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Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is departing tomorrow for a tour of the Americas. She will begin her trip with a stop in New York City, after which she will visit two Central and South American nations. On her way home, she plans to stop in Los Angeles where she is expected to hold a meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. That last item on her agenda has China up in arms (as usual) and they are threatening unspecified “resolute countermeasures” in response. Hopefully, that response will be little more than a sternly-worded letter, but given the current state of American...

The new Czech head of state, who is due to take office on March 9, has clearly indicated that the era of outgoing President Miloš Zeman’s pro-Chinese policy is well and truly over. Just hours after winning the presidential elections, he was on the phone to President Zelensky to assure him about continued Czech support in the war against Russia and on Monday he raised the ire of China by holding a telephone conversation with the president of Taiwan, despite the fact that the China-claimed island has no formal relations with Prague. “Today, I spoke with the president of Taiwan...

Something unusual just happened in the wake of the latest round of elections in Taiwan and we should probably be paying closer attention to this. Following the announcement of the election results (which they somehow managed to tally in a single day, though that is now apparently impossible in the United States), President Tsai Ing-wen immediately stepped down as the head of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the ruling party on the island, for now, at least. She’s not leaving office as the President since she wasn’t up for reelection this week. But her party suffered multiple losses in local...

Taiwan will provide the people of Hong Kong with “necessary assistance”, President Tsai Ing-wen has said, after a resurgence in protests in the Chinese-ruled territory against newly proposed national security legislation from Beijing. Taiwan has become a refuge for a small but growing number of pro-democracy protesters fleeing Hong Kong, which has been convulsed since last year by protests. Hong Kong police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse tens of thousands of people who rallied on Sunday to protest against Beijing’s plan to impose national security laws on the city. Writing on her Facebook page late on Sunday,...

After six months of protests in Hong Kong, the new year has brought more chaos, with Tsai Ing-wen winning an election in Taiwan and disease spreading in Wuhan. Perhaps President Xi Jinping should recognise that China needs new leadership. The new year has only brought more chaos: in addition to Tsai’s victory, China faces an outbreak of a coronavirus in Wuhan – which has now spread to Japan, and elsewhere – just as the Lunar New Year holiday is beginning. While a ceasefire in the trade war has ostensibly been declared, the phase one deal required concessions from Beijing and...

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Three days after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) won a landslide victory in the Taiwan presidential election on Saturday (Jan. 11), Taiwanese-American presidential candidate Andrew Yang failed to join 41 other American congressmen, senators, administration officials, and rival presidential candidates in congratulating Tsai on Twitter, or any other public platform. Since Tsai's record win of 8.17 million votes, the leaders of over 60 countries have publicly congratulated her, much to the chagrin of Communist China. In the U.S. a total of 23 congressmen, 15 senators, three current and former Trump administration officials, two Democratic presidential candidates, and...

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen won a second term by a landslide in the island’s presidential election on Jan. 11, in a victory seen as a rejection of Chinese regime encroachment. Tsai of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won by a margin of around 20 percent—by more than 2.6 million votes—against her main opponent, Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomingtang (KMT) party. Supporters of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen celebrate the preliminary results at a rally outside the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan Jan. 11, 2020. (Reuters/Tyrone Siu)The election is widely viewed as a referendum on whether Taiwan should pursue...

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, has reiterated that Taiwan may accept Beijing's proposed reunification under Jiang Jieshis’ "one free country” framework”. She says Taiwan would also build on its defense capabilities as China has not ruled out continuation of old world blind force options. Xi said that the "one free country” framework, has to be seen in Hong Kong and elsewhere, is the best approach for reunification of China. Tsai was speaking to foreign media in Taipei on Saturday, following a speech made by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday. Taiwan must strengthen its’ already outstanding land, navel and...

HONG KONG, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger met with China's Xi Jinping on Friday, a visit Kissinger described as timely in a moment of political transition in the United States. The meeting was held as President-elect Donald Trump took a phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, an unprecedented move that could cause friction in U.S.-China relations. On Friday, Xi told Kissinger, "The presidential election has taken place in the United States and we are now in the key moment. We, on the Chinese side, are watching the situation very closely. Now it is...

President-elect Donald Trump spoke with the president of Taiwan by phone on Friday, in a move likely to infuriate Beijing and hinder US-China relations. "President-elect Trump spoke with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, who offered her congratulations," according to a readout of the call released by Trump's transition team. "During the discussion, they noted the close economic, political, and security ties" between Taiwan and the United States, the statement continued. "President-elect Trump also congratulated President Tsai on becoming President of Taiwan earlier this year." The call, first reported by the Financial Times, is the first time a US president has...

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Tsai Ing-wen was elected Taiwan’spresident on Saturday, becoming the first woman to win the office. Voters gave her Democratic Progressive Party, which is skeptical of closer ties with China, control of Taiwan’s legislature for the first time, giving her broad authority to enact her policies in office. "The results today tell me the people want to see a government that is willing to listen to people, that is more transparent and accountable and a government that is more capable of leading us past our current challenges and taking care of those in need,” she said in a...