On December 2, 2016, Tsai Ing-wen, who was barely a year into her first term as president of Taiwan, made a bold diplomatic gambit. She picked up the phone and made a call to Donald J. Trump, the president-elect of the United States. The two leaders spoke for about 10 minutes. None of her predecessors had dared to make such a move since January 1, 1979, when president Jimmy Carter severed normal ties with Taiwan and granted China full diplomatic recognition.
China had failed to anticipate Tsai’s move, and all hell broke loose in Beijing within hours of the call. The Global Times, a tabloid published by the Chinese Communist Party, called for a rapid buildup of strategic nuclear stockpile and termed Trump’s core team “pigs” for facilitating the conversation. From Tsai, however, the message was clear. She might be a soft-spoken policy wonk, but when it comes to her country’s security, she would not budge an inch.
Tsai has always been an unusual politician. Born on August 31, 1956, in a Hakka family—one of Taiwan’s ethnic minorities—she was not a career politician. Nor did she have any family connection to politics. Her father was an automobile mechanic turned real estate developer. He wanted her to study law so that she could help him manage the family business. But he also expected her, as the youngest daughter among his nine children, to take care of him when he grew old. “I was not considered a kid that would be successful in my career,” She told Time in an interview.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 11, 2022 من THE WEEK India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 11, 2022 من THE WEEK India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
What Will It Take To Clean Up Delhi Air?
IT IS ASKED, year after year, why Delhi’s air remains unbreathable despite several interventions to reduce pollution.
Trump and the crisis of liberalism
Although Donald Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term to the US presidency is not unprecedented—Grover Cleveland had done it in 1893—it is nevertheless a watershed moment.
Men eye the woman's purse
A couple of months ago, I chanced upon a young 20-something man at my gym walking out with a women’s sling bag.
When trees hold hands
A filmmaker explores the human-nature connect through the living root bridges
Ms Gee & Gen Z
The vibrant Anuja Chauhan and her daughter Nayantara on the generational gap in romance writing
Vikram Seth-a suitable man
Our golden boy of literature was the star attraction at the recent Shillong Literary Festival in mysterious Meghalaya.
Superman bites the dust
When my granddaughter Kim was about three, I often took her to play in a nearby park.
OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Meet G. Govinda Menon, the 102-year-old engineer who had a key role in surveying the Vizhinjam coast in the 1940s, assessing its potential for an international port
Managing volatility: smarter equity choices in uncertain markets
THE INDIAN STOCK MARKET has delivered a strong 11 per cent CAGR over the past decade, with positive returns for eight straight years.
Investing in actively managed low-volatility portfolios keeps risks at bay
AFTER A ROARING bull market over the past year, equity markets in the recent months have gone into a correction mode as FIIs go on a selling spree. Volatility has risen and investment returns are hurt.
