Taiwan’s plan to open a second trade office in the Philippines is an example of Manila and Taipei accelerating cooperation in response to Chinese pressure in the South China Sea, analysts told Radio Free Asia. During a radio interview on Sept. 15, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said that Taipei’s plan to open a second representative office in Cebu, the Philippines’ second largest city, was going smoothly. Taipei’s trade offices serve as de facto embassies and consulates in countries that officially recognize China, but maintain unofficial relations with Taiwan, which…
Day: September 29, 2026
What Did Chinese Analysts Think of the Trump-Xi Summit?
Both in China’s official media and in the world press, the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump last week – their second so far this year – generated usual, predictable descriptions: “ambiguous,” “highly symbolic,” “historic summit,” and so on. However, a section of China’s strategic affairs community – definitely not the pro-U.S. faction – has taken exception to Trump’s “dramatic,” “personal diplomacy” hospitality in welcoming Xi. Cautioning Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership to tread carefully with the untrustworthy, capricious, and unpredictable Trump, a skeptic in…
Why am I obsessed with China’s ancient golden age? I took my daughter on a trip to find out
Tang During the Tang dynasty, which lasted from the seventh to the early 10th century, Vikings were raiding the coasts of what today is called Europe. In the small archipelago now known as Britain, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms flitted by. Meanwhile, in Mesoamerica, after 3,000 years of flourishing, the Maya civilisation was collapsing. In the east, China had been united for nine centuries and the Tang dynasty was already a proverbial high point of world culture. The Tang dynasty achieved an incredible level of social and cultural sophistication. Advances in science and…