Tsai Ing Wen calls Trump

Gotta love her chutzpah.

Hmm, right, okay, what exactly do you want to talk about?

Things are a gettun carrrrazzzyyyyy

Guess the waiting game is over. Not even in office yet and he’s fumbling into the issue nearest and dearest to our fearful hearts. Don’t know if it’ll be at all helpful as he will more than likely look for military solutions over diplomatic or it may be much ado. Regardless, the status quo is likely on its last legs.

I am sure that, at least secretly, she can’t stand Trump, but she needs him. Doesn’t matter though. The weird old cat lady bent the knee, as she should have.

1 Like

It seems like the whole thing was actually well-orchestrated. Looks like a deliberate nose-tweaking, with the out being that he’s not in office yet. In itself, it doesn’t really mean much. He seems to be taking a relatively anti-China stand in a number of areas. China is as likely to want to wait it out as anything else. The simple fact of a DPP administration is much more of a question mark in terms of being an impetus for any policy changes.

A little off on some dates (unless he is using the ROC calendar???)

I think maybe Trump has stumbled into something here. Which gets me thinking, there may possibly be no more a stone cold example of petulant reactionary behaviour than what any of us have seen countless times when someone hereabouts perceives him or herself to have lost face. Save that of Mr. Trump’s countless examples.

Face.

My dream of a neutral, green tourist mecca, a China-lite utopia sans militia, with the greatest S&R Force in the world, ready to deploy anywhere at anytime, a country that disengages completely with any relic of The ROC, new flag, anthem, anniversary, a place of science and ethics…well that’s on hold.

How does a peacenik humanist such as I embrace the hawk and support Trump in his coming stare-down with Beijing? These are confusing and depressing times and I find it increasingly difficult to wring any hope out of each day’s passing.

Prophetically-speaking, this blundering gaff of a mad petulant child man is sure to become a footnote to our future here in expat Taiwan.

China lite can kiss my ass.

Taiwan is the only properly democratic ethnic Chinese nation and that stands for something. This is our country (passport or no passport).

If the PRC want to turn this into another Hong Kong there are millions of us who will stand in the way.

Finally a US president that isn’t rolling over for Chinese to take everything.

2 Likes

Sorry, you misunderstand my intent. I mean it more in the way of tourist-attracting jargon…all that great China taste without any of that flattening repression. Come celebrate Hua Ren the way it’s cultural visionaries (Lao Tze, Kong Tze) wanted it to go blended with modernity and freedom. We should/could be out-earning Thailand for tourist dollars. With The Phil in less-than-capable hands, it only makes sense that Taiwan focus on it’s tourism potential.

But no one goes to warzones, neither hot nor cold, to get in a little (world class) scuba diving. Taiwan needs to have peace with China and be free from the yoke. Can Trump usher in a new day?

And what kind of special hell are we going to have to go thru to get there?

what peace are you thinking of? peace with china is letting china take over. this wasn’t a gaff. this was planned. being free from china is becoming hong kong part 2. thats what you want?

When’s the last time you went through Taoyuan airport…hour long waits are common for foreign visitors to go through immigration.

Tourists are coming here in droves. Thais are now visa free as welll.

Taiwan doesn’t have the beaches or weather (especially considering the northern weather right now) to rival Thailand as a tourist destination though.

There is also way too much ugly architecture here. There is in Thailand also, but I think the lower population density and lower level of industrialisation help Thailand get away with it a lot more as a tourist destination.

Would rivalling Thailand even be the right approach? That kind of hedonistic tourism often creates some fairly bad negative social effects because it attracts the wrong kind of people. Taiwan probably could concentrate on being the “nice China” in terms of cultural attractions, but outdoors stuff would require a lot of work. There’s tons of litter and has anyone been on the Sua-Hua Highway recently? There’s no way in hell you’d get me on that on a bicycle!

Which is just bizarre to be honest. I honestly can’t imagine why foreigners would even come here, unless they are like all hiking enthusiasts.

The most recent report shows that Taipei is now like the 15th most visited city in the world, in the same league as real iconic cities with stunning architecture such as Rome and Vienna, and Japanese tourists are the largest market, instead of Chinese ones (this is 2015, so it’s prior to this new administration), and 10th by receipts, highest in the Chinese-speaking world, higher than the likes of freakin’ Hong Kong. I honestly think we already have way more tourists than our merits. It’s pretty mind boggling considering how boring and ugly it is.

