The recent push by Washington and Tokyo to expand Indo-Pacific multilateral cooperation — including the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum and its US$50 billion project pipeline — reflects a shift toward institutionalizing cooperation in response to a more complex and less p
The ongoing Middle East crisis has reinforced an uncomfortable truth for Taiwan: In an increasingly interconnected and volatile world, distant wars rarely remain distant.What began as a regional confrontation between the US, Israel and Iran has evolved into a strategic shock wave reverberating far b
Lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) last week announced a proposed referendum on introducing corporal punishment for certain “major crimes.” Perhaps they have an eye on stirring up populist sentiment ahead of local elections at the end of this year.While there are some Taiwanese who b
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In 1949, then-US president Harry S. Truman laid out a bold vision that would shape global policy for generations. Poverty, he said, was not merely a humanitarian concern but a threat to peace itself, and development was the remedy.The logic was compelling in its simplicity: raise living standards an
In last year’s film KPop Demon Hunters, a slick South Korean boy band acts as cover for a plot to feed humanity to a ravenous, fiery, subterranean monster. It is an oddly apt way of thinking about its energy policy.There has been lots of reasons for fans of the energy transition to idolize the count
Soft power: An American pope understands and wields it; an American president does not understand it and keeps destroying it.Those two have been at it for a while. Their differences run deep. Pope Leo XIV is clear that god hates war, including the one that US President Donald Trump launched for no g
A cross-caucus negotiation at the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday last week reached a consensus that the legislature would invite Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) to report on this year’s general budget and refer it to committees for review tomorrow. If tomorrow’s meeting proceeds smoothly, it could end the
Following Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit to China last week, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has once again resorted to its old tactics, offering to purchase Taiwanese agricultural products as a condition in exchange for support for unification. I strongly di
In the face of China’s daily escalating military pressure, “gray zone” threats, cognitive warfare and economic coercion, it is no longer enough for the nations along the First Island Chain to individually defend themselves and respond. The First Island Chain is no longer just a line on a map. It has
Reports about Elon Musk planning his own semiconductor fab have sparked anxiety, with some warning that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) could lose key customers to vertical integration.A closer reading suggests a more measured conclusion: Musk is advancing a strategic vision of in-house
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On the night of April 12, as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban conceded defeat after 16 years in power, the crowds along the Danube river began to chant. They did not reach for new words. They did not need to. They reached back four decades for words that had announced a turning point in history
I cannot remember ever hearing the winner of a democratic election stand in front of the cameras after their victory to promise “regime change.” A new dawn or era, yes. Hope, transformation, integrity, a drained swamp, for sure, ad nauseam. However, not what Hungary’s Peter Magyar pledged after rout
Asked about the Taiwan People’s Party’s (TPP) expulsion of its former legislator-at-large Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀), TPP founder and former chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said, “she did it to herself.” The circumstances leading to Li’s expulsion, and the increasingly ugly fallout that has since played out in the m
After the meeting between Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Chinese Communist Party immediately announced 10 new Taiwan-related measures, including the resumption of pilot programs allowing residents from some regions in China t
When 17,000 troops from the US, the Philippines, Australia, Japan, Canada, France and New Zealand spread across the Philippine archipelago for the Balikatan military exercise, running from tomorrow through May 8, the official language would be about interoperability, readiness and regional peace.How
In the rhythmic cycle of the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar, the transition from spring to summer is marked by a term that sounds less like a weather report and more like a celestial benediction: guyu (穀雨), or “grain rain.” Arriving around April 20 as spring’s sixth and final chapter, guyu s
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