During a speech to the Honduran legislature on Wednesday, Premier Yu Shyi-kun referred to "Taiwan, ROC" 15 times. This usage differs from conventional references to the "Republic of China" when dealing with allies, and is a considerable
improvement.
The government has a duty to cast off national baggage. By using the term "Taiwan, ROC," Yu helps the nation's allies and the governments and peoples of other countries to understand that Taiwan is now a different political entity from that which proclaimed itself the "Republic of China" under Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule.
"Taiwan, ROC" is admittedly still a peculiar title and one that does not quite reflect the political reality. But at least it underlines the country's distinctive political, economic, cultural and social
features.
Members of the international community will now know that the title refers to Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu and the 23 million people who live here.
They will be less likely to confuse "Republic of China" with China. Reported confusion in Honduras over this distinction has thereby been dealt with elegantly by Yu and his delegation on their tour of the Americas.
When former president Chiang Kai-shek's (
Almost 60 years have passed since KMT rule was brought to Taiwan by the Chiang family, and today, most people have nothing to do with China beyond a limited number of businessman.
Under such circumstances, how can Taiwan possibly be a part of China? If such territorial ideas
are applied consistently, then the Republic of Mongolia, the Korean peninsula, Okinawa and even Vietnam could still be considered to be parts of Chinese territory.
Unfortunately, most countries have yielded to political pressure and have accepted this dangerous idea as the price of diplomatic ties with an increasingly desperate Beijing.
No one can deny that people on both side of the Taiwan Strait belong to two completely different countries. Taiwan has already been through three free presidential elections and, as of 2000, the KMT, which ruled Taiwan for 50 years, lost the mandate to govern.
Taiwan has become a normal democratic country in which the right to govern can change hands. Given this, Taiwan clearly needs a specific and recognizable name to announce to the international community that it is a country cultivating democracy, freedom and the rule of law.
This will also show that Taiwan has never belonged to communist China, and that there is no reason for it to be considered a regional government under the authority of China.
Irrespective of whether we refer to the nation in future as "Taiwan, ROC" or some other name, its territory, its borders and the people under its jurisdiction have absolutely nothing to do with China.
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS