China Airlines, EVA and Starlux:
Interesting Times in Taiwan — August 2025

The three Taiwanese network airlines — China Airlines, EVA Air and Starlux — live in interesting times, in the words of the apocryphal Chinese curse, buffeted by the volatile policies of Presidents Xi and Trump.

Taiwan is dwarfed by mainland China, with a population of just 23 million compared to 1.4 billion. But it is an economic powerhouse, the centre of the global semiconductor industry, with a GDP per capita of about US40,000 (recently overtaking South Korea) compared to just $13,000 for China.