Chiang Kai-shek Archive

Taiwan’s old Southbound Policy (Global Asia review of ‘Imperial Gateway’)

The following book review appeared in the March issue of Global Asia. When Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen unveiled her administration’s “New Southbound Policy” in 2016, it’s unlikely that historical parallels with imperial Japan crossed her mind. Yet as this compelling monograph reveals, from the moment Taiwan was ceded to Japan, plans to turn the island […]
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Little Burma: Where great food meets fascinating history

The following article appeared in this month’s issue of Taiwan Business Topics, the magazine of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan: On most afternoons, Henry Wong and friends sit outside A-Mui’s Noodle Shop (阿妹緬甸小吃, 41 Huaxin St.) in Little Burma, sipping tea from yellow cups. On cooler days the saucers go on top like sombreros, […]
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The battle for Taiwan’s constitution

The following piece was published on the UnHerd website today: At the Taipei headquarters of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP), a wall of shame has been erected in dishonour of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) patsies. Towards the bottom of the TSP shit-list sits Elon Musk, whose recent “solution” to the cross-strait standoff was not well-received in Taiwan. […]
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When the KMT called the shots in the Philippines (review of ‘Diasporic Cold Warriors’ for Taipei Times)

The following book review appeared in today’s Taipei Times. In 1950, the overseas Chinese community of the Philippines numbered 230,000 — just over 1 percent of the country’s population. This made it among the smallest overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. In comparison, Thailand had more than 3 million Chinese residents that same year. Yet, […]
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Hijacked history (review of ‘The Hijacked War’ for Taipei Times)

The following book review appeared in today’s Taipei Times: Outside historical circles, the name Li Da-an (李大安) will be familiar to few Taiwanese. However, there was a time where this lowly soldier was feted as a national hero in Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) propaganda. As one of 155,000 inmates in the UN’s POW camp on […]
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The complex tale of Taiwanese identity (Global Asia review of ‘Politics and Cultural Nativism in 1970s Taiwan’)

The following book review appeared in the June issue of Global Asia: References to Taiwan as the first Chinese democracy have justifiably drawn flak in recent years. With almost 90 percent of Taiwan’s population now identifying as Taiwanese and less than 5 percent as Chinese, the description is no longer seen as appropriate. For many, it […]
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The Cold War history behind Nicaragua’s break with Taiwan

The following piece appeared as the leader today in The Diplomat magazine: We touched down in Managua, Nicaragua, shortly before 7:50 p.m. on July 18, 2014. The tickets were originally booked for a cheaper flight the following day, but Pablo Morales was having none of it. “It’s Liberation Day,” he said. “You have to be […]
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Chiang Kai-shek’s Politics of Shame (review for Global Asia)

The following book review was published in the December, 2022 issue of Global Asia: “To the statesmanship, vigor, and personality of this one man more than any other single factor must be the credit for having realized this ideal … of a free and democratic China,” wrote H.H. Chang in a 1944 biography of Chiang […]
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Ritual humiliation (review of ‘Chiang Kai-shek’s Politics of Shame’ for Taipei Times)

The following book review appeared in today’s Taipei Times: Few historical revisionists can have been as audacious as Grace C. Huang in comparing Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to Mahatma Gandhi. Yet, not only does Huang attempt the parallel, she makes rather a good case for it. Previous studies of leadership, Huang writes, have “tended to portray […]
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In Trump we trust

The following feature appeared in today’s Taipei Times: Taipei rally sees eclectic gathering united in support of outgoing US president Things get off to strange start as the gathering on Ketagalan Boulevard takes shape from 1:30pm on Saturday. A gathering of pro-Taiwan independence groups and activists marching in support of outgoing US President Donald Trump […]
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