Today, President Chen Shui-bian (
Last year, when US President George W. Bush was visiting Japan, he praised Taiwan's democratization as setting an example to other nations. Although the relationship has had its ups and downs as a result of Chinese pressure, both sides have managed to remain allies in spirit.
A mechanism has been established to allow Taiwanese presidents to make transit stopovers in the US. During his presidency Chen has stopped over in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston. On this occasion, he seems to be getting the runaround.
Perhaps the US is still annoyed with Chen over his decision to cease the functions of the National Unification Council and the application of its guidelines, and is showing its displeasure. Because Taipei and Washington reached a consensus on this issue through diplomatic negotiations, and because Chen agreed to "cease" rather than "terminate" the NUC as well as its guidelines, it seems petty of the US to act in this way.
Some have speculated that the US' behavior is related to protocol gaffes that occurred during Chinese President Hu Jintao's (
The US is dragging its feet in preventing Chen from passing through New York as a sop to Beijing in the wake of these gaffes, observers claim. However, the gaffes and Chen's trip are unrelated and should not be linked.
Due to pressure from Beijing, Taiwan's president cannot visit the US in any official capacity. However, in transiting through the US, the president has been able to meet with members of Congress and officials. This transit diplomacy has become part of trips to diplomatic allies in Central and South America. But over time, matters of protocol have taken precedence over more substantive issues. Important issues in the bilateral relationship, including those pertaining to the arms bill and intellectual property rights, have been neglected. Matters of protocol are essentially superficial and paying excessive attention to them is self-defeating and is injurious to Taiwan's dignity.
The government must restrain itself when conducting this "stopover diplomacy," putting the focus of its diplomatic enterprise on allies that have official ties with Taiwan. On the eve of Chen's trip to Latin America, Paraguay's finance minister has asked Taiwan to step up its efforts to help the country repay its foreign debt and Costa Rica is about to sign a trade deal with China. Elsewhere, the new government of the Solomon Islands will review diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Chen's administration should be devoting its attention and energies to these matters.
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