Thompson Chau

🇲🇲✈️🇹🇼 Belated personal news: I left Yangon at the end of 2021 after calling Myanmar home for more than half a decade, moving to Taipei to cover news in Taiwan and Burma. Here’s my goodbye essay. 1/3 theguardian.com/global-develop…

Scoop: Taiwan's presidential office confirmed to @thewirechina that Chinese civilian vessels that have participated in drills with China's military will be banned from Taiwanese ports. The majority of these vessels belong to one company: Cosco Shipping. thewirechina.com/2025/07/27/chi…

"Drawing on a decade of on-the-ground reporting and hundreds of interviews, Horton delivers a gripping, urgent, and approachable account of Taiwan’s past and present and the existential questions it now faces" 🙏Julia Bergstrom for reviewing #GhostNation! topics.amcham.com.tw/2025/07/a-ghos…

Thanks to @NikkeiAsia for the quote. Taiwan's opposition KMT emerges stronger after fending off recalls asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Taiwa… via @NikkeiAsia

Britain ‘ready to fight’ over Taiwan, Defence Secretary suggests - having been fortunate enough to be there last night, a couple of thoughts on this: telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…

Update: Taiwanese voters appear to be rejecting *all* the recalls, in what looks to be the biggest electoral win for the KMT since 2018

The Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club will be hosting Kuomintang grandee Hu Chih-chiang, also known as Jason Hu, for a talk about his memoir on July 29. Hu served as foreign minister, top envoy to the U.S., KMT vice chair, and Taichung mayor. Details have been sent to members.

Big day for Taiwan’s democracy today as voters decide whether to recall two dozen KMT legislators. This explainer by @tchau01 highlights what's at stake. asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Taiwa…

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council deputy minister: ”The Chinese Communist Party is taking the recall very seriously, and the level of mobilization is comparable to what we typically see during a presidential election”. asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Taiwa…

Good morning from Taichung, where voting has started! Today voters will determine the future of 24 incumbent KMT legislators across #Taiwan as part of a mass recall movement. @NikkeiAsia has just published a curtain raiser to kick off the big day 👇 asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Taiwa…

Nikkei .... But it is pouring here in Taichung at 8 am. Turnout will take a hit early. Hopefully it will clear in a bit asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Taiwa…

Hugely useful timeline of the Thai-Cambodia border crisis. Makes pretty clear that the whole thing has been instigated by, and most often escalated by, Cambodia, notwithstanding tit-for-tat on the Thai side. Why is this crisis happening, and why now? 🧵 1/14

One last piece from me before the recall vote tomorrow—here I situate the recalls in Taiwan’s longer history of social movements

A lot of focus in Taiwan is on Fu Kun-chi, the KMT’s formidable boss in LY. Less known internationally than the likes of Ma Ying-jeou, Fu has a colourful past and an extraordinary rise in politics. Amid the recalls it’s timely to revisit our interview. asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks…

Total recall? Campaigners employ quirk of Taiwan’s political system to turn on ‘pro-China’ candidates theguardian.com/world/2025/jul…

Really interesting piece from @KathrinHille about the KMT's soul-searching amid the massive recall. “Advocating cross-Strait peace has not given us any advantage,” a senior KMT official said. “So we have to conclude they do not trust us with that.” ft.com/content/49a1be…

Thompson Chau for Nikkei Asia Review: #Taiwan's hot political summer: KMT lawmakers face wave of recall votes following criticism that they are actually the tools of Beijing #台灣 asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Poli… via @NikkeiAsia