A letter from Han-na
Dear Johnny,
As an occasional online reader I find your writing enjoyable.
R. Hannah
Johnny replies: This is officially the shortest letter I have ever received and, I’m proud to display, is quite complimentary.
To mark the occasion, I am going to write one of my longest responses.
As it happens, one of my trend-chasing granddaughters spied this letter on my home computer and got all quivery and excited.
“A-gong,” she cried, jumping up and down and clapping her hands, “is that a letter from Hannah Montana?”
Naturally I didn’t have the first inkling of what she was talking about, so after a few minutes of confusion, she opened a Google Web page and typed in “Meng Han-na” (孟漢娜).
“The Earth God give me patience,” I spluttered as row after row of Web sites, YouTube videos and photographs spilled down the screen.
“Why would a person like Hannah Montana want to write to an old grump like me?” I asked as my monitor vomited every happy color of the rainbow. “She’s young, attractive — for a Westerner — energetic and doesn’t sing too awfully.”
“But A-gong, aren’t you famous in newspapers and on the Internet?”
I looked at my granddaughter sternly.
“What could possibly have given you that idea? The closest thing I got to fame was holding Chiang Kai-shek at gunpoint — and that was nearly 40 years ago. It’s been downhill ever since.”
The poor dear looked rather crestfallen, so to cheer her up I rummaged around some of the Meng Han-na Web sites and discovered that a new movie had been made about her.
That’s the ticket, I thought, and promised to take my granddaughter to see the show, even though I expect to be gritting my teeth for the duration.
That’s the problem with being a grandparent: I have to endure the vibrancy of youth who never saw what I was like when I was younger — and their colors are so much brighter than in my memories.
With escalating US-China competition and mutual distrust, the trend of supply chain “friend shoring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fragmentation of the world into rival geopolitical blocs, many analysts and policymakers worry the world is retreating into a new cold war — a world of trade bifurcation, protectionism and deglobalization. The world is in a new cold war, said Robin Niblett, former director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. Niblett said he sees the US and China slowly reaching a modus vivendi, but it might take time. The two great powers appear to be “reversing carefully
As China steps up a campaign to diplomatically isolate and squeeze Taiwan, it has become more imperative than ever that Taipei play a greater role internationally with the support of the democratic world. To help safeguard its autonomous status, Taiwan needs to go beyond bolstering its defenses with weapons like anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. With the help of its international backers, it must also expand its diplomatic footprint globally. But are Taiwan’s foreign friends willing to translate their rhetoric into action by helping Taipei carve out more international space for itself? Beating back China’s effort to turn Taiwan into an international pariah
Typhoon Krathon made landfall in southwestern Taiwan last week, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and flooding, cutting power to more than 170,000 homes and water supply to more than 400,000 homes, and leading to more than 600 injuries and four deaths. Due to the typhoon, schools and offices across the nation were ordered to close for two to four days, stirring up familiar controversies over whether local governments’ decisions to call typhoon days were appropriate. The typhoon’s center made landfall in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港) at noon on Thursday, but it weakened into a tropical depression early on Friday, and its structure
Since the end of the Cold War, the US-China espionage battle has arguably become the largest on Earth. Spying on China is vital for the US, as China’s growing military and technological capabilities pose direct challenges to its interests, especially in defending Taiwan and maintaining security in the Indo-Pacific. Intelligence gathering helps the US counter Chinese aggression, stay ahead of threats and safeguard not only its own security, but also the stability of global trade routes. Unchecked Chinese expansion could destabilize the region and have far-reaching global consequences. In recent years, spying on China has become increasingly difficult for the US
RSS