|
★
No. 1 "comment
Taiwan" on Mocrosoft Bing,
2025-11-1,
2025-10-30,
2025-10-21,
2025-10-10,
2025-10-1,
2025-9-21,
2025-9-1,
2025-8-17,
2025-8-9,
2025-7-28,
2025-7-18,
2025-7-9,
2025-7-1,
2025-6-9,
2025-5-20,
2025-4-27,
2025-4-1,
2025-3-19,
2025-3-3,
2025-2-28,
2025-2-16,
2025-1-25,
2025-1-1,
2024-12-30,
2024-12-25,
2024-12-24,
2024-12-7,
2024-10-10,
2024-9-11,
2024-8-31,
2024-8-8,
2024- 7-24,
2024-5-1,
2024-4-19,
2024-2-28,
2024-1-23,
2023-11-11,
2023-11-1,
2023-10-10,
2023-9-18,
2023-9-11,
2023-8-22,
2023-8-8,
2023-7-4,
2023-6-28,
2023-6-16,
2023-5-31,
2023-5-1,
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2023-3-23,
2023-2-28,
2023-2-6,
2023-1-21,
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2022-12-12,
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2022-9-20,
2022-9-11,
2022-9-5,
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2022-8-14,
2022-8-6,
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2022-7-1,
2022-6-24,
2022-6-18,
2022-6-10,
2022-6-8,
2022-5-30, 2022-5-16,
2022-5-6
★
pic.:
No.
1 "comment Taiwan" on US Yahoo,
2025-11-1,
2025-10-10,
2025-10-1,
2025-9-21, 2025-9-1, 2025-8-17, 2025-8-9, 2025-7-28, 2025-7-18, 2025-7-9, 2025-7-1, 2025-6-9, 2025-5-20, 2025-4-27, 2025-4-1, 2025-3-19, 2025-3-3
★
pic.:
No.
1 "comment Taiwan" on US Yahoo,
2025-9-30, 2025-8-16, 2025-7-27, 2025-7-17, 2025-7-8, 2025-6-30, 2025-2-28, 2025-2-16, 2025-1-25, 2025-1-1, 2024-12-30, 2024-12-25, 2024-12-24, 2024-8-31, 2024-8-8, 2024-8-2, 2024-7-24, 2024-5-1, 2024-4-19, 2023-8-8, 2023-7-4, 2023-6-28, 2023-6-16, 2023-5-31, 2023-5-1, 2023-4-30, 2023-3-31, 2023-3-23, 2023-2-28, 2023-2-6, 2023-1-21, 2023-1-14,
Top or No.
1 "comment Taiwan" on US Yahoo,
2022-12-12, 2022-10-10, 2022-9-11, 2022-9-5,
2022-8-13, 2022-8-7,
2022-6-25, 2022-5-25
pic.:
The
web-sites group ranks No.1
"comment Taiwan" on Yandex of Russia ,
2025-11-1, 2025-10-30, 2025-10-10,
2025-10-1,
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2022-8-20,
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2022-1-25,
2022-1-11,
2022-1-1,
2021-11-21,
2021-10-23, 2021-10-20, 2021-10-3, 2021-6-27,
8-13-2020,
8-5-2020,
6-12-2020,
5-21-2020,
2-28-2020,
1-17-2020,
1-11-2020,
12-18-2019, 12-1-2019, 11-26-2019, 11-7-2019;
No.3 at 2023-3-23
 ★ ★★
 
★
pic.:
No.
1 "comment Taiwan" on US Yahoo,
2025-2-28, 2025-2-22, 2025-1-1, 2024-12-24, 2024-8-31, 2024-8-8, 2024-8-2, 2024-7-24, 2024-5-1, 2024-4-19, 2023-8-8, 2023-7-4, 2023-6-28, 2023-6-16, 2023-5-31, 2023-5-1, 2023-4-30, 2023-3-31, 2023-3-23, 2023-2-28, 2023-2-6, 2023-1-21, 2023-1-14,
Top or No.
1 "comment Taiwan" on US Yahoo,
2022-12-12, 2022-10-10, 2022-9-11, 2022-9-5,
2022-8-13, 2022-8-7,
2022-6-25, 2022-5-25
★
No. 1 "comment
Taiwan" on Yahoo (Taiwan),
2025-11-1, 2025-10-30, 2025-10-1, 2025-9-21, 2025-9-1, 2025-8-9, 2025-7-28, 2025-7-1, 2025-5-20, 2025-4-27, 2025-4-1, 2025-3-3, 2025-2-16, 2025-1-1, 2024-12-25, 2024-12-24, 2024-12-7, 2024-10-10, 2024-8-31, 2024-8-8, 2024-8-2, 2024-7-24, 2024-5-1, 2024-4-19, 2024-2-28, 2024-1-23, 2024-1-1, 2023-11-11, 2023-11-1, 2023-10-10, 2023-9-11,2023-8-22, 2023-8-8, 2023-7-4, 2023-6-28,
2023-6-16,
2023-5-31,
2023-5-1,
2023-4-30,
2023-3-31,
2023-3-23,
2023-2-28,
2023-2-6,
2023-1-21,
2023-1-1,
2022-12-12,
2022-10-10,
2022-9-20,
2022-9-11,
2022-9-4,
2022-8-22,
2022-8-14,
2022-8-7,
2022-7-29,
2022-7-18,
2022-7-7,
2022-7-1,
2022-6-25,
2022-6-18,
2022-6-9
★ pic.
:
No.1 "comment Taiwan" (Chinese version)
on Yahoo Taiwan
,
2024-4-19,
2024-1-1,
2023-8-8,
2023-4-30,
2023-3-23,
2023-2-20,
2023-1-21,
2023-1-1,
2022-12-6,
2022-10-10,
2022-9-20
★
No. 1 "comment
Taiwan" on
DuckDuckGo ,
2025-11-1,
2025-10-10,
2025-10-1,
2025-9-21, 2025-9-1, 2025-8-17, 2025-8-9, 2025-7-28, 2025-7-18, 2025-7-9, 2025-7-1, 2025-6-9, 2025-5-20, 2025-4-27, 2025-4-1, 2025-3-3, 2025-2-23, 2025-2-16, 2025-1-1, 2024-12-25, 2024-12-24, 2024-12-7, 2024-8-31, 2024-8-8, 2024-8-2, 2024-7-24, 2023-6-16, 2023-5-1,
2023-1-21, 2022-5-16,
2022-4-26,
2022-4-10,
2022-4-8,
2022-4-3,
2022-3-23,
2022-3-20,
2022-3-12, 2022-3-9,
2022-3-6, 2022-2-28,
2022-2-14,
2022-2-8,
2021-11-11,
2021-10-8, 2021-10-1,
2021-9-27,
2021-9-19, 2021-9-7,
2021-8-22, 2021-8-5, 2021-6-27;
No. 2 "comment
Taiwan" on
DuckDuckGo , 2022-9-11
★
No. 1 "comment
Taiwan" on
DuckDuckGo , 2025-10-10, 2025-8-19, 2024-8-8, 2023-5-1,
2022-2-28,
2021-6-27
pic.:
No.1 "comment
Taiwan" on AOL,
2025-11-1,
2025-10-10,
2025-10-1,
2025-9-21, 2025-9-1, 2025-8-17, 2025-8-9, 2025-7-28, 2025-7-18, 2025-7-1, 2025-5-20, 2025-4-27, 2025-4-1, 2025-3-3, 2025-2-22, 2025-2-16, 2025-1-1, 2024-12-25, 2023-7-4, 2023-6-28,
2023-6-16, 2023-5-31, 2023-5-1, 2023-4-30, 2023-3-31, 2023-3-23, 2023-2-28, 2023-2-6, 2023-1-21, 2023-1-14,
No.1 "comment
Taiwan" on Aolsearch, 2025-7-28, 2025-7-18, 2025-7-9, 2025-7-1, 2025-6-9;
No.1 or top "comment
Taiwan" on AOL,
2022-12-12, 2022-9-11,
2022-8-13, 2022-8-7, 2022-5-23, 2022-5-16,
2022-5-7,
2022-4-26,
2022-4-10,
2022-4-8, 2022-4-3, 2022-3-29,
2022-3-22, 2022-3-9,
2022-3-6,
2022-3-4,
2022-2-8,
2021-10-8,
2021-10-1,
2021-9-27,
2021-9-19, 2021-9-7,
2021-6-27,
2021-5-1,
3-8-2021, 2-20-2021,1-18-2020, 12-05-2019;
No.3 at 2022-7-19,
top 3 on US Yahoo, 2022-7-29, 2022-7-19
★
pic.:
No.1 "comment Taiwan"
on MetaGER.de of Germany,
2024-8-31, 2024-8-8, 2024-8-2, 2024-7-24, 2024-5-1,
2024-4-19, 2024-2-28, 2023-11-1, 2023-9-11, 2023-8-22, 2023-8-8,
2023-7-4
★ pic.:
No. 1 "comment
Taiwan" on
US Google, 2022-1-31, 2021-10-11, 2021-10-8, 2021-9-23, 2021-9-7, 2021-8-31, 2021-8-23,
2020-1-11, 2020-1-10, 2019-11-11
Latest news
◆
full text
♣
♣
♣
China-Taiwan
war ♣♣
♣
♣Taiwan's
division; unprecedented
recall
♣
♣
♣Taiwan
should worry about Trump
♣♣
♦
♣
♣
China's
"coercion
without violence" ♣ ♣
♣
Trump's new tariffs
& trade war
♣
♣
Taiwan lost its China
spy war♣
♣
♣
♣Taiwan's
tougher stance on china♣
♣
♣Trump's
defense
policy
♣
♣
♣world
backs
Beijing's claim
♣
♣
♣ more
topics
|
China
─ Taiwan
War |
|
◆
Fox News, 2025-11-1 |
Trump and Xi
avoided the one issue that could most likely draw their nations into war: Taiwan,
despite years of war preparations. The
military balance in the region has shifted "rather quickly in China's
favor," making U.S. deterrence less credible if tensions continue to climb. "The
time to pivot to Asia has probably passed," suggesting Washington must now focus on managing competition rather than
reversing it. |
|
◆
USNI News, 2025-10-31 |
Hegseth maintains U.S.
position on Taiwan, China urges
caution. |
|
◆
CNN, 2025-10-30 |
The Trump administration plans to adopt a policy on Taiwan with the goal
of making the island a “porcupine” by investing strategically in
precision and smaller weapons built for asymmetric warfare to deter
Chinese aggression or make an invasion so costly and painful that costs
would outweigh benefits. |
|
◆
Reuters, 2025-10-29 |
China "absolutely will not" rule out using
force over Taiwan, a government spokesperson said , striking a much tougher tone
than a series of articles in state media this week that pledged benign rule if
the island comes over to Beijing. |
|
◆
Fox News, 2025-10-27 |
Some analysts warn that a Chinese
blockade would be difficult to break.
Taipei would "urge its allies and like-minded partners to treat any
blockade as an act of war that should trigger a coordinated international
response," noting that shipping disruptions in the seas near Taiwan would have
serious effects on the global economy.
|
|
◆
BBC, 2025-10-27 |
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US
wouldn't abandon the island in exchange for a
favourable deal with China. But a tug of war has been playing out inside the
Trump administration over whether a military battle for Taiwan – if China did
try to seize it – would be in America's best
interests. |
|
◆
Bloomberg, 2025-10-26 |
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration will not abandon
long-standing US support for Taiwan in negotiations with China to reach a trade
agreement. |
|
◆
National Interest, 2025-10-24 |
Taiwan has established a
multi-layered area defense for itself. This layered defense prioritizes
electronic jamming before any kinetic action is taken. By targeting the
electromagnetic (EM) spectrum, data links, and sensors, Taiwan is ensuring that
the country can both knock down unmanned interlopers from neighboring China
while avoiding drastic escalation from Beijing |
|
◆
TIME, 2025-10-23 |
Trump's
recalcitrance regarding support for military action over Taiwan is broadly
shared by its allies. “Once shooting starts, there is a very, very high
probability that Taiwan gets lost,”“Because militarily, we can'
t win. The war termination phase
would be basically on the table, not in the field.” |
|
◆
Foreign Affairs, 2025-10-22 |
The objective of the US
should be to take incremental steps to restore the status quo that
existed before Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022. Washington should press Beijing to
pull its military, coast guard, and surveillance ships from Taiwan's
contiguous zone, reduce the frequency and scale of major military exercises
around Taiwan, refrain from crossing the centerline in the Taiwan Strait, and
decrease its military buildup in areas within range of Taiwan. In exchange, the
United States could offer to make reciprocal changes to reduce its overall
military buildup in the region. |
|
◆
National Interest, 2025-10-17 |
Taiwan must double down on asymmetric
denial—to cripple invasion forces within the first 72 hours. Taiwan's collaboration with the United States on
missiles, launchers, and drones is progressing, but its volume, stockpiling, and
indigenous production capabilities remain insufficient.
Taiwan must harden its energy infrastructure, re-engage nuclear energy
capacity prudently, diversify LNG supply, and protect key infrastructural node;
Above all, Taiwan and its partners must win the information war. |
|
◆
Financial Times, 2025-10-16 |
Taiwan's aim is
to emphasise deterrence so that it never comes to armed conflict in
the Taiwan Strait, and develop the capabilities and strategies to impose such a
huge cost on the PLE that decision makers in Beijing — assuming that they
calculate rationally — would decide that this is simply not a viable option to
resolve the issue.ft.com/content/4a49b180-4208-49de-8c39-6de95cb4c91d |
|
◆ Wall
Street Journal, 2025-10-8 |
a critical
vulnerability on Taiwan: It is almost entirely dependent
on imported fuel. Some 97% of Taiwan's
energy is imported by sea. If completely cut off, its
LNG inventory would be fully depleted within days, crippling
the island's ability to produce electricity.
Taiwan would
require U.S. intervention to restore electricity over a
longer period. |
|
◆ Reuters, 2025-10-8 |
Taiwan's president
Lai said Trump should get the Nobel Peace Prize if he could convince
Chinese President Xi Jinping to abandon use of force against Taiwan.
