The government of China is not helping itself and its people when it regularly carries on with various forms of intimidation and threats against Taiwan. All such measures have proven counterproductive in the past.
For one thing, over the last decade or so Taiwanese hostility toward China has intensified. This is reflected in the rapidly increasing number of people who have identified themselves as Taiwanese rather than ethnic Chinese.
It would be a misinterpretation if Beijing sees the ruling party's falling short of its goal in the recent legislative elections as an indication of the Taiwanese people's inclination to accept the so-called "one China" principle.
As a matter of fact, surveys over the years have demonstrated that the great majority of the Taiwanese, including a good percentage of voters who cast votes for the opposition parties, are opposed to China's "one country, two systems" model that has been implemented in Hong Kong and Macao. In a nutshell, the Taiwanese do not want Taiwan to be a part of China.
Like all its previous acts and words of intimidation, the Chinese legislature's reported plan to enact an "anti-secession" law mandating military action to attack Taiwan if it should declare independence, will not scare the Taiwanese.
Taiwan is a sovereign nation and has never been, historically or legally, part of China since 1895. The Taiwanese view any part of the anti-Taiwan law as an attempt at justifying China's design to invade and annex Taiwan. The plan to enact such a law thus constitutes a Chinese threat to Taiwan.
Further, its enactment is most likely to endanger peace and stability in the region. China must therefore respect the will of the Taiwanese and their right to self-determination as prescribed in the Charter of the UN.
Over the last decade and half, the Taiwanese have democratized their state and society. They have elected their representatives at all levels of government, national as well as local. They enjoy constitutionally protected freedoms and rights.
The political progress made in Taiwan has been so remarkable that the US-based Freedom House has consistently ranked Taiwan as one of Asia's three freest countries from 1997 to 2003.
On the other hand, the Freedom House classified China as "Not Free" as a result of being assessed with a combined average score of 6.5 on a scale of 1-7 (with 1 being the best and 7 the worst) in terms of political rights and civil liberties.
It is no surprise that of over 190 countries evaluated in 2003, China was only slightly better than the nine countries that received the worst combined average of 7. Indeed, China is the only permanent member of the UN Security Council with such an awful rating. Even Russia received a better combined average of 5 and thus considered as a "Partly Free" country.
Learning from the experience of its economically advanced Asian neighbors, particularly Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, China has made tremendous progress in the area of economic development over the last two decades.
It is time that China also learns to promote and respect human rights from the three freest Asian countries -- Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
As a permanent member of the Security Council, China more than any other country is obligated to live up to the standards set in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other human rights agreements of the UN.
Only when China learns to respect human dignity, international norms and the wish of the Taiwanese can there be real peace and stability in East Asia.
Henry Wang is president of the North America Taiwanese Professors' Association.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry