There has been a lot of talk recently about Beijing's "Anti-Secession" Law and some European governments' desire to lift the arms embargo on China. After reading several articles, however, it seems interesting to me that the French ambassador, Jean-David Levitte, called the embargo "outdated," and the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (劉建超) called it "political discrimination, which is not in line with today's reality." And yet, they still cling to the outdated, politically discriminatory policy that Taiwan is part of China, which is not in line with today's reality.
It's unfortunate that those people who support "one China" are only looking to line their pockets with profits from its huge markets, and ignoring things like China's dismal human rights record and its export of military technology to terrorist states -- not to mention the Taiwanese people's quest for freedom, democracy and peace.
It would be safe to say that China hasn't been behaving as it should if it wants to be a responsible, international player, and I am appalled to see governments constantly kowtowing to Beijing just to gain economic access to the Chinese people. I've always felt that if China were the size of Taiwan, like North and South Korea, nobody would even listen to the Beijing authorities. Taiwan would be independent, and we wouldn't be dealing with this mess.
Andy Chen
Los Angeles, California
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under