Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Lessons from the war in Ukraine

Bryan D. Hopkins

When I was in Ukraine filming for an upcoming documentary, I was surprised at how frequently my mind naturally tended to map Ukraine’s war experience onto Taiwan, where I have lived for the past 10 years.

There are obvious parallels of an imperial nuclear superpower asserting itself over a smaller non-nuclear state, but there are also small mundane things that would impact everyday life. When I saw Ukrainian elderly people filling jugs of water at a church in sub-zero temperatures and hauling it back to their homes which might not have electricity, I imagined the difficulty of a Taiwanese senior carrying that water up numerous flights of stairs in sweltering heat. It is a heartbreaking thought.

Domestic sub undergoes harbor tests

Taipei Times

The nation’s first domestically built submarine prototype, the Hai Kun (海鯤號), yesterday was transferred to a dry dock for final harbor acceptance tests.

The prototype has been undergoing harbor acceptance tests at the factory of shipbuilder CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) in Kaohsiung since October last year after an unveiling ceremony in late September.

On Monday evening, the prototype was towed from the CSBC factory to nearby Jong Shyn floating dock No. 8 and then transferred to a nearby dry dock, where the final tests were being conducted.

Taiwan must build stronger ties

Marvin Hamor Bernardo and Aswin Jia-Song Lin 柏馬文，林家松

Since last month’s presidential and legislative elections concluded with the victory of Vice President William Lai (賴清德), there has been a considerable increase in Chinese People’s Liberation Army military activity around the nation. Lai is not Beijing’s preferred victor. However, his election is looking to be a sober affair, with him aiming to maintain the “status quo” in cross-strait relations.

Despite a more measured approach, China has responded forcefully through repeated intrusions into the nation’s air defense identification zone.

As tensions mount across the region, there is a need for the nation to widen its strategic horizon beyond great power politics.

1624: a year of significance

Taipei Times Editorial

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Taiwan History in Tainan, “Transcending 1624 — Taiwan and the World,” which opened on Feb. 1, offers a rich and evocative interpretation of Taiwanese history. It begins with the question: “How should 1624 be viewed from 2024?”

It was the year Dutch traders landed on Taiwan’s shores, marking the “integration of Taiwan into the Asian-European trade network,” the exhibition said. The 17th century was when “Taiwan became connected to the rest of the world,” the museum added.

The motif of the exhibition is trade, commerce, cultural exchange, assimilation and adoption. In a word: openness.

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