On Saturday President Chen Shui-bian (
For a start Taiwan is simply not in a state of "imminent threat." Taiwanese realize the danger that China poses, but they do not think this is a danger that is likely to turn very ugly very quickly. What might turn it ugly, in fact, is Chen's call for a sovereignty vote. Taiwanese are likely to interpret Chen's call as a semantic trick which could put them in very real danger. They will not like this. And the US will conclude that everything it has heard about Chen being irresponsible in provoking China if he can thereby gain some election advantage is, in fact, true. How smart is that?
It is true that Taiwanese will back their leader in a crisis with China, as they did in 1996. But that crisis was brought about by Lee Teng-hui (
The main point of the referendum law, and one which almost nobody has commented on so far, is that the old model for unification which China has long cherished is now impossible. Beijing has thought reunification was possible as an agreement between two ruling cabals -- it has thought party-to-party negotiations sufficient. It has of course been buttressed in this misapprehension by reaching agreements about the return of Hong Kong and Macau with their colonial overlords without even the hint of an attempt to seek the views of the luckless inhabitants of those territories concerning their future.
Now Taiwanese people have been given the right to vote directly on issues of national importance. It is simply absurd for the pan-greens moaning about the "birdcage" referendum law to think that the Taiwanese people will be denied a say on the greatest question of all, however restricted the current law might be.
This means that China has to change its policy. If it really wants unification as much as it claims, it has to persuade Taiwanese that it would be good for them. After 50 years of wielding the stick it now has to try using the carrot. It is quite possible that this hasn't really sunk in in Beijing yet. And given the glacial way policy change occurs there it will be at least two years before we see any evidence that Beijing has mapped out the geography of the new playing field. During this time Taiwan should refrain from doing anything to interfere with this process. It should hold referendums on sensible topics to establish the process in voters' minds. It should leave sovereignty issues well alone.
Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in late February. During their various meetings with Taiwan’s leaders, this delegation never missed an opportunity to emphasize the strength of their cross-party consensus on issues relating to Taiwan and China. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi are leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Their instruction upon taking the reins of the committee was to preserve China issues as a last bastion of bipartisanship in an otherwise deeply divided Washington. They have largely upheld their pledge. But in doing so, they have performed the
It is well known that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) ambition is to rejuvenate the Chinese nation by unification of Taiwan, either peacefully or by force. The peaceful option has virtually gone out of the window with the last presidential elections in Taiwan. Taiwanese, especially the youth, are resolved not to be part of China. With time, this resolve has grown politically stronger. It leaves China with reunification by force as the default option. Everyone tells me how and when mighty China would invade and overpower tiny Taiwan. However, I have rarely been told that Taiwan could be defended to
It should have been Maestro’s night. It is hard to envision a film more Oscar-friendly than Bradley Cooper’s exploration of the life and loves of famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. It was a prestige biopic, a longtime route to acting trophies and more (see Darkest Hour, Lincoln, and Milk). The film was a music biopic, a subgenre with an even richer history of award-winning films such as Ray, Walk the Line and Bohemian Rhapsody. What is more, it was the passion project of cowriter, producer, director and actor Bradley Cooper. That is the kind of multitasking -for-his-art overachievement that Oscar
Chinese villages are being built in the disputed zone between Bhutan and China. Last month, Chinese settlers, holding photographs of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), moved into their new homes on land that was not Xi’s to give. These residents are part of the Chinese government’s resettlement program, relocating Tibetan families into the territory China claims. China shares land borders with 15 countries and sea borders with eight, and is involved in many disputes. Land disputes include the ones with Bhutan (Doklam plateau), India (Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin) and Nepal (near Dolakha and Solukhumbu districts). Maritime disputes in the South China