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Taiwanese internet users appear more interested in Taiwan's NT$6,000 tax rebate and saga of an escaped baboon, than former President Ma Ying-jeou's (ñRÓ¢¾Å) trip to China, based on Google Trends.

Amid ongoing tensions between China and Taiwan, people here in Taipei may at times strike outsiders as blas¨¦ about the threat of Chinese attack.

Outgoing Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has softened his rhetoric over issues related to Taiwan, avoiding further backlash from the self-governed island while trying to thaw frozen cross-strait relations.

After U.S. President Joe Biden secretly arrived in Kiev, he held a high-profile meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky to support Ukraine. China's top diplomat Wang Yi, who visited Moscow on the anniversary of the Ukraine war and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, called Sino-Russian relations "mature and tenacious". On the other side of the world, the US-China confrontation is once again unfolding over the Taiwan issue. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu steps into the headquarters of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) in the greater Washington area.

John Bolton said in January that he might run for the Republican US presidential nomination next year against former US president Donald Trump, telling the New York Post that ¡°Trump¡¯s support within the party itself is in terminal decline.¡±

In addition to the Taiwanese government¡¯s efforts to carry out reforms and increase the country¡¯s defense budget, the growing threat from China has made Taiwanese society more mindful of its own security. Since last year, there have been several non-governmental endeavors to boost Taiwan¡¯s civil defense. Among these initiatives, the Kuma Academy, or ¡°Black Bear Academy,¡± has attracted the most attention. Co-founded by Puma Shen, a world-leading expert on misinformation, the academy is devoted to preparing 3 million Taiwanese citizens within three years in areas such as cognitive warfare, introductory modern warfare, wartime first aid, and evacuation drills. There are also several other NGOs running similar programs on various scales.

While public support for self-defense has increased, low trust in the Taiwanese military and doubts about U.S. military assistance could overshadow this positive development.

In Taiwan's nine-in-one election that just ended, the DPP lost a lot of land. In the capital city of Taipei, Chen Shizhong, who was favored at the beginning of the nomination, was reversed by Jiang Wanan of the Kuomintang; big cities such as Taoyuan, Keelung, and Hsinchu, whose municipalities were rated as five-star by the media, were unable to continue to govern, and the result shocked Taiwan's political circles.