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Richard Sproat, Joseph R Allen and Adam Burden put the Chinese ambassador’s pronouncements in an opinion article into historical context
Zheng Zeguang, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, parrots the standard People’s Republic of China talking point that “Taiwan has been an inalienable part of China’s territory since ancient times” ().
The island of Taiwan has indeed been inhabited by humans for thousands of years, but the Han Chinese only started settling there in the late 13th century. This hardly counts as “ancient times” in terms of the 3,200-year recorded history of China (dating from the earliest Chinese written documents, the ), not to mention the much, much earlier history of continuous settlement in mainland China, for which there is ample evidence in archaeological records.

Beijing says its participation in Vostok exercises ‘unrelated’ to current events and part of ongoing cooperation with Moscow
Chinese troops will travel to Russia for large military exercises amid heightened tensions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The joint exercises in Russia’s far east, which will include India, Belarus, Mongolia, Tajikistan and other countries, are held every four years. But the week-long manoeuvres will be presented by Russia as a symbol of international support despite sanctions and other efforts to isolate the country due to its war with Ukraine.

Former student leader among 29 pro-democracy activists entering same plea on subversion charges after more than a year in jail
Joshua Wong and a group of 28 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists charged under a controversial national security law have entered guilty pleas, in the largest joint prosecution in the territory in recent years.
A total of 47 defendants, aged 23 to 64, were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under the sweeping national security law. They were detained in 2021 over their involvement in an that authorities said was a plot to paralyse Hong Kong’s government. At the time, the primary showed strong support for candidates willing to challenge the Beijing-backed local government.

A severe drought has dented energy supplies and disrupted access to water for hundreds of thousands. Cities order rolling blackouts; farmers rush to save crops.

Investigators say four people committed burglaries at the homes of 26 Asian American business owners in Colorado and Wyoming in 2019.

Investigators say four people committed burglaries at the homes of 26 Asian American business owners in Colorado and Wyoming in 2019.

The announcement comes amid tensions with China over the self-governing island, which several American lawmakers recently visited.

The Bachelorette's Ethan Kang became a season 19 fan favorite. He is now calling for more Asian American representation on the show in the future.

Business secretary says move to protect Bristol-based electronic design firm ‘necessary to mitigate the risk’
The UK has blocked the takeover of an electronic design company by a Hong Kong rival over national security concerns, in the latest sign of growing British anxiety about Chinese investment.
The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, took the decision to prevent Super Orange HK from acquiring Bristol-based Pulsic, saying it was “necessary and proportionate to mitigate the risk to national security”.

Coastal city of Xiamen tells workers on fishing boats, as well as their catch, to undergo testing as part of import controls
In the coastal Chinese city of Xiamen, it’s not just the mouths of fishers being swabbed for Covid-19, but also the fish they’ve caught.
As China maintains its commitment to zero Covid, city authorities are working to ensure there is no avenue for the virus to enter, ordering all fishers and their catch undergo a daily nucleic acid test.

There is much talk from Beijing about how the island has been part of China since time immemorial. The reality is more complicated
The American sinologist Lucian Pye that China is a “civilisation pretending to be a nation-state”. But it is precisely the opposite: China is a modern nation-state that pretends to be an ancient civilisation – when it suits its expansionist ambitions.
Nowhere is this clearer than it the way it talks about Taiwan, which it claims has been part of China since time immemorial. The government recently published a – released in the context of unprecedented live-fire drills aimed at intimidating Taiwan after Nancy Pelosi’s visit – which begins by referencing the dispatching of troops to Taiwan by the Sui Dynasty (581–618). Chinese territorial claims over Taiwan often cite the history of the Ming dynasty warlord Koxinga, who made Taiwan his base of operations during his short-lived Kingdom of Tungning (1661-1683), or Taiwan’s formal incorporation into the Qing dynasty as a province in 1887.
Brian Hioe is one of the founding editors of New Bloom Magazine, an online magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and Asia Pacific
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