The 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) annual meeting was held in San Francisco last month. The Taiwan delegation, headed by Minister of the National Development Council Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) and John Deng (鄧振中), Minister Without Portfolio of the Office of Trade Negotiations of the Executive Yuan, played an active role in the APEC Ministerial Meeting.

It was no surprise when a delegation of Arab and Islamic foreign ministers showed up in Beijing in late November in a quest for a ceasefire of the war in Gaza. Beijing is using the Gaza war to launch a diplomatic offensive to further enlarge its rapidly growing footprint in the Middle East.

The Biden-Xi meeting had set a positive tone, and that the U.S. had achieved a number of results while not ceding any ground. But observers also warned that the underlying tensions remained, and that frictions could erupt into significant crises.

This long overdue meeting has on the whole allowed a lowering of the temperature between the two superpowers. Nonetheless, most of the contentious issues between Washington and Beijing have remained unresolved, and the root causes of the U.S.-China rivalry are unlikely to fade away.

Even though Biden and Xi reached an agreement on resuming military exchanges between the United States and China and jointly combating fentanyl imports, no senior military officials attended the summit. Biden and Xi did not hold a joint press conference after the summit; Biden said at his press conference after the summit that Xi is a dictator. Biden also cited security risks and announced new restrictions on American capital investment in companies linked to the Chinese military.

CCP expectations for a “China-Friendly” party to win the 2024 election. Recent trade investigations against Taiwan and a tax audit targeting Foxconn suggest Chinese efforts to interfere with Taiwan’s election.

Through the Belt and Road Forum, Chinese leader Xi Jinping tried to portray China as a reliable ally of the developing world while trivializing the burden of the “debt trap.”

Both Taipei’s and Washington’s defense information campaigns require higher profiles, greater details, and increased frequency. If there is to be victory over the CCP’s ambitions, it will start with superior defense information and public education campaigns.

The lessons from the Russo-Ukrainian War offer valuable insights for Taiwan as it prepares for potential challenges. These lessons encompass issues of surprise, prevention of piecemeal takeover, defensive preparations, counterintelligence, prevention of state collapse, and understanding the adversary's military doctrine and blind spots.