Last Saturday [March 26], was a big day for Taiwan. Everywhere in the world were demonstrations against China's "Anti-Secession" Law. There were many people in Paris -- Taiwanese and French together. In my town, Strasbourg, we took part in this day by informing people about what is happening in the Taiwan Strait.
I totally disagree with my government's politics and I'm against the lifting of the arms embargo on China. We, along with other French people, are trying to take action, through actions like last Saturday's demonstration in France or the online petition against the lifting of the embargo.
But then, I read your editorial ("French perfidy must be challenged," March 14, page 8) and I was really disturbed.
What are you trying to do with such an article? By this editorial, I felt hatred from you for French people. It reminded me of some of the writing seen during the Nazi occupation in 1940, just like Nazi propaganda against Jews. I hope that my feeling is wrong. I am French, am married to a Taiwanese citizen and I totally supported Taiwan in this demonstration. But what you tried to do by writing such an editorial is absurd. To write that French are liars -- no thanks. To ask the Taiwanese government to take direct action against French who are in Taiwan makes no sense.
Yes, lifting the embargo is for purely commercial motives and the action of the French government goes against democracy, but there are a lot of French who do not agree with it. So please, just respect us, try to learn what is being done by French people and don't use your hatred for the French to vent your disagreement in the embargo case.
Jaeg Cedric
Strasbourg, France
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
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
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