China’s ticket tactics
Chinese hip-hop artist Wang Yitai (王以太) was scheduled to perform in Taiwan on Sept. 14 and 15 as part of a tour.
However, his promotional materials included the phrase “Next Stop: Taipei, China” which was clearly a dig to diminish Taiwan’s international status and undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty.
The wording caught the attention of the government, as it contravened the Regulations on Permission for Entrance of People of the Mainland Area Into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入臺灣地區許可辦法). The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) barred Wang from performing in Taiwan.
However, the concert organizers had sold tickets before applying for permission to hold the event, seemingly to leverage the power of ticket holders to pressure the government.
This approach is not only a breach of regulations and harms the rights of fans, it also exploits Taiwan’s democracy, which values the public’s voice.
By selling tickets before receiving approval, China appears to be testing Taiwan’s resolve. If Wang is unable to come to Taiwan and the organizers refuse to refund the tickets, the blame would fall on the government, suggesting that the financial losses should be borne by the MAC. This would cause conflict in Taiwan.
The incident reveals China’s intention to weaken Taiwan’s international standing in the name of cultural exchange. The maneuver also exerts political pressure on Taiwan, aiming to force the government to either accept the “China Taipei” designation or to face internal disruption.
No one wants to spend money on concert tickets only to have it disappear due to government entry restrictions.
The tactic is clever and Taiwanese must be vigilant against being led by China.
Chang Ya-jou
Taipei
In the US’ National Security Strategy (NSS) report released last month, US President Donald Trump offered his interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. The “Trump Corollary,” presented on page 15, is a distinctly aggressive rebranding of the more than 200-year-old foreign policy position. Beyond reasserting the sovereignty of the western hemisphere against foreign intervention, the document centers on energy and strategic assets, and attempts to redraw the map of the geopolitical landscape more broadly. It is clear that Trump no longer sees the western hemisphere as a peaceful backyard, but rather as the frontier of a new Cold War. In particular,
When it became clear that the world was entering a new era with a radical change in the US’ global stance in US President Donald Trump’s second term, many in Taiwan were concerned about what this meant for the nation’s defense against China. Instability and disruption are dangerous. Chaos introduces unknowns. There was a sense that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have a point with its tendency not to trust the US. The world order is certainly changing, but concerns about the implications for Taiwan of this disruption left many blind to how the same forces might also weaken
As the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) races toward its 2027 modernization goals, most analysts fixate on ship counts, missile ranges and artificial intelligence. Those metrics matter — but they obscure a deeper vulnerability. The true future of the PLA, and by extension Taiwan’s security, might hinge less on hardware than on whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can preserve ideological loyalty inside its own armed forces. Iran’s 1979 revolution demonstrated how even a technologically advanced military can collapse when the social environment surrounding it shifts. That lesson has renewed relevance as fresh unrest shakes Iran today — and it should
On today’s page, Masahiro Matsumura, a professor of international politics and national security at St Andrew’s University in Osaka, questions the viability and advisability of the government’s proposed “T-Dome” missile defense system. Matsumura writes that Taiwan’s military budget would be better allocated elsewhere, and cautions against the temptation to allow politics to trump strategic sense. What he does not do is question whether Taiwan needs to increase its defense capabilities. “Given the accelerating pace of Beijing’s military buildup and political coercion ... [Taiwan] cannot afford inaction,” he writes. A rational, robust debate over the specifics, not the scale or the necessity,
RSS