Today is Constitution Day, which celebrates the promulgation of the ROC Constitution (
President Chen Shui-bian (
Outsiders may find it difficult to distinguish between the "constitutional amendment" advocated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the "rectification of the name of Taiwan and a new constitution" proposed by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).
In fact, the DPP seeks to amend the constitution whilst retaining the name of the country, whereas the TSU wants a new constitution for the country, with Taiwan as its new official name. President Chen and former president Lee Teng-hui (
At the very same time, the Chinese are discussing the creation of an anti-secession law (
Hardline pro-Taiwan groups could advocate an "anti-annexation law" (
Nations need to make amendments to their constitution and related laws so that they reflect the current reality. Even the People's Republic of China (PRC) has undertaken four rounds of constitutional amendments since 1988, a clear indication that they accept that adjustments to the constitution are necessary in response to national and governmental changes. This is part of a healthy process of development within a constitutional government, and the world need not look askance at Taiwan's moves to amend its Constitution.
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
Ursula K. le Guin in The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas proposed a thought experiment of a utopian city whose existence depended on one child held captive in a dungeon. When taken to extremes, Le Guin suggests, utilitarian logic violates some of our deepest moral intuitions. Even the greatest social goods — peace, harmony and prosperity — are not worth the sacrifice of an innocent person. Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), since leaving office, has lived an odyssey that has brought him to lows like Le Guin’s dungeon. From late 2008 to 2015 he was imprisoned, much of this