Forbes
Date: Jul 25, 2018 
By: Tim Ferguson, Forbes Staff

These are trying times for Taiwan. Intimidation by Beijing is virtually

Embattled Tsai can’t just let sleeping dogs lie when it comes to Beijing and its constant hazing. But her economy retains strengths. SAM YEH/AFP/Getty ImagesSAM YEH/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

nonstop, and its target, President Tsai Ing-wen, must scramble just to keep her government’s international footing. Economic and other pressures mounted as the Democratic Progressive assumed office in 2016, adding to popular unease over incomes even as such measures as the TAIEX stocks chart have pointed up.

Yet a visit to Taiwan is a pleasure, even when appointments in urban Taipei leave no time to enjoy most of the island’s beauty. I always notice the relative absence of armed men in uniform and of obvious mass surveillance. (Today’s National Security Bureau is not your father’s.) Also refreshing are the bookshops with no seeming bent for idolatry or prohibitions on speech. A clean and green mindset prevails, and the human scale–aside from the Taipei 101 tower–is relaxing.    [FULL  STORY]