Imo tourism is totally unreliable and it’s really unhealthy to depend on such sector like to the level of Thailand or Spain.

1 Like

Well it’s a relatively new phenomenon and has certainly helped Taipei and places like Tainan and Hualien and Chiayi to prosper somewhat. I remember when taipei had no foreign tourists , all the hotels were run down and a lot of ugly stuff everywhere (imagine Keelung now :)).

if they marketed this place to compete with china they could have something. 'like china, but with less death smog, actual chinese culture and 90% less spitting"

if i wanted to go on a mad adventure i would choose china. but a nice fun holiday with some good sights, food and polite people then taiwan is a much better choice. honestly i could only really recommend china for the hardcore, strong stomached people.

It takes a lot of commitment and investments. I’ve recently been to Vietnam and I was shocked by how tourist-friendly it is. There have been massive investments in tourism, hospitality and advertisement during the last decade or so, and now Vietnamese people who do business in that sector make a ton of money compared to those who live on minimum wage.

Taiwan has a fairly strong tech/industry sector so there’s no need to rely a lot on tourism, but there are many areas that are currently left almost unused and could bring in a ton of money. Here in Yilan we have 30+kms of beaches with no relevant tourist facilities. The surfing spot of Waiao has a Mr Brown coffee shop, a small area with some umbrellas in front of the surfing spot and the rest of the (HUGE) beach is left unused. Of course I enjoy the fact of having a semi-private 15kms beach near home, but I think that improving the conditions for tourists would help the community a lot. In the whole region of Yilan the only town that is a bit more tourist-oriented is Jiaoxi, but it caters mostly to local tourists who spend Taiwanese dollars and expect a certain price range. Foreign tourists, especially from Eu/US, are usually willing to spend a bit more because even at inflated prices most things in Taiwan are still cheaper than back home.

It takes some time and a lot of money though, not just to build all the required stuff but also to train people who will have to work in that sector. I’m always baffled when I visit a large museum or book a hotel and people at the counter can’t speak a single word of English.

Da Nang city and coast are pretty great.

I highly recommend a holiday there but Vietnamese aren’t a patch on Taiwanese, they even tried to rip us off in the airport…twice!!

I like that large parts of Taiwan don’t have mass tourism, and to be honest the ecosystem is fragile enough and needs protecting.

But some of the coastal areas, as you mentioned, they should bulldoze all the crap towns and buildings and start
Again!!

Also stop gravel mining in the estuaries and look at closing Hualien port…yes unlikely to be supported by local politicians.
Hualien area around The city is stunning, as is the scenery around Nantou city (looks incredible surrounded by mountains, unfortunately air pollution reduces visibility).

@Gain I also find it pretty weird that Taipei is so popular given that there are dozens of cities I would rate far more highly. Perhaps a better measure might be to take out the largest group in each city’s case to see if they are extremely dependent upon just one market (in this case, the Japanese). A city that is universally popular is probably a better indication of how special it is.

@IbisWtf I went to Vietnam about six years ago. Although I think that it was a far more beautiful and interesting country overall, the people who work in the tourism industry there are frequently extremely dishonest. I found that to be the case in Southeast Asia in general.

I wouldn’t rely on tourism at all. It is extremely fickle and it also creates weird dynamics between locals and foreigners a lot of the time.

I used to rent a house at Waiao with some other foreigners many years ago before it got a bit developed. The beach there is nice as beaches in Taiwan go, though I’m Australian so beaches here generally aren’t anything special to me.

Taiwan does really let itself down when it comes to English services for foreign visitors. In Southeast Asia they are much better, despite spending a fraction on learning English. I think the Taiwanese took the lazy way out by catering to huge Chinese tour groups and now they are finding out how awkward it is when that comes with political strings attached.

From the SCMP:

1 Like

The message of that cartoon is a little confused, I think. The panda bear (China) is meant to represent a bully/bad guy complaining against someone with a legitimate grievance. Who is Uncle Sam meant to represent, some kind of American establishment? Is the cartoon suggesting that the American establishment is also a bully to someone with a legitimate grievance (Trump and his supporters), since Uncle Sam seems to be sympathising with the panda bear, at least tangentially?

1 Like