Politics and polemic Archive

  • An uneven illumination of statehood struggles (Global Asia review of Palestine, Taiwan, and Western Sahara)

    An uneven illumination of statehood struggles (Global Asia review of Palestine, Taiwan, and Western Sahara)

    The following review appeared in the December 2023 issue of Global Asia. QUESTIONS OF STATE sovereignty, in the modern sense, begin in the late 16th century with the French political philosopher Jean Bodin’s masterpiece Six Books of the Commonwealth. In the following century, the English thinker Thomas Hobbes produced perhaps the defining work on sovereign power, Leviathan. […]

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  • Getting serious on ESG in overseas operations

    Getting serious on ESG in overseas operations

    The following article appeared in the December issue of Taiwan Business TOPICS, the magazine of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan. On October 31, a group assembled at an industrial plant in Point Comfort, Texas, to protest an ongoing horror story. Led by activist Diane Wilson, representatives of the International Monitor Formosa Alliance (IMFA) […]

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  • Albania, China, and Taiwan: a history of tangled relations

    Albania, China, and Taiwan: a history of tangled relations

    The following article appeared on the New Lens’ website today. Albanian perceptions of Taiwan, where they exist, are hazy. Parku Rinia (Youth Park) in downtown Tirana is a testament to this. Close to Skanderbeg Square – with its equestrian monument to the Albanian national hero – this green space in downtown Tirana is labeled “Taiwan […]

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  • Cameron’s Beijing connections

    Cameron’s Beijing connections

    The following op-ed appeared in today’s Taipei Times: The recent return of former British prime minister David Cameron to frontline politics was a surprise to many. As part of a British Cabinet reshuffle, Cameron was appointed secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who concurrently bestowed a life […]

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  • Taiwan’s elections: same old difference?

    Taiwan’s elections: same old difference?

    The following article appeared in today’s Taipei Times.  The announcement on Wednesday of a joint-ticket between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) for January’s presidential election, surprised many. With TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) insisting on public polling to determine whether he or KMT candidate Ho You-yi (侯友宜) would lead […]

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  • Tracking Taiwan’s modern development (Taipei Times review of A Century of Development in Taiwan)

    Tracking Taiwan’s modern development (Taipei Times review of A Century of Development in Taiwan)

    The following book review appeared in Taipei Times on November 9, 2023. It’s no fun beginning a review with an extended whinge; but it’s not often that an academic work is so plagued with errors as to make one wince and mutter in exasperation within the first few pages. Many are basic grammatical mistakes — […]

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  • Is North Macedonia poised to reboot its ‘Taiwan Adventure?’

    Is North Macedonia poised to reboot its ‘Taiwan Adventure?’

    The following article was published on The Diplomat’s website today. The “Taiwan adventure,” it was called. Or the “Taiwan billion.” Or – rather more prosaically – the “Taiwan loans case.” It all depends on who you ask. “I guess the ‘Taiwan billion-dollar affair’ could be a working term,” said Filip Stojanovski. “Though maybe not so […]

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  • Strait talk: Taipei Times review of ‘War and Peace in the Taiwan Strait’

    Strait talk: Taipei Times review of ‘War and Peace in the Taiwan Strait’

    The following review appeared in today’s edition of Taipei Times: How likely is war in the Taiwan Strait? What kind of conflict might it be? What circumstances would be most likely to trigger it? And how can these circumstances be averted? These are the central questions of this penetrating and perspicuous work. Having examined various […]

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  • The Ukrainian eyeing long-term cooperation with Taiwan

    The Ukrainian eyeing long-term cooperation with Taiwan

    This is the original version of a piece that appeared in today’s Taipei Times. Even among the diverse gathering at the Liberty Square arch, Glib Ivanov stands out. At 192cm, the 24-year-old Odesa native towers above the crowd, and his floppy mop of hair accentuates this. With a pair of oversized black spectacles, peach-fuzz goatee, […]

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

    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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