July 2019

View of China as Only a “Competitor” and Not a Threat Overly Optimistic

On the third of July, a group of American scholars and China watchers co-signed and published an op-ed with seven points in the Washington Post, titled “China is not an enemy". But the letter may simply reflect American naïveté; many in Taiwan, for one, would tell a drastically different story, that China is a threat to democracy on an island of 23 million people...

Violent Attacks on Anti-Extradition Bill Demonstrators from Gangsters, Police in Hong Kong

Attacks by individuals thought to be pro-Beijing gangsters on anti-extradition bill demonstrators took place late last night in Hong Kong, coming on the heels of a protest march called for by the Civil Human Rights Front which organizers stated drew 430,000. The end of the rally also saw riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators and police later turned a blind eye to the assaults on demonstrators by gangsters...

Swift Action from the Tsai Administration Needed Regarding Hong Kong Asylum Seekers

Taiwan's lack of any formal asylum policy—with no formalized process for processing applications by asylum seekers—is likely to be tested in the near future, with the Apple Daily reporting that thirty Hong Kong protesters have fled to Taiwan in the aftermath of the attempted occupation of LegCo on July 1st. According to the Apple Daily, another wave of more than thirty Hong Kong protesters are considering fleeing to Taiwan in the near future....

The KMT Attempts to Use Hong Kong as a Wedge Issue Against the DPP

Recent claims by KMT politicians illustrate an unusual tactic taken by the party on cross-strait issues: That of accusing the DPP of unnecessarily provoking China on cross-strait issues. While this may not be anything new in itself, with the KMT having long claimed that the DPP is dangerously provocative of China by pushing for its Taiwanese independence ideology, Hong Kong has become a particular point of attack...