As expected, Taiwan's participation in the Olympic Games in Athens has become the target of various crude attempts at oppression by the Chinese government. Even though the Olympic flame, which represents the Olympic Spirit, has not yet returned to Athens and there is still a week to go before the official opening of the games, the Chinese government is already displaying its overbearing political arrogance in an attempt to make the name "Taiwan" less visible, or even disappear completely.
Vice President Annette Lu (
Premier Yu Shyi-kun also advised the public to raise their psychological defenses. He lamented incidences like A-mei's (
In the run-up to the departure of the nation's Olympic team, the government has sought to use announcements and advertisements posted around Athens to increase awareness of Taiwan within the international community at this global sports event. However, the Beijing authorities were quick to put pressure on a preparatory committee for the Athens Olympics, asking them to remove everything that Taiwan had posted.
In the case of A-Mei, her songs are popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and they encourage ties of friendship within the Chinese-speaking community. She is also a source of pride for Taiwan and Beijing becomes incensed with, and wants to destroy anything that Taiwanese can take pride in. Now that the athletes representing Taiwan are preparing to set off for the games, they take with them the hopes and support of 23 million Taiwanese. The nation has high hopes for the baseball team in particular, which has provided a real morale boost for our society. Rest assured, however, that Beijing will employ every means at its disposal to put pressure on the Taiwanese team over the course of the Athens games.
The relationship between the two sides of the Strait has developed as a result of complex historical and geopolitical factors. The conflicts between politicians on both sides shift according to these objective factors and subjective perceptions. But the lives of ordinary people are constantly being disrupted by politics to the extent that they have become the victims of the political process. Ordinary people on both sides of the Strait now follow the examples of politicians in constraining each other's actions. The result of this is that the Strait will become a gulf that cuts one society off from the other.
The joy of an athlete's victory and sharing the emotions of their countrymen -- whether in success or failure -- is one of the best ways of developing a national community. Beijing consciously rejects the humanism embodied in this idea, and insists on barbarically oppressing Taiwan's attempts to rise up.
Taiwan does not need to resort to mobilizing politicians or initiate struggles between political parties to resolve this situation. The government simply needs to encourage excellence and competitiveness in a number of high-profile sports. As our athletes compete with their international peers and excel, the contrast between China's political oppression and the light of Taiwan's humanism will be seen the international stage.
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