During an interview with Reuters news agency, President Chen Shui-bian (
There was nothing wrong in Chen voicing Taiwan's position at a time when Hu was drawing international attention with his US visit. Chen's comments were also a reminder to the US about the possible subtle changes in US-China-Taiwan relations resulting from the hoopla in the US about Hu's visit.
In his remarks, Chen was basically comparing the democratic and communist systems in terms of their sources of power and their modus operandi. Power in an authoritarian system comes from the support of the military or a political party, not through democratic elections.
Though anointed by the late Deng Xiaoping (
Even if Hu can smoothly take over the presidency, Jiang is likely to remain chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission, giving him control over the military and the ability to call the shots for many more years -- just as Deng did.
Chen's remarks highlighted the differences between the political systems on the two sides of the Strait as well as Hu's quick show of support for the military suppression of the Tiananmen demonstrations in 1989 and his ruthless suppression of Tibetans in the late 1980s, when he was secretary of the Communist Party's central committee in Tibet.
Beijing has refused to talk to Chen's government, making any breakthrough in cross-strait relations almost impossible. Now Beijing is facing a transition of power and it's Chen's turn to listen and watch. Chen's remarks were based on strategic considerations of these shifting positions.
However, Chen did not entirely rule out the possibility that Hu might turn out to be a reformer or actively push for positive exchanges across the Strait. His comment, "People may also change," indicated hopes that Hu's US visit would give him a better understanding of democracy, freedom and human rights. One visit to the US, however, is hardly enough for a political conversion. Even if it were, changing the massive Communist Party machine will be far more difficult than Mikhail Gorbachev's transformation of the Soviet Union. Will Hu be China's Gorbachev?
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
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
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