With reports that Chinese regulators are moving to crack down on multinational companies who display “Taiwan” as a separate country from China on their websites, this is nothing particularly new, the labelling of Taiwan by multinational companies having long been a site of identity contestation...
Renewed emphasis on Marxism after China’s 19th National Congress is not too surprising, seeing as China has never fully distanced itself from its purported claims to embrace Marxism as an ideology. Nevertheless, despite the fact that China may claim to be Marxist, China has long since embraced a free market economy while clinging to Marxism as a justification for a high degree of state involvement in the economy and the primacy of the state over political affairs...
Would the DPP ever seek rapprochement with China? Indeed, as absurd as this question may seem to many international observers of Taiwanese politics who look at Taiwan from afar and remain convinced that the DPP is a diehard pro-independence political party, this is not impossible as a political possibility...
Recent comments by AIT chair James Moriarty earlier this month are, unsurprisingly, illustrative of American hypocrisy regarding Taiwan. In recent comments made around the time of ROC National Day, Moriarty called on Taiwan to continue to maintain the status quo with China, praised the Tsai administration for continuing to maintain cross-strait relations, and also called on Taiwan to do more for its defense, all the while affirming continued friendship between Taiwan and America. Never mind these are things which are mutually contradictory...
Have there been any clear takeaways from Taiwan so far from the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party? So far, it does not look as though any significant change in policy has occurred...
While Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-Che remains imprisoned in China under murky charges of “subverting state power” and attempting to encourage “multiparty rule” in China, it may be worth considering the question of what exactly China hopes to gain out of Lee’s imprisonment, if at all. Obviously, in all likelihood, China wishes to intimidate Taiwan, but in precisely what way does it wish to intimidate Taiwan?...
Questions about attacks last week on students and pro-independence demonstrators at the Sing! China event last week remain unresolved, with collusion between Taipei city officials, pro-China gangsters, and the Chinese government itself now alleged at high levels. Many questions remain to be answered not only by Ko Wen-Je’s political administration and the Taipei city police, but also as to why the Mainland Affairs Council would allow the event to take place...
A decision to avoid rocking the boat would seem to have been the primary result of the DPP’s annual National Congress meeting this weekend, with the DPP under Tsai Ing-Wen not taking any decided stance regarding a number of issues...
A demonstration to call for normalization of Taiwan’s international status was held at Liberty Plaza tonight, calling for the removal of Taiwan’s status as a “province” of China in the ROC constitution and the permanent connection of Taiwan and China enshrined in the ROC constitution through the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area...
