Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Caution advised for year ahead

Taipei Times Editorial

Last year began with the election of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Beijing refuses to recognize Taiwan as a nation, but considers it a core interest. While Tsai was certainly not Beijing’s preference for leader, it can at least content itself that she is a known quantity. The year ended with the election of Donald Trump as president of the US, a country core to China’s strategic, economic and hegemonic interests. While Trump might have been Beijing’s preference over former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton at the time, recent weeks have demonstrated that he is most certainly not a known quantity.

Trump is a realization of China’s worst fears

James Wang 王景弘

US president-elect Donald Trump won the US election because he refused to play by the rules and his non-traditional approach to foreign policies as an incoming US president only reaffirmed his tendency to break the rules. Politicians, academia and the media have all described him as “unpredictable.”

Advocates of Sinocentrism in Taiwan and China have denounced him as a mere “businessman” who would go back on his word at every opportunity to get what he can.

Embracing Taiwan’s bargaining chip role

Zhang Ming-yo 張銘祐

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) telephone call with US president-elect Donald Trump has snowballed into a political storm, a development Beijing probably never anticipated. For years Beijing has heavily relied on the US to promote its “one China” policy without realizing how fragile their plan was. Indeed, Taiwanese know full well that they have been used by the US as a bargaining chip against China, yet they also know they can use that to their advantage, which is key to reversing the situation.

Japan association name-change lauded

Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday lauded the Interchange Association, Japan’s decision to change its name to the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, saying that the move would clarify Taiwan-Japan ties and be a milestone in relations between the two nations.

Japan ended formal recognition of Taiwan in 1972 and subsequently established the non-official Interchange Association, Japan, to act as its de facto embassy in Taipei.

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