Historically, the "fifth columnists" were spies who, during the Spanish Civil War, penetrated enemy lines to incite unrest and disruption.
Today, the people of Taiwan are living under the shadow of the new fifth columnists.
The absurd thing is that the fifth column here not only openly hits the streets to demonstrate and to pressure the government, but it even has a spokesperson in Beijing to help it confound the Taiwanese people's sense of national identity.
In no other place in the world can one see democracy more twisted and the line between enemies and foes more blurred.
Last Friday, several hundred Chinese brides married to Taiwanese men demonstrated in front of the legislature, protesting against the government's extension of the period of residence required before they can obtain identification cards.
It was the second time they had hit the streets within one month. Without the behind-the-scenes mobilization and manipulation of the fifth column, how did Chinese brides scattered all over the country become so organized?
Moreover, the pro-unification media have been serving as the mouthpiece of former ROC army officer and current Chinese scholar Justin Lin (
The attempt is obviously to shake the military's morale which is the cornerstone of any country's stability. In this way, the pro-unification media are no different from the fifth column.
Some opposition politicians and businessmen are also taking on the role of the fifth columnists. They know China is bent on destroying the sovereignty of Taiwan and waging an economic and military campaign to corner the country.
Yet, these politicians and businessmen continue to pressure the government to accept the "one China" principle and to open up direct links. These self-proclaimed patriots have become experts in allying with the Chinese communists to sabotage Taiwan's interests. China is using these people to disintegrate the sense of national identity within the country
In short, China is hoping to achieve its political agenda through economic means. When Taiwan's autonomy collapses its sovereign status disappears, it is foreseeable that those fifth-column politicians and businessmen will be discarded by China like old shoes.
Democracy, press freedom and economic freedom, these should have been Taiwan's most powerful swords against Chinese aggression. However, political democracy has now been reduced to a tool through which China shakes Taiwan's sense of national identity. Press freedom has allowed some members of the media to be relegated to mouthpieces of China. Economic freedom has made us vulnerable to the Chinese economy. One cannot help but worry about the future of Taiwan.
As a result of countless people's sacrifices and hard work, the ROC has been standing tall in Taiwan for more than half a century. Too bad that -- due to the bickering and feuding between the opposition and ruling camps, and the malicious obstruction of pro-unification media and greedy businessmen -- Taiwan risks becoming a sinking ship.
If the people of Taiwan do not soon come to an awakening, and if they continue to allow the fifth columns to work in Taiwan, the safety of this country and the welfare of the people here will truly become unprotected and hopeless.
Chinese agents often target Taiwanese officials who are motivated by financial gain rather than ideology, while people who are found guilty of spying face lenient punishments in Taiwan, a researcher said on Tuesday. While the law says that foreign agents can be sentenced to death, people who are convicted of spying for Beijing often serve less than nine months in prison because Taiwan does not formally recognize China as a foreign nation, Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said. Many officials and military personnel sell information to China believing it to be of little value, unaware that
Before 1945, the most widely spoken language in Taiwan was Tai-gi (also known as Taiwanese, Taiwanese Hokkien or Hoklo). However, due to almost a century of language repression policies, many Taiwanese believe that Tai-gi is at risk of disappearing. To understand this crisis, I interviewed academics and activists about Taiwan’s history of language repression, the major challenges of revitalizing Tai-gi and their policy recommendations. Although Taiwanese were pressured to speak Japanese when Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, most managed to keep their heritage languages alive in their homes. However, starting in 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) enacted martial law
“Si ambulat loquitur tetrissitatque sicut anas, anas est” is, in customary international law, the three-part test of anatine ambulation, articulation and tetrissitation. And it is essential to Taiwan’s existence. Apocryphally, it can be traced as far back as Suetonius (蘇埃托尼烏斯) in late first-century Rome. Alas, Suetonius was only talking about ducks (anas). But this self-evident principle was codified as a four-part test at the Montevideo Convention in 1934, to which the United States is a party. Article One: “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory; c) government;
The central bank and the US Department of the Treasury on Friday issued a joint statement that both sides agreed to avoid currency manipulation and the use of exchange rates to gain a competitive advantage, and would only intervene in foreign-exchange markets to combat excess volatility and disorderly movements. The central bank also agreed to disclose its foreign-exchange intervention amounts quarterly rather than every six months, starting from next month. It emphasized that the joint statement is unrelated to tariff negotiations between Taipei and Washington, and that the US never requested the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar during the
RSS