Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

What killed US-China engagement?

Joseph S. Nye Jr

When Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met with US President Joe Biden last fall, some interpreted it as a return to engagement. However, it heralded only a minor detente, not a major change in policy.

The US’ engagement with the People’s Republic of China began with then-US president Richard Nixon in 1972 and was expanded by former US president Bill Clinton. Since then, critics have described US policy as naive, owing to its failure to understand the Chinese Communist Party’s long-term objectives. Underpinning the policy was the prediction, from modernization theory, that economic growth would propel China down the same liberalizing path as other Confucian societies like South Korea and Taiwan.

However, Xi has made China more closed and autocratic.

Taiwan to support Japan rescue and relief efforts via donations

Taipei Times

Taiwan is to donate ￥60 million (US$416,102) to Japan for earthquake rescue and relief efforts, and is to open disaster relief accounts to receive donations starting today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula of Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture on Monday afternoon, followed by multiple aftershocks.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) announced the donation to assist the Japanese government in its rescue and post-disaster reconstruction work in the hope that the people affected would be able to return to normal life as soon as possible.

Hsiao is keen to keep progressing

Tshua Siu-ui 蔡守崴

On Monday, the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) vice presidential candidate, former representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), attended the televised debate with her Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) counterparts, Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) and Legislator Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈) respectively.

Hsiao enumerated several reforms implemented by the government and vowed to keep the progress going.

Hsiao began with the government’s economic accomplishments, saying that by distributing stimulus vouchers during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing the budget for public infrastructure by 30 percent and enabling Taiwan to surpass South Korea in its GDP per capita, the DPP has proven itself more capable of fulfilling people’s needs than the previous KMT administration.

AI Labs reports surge in disinformation

Taipei Times

Taiwan AI Labs yesterday reported a surge in online misinformation over the past few days targeting political issues ahead of next week’s legislative and presidential elections.

The research organization said it observed several groups working in tandem to undermine public trust in the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), with accounts on Facebook manipulating news regarding the stabbing to death of a New Taipei City junior-high student to support the death penalty.

A ninth-grade male student reportedly stabbed a classmate in the neck and chest on Monday last week, after a female student complained to the suspect about the way the other student had spoken to her.

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