News that El Salvador has decided to break diplomatic ties with Taiwan marks the third diplomatic ally that Taiwan has lost this year. This brings Taiwan’s total number of diplomatic allies down to seventeen. What does this mean for Taiwan, going forward?...
A recent visit by Taiwanese president to America has received much attention, with this being seen as a sign of stronger ties between Taiwan and America in the wake of the passage of the Taiwan Travel Act. However, first, the visit represents incremental change far more than it does a substantial break from previous American policy towards Taiwan, and second, one actually observes increased wariness of the Trump administration from the Tsai administration in the course of the visit...
It is not too surprising that anger would break out from the public after Taiwanese bakery chain 85°C issued a public statement claiming that it upholds the 1992 Consensus and views both sides of the Taiwan Straits as part of one family. On the other hand, it is also not too surprising that 85°C would make such a declaration either...
The recent indictment of former president Ma Ying-Jeou on charges tied to the KMT’s illegal party assets and KMT-affiliated organizations would have been more or less an inevitable event, if the DPP is serious about its ongoing probe into illegal party assets of the KMT. However, is this a sign that the KMT party assets probe is expanding?...
Although anticipated for some time, a cabinet reshuffle announced last week by the Tsai administration is likely aimed at putting on a good face ahead of 2018 local elections. The reshuffle gives some sense as to what issues the Tsai administration has its eyes on going into 2018 local elections...
Despite the DPP passing the pension reform bill for public servants, teachers, and military veterans it has struggled to push through legislature for some time, one expects that challenges to the bill will continue in the future...
A secret deal between Taiwan and Australia to treat refugees from Nauru denied admittance to Australia by the Turnbull government proves a shameful episode of complicity by Taiwan in the human rights abuses of the Australian and Nauran governments...
As the two year anniversary of the Tsai administration taking power was on May 20th, recent comments by Tsai Ing-Wen on what she has accomplished to date in the two years of her presidency suggest that Tsai has not wholly abandoned attempts to keep the civil society groups that took public prominence after the Sunflower Movement happy...
As with past years, Taiwan’s lack of membership in the World Health Organization has become a matter of controversy again. Taiwan is currently blocked from participating in the World Health Organization and the WHO’s governing body, the World Health Assembly, due to Chinese pressure...
With former president Ma Ying-Jeou facing four months of imprisonment after being found guilty of leaking classified information by the Taiwan High Court, it seems predictable that the KMT will leverage on this fact to claim political persecution by the DPP...