People's Liberation Army Major General Zhu Chenghu (
Although Zhu's belligerent tone has drawn US condemnation, Beijing has yet to respond except to say that "Zhu was merely expressing his personal views." It is hardly surprising that in an authoritarian nation such as China, soldiers should seek to stand out by their hawkish views. The Chinese leadership is apparently reluctant to condemn Zhu's words because he is simply expressing their own thoughts. It is also hard to imagine that he spoke out without official approval.
It is understandable that both Taiwan and the US were stunned by Zhu's remarks, for democratic societies do not tolerate a military officer exceeding his authority in such a way. The duty of a soldier is to remain neutral and steer clear of politics. If Zhu had been a soldier in a democratic country, he would have been severely criticized and probably would have suffered professionally.
Zhu's comments were typical of the Chinese military, indicating the haughty and bellicose nature of the PLA. The rising jingoism in China in recent years has gone hand-in-hand with its military expansion. This has warned the whole world that China's so-called "peaceful rising" is anything but that.
It is no surprise, therefore, that a Pentagon report published on Tuesday in Washington affirmed the rapid pace of China's military expansion. The report said that China now has between 650 and 730 CSS-6 and CSS-7 short-range missiles targeting Taiwan, and that the number is increasing by around 100 every year. This alone is frightening, quite apart from the expansion in other areas.
This high level of military expansion shows us that Zhu's statement is anything but an isolated incident or the opinion of just one officer. There are probably thousands of people in the PLA whose thinking is identical to Zhu's -- he's just the one who spoke publicly.
The threat that China now poses is an issue that Taiwan and its neighbors need to resolve. In fact, it concerns countries around the world. The EU certainly must take a more responsible attitude in its considerations over whether to lift its arms embargo on China. It should stop focusing on the commercial benefits of lifting the ban and do the responsible thing to help ensure regional peace in Asia and the rest of the world.
As for the pan-blue camp, its members have simply buried their heads in the sand as far as China's military threat is concerned. Although they have long refused to face reality, hopefully pressure from the US and other nations will convince its leaders to greenlight passage of the long-delayed special arms purchase bill.
In the face of China's military threat, Taiwan has no choice but to acquire the means to defend itself effectively. It must not always count so heavily on the aid of its allies.
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
Liberals have wasted no time in pointing to Karol Nawrocki’s lack of qualifications for his new job as president of Poland. He has never previously held political office. He won by the narrowest of margins, with 50.9 percent of the vote. However, Nawrocki possesses the one qualification that many national populists value above all other: a taste for physical strength laced with violence. Nawrocki is a former boxer who still likes to go a few rounds. He is also such an enthusiastic soccer supporter that he reportedly got the logos of his two favorite teams — Chelsea and Lechia Gdansk —
Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Tuesday last week apologized over allegations that the former director of the city’s Civil Affairs Department had illegally accessed citizens’ data to assist the KMT in its campaign to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors. Given the public discontent with opposition lawmakers’ disruptive behavior in the legislature, passage of unconstitutional legislation and slashing of the central government’s budget, civic groups have launched a massive campaign to recall KMT lawmakers. The KMT has tried to fight back by initiating campaigns to recall DPP lawmakers, but the petition documents they
RSS