May 2020

Actions by Trump Indicate Taiwan and Hong Kong Used Only to Score Points Against China

A press conference by US president Donald Trump took an unexpected turn yesterday after Trump announced not only the end of Hong Kong’s favorable trade status under American law, but that the US would be withdrawing from the World Health Organization. The WHO is the UN agency responsible for global health. The move is expected to have large repercussions on both Taiwan and Hong Kong...

American Abandonment of Hong Kong Could Be Framed as an Anti-China Move Through Loss of Autonomous Status

It is possible that protests yesterday in Hong Kong will be remembered as a pivotal event. Although yesterday’s demonstration is comparable to many of the protests that took place in the past year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the wake of the protests yesterday, American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo certified to Congress that Hong Kong was no longer autonomous from China...

Han Kuo-yu Attempts to Change His Image Ahead of the June Recall Vote

Recent efforts by Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu to turn around his image illustrate that the Han administration may be too little, too late. Han is currently facing a recall vote, which is scheduled to take place on June 6th. It is generally thought that this recall vote has a high chance of succeeding, seeing as the number of signatures obtained for the petition needed to hold the recall vote had close to the number of votes needed to recall Han...

Statement by Tsai Ing-wen Is Vague at Best, at Worst Is Aimed at Cutting Ties With Hong Kong

Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen took to Facebook yesterday night to issue a statement regarding the ongoing protests in Hong Kong. While Tsai expressed support of Hongkongers, it proves hasty to assume that Tsai was proposing any concrete measure to aid Hongkongers out of a sense of solidarity. In fact, if it proves to be more than a vague statement that Tsai has no real intention of acting on, Tsai’s statement could be interpreted as aimed at putting further distance between Taiwan and Hong Kong more than anything else...

Familiar Cycle of Clashes as Protests Take Place in Hong Kong Against Beijing-Backed Security Legislation

Protests involving clashes between demonstrators and police broke out today in Hong Kong, in the apparent resumption of what was a familiar pattern in the last year. The demonstration today was against plans by China’s National People’s Congress to pass security legislation circumventing the Hong Kong Legislative Council. Police did not wait for long to use tear gas, firing tear gas at demonstrators around 1:30 PM...