Head of the of the Research Area China-Taiwan Relations/Director of the Taiwan studies project UZH. Interests: Chinese Politics, Taiwan, Cross-Strait Relations
Zurich
Joined March 2020
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Thrilled to share my new co-edited volume (w/ @chunyilee1): Changing Dynamics in Geopolitics: Implications for Taiwan 🌏🇹🇼
On Cross-Strait tensions, China–US rivalry & Taiwan’s future in the Indo-Pacific.
👉 link.springer.com/book/10.10…
#Taiwan #Geopolitics
@UniofNottingham
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
Mbappé's apology sends the wrong signal. Calling Mao a dictator is a historical judgement, not an insult to the Chinese people. By conflating the two, he adopts the Party's framing. Apologising will only deepen self-censorship on anything touching 'official China'.
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
This controversy is absolutely nuts. The Mao revisionism is *wild*, with state media demanding that foreigners bend the knee to an excrescence who killed tens of millions of their own ancestors. This ridiculous headline, together the humiliating capitulation of the sports world. Mbappe said something that anyone who has had a passing glance at history knows: Mao was not merely a dictator, but the biggest killer of the last century.
In case anyone was wondering about PRC influence in sport, you have your answer. And in case anyone was wondering about how quickly “private” Chinese companies (sponsors) can be mobilised to do the bidding of the Party State, voilá. Getting the picture yet?
This is the Whole-of- State approach in action people. Everything is the Party, and nothing can challenge it.
Major brands in China have dropped Kylian Mbappé over a clip in which the French football megastar appeared to mock Mao Zedong, China’s modern founding leader.
vist.ly/5q5xz
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
Over the last few months, China has intensified its pressure campaign against Taiwan, imposing sanctions on officials from two of Taiwan's remaining diplomatic allies, blocking Taiwanese representatives from taking part in an international conference in Kenya, and expanding the scope of its maritime grey zone operations to waters east of Taiwan.
"These are all forms of Beijing’s intensified pressure campaign aimed at isolating Taiwan internationally and limiting middle powers’ and smaller countries’ engagement with Taipei," I told @leahyjoseph at @FT.
Beijing wanted to “cultivate a sense of helplessness within Taiwan” while demonstrating to the Chinese public that it was making progress towards “unification”.
@CrisisGroup
ft.com/content/587f1f89-3bff…
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
Minulý týden jsem strávil v Taipei, kde jsme pořádali další simulaci čínské strategické eskalace.
Tady pár veřejný dat, co by čínský útok na Taiwan znamenal:
⚬ Podle analýz Bloomberg Economics by čínská invaze na Tchaj-wan stála globální ekonomiku v prvním roce 10 bilionů USD (cca 10 % světového HDP), přičemž samotné státy Evropské unii by zaznamenaly propad HDP přesahující 5 %, což je hlubší pokles než během finanční krize v roce 2008 nebo pandemie covidu-19.
⚬ Tchaj-wan kontroluje přes 90 % celosvětové kapacity výroby nejvyspělejších mikročipů (pod 7 nm) a více než 60 % celkové světové produkce čipů. Přerušení dodávek by v EU ze dne na den způsobilo akutní nedostatek komponentů pro automobilový průmysl, zdravotnickou techniku i spotřební elektroniku.
⚬ Tchajwanským průlivem ročně propluje přes 21 % celosvětového námořního obchodu (zboží v hodnotě 2,45 trilionu USD) a téměř polovina světové kontejnerové flotily. Námořní blokáda nebo konflikt by znamenaly okamžitou paralyzaci přímých dodavatelských tras mezi Evropou a Východní Asií.
⚬ Výzkumné centrum CSIS a Rhodium Group odhadují, že kvůli kombinaci západních sankcí, námořních blokád a přerušení financování obchodu s Čínou by celosvětový objem obchodu klesl o dvouciferné procentní hodnoty, což by v EU vyvolalo skokovou inflaci a výpadky v dodávkách průmyslových meziproduktů.
⚬ Vzhledem k tomu, že 10 největších odběratelů tchajwanské TSMC reprezentuje tržní kapitalizaci blízkou 14 trilionům USD, výpadek výroby by okamžitě vedl k masivní korekci na evropských i globálních akciových trzích a k dlouhodobému znehodnocení majetku.
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
The CCP‘s bullying of the Philippines has to stop. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
The sanctions are not isolated incidents but part of Beijing's coordinated pressure campaign to isolate Taiwan internationally by imposing costs on those that continue to engage with Taipei. Other recent examples include China's sanctions against four lawmakers from New Zealand for traveling to Taiwan and Beijing's ongoing hybrid coercion against Japan.
apnews.com/article/china-tai…
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
SCMP reports that several of China's main Taiwan-focused research institutes have completed or nearly completed a first set of plans for governing Taiwan after unification, with scholars saying peaceful unification could grant Taiwan the widest autonomy available under 'one country, two systems', graded according to how unification occurs. It is the first systematic output to surface since Xi Jinping called in 2019 for concrete proposals.
scmp.com/news/china/politics…
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
Just in case there is any confusion about my stance: this is a complete waste of time by PRC academics keen to show "thought-leadership" on a post-Taiwan annexation political environment. Sure to please Xi and Beijing. Has zero influence in Taipei.
If anything, it lays bare the complete failure by Beijing to propose a political framework for "unification" beyond 1C2S that is at all palpable to the people of Taiwan.
