Meet Joshua Wong of the Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protests

Wong is 17.

Thoughts on Tiananmen and Taiwan

Food for thought.

Indian PM Narendra Modi Reaches Out to Taiwan

New Delhi and Taipei ... while both also watch Beijing.  Here's an interview with Taiwan's ambassador to India.

Forgetting Tiananmen Square

It's been 25 years, and three new books consider how it has been suppressed.  If you're in a hurry, you can jot down the titles of the books and take a look later:

• The People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited, by Louisa Lim, OUP USA
• Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China, by Rowena Xiaoqing He, Palgrave Macmillan
• Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China, by Evan Osnos, Bodley Head

Well, here we're not forgetting!  Please take a look at:

• NatGeo's story of two photographers (twin brothers!) who were there
• (still imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner) Liu Xiaobo's poem from his collection June 4 Elegies
• Another poem inspired by those events
• How a gangster became a savior: the story of the Triad who helped smuggle 100+ dissidents to safety after the massacre
• Footage of Tiananmen survivors telling their stories at the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee; one is Chai Ling, founder of All Girls Allowed, an organization combatting gendercide in China.
• The world's first Tiananmen museum that has opened in Hong Kong
• Demonstrations in Hong Kong and Taiwan

25 years ago I was only a child watching the news on TV, and from that year I remember two overwhelming feelings that were so intense that they probably shaped my adult take on foreign relations more than I realize: 1989 was defined by the joy of the fall of the Berlin Wall with all its jubilant crowds ... and the absolute, stomach-churning horror of Tiananmen Square.  God, what kind of monstrous, despicable, (what the hell, let's use the word and call a spade a spade) evil government sends its tanks and troops to mow down unarmed students?  And you wonder why I practically have an allergic reaction to people saying that Taiwan should be part of China. 

UPDATE: The Onion nails it again.

Quote of the Day (Non-Syrian Edition): Chinese Dream

The always-readable View From Taiwan blog notes this thought by a Sina Weibo user:

“Taiwan is a place where the people call the shots.  National leaders there must make decisions that reflect the values of individuals in society, rather than simply corrupting and oppressing vulnerable groups.  In Taiwan they’ve protected Chinese culture, human rights and freedom of speech. ... Why in the world would the Taiwanese people ever want to return to the motherland?  The Chinese Dream is actually in Taiwan.”

Say "G'day" To Australia's New Prime Minister

Tony Abbott crushes Labour's Kevin Rudd in a landslide.  I'm finding this especially interesting because people kept saying he was "unelectable."  Here's an electoral map showing results.  Rudd had looooong since been having issues with the great Australian public, heh, even before the whole let's-mutiny-against-Julia Gillard business a while back.  As for Abbott, I'm very cautiously optimistic, and I'm liking what some of his first words are:

"From today I declare that Australia is under new management and that Australia is once more open for business."

The Dignity and Gravitas of the Taiwanese Legislature

Yup.

Is the Chinese Communist Party Doomed?

Professor Minxin Pei has a question: Is the CCP doomed?  It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people.  Still, here's a thought - change or die:

The answer to the question of how a one-party regime can manage its own political transformation to save itself is more interesting and complicated. 

Essentially, there are two paths for such regimes: the Soviet route to certain self-destruction, and the Taiwan-Mexican route to self-renewal and transformation.

Hong Kong: Protesting Chinese "Patriotism" Classes

Hmmmm.

Foreign Policy Fiascos: A Summary

*Sigh.*

Fresh Thoughts on US-Taiwan Relations

Check out Michael Turton's latest round-up.  Apparently a lot of eggheads are reiterating that Taiwan is still a vital interest of the US.  Well, DUH, though of course one can never say the obvious clearly enough or often enough, especially when there is so much bad "analysis" of Taiwan out there.

Taiwan: Ma Re-Elected

UGH.  The Cine-Sib called to vent this morning.  We're not at all happy with this, Ma, or the KMT.  Still, voter turnout was estimated at more than 70% with about 13.5 million votes cast, and about 800,000 votes made the difference between Ma and the DPP's Tsai.  It would have been nice to have a woman president.  Still, here is one small consolation: James Soong fared miserably in third place.

Activists & Taiwan's Presidential Election

Hmmm.

Taiwanese News Animators Vs. NY Times Op-Ed

I won't bother discussing this now-infamously disgusting and contemptible New York Times opinion piece that advocates literally selling out Taiwan (you can read this take, this by a law professor, Business Insider's response, Foreign Policy's first reply, and the Atlantic wondering if this is some kind of sick joke), but I will give you the Taiwanese news animators' riposte.  Their blurb is hilarious even before the video begins and gives that opinion piece the mockery it deserves:

"Commie pandas must have slipped something into the water cooler at the New York Times yesterday, because the paper ran a shockingly ignorant and naïve op-ed suggesting that the US sell out Taiwan to China if Beijing would write off the US$1.14 trillion in American debt it currently holds."

As for the video, here it is:

UPDATE: A bad joke?

Movie News: Michelle Yeoh as Aung San Suu Kyi

Yes, please!

The Economist: Why the US Should Support Taiwan

I'm glad somebody's saying it while a bunch of others seem to be all for throwing Taiwan, its democracy, and its 23 million people under the bus.

But to walk away from Taiwan would in effect mean ceding to China the terms of unification. Over the long run, that will not improve Sino-American relations. Five thousand years of Chinese diplomatic history suggest it is more likely to respect a strong state than a weak and vacillating one. Appeasement would also probably increase China’s appetite for regional domination. Its “core interests” in the area seem to be growing. To Chinese military planners, Taiwan is a potential base from which to push out into the Pacific. At minimum, that would unsettle Japan to the north and the Philippines to the south. 

... To abandon Taiwan now would bring out the worst in China, and lead the region’s democracies to worry that America might be willing to let them swing too. That is why, as long as China insists on the right to use force in Taiwan, America should continue to support the island.

Well, DUH!

Pro-Reform Protest in Vietnam

Hmmmm ...

Aung San Suu Kyi Freed in Myanmar

The leader of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement is freed from house arrest.  Cheers!  The latest: the Nobel committee has invited her to Oslo.

China: Not Very Neighborly?

Here's a thought:

A quick tour of China's borders suggests friction with the United States is a symptom, not a cause. China faces numerous troubles with its neighbors — many of the problems exacerbated by Beijing's muscle-flexing and claims of regional hegemony.

A Tale of Three Chinese Dissidents

A reminder that China is unfree.