China says Taiwan president is 'prostituting' himself. |
|
◆ The
Diplomat, 2025-10-4 |
The U.S. government is preparing for a
military strategy that “does not demand too much from Americans.”
The Trump
administration has recently begun prioritizing the self-defense of Taiwan over
an overt U.S. military intervention in the event of a Taiwan contingency.
|
|
◆ Reuters, 2025-10-8 |
The nominee to be the Pentagon's senior
official for the Indo-Pacific region said he strongly supported President Donald
Trump in saying that Taiwan should spend up to 10% of its GDP on defense. |
|
◆ New
York Times, 2025-9-29 |
“The Rocket Force is the crown jewel of
the Chinese military" .
Having an overwhelming number of missiles is also intended as a political
signal — to Taiwan that there's no point in
fighting back, to the United States that you can't intervene.” |
|
◆ L.A.
Times, 2025-9-29 |
China is playing the long game" by acquiring Russian equipment;
That's because Beijing will find a way to reverse engineer the equipment
and technology and develop it not just for airborne combat but also for advanced
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance which are critical for modern
warfare
|
|
◆ WEEK
UK, 2025-9-30 |
in recent years
China and Russia “military partnership has become more robust” as ties
between Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin have warmed, “raising alarm
bells in Washington" |
|
◆
Washington Post, 2025-9-26 |
Russia has agreed to equip and train a
Chinese airborne battalion and share its expertise in airdropping armored
vehicles that analysts say could boost Beijing's
capacity to seize Taiwan. |
|
◆
AP News London, 2025-9-26 |
Russia agreed to sell China systems
which are designed for parachuting up to 190 kilograms (419 pounds) from an
extremely high altitude;
Moscow's assistance
(equipment and localized training)
could help speed up China's airborne program by
about 10 to 15 years.
an expert
on China and Taiwan with the Atlantic Council, said parachuting in forces would
probably support the logistics of any
invasion but would be unlikely to be the “main event.” |
|
◆ The
National Interest, 2025-9-25 |
Taiwan is
finally embracing the Insurgency Model
for beating China.
—— Taipei’s strategists are finally making the pivot away from
conventional armed forces toward something nimbler—namely the mass
production and use of cheap and deadly drones. |
|
◆ The
Hill, 2025-9-25 |
Some argue
the U.S. is ill-prepared for war with a formidable People's Liberation
Army and thus must reach a deal now. That confuses deterrence with
defeatism. The point is not to fight — it is to prevent war by
making the costs of aggression unmistakably high and the benefits uncertain. |
|
◆
UPI, 2025-9-26 |
the Royal United Services Institute,
a British think tank : Russia will train and equip
Chinese paratroopers to
invade Taiwan. |
|
◆
Foreign Affairs, 2025-9-22 |
First and most important, Taiwan's leaders will need to adequately resource
their national defense and resilience. This will require compromise among
leaders who prioritize raising compensation for career soldiers and extending
the service of conscripts and those who favor fielding new military
capabilities. |
|
◆
The Guardian, 2025-9-20 |
“To avoid war and defend peace we must build defence capabilities and societal
resilience through continued preparedness” said Taiwan's
president, Lai Ching-te |
|
◆
Washington Post, 2025-9-19 |
The US and Taiwan
agreed to a massive package of weapons sales.
The package would consist almost solely of “asymmetric” equipment, such
as drones, missiles and sensors to monitor the island’s coastline, the people
said. Still, these next-generation weapons may take years to deliver. Taipei is
already waiting on billions of dollars’ worth of weapons — including F-16
fighter jets and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. |
|
◆
CNN, 2025-9-19 |
Taiwan unveils first missile jointly developed with American arms company;
Adapted from Anduril's Barracuda-500, an autonomous, low-cost loitering
ammunition launched from aircraft that is undergoing tests by the US military,
the new land-mobile missile can be used against targets at sea or on land. |
|
◆
New York Times, 2025-9-15 |
Taiwan is ... a
source of advanced
semiconductors. But even all that is not worth America's
going to war. China's growing arsenal of missiles and nuclear
weapons can reach the U.S. mainland. |
|
◆ Foreign
Affairs, 2025-9-12 |
Tension across
the Taiwan Strait has raised fears that Beijing and Taipei could soon find
themselves at war. A war between China and Taiwan could result from an accident
or miscalculation that spirals out of control.
China and Taiwan do ultimately need some level of communication to discuss
crisis prevention and find off-ramps that both sides can accept. |
|
◆ Reuters, 2025-9-11 |
Facing new China 'grey-zone' threat,
Taiwan steps up sea cable patrols. |
|
◆
Monocle (UK), 2025-9-11 |
satellite imagery showed large-scale
developments of airports and ports for amphibious vehicles on Chinese islands in
the East China Sea. It's believed that these could be
used to launch an invasion of Taiwan, which US officials warn Beijing would be
ready for as soon as 2027. But on the ground in Taipei, armed forces remain
significantly under-manned: active units are only about 80 per cent staffed. |
|
◆ WSJ,
The Telegraph, 2025-9-8 |
In satellite images analysed by the Wall Street Journal, new
berths for amphibious warships, as well as mega-airports, can be seen taking
form. While the facilities could have multiple uses, China's primary
military focus is
on Taiwan. |
|
◆
The Diplomat, 2025-9-6 |
Taiwan's
security environment is deteriorating faster than its domestic politics can
adapt. What is required is not only frank discussion, but sweeping reforms to
the military and a genuine effort to prepare society for the possibility of
war. By delaying bolder
action, Lai risks a society that remains psychologically underprepared for
crisis. |
|
◆ TIME, 2025-9-4 |
Trump downplayed the apparent convergence of anti-U.S.
forces. Besides Iran, North Korea, and Russia, heads of state or governments from more
than a dozen other countries also attended
the
Beijing's parade. These included a number of Southeast Asian countries—Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam—as well as Pakistan, Nepal, Mongolia, and the
Maldives. Others in attendance included leaders from Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the
Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe. Two Western
heads of state attended: Prime Minister of Slovakia, an E.U. member, Robert Fico
and President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić. Representatives from several
other countries, including Australia and Singapore, as well as representatives
from intergovernmental organizations, including the U.N. and ASEAN, also
attended Modi's presence at
the SCO summit and absence at the parade reflect the fact that India is hedging
itself between China and the U.S., perhaps hoping to reap the benefits of being
wooed by both. |
|
◆ New
York Times, 2025-9-2 |
Xi parades
firepower to signal
that China won't
be bullied
again, and to show that
China can resist pressure from the West. Mr. Xi
offered an implicit message to Taiwan and its international supporters of the
perils of any move toward formal independence. |
|
◆ New
York Times, 2025-9-4 |
Beijing's V-Day parade was a
message for the West about China's rise.
On display were hypersonic missiles
to sink ships and nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that could strike the
continental U.S. New armored ground vehicles, which can be dropped from
transport planes, and long-range rocket launchers magnified Beijing's threat
to Taiwan. And the array of unmanned aircraft and undersea vehicles showed
China's push toward drone warfare. |
|
◆
BBC, 2025-8-26 |
most people in Taiwan – 65%
according to a survey released in May by the INDSR
- believe it is unlikely that China will attack in the next five years. But
the urgency of this question (Whether China
will invade) has spiked with a recent escalation in
tensions, particularly with William Lai's election last year.
Beijing has accused Lai's government of deliberately antagonising them,
particularly with the defence drive. |
|
◆ Fox
News,
2025-8-23 |
Over the last decade, Taiwan has imported
up to 97% of its energy needs, experts also argue that Taiwan would likely
use up its stores of oil in a matter of weeks to days if China implemented a
blockade, Some opponents have also pointed out that
wartime scenarios in recent years have shown the security risks surrounding
active nuclear power plants |
|
◆ Reuters,
2025-8-22 |
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said he
hoped defence spending would reach 5% of gross domestic product before 2030.
Taiwan's government said next year's defence budget would reach 3.32% of
GDP. |
|
◆ Reuters,
CNN, 2025-8-16 |
Trump says Xi told him China will not invade Taiwan while he is
US president |
|
◆ Brookings, 2025-8-11 |
The White House recently called off a
meeting between Taiwan's defense minister and Pentagon
officials and delayed action on military sales. Ely Ratner
on WP: These concessions send a dangerous
signal that America's approach to Taiwan is
negotiable. |
|
◆
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
,
2025-8-11 |
Taiwan's energy
dependence is an Achilles heel. Beijing can exploit this issue without firing a
single shot. |
|
◆ New
York Times, 2025-8-8 |
Taiwan strained by 20% tariffs, no trade deal, an
appreciating currency and political
uncertainty. Taiwan's president Lai is
facing an intensifying confrontation with opposition lawmakers able to
effectively stymie his policies. |
|
◆
The Telegraph, 2025-8-8 |
Taiwan's deputy
foreign minister says that
Taiwan needs to “learn and to work with China” to avoid war with a nuclear
power. |
|
◆
The Diplomat, 2025-8-4 |
Ukraine's civil society was
well-prepared, psychologically and practically, for Russia's invasion.
Taiwan's is not.
Beijing has
cultivated a population conditioned to support the state in conflict. Taiwan's
strategy has been the opposite: depoliticize, demilitarize, and hope for
deterrence through foreign alignment. The discrepancy could be catastrophic |
|
◆
Brookings, 2025-8-1 |
Beijing generally acts most
aggressively when it feels comfortable and confident, and it exercises restraint
when it feels a need to regenerate or preserve national power. Yet between now
and the 2028 elections, China will not exert so much pressure that it alienates
voters who might otherwise support the KMT. Thus, a
calibrated, two-handed approach is most likely. |
|
◆
CSIS, 2025-7-31 |
The “joint blockade campaign” (联合封锁战役)
is discussed extensively in Chinese doctrinal writing, and the People's
Liberation Army (PLA) has signaled that it would consider such a campaign if it
acts against Taiwan. Taiwan requires U.S. intervention
if China uses military force in a blockade.
|
|
◆
The New York Times, 2025-7-25 |
China may intensify its pressure on Mr.
Lai by holding large-scale military exercises near the island in the coming
weeks or months, to show its anger over the recall campaign, his speeches and
his travels abroad |
|
◆
Council on Foreign Relations, 2025-7-25 |
In recent surveys, only 36 percent
of polled Americans support sending U.S. troops into harms war to break a
Chinese blockade or repel a Chinese invasion of the island. |
|
◆
BBC, 2025-7-25 |
For now, the Pentagon looks set to keep stepping up its activity in Asia
unless directly ordered otherwise. Whether that is enough to give
those in power in Beijing second thoughts on launching an invasion of
Taiwan, only time will tell, but the stakes look likely to keep on getting
higher |
|
◆
National interest, 2025-7-23 |
3 percent of GDP to defense
spending in FY 2026 will likely not be sufficient to cover these stipend
increases and the MND's military modernization goals, an aspect equally crucial
as recruitment and retention. |
|
◆
The Strategist, 2025-7-23,
7-21 |
If China decides to dramatically
accelerate unification with Taiwan—the first 24 hours will be pivotal.
China could conceal preparations for an invasion by framing it as a large-scale
joint exercise... the opening phase would be a massive missile
barrage targeting Taiwan’s airbases, radar stations, naval ports and command centres. Simultaneously, China's air force would launch waves of fighters,
drones and bombers to suppress Taiwan's air defences. |
|
◆
Spectator ,
2025-7-19 |
Should the labyrinthine Hengshan command centre nestled under the
mountains north of Taipei ever fall, the military practised defending its
alternative command centre west of the city. If it ever came to it, there's also
an enormous underground airbase complex in a hollowed-out mountain on the East
coast. |
|
◆
Fox News,
2025-7-15 |
CSIS expert:
"Japan is always critical, we can't win the war without
them", "Their forces are important, but our ability to use our bases in
Japan is critical". Whether Japan allows the U.S. to center its wartime operations on
its territory would be a critical question certain to come up in preparations
for a wartime contingency. |
|
◆
Financial Times,
2025-7-15 |
“If China attacks, one of the first
things to go will be our communications systems","we
must train for our units to be cut off from their superiors.”But experts said Taiwan's military would struggle to shake off a tradition of centralised
command. “Decentralisation is a difficult thing for our armed forces” |
|
◆
iNews UK,
2025-7-15 |
Experts caution
that a long-planned attack co-ordinated by
China and Russia is unlikely, at least in the near term, were China to do
so eventually, Russia could act spontaneously to take advantage of the
situation. A senior research fellow at the
London think-tank Chatham House said China had so far
been cautious in its approach to Taiwan to avoid all-out war.
Approach to Taiwan so far has been to escalate grey zone pressure but
fallen short of an invasion, and they will likely continue that as long as
possible |
|
◆
Financial Times,
2025-7-12 |
Trump administration raises
eyebrows by calling for commitments from Australia and Japan,
“But this request caught Tokyo and Canberra by surprise because the US itself does not give a
blank cheque guarantee to Taiwan.” |
|
◆
The Telegraph, 2025-7-9 |
Taiwan, a country of 23 million people, has
180,000 soldiers and as many as 1.67 million reservists. China has more than two million active soldiers and
1.2 million reservists. China's PLA significantly exceeds Taiwan across every metric.
China has more than six times the number of tanks and aircraft than
Taiwan, and nearly five times more artillery. War game simulations have
shown that if Taiwan faces Beijing alone, or if the country
surrenders before the U.S. is able to assist, it would be
overwhelmed in a very short time. |
|
◆
Newsweek 2025-7-10 |
With the HIMARS and Abrams tanks, the
Taiwanese military can strike potential PLA landing forces from greater
distances and with more precise firepower, gradually wearing down enemy troops
and deploying in dispersed positions to avoid destruction by China's long-range
rockets and similar weapons. |
|
◆ BBC, 2025-7-9 |
Taiwan's military and defence has come under criticism both domestically and externally in
recent years. One survey last year showing only 47.5% have
confidence in their defence capabilities. |
|
◆
Council on Foreign
Relations,
2025-7-8 |
One unnamed official told the
Financial
Times that China's rocket force and air force
were now able to switch from peacetime to wartime operations in the Taiwan
Strait at “any time” without warning. |
|
◆
ekathimerini (Greece),
2025-7-3 |
Taiwan's tough talk raises the cross-strait temperature.
