US President George W. Bush will today be sworn in to a second term in the White House. Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (
Anyone familiar with international politics must agree that the greatest challenge to US diplomacy is a clash of civilizations between the US and the Muslim world, and the question of how to deal with China's rise in Asia.
Taiwan has limited contact and is not very familiar with the Muslim world but it respects the traditions and values of every civilization. The people of Taiwan believe in universal values such as democracy and human rights transcending ethnic traditional values. These are values that transcend the borders separating different cultures and should be cherished by every civilization.
The question of China's growing strength directly clashes with the traditional friendship between Taiwan and the US since Washington's China policies have a direct impact on the quality of Taiwan-US interaction.
Bush will not be controlled by electoral concerns during his final four years in office. Nor will he be as likely to be controlled by vested interests. He will be able to let go and demonstrate a politician's vision and ideals. Hopefully, Bush will be able to strengthen his insistence on the universal values of democracy and human rights in the US-China relationship, and carefully measure the latent threat that China poses to the Asian region, while at the same time offering stronger support for Taiwan's democratic development and its realization of human rights.
Taiwan and China share a common language and heritage as well as historical links. For this reason Taiwan is ideally placed to understand China's authoritarian nature. Taiwan should continue to caution the Bush administration that Beijing is manipulating guilt over China's treatment by Western powers and Japan in the 19th century, in combination with a rising tide of nationalism, its growing military might and the lure of its huge market, as a way of forcing the US to conform to its "one China" policy that oppresses Taiwan.
All nations that espouse freedom and autonomy should take care not to fall for the myth of China's "peaceful rising" and the bait of its massive market. Looking at a society in which economic and political issues are veiled in obscurity, we need to look carefully to see what is real and what is illusion.
Although Bush's involvement in the Iraq war has been repeatedly criticized, the fact that he won a second term shows that this involvement passes the test of US popular opinion. As a staunch ally of the US, Taiwan supports Bush in his war against terror, and hopes that by working with the US, stability in the Taiwan Strait can be strengthened and Taiwan's democratic reforms can avoid becoming a victim of manipulation from across the Strait.
On the premise that cross-strait security is not threatened, Taiwan is happy to assist the US in lighting the flame of democracy in China, for only if thousands of years of authoritarian rule can be overturned and replaced by democratic traditions can peace in Asia be assured. Only then will the two sides of the Strait put aside mutual suspicion, open up dialogue and resolve the gridlock across the Strait.
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
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