Taiwan today pledged to forge ahead with its campaign for United Nations membership, as China celebrated an expected victory after a Taiwanese application to enter the world body was rejected for the 15th straight year.

THOUSANDS of protesters blocked a central Taipei street and displayed candles in the shape of the Chinese character for “fart” yesterday to demand that Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian step down over suspected corruption.

Taiwan’s wheelchair-bound first lady failed to attend the second session of her embezzlement trial today while opposition lawmakers accused her of using a stalling tactic to help president Chen Shui-bian serve out the remainder of his term.

Hundreds of thousands of chanting protesters marched through Taipei today, breathing new life into a campaign to pressure Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian to resign over a series of high-profile corruption scandals.

Patriot missiles streaked across the light-blue Asian sky and F-16s bombarded ships yesterday as Taiwan beat back a simulated Chinese invasion in the island’s largest-ever military exercise.

Japan and Australia today became the first countries to take firm steps to punish North Korea for its missile tests this week, while Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Taiwan added their voices to the chorus of condemnation worldwide.

Premier Wen Jiabao opened the annual session of China’s figurehead parliament today with promises of massive new social spending to placate the poor, restive countryside and said the sizzling economy will slow this year but should still grow by 8%.

China’s government said today that the Taiwanese president’s move to scrap an agency dedicated to Taiwan’s unification with the Chinese mainland will bring disaster for the island.

Taiwan’s president is expected to suspend the work of a government committee to reunify with rival China today, instead of scrapping the body altogether, in an apparent attempt to avoid American anger, a report says.

HONG Kong action star Jackie Chan says he has every right to question the behaviour of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, adding his criticism came out of his concern for the island’s people.

China said today it won’t talk to Taiwan’s president until his party drops a clause in its constitution calling for formal independence for the island.

China announced today it was giving a pair of giant pandas to the people of Taiwan, plus concessions on fruit imports and tourism, in a mix of symbolic and concrete gestures as the Taiwanese opposition leader capped a ground-breaking visit to the mainland.

Taiwan’s opposition leader and Chinese President Hu Jintao promised today to work together to end hostilities between Taipei and Beijing, during the highest-level meeting between the two sides since they split amid civil war nearly six decades ago.

PEACE and a whiff of controversy broke out yesterday as a remarkable collection of world leaders and royalty rubbed shoulders at John Paul’s funeral, with only an alphabetical seating plan to divide heads of state whose relations could be frosty or even non-existent.

FROM Beijing’s old official churches to underground congregations in the countryside, China’s Catholics were marking the burial of Pope John Paul II despite an official blackout on the ceremony.

A remarkable collection of world leaders and royalty rubbed shoulders today at John Paul’s funeral, with only an alphabetical seating plan to divide heads of state whose relations could be frosty or even non-existent.

The Chinese government said today it won’t send an envoy to Pope John Paul II’s funeral due to the Vatican’s diplomatic relations with rival Taiwan.

Taiwan’s ruling party today criticised a history-making trip to Beijing by opposition Nationalist Party leaders, saying the visit plays into the hands of the communist mainland in its efforts to divide the Taiwanese people.

Chinese communist officials and a leader of Taiwan’s Nationalist Party have held the highest-level meeting between their parties since civil war split the two sides in 1949. They called for expanded economic ties.

Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian said today he would not shut the door on eventual unification with China if Beijing expressed goodwill.

A new special report by China on its defence forces shows the country’s military modernisation is targeted at rival Taiwan, the Taiwanese Defence Ministry claimed today.

Chinese lawmakers began considering a proposed anti-secession law today that Beijing says is aimed at pushing Taiwan to unite with the mainland and which the self-ruled island contends could serve as a pretext for a military attack.

China today adamantly rejected Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian’s call for peace talks between the island and the mainland, characterising his overture instead as a bid for independence that could lead to disaster.

China today accused Taiwan of “war-provoking behaviour” after its premier said the island could hit Shanghai with missiles in the event of an attack by the mainland.

Taiwan has accused China of pressuring the organisers of the Paralympics Games in Athens to force the president’s wheelchair-bound wife to give up her credentials as the leader of the island’s delegation.

Taiwan’s opposition today launched a new challenge to the March 20 presidential vote, asking the High Court to nullify the entire election and order another one.

Opposition supporters hurled stones and water bottles as some 1,000 riot police today tried to end a demonstration demanding a recount of ballots in the president’s razor-thin election victory two weeks ago.

HUNDREDS of Taiwanese protesters scuffled with riot police, threw eggs and broke windows yesterday as they stormed into the Central Election Commission’s headquarters, where officials certified the results of last weekend’s disputed presidential vote.

LOOKING weak just days after he was shot, Taiwan's leader appeared in public yesterday for the first time since his disputed re-election victory and called for a recount which he promised to accept "100%".

Opposition activists today refused to disband protests until authorities agree to re-count Taiwan’s weekend presidential election, won by the incumbent one day after he was wounded in a mysterious shooting that critics say influenced the vote.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister was expected to retain power easily as voting began today in an election that will also decide how strong the fundamentalist Islamic opposition will be in the mostly Muslim country.

A court in Taiwan today ordered that all ballot boxes be sealed but 10,000 protesters demanded a recount of Chen Shui-bian’s re-election amid claims it was marred by voting irregularities and a mysterious shooting that wounded the president.

TAIWANESE President Chen Shui-bian and his vice-president survived an apparent assassination attempt yesterday when bullets were fired into their motorcade on the eve of a landmark election.

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and his vice president survived today when assassins bullets were fired into their motorcade on the eve of a landmark election that could be a turning point in the island’s tense relationship with China.

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were shot today while campaigning for this weekend’s presidential election, but their injuries were not life-threatening, a senior official said.

Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian was shot in the stomach today while campaigning on last day of the presidential election, a lawmaker travelling with the President said.

Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams stepped into an row when she addressed a Taiwanese presidential election rally last night.

Actor Sean Connery will participate in a planned 190-mile human chain next week in Taiwan to protest China’s missile threat against the island, newspapers reported today.

CHINA said yesterday that hard-liners in Taiwan were playing a deceitful and dangerous game by seeking independence, and appealed to the United States to oppose those seeking to split the island from the mainland.

TAIWAN’S parliament approved a watershed bill yesterday allowing its people to vote on sovereignty and other issues.

China and the United States are at odds over a proposed US missile shield, but initial talks on the issue were constructive, a US envoy said today.