On September 21, a coordinated effort by the Western nations of Britain, Australia, Canada, and Portugal aimed to promote a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by announcing their recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state. This decision happened amidst the escalating humanitarian crisis following continuous Israeli offensive attacks, which have caused global outrage over […]
Tag: Taiwan
Trump 2.0: Defining a New Era of American Power
Each generation has its “crossing the Rubicon” moment—the reelection of Donald Trump is ours. The post-Cold War order that began with the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev is no more. Populism is on the rise across the globe. America’s adversaries—Russia, China, and Iran—feel emboldened after years of American decline. Make no mistake, Trump’s reelection marks a […]
Drone Warfare is Eroding the Right to Life
Technology has made war feel as remote as a video game: armed drones hover above like silent arbiters of life and death, striking targets with the press of a button. These “precision” machines, initially confined to distant battlefields, are now used in routine counter-terrorism operations and even domestic policing. But who really pays the price […]
How a Train Crash Shed Light on Taiwan’s Unique Heritage and Flaws
While the vast majority of the world dealt with lockdowns and the trauma of the pandemic, Taiwan stood as one of the few COVID-free havens. Hence, for this year’s Tomb-Sweeping Day, Taroko Express Train 408 was crammed almost to full occupancy, with no pandemic restrictions to curb the number of passengers. Thus, when the train […]
Tumult in Taipei: Western Media Coverage of the 2020 Taiwanese Presidential Election
The dominant perception of Taiwan as effectively irrelevant to the workings of East Asian politics is detrimental to both the future of Taiwan and of free markets and media within the Chinese economic and political orbit. A key misunderstanding lies in the evaluation of Taiwanese politics solely within a Taiwan-China relations framework rather than a […]
Chinese Censorship Comes Stateside
The general manager of the Houston Rockets basketball team, Daryl Morey, triggered a firestorm in China when he tweeted: “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.” His actions saw Chinese businesses cutting ties with him, the Rockets and the NBA. Morey even saw criticism from the Chinese government itself. Ultimately, the tweet was deleted and […]
Taiwan’s President Must Prove She Can Lead
On May 20th this year, I landed in Taiwan’s Taoyuan Airport, full of excitement because I was finally able to live through a historic moment. It was Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration day. Taiwan’s first female president, Tsai of the Democratic Progressive Party, came across as a capable, pragmatic politician, famously known for her pro-independence stance about […]
A Case for Opening the Great Firewall
“Across the Great Wall we can reach every corner in the world,” read the first email from China to Germany in 1987. Today, the prophecy looks rather ironic; China’s internet censorship protocol, “the Great Firewall,” blocks Chinese netizens from Google, Facebook, and the rest of the world. To ask for total internet freedom is impractical, […]