AIDAN SMITH-FAGAN WRITES — Japan’s Defense and Deputy Prime Ministers have both recently affirmed their government’s willingness to defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion from the Chinese mainland. Those statements also coincided with a recent report from the Financial Times detailing joint US-Japanese military exercises in the hotly…
Full Article DIRE STRAITS: JAPAN, THE U.S. AND THE FUTURE OF TAIWAN
ANDREW DAHI WRITES – Jeremy Lin. Five foot three. A freshman in high school. And a dream. A dream to play basketball at the highest level, on the biggest stage in the world, the NBA. By the time Lin, a Taiwanese-American, was a senior in high school, he had grown…
Full Article TAIWAN: LINSANITY AND THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION
ASSOCIATE EDITOR ZHI JIAO DANIELLE GOH WRITES — Just last week, Chinese Sukhoi-30 advanced fighter jets briefly entered Taiwan’s airspace. It happened as Taiwan announced that its largest annual live-fire drill would be held next month. At the same time, news about British ministers considering plans to support Taiwan were…
Full Article ANGLO-CHINESE RELATIONS: WHY IS RAPPROCHEMENT UNLIKELY?
ANTONIA HORLICK WRITES– Alexander Wang, one of the most notable fashion designers of the twenty-first century, showcases his Taiwanese roots in his unique Spring 2019 show that makes a political statement about immigration. The collection, named “Immigrant Americana,” is a form of commentary on the current anti-immigrant climate sweeping the…
Full Article FASHION: Alexander Wang’s Collection “Immigrant Americana” is the Fashion Hero We Needed
KATRINA CROSBY WRITES – Can’t China just let Taiwan be Taiwan? In recent news, the issue of China and the island of Taiwan surfaced again, this time in the form of an acclaimed author’s nationality. Professor and author, Wu Ming-yi, is a Taiwanese writer whose novel, “The Stolen Bicycle,” was…
Full Article TAIWAN: AUTHOR GETS HIT WITH IDENTITY CRISIS!
MICHAELA MERTZ WRITES – Lunar New Year is typically a time for celebration and relaxation, right? Not so for millions of Taiwanese citizens living in China. The current battle over air space in the Taiwan Strait, located between China and Taiwan, is to blame for the unrest. More than 170…
Full Article TAIWAN: STRESS AT THE BEGINNING OF LUNAR NEW YEAR?
KATRINA CROSBY WRITES – On May 24, 2017, Taiwan ignited a beacon of hope for the LGBT community in Asia as its Constitutional Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage. Currently, Taiwan is the first country in Asia to take such a stance. The Court’s ruling was the first step…
Full Article TAIWAN: THE TRIUMPH OF RIGHTS CRUSADER CHI CHIA-WEI
KATE BARKLEY WRITES—Taiwan may become the first Asian country to embrace the rainbow, as members of its high court began hearing arguments this week on whether same-sex marriage should be made legal. If it happens, the country’s same-sex couples will have one man largely to thank, longtime gay rights activist…
Full Article TAIWAN: WILL NATION ‘EMBRACE THE RAINBOW’ OR STICK TO CONSERVATIVE PAST?
KATRINA CROSBY WRITES – A national day of anguish and remembrance should not be a day that is taken advantage of by a pizza delivery company. On February 23, Pizza Hut Taiwan posted an offensive pizza promotion to its Facebook page declaring that consumers “celebrate” with “killer” deals during their…
Full Article TAIWAN: PIZZA HUT SHOWS TIN EAR ON DAY OF REMEMBERANCE
KATRINA CROSBY WRITES – Ninety minutes — the length of a new documentary — was all it took to turn Taiwanese animal shelters and how people view them upside down – and to usher in new legislation giving animals unprecedented rights. On February 3, Taiwan enacted a law making it…
Full Article TAIWAN: ‘Butcher’ vet revealed to be patron saint of abandoned animals
AMANDA KRETSCH WRITES – Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. has sealed the deal to take over and revive Sharp Corp, making this acquisition the first time a foreign company will acquire a Japanese electronics manufacturer. Hon Hai and Sharp negotiated for months, but with the downturn of Sharp, a…
Full Article JAPAN: Taiwan Makes a Sharp MoveEMILY ROCHA WRITES – Media coverage of the recent monumental meeting between Chinese and Taiwanese presidents differs between the two states, as each attempts to push their own agenda. On November 7, in Singapore, a historic handshake between the Beijing and Taipai leaders occurred, the first since the declaration of…
Full Article THE MAINLAND VS. TAIWAN: Good News, or Bad?THIS TOM PLATE COLUMN APPEARS COURTESY OF THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, WHERE IT FIRST APPEARED 9 NOVEMBER: China’s new focused diplomacy, as viewed in an off-balance U.S., is close to remarkable. After all the past foreign-policy fog, through which it was sometimes hard to see where Beijing stood, we…
Full Article CHINA/U.S.: SHOULD THE XI JINPING CHARM OFFENSIVE SOUND AN ALARM?
ANNIE LUNDGREN WRITES – ABC’s newest primetime show, Fresh Off the Boat, reminds us that America’s complicated race relations can be funny, too. Set in 1995, the sitcom follows a Taiwanese-American family’s move from D.C.’s Chinatown to a white middle-class suburb in Orlando, Florida, where they learn how to fit in…
Full Article TELEVISION: Fresh Off the Boat is a Fresh Look at the Asian-American Experience
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES– Someone find Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je a public relations specialist pronto! The newly elected official is getting heat from Taiwanese and international media for tone-deaf comments made in the past week. On January 29, Foreign Policy magazine published highlights of a January 20 interview with the former trauma…
Full Article TAIWAN: Words Can Hurt
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES – Media lesson learned in Taiwan this week: don’t let tainted cooking oil taint your responsibility in reporting. In light of recent reports on the sale of bad cooking oil in Taiwan, the media had a frenzy covering this controversy, including speculation causing an increase in worry for the…
Full Article TAIWAN: Media Gets Burned With Cooking Oil