As an antidote to the stoopid now filling Bluesky on Taiwan #Taiwan and the PRC, see this piece by J Wilkes. Send it around whenever you see someone complaining that Trump greenlit an invasion, or similar. dominotheory.com/no-the-u-s-d...

In China, victims of abuse are told by local authorities to ‘keep It in the family’ – The New York Times: ‘often clashes with the broader goal of the Communist Party to promote marriage and childbearing to raise the falling birth rate.’

Finally. Let’s hope this is taken seriously. ‘Britain's domestic spy agency MI5 issued a rare public warning to members of parliament on Monday that they are being targeted by spies from China, Russia and Iran in an attempt to undermine the country's democracy.’ www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks...

I don't want to get over my skies. But I don't think Steve Reed will have that full sight by October 21. So I suspect this is a different way of saying the decision will be delayed. Which almost anyone could have predicted given current events.

Pastel pink and blue clouds in the sky above Keelung Islet and a container ship on its way to Keelung Port.

In case you missed this yesterday from me on saving the last big animal surviving by itself wild in the Yangtze River. #China CLICK ON LINK to read www.bbc.com/news/article...

"Amazing" is a grossly-overused word these days, but sometimes it's the only one to use, and this new view of Mars, made from images taken by Perseverance yesterday, definitely is amazing. I hope you all like it! (Please Share if you do!) Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson

This is very good

It’s kind of funny seeing pro-China types interpret the recall results as meaning that the Taiwanese public, in fact, identifies as Chinese. Er, no, lol

My sense is that this is bad for the pro-recall camp. But maybe not!

Tiktok got banned despite massive efforts to demonstrate that Beijing wouldn't access US data. All the while, the U.S. government allowed China-based Microsoft service teams to directly access classified government systems w/ nominal supervision. www.propublica.org/article/micr...

EXCLUSIVE Beijing has dropped sanctions on Reinhard Buetikofer, the former EU lawmaker it sanctioned in 2021, as it looks to normalise ties with the European Parliament. www.scmp.com/news/china/d...

I can think of another country as well...

Tragic.

Mandarin is one of the four main languages or language groups spoken in Taiwan. It is also the most widely used. However, as shown on the map, Mandarin is primarily spoken in northern and eastern Taiwan. In the south, other languages dominate. I’ll introduce those in a future post.

The Taiwan Navy has activated the 6th Mobile Company of the Hai Feng Battalion in recent days. The Hai Feng Battalion operates Taiwan's land-based anti-ship missiles.

This survey is being conducted by the Control Yuan, which I have come to believe is more important than it appears to be. Often it is the government agency that establishes the facts on which policy is built. So please consider completing the survey. focustaiwan.tw/society/2025...

Taiwan opposition leader Eric Chu compared the DPP to Nazis after opposition supporters forged signatures and faced legal consequences, and Chu doubled down when Germany’s de facto embassy confronted him. The diplomatic missions of the EU, Netherlands, Belgium, and France have joined Germany.

Since 2 March, no aid has entered the Gaza Strip due to a decision by the Israeli authorities. MSF is running low on essential supplies and fuel needed to sustain its medical response, while the number of critically injured patients continues to rise.

Four former pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong have been released from prison after serving time for their involvement in an unofficial 2020 primary election. hongkongfp.com/2025/04/29/4... Claudia Mo, Gary Fan, Jeremy Tam, and Kwok Ka-ki are the first group of 45 democrats to be discharged.

If TableMedia is right, Merz will appoint a foreign minister highly critical of Beijing. Johann Wadephul has called Xi a dictator & criticised China’s violations of int’l law & human rights. He’s said the HK crackdown damaged Beijing’s credibility. And on Taiwan: “The free world stands together.”

Based on a true story

A rare public protest in Chengdu "Without political reform there can be no national rejuvenation" "The people do not want a party with unbound power" "China does not need someone to dictate her path, because democracy is the way"

Live footage of Trump's tariffs policy:

Live from Taipei xkcd.com/723/

Some fascinating artwork for the latest PRC military exercise around Taiwan by the Eastern Theater Command. The one on the left superimposes the word "Pressure-- in the sense of closing in--over a map of Taiwan. Ships surround Taiwan while aircraft point at Yilan and Kaohsiung.

I'd like to try to bring a little attention to an even better reading of the “Shell” video by @joshuamwilkes.bsky.social and @imtienyikrislih.bsky.social over at Domino Theory. They discuss things I missed or didn't know. Bravo! dominotheory.com/china-milita...

To conquer corruption, you must become corruption. www.scmp.com/news/china/m...

Feels like Indonesia isn't really at a crossroads anymore

👀

Journalists beaten by security forces while covering the protests in Indonesia. #JournalismIsNotACrime

Amazing! No one had seen a Galápagos Rail on Floreana Island since Charles Darwin—until now. #ornithology

Pete Hegseth in 2016: "The people we rely on to do dangerous and difficult things for us rely on one thing from us: That we will not... be reckless with the dangerous things they are doing for us. That's the national security implications of a private server that's unsecured."

Bad news for Trump natsec team.

Post a ship that’s not Star Wars or Star Trek

Seems like one of the clearest signs yet that Trump believes he's pulling some kind of reverse-Nixon (despite the popular consensus that it's impossible) “As a student of history, which I am — and I’ve watched it all — the first thing you learn is you don’t want Russia and China to get together."

On Polymarket, essentially a crypto betting site, people are wagering on whether South Korean President Yoon will leave office before April 2025. So far, $16.2m has been staked, with the market giving a 69% chance that he’ll be out by March 31.

This is blood-boiling. Charles Rogers was awarded the Medal of Honor in Vietnam after being wounded three times leading the defense of a position. Google his name and the entry below comes up. When you click, you'll see the page has been deleted and the URL changed to include "DEI medal."

The US Army's 100 Bn./442nd Regimental Combat Team page is down. Formerly: www.army.mil/asianpacific... For posterity: web.archive.org/web/20250304... I never thought I'd see the day when the U.S. government turns it back on its soldiers because they weren't white men. But here it is.

The Army just deleted without explanation its page about the 442nd “GO FOR BROKE” infantry regiment—the Japanese American WW2 unit that is the most decorated in US military history. Archive is here: web.archive.org/web/20250304... Page was here: www.army.mil/asianpacific... Disgusting.

The destruction of DOD’s Office Net Assessment will be celebrated in Beijing & Moscow. This little-known but enormously consequential 50 year-old institution actually thought long-term. It helped us win the Cold War, grasped the China challenge early, and figured out revolutions in warfare.

Current reactions by some foreign friends: "See! The U.S. are not reliable. Taiwan should not rely on the U.S. only for its defence procurement." A slight little problem: Europe or South Korea are too scared of China to sell weapons to Taiwan. The U.S. is basically the only option here.

Something I get annoyed at is that sometimes something does have roots in Confucian cultural practices and premodern China, but the cliche Orientalist use of this kind of deep history has now made talking credibly about things with such historical and cultural roots difficult

Today I went on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Taiwanese folk hero Liao Tianding (廖添丁) in Bali. Also drove up into the hills around Guanyinshan to visit the cave where he made his last stand, according to legend anyway. Pretty nice little hike!

Excited to have finally seen one of these beauties. This is a red and white giant flying squirrel. They’re found throughout Taiwan (and China) in forests that sit around 1,200m or above in elevation and are nocturnal. Clearly this fellow (spotted at 8am) is burning the midnight oil.

Donovan with his usual excellent fine-grained take www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar...