On Friday, as the countdown to the passage of China's "anti-secession" law continued, China sent an invitation to Taipei to negotiate on direct cross-strait charter flights for the April 5 tomb-sweeping holiday. Beijing's move suggests that it may have failed to fully grasp the sentiment of the Taiwanese. At the very least, it has misjudged the Taiwan government's position on the anti-secession law. This highlights how important it is for Taiwan to voice its opposition. Saying "no" to Beijing on charter flights is just a start.
According to the contents of the anti-secession bill that have come to light thus far, Beijing is still trying to draw a line between the people of Taiwan in general and its so-called "small minority of Taiwan independence forces," to create the illusion that the intended target of the law is just the latter. This is consistent with the near simultaneous issuance of a statement on Friday by Chen Yunlin (
Regardless of whether this is all part of a deliberate strategy to divide and conquer or the result of a serious misjudgment on Beijing's part, the people of Taiwan must make clear that the nation is absolutely unified in its opposition to the anti-secession law.
As a politically diverse and fully democratized society, Taiwanese people can and do differ on the issue of unification or independence. But over the years support for Taiwan's sovereignty has become the political mainstream. Even those who support unification do not want it to be unilaterally imposed by China, whether by military or other non-peaceful means. Across the political spectrum, Taiwanese people believe that they alone can decide the nation's future, through democratic means. That is why polls have consistently shown overwhelming opposition to the anti-secession law.
Unfortunately, some politicians, due to self-interest or party interests, have repeatedly sent the wrong signals to Beijing and the rest of the international community. The talk by politicians of respecting the "Republic of China" as defined in the Constitution -- a definition completely at odds with reality -- creates the impression that Taiwan considers itself part of China. That reinforces the perceived legitimacy of the anti-secession law's goal: to stop Taiwan from "splitting" from China.
On March 26 the people of Taiwan will take to the streets to protest against the anti-secession law. But because the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is running the event, the opposition pan-blue camp so far says it won't participate.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Lien Chan (
As for other pan-blue politicians such as Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
When he finally decided to take an open stand on the anti-secession law this past Friday, he called for the holding of an international press conference. While the the press conference is not a bad idea, why not participate in the march as well?
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,
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
Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Tuesday last week apologized over allegations that the former director of the city’s Civil Affairs Department had illegally accessed citizens’ data to assist the KMT in its campaign to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors. Given the public discontent with opposition lawmakers’ disruptive behavior in the legislature, passage of unconstitutional legislation and slashing of the central government’s budget, civic groups have launched a massive campaign to recall KMT lawmakers. The KMT has tried to fight back by initiating campaigns to recall DPP lawmakers, but the petition documents they