Clarity is a powerful thing. And events in the last week have offered Taiwanese some real clarity on how change can be both desirable and ominous.
The shenanigans in the legislature this week may hardly surprise locals or overseas observers with a rudimentary knowledge of Taiwanese politics. However, the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) mission to humiliate underperforming Premier Frank Hsieh (
Although there has been movement of sorts on the arms-procurement bill, the KMT has again blocked its discussion in committee and on the legislative floor, reinforcing the fact that the KMT will simply do the bidding of its spiritual masters in Beijing until national security is damaged beyond repair.
Same old stuff -- and it is difficult to predict when, or even if, this gridlock is going to end.
The brief visit to Taiwan by Dana White, the country director for Taiwan in the US Office of the Secretary of Defense, is therefore a welcome tonic. White came to finalize high-level security talks between Taipei and Washington that were originally canceled because of the scheduled visit to the US by Chinese President Hu Jintao (
The mantra of protecting the "cross-strait status quo" has been chanted by officials in all countries involved, but until such time that those US officials mired in an Orientalist devotion to a utopian Chinese state recognize that the "status quo" can be maintained neither passively nor indefinitely, the eroding of both Taiwanese and US interests in the region will continue and most likely accelerate.
In the meantime, President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) administration can only be grateful to the US Department of Defense for intervening to ensure that this year's Monterey talks will take place. It is crucial, however, that defenders of democracy on both sides of the Pacific take this incident as a sign of things to come, and make a much more committed effort to set up lines of communication.
Though American Institute in Taiwan Director Douglas Paal was savaged in a recent US State Department report for not keeping Washington adequately informed of developments here, what has been genuinely surprising is the amateurish and slovenly attempts by the Chen administration to communicate with Washington, and, just as importantly, members of Congress. It is not clear who should be held responsible: Chen, perhaps, or the increasingly discredited Boy Scouts -- his youthful team of so-called advisers.
Regardless, the truth of the matter is that if there is going to be change, Taiwan cannot afford to be anything less than an instigator of it rather than its dumb object. As the Bush administration struggles with Iraq and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a more proactive and focused campaign for practical support among members of Congress and other US officials will vindicate supporters in the US and at home at a time of considerable distraction for the American public. There is no clearer road to take.
When US budget carrier Southwest Airlines last week announced a new partnership with China Airlines, Southwest’s social media were filled with comments from travelers excited by the new opportunity to visit China. Of course, China Airlines is not based in China, but in Taiwan, and the new partnership connects Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport with 30 cities across the US. At a time when China is increasing efforts on all fronts to falsely label Taiwan as “China” in all arenas, Taiwan does itself no favors by having its flagship carrier named China Airlines. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is eager to jump at
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 —
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