Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文

Staff Columnist, Taipei Times
Co-publisher, Compass Magazine
Co-founder, Taiwan Report
Central Taiwan correspondent, ICRT
Former Chair, Taichung AmCham

[michaelturton @michaelturton]

Well. Well. Hung Tz-yung says liar liar pants on fire to Huang Guo-chang.
https://t.co/0qnVu9mO9x

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

@AngelicaOung I think Cheng's success is more local, a sugar rush high following the recall blowout, and exhaustion with Eric Chu's heavy-handed style (though he was very successful, he stepped on a lot of toes with his choice to skip primaries and dictate candidates).

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

Typically I focus more on analysis than advocating for any particular point, but this is an exception:

https://t.co/DWh5Zkl1cH,

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

@AngelicaOung Don't get me started on recent US choices...not happy about that.

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

I should probably credit @michaelturton's piece that I quote near the end for inspiring me to take a more opinionated line on this one. I had intended to (and will eventually) write a piece on how KMT and CCP Chinese ethnonationalism differ, and how Cheng Li-wun embodies it.

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

It was to be interviewed on @RadioTaiwan_Eng with @michaelturton:

https://t.co/qAL6NDQURN

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

@AngelicaOung I went to a wedding awhile back, and was seated at a table with Iranian friends of the groom. They were great, had a great time, drinking and chatting. They didn't have anything nice to say about the Iranian regime.
Lived in China, liked it, but you know my opinion on the CCP.

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

Read this. Now.

https://t.co/J1oiFZBZPP

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

Well, this post attracted some interesting responses

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

@michaelturton @royngerng Oops, forgot to add the link:

https://t.co/926BMpgQQ3

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

I haven't watched this video yet, but plan to--Plaza Accords left a long shadow. @michaelturton and @royngerng might find this useful, I know Mike has written on Plaza, and Roy obviously is the expert on suppressed wages.

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

I wrote on this race a few weeks ago, but it continues to get weirder (though this still gives a useful taste of what's going on):

https://t.co/kV6s1Qj67q

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

The # of moving parts in this race is staggering, w/ jockeying & positioning on all sides threatening to turn this into a four-way race, splitting both the blue and green votes. Likely, this will shake out, but with the egos involved, I wouldn't bet on it:
https://t.co/hziZ7rlF3Z

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

and it started working again. Now it stopped again, no clue why. Texts, internet, everything else works. Fortunately, few people use the phone these days, but sometimes it is necessary. Anyway, a notification it is not working yet again-try contacting me any other way. 2/2

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

My phone has an identity crisis, it doesn't want to be a phone. Weirdly, it stopped making and accepting phone calls awhile back...then switching SIM card slots fixed it. Then for the first couple months of this year, it stopped again-finally tried uninstalling Whosecall, 1/2

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

@michaelturton Added to "to watch" list

[Phelim Kine “老 康“ @PhelimKine]

Great lede: "There are shadowy cabals plotting to sell out Taiwan to be annexed by China, by invasion if necessary. Fortunately, they are buffoons" via @donovan_smith https://t.co/iDFPJQ1jaZ

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

@PhelimKine Thanks! Not often an old-timey word like "buffoon" fits so well.

[Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文 @donovan_smith]

@PwNeilo @michaelturton Thanks! It struck me no one that I know of has tackled the issue of Chinese ethnonationalism at its root for quite awhile. Hopefully you'll like the next columns in this series, tackling their strategic agenda and why this philosophy is deeply dangerous.