China's military planners are surely drafting large-scale military
exercises modeled on the live-fire show that followed former US House speaker
Nancy Pelosi's visit. Expect
missile tests over the island, flotillas encircling it, and coast guard
“inspections” of Taiwanese civilian vessels that could disrupt commercial
shipping if Beijing decides to prolong the exercise.
Beijing will be tempted to go even bolder, but it'll
be deterred by the wild card that is US President Donald Trump's
response function. |
|
◆
New York Times,
2025-6-30 |
“President Lai
is trying to fire up his base of support as much as possible in order to ensure
the recalls are successful". The president's critics in Taiwan are also harsh,
accusing him of stoking divisions and jeopardizing the fragile status
quo with China. China may use Mr. Lai's
speeches to justify increasing its military pressure on Taiwan. |
|
continue reading China-Taiwan war (2) |
|
Taiwan's division ; The scale of this
recall effort is unprecedented in Taiwan's
democratic history |
|
◆
AFP, 2025-11-1 |
Taiwan's new opposition
(KMT) leader against defence spending hike,
KMT has close ties with China.
Taiwan president Lai Ching-te, who leads the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP), aims to boost defence spending to more than
three percent of GDP next year and five percent by 2030, following US
pressure to spend more on protecting itself against a potential Chinese
attack. |
|
◆
AP
News, 2025-10-19 |
Taiwan's
main opposition party elects new leader in a race clouded by claims of
China meddling. Cheng
Li-wun pledged to turn KMT from a flock of “sheep” into “lions,”
opposing Lai's proposal to boost
defense budget to 5% of GDP, local media reported. |
|
◆
Financial Times, 2025-10-16 |
Taiwan looks more divided now than
perhaps one might hope in a country facing an external existential
threat like this. China has been
more successful in its political warfare strategy against Taiwan is in
its attempts to co-opt individuals, entities, businesses, political
parties, but also to divide Taiwan... Trump
appears much more transactional than he already was during his first
term. Certainly, what comes across as an attempt to compel firms like TSMC
— to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into shift production to the
United States, which creates divisions within
Taiwan that are a little conducive to perceptions of continued American
support. |
|
◆
Washington Post, 2025-9-29 |
China has
numerous “more trusted and controllable” assets on Taiwan.
Taipei's concern that the CUPP is a
fifth column is bolstered by the group's
access to weapons... the potential for the CUPP
to be weaponized in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
|
|
◆
Foreign Policy research Institute, 2025-9-25 |
Since President Lai Ching-te was inaugurated in May 2024, Taiwan's domestic
politics have been in relative turmoil. Large-scale protests,
the incarceration of Taiwan People's Party (TPP) leader Ko Wen-je on corruption
charges, and an unprecedented recall election targeting thirty-one Kuomintang (KMT)
legislators rendered the past fifteen months unusually turbulent.
Early indicators in Taiwan give cause for
cautious optimism. The DPP has broadly
rallied around President Lai, the KMT is so far not overplaying its hand, and
both parties are working together domestically and abroad. |
|
◆
Foreign Affairs, 2025-9-22 |
a failed “recall” of opposition
members that deeply divided the population, and President Lai Ching-te's
popularity is collapsing. But it is far
less divided internally than its rough-and-tumble politics might suggest.
There also is consensus across Taiwan's
political spectrum to increase defense spending. |
|
◆
Washington Examiner,
2025-9-15 |
Taiwan leaders flaunt de facto sovereignty as Kuomintang warns rhetoric will
provoke Chinese invasion. The KMT rejects the idea of Taiwanese independence as a pipe dream, one that, if
pursued too openly, could get the island's population killed.
"KMT's position is to manage an ambiguous, vague concept of
one [China], while actually maintaining two [Chinas], |
|
◆
Anadolu
Agency, 2025-9-18 |
A Chinese scholar said that Beijing could draw on Germany's
post-Cold War model by offering financial support and unconditional
citizenship to reunify with Taiwan, including a “solidarity tax”
to fund infrastructure and integration, and equalizing the Chinese yuan with the New Taiwan dollar, currently traded at 1 to 4.22. |
|
◆
BBC,
2025-8-26 |
Taiwanese celebrities friendly to
China, social media influencers and Chinese spouses of Taiwanese
citizens have come under close scrutiny, with some deported or forced to
leave. |
|
◆
Foreign
Policy, 2025-8-21 |
Taiwan's
increasingly fractious internal politics put it further at risk.
Rhetoric by both sides has become increasingly caustic. An attempt by
the DPP to recall 24 KMT legislators failed but was a further sign of
the parties’ inability to work together. |
|
◆
Bloomberg,
2025-8-12 |
Taiwan's
Lai Sees Approval at Lowest of Tenure After Setbacks.
The results follow a landslide defeat in an unprecedented recall
effort backed by Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party that aimed to
remove more than one-third of opposition lawmakers from office. Some
analysts have interpreted the outcome as a sign that voters were weary
of Lai's anti-China rhetoric, and instead want
the focus on economic and livelihood issues. |
|
◆
Chicago
Tribune, 2025-8-5 |
The failure of recall means that Lai
Ching-te will either be forced to work with
the opposition to get anything passed in the legislature or spend the
remainder of his term as a lame-duck leader |
|
◆
Brookings, 2025-8-1 |
if the outcome of the recall
election funnels political energy into a future-oriented contest to
persuade voters of who can best protect peace and preserve the status
quo, then it could have a moderating effect on Taiwan’s political
discourse. This would be welcomed in Washington |
|
◆
Forbes, 2025-7-27 |
An important reason why the recall
vote was defeated is a testament to the Taiwanese people’s desire to
maintain a thriving democracy and a semblance of checks and balances,
... to ensure the Republic of China government can maintain
democracy which is not ruled by one voice.” |
|
◆
The New York Times, 2025-7-25 |
an extraordinary recall campaign
could put more power in the president's hands
but add to tensions with Beijing. Opponents say the campaign is an
abuse of a process that should be used sparingly.“This recall is a fight
driven by hatred,” Targeted lawmakers were being “totally
demonized.” |
|
◆
Reuters, 2025-7-23 |
The recall groups accuse the KMT
of selling out Taiwan by sending lawmakers to China, not supporting
defence spending, and bringing chaos to parliament. The KMT rejects
those accusations, denouncing Lai's "dictatorship" and "green terror" -
the DPP's party colour. China said Lai is "engaging in
dictatorship under the guise of democracy" and "using every means
possible to suppress the opposition" |
|
◆
The Guardian, 2025-7-23 |
Lev Nachman, a professor at
National Taiwan University said “There's a difference between anti-DPP
and pro-Beijing, but from the recallers' perspective these have become
synonymous.” |
|
◆
The Jamestown Foundation, 2025-7-7 |
Polling has been inconsistent on
whether the public approves of the recall campaigns.
Voters could choose to repeat their message from the 2024
election and opt for maintaining oversight by the opposition after eight
years of DPP dominance of the executive and legislative branches of
government. |
|
◆◆Reuters,
US News, 2025- 6-20 |
Taiwan to Hold Recall Election for Lawmakers That Could Reshape
Parliament. The DPP has given full
support for the recalls, calling on people to vote yes and "oppose the
communists"
|
|
◆◆SCMP,
2025- 6-1 |
The DPP has denied politically
targeting the opposition, but the KMT has accused Taiwanese
leader William Lai Ching-te of weaponising judicial and investigative
powers to intimidate opposition lawmakers.
expert: The Lai administration is using judicial probes to sweep
through the KMT's local party apparatus. |
|
◆◆AFP
News, Eurasian Times, 2025- 5-19 |
the current dysfunction is
distracting lawmakers and eroding public confidence, which benefits
Beijing. Ryan Hass at Brookings: a divided, fractured Taiwan is
incapable of addressing its own long-term requirements and
vulnerabilities. Bonnie Glaser: The parties “spend a lot of their
time thinking about how to weaken support and damage the reputation and
the image of their political adversaries”. Lai's disapproval rating rose
to the highest since he took office — the polling group linked to
handling of US tariffs on Taiwan and the DPP's unprecedented recall
campaign targeting the opposition.
eurasiantimes.com/its-advantage-china-as-taiwans-president-who-vowed-to-stand-up-to-beijing-faces-political-turmoil-at-home/ |
|
◆
ABC News
Australia, 2025-5-10 |
The KMT has denounced the recall
effort as a "witch hunt" and an attempt by the DPP to establish
one-party rule. KMT chair E. Chu has accused Mr Lai of launching "a
cultural revolution in Taiwan", referencing the bloody purges in
China under Mao Zedong. Mr Lai has rejected characterisations as a
dictator. A recent poll found 59.3 % of respondents oppose the DPP's
recall campaign, with 33.8 % in support. |
|
◆
The Diplomat,
2025-5-5 |
TPP chair Huang called for a
new set
of presidential elections to
be held if a
new set
of legislative elections take
place. Some KMT politicians have proposed
a vote of no confidence in the Cabinet. |
|
◆
Brookings,
2025-2-12 |
Taiwan's politics are intense, but today they
are in hyperdrive. The three main political parties maintain their own
narratives for the causes of the breakdown in Taiwan's
comity and its deepening divisions. President Lai
Ching-te's toughest test as a leader may be whether he is capable
of building consensus within his own political party and forging
compromises with key stakeholders across Taiwan's
political spectrum. |
|
◆
Foreign Policy,
2025-2-3 |
The ruling
party's engaging in violence in the legislature to prevent bills
from being passed, launching what many see as a political witch hunt
against the leader of the third party, and attempting politically
motivated recalls to target dozens of opposition lawmakers is a terrible
look for any self-respecting democracy. These dysfunctional domestic
politics are not just embarrassing, but damaging for Taiwan's
stability
── in Taiwan, recalls have
been wielded in a retaliatory and petty manner as political weapons
rather than as legitimate means of kicking bad politicians out of office.
The opposition
warned that if the DPP could use the judicial system against Ko,
it could go after any other politician. |
|
◆
The Diplomat,
2025-1-28 |
The
KMT-TPP alliance's deep
cuts to government
budget spark
widespread recall
efforts against KMT
legislators in Taiwan.
The
scale of this recall effort is unprecedented in Taiwan's
democratic history. Most importantly,
the budget cuts raise international doubts about Taiwan's
determination to defend itself. TPP
claimed that the reduction is only 6.6 percent of the proposed
budget and that the remaining budget is “more than sufficient” for the
government's operations.
The majority may not support the recalls. |
|
◆
Washington
Times, 2024-12-27 |
"Elbridge
Colby and Pete Hegseth: Charting a new course for U.S.-Taiwan security":
With the possibility of recall elections targeting these KMT
politicians, Taiwan has an opportunity to confront these internal
threats and demonstrate its commitment to national security. |
|
Taiwan
might have reasons to worry about Trump |
|
◆ CNN, 2025-10-30 |
Taiwan worries about US support wavering ahead of Trump's meeting with Xi |
|
◆
Asia Times, 2025-10-6 |
Rather than saving Taiwan to protect the chip supply, Elbridge Colby, now
under secretary of defense for policy, said in
2023 that if China takes Taiwan the US should destroy TSMC facilities in
Taiwan so China could not have the chips. That would make the shield worse
than ineffective. /
Denny Roy is a senior
fellow, East-West Center, Honolulu. |
|
◆
arstechnica,
2025-9-29 |
Taiwan pressured to move 50% of
chip production to US or lose protection |
|
◆
NBC
News, 2025-8-29 |
US
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker:
“A thriving
democracy is never fully assured … " |
|
◆
Financial
Times, 2025-8-28 |
The longheld US position
to defend Taiwan's independent status in the face of
Chinese aggression is looking shaky under the Trump administration, in spite of
Taiwanese efforts to court the American president |
|
◆
SKY
News, Australia, 2025-8-26 |
The US is continuing to pressure Taiwan on ramping up military
spending while imposing 20 per cent tariffs.
This is counterproductive and driving more Taiwanese to question how
reliable the US is as a partner. |
|
◆
Foreign
Policy, 2025-8-21 |
Taipei fears
that if Trump is willing to do all this just to get a summit with Xi, he might
be willing to further accommodate Beijing—e.g.,, by
cutting defense sales to Taiwan and formally opposing Taiwan's
independence |
|
◆
Brookings, 2025-8-11 |
Policy experts tend to greet new legislative
initiatives with skepticism. Many Taiwan-related proposals contain more
symbolism than substance. Taiwan increasingly looks like a bargaining chip in
U.S.-China relations |
|
◆
The
Conversation, 2025-8-8 |
Trump's stance is far harder to predict.
