Chinese leader used meeting with Ma Ying-jeou to promote peaceful ‘reunion’ as only alternative to annexation, say analysts

Xi Jinping has met the former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou, in what analysts said was an attempt to promote peaceful unification as the only alternative to military annexation of Taiwan.

Ma, who was leading a student delegation to China, met Xi in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People, a venue typically reserved for foreign leaders meeting with senior Chinese officials. Xi used the meeting to emphasise his belief that Taiwan and China were destined for what he terms “reunification”.

‘I kept praying and praying’, says rescued woman as search for four people missing from hiking trail set to resume following Wednesday’s quake

Rescuers in Taiwan planned to bring in heavy equipment on Saturday to try to recover two bodies buried on a hiking trail, while more than 600 people remained stranded in various locations, three days after the island’s strongest earthquake in 25 years.

Four people remain missing on the same Shakadang Trail in Taroko national park, famed for its rugged mountainous terrain. Search and recovery work was set to resume after being called off on Friday afternoon because of aftershocks.

At least 12 people were killed by the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck on Wednesday morning off Taiwan’s east coast, and 10 others were still missing.

More than 600 people – including about 450 at a hotel in the Taroko park – remained stranded, cut off by rockslides and other damage in different areas. However, many were known to be safe as rescuers deployed helicopters, drones and smaller teams with dogs to reach them.

Residents of tourist town at the epicentre of the 7.2 magnitude Taiwan earthquake face destruction and despair

Lying in his bed, Liao Xiu Bo wondered if he was about to die. As a powerful earthquake rocked the ground beneath him, he tried to escape his house. “Am I going to be crushed?”, he asked himself, before gathering the courage to run down the stairs, which swayed beneath his feet.

Outside, he could see that the wall surrounding his house had collapsed, its bricks littered across the road. “That’s when I realised how extreme the earthquake was”.

CCTV footage shows staff rush to hold on to wobbling cots when an earthquake struck Taiwan. Surveillance video caught the moment the earthquake hit the Ma Cherie maternity centre in Taipei. Taiwan is still assessing the aftermath of the quake – given a magnitude of 7.2 by the national earthquake monitoring agency, 7.4 by the US and 7.7 by Japan – which struck near Hualien

• Taiwan earthquake: rescuers search for survivors amid landslides and aftershocks

Officials are trying to reach more than 100 people cut off by a quake that has killed at least nine and injured about 1,000 people

Rescue teams are trying to reach more than 100 people trapped in mining areas and a national park after the strongest earthquake in decades hit Taiwan, killing nine and injuring about 1,000 people.

Search efforts around the worst-hit city of Hualien on the east coast have been hampered by more than 50 aftershocks recorded since the quake struck on Wednesday morning, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. More are predicted over the next four days, with magnitudes of between 6.5 and 7.

Enlarge / TSMC's headquarters, seen here, are in Hsinchu, Taiwan. (credit: Sam Yeh via Getty Images )

Chipmaking operations at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) were briefly paused today following a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan, according to a company statement provided to Bloomberg and others .

TSMC says that workers were evacuated as part of its earthquake safety protocols and that they have already returned to work. Bloomberg reports that the company is still "examining impact" to its operations, but it "expects to resume production overnight."

The quake's epicenter was on Taiwain's east coast and has prompted tsunami warnings in Japan, China, and the Philippines, according to The New York Times . The quake was followed by a long series of over 200 aftershocks, including one 6.5-magnitude aftershock. It's the strongest earthquake to affect Taiwan since the 7.7-magnitude Jiji earthquake in 1999. As of this writing, the NYT reports that at least nine people have died and 1,011 have reported injuries.

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At least seven killed and 700 injured after 7.2-magnitude quake struck south-east of city on Wednesday morning

• Taiwan earthquake: live updates

In the first moments after the huge quake hit, Lanni Hsu grabbed her dog and her family, and fled. Running down five flights of stairs, she headed outdoors to seek safety from falling objects.

Hsu lives in Hualien, a busy tourist city on Taiwan’s east coast, where the 7.2 magnitude quake struck on Wednesday morning . The death toll stood at seven, with 700 injured and hundreds trapped under rubble.

Rescues carried out in worst-hit city of Hualien after strong 7.7 magnitude quake; Japan lifts tsunami advisory

• Full report: four dead and dozens injured amid landslides and collapsed buildings

People are trapped in collapsed buildings in Taiwan’s city of Hualien according to local media and the local government has suspended schools and classes in the region.

According to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration, the epicentre of the quake was 25km southeast of Hualien.

Based on tsunami wave models and early tide gauge records of the tsunami in the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, coastal areas in the Philippines fronting the Pacific Ocean are expected to experience high tsunami waves.

It is forecasted that the first tsunami waves will arrive between 08:33 AM to 10:33 AM, 03 Apr 2024 (PST). It may not be the largest and these waves may continue for hours.

Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as investors await details of earthquake effects on chipmakers and tech suppliers

London’s FTSE 100 and Milan’s FTSE MIB are the biggest fallers of the main European stock market indices this morning. Both have lost 0.3%.

There are no major individual movers on the FTSE 100, however: the biggest faller is BT Group, down 1.7%.

EUROPE’S STOXX 600 UP 0.1%

FRANCE’S CAC 40 UP 0.2%, SPAIN’S IBEX UP 0.1%

EURO STOXX INDEX UP 0.2%; EURO ZONE BLUE CHIPS UP 0.3%

GERMANY’S DAX UP 0.2%

TSMC’s safety systems are operating normally. Preventive measures were initiated according to procedure and some fabs were evacuated. All personnel are safe, and those evacuated are beginning to return to their workplaces.

The company is currently confirming the details of the impact. Initial inspections show that construction sites are normal.

Enough votes had been cast as of Tuesday evening to put Disney’s board directors safely ahead of Trian’s two challengers.

10am BST : Euro area inflation rate flash reading (March; previous: 2.6% year-on-year; consensus: 2.6%)

10am BST : Euro area unemployment rate (February; prev.: 6.4%; cons.: 6.4%)

1:15pm BST : US ADP employment change (March; prev.: 140,000 jobs; cons.: 148,000)