Now that the war in Iraq has officially begun, many important and urgent tasks await the government. Fortunately, despite a "much-ado-about-nothing" panic about terrorist suspects from Pakistan, the government's response to the war has so far been decent.
Since Taiwan plays no real part in the war, the biggest tasks at hand for the government are to calm public anxiety, maintain social order and see to it that there are no shortages of materials essential to people's daily lives. In addition, it must get ready for participation in the post-relief work in Iraq.
In this regard, Premier Yu Shyi-kun's briefings to the public and to the Legislative Yuan about the government's response have been both timely and effective. In those briefings, Yu reassured the public that it need not worry about an oil shortage as there are enough reserves to meet the domestic demand for up to 115 days.
But shortages are not the only worry. Before the war began, many had expressed concerns about the possibility of China seizing the opportunity to make hostile moves toward Taiwan. To those people, Yu said that there has been, so far, no change in the cross-strait situation. In fact, in an effort to calm fears, both Yu and Minister of National Defense Tang Yau-ming (
These gestures by Yu have been reciprocated with support from the Legislative Yuan. After Yu's briefing yesterday, Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
It is very important for the Legislative Yuan and Executive Yuan -- and in fact all branches of government -- to show such unity at a time like this. Anything less would create deep skepticism about the government's ability to deal with potential crises and make the public vulnerable to fear-mongering and panic.
Still, it is hard to say whether this truce and appearance of cohesion will be ruined by the verbal fire of loose-cannon lawmakers seeking to scupper the ship of state and make a name for themselves. It is hoped that Yu's attempts to reach out to all the political parties can win him some goodwill from the opposition.
The political parties may get some inspiration from their American counterparts and do the right thing for a change. On Thursday, the US Senate united behind President George W. Bush and voted 99-0 in support of the deployment of troops in Iraq.
In reality, this can be intepreted not so much as unanimous support for the war but as a desire to show American unity in time of need.
Before the war was launched, whether it was right or wrong to do so was -- in accordance with democratic traditions -- an issue open to debate. Last fall, a substantial number of US Congress members voted against giving formal congressional approval to military action against Iraq. In addition, the Democratic opposition leader Tom Daschle openly criticized Bush's handling of the Iraqi question.
But now that the battle has begun, the arguments are moot. Such differences are put aside and even Daschle has voiced his support for Bush. This is because everyone knows that the country needs their cooperation to see things through.
We can only hope that the same kind of unity can be seen in Taiwan.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under