If China were to dangle a trade deal in front of the US president – committing
to buy more US goods, put in more investment that is non-problematic on security
grounds in the US and generally abide by American demands – would Trump be able
to resist? |
|
◆◆POLITICO, 2025-7-31 |
Taiwan's
President ' in a position of political double jeopardy
— submit to onerous trade terms and risk blowback from key segments of his
constituency or refuse the administration's terms and
risk alienating Trump at a time when it faces a potential Chinese invasion
risk as early as 2027. “For Taiwan the danger of displeasing Donald Trump is
existential” |
|
◆◆Bloomberg, 2025-7-31 |
Trump likes winners — the problem for
Taiwan’s leader Lai Ching-te is that he looks like a man running out of options. It’s an
unenviable position to be in, with the threat of punishing tariffs hanging over
him. Domestically, Lai is dealing with the fallout
from a bruising vote that will embolden the self-ruled island’s pro-Beijing
opposition. |
|
◆◆Bloomberg, 2025-7-30 |
"Washington may be again relegating Taiwan to the back burner and framing Taiwan
as a mere bargaining chip in service of the US’ China policy ends”,“If true, it would be a dangerous sign",
said an expert at the Atlantic Council's Global
China Hub. |
|
◆◆Bloomberg, 2025-7-28 |
“The fact that at least some in the
administration are putting our partnership with Taiwan on the table with Beijing
is deeply concerning, and sends a dangerous message to Beijing,” said Laura
Rosenberger, chaired the American Institute in Taiwan until this year |
|
◆◆Fox
News, 2025-7-29 |
U.S.-Taiwan solidarity has long included symbolic gestures —
but critics suggest that the Trump administration may be undermining that
relationship in a bid to engage China on trade. |
|
◆◆Telegraph
(UK), 2025-7-29 |
Bonnie Glaser: the move
(Trump blocked
Lai Ching-te's New York stopover)
suggested that “Trump wants to avoid irritating Beijing
while US-China negotiations are ongoing and planning
gets under way for a possible summit with Xi Jinping”,
“By signalling that aspects of the US
relationship with Taiwan are negotiable, Trump will
weaken deterrence and embolden Xi to press for
additional concessions regarding Taiwan.” |
|
◆◆Council on Foreign Relations, 2025-7-25 |
Trump's desire
to shoulder this burden, deterrence in the
Taiwan Strait, is very much an open question.
|
|
◆◆Bloomberg, 2025-7-23 |
Taiwan ran
a trade surplus of about $65
billion with the US last year, backed by strong demand for tech goods
critical to the AI boom. That imbalance is sure to rankle Trump |
|
◆◆The
Telegraph,
2025-7-15 |
the Australian prime minister says that his country
would not join a “hypothetical”
conflict with China over Taiwan. President Donald Trump has echoed this position, while also
pushing for Taiwan to do its own part to protect itself |
|
◆◆Taipei
Times,
2025-7-14 |
Under a president whose loyalty to
democratic norms is ambiguous and whose geopolitical thinking centers on
short-term leverage, Taiwan could easily become a pawn in a larger bargain — or
worse, left to fend for itself. Trump has previously oscillated between fiery
rhetoric on China and overtures of camaraderie with Chinese President Xi Jinping
(習近平). His unpredictability breeds confusion in Taipei, and, perhaps more
dangerously, could encourage miscalculation in Beijing.
Taiwan must also avoid putting all its eggs in Washington's
basket. |
|
◆◆BBC,
2025-7-9 |
The US is compelled by legislation to help Taiwan defend itself, but Trump has
been ambiguous about this and recently refused
to comment on whether he would stop China from taking Taiwan by force.
Doubt
grows in Taiwan that the US under Donald Trump would intervene militarily in the
event of a Chinese attack |
|
◆
Japan's
Mainichi (每日新聞),
2025-6-25 |
Taiwanese trust in the US
is surprisingly low. According to the latest survey by the Japan-Taiwan Exchange
Association, only 3 percent
like the U.S.; many people doubt whether
Washington will really help in cross-strait contingencies. The second-term Trump
administration's tariff policy toward Taiwan has been strict, and consideration
for Taipei's national security needs has remained lacking. |
|
◆◆The
Guardian,
2025-6-1 |
ask if Trump will fight for Taiwan, the answer is not really in
serious doubt. Some American commentators argue that Taiwan is a bear trap, to be avoided at
all costs – music to Xi's ears. |
|
◆
New York
Times,
2025-5-22 |
Some of President Trump's
words and actions on Taiwan — raising tariffs, drastically raising
military spending, and accusing Taiwan of stealing the U.S. lead in making
semiconductors — have magnified doubts in Taiwan about whether the United States
would step in if China attacked the island.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/world/asia/trump-china-taiwan-security.html |
|
◆
New York
Times,
2025-5-21 |
Taiwan's president has taken a
tougher stance on China, raising criticism from some
who say it's a risky position since a geopolitically
fickle President Trump may not offer steadfast support
for the island. |
|
◆
Economist,
2025-5-1 |
Mr Trump's fickleness has made Taiwan's security seem more parlous |
|
◆
The Hill, 2025-4-28 |
U.S. support is no
longer a given. Taiwan risks becoming less a steadfast partner and more a
bargaining chip in the U.S.-China rivalry — or worse, standing alone against
China |
|
◆
TIME, 2025-4-26 |
If he won't take on costs and risks to help Ukraine repel Russian
invaders, how confident can Taiwan be that Trump will commit U.S. troops and
taxpayer funds to defend an “ally” thousands of miles from American shores? |
|
◆◆The
WEEK,
2025-4-15 |
Increasing economic dependence on the US "could placate Mr
Trump", said The Spectator, but "experience shows that it could just become a
way for Trump to exert more pressure in the future" |
|
◆◆Newsweek,
2025-4-8 |
Would Donald Trump Defend Taiwan?
Even as Pete Hegseth said that the U.S. priority is the Indo Pacific, the U.S.
military is focused on the Middle East, and there have been reports that the
U.S. THAAD battery in Seoul along with two Patriot missile batteries, deployed
elsewhere, were moved to the Middle East. |
|
◆◆The
SUN (UK),
2025-4-8 |
Trump v Xi trade war makes world a scarier place – China
could launch full scale invasion of Taiwan.
Trump
cares about the TSMC, but he has made it clear he
really doesn't care about Taiwan as an independent
democratic state or as a staunch Western ally.
The word is, Trump has made it clear to China that if he reached some grand
bargain with Beijing that was better for America, he'd stand aside and let
it absorb Taiwan |
|
◆◆Wall
Street Journal,
2025-3-17 |
Taiwan's military planners signal to Washington the desire for a stable relationship as
anxieties simmer in Taipei about whether President Trump would send help to
defend against a Chinese attack. Trump's recent suspension of U.S. support
for Ukraine heightened
those concerns in Taiwan. |
|
◆◆Washington
Post,
2025-3-21 |
The U.S. president's transactional approach has unnerved
many in Taiwan.
The
long-standing U.S. policy of “strategic
ambiguity”is now even more pronounced.
|
|
continue reading Taiwan's Trump
problem (2) |
|
Trump's
new tariffs, Taiwan's
semiconductor, trade war |
|
◆
Fox
Business, 2025-8-27 |
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said:
chips are a strategic
necessity for us. the United States has five to seven strategic
vulnerabilities in critical industries. And President Trump has set
about de-risking that. |
|
◆
Global Times, 2025-8-21 |
US Commerce Secretary warned "For national
security, we must manufacture our own chips domestically. We cannot rely
on Taiwan, which is 9,500 miles from the US and only 80 miles from
China. 99 percent of leading-edge chips should not be made in Taiwan."
US Treasury Secretary echoed
Lutnick's remark, "the single
point of failure for the global economy is that 99 percent of the
advanced chips in the world are made in Taiwan," "And for national
security, we have to stop that single point of failure" |
|
◆
POLITICO, 2025-7-31 |
“U.S. trade negotiators are squeezing Taiwan like a lemon” |
|
◆
Reuters, 2025-8-1 |
Taiwan says 20% U.S tariff rate is
temporary, and the government expects to negotiate a lower figure |
|
◆
Bloomberg, 2025-7-23 |
president
Lai is treading a fine line in
negotiations with the US, needing to maintain good relations with the country
that provides key security guarantees without angering domestic constituencies,
including the farming sector |
|
◆
New
York Times, 2025-7-7 |
The sale of tech equipment to China is likely to be a
continuing source of friction, and negotiation, for Taiwan in its
dealings with the Trump administration. |
|
◆◆
Bloomberg, 2025-6-19 |
Taiwan is likely to hold its
benchmark interest rate for the fifth straight quarter as it considers
worries about tariffs. Bloomberg, 2025-6-18:
US-China Tech Fight Widens After Taiwan Blacklists Huawei |
|
◆◆Wall
Street Journal,
2025-6-9 |
Taiwan exports
growth nears 15-Year
high on likely frontloading as tariff
uncertainty continues. Taiwan expects exports to contract in the second half, citing
“escalating trade protectionism and heightened policy uncertainty.” |
|
◆
Foreign Affairs, 2025-5-20 |
instead of hampering China's
military, the trade war could make a shooting war seem more appealing to
Beijing.foreignaffairs.com/taiwan/taiwan-tightrope |
|
◆
Reuters, 2025-5-13 |
"They've agreed to open China,
fully open China, and I think it's going to be fantastic for China, I
think it's going to be fantastic for us, and I think it's going to be
great for unification and peace," Trump said,
without mentioning Taiwan.
AIT (a de facto embassy):
"It's clear President Trump was speaking in the context of the
U.S.-China trade relationship" |
|
|
|
continue ready Trump's tariff (2) |
|
Taiwan's
defense and security structures are so deeply penetrated by Chinese
spies
China holds large-scale drills
around Taiwan after president Lai announced measures to counter China's
influence and espionage |
|
◆◆Strategy
Page, 2025-7-20 |
both China and Taiwan have intelligence operatives in enemy territory. Both are
also hobbled by corruption within the military and government. |
|
◆◆Eurasian
Times, 2025-7-5 |
The CCP's
campaign is not an external nuisance—it is a systemic infection reaching the top
echelons of Taiwan's defense and political leadership.
a long-term espionage network carefully cultivated by Beijing, one
capable not only of collecting intelligence but also of compromising Taiwan’s
command structure and critical infrastructure in a crisis. |
|
◆◆War
On The Rocks, 2025-6-25 |
China might have a way to combine old
tools — such as spies, fifth columns, and saboteurs — with newer capabilities
pre-staged before the fighting starts — like drones and malware — to overwhelm
and paralyze the country. |
|
◆◆L.A. Times,
2025-5-22 |
Taiwan is worried about spying threats. That may mean deporting thousands of
Chinese |
|
◆◆Washington
Post,
2025-4-1 |
China targets Taiwan's
president with military drills and personal attacks.
Taiwanese expert: "we should call it a pre-invasion operation.”
By specifically targeting Taiwan and blaming Lai, China is engaging in
“cognitive warfare” that is gradually making Taiwanese numb to the real threats
they face. The gradual ratcheting up of activity in
frequency and complexity raises the possibility that “drills could escalate into
actual conflict”. |
|
◆◆New
York Times,
2025-4-1 |
Chinese land, navy, air and missile forces
would “approach close” to Taiwan and practice “seizure of overall control,
etc. The exercises appeared intended to intimidate Taiwan, without
tipping over into a wider confrontation or crisis. They
likely want to persuade the Trump administration that
Lai is a troublemaker and to deter the U.S. from maintaining high levels of
support to Taiwan.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/world/asia/china-taiwan-military-drills.html |
|
◆◆Washington
Post,
2025-3-28 |
Taiwanese soldiers guarding president's office were spying for China.
This shows how severe China's infiltration is
in Taiwan; Taiwan's
sentencing on espionage activities has been too lenient. It is now even more uncertain whether Washington would
come to Taiwan's aid. Taipei's
latest crackdown on espionage helps show Washington that Taiwan
is serious about plugging leaks |
|
◆◆The
Diplomat,
2025-4-1 |
the U.S. has called on
Taiwan to do more for its own security,
including taking action on frequent
cases of defection or espionage |
|
◆◆Washington
Examiner, 2025-3-25
|
Taiwan has already lost its China spy war.
Taiwan's
defense and security structures are so deeply penetrated by Chinese spies
that Beijing knows everything about its plans to deter aggression by the
People's Liberation Army, including American
defense and intelligence secrets. At this point,
any secrets Washington shares with our Taiwanese partners stand a high
chance of winding up in Chinese Communist hands.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/courage-strength-optimism/3357074/taiwan-has-already-lost-its-china-spy-war |
|
◆◆Stanford
Review,
2025-2-24 |
Taiwan's military is dilapidated.
Reports of Chinese espionage and infiltration are commonplace throughout
Taiwan's military and civil society. |
|
◆◆Reuters,
2021-12-20 |
The repeated cases of the most senior
level of Taiwan armed forces officers being convicted of espionage...Beijing
has even penetrated the security detail assigned to protect Taiwan's
President. Well-placed spies in the ranks of
the Taiwan military could offer a priceless advantage to China if the two
sides plunge into open conflict, according to Taiwanese and U.S. military
analysts. |
|
The Beiping model:
coercion
without violence |
|
◆
TIME, 2025-7-29 |
For China, the
hope is that blood being thicker than water will mean
that China’s principal appeal for unity with
Taiwanese—cultural commonality—will finally have
traction. |
|
◆
Brookings 2025-5-12 |
Beijing has been pursuing an unrelenting campaign of
“coercion
without violence.” Beijing is
working to wear down the confidence of the people of Taiwan in their own future.
These tactics include
persistent visible military pressure, economic inducements and penalties,
diplomatic pressure, covert operations, organized crime, cyber operations, and disinformation.brookings.edu/articles/can-the-us-and-taiwan-advance-a-shared-vision/ |
|
◆
Lowy Institute
Australia, 2025-5-15 |
The Beiping model:
Victory can be achieved through the slow erosion of
political cohesion, economic independence, and societal
confidence; The signs are already visible.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/beiping-model-how-china-could-absorb-taiwan-without-war
|
|
◆
Brookings,
2025-2-12 |
China's
strategy of “coercion without violence” includes
cyber intrusions, economic coercion, influence operations, organized crime,
united front activities, and ceaseless and intensifying military pressure
surrounding Taiwan. In other words, Beijing
is taking a full spectrum of actions... |
|
Taiwan's Tougher
Stance on China |
|
◆◆Foreign
Affairs,
2025-5-15 |
President
Lai's political position is weak compared with
that of his predecessor, Tsai. ... this weakness may
make Lai bolder, as he might want to ramp up confrontation with China to try to
win public support. |
|
◆◆Foreign
Policy,
2025-5-1 |
The Trump
administration should rein in Lai before he mistakes Washington's passivity for approval
and entangles the United States in a potentially calamitous war.
|
|
◆◆Washington
Post,
2025-3-31 |
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has also adopted a
harder line toward China and moved to crack down more on Chinese espionage
in what analysts say is an effort to appeal to China hawks in the Trump
administration. |
|
◆◆New
York Times,
2025-3-23 |
Taiwan President's Gambit: Time for a Tougher Stance on China.
