Not surprisingly, China's unilateral attempt to enact the so-called "anti-secession" law backfired for the government, the people of Taiwan and the international community.
Even though the pan-blue camp is keeping a low-profile regarding the legislation, most opinion polls result in an absolute objection to Beijing's unwise move. Suggested scenarios to counteract China's assertion to incorporate "non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to sabotage any hurdles toward reunification" range from mobilizing hundreds of thousand of people to protest to initiating the "defensive referendum" article of the referendum law.
Even the Mainland Affairs Council did not exclude the possibility of postponing or even terminating current policy toward China, including chartered cargo flights negotiations and the ultimate opening of direct links as further retaliation.
International observers also expressed their dissatisfaction over Beijing's disruption of the recent thaw in the cross-strait atmosphere. The Bush administration viewed the legislation as "unhelpful and something that runs counter to recent trends toward a warming in cross-strait relations." Washington has called on Beijing to reconsider the law, and opposed any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo and determine the future of Taiwan by anything other than peaceful means.
It is imperative for the Chen Shui-bian (
While Chen and his government plan to counteract Beijing's change of the status quo -- issuing the People Liberation Army a "blank check" for attacking Taiwan as they wish -- a pressing task is to seize the opportunity by distinguishing Taiwan's peace-driven democracy with China's military-oriented and obstructionist approach to destabilize regional peace and stability.
As the US urged both sides of the Taiwan Strait to "avoid that risk beginning a cycle of reaction and counter-reaction," Taiwan should appeal to the universal values of peace and democracy as the most effective tools to garner international support.
By upholding the principles of democracy and peace, Taiwan may use the case to rebuild its twisted image as "trouble maker" in cross-strait relations. In return, Taipei can take this opportunity to convince the world that what really "separates" China and Taiwan is not the sovereignty but the degree to which democracy can be rooted and consolidated.
The main element contributing to cross-strait uncertainties is China's refusal to renounce the use of "non-peaceful means" to solve the cross-strait dispute, rather than the Taiwanese people's pursuit of democracy and freedom. If a law is passed that clearly defines a `"red line" for using force against Taiwan's independence movement or its hesitation to embrace an ultimate unification, Taiwan should ask for support from the international community, especially the US and Japan, to enhance its security and protect its hard-won democracy.
If over half a million people take to the streets in Taiwan after the NPC passes the law, it will be a manifestation of a collective will to strive for democracy and peace. And the historical meaning would be a lot more significant than the Hong Kong people's protest against Beijing's scheme to revise the Basic Law on July 1, 2003. Let the world witness how a democratic torch can light up the darkest side of China's passage of a bill for war and a disgrace to democracy.
Liu Kuan-teh is a Taipei-based political commentator.
Chinese agents often target Taiwanese officials who are motivated by financial gain rather than ideology, while people who are found guilty of spying face lenient punishments in Taiwan, a researcher said on Tuesday. While the law says that foreign agents can be sentenced to death, people who are convicted of spying for Beijing often serve less than nine months in prison because Taiwan does not formally recognize China as a foreign nation, Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said. Many officials and military personnel sell information to China believing it to be of little value, unaware that
Before 1945, the most widely spoken language in Taiwan was Tai-gi (also known as Taiwanese, Taiwanese Hokkien or Hoklo). However, due to almost a century of language repression policies, many Taiwanese believe that Tai-gi is at risk of disappearing. To understand this crisis, I interviewed academics and activists about Taiwan’s history of language repression, the major challenges of revitalizing Tai-gi and their policy recommendations. Although Taiwanese were pressured to speak Japanese when Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, most managed to keep their heritage languages alive in their homes. However, starting in 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) enacted martial law
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The central bank and the US Department of the Treasury on Friday issued a joint statement that both sides agreed to avoid currency manipulation and the use of exchange rates to gain a competitive advantage, and would only intervene in foreign-exchange markets to combat excess volatility and disorderly movements. The central bank also agreed to disclose its foreign-exchange intervention amounts quarterly rather than every six months, starting from next month. It emphasized that the joint statement is unrelated to tariff negotiations between Taipei and Washington, and that the US never requested the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar during the
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