I must disagree with the conclusions made in your article about the airport scuffles ("Analysts say scuffles show Taiwan's weaknesses," April 27, page 3). The analyst quoted in the story obviously takes a single point of view and doesn't take his own advice of trying to understand the point of view of others.
Those people who went to the airport and scuffled with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (
This is not an irrational statement made with the purpose of encouraging such behavior, it is only a recognition that there are many people in Taiwan that are willing to put their own lives on the line for the cause of independence.
Lien should have been more rational and understanding of these forces in Taiwanese society before he agreed to this trip. He should expect more of the same everywhere he goes, because in the eyes of many Taiwanese he is a traitor, and under the law traitors deserve hefty prison sentences or more.
There is no democracy on earth which has a completely civil and peaceful coexistence of opposition parties. To say that Taiwan's democracy is not mature because there are passionate opposing beliefs is completely wrong.
To say that Taiwan's democracy is mature because there are passionate opposing beliefs and that neither side has the power to obliterate the other is accurate. If democracy was a pretty, organized and quiet affair, then the communists in China would already have adopted it. It is the appearance of social discord and anarchy that can be promoted in the exact same way that your article has done that serves as the PRC's justification for not accepting democracy.
Gregory Lloyd
Maryland
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