President Lai may be betting that China's
appetite for retaliation will be limited by Beijing's
interest in containing tensions with the Trump administration.
Part of Lai's calculus is that if the opposition
played games with his proposed defense spending increase, that would get
Washington's attention in a way they really don't want.
Nationalist politicians accused Lai of unfairly casting his domestic critics as “red” tools of Beijing,
and argue that reinstating
military
courts is backsliding. |
|
◆◆Washington
Post,
2025-3-21 |
For decades, Taiwanese leaders have performed a delicate dance of
defending Taiwan’s sovereignty while not provoking Beijing. Taiwanese
President Lai Ching-te is changing that. “We are moving toward conflict
escalation with China, that's for sure,” said a
professor at National Chengchi University. |
|
China-Taiwan conflict (2) |
|
◆
The Independent,
2025-6-24 |
Nato secretary general Mark
Rutte has said that China's
“massive” military
buildup has raised the risk of conflict over Taiwan,
there was a real possibility Beijing would urge Russia to
create trouble in Europe so as to divide Nato's attention and resources. |
|
◆
The Telegraph,
2025-6-24 |
Mark Rutte said:
“The Chinese will try anything with Taiwan.” |
|
◆
CNN,
2025-6-22 |
millions of former conscripts exist “on
paper,” but years of truncated service and minimal refresher training have left
them “underprepared for modern warfare.” |
|
◆
Reuters,
2025-6-17 |
Taiwan's armed forces are dwarfed by those of China, which has two operational
aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines and is developing stealth
fighter jets.
Taiwan is modernisising its military to be able to fight "asymmetric warfare,"
using mobile and agile systems like submarines, drones and truck-mounted
missiles to fend off its much-larger adversary China. |
|
◆
Defense News,
2025-6-14 |
Taiwan's military reform is failing where it matters most.
one of the main reasons for the decrease in military training is understaffing
and a lack of instructors. |
|
◆
Economist,
2025-6-10 |
Should Taiwan rehearse how to resist
occupation by China, striving to be ungovernable after a defeat? Several
Taiwanese experts are sceptical. They call such planning defeatist, divisive and
panic-inducing |
|
◆
The Hill,
2025-6-10 |
China's next war
‘could be imminent’ and spread fast. War is
coming to East Asia, and Taiwan — Chinese President Xi Jinping, after all, has
staked his personal legitimacy on annexing Taiwan. |
|
◆
Atlantic Council,
2025-6-9 |
China is carrying out ‘dress rehearsals’
to take Taiwan. the credibility of
US deterrence depends on the visible presence of capable military forces
west of the IDL and their ability to respond with sufficient force.
Lethality and visible presence matter. |
|
◆
National Interest,
2025-6-6 |
What's needed in Taiwan is for the island to prepare to wage a
long-term, national
insurgency against any possible Chinese invader. Instead, they're
trying to make the Taiwanese Armed Forces into a miniature clone of the United
States Army. It won't work. |
|
◆
Wall Street Journal,
2025-6-3 |
The War of Revision Is Coming.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine was the start.
Taiwan
could
be the next battlefield. |
|
◆
The Guardian,
2025-6-1 |
Were China to obstruct Taiwanese maritime traffic, launch covert cyber-attacks
on Taiwan, or impose a full naval and aerial blockade that fell short of all-out
invasion, it could force Trump into a humiliating climbdown. |
|
◆◆NBC
News,
2025-5-30 |
Taiwan's
Ministry of National Defense: it is difficult
for Taiwan to build a modern fighting force, in the face of
“inherently disproportionate” threats from China.
Even as it works with the U.S.,
Taiwan is unsure about the extent of the security commitment from
Washington. |
|
◆◆New
York Post,
2025-5-29 |
Taiwan fears
outside the world will abandon it if China invades.
deputy minister of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council:
" in order to stay in
power, Xi will have to possibly use force against Taiwan.”.
Many experts or analysts think that maybe
Xi Jinping and Putin already formed some agreement.
nypost.com/2025/05/29/world-news/why-taiwan-fears-outside-world-will-abandon-it-if-china-invades/ |
|
◆◆Financial Times,
2025-5-26 |
China has increased its ability to launch
a sudden attack on Taiwan with faster-paced air and operations, new artillery
systems and more alert amphibious and air assault units.
the PLA appeared to
have the greatest success was “in the development and integration of the joint
firepower strike campaign”. But it is struggling..., particularly military leadership and decision making.
ft.com/content/c82eb38e-87cb-4468-b013-0f7fce0fc54b |
|
◆◆Lowy
Institute,
2025-5-26 |
Conscription evasion remains widespread.
Defence spending has increased
but still falls short of the urgency implied by official rhetoric. Civic
mobilisation is growing, but slowly. And public opinion remains ambivalent,
supportive of autonomy, but unsure about confrontation. |
|
◆◆New
York Times,
2025-5-22 |
critics
say that Taiwan's efforts to upgrade military
preparations are too superficial and lag China's. Many U.S. officials
and experts have urged Taiwan to shift more decisively to newer weapons,
such as drones, which are less expensive and more mobilenytimes.com/2025/05/22/world/asia/trump-china-taiwan-security.html |
|
◆
National Interest, 2025-5-20 |
Taiwan's hope
and expectation
is that the United States will enter
the fray. Wargames point to costly
fighting and losses if that happens, including the specter of potential
escalation to nuclear war. |
|
◆
Foreign Affairs, 2025-5-20 |
U.S. provocations—official diplomatic
interactions, references to Taiwan as a country, calls for a U.S.-Taiwanese
alliance—could incentivize
Beijing to undertake a cross-strait invasion. |
|
◆
PBS, 2025-5-20 |
Michael Swaine: If you put
it that way, defending Taiwan to the point of going to war with China, I
don't believe is a vital U.S. interest, no. |
|
◆◆Foreign
Affairs,
2025-5-15 |
If Beijing doubts U.S. commitments to the
island, that could encourage China to engage in more coercive actions against
Taiwan. All these factors dramatically increase the chances that Beijing will
miscalculate—and that it could very well use force against the island around
2027 |
|
◆◆Wall
Street Journal,
2025-5-14 |
Beijing's
new ships can land on beaches and link to form massive mobile piers. Analysts
say they're intended to rapidly offload military
equipment, setting the stage for a D-Day-style invasion of Taiwan. |
 |
|
◆◆Wall
Street Journal,
2025-5-10 |
Taiwan's leaders have embarked on an urgent overhaul of the island's defenses to
prepare for what they see as the possibility of a Chinese invasion by 2027. The purpose: be able to hold on long
enough for the U.S. to come to the rescue. the deputy foreign minister said:
Taiwan will also need to know if U.S.
forces will show up. |
|
◆◆New
York Times,
2025-5-6 |
China's
military is now the world's largest armed force
and rivals the
United States in air, naval and missile power.
Xi Can't Trust His Own Military.
Taiwan should radically increase
spending on weapons such as anti-ship cruise missiles, sea mines and drones. The
US should deploy more long-range missiles... |
|
◆◆Economist,
2025-5-1 |
A blockade could provoke an
American military response without forcing Taiwan to surrender. That is why a
quarantine is more likely. Elbridge Colby has
long argued that America should concentrate on containing China, not least by
explicitly guaranteeing Taiwan's security. Now he says
Taiwan is not an “existential” matter for America and suggests the island cannot
be defended at acceptable cost.
economist.com/briefing/2025/05/01/chinese-military-exercises-foreshadow-a-blockade-of-taiwan |
|
◆◆Foreign
Policy,
2025-5-1 |
Lai Ching-te gave several
speeches that went significantly
further than his predecessors in positioning Taiwan as a sovereign state
that is separate from China. The Trump administration should rein in Lai
before he mistakes Washington's passivity for approval
and entangles the United States in a potentially calamitous war |
|
|
|
◆◆The
Diplomat, 2025-4-29 |
Taiwan
was not taking defense reform more
seriously, and responding to calls for a dramatic increase in defense spending
with a less than credible “counteroffer” to make incremental increases.
PS:
War on the Rocks,
2025-4-16:
Taiwan's military remains a profoundly unserious organization.
It is not
ready to wage war. |
|
◆◆Brookings,
2025-4-25 |
According to our
survey, across almost all measures, the United States is seen as a less
reliable partner, Taiwan and South Korea both feel less confident that the
United States will assist them in the event of a conflict with their respective
authoritarian neighbor.brookings.edu/articles/the-trump-effect-on-public-attitudes-toward-america-in-taiwan-and-south-korea/ |
|
◆◆TIME,
2025-4-26 |
Why China-Taiwan relations
are getting
so tense?
Lai Ching-te's DPP lacks a parliamentary majority, and he can't
be sure the Trump Administration has his back. Whatever his political
intent, Lai has become more strident on cross-Taiwan Strait questions in recent
weeks. |
|
◆◆The
Hill,
2025-4-19 |
The
commander of the U.S.
Indo-Pacific Command, gave
testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee: In
2024, the People's Liberation Party demonstrated
growing capabilities through persistent pressure operations with military
pressure against Taiwan increasing by 300%”, “China's increasingly
aggressive actions near Taiwan are not just exercises, they are rehearsals”. |
|
◆◆Reuters,
2025-4-18 |
the Republican Senator Pete Ricketts said that although
administrations change, the bipartisan support for Taiwan in Congress continued;
The US will keep helping Taiwan in its self-defence. |
|
◆◆The
Insider,
2025-4-19 |
The
commander of the U.S.
Indo-Pacific Command: China could stop US airpower
from achieving air superiority in the first island chain, China's fighter fleet,
bombers, and missiles are enough to cause problems.
"their advanced long-range air-to-air missiles also present a tremendous
threat.". Researchers have said that China
could more easily devastate American airpower than the other way around. |
|
◆◆PBS,
2025-4-7 |
Taiwan's financial systems, energy and communications are
vulnerable to Chinese blockade and cyberattack, and critics worry Taiwan isn't
doing enough to prepare for social and economic disruption.
On paper, Taiwan's reserves appear large.
But these men say military training is insufficient, Many young people today are
reluctant to join the armed forces. There's also a general lack of awareness
among civilians about the importance of national defense. |
|
◆◆Washington
Post,
2025-3-21 |
For decades, Taiwanese leaders have
performed a delicate dance of not provoking Beijing. President Lai Ching-te is changing that.
“We are moving toward conflict
escalation with China, that's for sure,” said a
professor at National Chengchi University. |
|
◆◆Associated
Press, 2025-3-18 |
China conducts air and sea drills
(an unusually large number of Chinese military ships, planes and drones entered
airspace and waters surrounding Taiwan ) in response to US and Taiwanese
statements. Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te said that Taiwan law
designates mainland China as a “foreign hostile force” and said tougher
measures... The United States deleted the literal expression that reflected the
one-China principle and that did not support Taiwan independence on the website
of the U.S. Department of State. |
|
◆◆Wall
Street Journal,
2025-3-17 |
Taiwan envisions Chinese assaults
on the island to potentially come by land, sea, air and space as well as through
cyberattacks, among others. China could launch a rapid invasion or blockade
Taiwan to try to pressure it into submission. |
|
◆ Brookings,
2025-3-13 |
In surveys
(2021, 2022), Taiwanese people were asked how likely they are to be
willing to fight against an invasion by China on a one-to-five scale. After
observing the invasion, more respondents gravitated to extreme options.
A
research in 2022 indicated that the more Taiwanese citizens believe the United
States will assist Taiwan, the higher their willingness to engage in
self-defense becomes. Additionally, a 2024 study by Ronan Tse-min Fu and
colleagues found that when Taiwanese individuals perceive that Taiwan and U.S.
interests align, they are more likely to trust that the United States will
provide assistance, thereby strengthening their resolve for self-defense. |
|
◆
Fox News,
2025-3-2 |
most Taiwanese aren't
willing to make the sacrifices required for victory in war. Migrant workers
serving as essentially mercenaries would only highlight how few of our citizens
are willing to fight
. Taiwanese expert says: I understand the logic
behind the U.S. policy of strategic ambiguity, but I fear far too many Taiwanese
people – especially younger people – are counting on a rescue from Uncle Sam," |
|
◆
New
York Times, 2025-2-25 |
Mr. Trump said Taiwan was spending
far too little on its military and was too complacent about the United States
coming to its rescue in a war |
|
◆
Wall Street
Journal, 2025-2-22 |
Taiwan must
"adopt a new military culture"
akin to that of Israel, turning itself into a warrior-state.
the DPP has flirted with sovereignty and self-determination, it has always been
careful to stop short of provoking China with any outright declaration of
independence —— that has kept Taiwan and China from
falling into war. |
|
◆ Brookings,
2025-2-12 |
China's
strategy of “coercion without violence.”includes
cyber intrusions, economic coercion, influence operations, bribery, organized
crime, united front activities, and ceaseless and intensifying military pressure
surrounding Taiwan. In other words, Beijing is taking a full spectrum of actions... |
|
◆
Economist, 2025-2-6 |
China is
infiltrating Taiwan's armed forces.
Most of the prosecuted cases have been uncovered through internal
reporting, showing that anti-spy education is working. |
|
◆
New
York
Post, 2025-1-23 |
Trump says he can strike
deals that would keep China out of Taiwan. “We have a
pot of gold.”,“We have one very big power over China
and that's tariffs”. |
|
◆
Washington
Post, 2025-1-17 |
Taiwan is entering a
period of political upheaval that could hinder its combat readiness;
The two parties (KMT, TPP) that hold
the majority in parliament are calling for
substantial cuts, including to defense spending;
Debates over defense — “whether to increase the military budget
or pay a ‘protection fee’ to Trump” — are being “turned into
battlegrounds for partisan conflict”.
Trump has declined to give Biden's
promise, instead calling for Taipei to pay for U.S. protection. |
|
◆
Bloomberg,
2025-1-14 |
Taiwan's military
is
not
prepared
for a Trumpian
World; With
the former president soon back in the White House, Taipei needs to
rethink its defense strategy. |
|
◆
Council
on Foreign Relations, 2025-1-15 |
A top concern among U.S.
security analysts is that China's growing
military capabilities and assertiveness, as well as the deterioration in
cross-strait relations, could spark a conflict that leads to a
U.S.-China confrontation. |
|
◆
L.A.
