ROC as relevant as the dodo
Changing the names of Taiwan's businesses to erase references to China is a great idea that should have been done long ago. Who, apart from locals would know or believe that China Airlines does not even fly to China? It is both ridiculous and confusing. These companies are an unwelcome reminder of the post-civil war era when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) still harbored foolish dreams of one day returning to its beloved motherland. Pan-blue politicians and supporters will inevitably complain that this is President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) latest maneuver in his independence-by-stealth campaign. But this is just the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) way of gradually erasing the fallacy that is the Republic of China (ROC) from the view of the world and it should be congratulated.
Who but the pitiful KMT and their supporters could deny the Taiwanese people the chance to assert some form of identity for themselves and their nation, after a century or more of repression and imposition from different peoples? Those who still believe in a ROC and that Taiwan is a part of today's China should be given the chance to move back to their homeland across the Taiwan strait. There they will realize that apart from economic growth, things are not as rosy as they seem -- especially if they practice Falun Gong, protest against social justice, set up a labor union, or try to run as a candidate for democracy in China's sham local elections. They are more used to authoritarian rule, where money talks, loyalty is rewarded over talent, and you do as we say, or you go to prison. They are still finding it hard to adjust to the hard-won democracy that the people of Taiwan have achieved.
The ROC is about as relevant today as the dodo. And those who endlessly carp on about it are living in denial. Does Mexico still consider itself the legitimate government of the western part of America? Does Germany still lay claim to Austria and the other lands it conquered during the course of World War II? Of course not. Wars are won and lost, governments fall, and (some) people admit defeat.
No wonder KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Richard Hazeldine
Xindian
Aussies not on China's side
The Taipei Times does its credibility a disservice by publishing Yang Chih-heng's article ("Australia siding with China in the Pacific," Dec. 8, page 8).
Australia, as the donor of relatively large amounts of foreign aid, has its own very real and genuine concerns as to how Vanuatu is be governed, and ensuring that such liquid aid is being allocated with probity and transparency. The timing of her actions in the South Pacific were no doubt dictated by the increase in instability in the island nation's political scene -- an instability that Taiwan itself has utilized to attain recognition from yet another a foreign nation.
While the two moves may have been synchronous, and the triggers identical, the motives would appear poles apart. It could well be argued that Taiwan itself has been the political agitator in this instance, as your motives for gaining recognition are not arguably altruistic. Rather than "helping China interfere," it is a statement of fact that Australia has made no conditions on the supply of aid relative to Vanuatu's relationship with Taiwan. Its "interference" is the action of a donor nation ensuring that welfare given in good faith is delivered to those it was intended for, nothing more.
As for Australia "shifting the focus from Europe to Asia," Yang again misleads your readership. Under the Howard government, Australia has in fact turned its focus back toward the US, and to a lesser degree, the UK, shunning the pro-Asia advances made in the early 1990s under former prime minister Paul Keating's labor government. Military support, political support, and the creation of a free-trade agreement are bonds that have been recently forged among the "coalition of the willing" -- the US, the UK and Australia.
Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohammed told the world this week that we [Australians] are "Europeans... who have nothing to offer the ASEAN pact." Hardly a focus on Asia. It may come as a disappointment to your readers to learn that Australians are relatively uneducated about the Taiwan-China impasse. Right or wrong, our local economy, interest rates, illegal immigrants and homeland security form the nucleus of our immediate concerns. Our big businesses see China as a market for our natural resources -- and hopefully our skilled labor -- but to suggest that we would be either wanting, or needing, to act as a puppet for China in Oceania is to create a specter that simply does not exist.
Wayne Kerr
Taipei
On May 7, 1971, Henry Kissinger planned his first, ultra-secret mission to China and pondered whether it would be better to meet his Chinese interlocutors “in Pakistan where the Pakistanis would tape the meeting — or in China where the Chinese would do the taping.” After a flicker of thought, he decided to have the Chinese do all the tape recording, translating and transcribing. Fortuitously, historians have several thousand pages of verbatim texts of Dr. Kissinger’s negotiations with his Chinese counterparts. Paradoxically, behind the scenes, Chinese stenographers prepared verbatim English language typescripts faster than they could translate and type them
More than 30 years ago when I immigrated to the US, applied for citizenship and took the 100-question civics test, the one part of the naturalization process that left the deepest impression on me was one question on the N-400 form, which asked: “Have you ever been a member of, involved in or in any way associated with any communist or totalitarian party anywhere in the world?” Answering “yes” could lead to the rejection of your application. Some people might try their luck and lie, but if exposed, the consequences could be much worse — a person could be fined,
On May 13, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to Article 6 of the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of nuclear reactors from 40 to 60 years, thereby providing a legal basis for the extension or reactivation of nuclear power plants. On May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators used their numerical advantage to pass the TPP caucus’ proposal for a public referendum that would determine whether the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should resume operations, provided it is deemed safe by the authorities. The Central Election Commission (CEC) has
Xiaomi Corp founder Lei Jun (雷軍) on May 22 made a high-profile announcement, giving online viewers a sneak peek at the company’s first 3-nanometer mobile processor — the Xring O1 chip — and saying it is a breakthrough in China’s chip design history. Although Xiaomi might be capable of designing chips, it lacks the ability to manufacture them. No matter how beautifully planned the blueprints are, if they cannot be mass-produced, they are nothing more than drawings on paper. The truth is that China’s chipmaking efforts are still heavily reliant on the free world — particularly on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
RSS