On Monday, we heard reports that a political commentary program hosted by independent Legislator Sisy Chen (
Sisy Chen knows that for an elected official to conduct political commentary on television is unethical. If the TV station no longer wants to carry her program, or if her viewership ratings have fallen, then termination of the program is quite natural. It has nothing to do with a conspiracy. Power News (
Many Taiwanese appear to have forgotten that the freedom of speech we enjoy today did not fall from an empty sky. This right we enjoy was something won for us through a sacrifice of blood by many of our forebears. Remember that it was only fourteen years ago that a democracy fighter ended his own life to protest against the suppression of freedom of speech and to safeguard the dignity of intellectuals when he was surrounded by cordons of police and military troops.
Nylon Deng (
On Monday, the 14th anniversary of his death, more than 200 people from around Taiwan braved the heavy rain to attend a memorial service for him at Taipei County's Chinshan County, to remember the sacrifice and contribution he made to freedom of speech in Taiwan. It is a tragedy that Taiwan has a number of officials hosting one-sided, ideologically driven political programs in the media, while others still blatantly interfere in media operations, thereby abusing our hard-won freedom of speech for their own gain. This is a shameless violation of political ethics.
We would do well to remember Deng's admirable character. We believe that people holding public office, from both the ruling and opposition parties, should cut the umbilical cords which link them with the media. Politicians should cease their prevaricating. The reformation of our political culture should begin with self-reform within the media. This is the only way to ensure that the people of Taiwan receive fair, objective and independent perspectives.
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror. We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity. Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US