Times, 2025-1-13 |
China is working with
gangs,
shell companies and others to gain
intelligence, Taiwan's spy agency says |
|
◆
Financial
Times, 2025-1-13 |
Taiwan's long stretches of the coast comprise cliffs, reefs and
rocks, while the flatter western seaboard is lined with mudflats.
China building new mobile piers
could help possible Taiwan invasion;
But military experts said a Chinese invasion force would still
struggle to advance through Taiwan's western
plains, which are densely packed with paddy fields, fish ponds and urban
sprawl, with wide roads often hard to reach from shore. |
|
◆
Financial
Times, 2025-1-5 |
Taiwan suspects
a Chinese-owned ship of cutting a subsea cable off its northern coast.
Taipei is concerned
that such “greyzone” operations, below the threshold of war, will make
it harder to defend against aggression that could eventually escalate to
an outright attack.
ps:
Politico Europe (2025-1-5):
Taiwan has experienced several dozen incidents of damage to its
underwater telecom cables in recent years, without being able to
definitively identify the source of the attacks, and has appealed to the
European Union for help. |
|
◆
The
Hill, 2025-1-7 |
Lyle Goldstein, a professor at
Brown University said the cost of a war with China is
“incalculable” and would at the very least sow mass destruction in Taiwan and
the South China Sea region;
the U.S. should
avoid a war over Taiwan, arguing it amounts to a civil war dispute
and, for the U.S., a moral
conundrum more than a national security risk. |
|
◆
Wall Street Journal,
2025-1-3 |
In addition to
unleashing its full military power, Beijing would be expected to use a
variety of economic strategies in a showdown over Taiwan.
A 2023 study by Rhodium Group and the Atlantic Council concluded
that Beijing has been more systematic in preparing such defenses than
Russia was to counter Western sanctions. |
|
◆
Washington Examiner,
2025-1-1 |
The quantity and
quality of munitions to deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan has fallen as
they have been diverted to Ukraine. While
Taiwan's
2.5% of GDP spent on defense is impressive compared to many European
nations, it is nowhere near what is needed in a nation at the front line
of conflict. |
|
◆
USNI
News, 2024-12-19 |
The
Pentagon's
report: Xi Jinping's
goal of having his military ready to carry out a “short, sharp invasion”
of Taiwan by 2027 “is not possible right now”;
the force has not yet demonstrated the type and scale of
sophisticated urban warfare or long-distance logistic capabilities that
would likely be required for operations against Taiwan or major
contingencies overseas”. |
|
◆
Financial
Times, 2024-12-13 |
US nuclear build-up
would not help deter China from using atomic weapons in Taiwan, war game
finds;
Unclassified exercise by CSIS and
MIT suggests Washington should not go beyond current modernisation plans...
only five of 15 iterations
of the nuclear game ended with a withdrawal of the PLA. |
|
◆
Economist,
2024-12-5 |
American military officials have
long worried about a “window of vulnerability” before new weapons enter
into service in the 2030s. But
corruption in the PLA is changing the calculations of analysts;
China's economic woes and social
discontent mean that Mr Xi is turning inward.
The views (the
period of greatest danger has probably been pushed out for
several years) are not universally shared, in
or out of government. “Xi has his foot firmly
on the accelerator and a full tank of gas". |
|
◆
Breaking
Defense, 2024-12-6 |
The
head of the Defense Intelligence Agency:
China did appear to be on track to meet Xi's
2027 preparedness goal.
House intel's Himes:
You could implement a blockade. You know,
what? If you invade Taiwan, what happens? A. You may lose.
B. You may reduce the place to smoking rubble, what have you
really achieved economically?
|
|
◆
Newsweek,
2024-11-20 |
U.S. Pacific Commander Samuel
Paparo:
a cross-strait invasion executed by the Chinese military would
be "exceedingly difficult" given the advantages of the U.S. and allies. |
|
◆
Washington Examiner, 2024-12-4 |
Chinese leaders have said
they want their military to be prepared to invade Taiwan by 2027, though
U.S. defense leaders have said the date does not guarantee a decision to
carry out such an operation has been made.
War with China would exhaust munition stockpiles
"very rapidly",
national security adviser
J. Sullivan
acknowledged that China has "the
single biggest advantage",
"God forbid we end up in a full-scale
war with the PRC" . |
| |
|
Trump's tariff (2) |
|
◆
The Hill, 2025-4-28 |
Taiwan's semiconductor industry no longer guarantees lasting security. The
US is pressing Taiwan TSMC to increase
production in the US, reducing its reliance on Taiwan-based
manufacturing. As Taiwan's economic leverage
diminishes, will Washington still view
it as indispensable? “Once Trump's America
gets what it wants — or if you remove the chips from the equation — will
the assurance still be there?” |
|
◆
TIME, 2025-4-26 |
Though we don't yet know his tariff intentions toward Taiwan, Trump is extremely
unlikely to cut it loose, at least in the near term. |
|
◆
BBC, 2025-4-16 |
Trump is trying to create a chip industry through protectionism
and isolation, when what allowed the chip industry to emerge throughout Asia is
the opposite: collaboration in a globalised economy.
TSMC have faced challenges with their
investments, including surging costs, difficulty recruiting skilled labour,
construction delays and resistance from local unions.
major US companies could apply pressure on Trump to reverse any
levies on the chip sector.yahoo.com/news/perils-trumps-chips-strategy-us-233939824.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall |
|
◆
New York Times, 2025-4-16 |
President Trump has threatened tariffs on Taiwan
and the chip industry. China has signaled it will not let the trade war
keep it from the technology it needs. Analysts said China's
move to exempt chips made in Taiwan was an acknowledgment of just how
much China's tech relied on Taiwan.
Expert at Techcet said,
“Everyone
is holding their breath"
nytimes.com/2025/04/16/business/china-taiwan-tariffs-chips.html |
|
◆
Washington Post, 2025-4-9 |
Tariffs put Taiwan on shaky ground with U.S., may open door for China.
Taiwan can't afford to take on Beijing
and Washington at the same time, Taiwanese professor
at NCCU said. The U.S. aims to push other countries into
negotiations through raising the tariffs, hoping they'll
buy more American goods and services |
|
◆
Business Insider, 2025-4-8 |
Trump tariffs are all about Taiwan.
Tariffs are an attempt by Trump to reorder the global economy away
from Chinese manufacturing.businessinsider.com/trump-tariffs-taiwan-china-invasion-explained-2025-4 |
|
◆
CNN, 2025-3-14
|
TSMC paying
Trump a $100 billion ‘protection fee’reignited fears
and resignation in Taiwan about losing its crown jewel.
An economist at the University of
Chicago: TSMC and others will
have to “do whatever they can to make Trump happy.” But the
risk is “Once you agree to blackmail, then there's
no end of it” |
|
Taiwan's Markets Jolted as Currency Surges Most Since 1980s |
|
Reuters, 2025-5-5 |
Bloomberg, Reuters, 2025-5-5 |
|
Taiwan's president
called for an end to "false" news about
US forex talks.
"I would also
like to ask malevolent people to stop deliberately
spreading false information",
Lai Ching-te said. |
Taiwan's
monetary authority hadn't been seen aggressively intervening in the market
Monday to limit its strength, though
it typically does so to smooth out volatility. An
unprecedented two-day surge in Taiwan's currency is the
latest leg of a scramble out of the U.S. dollar and
signal of disquiet in markets as Trump's trade war
rattles confidence and disrupts trade relationships.
"Many
are saying that's due to pressure from the U.S."
a financial industry executive
say that "must be the
case."; expert at LC Beacon Global Fund:
a weak dollar is certainly an integral part
of Trump's strategy
to move manufacturing onshore is out |
|
|
|
|
|
◆
Fortune, 2025-3-13
|
TSMC's $100 billion promise to invest in the U.S. won’t
shake up the chip supply chain: ‘Most of its capacity is still in
Taiwan’. a senior research analyst at
Isaiah Research is skeptical that TSMC's $100 billion pledge will fully materialize.
Timelines for reaching the next generations of chips are
“not quite aligned with U.S. capacity right now. |
|
◆
NPR, 2025-3-12
|
Taiwanese chip giant's investments in U.S. stir 'silicon
shield' security worries and divide politics in
Taiwan. TSMC chairman is facing a
dilemma, because on one hand, he needs to meet the needs of the Trump
administration. On the other hand, he needs to assure the Taiwanese
people that we'll be safe. |
|
◆
Reuters, 2025-3-4 |
TSMC's $100 bln gamble
jeopardises 'Taiwan First'. TSMC
committed to set up a major research and development centre
stateside, despite an earlier assurance from boss C.C. Wei to keep
innovation on the company's home island. That's a threat to Taiwan in
multiple ways. The enormous disruption that
military conflict would inflict on global semiconductor supply chains is
a core part of the deterrence. But the more that TSMC replicates its
business offshore, the more this protection will erode. |
|
◆
Bloomberg, 2025-2-15 |
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is
considering taking a controlling stake in Intel Corp.'s factories at the request
of Trump administration officials, as
the president looks to boost American manufacturing and maintain US leadership
in critical technologies. |
|
◆
NY Times, 2025-2-13 |
Taiwan is adjusting to a shift in
its relationship with the United States, its primary backer — one that
does not focus on shared democratic ideals, and that is more uncertain
and transactional. Taiwanese officials have traveled to Washington to float energy deals and defend the
island's semiconductors. |
|
◆
Fortune, 2025-2-3 |
Taiwan offers to help firms move production to the U.S., Southeast Asia, or
India as Trump threatens tariffs. a U.S.
think tank argues that
a tariff on Taiwanese chips would likely backfire. The organization
claims that such a measure will increase prices, hurt U.S. tech firms,
and damage relations with Taiwan, while also failing to drive chip and
electronics manufacturing back to the U.S |
|
◆
Washington Post, 2025-1-28 |
the vast majority of chip
production happens overseas, particularly in Taiwan
── Trump said he wanted the
manufacturers of semiconductors and chips — which are used in many
high-end consumer electronics and sophisticated AI-powered technology
and research — to open factories in the United States and would use the
threat of high taxes and tariffs to force them to relocate. |
|
◆
Reuters,
2025-1-28 |
Taiwan Economy Minister said he
only expected a small impact from any tariffs imposed by Trump on semiconductor
exports given their technological superiority.
In another potential challenge for Taiwan,
Trump last week directed federal agencies to investigate persistent U.S.
trade deficits and unfair trade practices and alleged currency
manipulation by other countries |
|
◆
Politico (EU),
2025-1-30 |
Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 100
percent on Taiwanese semiconductor imports in a bid to “return
production of these essential goods to the United States of
America.” Taipei will convene “emergency discussions” to determine
countermeasures... |
|
◆
Business Insider, 2025-1-28 |
US tariffs on Taiwan's semiconductors could result in a steep
increase in costs to Nvidia and other significant customers, such as Apple and
AMD. Chip manufacturing efforts in the US are less developed and more expensive
than those in Taiwan. the US's chip
manufacturing sector could take years to develop the
same capacity as Taiwan's. |
|
◆
CNN, 2024-12-15 |
Trump's
remarks have prompted jitters that Taiwan would need to move more of its
critical chip supply chain to the US at a faster pace,
that could affect the island's economic security and
dismantle the very “silicon shield”
... |
| |
|
Taiwan has Trump's problem (2) |
|
◆◆The
Hill,
2025-3-13 |
Taiwan president
Lai has clearly gotten the message that he must increase defense spending in a
world where the U.S. appears increasingly likely to leave small powers to fend
for themselves. |
|
◆
New
York Times, 2025-3-6
|
President Trump has
pressed Taiwan to loosen its dominance in advanced semiconductors and to
move production to the United States, and he has warned of hefty tariffs
if his demands are not met.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/world/asia/taiwan-tsmc-chips-arizona.html |
|
◆ TIME,
2025-2-27 |
University of London
expert says: I haven't
seen any evidence that Trump cares much about Taiwan.
Nanyang Technological University scholar says:
China may be able to
take Taiwan “without too much U.S. interference” if Beijing is able to
strike a similar deal with Washington. |
|
◆ New
York Times,
2025-2-25 |
Mr. Trump executes a dramatic reversal of
U.S. policy toward Ukraine, insisting that Ukraine is to blame for the war;
In Taiwan, Mr. Trump's stinging comments about Ukraine could feed a
current of public
opinion arguing that the island has been repeatedly abandoned by
Washington and cannot trust its promises. |
|
◆
Eurasian Times,
2025-3-1 |
Same Playbook! just
like the Ukraine minerals deal, the U.S. seeks to secure Taiwan's
semiconductor technology through the TSMC-Intel
deal. The
agreements conspicuously lack one crucial element—security guarantees in
both cases. |
|
◆ New
York Times,
2025-2-21 |
Mr. Trump executes a dramatic reversal of U.S.
policy toward Ukraine, abandoning Western efforts to punish Russia for
the invasion and insisting that Ukraine is to blame for the war;
The prospect of the United States trying to make a deal with
Russia over Ukraine, without actually giving Ukraine a seat at the
table, will reinforce the sense of American skepticism in Taiwan”nytimes.com/2025/02/25/world/asia/trump-ukraine-taiwan.html |
|
◆ Washington
Post, 2025-2-18 |
Each statement by Trump that degrades the
principle that territorial boundaries must not be redrawn by force or
coercion might embolden China on Taiwan. political scientist
Graham Allison : “Taiwan will be depreciated in the triangular
relationship”,“I see no evidence whatever that [Trump] believes the U.S.
has any vital interest in Taiwan.” |
|
◆ Newsweek,
2025-2-18 |
Trump's approach to Ukraine could signal how
it would respond to a cross-strait conflict between the East Asian power
and its diminutive neighbor. |
|
◆ The
Guardian,
2025-2-21 |
Taiwan holds its breath as a withdrawal of
American support here would spark an existential crisis. “The Trump administration has already
demonstrated that it is willing to suddenly and without warning
break from decades of bipartisan US policy on China,” says
head at ASPI. Worries about Trump's “lukewarm” view of
Taiwan are becoming more obvious ...says professor at Taiwan's National ChengChi university. |
|
◆ Council
on Foreign Relations,
2025-2-21 |
Trump is making Taiwan more vulnerable. Trump has
also made clear that he wants to negotiate a broad
economic deal with China, which raises the question of what China will seek in
return. If Trump can take Greenland, why can't China take Taiwan? |
|
◆
Politico (EU),
2025-1-30 |
President Donald
Trump's threat to use military force
to take control of Greenland and Panama has spooked Taiwan.
