In Brief with Daniel McIntyre and Jonas Schneider, our assistant editors
28 November 2023
9DL is fortunate to have a team of editors whose passion for the Indo-Pacific is matched only by their keen editorial skills.
As we near the end of a busy year that has seen our team and network of experts expand, our Editor-in-Chief, Dr Manali Kumar, caught up with two of our Assistant Editors — Jonas Schneider and Daniel McIntyre — to learn more about their work and plans to help drive the platform forward.
MK: Jonas, you are currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Japan. Could you tell us a bit about your research interests and how you came to develop these?
JS: My main research interests are Taiwanese identity and politics. Taiwan, sadly, is too often reduced to geopolitical factors, discounting how important national and local politics are in Cross-Strait relations. I hope to do my part in dispelling the academic tradition that treats Taiwan as a geopolitical pawn or extension of China. And, maybe more importantly, as any observer of Taiwanese politics will tell you, there are few political arenas as entertaining as Taiwan’s. I am also similarly interested in Japanese politics and Japan-Taiwan relations, which led me to pursue my Master’s in International Relations in Tokyo, allowing me to bring these interests together.
I first became interested in East Asia through Japanese literature as a teenager and was incredibly lucky to stumble into an opportunity to live with the author Alex Kerr in Kyoto for a year right after high school. During my undergraduate studies, I became fascinated with Taiwan as I discovered the literature and culture emerging out of the revival of Taiwanese identity, a field that is defining and redefining itself at this very moment. With time, and as I had the chance to live and work in Taiwan, my focus turned more political bringing me to where I am today.
MK: Daniel, you are currently based in Taiwan. Can you say a little bit about what brought you there?
DMcI: I was fortunate enough to study at Shantou University in China as part of an exchange programme for my undergraduate degree in 2016-2017. This year in China kindled my interest in Chinese politics, society, and the language. But it was only after I visited Taiwan in 2018 that I realised Taiwan offered something pretty unique: it is a Sinophone country, yet conceptual frameworks drawn from China don’t get you very far in seeking to understand the country. I think it was during the first COVID-19 lockdown that Taiwan really seemed to increase in international visibility. With escalating tensions between the US and China, it felt like Taiwan would come to define the international system that we would live in. I thought it was a good time to return to Taiwan to get my Mandarin back up to speed, with a view to gaining a deeper understanding of Taiwan’s place in these seismic international shifts.
MK: What do you view as some of the key threats and opportunities, or changes our readers should be watching out for in the Indo-Pacific over the next few years?
JS: Demographic change will certainly be one of the greatest challenges and drivers of social development in the Indo-Pacific in the coming decades. The rapidly ageing societies in East Asia and therefore dwindling workforce is likely to shift the current centres of economic production to South-East and South Asia over time. We can already see many international companies relocating their production chains from China southwards, though that is also partly due to the current political climate in the PRC. While China will remain the economic powerhouse in Asia for the foreseeable future, it will be worth your while to keep an eye on India and Indonesia, the largest and fourth-largest countries in the world by population. Ageing societies in East Asia will also mean an ever-increasing need for immigration — this is already true for Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea today. Whether and how to increase immigration, as well as how to integrate migrant workers into society, are already major debates in all three countries. We might well see a much more multicultural and transnationally connected East Asia in the next few decades.
DMcI: As someone who thinks a lot about Taiwan, I think the thing to watch out for in the new year is what, or if any foreign policy shift comes out of Taipei after the January presidential election. Tsai Ying-wen played an incredibly steady hand over her two terms. However, Lai Ching-te replaces her, he is likely to push more forcefully than his predecessor in asserting Taiwan’s place in the world. Speaking at an event with foreign correspondents in Taipei recently, Lai pledged to adopt a more “values-based diplomacy”, signalling a potential shift from Tsai’s prioritisation of commerce. What would this look like in the Indo-Pacific? We could see Lai more emphatically disseminating a strategic narrative of Taiwan’s centrality to the Indo-Pacific, with a stronger counter-Chinese narrative. Taiwanese presidents don’t have a lot of room for manoeuvre in foreign policy, but it will be interesting to see what Lai brings to the table if elected. On the other hand, if an opposition candidate wins, either the KMT’s Hou You-yi or the outsider Ke Wen-je, I think all bets are off for how that would play out, but I doubt we would see the kind of accommodation of China that we saw under former president Ma Ying-jeou.
MK: As part of your role, you are responsible for editing articles that are submitted from across the globe, which inevitably leads to a variation in style and quality. What particularly grabs your attention when you review an article? What suggestions could you offer for contributors to help make their submissions more engaging?
DMcI: I like articles that get straight into what they want to say in the first couple of sentences. As writers, I think we are all guilty of spending too long setting the article up with background information, descriptions, and figures etc. I don't think it needs to begin with a bang, but a measured opening that starts as it means to go on usually sets the tempo for the rest of the article. Concision in writing, with a throughline threaded from start to finish, getting to the point and moving on to the next — I think this is what the reader appreciates.
JS: One thing I appreciate most about working at 9DL is that we publish articles on topics that many platforms would fear are too specialised or country-specific for their audience. I truly believe that there is no topic too challenging for readers — explain it well enough and anything can be interesting. This is, of course, no easy feat and requires a lot of conscious choices while writing. Writing for 9DL gives you the opportunity to introduce your interests to a new but educated audience.
My advice would be, to write as if you were explaining your topic to a friend who is intellectually your equal but knows little to nothing in your field. First and foremost this means: spell it out. Something that is an obvious conclusion to you will likely not be obvious to others. Clearly write out your arguments including the self-evident, this really makes the difference between a decent and a great article.
MK: Jonas, you have been with 9DL for nearly a year now. As we wrap up a busy year and look ahead to the next, is there something you are looking forward to?
JS: I am very excited about the launch of a new project early next year, which our team has been working on over the past year. As the platform has been growing, we have had the unique chance to connect with a wide range of experts on the Indo-Pacific through our networks. We now plan to showcase this collective expertise in a new 9DASHLINE Newsletter, which will provide a curated overview and expert analysis of the most important developments across the Indo-Pacific region.
As 9DL has a strong regional focus and a wide lens on national issues, we hope to provide readers with insights on regional dynamics and topics that may not necessarily make it to the daily front pages despite their long-term significance.
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform.
Author biography
Daniel McIntyre and Jonas Schenider are assistant editors at 9DASHLINE. Image credit: Pixabay/Barbaracascao.