Free Republic

The Democratic Progressive Party won decisively, affirming that most Taiwanese want to maintain Taiwan’s separation from communist China.The Taiwanese elected William Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as their next president, despite Beijing’s threat that voting for Lai would lead to war.The campaign to succeed Taiwan’s incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen, who will step down in May due to term limits, was a fierce three-way race, including Vice President Lai of the DPP, Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT), and Ko Wen-je from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). Beijing accuses the DPP of “promoting” Taiwan’s independence, a red line...

Two recent studies have shown that electric vehicles have more quality issues than gas-powered ones and are not better for the environment. Many people believe electric vehicles are higher quality than gas-powered vehicles and are emissions-free, which makes them much better for the environment. But two recent studies have shown that electric cars have more quality issues than gas-powered ones and are not better for the environment. J.D. Power has produced the annual U.S. Initial Quality Study for 36 years, which measures the quality of new vehicles based on feedback from owners. The most recent study, which included Tesla in...

I was very skeptical when U.S. and Chinese officials announced the two nations had reached a “Phase One” trade deal last December. Neither country released any details regarding the agreement. Chinese officials have been exceptionally muted since the announcement, only emphasizing that the United States would remove a number of tariffs, without mentioning any commitments China had made. Neither the United States nor China even articulated a specific dollar amount of the additional U.S. farm products China pledges to purchase.Last week, both the White House and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office posted the full text of the agreement, immediately...

Not withstanding my recent rant against the Wall Street Journal, I do still read it (hint, you can get it online through your local library link). It does still contain have some worthwhile material, like this op-ed: What Socialism Meant for My Great-Grandfather. It is written by Helen Raleigh, an immigrant from China, is the owner of an investment advisory firm.A few excerpts: After the Communist Party took over in 1949, it pushed for “land reform” to win the support of the country’s 300 million landless peasants. The Party claimed landowners were class enemies and exploiters of the poor, and...

It is well known that Asian Americans in this country vote overwhelmingly for Democrat candidates. Politico.com reported that “in the 2012 presidential election, Barack Obama won 73 percent of the Asian American vote, exceeding his support among Hispanics (71 percent) and women (55 percent).” What is unclear to many conservative politicians and operatives is why and how to fix it. But as the 2016 presidential race is heating up, any GOP candidate who wishes to have a serious shot at the White House simply cannot continue ignoring the Asian voting block, because the demographics in this country has already changed....