Hold your horses, please
Since the presidential election campaign began, Taiwan's visibility in international news reports has increased. Hundreds of journalists from around the world gathered here to witness the election's outcome.
Despite the post-election social and political turmoil, the political situation has cooled down in recent weeks, and so has Taiwan's profile in the international media.
The issues that the global media were most interested in covering were President Chen Shui-bian's (
Suffice it to say that A-bian (阿扁) failed to achieve his referendum agenda, yet that failure effectively clarified Taiwan's security issues for the world at large. Perhaps making this point was what he actually intended to accomplish, rather than the passage of the referendum.
A-bian has thus far elevated the level of global awareness of China's tyrannical policies, particularly of the hundreds of missiles aimed at Taiwan.
Nowadays when I talk with someone in Canada who might not even know where Taiwan is, chances are she or he knows that Taiwan has a serious problem with its neighbor China. Based on that fact alone, A-bian deserves 100 percent credit for sending out this message so effectively.
However, a more serious problem confronting Taiwan's security is not its inability to further publicize China's military threat. It is rather the post-facto clean-up resolution with the US, Taiwan's most significant ally, which also serves this nation as its weapons manufacturing powerhouse and as a cross-strait balancing element.
By clean-up resolution, I do not mean any voluntary submission by Taiwan to US-imposed policy alternatives. Instead, Taiwan should restrain itself from further provoking the Americans, and especially the Chinese tyrants.
To be more specific, the proposed 2006 Constitutional reform ought to be put into the freezer until the heat wave outside cools down. Its reintroduction, or any fundamental change in the current cross-strait status quo, will undoubtedly be interpreted as posing a serious threat to the US' national interest, as well as to China's.
Washington's fundamental interest is that Taiwan remain a semi-independent country, to be sold as many expensive weapons as possible, for as long as China maintains its missiles and other military threats against Taiwan.
As for China, as long as its dream of unification remains it can be metaphorically said to be a big baby crying for milk; once he is fed, he will quiet down.
As for Taiwan, A-bian should lead the nation quietly and discreetly toward a new position within the trilateral framework, toning down the independence rhetoric but significantly upgrading national military capabilities.
Taiwan should be the fisherman sitting idly waiting for the fish to come in, not the other way around. Let the big boys fight each other!
Lee Chia-le
Canada
A few weeks ago in Kaohsiung, tech mogul turned political pundit Robert Tsao (曹興誠) joined Western Washington University professor Chen Shih-fen (陳時奮) for a public forum in support of Taiwan’s recall campaign. Kaohsiung, already the most Taiwanese independence-minded city in Taiwan, was not in need of a recall. So Chen took a different approach: He made the case that unification with China would be too expensive to work. The argument was unusual. Most of the time, we hear that Taiwan should remain free out of respect for democracy and self-determination, but cost? That is not part of the usual script, and
Behind the gloating, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) must be letting out a big sigh of relief. Its powerful party machine saved the day, but it took that much effort just to survive a challenge mounted by a humble group of active citizens, and in areas where the KMT is historically strong. On the other hand, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) must now realize how toxic a brand it has become to many voters. The campaigners’ amateurism is what made them feel valid and authentic, but when the DPP belatedly inserted itself into the campaign, it did more harm than good. The
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) held a news conference to celebrate his party’s success in surviving Saturday’s mass recall vote, shortly after the final results were confirmed. While the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would have much preferred a different result, it was not a defeat for the DPP in the same sense that it was a victory for the KMT: Only KMT legislators were facing recalls. That alone should have given Chu cause to reflect, acknowledge any fault, or perhaps even consider apologizing to his party and the nation. However, based on his speech, Chu showed
For nearly eight decades, Taiwan has provided a home for, and shielded and nurtured, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). After losing the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the KMT fled to Taiwan, bringing with it hundreds of thousands of soldiers, along with people who would go on to become public servants and educators. The party settled and prospered in Taiwan, and it developed and governed the nation. Taiwan gave the party a second chance. It was Taiwanese who rebuilt order from the ruins of war, through their own sweat and tears. It was Taiwanese who joined forces with democratic activists
RSS