US is still affirming Taiwan’s sovereignty

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2024.4.10

Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) went to China this month to pay obeisance, adding to the perception of him “loving China and opposing the US.” Meanwhile, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chair Laura Rosenberger made a last-minute trip to Taiwan from March 31 to last Saturday, yet during her stay, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) was nowhere to be found. Did he go to Washington to report that something had happened within the KMT?

Signed in 1952, the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which settled affairs in the Pacific after World War II, never designated who would possess sovereignty over Taiwan and Penghu after Japan relinquished ownership. This was handed over to the US from Japan after World War II. The US passed Taiwan to Chinese Nationalist hands in a trusteeship framework, though Taiwan’s ultimate fate rested in US hands. The Taiwan Relations Act is a US domestic law. The act has a higher status than an international treaty and there is a reason for that.

‘Bumbler’ Ma set to go to China

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2024.03.31

Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced he is to travel to China tomorrow, which is April Fool’s Day. The date must have been deliberately chosen by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is clearly trying to court Ma while also fashioning him into a sock puppet.

The Economist once called Ma a “bumbler” and China takes a similar view. He seems to have cheerily accepted the sobriquet.

TSMC’s expansion win for Taiwan

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 240305

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) held an opening ceremony for its first chip manufacturing fab in Kumamoto, Japan. It is owned by a joint venture, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM), of which TSMC is the controlling shareholder.

TSMC founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) attended the ceremony, saying that the JASM fab would “improve the resilience of the chip supply for Japan and for the world” and “start a renaissance of semiconductor manufacturing in Japan.”

Chinese President Xi’s self-deception

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2024.2.26

At a gathering held by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese State Council during this year’s Spring Festival, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) reviewed the achievements of the past year.

“Good scenery on this side only” (風景這邊獨好), he said about the global situation.

Legislature speakership predictions

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2024.1.29

Given that none of the three main political parties won a majority in the Legislative Yuan, the elections have left Taiwanese with a serious question: Who will be elected as the legislative speaker?

The pan-blue, pan-green and white camps continue to compete with one another, and nobody knows how this will play out, or who will eventually cooperate with whom.

Abysmal financial decline of Hong Kong
Taipei Times  2023.12.3
    By Paul Lin 林保華

On Tuesday, Taiwan’s TAIEX stock index peaked at 17,360 points and closed at 17,341 points, surpassing Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, which fell to 17,303 points and closed at 17,541 points. A few years ago, the gap between the Taiwanese and Hong Kong stock indices was more than 20,000 points, but this was before the 2019 anti-extradition protests.

Hong Kong is one of the world’s most important financial centers, but many Chinese Internet users joke that it is only a ruin today. When asked by a legislative councilor whether he would communicate with social media platforms in the mainland to request deleting or blocking such posts, Office of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Beijing Director Rex Chang (鄭偉源) said that the office had been paying attention to the comments and would continue to trace the sources of the remarks, pledging to keep a close eye on it.

Taiwan’s opposition and Beijing
Taipei Times 2023.11.2
    By Paul Lin 林保華

While Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) aspires to stand for election as president of Taiwan, it remains to be seen whether he can collect enough signatures to register as a candidate. In addition, some people involved in Gou’s signature drive have become embroiled in lawsuits.

Meanwhile, negotiations over electoral collaboration between the “blue” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the “white” Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) are proceeding in fits and starts.

Ma Ying-jeou shows true colors
Taipei Times 2023.11.1
    By Paul Lin 林保華

In a meeting with Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫?) on Oct. 16, Human Rights Foundation president Thor Halvorssen said that during a visit to Taiwan in 2010, he was warned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the administration of then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) “not to criticize the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” ahead of the Venezuelan rights advocate’s speech at a conference in Taipei.

However, Halvorssen spoke at length about the CCP’s behavior, with Ma and other officials leaving five minutes after his speech started.

Look to India on Chinese infiltration
Taipei Times 2023.10.16
    By Paul Lin 林保華

On Oct. 3, police in New Delhi raided and searched the residences of several staff members of the NewsClick online news site and detained several of them for interrogation. According to an investigative report published in the New York Times in August under the headline “A global web of Chinese propaganda leads to a US tech mogul,” NewsClick’s main funder is a 69-year-old US citizen named Neville Roy Singham, who established the Chicago-based software and information technology consultancy Thoughtworks and currently lives in Shanghai.

NewsClick, founded in 2009, defines itself as an independent news medium focusing on “social justice” that speaks out for “oppressed communities.” However, the New York Times report says NewsClick’s reports are full of Chinese government talking points such as that “China’s history continues to inspire the working classes.” Many organizations, from the Massachusetts-based think tank Tricontinental and a South African political party to a Brazilian news organization, have traces of Singham’s funding with the aim of spreading China’s “grand external propaganda.” According to the report, Singham-funded media have used funding from the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Shanghai Municipal Committee to publish videos on YouTube and “spread China’s voice to the world.”

