Taiwan Swaps Out Prime Ministers To Bolster KMT’s Popularity

Liu Chao-shiuan’s resignation as Taiwan’s prime minister, and the toppling of several minister that is likely to follow, was hardly unexpected and it won’t change much in the sense that it is President Ma Ying-jeou who holds the reins of power. But Liu is stepping down to take political responsibility for the government’s slow response [...]

China’s Automakers Likely To Cross Taiwan Strait For Parts

Taiwan’s three largest auto parts makers, Tong Yang Industry, TYC Brother Industrial and Depo Auto Parts Industrial, are open to investment from the mainland, Bloomberg reports. China’s car makers would get core design and manufacturing technologies they lack as assemblers and Taiwan’s parts makers would get access to on of the world’s still growing car [...]

First Cross-Strait M&A Deals Struck

An unsourced report in Taiwan’s Commercial Times (here via Bloomberg) says that some of the first companies on the island to offer to sell stakes in themselves to Chinese companies may include state-owned ones. Chinese companies will be able to take part ownership of Taiwanese companies, and vice versa, from the end of this [...]

Beijing, Taipei And The Diplomacy Of Art

China and Taiwan’s Palace Museums, collectively homes to the world’s best collection of Qing dynasty (1616-1911) treasures, have had informal but friendly ties for some time. Now that relations between Beijing and Taipei are thawing that relationship is getting complicated.
A weekend meeting between Zheng Xinmiao, curator of Beijing’s Palace Museum (the formal name for the [...]

China Steps Out Despite All

Amid all the handwringing over the seriousness of the slowdown of the economy, two pieces of the other side of China.
One: Beijing has offered financial assistance to help Taipei cope with the impact of the global economic crisis and has proposed broader financial links, which would be another step in restoring government-level talks.
Two: a pair [...]

Taiwan’s Ex-President Chen Detained

The detention of Taiwan’s ex-President Chen Shui-bian on corruption allegations turns what had started out as another episode of a soap opera into a serious drama.
Chen stands accused of money laundering and illegally using 14.8 million Taiwan dollars, about half a million U.S. dollars, of a special presidential fund. He denies the allegations which he [...]

Beijing And Taipei Sign Suite Of Trade Deals

Immediate results from Chen Yunlin’s visit to Taipei, the highest level visitor to the island from the mainland since 1949: daily direct flights and new cargo routes among a suite of 13 trade agreements that set aside long-standing security and sovereignty issues.
The number of direct China-Taiwan charter flights will triple to 108 per week and [...]

Vale Backs Down Over Iron Ore Premium

Baosteel Group, the country’s biggest steelmaker, says Cia. Vale Do Rio Doco, the world’s largest iron ore supplier, has dropped its demand for a 12% premium on its exports to China. The global slowdown has led to a slump in demand for Chinese steel at home and abroad — and piles of unused iron ore [...]

Taiwan Arms Sales A Storm In A Teacup

Beijing’s response to last week’s announcement of the U.S.’s $6.5 billion arms sale to Taiwan has been prompt if largely symbolic: cancellations of military and diplomatic exchanges with the U.S.
Several planned senior level visits and military-to-military exchanges for this month have been scrapped, according to the U.S. Defense Department. The U.S. State Department says China [...]

U.S. Announces $6 Billion Arms Sale To Taiwan

The White House might have thought the news would whistle by a bailout-distracted American audience, but Beijing is sure to notice.
The U.S. government said it is selling six bundles of arms worth a collective $6.5 billion to Taiwan. The bills of goods includes 30 Apache attack helicopters, 300 Patriot missiles and 32 Harpoon submarine-launched missiles. [...]