With regard to the occupation of the Taiwan legislature and, in particular, the DPP’s determination to sidetrack the democratic process when the numbers were not in its favor on its pet issues, I was the recipient of some indignant feedback along the lines of Gandhi, MLK, etc. i.e. on issues of moral imperatives you gotta...
Read MoreThe ineluctable drift of Taiwan outside of the PRC’s political orbit, with a helping shove from Taiwan’s DPP (Democratic Progressive Party), that’s what’s going on. On March 18, on the occasion of the Crimean referendum, I wrote a piecespeculating on what would happen if the United States decided to support a Maidan-style insurrection against an...
Read More[This piece was also posted at Asia Times Online on March 18, 2014. It can be reposted as long as China Matters is credited and a link provided.] A certain amount of attention, and rightly so, has been paid to the discomfiture of the People's Republic of China (PRC) with Crimea unilaterally declaring independence from...
Read MoreMcDonald’s in Taipei. By the 1990s, Taiwan had already become a “post-nation” (source) East Asia has long been bucking the trend toward globalization. Its countries have become major players in the global marketplace, while jealously guarding their cultural specificity and national character. But East Asia is now getting with the program. South Korea in particular...
Read MoreThe Obama administration is warily inching toward the expected announcement that it will provide Taiwan some upgrades for its current fleet of F-16s, instead of selling 66 new ones. Expected, that is, if one had read a piece I wrote for Asia Times in July, which I reproduce below (for the links, please go the...
Read MoreSaturday's presidential election in Taiwan has led to an unseemly Florida-200-type wrangle, with the losing candidate demanding the result be annulled. Incumbent President Chen Shui-bian's margin of victory was 30,000 votes out of 13 million cast; the number of spoilt ballots was nearly 340,000. There are no hanging chads in this case — the voters...
Read MorePresident Bush's remarks about Taiwan, following his meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, have set off a spate of hyperventilating in both Taipei and Washington. Typical was The Weekly Standard: This needs a little deconstruction. Taiwan is a small country with a large and hostile neighbor. She has the good fortune to possess what...
Read MoreOne unpleasant little side story to the commemoration of the 9/11 attacks has been the reluctance of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to invite representatives of Taiwan to his city's ceremony. One Taiwan citizen and at least eight other Taiwan natives died in the attacks last year; five Taiwanese banks had offices in the World...
Read MoreWhat George W. Bush should say.
The news that China is continuing its build-up of missiles opposite Taiwan, with 100 more short-range ballistic missiles now in place at a newly-built base, comes as one of China's most senior officials, Vice Prime Minister Qian QiChen, arrives in Washington for the first high-level Sino-U.S. discussions of the new administration. (That "q," by the...
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