Cracks in China’s debt-ridden economy

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2023.8.21

On Aug. 3, CK Asset Holdings Ltd, the property flagship of Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), launched presales at 15 percent less than the market price for uncompleted condominiums in the Yau Tong area that were part of its project dubbed the Coast Line II. It caused a shock in the market and people wanted to know what was happening.

At that time, rumors spread that some Chinese real-estate companies might go bankrupt, but the Chinese government downplayed this as a sales tactic. It turned out that Country Garden Holdings Co, another giant Chinese real-estate developer, was in trouble. This shows how sharp Li’s business sense is.

Economy up despite trade woes with China

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2023.7.1

Taiwan has moved up to sixth place among 64 economies in the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development’s World Competitiveness Yearbook after improving steadily over the past five years. It surpassed Hong Kong on the list for the first time.

In 2018 and 2019, Hong Kong was second after Singapore and the US. However, after protests against a Beijing-backed extradition bill, Hong Kong gradually slipped in the rankings. The passage of the National Security Law reinforced this trend. In 2018 and 2019, Taiwan was ranked behind China, but since 2020, Taiwan has been ahead.

Hou You-yi receives tepid KMT support

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2023.6.11

Things are not going too well for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜). Amid grumblings over the party’s shoddy treatment of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), who also sought the KMT nomination, Hou sought out former National Taiwan University (NTU) president Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), but Kuan said he had no interest in politics, ending speculation of a Hou-Kuan ticket.

Hou then turned to Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), who heads the National Policy Foundation, a KMT think tank. Ko turned down the offer. Former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) declined to act as Hou’s campaign director.

The KMT is at critical crossroads

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2023.5.31

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has nominated New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) as its candidate for next year’s presidential election. The selection process was replete with controversy, mainly because the KMT has never stipulated a set of protocols for its presidential nominations. Yet, viewed from a historical perspective, the KMT has improved to some extent.

There are two fundamental differences between the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP):

Home Editorials

Mon, May 01, 2023 page8

    A Chinese occupation would harm the world
        By Paul Lin 林保華

    “The one who captures Taiwan, conquers the world,” a person in the tech industry recently wrote in an online post. I completely agree with this statement for a few reasons.

Allies unite against communism

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2023.3.30

Czech Chamber of Deputies Speaker Marketa Pekarova Adamova arrived in Taiwan on Saturday. The visit not only showcases the rising status of Taiwan in the international community, but the support and friendship between Taiwan and the Czech Republic.

Adamova quoted a popular phrase during the Prague Spring in 1968: “I guarantee you we are with you now, we will continue to be with you and under any circumstances we are in the same boat together. Because you are with us, so we are with you.”

Where ex-generals’ loyalties lie

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 230314

A Feb. 28 article in Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun, or Nikkei, alleging that many Taiwanese retired military officers had served as spies for China has sparked fervent debate in the nation, in particular drawing a furious reaction from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator-at-large Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), a retired lieutenant general. The article had obviously touched a nerve.

To protest the article, Wu proposed that Taiwan and Japan stop all military exchanges. Japan is one of the most important members of the US’ Indo-Pacific Strategy; suspending Taipei’s military exchanges with Tokyo would be to withhold participation in this strategy altogether.

Oppose the CCP, but do not mention China itself

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2022.12.29

Former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) once used the slogan: “We shall defeat communism; we shall build the nation.” As time passed, a new slogan — “oppose communism, safeguard Taiwan” — emerged, lowering the bar of countering communism. By taking out nation-building, the only goal left was to “oppose communism” by protecting Taiwan, a value the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) does not dare to mention and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) seems uncertain about. What was the reason for the change?

“Oppose China, safeguard Taiwan” might prove more popular with the public. Changing “communism” to “China” would make more sense, as communism has become a dirty word around the globe, a synonym for autocracy, barbarism and brutality. This is why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has tried to separate the idea that the CCP equals China.

Xi Jinping sees Taiwan as vital to his legacy

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2022.11.1

The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was a farce played out before the eyes of the world. In 1956, the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union led to the country’s rightward shift and its eventual collapse.

As the CCP’s 20th National Congress accelerated its leftward shift, what changes will this bring?

High tech and China decoupling

    By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2022.10.19

On Oct. 7, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security added 31 Chinese companies and research institutes — including China’s largest memorychip foundry Yangtze Memory Technologies Co — to its Unverified List of possibly noncompliant entities, while also imposing new controls on high-tech exports to China.

Whether by design or coincidence, this announcement was made at the end of China’s National Day holiday and on the eve of the Oct. 9 opening of the seventh plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which in turn was a prelude to the party’s 20th National Congress, which opened on Sunday.