Taiwanese reject intimidation
Despite political chaos, a major recession and Taiwan's highest unemployment rates in decades, the DPP garnered a majority of seats Saturday's elections. The victory affords the government both legislative and administrative advantages. The DPP's victory and the setback of the KMT and New Party, however, may incur a strong reaction from China.
In recent elections, Taiwan voters have never failed to agonize China by voting against its wishes. Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was elected in 1996 despite China's missile launches. In 2000, despite the threat by China's foreign minister of "severe consequences," President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was elected.
China's humiliation of Taiwan at the APEC conference in Shanghai in October might have helped the DPP win Saturday's election. The people of Taiwan have repeatedly rejected attempts to harass and humiliate them by endorsing a pro-independence party.
The lesson: With her people enjoying a free press, freedom of religion and a multiple party democracy, Taiwan will no longer tolerate any form of threats or arbitrary humiliation. Its people will celebrate their freedom by voting for those who advocate civil liberty.
When dealing with Taiwan, it is advisable for China to resort to the ABC's of civility in order to avoid more missteps. Civility and courtesy may serve as a basis for mutual trust for further engagement.
Chiehwen Ed Hsu
Fort Worth, Texas
Because much of what former US president Donald Trump says is unhinged and histrionic, it is tempting to dismiss all of it as bunk. Yet the potential future president has a populist knack for sounding alarums that resonate with the zeitgeist — for example, with growing anxiety about World War III and nuclear Armageddon. “We’re a failing nation,” Trump ranted during his US presidential debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in one particularly meandering answer (the one that also recycled urban myths about immigrants eating cats). “And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War
Earlier this month in Newsweek, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to retake the territories lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. He stated: “If it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t [the PRC] take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the treaty of Aigun?” This was a brilliant political move to finally state openly what many Chinese in both China and Taiwan have long been thinking about the lost territories in the Russian far east: The Russian far east should be “theirs.” Granted, Lai issued
On Tuesday, President William Lai (賴清德) met with a delegation from the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University in California, to discuss strengthening US-Taiwan relations and enhancing peace and stability in the region. The delegation was led by James Ellis Jr, co-chair of the institution’s Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region project and former commander of the US Strategic Command. It also included former Australian minister for foreign affairs Marise Payne, influential US academics and other former policymakers. Think tank diplomacy is an important component of Taiwan’s efforts to maintain high-level dialogue with other nations with which it does
On Sept. 2, Elbridge Colby, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal called “The US and Taiwan Must Change Course” that defends his position that the US and Taiwan are not doing enough to deter the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from taking Taiwan. Colby is correct, of course: the US and Taiwan need to do a lot more or the PRC will invade Taiwan like Russia did against Ukraine. The US and Taiwan have failed to prepare properly to deter war. The blame must fall on politicians and policymakers