Why is it that right-wing douchebags like Trump have the nerve to stand up to asshole communist regimes like China, but supposedly decent, principled guys like Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau don’t? As a Canadian living in Taiwan for the last fifteen years, I was gratified by the news of Trump’s phone call with Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, just as I have been appalled at most else he’s done or said. I’m very far from being on the right wing – even in str

Music pumps, alcohol is consumed, hormones are released, bodies gyrate! It’s another Ladies’ Night at the Brass Monkey pub in downtown Taipei, for many folks a great way to release their mid-week tension. But could this cross-cultural revelry also be part of the answer to making Taiwan more internationally competitive? Maybe! Because tearing up the dance floor are a group from the “Foreign Students in Taiwan” club at their weekly “International Mingle”. FSIT’s ranks have cont

I’m saying that the Taiwanese have a tendency toward pessimism that has been reinforced by historical experience: pessimism about the future of Taiwan, the economy, and hence the prospects for themselves and the younger generation to see a bright future in the current system. So how did we get to this gloomy situation? The morale of those living in post-war Taiwan was grim. In 1950, the Nationalists lost the Chinese Civil War, although they clung to the forlorn hope that they