Domino Theory

In August 2022, drones appeared in the skies above Kinmen, a Taiwanese island just off China’s coast. They were off-the-shelf, consumer drones, piloted by Chinese civilians from the nearby city of Xiamen, who posted footage from the flights online. In one video, the drone came close enough to a Taiwanese military base to capture the […] The post Investigation: How Taiwan Botched a Plan to Counter Chinese Drones appeared first on Domino Theory.

The chairman of a U.S. House committee focused on strategic competition with China urged Taiwan’s main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party, or KMT, on Tuesday to follow through on funding for critical defense capabilities, after meeting a delegation of Taiwanese lawmakers in Washington. Representative John Moolenaar, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on the […] The post U.S. Lawmaker Urges Taiwan’s KMT to Follow Through on Drone Funding appeared first on Domino Theory.

Hong Kong’s High Court has sentenced two organizers of the annual Tiananmen Square vigil at Victoria Park, Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) and Chow Hang-tung (鄒幸彤), to seven years and seven years and three months in prison, respectively. Lee, a prominent trade unionist and former lawmaker, and Chow, a human rights lawyer, were convicted last month of […] The post Trade Union Advocates Protest the Sentencing of Tiananmen Square Vigil Organizers in Hong Kong appeared first on Domino Theory.

Taiwanese Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) is in Italy attending a democracy forum. Vice-presidential trips to countries without diplomatic ties with Taiwan are rare — when current President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) was vice president, the only known examples were transit stops in the U.S. on the way to Central and South America and a trip […] The post Taiwan’s Vice President Makes Surprise Trip to Italy appeared first on Domino Theory.

Taiwan’s government has formally proposed spending an extra 145.7 billion New Taiwan dollars ($4.6 billion) on defense in 2027, on top of the NTD 1.123 trillion already announced. Much of the money would be spent on drones previously cut from the special budget. The NTD 145.7 billion is part of a larger NTD 607.6 billion […] The post Taiwan Government Asks for More Money for Drones, Again appeared first on Domino Theory.