US senators introduce bill to encourage high-level visits to Taiwan Six U.S. senators jointly introduced the Taiwan Travel Act on May 5 to encourage visits between the United States and Taiwan at all levels. The draft bill states that Congress believes the U.S. government should allow officials at all levels, including cabinet-level national security officials,…

The leaders of the United States and China and their senior officials have not mentioned Taiwan in the initial official comments following the first face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping.  Chinese state news agency Xinhua reports that Trump and Xi “exchanged views on regional hot-button issues,” though it does…

Taiwan’s Homegrown Submarine Build Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen this week unveiled a new Indigenous Defense Submarine program as part of a commitment to boosting Taiwan’s defense system and improving the island-nation’s military self-reliance. The Ministry of National Defense has contracted the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) and shipbuilder CSBC Corporation for the…

As a special service to our readers, Topics Online is providing a weekly news roundup from The News Lens International covering the week’s most important stories from Taiwan, across the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.  An Ex-President Indicted Former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) this week became Taiwan’s third-straight former leader to be prosecuted…

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Tsai visits allies, transits USA Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen departed on January 6 for a nine-day journey to visit Central American allies, including stopovers in Houston and San Francisco. The trip occurred amid heightened tensions with China over Tsai’s congratulatory phone call to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.  Tsai’s first stop was a transit in Houston, Texas,…

An international tribunal’s recent ruling on the South China Sea leaves Taiwan in a sensitive position. In September last year, President Tsai Ing-wen, then the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate, told a diplomatic reception: “A future DPP administration will be committed to following…the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)…