Ever since the Chen Shui-bian (
China's strategy sows discord and creates confusion here. Abandoning existing contact channels such as the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), China is hiring pro-Beijing legislators in Taiwan to handle civic exchanges, thereby letting them gain political and economic benefits. In tasting those benefits, these legislators have forgotten the constituencies and voters they are supposed to represent. They shuttle between China and Taiwan and view themselves as Beijing's spokespeople. Even former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Nat Bellocchi has been puzzled by this development. Why are so many political figures running to China, asking to meet with its high officials?
In Matsu, local officials have even signed an agreement with the other side of the Strait -- without authorization from the central government. Other local chiefs, including the deputy mayor of Taipei City and the mayor of Hsinchu City, have visited China for city-to-city exchanges. All this activity has prompted SEF Chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) to express concern over the "localization of cross-strait affairs."
China's tactics may cause temporary distress in Taiwan, but Beijing will eventually find out that those politicians on the cross-strait shuttle do not have public support. They are political brokers at best. Nevertheless, China may be able to cause trouble in Taiwan by relying on this group of Uriah Heep-like toadies. They can only harm cross-strait relations because they can only cause misconceptions in China about Taiwan.
Wang Jin-pyng
While we would be happy to see a successful visit by Wang's delegation, we also have a few suggestions for him. Because Wang will be traveling in his capacity as Legislative Yuan speaker, he should select members of his delegation according to the proportion of seats held by each political party in the legislature, so as to reflect the plurality of political opinions in Taiwan. This way, the delegation can avoid the appearance of partisanship, which would undermine Wang's representativeness. Wang should also avoid being forced by pro-China lawmakers to say or behave inappropriately during the visit.
Wang's meeting with Chinese leaders will provide a unique opportunity, since in many ways they could be viewed as quasi-negotiations. Whatever Wang says will have to represent both official and public opinion in Taiwan. The Mainland Affairs Council will have to make good preparations for Wang's visit and the SEF should also send out people to help during the trip.
Wang's trip could herald the start of a new trend. Taiwan should be sending people across the Strait who can better represent the country and accurately present its opinions, instead of allowing political wanna-be's to be the only ones shuttling back and forth. Such a deployment could help reduce misunderstandings and perhaps even break the ice that has kept the Strait frozen for so long.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations