Trump administration

Results of US Presidential Elections Unclear Due to Delays, But What Will the Stakes for Taiwan Be?

With vote counts delayed because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the question of who will be the next American president still remains opaque. Joe Biden currently leads at press time, with 225 electoral votes to 213 votes, and 100 electoral votes yet to be called, but many believe that Biden's odds of victory are increasingly slim. What will the stakes be for Taiwan, in the event of a Biden or Trump victory?...

Trump Has Made Hypocrites of Chinese Dissidents and Human Rights Activists

The CCP’s belligerent behavior at home and abroad has brought together adversaries of different ideologies, making for some rather odd bedfellows. The striking difference between the values of former Chinese dissidents and which pro-democracy Hong Kong media seem to champion could not be more contradictory with those of Donald Trump, whom they appear to paint as their last, best hope in defeating the CCP...

Tsai Administration Opens Taiwan to American Beef and Pork Imports, Angling for a Trade Agreement

The Tsai administration surprised last week, with the announcement that it intended to open Taiwan up to beef and pork imports from America. The move is one which is clearly aimed at removing one of the major political hurdles to a bilateral trade agreement with the US, the US having made this into a precondition of a bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan for well over a decade...

Despite Azar Visit, America is Unlikely to Learn from Taiwan’s Experiences Fighting COVID-19

News that American Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar plans to visit Taiwan as part of a diplomatic visit in the near future is ironic, given America’s disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Azar’s visit to Taiwan will be conducted under the auspices of seeking to learn from Taiwan’s successes fighting off the COVID-19 pandemic, one generally expects this to be primarily political theater...

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...

Claims by Chinese Officials That COVID-19 Originates in America Follow a Familiar Script

A Chinese diplomatic official raised eyebrows in the past week with claims that the COVID-19 coronavirus may not originate from China. Zhao Lijian, a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, took to Twitter to claim that the COVID-19 coronavirus might not have originated from Wuhan, but could have been brought to China by the American military...