Trump's assertions of the U.S. right to
use military force — even against longtime allies — in the name of
national security concerns could embolden Beijing to apply that same
logic to pursuing its claims to Taiwan. |
|
◆
Wall
Street Journal, 2024-11-18 |
Some in Taiwan say its survival as a self-ruled democracy is
at stake, that it
can't afford to spend what Trump demands on defense and that it would wither in
the crossfire of a U.S.-China trade war.
Taiwan's military spending is currently at 2.45%
of GDP—a lower share than Singapore's 2.8% and
South Korea's 2.7%; In
Washington, the percent of GDP is really seen as a proxy for your
seriousness. |
|
◆
New
York Times, 2024-11-24 |
Taiwan is
ready to defend
democracy. Is Trump?
Maybe he
will strike some sort of bargain with Taiwan. But whatever Taiwan can offer
him, Beijing can easily top. More and
more, there are those in Taiwan who say we are an “abandoned chess
piece,” no longer valued by the United States. China
amplifies these fears... |
|
◆
New
York Times, 2024-11-6 |
Some
diplomats in Asia expect China to
intensify pressure on Taiwan, if not invade the self-governing island it
claims as its territory; and China may
calculate that Mr. Trump would not go to war for a democracy that he has
accused of “stealing” the microchip industry from the United States.
“With Donald Trump, there are large amounts of
uncertainty,” said Lev Nachman, a political scientist, “And it's a matter of uncertainty that comes with
great risk for Taiwan.” |
|
◆
Washington Post,
2024-11-6 |
Trump's statements this
year that raise doubt about his willingness to come to the island
democracy's defense and his misleading
assertion that Taipei needs to pay the US for defense. Such
rhetoric could “fan the flames of skepticism” about American intent at a
time when the Taiwanese are “directly threatened by
CCP disinformation
aimed at undermining U.S. credibility” |
|
◆
New
York Times, 2024-11-10 |
Taiwan's leading chip makers may face demands from the Trump
administration to locate more production in the United States.
Taiwan has already been raising its military spending, partly
under pressure from Washington. But Mr. Trump has said that Taiwan
should raise military spending to 10
percent of its gross domestic product (from
about 2.6 percent).
Sharply increasing military spending could be politically
difficult for Taiwan's president.
Beijing, for its part, appears poised to exploit any signs of
discord between Washington and Taipei. |
|
◆
Fox
News, 2024-11-10 |
Trump's
public comments might suggest that he would not be willing to put boots
on the ground to face another global superpower in defense of a tiny
island democracy (Taiwan). there
is hope among restraint groups
that Trump will be focused on economic
warfare with China – rather than military.
"We don't have that alliance with Taiwan, ...
the Taiwan issue is a powder keg — it's exceedingly dangerous. "
|
|
◆
New
York Times, 2024-11-6
news briefing |
Many
believe Trump's
foreign policy changes could have a greater impact than anything since
the start of the Cold War.
Trump could decide to
do the true “America First” thing and
withdraw completely, and basically say,
"defending Taiwan is not in our interest.” |
|
◆
Bloomberg,
2024-11-5 |
Taiwan's Economic
Affairs Minister acknowledged that Trump could
introduce measures that might prove harmful for Taiwan's
semiconductor industry. But the impact will not be as severe as some
anticipate. |
|
◆
Reuters, 2024-11-6 |
From Taiwan to trade, China braces for more rivalry as close US
presidential race ends. Trump
might try to use the Taiwan issue as a bargaining chip to gain
leverage in other areas, such as offering to restrain Taiwan's
provocative actions in exchange for Beijing's
compromise on trade. |
| |
|
How much of the
world
backs Beijing's claim to Taiwan? |
|
♣
Economist,
2025-2-9 |
By The
Economist's count, 70 countries have now
officially endorsed that China is entitled to pursue
“all” efforts to achieve unification, without specifying that those efforts
should be peaceful.
China's latest diplomatic push appears to be
designed to secure global support for its broadening campaign of coercion
against Taiwan. That campaign includes the threat of imposing a quarantine
or inspection regime on Taiwan
economist.com/international/2025/02/09/chinas-stunning-new-campaign-to-turn-the-world-against-taiwan |
|
♣
Lowy
Institute
, 2025-1-29 |
nearly three-quarters of countries
(74% or 142 in total) now support Beijing's
position that Taiwan is part of China.。A growing number of countries support PRC efforts to “achieve national
reunification” without any caveat that Beijing's objectives should be pursued
peacefully. The widespread adoption of Beijing's stance might
constrain US-led deterrence efforts and could provide the
PRC with extra licence to escalate military aggression
lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/how-much-world-really-backs-beijing-s-claim-taiwan |
|
♣ National Review . 2024-10-7 |
Taiwan is losing the
battle for diplomatic recognition overseas. The island nation cannot compete with China's “checkbook
diplomacy,” preferring instead to await the day when the foreign beneficiaries
of Beijing’s largess recognize the substandard services they're purchasing and
see for themselves the point of diminishing returns.
Washington treated Taiwan as a chip to be traded away. |
|
♣ National
Public Radio, 2024-8-19 |
Taiwan is not officially
considered a sovereign nation by most other countries and does not have the ability to conduct normal diplomacy. |
|
China fumes at
Trump after the State Department drops website
wording on not supporting Taiwan independence |
|
♣
New
York Post, 2025-2-18 |
The US agreed to acknowledge the so-called One China Policy and recognize
Taiwan as part of China in the 1970s under then-President Nixon.
But while the US has agreed to the One China Policy on paper, in practice, it
has historically shown “strategic
ambiguity” on the issue. |
|
♣
NBC
News, 2025-2-17 |
The State Department website has also been changed to add a reference to
Taiwan's cooperation with a Pentagon technology and semiconductor development
project and to say the U.S. will continue to support Taiwan's participation in
international organizations, “including membership where applicable.
China has consistently opposed Taiwan's membership in international bodies such
as the WHO. |
|
♣
Independent
(UK), 2025-2-17 |
Beijing accused the Trump administration of
"gravely backpedalling"
; It is not the first time the State Department has removed the
phrase. It did so in May 2022 but restored it a few weeks later after a strong
protest from China. |
|
♣
USA
Today
, 2025-2-17 |
US drops website wording on not supporting Taiwan independence,
prompting praise from Taiwan island.
the State Department website reads in the update posted
: "We expect cross-Strait differences to be
resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable
to the people on both sides of the (Taiwan) Strait." |
|
♣
The
Hill
, 2025-2-9 |
The president's rhetorical pivot from threats to compliments
suggests that he may smell a deal in the air. But US concessions
(such as agreeing to "oppose" rather than "not support" Taiwan
independence...) would make the U.S. strategic position in Asia
increasingly vulnerable, as they leave Beijing with openings for future
exploitation. |
|
Trump's
defense policy on Taiwan |
|
◆
Brookings,
2025-2-12 |
Trump said in 2021, if
China invades Taiwan, “there isn't a f—ing
thing we can do about it.” |
|
◆
Fox News,
2025-2-7 |
Trump's comments on the campaign trail suggest that he would
not be willing to put boots on the ground to face another global superpower in
defense of the island democracy. |
|
◆
Newsweek,
2025-1-3 |
Trump, who positioned himself as being tough on
China, has suggested he would not defend Taiwan from China
|
|
◆ The
Telegraph, 2025-1-13 |
Donald Trump has appointed a number of hawkish foreign policy advisers
to his transition team. However, he has pledged not to allow the US to
become involved in foreign wars. |
|
◆ Newsweek,
2025-1-3 |
Trump, who positioned himself as being tough on China, has suggested he would
not defend Taiwan from China |
|
◆
Voice of America,
2024-12-26 |
Taiwan seeks clarity on Trump team
policy amid Chinese pressure.
There is still quite a bit of resistance not only within the
security apparatus and armed forces, which don't
like the idea of involving citizens in defense, the opposition parties
have also sought to derail [relevant] plans and fundings.
What may come next depends on Taiwan's
actions and Beijing's assessment of Trump's
policies toward the island after he takes office.
|
|
◆
Insider,
2024-12-26 |
Trump's
next undersecretary of defense policy,
Elbridge Colby, once called for the
destruction of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's chip plants
if China takes over Taiwan. In Feb.,
Colby said "disabling or destroying TSMC is table stakes" if China
invades Taiwan. The US and its
allies can't afford to allow China to "have such dominance over global
semiconductors," he wrote in 2023. |
more
|
Prosecutors
indict former
presidential
candidate Ko
♦
He and his supports accused a
political vendetta |
|
◆
Foreign Policy, 2025-2-3 |
The ruling party's launching what many see as a
political witch hunt against the leader of the third party......is
a terrible look for any self-respecting democracy...
These dysfunctional domestic politics are not just embarrassing, but damaging
for Taiwan's stability.
the TPP slammed “green authoritarianism”and warned that if
the DPP could use the judicial system against Ko, it could go after any other
politician. KMT politicians also appeared... |
|
◆
New York Times,
2024-12-26 |
Ko has denied the charges and said that
he was the victim of a political vendetta mounted by Mr. Lai's
government...thousands of supporters
gathered
in protests, arguing that the allegations were
flimsy
and politically motivated, and that
seemingly corrupt politicians from Mr. Lai's
DPParty had
been spared investigations.
“What's important to keep in mind is
that the sort of political force that he awakened in
Taiwan is not going to go away,” said Lev
Nachman, a political scientist at NCCU.
nytimes.com/2024/12/26/world/asia/taiwan-presidential-candidate-indicted.html |
|
◆
Bloomberg,
2024-12-26 |
The Taiwan People's
Party (founded by Ko) denounced the indictment
in a press briefing :
“Today, Taiwan is
experiencing judicial injustice, with politics and state machinery being
used to persecute political opponents,” The indictment “lacks financial
evidence and concrete proof, relying solely on pieced-together claims to
destroy political adversaries.” |
|
◆
BBC,
2024-12-26 |
A dark horse in presidential election, Ko won votes
not far behind ruling party candidate Lai Ching-te's 40%;
His
sizable showing pointed to voters' demand for a more pluralistic political landscape beyond the
two main parties. Ko was
expected to seek the presidency again in 2028.
His allies and supporters accused
the DPP of using the charges to suppress its opponents. |
|
Taiwan has a plan for Trump's inauguration |
|
◆
Radio
Free Asia, 2025-1-20 |
Asia sends top officials to Trump inauguration amid concern
over trade, security
── Trump's return raises fundamental questions in Asia,
in particular the extent he will follow through on his promise to ramp up
tariffs and his commitment to the security of old allies in an increasingly
dangerous world.
Taiwan's delegation
will not be able to attend the inauguration “due
to space constraints” in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol。Trump's talk of taking control of
Greenland and the Panama Canal has triggered a wave of speculation in Chinese
social media that he may be willing to let China take control of democratically
ruled Taiwan. rfa.org/english/asia/2025/01/20/trump-inauguration-lookahead/ |
|
◆
Politico, 2024-12-20 |
Taiwan has a plan for Trump's inauguration.
Taiwan is launching a new charm offensive on Washington ──
dispatching a large delegation to Washington for the inauguration,
which underscores how unnerved Taipei is over what Trump's
return to the White House means for the self-governing island.
The
Council on Foreign Relations
David Sacks:
Taiwan is likely to try to address those perceptions by telling
Trump and his team that Taiwan “is taking its defense seriously, that it's
not a free rider.” |
|
Taiwan Lawmakers
Brawl Over Controversial Bills |
|
◆
Bloomberg,
2024-12-23 |
Taiwan's government said a legal change to budget rules
could derail its 2025 spending plan, underscoring
challenges the opposition is posing to the new leader of
the democracy at the core of China-US tensions. |
|
◆
Bloomberg,
2024-12-20 |
A new wave of political wrangling between Taiwan's ruling and opposition parties
that has involved street protests and lawmakers tussling adds to questions about
President Lai Ching-te's ability to govern one of the world's most dangerous
geopolitical hotspots. |
|
China's
largest-ever war games around Taiwan |
|
◆
New
York Times, 2024-12-10 |
Taiwan says China
has deployed
largest fleet of
ships in decades,
which could block American allies in the region from coming
to Taiwan's defense.
Speculation had been growing for days that China would launch war
games in retaliation for visits made by Lai Ching-te to Hawaii and Guam
last week; The surge in Chinese ships could
also be a signal to the incoming Trump administration, which has yet to
indicate how it will deal with Taiwan. |
|
◆
Fox News, 2024-12-10 |
After
Taiwanese president visits Hawaii and Guam,
Chinese military makes massive deployment around Taiwan to send
'very simple' message: "The Taiwan Strait is
ours"; Taiwan defense officials are raising
concerns ..., saying the build-up could
eventually lead to war as tensions continue to rise in the area. |
|
◆
Financial Times, 2024-12-15 |
Big Chinese naval exercise
to
"punish" its
president, Lai Ching-te, for a trip abroad (included
U.S.)
leaves Taiwan and US struggling
for response.
Taiwan: the manoeuvres involved
all three of the PLA's coastal theatre
commands for the first time, a demonstration
that they can lock down the First Island Chain. |
|
◆
AFP, 2024-12-11 |
Taiwan security official : the
sea drills were "significantly larger" than Beijing's
maritime response to then-US House speaker Nancy
Pelosi's visit to Taipei in 2022, which was China's
largest-ever war games around Taiwan.
