I write mostly about Taiwan, but also on Chinese foreign policy and global human rights issues.

  • 川普恐慌:台灣如何應對川普2.0,確保未來安全?

    美國川普總統近期威脅要對台灣半導體徵收關稅。這讓許多政府和產業界人士的新年假期被迫中斷,匆匆應對可能的危機。這場恐慌,反映出台灣政府在與川普政府互動時的策略不足,以及民進黨過度依賴美國外交政策建制派的弊病。

  • Trump Panic: How Taiwan can deal with Trump 2.0 and Secure its Future

    Taiwan grapples with President Trump's threats to impose tariffs on its semiconductors, revealing a lack of strategic preparedness.

  • Feckless foreign policy of the KMT

    As Taiwan’s domestic political crisis deepens, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have proposed gutting the country’s national spending, with steep cuts to the critical foreign and defense ministries. While the blue-white coalition alleges that it is merely responding to voters’ concerns about corruption and mismanagement, of which there certainly has been plenty under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT-led governments, the rationales for their proposed spending cuts lay bare the incoherent foreign policy of the KMT-led coalition.

  • Taiwanese must fight Chinese Taipei creep

    Taiwan’s victory in the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship is an historic achievement. Yet once again this achievement is marred by the indignity of the imposed moniker “Chinese Taipei.”

  • Trump brings new diplomatic tests

    As the world ponders what US president-elect Donald Trump’s second term would mean for relations with the world’s largest economy and most powerful military, Taiwan has unique considerations and anxieties about the next four years as it seeks to maintain a stable partnership with its most critical ally.

  • 賀錦麗與川普都小看北京威脅 錯讀台海局勢

    美國總統大選不到兩週,有學者發現共和黨候選人川普覺得靠關稅就能嚇阻北京侵台,民主黨候選人賀錦麗則把優先擺在伊朗等次要對手上,兩人恐都錯讀台海情勢。

  • How Trump and Harris Both Misread Taiwan

    The former president thinks tariffs will deter China, and the vice president’s primary focus is on a less-threatening adversary.

  • D.C.’s new pandas are named what, now?

    Depending on how they are pronounced, Bao Li and Qing Bao’s names have unsettling meanings.

  • Taiwan needs bipartisan support

    The attendance of 183 international dignitaries at the Double Ten National Day celebration was an important public measure to affirm Taiwan’s sovereignty and international support. Despite the prominent attendance of three sitting US congressmen, the failure of the US Democratic Party to send any representative is an unfortunate setback for the strong bipartisan support for Taiwan in the US.

  • Indictment Of New York State Official Demonstrates the Need for Taiwan to Conduct Renewed Subnational Diplomacy

    The recent indictment of a former New York State official, Linda Sun (孫雯), for allegedly using her official position to benefit the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has shed light on the vulnerability of US state governments to foreign influence.

  • In Defense of “The Monk and the Gun”

    In Le Monde, sinologist Marie Holzman accuses the Bhutanese-Taiwanese film The Monk and the Gun of being a "Chinese attack on democracy." Directed by Pawo Choyning Dorji, the film humorously explores Bhutan's 2006 democratization. Is this critique fair, or is the film’s subtle commentary on democracy being misinterpreted?

  • Taiwan must fight ‘Chinese Taipei’

    As the world’s nations sailed the River Seine during the opening ceremony for the Olympics last month, Taiwan once again suffered the enduring humiliation of being the sole country forced to sail under a fictitious name and flag.

  • Europe should embrace Taiwan inside the International Criminal Court

    European states should aid a Taiwanese bid to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), a symbolic statement of values as well as a substantive move to integrate Taiwan into the global community and preserve peace in the Indo-Pacific.

  • Misguided fears over RNC platform

    Much fuss has been made this week over this year’s Republican National Committee (RNC) policy platform’s failure to include any mention of Taiwan, for the first time in four decades.

  • Taiwan should swiftly join the ICC

    In recent months, high-level discussions in Taiwan have raised the prospect of the nation joining the International Criminal Court (ICC), one of the many institutional pillars of the international rules-based order that still excludes Taiwan.

  • Olympics To Kick Off as Taiwan Still Faces 'Chinese Taipei'

    Alone of all the nations and territories competing in the Olympics, Taiwan is forced to compete under a nonsensical moniker that neither refers to any real geographic or political reality, nor accurately reflects the identity of its team. Rather, Taiwan competes under “Chinese Taipei,” an imperial Chinese construction imposed on the people of Taiwan without consultation.

  • Taiwan’s ‘Chinese Taipei’ problem

    Taiwan will once again be forced to compete in the Olympics this summer under a nonsensical moniker that neither refers to any political reality nor the identity of its team.

  • The Non-consensus Consensus of Taiwan’s Election

    While there is plenty of daylight between the DPP and KMT, the two parties have converged on remarkably similar positions with regards to national sovereignty.