"We don't worry about it at all. The threat has always been there and there's nothing to worry about. If it were going to happen, it would've had happened a long time ago," said Huang about the potential military conflict between #China and #Taiwan. edition.cnn.com/2021/10/14/asi…
But on the streets of Taipei, the mood this week was mostly relaxed and confident. While a few people said they were a bit worried about threats of forced "reunification" by Beijing, many believed the Chinese government would never really go ahead with it.
"I think mainland China and Taiwan have always co-existed peacefully. There are Taiwanese people in mainland China, and there are mainland people here in Taiwan. We are all Chinese people," said Vicky Tsai, 38, a market trader in Taipei.
The trader said military tensions didn't really have much impact on most people's daily lives, dismissing them as "games played by the upper class." "I think it is more important to earn money," she said.
Liu Ting-ting, who reports on the military for Taiwan's TVBS News channel, said although tensions were rising in the region, it didn't affect daily life.
"People are more concerned as to ... whether they can put food on the table," she said.
Liu said while she had no doubt there was a possibility Beijing might try to take Taiwan by force if it felt it had no other option, the people of the island "have no say in that."
"There's nothing they can do about it," she said.
Liu described China's military sorties as a "battle of psychology." She said that while both Beijing and Taipei were trying to project military power, it appeared that China was aiming to instil fear in Taiwanese people.
Asked whether they believed the US would help Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, opinion was divided among Taiwanese people interviewed by CNN.
Lisu Su, 34, the owner of a herbal tea shop, said Taiwan's "strategic position" meant the US would have to help defend the island.
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More from the fire accident in #Taiwan: Police has focused their investigation on a burnt incense burner in a small room at the back of a shop selling utensils for making tea. A couple has been brought in for another round of questioning this morning as ...cna.com.tw/news/firstnews…
... the owner of the tea utensil shop claimed that the couple was often drinking in the small room and police investigation also found that the couple may have had an argument the night before the tragic accident took place. More than 40 people have died and dozens ...
... were wounded. The Kaohsiung City Fire Department has urged the government to require all residential buildings to have a management committee, as they said they were unable to enter the burned down building to conduct safety inspection many times due to the lack of such ...
Breaking: LinkedIn said it would shut the version of its professional-networking site that operates in #China, marking the end of the last major American social-media network operating openly in the country. wsj.com/articles/micro…
@LinkedIn said that it made the decision after “facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.”
LinkedIn said it would replace its Chinese service, which restricts some content to comply with local government demands, with a job-board service lacking social-media features, such as the ability to share opinions and news stories.
When broken down by party identification, we found both a majority of DPP and KMT respondents are concerned about a possibility of war. KMT respondents however are more worried about war than DPP respondents,…
… but both parties’ respondents share the concern, showing that that fear of military conflict spans Taiwan’s political aisle despite a typically high degree of partisanship.
A Chinese official said #China's recent increase in military exercises and warplane missions near #Taiwan — which have raised concerns around the region — were necessary to defend the nation's sovereignty and territory. google.com.tw/amp/s/news.yah…
The purpose of the maneuvers was to “fundamentally safeguard the overall interests of the Chinese nation and the vital interests of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait," said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
“The People's Liberation Army exercises are necessary actions to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Ma told reporters at a biweekly news conference in Beijing.
"The need for peace and stability does not mean there must be compromise. #Beijing will not waver on its territorial claims. No matter what the temptation, Washington should avoid any dealings in which #Taiwan becomes a bargaining chip." ft.com/content/263eb8…
"Most fundamentally, future decades of peace across the Taiwan Strait depend on recognition that military conflict would be a disaster for Taiwan, China, the US and the world."
"Quite aside from the hideous human cost of any fighting, any war would overturn a global order under which Taiwan and China have both prospered mightily, to their own benefit and that of their trading partners."
"But as the troubles of a major property developer and its $300 billion mountain of debt drive a government effort to contain the peril, #Beijing risks hurting a major driver of its crucial economic growth engine: home buyers like He Qiang." nytimes.com/2021/10/12/bus…
"Mr. He was so optimistic about property in China that he bought an apartment from that property developer, China Evergrande Group, then became a real estate agent himself, selling the company’s apartments to hundreds of other families.
“It was the peak of Evergrande’s glory,” Mr. He said. He is much more pessimistic these days. Mr. He, who is from the southern city of Yueyang, has yet to move into his apartment because Evergrande has stopped construction.