I am both deeply appalled and bothered by Chen Ching-chih's (陳清池) editorial ("Taiwan belongs to the Taiwanese," July 7, page 8). It is not the basic argument that I contest but the presentation itself. I find it absolutely hypocritical of Chen to denounce an anonymous US professor for "Having strived to teach his Chinese students how to think rather than what to think," when I would dare say that the improper manner with which he editorializes fails to do justice to himself, the reader and the anecdote.
Furthermore, while I quite agree with his interpretation of temporal events, as all history is interpretive, I would contest his analysis of the 1952 San Francisco Peace Treaty.
Signed in September 1951 by 46 nations, its stipulations went into effect on April 28, 1951. The purpose of the treaty was to resolve World War II, not Taiwanese independence issues. The document itself relies heavily upon the official UN Charter of 1945 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The document officially states that Japan was to withdraw from Korea, Taiwan, the Kuril islands, the Pescadores, the Spratly islands, Antarctica and portions of Sakhalin and other islands adjacent to it.
Neither the Republic of China nor the People's Republic of China signed the treaty, as neither was invited to the conference. There was a second treaty between Taiwan and Japan in 1952, the Treaty of Peace with Japan that details the withdrawal of Japanese forces. Both documents set guidelines for repatriation of prisoners of war and renounce future military aggression.
The treaty does not explicitly clarify in any way, shape or form Taiwan's sovereignty, but merely makes clear Japan's withdrawal.
While I would highly espouse Taiwanese autonomy, you cannot point to documents such as the San Francisco Peace Treaty, the Treaty of Peace with Japan nor Article 77b of the UN Charter for a resolution of the matter. When you misinterpret a legal document, you set a dangerous precedent for further abuse and misinterpretation of Taiwan's legal documents.
A.M. Cambronne
United States
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror. We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity. Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US