President Chen Shui-bian (
The shouts of disapproval within Taiwan -- mostly from the pan-blue camp -- regarding the stopover in Libya have two main themes. First, since Libya is a country that is well-known for its past association with terrorist activities and Taiwan is a democratic country that places a high premium on respect for human rights, there is concern about damage to Taiwan's international image. And second, there is a fear that the stopover may upset the US, since Libya continues to be on the US' terrorist blacklist.
Chen's decision to go ahead with the stopover in Libya, and the possibility of building closer ties with that country, was obviously based on pragmatic, strategic and self-interest considerations alone. So far, Taiwan's "good image" has not helped the nation win formal diplomatic recognition from foreign nations and respect within the international community. There are, of course, inherent risks associated with allowing Taiwan's image to become degraded. This needs to be balanced against Libya's strategic importance as a springboard into North Africa and the abundant oil resources of the country.
Furthermore, it isn't as though Taiwan has no experience in courting friendships with countries trapped in controversies. When South Africa faced diplomatic isolation due to its apartheid system, Taiwan was one of the country's few formal allies. Of course, as soon as South Africa regained a position in the international community after it abandoned apartheid, it severed formal diplomatic ties with the nation. That is the sad reality of international politics, but it also highlights Taiwan's plight and the good sense of Chen's stopover diplomacy.
The truth is that moral and ethical considerations do not weigh heavily in the decision of most countries when they embrace "one China" and sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. One cannot help but ask: Is it such a crime for Taiwan, in the face of severe international isolation, to give self-interest top priority? As former French president Charles de Gaulle once said, "Nations don't have friends, they have interests."
As for concerns about upsetting the US, that has proven to be a non-issue. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Thursday that the relationship between his country and Libya has changed over the past few years, after Libya gave up its program to develop weapons of mass destruction. So, it is up to Taiwan and Libya whether they want to develop their bilateral relationship. The US has no qualms about the matter.
The joke is that pan-blue lawmakers are usually the first ones to jump up and accuse the Chen government of "kissing up" to the US. Their anti-US sentiment has kept the arms procurement bill tied up in the Legislative Yuan for two years now. Since when have they been concerned about how the US feels about anything?
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