The annual APEC leader's summit ended on Sunday. As usual, Taiwan strictly abided by its status as a member economy and avoided political distur-bances. Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (
Given Taiwan's current economic strength and in particular its information-technology industry, it is able to offer valuable experience to other states in the Asian-Pacific region. There is ample evidence that they could also learn from Taiwan's health and disease prevention experience. Although last year's SARS epidemic brought unprecedented panic, rapid and effective preventative measures were adopted and Taiwan successfully withstood the difficult test. Lee's suggestion of a vaccine development center was both timely and necessary.
The primary goal of the APEC meetings is to boost the economic prosperity of Pacific-Rim countries. To achieve this, Taiwan has always proposed constructive plans in the APEC's ministerial meetings as well as meetings for business leaders -- despite China's efforts to use such meetings as opportunities to oppress Taiwan internationally.
Taiwanese businesspeople have greatly contributed to China's role as the world's major manufacturing center today. Ever since the government removed most of its restrictions on investment in China in the early 1990s, massive amounts of the nation's capital and technology have been transferred to China, replacing other international capital as the driving force behind that country's rapid economic growth.
In other words, Taiwan has significantly contributed to the improved living standard of Chinese people. It really does not deserve Beijing's hostility.
For example, Beijing has objected to allowing Taiwan's popularly elected president to attend the APEC leaders' meetings. It has not given an inch on this issue. Seen from Taiwan's perspective, this attitude is extremely unreasonable. This sort of intransigence will only further hurt the relationship between people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Beijing's officials managed to enrage Taiwan with their behavior every year, with the result that the forces advocating Taiwan independence continue to gain strength. It is no wonder that the kind of Taiwan consciousness that supports the model of "one country on either side of the Strait" has grown so rapidly. Political relations grow increasingly distant -- but Beijing's wrongheaded policies toward Taipei are solely to blame for this.
Politics and economics are quite separate matters. Last month Taiwan was ranked fourth in terms of the competitiveness of its economy in an assessment by the World Economic Forum. A country with such strong competitiveness is not going to disappear from the international scene simply because it is ignored, boycotted or ostracized by China at international gatherings.
Beijing's continued reluctance to acknowledge Taiwan's existence and open channels of communication through which both sides of the Strait can engage in reasonable and friendly dialogue serves no one. Only through better communication can tensions in the Taiwan Strait be reduced and both sides contribute to developing prosperity and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
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