In recent days the Chinese government closed down a local Wikipedia imitator, apparently for daring to refer to the Republic of China and a Falun Gong figure by name. The curious thing about this is that the Republic of China existed long before the controversy over Taiwan's status as a Chinese province, Japanese war booty or an independent state started in earnest.
The symbolism of censoring not just dissidents but also the historical record itself points to a government that is increasingly distant from the everyday world of Chinese people. But that's a problem for the Chinese people to solve.
From Taiwan's point of view, promises of a 2008 Beijing Olympics that would elevate China's status to that of responsible world player and achieve a better balance between politics and economics are looking rather empty. The threats are still there, repression is increasing and the unctuousness of the leadership entertains as thoroughly as always.
So why is our government pussy-footing around with the issue of the Olympics, given that one of its primary political functions for China will be to denigrate Taiwanese aspirations to self-determination? It's high time that the government sent out a short, sharp signal to China: cut out your patronizing and threatening behavior, or the Olympic torch will not be admitted into the country at all, regardless of where it comes from and where it then goes.
Instead, we have been witness to the same wishy-washy ambiguities that have characterized this battle over national symbolism. In the torch's case, this means the possibility of an itinerary that would allow China and Taiwan to each take a piece of the propaganda pie: Let the torch come from another country into Taiwan before hitting China, and both sides can claim whatever they want.
Need it be spelled out? Any agency that allows such ambiguity deserves to be mocked for its comprehensive tactical ineptitude. The effort to combat propaganda, if it is to have any effect whatsoever, must feature unambiguous repelling of the enemy, not just an appeasing of the treacherous and a soothing of the spineless back home.
Taiwan is a free country, at least for now. And in this spirit, Olympic officials should be duly warned: an Olympic torch that passes through Taiwan in the service of a predatory Chinese government will turn into an unprecedented debacle. Protests and specially placed activists positioned on every street corner would obstruct the relay and even extinguish the flame, maximizing embarrassing TV footage for all the world to see.
Given the unchanging tone of threat that China levels at Taiwanese, it would be a debacle richly deserved for local organizers and the International Olympic Committee, which has done Taiwan no favors by pandering to Chinese politics over the years.
Even symbolism born of racist demagoguery such as the Olympic torch relay -- courtesy of Hitler's propaganda geniuses -- can be subverted and turned into harbingers of peace. More than the others, the Sydney and Athens Olympics managed to take out much of the kitsch nonsense that accompanies Olympic ceremonial displays and turned the Games into a more human rather than nationalist event.
This will take a change for the worse with the Beijing Olympics. It is astonishing that are so many people -- including, astonishingly, opening/closing ceremony gun-for-hire Steven Spielberg -- outside of China who think otherwise. It seems that sporting glory is not the only fantasy that the Olympics are capable of producing.
Yesterday’s recall and referendum votes garnered mixed results for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). All seven of the KMT lawmakers up for a recall survived the vote, and by a convincing margin of, on average, 35 percent agreeing versus 65 percent disagreeing. However, the referendum sponsored by the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on restarting the operation of the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County failed. Despite three times more “yes” votes than “no,” voter turnout fell short of the threshold. The nation needs energy stability, especially with the complex international security situation and significant challenges regarding
Most countries are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with condemnations of militarism and imperialism, and commemoration of the global catastrophe wrought by the war. On the other hand, China is to hold a military parade. According to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, Beijing is conducting the military parade in Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3 to “mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.” However, during World War II, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had not yet been established. It
There is an old saying that if there is blood in the water, the sharks will come. In Taiwan’s case, that shark is China, circling, waiting for any sign of weakness to strike. Many thought the failed recall effort was that blood in the water, a signal for Beijing to press harder, but Taiwan’s democracy has just proven that China is mistaken. The recent recall campaign against 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, many with openly pro-Beijing leanings, failed at the ballot box. While the challenge targeted opposition lawmakers rather than President William Lai (賴清德) himself, it became an indirect
A recent critique of former British prime minister Boris Johnson’s speech in Taiwan (“Invite ‘will-bes,’ not has-beens,” by Sasha B. Chhabra, Aug. 12, page 8) seriously misinterpreted his remarks, twisting them to fit a preconceived narrative. As a Taiwanese who witnessed his political rise and fall firsthand while living in the UK and was present for his speech in Taipei, I have a unique vantage point from which to say I think the critiques of his visit deliberately misinterpreted his words. By dwelling on his personal controversies, they obscured the real substance of his message. A clarification is needed to
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