SCMP reports that several of China's main Taiwan-focused research institutes have completed or nearly completed a first set of plans for governing Taiwan after unification, with scholars saying peaceful unification could grant Taiwan the widest autonomy available under 'one country, two systems', graded according to how unification occurs. It is the first systematic output to surface since Xi Jinping called in 2019 for concrete proposals.
scmp.com/news/china/politics…
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
Important commentary by my @AsiaPolicy colleague @GranoSimona in @Diplomat_APAC, titled "What Would Europe Do in a Taiwan Crisis?"
Simona asks a question diplomats and policy-makers in Europe have long-contemplated: how would Europe respond to a military crisis over Taiwan?
That question should be discussed more openly in Brussels and EU capitals with the general public.
thediplomat.com/2026/10/what…
Nine years of Taiwan Studies at UZH — and now five more! 🇹🇼🇨🇭 UZH and Taiwan’s Ministry of Education have renewed the Taiwan Studies Project for 2026–2031. Since 2017, it has supported teaching, research and academic exchange. Delighted to continue! 🔗 lnkd.in/ekHM8E65
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
We just arrested a Chinese foreign agent at LAX attempting to depart for China.
Wanying Zhang, aka “Heather,” 34, of Irvine, was arrested today by @FBILosAngeles on a federal complaint charging her with acting as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China.
According to the affidavit, Zhang traveled to Seattle in 2025 and, at the direction of PRC officials, surveilled a close relative of a Taiwanese government official, sending photos, videos, and license plate information to those officials.
She coordinated the trip with an associate and used tradecraft to avoid detection. She never notified the Attorney General she was acting for a foreign government, a federal offense.
She will appear in federal court in Los Angeles tomorrow for her initial appearance. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
In my opinion, Taiwan needs a “One Voice” foreign policy. From a recent discussion in Finland. 👇
Pleased to contribute to this @AsiaPolicy analysis of the implications of Xi's state visit for Taiwan, together with @neilthomas123 , @wstv_lizzi, @AGraylin , and Joan Kaufman and Scott Shaw. Thanks to @susanjakes and @ChinaFile for the invite!
asiasociety.org/policy-insti…
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
Pleased to contribute to this @AsiaPolicy analysis of the implications of Xi's state visit, including contributions from @neilthomas123, @wstv_lizzi, Scott Shaw, @AGraylin @GranoSimona, and Joan Kaufman. Thanks to @susanjakes and @ChinaFile for partnering on this piece!
asiasociety.org/policy-insti…
chinafile.com/conversation/w…
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
Thank you, Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi, for giving the keynote address at our US-Europe-Taiwan Trilateral Forum in London! @MOFA_Taiwan, Full text here: gmfus.org/news/strengthening…
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
We can always return to a classical question and let ourselves be absorbed by it, but we should not be overly surprised that academic China studies are becoming increasingly irrelevant and boring to many people interested in contemporary China, including many Chinese themselves.
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
Beijing put me and my entire family on its sanctions list in 2021. The two people standing next to me have been making Beijing uncomfortable for thirty-one years.
@FreddyLim fronts @chthonictw, #Taiwan's biggest metal band. After 8 years as MP, he is now 🇹🇼 Ambassador to Finland. @Doris0919 plays bass and runs the band, and has carried Taiwan's case to audiences no foreign ministry will ever reach.
In Helsinki today I gave the keynote on what Lithuania has learned holding NATO's eastern flank, then took the panel Frontline Democracies: Geopolitical Resilience in an Era of Authoritarian Pressure with Freddy, with Atte Harjanne of the Finnish parliament, who sits on its defence committee and is a captain in the Finnish reserve, and with Luke de Pulford, who built Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) from a handful members in 2020 into well over 300 legislators across 45 Parliaments today, and which I co-chair. The occasion was the joint annual conference of the World and European Federations of Taiwanese Associations.
Why it matters. #Vilnius and #Taipei are not two separate stories. russia and China are one problem working two fronts, and whichever of us folds first makes taking the other one cheaper.
Taiwan and Ukraine are the structural safety pins of global stability. Pull them and the whole transatlantic system unzips.
Two fronts. One war. 🤘🇱🇹🇹🇼
#Taiwan #IPAC #2fronts1war @ipacglobal – at Vantaa, Suomi
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
There is certainly a greater level of caution in Europe when it comes to the level of publicity of official engagement with Taiwan, but the European Commission’s decision to pull out of the event in Italy where Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-Khim attended as a special guest will send a wrong signal to Beijing and reinforce Beijing’s belief that it could continue to exert pressure to limit European engagement with Taipei.
“The European Commission cancelled its participation in a conference in Italy after Taiwan’s Vice Premier Hsiao Bi-khim was announced as a surprise guest.
On Thursday, the European Parliament office in Italy announced the arrival of Taiwan’s vice premier on the island. Taiwan’s foreign minister was also present at the conference.
The European Commission Representation in Italy then informed the European Parliament’s Liaison Office – whose staff were already on the island – that it wanted its own logo removed from the event, a parliamentary official told Euractiv. The latest version of the programme available online now carries only the Parliament’s logo.
A Commission official, Alessandro Giordani, was due to speak on a panel with Picierno on Saturday afternoon. He called off his participation, while en route to Ventotene.”
euractiv.com/news/european-c…
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
Wie die Lemminge.
“Deutsche Unternehmen haben ihre Investitionen in China einer Untersuchung zufolge im ersten Halbjahr dieses Jahres wieder deutlich erhöht. Sie investierten demnach rund 5,6 Milliarden Euro zusätzlich in der Volksrepublik” spiegel.de/wirtschaft/china-…
Simona Alba Grano retweeted
China threatens to cancel summit if U.S. approves new arms sales to Taiwan.
Arms sales to Taiwan will resume. The only question is when, not whether. Not likely in the next 2 weeks. Could happen after the summit. english.kyodonews.net/articl…
