The mood surrounding this year's Christmas period is quite different from previous years. There is more anxiety than joy. This is very different from the message of jubilation that this holiday usually brings to Taiwan and other places around the world. The shadow of war and chaos appears to be drowning the auspiciousness of Christmas.
In Christianity, the greatest significance of Jesus' birth should be that he brought humanity the hope of peace and love and allowed all people under the sun to share this message through the celebration of his birthday. Out of this healthy and meaningful hope grows vitality and the spirit of loving others like oneself, which makes everyone willing to love and help each other and to help those who need help while raising one's vision, renouncing violence and interacting with each other peacefully. If this is the case, then there will naturally be no violence and war in this world. As such, regardless of their religious affiliations, people should not reject such an inspiring truth.
In the last 10 years of the last century, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, humanity left behind the potential crisis of a third World War. No one would have anticipated that no sooner did we enter the new century than we would be facing a serious threat of terrorism targeting the US and many other countries. Chilling terrorist attacks have wrapped the entire world in the gloom of the US anti-terror campaign. This year the world is again overshadowed by a possible US and UK joint attack against Iraq. This has hindered the prospects of an international financial recovery. The economies of various regions remain sluggish and many people feel uncertain about their futures. A milieu of pessimism permeates everywhere. This certainly affects people's moods even as they try to celebrate Christmas.
We cannot help but ask whether this conflict -- which began from an excessive rich-poor divide and religious differences and expanded into a conflict between ethnic groups and religions -- should be resolved by military means as the ideological conflicts of the last century were resolved? On the other hand, do the sufferings of a small number of people and their disagreement with other people's lifestyles justify the killing of innocent people and the unleashing of terror throughout the world? What exactly did we learn from the two World Wars and numerous other conflicts large and small in the last century? History has already taught us that genocidal methods like those employed by Nazi Germany, the Khmer Rouge and Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic cannot solve humanity's conflicts.
World peace has been threatened by terrorism right at the beginning of a new century. What can we do to reverse this situation and prevent it from worsening? We believe world peace cannot be achieved in one stroke. It takes more tolerance, mutual trust and communication to nurture it. Perhaps, the US could take the initiative by demonstrating its Christian spirit, attaching more importance to the plight of people in poor countries, treating other countries with sincerity and humility and showing love for the world's peoples. Only then can the virus of ethnic hostility stop breeding and spreading. Only then will it be meaningful to greet and celebrate Christmas. Only then will there be real hope for world peace.
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
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