President Chen Shui-bian (
China's Taiwan Affairs Office, in its battle against independence and democracy, claimed in a statement on May 17 that "if Taiwan's leaders should move to provoke major incidents of `Taiwanese independence,' the Chinese people will crush their schemes firmly and thoroughly at any cost."
In response to Chen's speech, Taiwan Affairs Office Spokesman Zhang Mingqing (
Although it has been nearly seven years since Hong Kong's handover to China, the people of Hong Kong are increasingly displeased at its deteriorating economy, as well as Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's (
Even more oddly, in the run-up to the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, China's Department of National Security accused Taiwan of using overseas dissidents to collect information through family and friends in China, as well as helping to organize a Chinese opposition party abroad. There seem to be some inconsistencies in the timing, location and people involved, however. The directors of Taiwan's intelligence and cross-strait affairs agencies have denied these claims. This is clearly an attempt by Beijing to kill two birds with one stone: to attack overseas organizations of Chinese dissidents and tarnish Taiwan's image.
China's measures against independence and democracy are familiar to many people in Taiwan. During the period of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule, communists, advocates of Taiwanese independence and people "outside the party" were viewed as a "three-in-one" enemy. The KMT's high-pressure tactics forced many democracy advocates into exile. Although these hateful methods delayed the emergence of democracy in Taiwan, they also strengthened democratic ideology so that it was able to respond more powerfully when its time came.
The KMT, which seemed set to rule for 10,000 years, has now been pushed out of office through a popular election which placed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in power in its stead.
China should study the path taken by Taiwan's democracy, which has become immune to tyrannical methods through its experience with the KMT. If China's senior government officials think they can continue to threaten their citizens in China and Hong Kong, they should take a look at what has happened to the KMT, to the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe's communist regimes. The democratic spirit expressed in the phrase "the needs of the people are always in my mind," is the best way to deal with the threat of separatism.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry