Taiwan Quick Take: Global Views poll shows fears of PRC, and support for ROC status quo, on the rise

Global Views Research has released their 2020 Taiwan Public Sentiment Trend poll results, and if any trend jumps out most, it is fear of the PRC is on the rise. There has been a sharp shift towards the DPP and away from the KMT. Impressions of China have sharply deteriorated, and people’s willingness to go […]
Space Watch: Taiwan’s TiSPACE Enters Crowded Small Satellite Launch Market With Large Ambitions

… Earlier in 2019, TiSPACE increased the efficiency of its hybrid rocket engines to achieve NASA-defined Class-I rocket propulsion. Chen told the Taipei Times that TiSPACE managed to do this while keeping costs lower than competing firms. According to Chen, TiSPACE hybrid rocket engines can generate more than 1,000 kilograms of thrust. TiSPACE intends to […]
Focus Taiwan: Taiwanese firms’ investment pledges hit NT$830 billion

Taipei, Dec. 19 (CNA) A slew of government incentives launched earlier this year to boost investment in Taiwan have increased the amount of investment in the country pledged by Taiwanese firms to over NT$830 billion (US$27.51 billion), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said Thursday. Su made the remarks after hearing a report by the Ministry of […]
EET Asia: Taiwan: Small Island, Big Potential

Intelligent bedsheets and insulin pens with universal connectors; a glimpse at the medical startups who are joining Taiwan’s burgeoning startup ecosystem. What is it that motivates a startup to take a leap of faith and relocate to another country? Is it access to a larger pool of talent, proximity to their target market, increased funding […]
Focus Taiwan: 161 U.S. House members call for trade agreement with Taiwan

Washington, Dec. 19 (CNA) One hundred and sixty-one members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter Thursday to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer, urging him to open negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan. The letter, signed by more than one third of the 435 House members across party lines, said […]
Taipei Times: 2020 Elections: China should pay for squeezing Taiwan: US expert

… Asked if there are practical ways to protect Taiwan from losing more diplomatic allies, Yates said that free and democratic nations should join forces and impose a cost on China whenever it excludes Taiwan from global organizations, such as WHO meetings. While he does not speak for US President Donald Trump, the US Congress, […]
Washington Post: It’s not all on Trump: China favors confrontation with the U.S.

… These experts also soft-pedal another issue that is key to understanding the negative trajectory in U.S.-China relations: decoupling. “Decoupling” is a buzzword used to describe the process by which the United States and China have begun to separate their intensively intertwined economies. All of the authors decry decoupling as a strategic error, but they […]
Frozen Garlic: reporting polls in the UDN

What if you are a partisan media outlet, and you have to report news that looks bad for your preferred party? What if you have a lot of flexibility in how you report the story? If you want to maintain a basic level of media ethics, you have to accurately report the basic facts. However, […]
Frozen Garlic: The first “debate” is over

… This year, we are scheduled to have three of these CEC policy forums and then (I think) one more traditional debate. Arranging the schedule in this way is very advantageous to Tsai. Han needs a knockout, and this schedule minimizes the possibility that he will get one. Since the policy forums don’t provide much […]
Bangkok Post: Taiwan: a democracy in Asia that works

… It is a myth in some Thai quarters that democracy is a Western import, unfit for Asian societies like Thailand. Taiwan is a living and thriving example of being Asian, democratic and economically successful at the same time. Thailand is not prone to strongman rule and authoritarian culture just because it is Asian. It […]