked.
The Taiwanese military conducts its first High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) live-fire test launch at the Jiupeng base in Pingtung, Taiwan, on May 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2025
Trump aims to exceed first term's weapons sales to Taiwan, officials say
If U.S. arms sales to Taiwan do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump's commitment to the island.
Taiwan said in January it suspected a China-linked ship of damaging an undersea cable off its northern coast; the ship owner denied the accusations.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 11, 2025
In a first, Taiwan charges Chinese ship captain with damaging undersea cables
The captain, surnamed Wang, has claimed innocence, but refused to provide details of the ship's owner and "had a bad attitude," Taiwanese prosecutors said.
Kids view the area from a lookout point over cranes and containers at the Port of Keelung, Taiwan, on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2025
Taiwan eyes zero tariffs with U.S. and pledges more investment
The U.S. is Taiwan's most important international backer and main source of arms, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.
Members of Taiwan's armed forces, riding on a M60A3 tank, participate in a drill as part of a demonstration for the media to show combat readiness, at a military base in Taitung, Taiwan, on Jan. 31, 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 18, 2025
Taiwan considering multibillion dollar arms purchase from U.S., sources say
Taipei is hoping to win support from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as China continues to apply military pressure on the island.
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.
Foreign tourists with unpaid medical bills in Japan to be denied entry
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during ministerial meeting meeting on foreign residents in Japan on Friday at the Prime Minister's Office.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
Accidents raise concern over how Japan vets foreign drivers
Keita Ueno (right), the owner of Kiki Driving School and an instructor who supports both foreign nationals and Japanese citizens returning from abroad in getting their foreign driver’s licenses converted, is worried about the current lax system for the process.
Japan won’t wait for G7 summit for possible U.S. trade deal
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's top negotiator in tariff talks with the U.S. speaks to reporters at the Japanese Embassy in Washington on Friday.
From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
What can Kenji Yanobe’s cosmic cats teach us about humanity?
Kenji Yanobe’s spacesuited cats are the main characters of “Ship’s Cat Island,” the inaugural exhibition at Hyper Museum Hanno in Saitama Prefecture.
From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
Accidents raise concern over how Japan vets foreign drivers
Keita Ueno (right), the owner of Kiki Driving School and an instructor who supports both foreign nationals and Japanese citizens returning from abroad in getting their foreign driver’s licenses converted, is worried about the current lax system for the process.

Podcast

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Longform

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How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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