Israel/Palestine Conflict: Over 100 Americans in Taiwan Send Letter to AIT

Laura Moye

NCC Chair Appointment Becomes Firestorm Between Pan-Blue and Pan-Green Camps

Brian Hioe

Fu Kun-chi Returns from Trip to China, Touts Dividends

Brian Hioe

Rally Calling for Child Protections Takes Place on Ketagalan Boulevard

Brian Hioe

Politics

Elon Musk Wades into Taiwan Commentary in Financial Times Profile

Brian Hioe
Elon Musk waded into commenting on cross-strait relations earlier this week in a Financial Times profile. In the profile, Musk suggests that Taiwan be made into a special administrative region of China, which would have more freedom than Hong Kong. According to Musk, though the proposal “probably won’t make everyone happy”, he thinks that “it’s possible, and I think probably, in fact, that they could have an arrangement that’s more lenient than Hong Kong"...
EnglishOctober 2022Politics7 min read

Mental Health Used for Political Attacks in Kaohsiung Race, Rather Than Discussed as a Significant Issue

Brian Hioe
Recent attacks on the DPP mayor of Kaohsiung, Chen Chi-mai, from the KMT’s Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Ko Chih-en have hinged around the city’s suicide rate. Ko has pointed to the fact that eight bodies of Kaohsiung residents were found in Kaohsiung’s river in 37 days as a sign of Chen’s poor performance as mayor, insofar as it has affected the mental health of Kaohsiung residents. Ko has otherwise pointed to that there were 4,700 suicides in Kaohsiung in the past ten years, though Kaohsiung’s Health Bureau also responded that suicides were highest in 2019, during Han Kuo-yu’s brief tenure as mayor...
2022 ElectionsEnglishOctober 2022Politics5 min read

Warnings of Chinese Disinformation Behind Reports of Secret Thai Trip by National Security Bureau Head

Brian Hioe
Unverified reports claiming a sightseeing visit to Thailand by National Security Bureau director-general Chen Ming-tong at the public expense began to appear earlier this month, following screenshots posted by a Twitter account with the username @andreny45652235. The Twitter account only had six posts before being taken down, which raised questions as to the authenticity of the account, but the photo of Chen it posted seemed to be taken from Thai customs. It is unclear as to whether Chen traveled to Thailand recently, whether these were older screenshots, or whether they could have been photoshopped...
EnglishPoliticsSeptember 20225 min read

Biden Comments on Taiwan Commitment Again Walked Back, but Likely to Be Interpreted as of Greater Significance

Brian Hioe
Earlier today, US president Joe Biden confused again with comments on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that suggested US commitment to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack. Subsequently, as with previous such incidents in which Biden indicated US commitment to defend Taiwan, these comments were quickly walked back by the White House, which stated that US policy on Taiwan had not changed...
EnglishInternationalPoliticsRegional TensionsSeptember 20227 min read