Taiwan Insight

River and Sea · Plateau · Resonance: The Possibility of Peace in a Turbulent World

Written by Kefei Cao. The author traces her personal and historical journey across the Taiwan Strait, moving from lived encounters to reflections on war, memory, and coexistence. Drawing on Lung Ying-tai and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, she proposes theatre as a space for reimagining peace beyond binary divisions, where vulnerability, dialogue, and shared humanity become the grounds for fragile yet enduring connection.

Taiwanese Peace as a crucial engagement to advance decolonisation for Japan

Written by Yoshitaka Ota. This article argues that the first step toward contributing to Taiwanese peace is to stop creating a common enemy between Taiwan and Japan and to start taking Taiwanese agency seriously. Japan should also exercise its agency to recognise and depart from the permanence of coloniality, which continues to create China as a common enemy, rather than looking at itself as the enemy once.

Peace and Democracy: A Symbiotic Relationship

Written by Wu Yu-Shan. This article argues that Taiwan urgently needs to establish a public body of knowledge surrounding “peace research”. Peace research concerns not only the safety of life but also the survival of democracy and freedom. Nascent democracies under the shadow of war, like Taiwan, face external threats, security dilemmas, and cultural deficits. Therefore, to protect democracy, we must first protect peace.

Fearful Summitry: Xi Jinping’s Meeting with Donald Trump and Implications for Taiwan and Cross-Strait Relations

4 June 2026 Adrian Chiu

Written by Jacques deLisle. This article argues that though Taiwan avoided the worst imagined outcomes from the Trump-Xi summit, the uncertainty and, in turn, the fears yielded by the meeting reflect, and are likely to worsen, the challenges Taiwan faces in cross-Strait and international relations. For Taiwan, all of this means deepening challenges in evaluating risks and making difficult policy choices.

Against Independence?: Shifts in US Posture on Cross-Strait Relations As a Second-Order Effect of the Rise of Cheng Li-Wun

3 June 2026 Adrian Chiu

Written by Brian Hioe. This article suggests that the state of play for cross-strait relations has taken an unexpected turn in the past months. In a relatively short time, Cheng Li-wun was not only able to secure a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but indirectly caused US President Donald Trump to echo her language on cross-strait relations through Xi.

Between the Two Summits: Taiwan’s Quiet Marginalisation

2 June 2026 Adrian Chiu

Written by Meng Kit Tang. The piece examines how the recent Trump–Xi summit in Beijing reflected a broader shift in U.S.-China relations: Taiwan was increasingly treated as secondary to great-power stability. It argues that Beijing is combining diplomatic pressure, narrative shaping, and economic leverage to constrain Taiwan internationally, while Washington prioritises predictability and managed competition with China.

After Beijing: Taiwan and the Summit Calendar of Constructive Strategic Stability

1 June 2026 Adrian Chiu

Written by Percy Yixuanchen Yu. This article argues that the Beijing summit between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump revealed a harder and more unprecedented form of great-power coexistence with multiple areas operating at once. Taiwan is becoming one of the key battlegrounds on which Beijing and Washington seek long-term advantage amid risk management.

Cheng Li-wun’s China Illusion

30 May 2026 Adrian Chiu

Written by Gunter Schubert. This article contends that the KMT’s China Policy, as articulated by Cheng Li-wun, appears largely devoid of concrete policy content. Instead, it is heavily ideological, shaped by deep mistrust of the ruling party and by a risky belief in China’s goodwill once Taiwan accepts Beijing’s interpretation of the “1992 Consensus” and the “one China principle.”

Chinese Identity with KMT Characteristics

29 May 2026 Adrian Chiu

Written by Meng Kit Tang. This article argues that Cheng Li-wun promotes a distinct formulation, Chinese identity with Kuomintang characteristics, anchored in the ROC constitution and civilizational heritage, while rejecting the sovereignty of the Chinese Communist Party. Such reclamation may reinforce the very trend it seeks to counter, and the reactions to the Cheng-Xi summit reflect this paradox.

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