Soon after this issue is in your hands, I’ll be landing in Washington, D.C., and returning a “window on Japan” to my life. By March I will have taken over stewardship of the National Association of Japan-America Societies (NAJAS), a developer of thought and exchange programs for 38 grassroots societies across North America that promote…
The President’s View appropriate to our annual Wine & Dine feature would be tasting notes on Taiwanese fruit beers. But I cannot resist a sobering look back at the last year for AmCham, paired with mention of two developments that I hope for during the coming Rabbit Year. The China House: As we approached…
The season of Thanksgiving and the American Club made for the perfect time and place to welcome back esteemed former Chairperson, Mr. Robert Parker, who traveled from his home in California as our inaugural “Visitors & Issues Program” speaker. Parker related to the audience how 43 years ago, at the time of the United States’…
China watchers continue parsing messages and choreography from the CCP’s 20th Party Congress, but a sense that Mr. Xi is advancing his timeframe to pull Taiwan into the fold pervades. If so, Taiwan must strengthen itself by accelerating its own timeframe for a trio of strategic openings. Changing and opening is always tough, and even…
The U.S. Congress showered attention on Taiwan in mid-September. Headlining was the Senate Committee’s vote to jack-up military assistance under the Taiwan Policy Act. A week later, AmCham loyalists followed Senior Advisor Don Shapiro’s speech at a Taiwan Congressional Caucus-supported launch in Washington of the Taiwan Matters for America / America Matters for Taiwan booklet,…
If there were ever a time and place to reverse the saying “keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” it would be Taiwan, August 2022. As pressure mounts from across the Strait, let’s invite back some four million visitors – sellers, buyers, investors, investment suitors, free-spending tourists, caregivers, activists, and students – between now…
After two years of COVID clamp-down, pandemic control relaxations mean that Taiwan’s limbs are gradually regaining circulation. A summary of programs and people impacting AmCham Taiwan over the summer is by now in order. June saw the rollout of the so-called 3+4 home isolation plan as a gesture of re-engagement, supplemented by July’s elimination of…
“The industry of fun” – travel and tourism – is given its own annual issue of TOPICS. I look forward to the articles and images each July but am disappointed to see the sector largely neglected by Taiwan. Taiwan is no “tourism country,” we hear. The sector is not among the “Six Core Strategic Industries,”…
President Biden’s declaration during his trip to Asia last month that the United States would defend Taiwan has put the nature of the U.S. relationship with Taiwan back at the center of American foreign policy concerns. This development has fueled further discussion about how, apart from military involvement, the United States can best assist Taiwan….
“[The United States acting] alone cannot reach the essential goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. We have to work together.” – AIT Director Sandra Oudkirk in April 22 remarks at the American Innovation Center. Notable in our era of profound polarization, partnership was the refrain across Taiwan and the globe on Earth Day 2022….
