Chinese jets made a record 380 incursions into Taiwan's defence zone last year, a defence official said Tuesday, as a military-linked think-tank warned tensions were now at their highest since the mid-1990s.

Taiwan began construction on a fleet of indigenous submarines on Tuesday, the latest move by the out-gunned island to bolster its defences against increasingly bellicose threats from Beijing.

China must rethink its hardline stance towards Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen said Wednesday, as she warned the island was already independent and that any invasion would be "very costly" for Beijing.

China is interfering in Taiwan's elections "every day" as it seeks to damage the island's democracy, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday

Hong Kong's legislature on Wednesday formally withdrew planned legislation that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China

Hong Kong activists urged Taiwan on Tuesday to help promote democracy in the Chinese-ruled city amid its worst political crisis in decades

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen headed for the United States on Thursday on a trip that has angered Beijing, warning that democracy must be defended and the island faced threats from "overseas forces"

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will spend four nights in the United States in July while visiting Caribbean diplomatic allies, her government said on Monday, angering China, which urged Washington not to allow her to visit.

Taiwan is not intimidated by China's military drills this week, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday, after the latest Chinese military manoeuvres were denounced by a senior US official as "coercion" and a threat to stability in the region.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as leader of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Saturday after it suffered major defeats in key mid-term polls, a significant blow to her prospects for re-election in 2020.

Fishermen and their families took to the streets in Taiwan Tuesday against what they said was an unfair crackdown on the industry which has been accused of illegal practices and human rights abuses.

Several thousand pro-independence demonstrators rallied in Taiwan's capital on Saturday to protest against Beijing's "bullying" and called for a referendum on whether the self-ruled island should formally declare independence from China.