I suggest we rename the "one China" policy to emphasize its true intent. Henceforth, we should call it the "we hope China doesn't bomb Taiwan, wipe out Tibet and turn Hong Kong into Tiananmen Square" policy.
It is inconceivable that any more than a handful of countries could believe Taiwan or Tibet belong to China, or that democracy in Hong Kong should be squashed and its democratic advocates jailed. Surely the overwhelming majority of nations in the world know this policy for what it is -- a policy for avoiding war.
But the world is playing the dangerous game of appeasement. It is dangerous because we saw the fruits of this approach in Germany 50 years ago. Appeasement only gives tyrants power, and more power makes tyrants dizzy, and they are apt to do provocative things to exercise their new-found strength. Only by calling a spade a spade and declaring out loud what the world is doing -- mollifying a communist dictatorship for fear it will make war -- can we gradually change the world's attitude toward that policy to one of repugnance.
The "one China" policy is nothing more than a pretense, and by honoring it the world remains in denial about the communists' intentions.
Lee Long-hwa
United States
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
Since leaving office last year, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been journeying across continents. Her ability to connect with international audiences and foster goodwill toward her country continues to enhance understanding of Taiwan. It is possible because she can now walk through doors in Europe that are closed to President William Lai (賴清德). Tsai last week gave a speech at the Berlin Freedom Conference, where, standing in front of civil society leaders, human rights advocates and political and business figures, she highlighted Taiwan’s indispensable global role and shared its experience as a model for democratic resilience against cognitive warfare and
The diplomatic dispute between China and Japan over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments in the Japanese Diet continues to escalate. In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong (傅聰) wrote that, “if Japan dares to attempt an armed intervention in the cross-Strait situation, it would be an act of aggression.” There was no indication that Fu was aware of the irony implicit in the complaint. Until this point, Beijing had limited its remonstrations to diplomatic summonses and weaponization of economic levers, such as banning Japanese seafood imports, discouraging Chinese from traveling to Japan or issuing
The diplomatic spat between China and Japan over comments Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made on Nov. 7 continues to worsen. Beijing is angry about Takaichi’s remarks that military force used against Taiwan by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” necessitating the involvement of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Rather than trying to reduce tensions, Beijing is looking to leverage the situation to its advantage in action and rhetoric. On Saturday last week, four armed China Coast Guard vessels sailed around the Japanese-controlled Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known to Japan as the Senkakus. On Friday, in what
RSS