Taiwan's Tsai offers assistance to China over virus surge

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen extended an olive branch to Beijing on Sunday, pledging to offer assistance if needed as coronavirus cases surge in China after its abrupt lifting of pandemic restrictions.

"As long as there is a need, we are willing to provide necessary assistance based on humanitarian concerns," Tsai said in her customary New Year's Day speech.

She added that she hoped Taiwanese aid could "help more people out of the pandemic and have a healthy and safe New Year".

China is facing an explosion of Covid-19 cases after dropping its stringent "zero-Covid" containment policy last month, three years after the coronavirus first emerged in the city of Wuhan.

Chinese hospitals have been hit by a flood of mostly elderly patients, crematoriums have been overloaded and many pharmacies have run out of fever medications.

In his televised New Year speech on Saturday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the "light of hope is right in front of us" as epidemic prevention and control entered "a new phase".

Xi also said in a separate speech on Friday that Beijing "resolutely fought against attempts by separatists to seek 'Taiwan independence' and intervention of external forces in this regard".