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News on China-Taiwan Relations

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A China sequel for Spielberg?

A film studio faces scrutiny – despite goodwill in Taipei over spy exchanges
Dec 11, 2015 (WiC 307)

In May 1960 an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The aircraft’s pilot was later allowed to return home in exchange for Rudolf Abel, a KGB agent captured by the US. The story will be familiar to those who have seen ...

Strait talking in Singapore

Historic meeting a litmus test for cross-Strait relations
Nov 13, 2015 (WiC 303)

In August 1945 Mao Zedong boarded a plane for the first time in his life. The Chinese Communist Party (CPC) leader was flying to China’s wartime capital in Chongqing to meet Chiang Kai-shek, the head of the nationalist Kuomintang ...

Every firm’s worst nightmare

How an online video caused havoc for noodle maker Master Kong
Aug 21, 2015 (WiC 292)

Where are China’s internet police when you need them? That must have been what executives inside food producer Master Kong were asking earlier this month when a potentially slanderous video accused them of including “gutter oil” in their ...

To the victor, the spoils

Who actually won the Second Sino-Japanese War?
Jul 17, 2015 (WiC 290)

Counting war casualties can be a politically-charged issue. That is particularly true in China, especially when it concerns the nation’s war with Japan that began in the 1930s. Regular readers will know that China’s TV studio produce a lot ...

Why McDonald’s is selling its Taiwan unit
Jul 10, 2015 (WiC 289)

In 1978, during a trip to Las Vegas, Taiwanese businessman David Sun tried McDonald’s for the first time. The experience was so exciting that the owner of Quanta Foods and his brother decided to buy the franchising right to open an outlet in ...

Don’t bet on it

Taiwan can have Fujian’s water but not a casino
Jun 12, 2015 (WiC 285)

Kinmen, a cluster of tiny Taiwanese islands two kilometres off the coast of mainland China’s Fujian province, has always occupied a unique position in cross-straits relations. Chiang Kai-shek used the archipelago to cover his retreat after the ...

Caught in a tailspin

Trouble in Taiwan after top-secret helicopter tour
Apr 17, 2015 (WiC 277)

In the 1983 film War Games Matthew Broderick plays a computer geek who changes a girl’s biology grade from an F to an A in a bid to impress her. The junior-high hacker soon finds himself in much bigger trouble after stumbling into the ...

Not playing it straight?

Relations with Taipei wane as envoy alleged to be spying for Beijing
Sep 5, 2014 (WiC 251)

On August 28 Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou compared the relationship between his island and mainland China to a “big tree”. “If a pest is discovered we need to find it and remove it so the tree can develop normally. One pest won’t ...

Ma in university challenge

Why has a trade pact with Beijing led to demonstrations in Taiwan?
Mar 28, 2014 (WiC 231)

Ma Ying-jeou is going through a bad patch. In fact, his approval ratings slipped to an all-time low of about 9% at the end of last year. The Taiwanese president is so unpopular that he is scoring lower than former leader Chen Shui-bian, who ...

China is in dispute with many neighbours, but Taiwan relations improve
Feb 21, 2014 (WiC 226)

A decade and a half ago the Taiwan Strait was regarded as one of the world’s most dangerous potential flashpoints. Today, it looks like a calmer spot, albeit in a region seething with diplomatic tension. The latest evidence was two ...

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