President Tsai Ing-wen arrived Jan 12. in El Salvador on the final leg of her nine-day tour of four Republic of China (Taiwan) Central American diplomatic allies [...] According to Tsai, her visit is made in the spirit of mutual assistance, and she anticipates Taiwan and El Salvador jointly developing more plans and projects en route to expanding cultural, economic and people-to-people exchanges.

Taiwan fell by one place from a year ago to 34th in the 2016 Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands IndexSM report, behind Japan, Singapore, South Korea and China, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said Tuesday. Conducted annually, the study measures global perceptions of 50 countries in terms of their exports, governance, culture, people, tourism and immigration/investment.

Taiwan’s president didn’t meet with President-elect Donald Trump during her closely watched U.S. stopover this weekend. But she did visit his favorite communication outlet. Tsai Ing-wen posted photos of her tour of Twitter Inc.’s headquarters in San Francisco on her verified account on the social-media site. It was her first tweet in more than two years, and it appeared directed to a global audience.

President Tsai Ing-wen and her Guatemalan counterpart, Jimmy Morales, reaffirmed their commitment to relations and cooperation between the two countries Wednesday, with Tsai saying that Taiwan will continue to support a Guatemalan highway expansion project, a proposal put forward by Morales. Tsai received a military salute hosted by Morales at the National Palace of Culture. 

South Korea is a latecomer when it comes to public diplomacy. It can learn from Taiwan's experience, especially its public diplomacy with the United States. It's a fitting proposition because there is a view that South Korea, under Park Geun-hye, displayed the appearance of "tilting" towards China at the expense of the U.S., its major ally.

Beijing’s diplomats have been remarkably quiet after the election of Donald Trump, even though the president-elect has signaled his administration will pursue policies fundamentally disadvantageous to China.

Japanese Representative to Taiwan Mikio Numata yesterday said that he hoped Taipei and Tokyo could take their “best relationship” to the next level, as he unveiled the new doorplate for the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, which on Sunday changed its name from the Interchange Association, Japan.

In politics, words matter. [...] But with a growing number of national governments using Twitter to communicate, a head of state can signal a major policy shift in a mere 140 characters. President-elect Donald Trump's use of Twitter has been a case study in how a short message by an influential figure can potentially change the global landscape.