China's massive
maritime operation began in October
were aimed at demonstrating that Beijing could
choke off Taiwan and also to "draw a red line" ahead of
the next US administration. |
|
◆
Radio France Internationale,
2024-12-11 |
Hopes for
'reunification' a fact of life on
China's window to Taiwan |
|
Taiwan's presidential office runs first
'tabletop' simulation of Chinese
military escalation |
|
◆
CNN,
2024-12-27 |
The simulation highlights Taipei's
urgency in ensuring preparedness against an increasingly assertive Beijing.
Unlike traditional war games
by the military, the tabletop exercise was aimed at testing how different
government agencies could "ensure the normal
functioning of society" in times of crisis |
|
◆
Reuters,
2024-12-26 |
The exercise simulated scenarios
including China's "high intensity" grey-zone warfare as well as when the
island is "on the verge of conflict" to test response readiness by
Taiwan government offices and civil society. |
|
Taiwan's pres. Lai flies to US, angering China |
|
◆
Wall
Street Journal, 2024-12-2 |
Trump has publicly called for Taiwan to spend more to defend itself and has accused Taiwan's world-class chip makers of stealing
American jobs. In a closed-door speech delivered in
English, Lai appeared to address some of those criticisms, outlining plans to
bolster the country's self-defense. Lai promised deepening cooperation with the
U.S. in the semiconductor industry. |
|
◆
AP, Washington
Post, 2024-12-4 |
Taiwanese President Lai reportedly has phone talks
from Guam with US Congress leaders; their talks
seemed designed to underscore the bipartisan support for Taiwan
in the U.S. Congress. |
|
◆
New
York Times, 2024-11-30 |
Taiwan's government
tries to fathom what changes President-elect Donald J. Trump will bring
to U.S. dealings with Taiwan。In uncertain times, Taiwan needs every edge
of international advantage that it can get. Taiwanese leaders have used
their brief stops to promote stronger ties with the United States; This
time, Mr. Lai will not set foot in the continental United States,
reducing opportunities for high-profile meetings.
|
|
◆
Wall
Street Journal, 2024-12-1 |
Taiwan's President begins Hawaii
stopover
and sends a firm but conciliatory
message to both China and the incoming Trump administration: While
Taipei doesn't seek a war with Beijing, it is
counting on U.S. support to deter any aggression from its larger
neighbor. "Transits" are part of careful arrangements made between Washington and
Taipei to allow its leaders to engage with each other on American soil
after the two severed formal diplomatic ties in 1979. |
|
◆
CNN, 2024-11-30 |
Chinese government labeled Lai's
visit as "a provocative act", and could respond by staging a fresh round
of military drills near the island democracy. China hopes to
create an incident during the transition period in the United States to
create pressure on the incoming Trump team by drawing a red line. |
|
◆
AFP (France), 2024-11-30 |
President Lai Ching-te's trip has ignited fiery threats from Beijing.
Bonnie
Glaser: Lai's tour of the Pacific was an opportunity for him "to show those
countries and the world that Taiwan matters". China always wants to leave the impression
that Taiwan is isolated and it is dependent on the PRC. |
|
◆
Deutsche Welle (Germany), 2024-11-30 |
China has slammed the trip
as a step toward independence from Beijing,
and described Lai's planned stopover
in the US territory of Guam as "separatist actions." |
◆ Brookings,
2024-11-22:
To many in Beijing, Taiwan's leaders are testing the boundaries of China's
tolerance by incrementally advancing efforts to permanently
separate Taiwan from China. American officials generally do not
judge that Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has taken steps to undermine peace and
stability.
◆ Daily
Mail (UK) ,
2024-11-23: In a war simulation by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS)showed
devastating costs for all involved. The grim war simulations come at a time of political upheaval, with Taiwan's
President Lai Ching-te taking a tougher line with China.
|
Taiwan has a Trump problem |
|
◆
The Atlantics,
2024-10-25 |
The shortcomings of Taiwan's
military lend some validity to Trump's
complaint that America's
allies don't pay enough for
their own defense and dump too much of the
responsibility onto the United States—a burden that a
second Trump administration might not be committed to
bear. |
|
◆
New York Times,
2024-10-26 |
Mr. Trump criticized Taiwan,
saying that “they stole our chip business”,“They want us to protect,
... They don't
pay us money for the protection...
The mob makes you pay money, right?”America's heavy reliance on Taiwan's semiconductors has been a growing
source of concern among U.S. officials, given China's ongoing threats to
invade the self-governing island. |
|
Taiwan's
Lai Ching-te and China's Xi JinPing congratulate Trump |
|
◆ The
Hill, 2024-11-6 |
Taiwan president congratulates Trump on victory.
William Lai Ching-te
posted
on the social platform X. “I'm
confident that the longstanding Taiwan-US partnership, built on shared values
& interests, will continue to serve as a cornerstone for regional stability &
lead to greater prosperity for us all.”
Trump has made several incendiary
comments about Taiwan, saying it should have to pay the U.S. to defend the
nation against China and that Taipei stole
the United States's ability to make semiconductors. He has
also called Chinese President Xi Jinping “brilliant.” |
|
◆
CNA, 2024-11-6 |
Robert
O'Brien
expresses thanks |
|
◆
Bloomberg, 2024-11-6 |
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te is considering trying to make a call to Donald
Trump after his US election victory, in a move that would likely be seen by Beijing as a sign of Taiwan
seeking to assert independence.
Lai has no plan to arrange
a congratulatory call with Trump, the Presidential Office said in a
statement (
到目前為止沒有規畫致電表達祝賀之意) |
|
◆
中国央視(CCTV),
Dagens
(UK),
2024-11-7 |
Xi Jinping Congratulates Trump, Pushes for Peaceful U.S.-China Future.
Chinese President Xi Jinping personally called Donald Trump to
congratulate him on his election victory, according to China's
Foreign Ministry.
"History has shown that China and the United States benefit from
cooperation and lose from confrontation. Stable, healthy and stable
Sino-American relations meet the common interests of both countries and
the expectations of the international community," Xi stated, as reported
by Ukrinform's
own correspondent.He expressed optimism that both nations would continue
to uphold principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and
mutually beneficial cooperation.
"We look forward to further strengthening dialogue and
communication with Washington and to managing differences responsibly,
finding ways to expand cooperation for the benefit of both countries and
the world," Xi added
|
◆
NY
Times, 2024-10-22: The frequency of the exercises suggests that China is stepping up its
intimidation efforts: The Chinese military has held two such large-scale
exercises since Mr.
Lai took office in May, the same number that it held over the
previous eight years.◆
Wall
Street Journal, 2024-10-17:
China practiced a military blockade of Taiwan that is an all
too real future possibility.
Short of Taiwan's surrender, a blockade may be President Xi Jinping's
preferred option.
All underscores the urgent need to buttress deterrence against
a blockade or invasion. This means more civil defense training and
military spending in Taiwan, and
faster U.S. weapons delivery...The next U.S. President could easily face a Taiwan
crisis◆
Foreign Affairs, 2024-10-16:
By almost universal agreement, the
Taiwan Strait has emerged as the most
combustible flash point in the world. Some
have called on the United States to make an unequivocal
commitment to defend Taiwan.
Others have focused on enhancing Taiwan's
defenses. A much smaller number of
analysts have advocated cutting a deal with Beijing in which
Washington ends its commitment to defending Taiwan and the
island is left to fend for itself.◆
Council on Foreign Relations, 2024-10-16:
Taiwan and other U.S. partners
will need to contend with an increasingly capable and
aggressive China and rising
isolationism and protectionism in the United States. Trump's
foreign policy pronouncements reflect sentiments held by many in
the United States.
|
China's
response to a speech by President Lai Ching-te
in Taiwan's national day |
|
◆
New York Times, 2024-10-13 |
China began holding military drills in areas
surrounding Taiwan, a response to a
speech by President Lai Ching-te of Taiwan, who said that China had “no
right to represent” the island and China and
Taiwan were “not subordinate to each other” .
China did not say when the exercises would conclude. |
|
◆◆New York Times, 2024-10-16 |
David Sacks, a fellow at the Council on Foreign
Relations, said PLA's activities are coming
closer and closer to Taiwan shores.
China's military drills were aimed at demonstrating its
potential to choke Taiwan's access to food and fuel and block the skies
and waters from which the United States and its allies would presumably
approach in coming to the island's defense.
The drills send the message that Taiwan remains so sensitive, so
important and crucial for the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist
Party”, said Bonnie Glaser. |
|
◆
Reuters,
2024-10-12 |
China threatens Taiwan with more trade measures after
denouncing president's speech |
|
If China were to invade Taiwan, would you support or
oppose the United States: (% support) |
| |
2024 |
2023 |
2022 |
|
Using the US military to airlift food
and medical supplies to Taiwan |
74 |
78 |
|
|
Imposing economic and diplomatic
sanctions on china |
72 |
75 |
76 |
|
Sending additional arms and military
supplies to the Taiwanese government |
59 |
62 |
65 |
|
SAending US troops to Taiwan to help
the Taiwanese gov. defend itself against China |
36 |
39 |
40 |
|
globalaffairs.org/research/public-opinion-survey/taiwan-americans-favor-status-quo |
|
China's "coercion
short of violence"
strategy |
|
◆
Associated
Press,
2024-10-5 |
Beijing could wage an economic and cyber war to force a
surrender from Taiwan without direct use of military
power, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said in
the report. the U.S.
government has yet to formulate a plan to respond to
non-military tactics, giving Beijing flexibility in
working to undermine Taiwan without triggering an
outright response from Washington... |
|
◆
Foreign Policy,
2024-10-4 |
Taiwan's greatest
vulnerabilities
extend beyond
its military
──
financial, cybersecurity, and energy risks that
China could exploit. |
|
◆
Foundation of Defense of Democracies,
2024-10-4 |
the “most
likely” scenario: Sometime in the next decade, China
will combine economic coercion, malicious cyber
activity, and limited military moves short of kinetic
attacks to break Taiwan's
societal and/or economic resilience and force a major
adjustment in its policy toward unification.
fdd.org/analysis/2024/10/04/targeting-taiwan/ |
|
◆
Brookings,
2024-10-3 |
China's leaders appear determined to show directional
progress toward their goal of asserting control over Taiwan. Beijing is pursuing
two parallel paths, significant military build-up
and "coercion
without violence" to compel the people of Taiwan
to accept some form of
union with the People's Republic of China as
a least bad option for Taiwan's future. Harris said in
2022 that the United
States would “support Taiwan's self-defense, consistent with our
longstanding policy.”. Trump's disdain for
alliances and security partnerships, though, negatively impacted Taiwan by
calling into question the reliability of America's
security commitments. The common thread among these utterances is
Trump (team) suggestion that
Taiwan is too small and far away for the United States to feel obliged to
defend. |
|
◆
American
Enterprise Institute ,
2024-5-3 |
From Coercion to Capitulation: How China Can Take Taiwan Without a War
/
(1)
uses economic carrots and
sticks, information operations, and military escalation
to convince the US and Taiwan that their cooperation
directly precipitates further escalation
(2) Economic warfare, cyberwarfare, sabotage,
rigorous (and pseudo-legal) inspections of ships
carrying goods to Taiwan, air and sea closures,
electronic warfare, and propaganda
(3) break the Taiwanese public's
will to resist by intimidating supporters of resistance,
sowing doubt and fear ... (4)
information campaigns aim to decrease the US public's
and political leadership's
willingness to support Taiwan.
aei.org/research-products/report/from-coercion-to-capitulation-how-china-can-take-taiwan-without-a-war/ |
|
★
No. 1 "comment
Taiwan" on ecosia (Berlin
Germany),
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2021-5-1,
2021-4-14,
3-23-2021, 3-8-2021,
2-20-2021,
1-19-2021, 10-1-2020;
pic.
left:
This websites-group was
ranked No.1
by keyword "Taiwan comments" on
Ecosia of Germany,
2023-8-22, 2023-2-28, 2023-1-21, 2022-12-12, 2022-5-23,
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2022-2-14, 2022-2-11,
2022-2-8,
2022-1-30, 2022-1-26
★
No. 1 "comment
Taiwan" on
US Google, Dec. 6, 2020, 11-11-2020,
10-10-2020
 ◆
★
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Taiwan" on
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★ pic.:
No. 1 "comment
Taiwan" on
US Google, 2021-8-22, 2021-5-9, 2021-5-1, 2021-4-26, 2021-4-17
★
No. 1 "comment
Taiwan" on
US Google, 01-01-2021, 12-20-2020
|
|
U.S. SEAL Team Six
──
resisting China's
invasion ? |
|
◆
Voice of America, 2024-9-14 |
the
secret and precise combat characteristics of the
United States Navy's elite SEAL Team Six
mean its role in resisting China's invasion of Taiwan would be
very limited and the focus would be on carrying out special
tasks. |
|
◆
Financial Times, New York Post, 2024-9-12 |
SEAL Team Six has
spent more than a year training for possible Chinese
invasion of Taiwan. However,
the US has so far declined to explicitly
say it would come to Taiwan's aid if attacked. |
|
"cyberwar" - pro-Russian vs Taiwan |
|
◆
CNBC (USA), 2024-9-13 |
"a large number of foreign IPs launched invalid queries" on stock
exchange network, resulting in “unstable service for a short period of
time. Local media reported this attack on the Taiwanese government
and financial unites, including
airports and tax bureaus
by a pro-Russian hacker group in retaliation for comments made by
Taiwanese President William Lai (Lai Ching-te) .cnbc.com/2024/09/13/pro-russian-hackers-crash-taiwan-stock-exchange-website-local-media-reports-.html |
|
◆
Daily Express (UK), 2024-9-3 |
Lai Ching-te has mocked Vladimir
Putin with a humiliating quip, saying his biggest ally China should
take advantage of Russia being
at its "weakest" and take back territory. |
|
The Chair of TPP (third largest
party), Ko Wen-je, was arrested |
|
| | |
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