Wall Street Journal (March 31)
“China’s support for Russia is the most serious but far from only reason Europe is losing patience. Beijing has launched an economic war on EU member Lithuania over its upgraded ties to Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party’s human-rights record remains abysmal. Bullying behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic and stonewalling of the origins investigation hurt China’s credibility. The question is what Europe will do beyond condemnations, token sanctions and the occasional lawsuit.”
Tags: CCP, China, Condemnations, COVID-19, Credibility, Economic war, EU, Europe, Human rights, Lawsuits, Lithuania, Russia, Stonewalling, Taiwan, Token sanctions
Wall Street Journal (December 6)
“Three potential crises are proceeding in tandem: a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, continuing Chinese pressure on Taiwan and the potential collapse of Iran nuclear talks.” Individually, any “of these standoffs has the potential to shake the world order and produce wider conflict. Taken together, they signal that the U.S. and its allies are at a dangerous moment.” Findings a way to successfully “show firmness on each front without provoking a crisis” will provechallenging.
Tags: Allies, China, Collapse, Conflict, Crises, Dangerous, Iran, Nuclear talks, Russian invasion, Standoffs, Taiwan, U.S., Ukraine
The Economist (May 1)
Taiwan is now “the most dangerous place on Earth.” An extreme “exercise of high-calibre ambiguity has kept the peace” for decades, but that’s rapidly disintegrating as positions polarize. “America and China must work harder to avoid war over the future of Taiwan.”
Wall Street Journal (February 28)
“Hong Kong authorities moved this weekend to imprison nearly the entire opposition movement. The message is that anyone who runs as a pro-democracy candidate will be treated as a criminal…. China is violating its international obligations as it tramples Hong Kong’s freedoms. So far it has paid little price, which the world may come to regret as President Xi Jinping sets his sights on Taiwan.”
Tags: Candidate, China, Criminal, Freedoms, Hong Kong, Imprison, Obligations, Opposition movement, Pro-democracy, Regret, Taiwan, Tramples, Violating, Xi
LA Times (October 8)
“If Taiwan is to fend off a Chinese invasion, it will need reluctant recruits…to summon the patriotism that inspired older generations but these days doesn’t burn as passionately in the young” who increasingly regard the “mandatory four-month military service as an unnecessary burden, even as complaints persist that such stints are too short to protect the island compared with the two to three years that previous generations served.”
Tags: Burden, Inspired, Invasion, Mandatory, Military service, Passion, Patriotism, Protect, Recruits, Reluctant, Short, Taiwan
Chosunilbo (February 24)
“Koreans have become global pariahs.” Israel, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries now ban travel from South Korea or impose quarantines. This is all because the “government dragged its heels over banning visitors from China…. China has ordered half of its 1.4 billion population to stay home” and “knows that the most effective deterrent to an epidemic is to limit the movement of humans.” Yet, it continued to let “its citizens freely visit Korea and other countries” while Korea “obligingly left the doors wide open.”
Tags: Ban, China, Government, Hong Kong, Israel, Pariahs, Quarantines, South Korea, Taiwan, Travel
New York Times (August 12)
“In a purely rational world, Japan would lead a democratic alliance with South Korea, Taiwan and much of Southeast Asia to balance the might of China. In a world fueled by historical passions, America’s retreat will almost certainly drive South Korea even closer to China, while Japan… might pull back behind its sea walls, hoping to be left alone by untrustworthy alien powers.”
Tags: China, Democratic alliance, Japan, Might, Passions, Rational, Retreat, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, U.S.
Reuters (July 5)
“Investors watching the trade tit-for-tat between the United States and China may well have reason to fear the havoc a full blown conflict between the world’s two biggest economies could wreak on the global economy.” Furthermore, the collateral damage could be worse than that done to the principals. Due to global supply chains, countries like Taiwan, Hungary, the Czech Republic, South Korea, and Singapore could be equally if not more vulnerable” to fall out from the spat between the U.S. and China.
Tags: China, Collateral damage, Conflict, Czech Republic, Global economy, Hungary, Investors, Singapore, South Korea, Supply chains, Taiwan, Tit-for-tat, Trade, U.S., Vulnerable
Taipei Times (February 8)
“Tuesday night’s earthquake off the coast of Hualien County has again raised the issue of human fragility in the face of the power of nature and how the geological conditions that exist in Taiwan need to be respected.” Although “nuclear power is a relatively clean source of energy,” any benefits “could be wiped out overnight should a nuclear disaster happen, especially given the proximity of two of the three operational plants to the capital and within the nation’s most-populated area.”
Tags: Clean, Disaster, Earthquake, Energy, Fragility, Hualien, Nature, Nuclear power, Plants, Taiwan
Institutional Investor (January 18)
The “Taiwan election results present a challenge for Beijing.” Not only is Tsai Ing-wen the first female elected president, but the election brought her party, the Democratic Progressive Party, ”its first legislative majority.” Moreover, Tsai “is a strong supporter of independence for the island, presenting a challenge for leadership in Beijing who prefer to designate Taiwan as a breakaway faction of mainland China.”
Tags: Beijing, Challenge, DPP, Election, First female, Independence, Majority, President, Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen
