The recent presidential election has clearly exposed the incompatibility of Chinese culture and democracy. It is saddening to witness the unrestrained lawlessness of the opposition parties during the election process. They have openly accused the legitimately elected President Chen Shui-bian (
These opposition party members and followers take great pride in their higher educations and inheritance of the great Chinese culture. Such egos reject Taiwanese contributions, which are blemished by foreign influences. They consider the Taiwanese democracy advocates as traitors to the Chinese nation. Despite their love of Taiwan and democracy, the same Chinese opposition parties prefer to unite Taiwan with a totalitarian communist China, which does not understand democracy and has a long list of human rights violations.
Chinese civilization does have a very rich culture and all Chinese take pride in being Chinese. The great teaching of Confucius, which advocates societal harmony through moral conduct in all relations, has been accepted by most Chinese for centuries. Then why is it that China has en-dured endless cycles of tyrannic rulers, rampant corruption and violent mass upheavals?
The main culprit, we believe, is the tradition of the Chinese educational system. Since ancient times, Chinese intellectuals have educated themselves primarily to gain positions in a feudal system. Other professions have not been considered prestigious. Such a mentality has influenced intellectuals to become grati-fied by just being members of the ruling parties. They are incapable of understanding self-governance or democracy. The remaining civilians have been indoctrinated or terror-ized by violence to blindly follow the rulers, regardless of their legitimacy.
Even now, almost all Chinese also believe in a ruler's right to rewrite history to his own liking, and all opposition members are subject to liquidation. Therefore it is no coincidence that the Chinese Nationalist Party in Taiwan and the communists in China, regardless of their ideological differences, both seized power with violence, and with the cooperation of intellectuals who were interested in personal prestige and fortune. The same groups continue to practice violence and illegitimate tactics in the 21st century, though such tactics are now despised by civilized nations.
Taiwan's democracy should survive, despite the missile threat and political persecution by China, and despite sabotage from within by the opposition Chinese parties. Moreover, for the sake of regional stability, Taiwan should become the Switzerland of Asia. Taiwanese have shown their genuine love of democracy and their capacity for tolerance even of the people who tormented them for decades. They are capable of becoming the force of peace in the region.
Let democracy blossom, and let Taiwan safeguard the regional peace. Then one day all Chinese will eventually understand the blessing of life under democracy. When such a day comes, all Chinese will enjoy the peaceful world of brotherhood. The United States and the other nations will never be dragged into the cycles of Chinese violence again.
Samuel Yang, Ming T. Chang, Chi T. Su, Thomas Tsai
United States
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