Tsai Ing-wen Re-election: The China Factor and Taiwanese Identity

01/18/20 • 31 min

Last week, Taiwan re-elected its president, Tsai Ing-wen(蔡英文), by a landslide. Her campaign focused heavily on what she claims is 'the rising threat from Beijing'. Since the election she has said that China needs to 'face reality' and show Taiwan 'respect'. This, and the sheer scale of her victory, might well suggest that cross-strait relations are about to enter a renewed rocky period.
But is it quite that simple?
Joining us this week to put these fresh election results into context is George Yin of Swarthmore College in Philadelphia and Harvard Fairbank Centre for Chinese Studies. George is part of a team that recently undertook a large-scale survey delving into Taiwanese attitudes toward identity, politics and cross-strait relations.
As ever, get in touch if you have any comments at [email protected]. You can also follow us on Twitter: @AsiaMattersPod.

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U.S. - China Trade War: Is the Show Over Yet?

The U.S.-China trade war is going through another bout of excitement as the two sides reach an interim deal. But why are world’s two biggest economies at loggerheads, and is this a battle that’s set to run and run?
This week, Andrew and Vincent are delving into the ups and downs of this dramatic trade war. They are joined by Lingling Wei who has consistently been ahead of the game in her reporting on the trade war for The Wall Street Journal in Beijing, and Trinh Nguyen, a Senior Economist, Emerging Asia at Natixis in Hong Kong.
As ever, get in touch if you have any comments at [email protected]. You can also follow us on Twitter: @AsiaMattersPod

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There's only been one story in the region over the last few weeks: the coronavirus - or COVID-19 - and its spread from Wuhan to the rest of China, then Asia, now the world. There's still a lot we don't know about the virus itself; and even analysis of its handling by the Chinese authorities seems premature.
Instead, this week we're looking back into the past, to see what if anything we can learn from previous epidemics in China. Our guest this week is Professor Sian Griffiths, who co-chaired Hong Kong’s enquiry into the SARS epidemic in 2003.
As ever, get in touch if you have any comments at [email protected]. You can also follow us on Twitter: @AsiaMattersPod