https://www.scmp.com/rss/322339/feed J. Michael Cole is a Taipei-based senior fellow with the Global Taiwan Institute in Washington, DC, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa, Canada, and the Taiwan Studies Programme at the University of Nottingham, UK. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Tensions in the Taiwan Strait have risen to a pitch not seen for decades since the re-election of President Tsai Ing-wen of the Taiwan-centric Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Given a powerful mandate with a record number of votes over Han Kuo-yu, her pro-Beijing opponent from the Kuomintang (KMT), Tsai has also benefited from her government’s enviable response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has positioned Taiwan as a leader in combating the disease and earned the country unprecedented... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3116456/beijing-ramping-pressure-taiwan-undermine-tsai-ing-wens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3116456/beijing-ramping-pressure-taiwan-undermine-tsai-ing-wens?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Jan 2021 00:45:13 +0000 The contours of the battle for Taiwan’s presidency next January came into sharper focus on July 15 when Han Kuo-yu secured the opposition Kuomintang’s (KMT) candidacy in what is expected to be a heated election campaign against incumbent Tsai Ing-wen of the Taiwan-centric Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Han, 62, received a surprising 44.8 per cent of the votes collected by the KMT in the previous week, convincingly defeating Hon Hai Precision Industry founder Terry Gou by 17 percentage... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3019711/will-taiwan-choose-china-or-choose-world-its-next-presidential?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3019711/will-taiwan-choose-china-or-choose-world-its-next-presidential?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Jul 2019 21:00:06 +0000 The election of Tsai Ing-wen of the Taiwan-centric Democratic Progressive Party in January 2016 marked the end of a phase in cross-strait relations when Beijing still believed in the possibility of winning the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese through “goodwill” and economic incentives. Since then, Beijing has embraced a strategy that seeks to corner, isolate and punish Taiwan for its intransigence on the unification question. Although many would ascribe that change in attitude to the 2016... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/j-michael-cole-chinas-bullying-tactics-are-only-alienating-taiwan-china/article/2158129?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/j-michael-cole-chinas-bullying-tactics-are-only-alienating-taiwan-china/article/2158129?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Aug 2018 10:00:45 +0000 The election of Tsai Ing-wen of the Taiwan-centric Democratic Progressive Party in January 2016 marked the end of a phase in cross-strait relations when Beijing still believed in the possibility of winning the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese through “goodwill” and economic incentives. Since then, Beijing has embraced a strategy that seeks to corner, isolate and punish Taiwan for its intransigence on the unification question. Although many would ascribe that change in attitude to the 2016... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2157765/chinas-bullying-taiwan-highlights-its?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2157765/chinas-bullying-taiwan-highlights-its?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Aug 2018 18:00:00 +0000 If we believed many of the article headlines that have appeared in international media since the January 16 election of Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, we would think the roof was about to come crashing down on the Taiwan Strait. Time and again, articles and editorials have warned that if Tsai refuses to recognise “one China” or the 1992 consensus, Beijing could – or should – punish Taiwan by, among other things, severing all official and unofficial contact. Such alarmism,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1925770/why-beijing-has-no-desire-turn-screw-tsai-ing-wen-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1925770/why-beijing-has-no-desire-turn-screw-tsai-ing-wen-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Mar 2016 05:00:45 +0000