Thank you for reporting on US Representative Jim Leach's coming to the presidential inauguration ("US announces its delegation to attend Chen's inauguration," May 16, page 1). His background makes him just about the most suitable American for this event. In 1986 in Washington I had the privilege of thanking him personally for what he was doing to help the Taiwanese people. He did quite a bit to help.
As one of the architects of the Taiwan Relations Act, Leach has helped Taiwan survive.
Years ago, Belgian author Simon Leyes told us what a disaster China was. But there was hope for change when former US president Richard Nixon established a relationship with China and, as Richard Holbrook wrote in 1982, agreed to disagree with China over Taiwan. Near the end of the 1970s, along came another president who dropped recognition of Taiwan and recognized China.
When that happened Leyes wrote a blistering article saying in effect that it would be impossible to do anything more wrong than that: America and China had established a satisfactory relationship, he said, and insisted that if the Chinese government wanted recognition by the US it would have to accept US recognition of Taiwan.
That US president was capable of doing good things but he missed the point completely in this case. Fortunately there were good and smart people around to give us the Taiwan Relations Act. And Leach helped Taiwan in many other ways -- just as he has helped the US. Even with many millions of citizens, Americans have a tough time trying to find the right man for president. Leach should have been given the job long ago. He does everything right. Welcome, Jim!
Frank O'Donnell
Taichung
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