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The China News Database was last updated at 08:27AM on December 31, 2023.
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309 articles matching the search query.
Algorithmic bliss
The computer-generated art of Wu Che-Yu
Viktor Ahn, the South Korea–born coach of Chinese speed skaters, apologizes for his wife’s Taiwan gaffe
Given the long-standing rivalry between China and South Korea, Viktor Ahn, who was hired as a technical adviser for the Chinese national short-track team in the lead-up to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, was a rare South Korean celebrity who enjoyed near unanimous love from Chinese internet users. But no longer.
Taiwan’s ruling party downplays Pompeo visit after report alleges quid pro quo
Mike Pompeo’s visit to Taiwan last week made global headlines. But reports that he was paid $150,000 by Taiwan’s diplomatic office in the U.S. — and may have lobbied for Taiwanese public money on behalf of a U.S. investment fund — has cast his trip in a different light.
China’s exposure to the Russia sanctions, explained
The impact of sanctions on Russia for China’s economy might not be large in the short-term, but will supercharge Beijing’s campaign for technological self-sufficiency.
Despite Taiwan’s semiconductor advancements, politics looms over trade
Taiwan’s chipmaking giants, TSMC and MediaTek, are expanding fast. But a tense geopolitical climate threatens to dethrone their reign over the global semiconductor industry.
The 228 Incident and the ambiguities of Taiwanese identity
Recent debates over Taiwan’s identity as Chinese, or part of China, focus on the awkward arrangement by which governments in Taipei and Beijing both claim sovereignty over the island. In 1947, questions of national identity were also rampant in Taiwan, but the fault lines were very different.
Taiwan has its eyes on Ukraine, but some experts discourage comparisons
Some commentators have speculated that China may use Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as pretext to make a move on Taiwan. But this line of thinking is fallacious and premature, experts warn.
Editor’s note for Friday, January 28, 2022
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn. Today: China’s ambassador to the U.S., Qin Gang, warned Washington over Taiwan and defended Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang; Chinese regulators are seeking to allay international bankers’ fears, and separately, cracking down on deepfakes; companies are not going to boycott the Olympics.
Editor’s note for Thursday, January 27, 2022
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn. Today: Is the World Trade Organization back in play? The European Union launched a case against China at the WTO over Beijing’s trade pressure on Lithuania. Meanwhile, the trade body ruled in China’s favor in a decade-long dispute with the U.S. Separately, U.S. senators urged the Biden administration to act after a new report found that Chinese censorship had hurt companies like Google and Apple.
‘Call me by my real name’: A court case begins over Taiwanese indigenous names
A court case that began this week in Taipei touches on the contradiction between Taiwan’s goal of creating a multicultural society and the entrenched structures of an overwhelmingly majority-Han society.
Editor’s note for Wednesday, January 5, 2022
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn. Today: Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC is reportedly having difficulties dealing with employees at its chip factory in Arizona.
Lithuanian president says Taiwan office naming was ‘a mistake’ after ‘unconventional measures’ from Beijing
After Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a “Taiwanese representative office” in its capital, Vilnius, last November, China has escalated its diplomatic and economic pressure on the EU state.
Taiwan rolls out digital vaccine certificates recognized by 60 countries
Sixty countries, including the U.S. and EU member states, will now accept Taiwan’s official digital vaccine certificate as proof of vaccination or PCR test results.
Are Taiwan Inc. and Japan Inc. giving up on China?
Taiwanese and Japanese companies invested in China within months of Deng Xiaoping taking power. But the political and business environment is changing.
Hong Kong and Taiwan both vote, in very different ways, with very different results
Voters in Hong Kong and Taiwan went to the polls over the weekend, but the circumstances couldn’t be more different. Beijing released a white paper that talked glowingly about “universal suffrage” as the goal in Hong Kong, but included caveats that make clear it does not see the natural progression of democracy in the city as being anything like Taiwan’s experience.
Taiwan’s four referendum results could raise even more questions about the future of DPP and KMT parties
Taiwanese voters are heading to the polls on December 18 to vote on four measures, mostly dealing with economic issues such as pork imports and the construction of a natural gas terminal. But with Taiwan’s two major political parties being intensely polarized around the referendum, much more could be at stake, depending on the results.
Editor’s note for Friday, December 10, 2021
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn. Today: Xi Jinping wants to “prevent the barbaric growth of capital,” according to a readout from the annual Central Economic Work Conference; Evergrande finally defaults on a bond; the struggles of single mothers; Nicaragua’s switch from Taipei to Beijing; Alibaba is left out of Unigroup deal; central bank raises foreign currency reserve requirements for banks; Hong Kong warns the U.K.’s Sunday Times about inciting election boycotts.
Solomon Islands leader blames ‘other powers’ for violent Chinatown protests
The South Pacific nation of fewer than 700,000 people remains divided over a 2019 decision to switch diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China. That is likely one of many factors in recent violent protests, but Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare insisted it is “the only issue” and that the violence had been “encouraged by other powers” that don’t like China.
Beijing is targeting Taiwanese companies with links to Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party
Taiwanese conglomerate Far Eastern Group (FEG) was recently fined in mainland China for problems such as “fire safety,” but the real problem appears to be politics: FEG is linked to officials in Taiwan that Beijing considers to be “‘Taiwan independence’ stubborn elements,” whose “affiliates and financial backers must be punished.”
Editor’s note for Friday, November 19, 2021
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn. Today: The Women’s Tennis Association threatens to pull out of China if Peng Shuai’s safety is not assured and her sexual assault accusation is not taken seriously; a prominent virologist changes his mind about the COVID-19 “lab leak” theory, now concludes the virus began to spread at Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Market; U.S. intelligence claims that China is seeking to build a military facility in the United Arab Emirates; Lithuania allows Taiwan to open a de facto embassy, incurring Beijing’s wrath.