The question of whether China's rise represents an opportunity or a threat to the world has been a topic of heated debate.
In 2003, Beijing came up with the slogan "China's peaceful rise," successfully triggering international thinking and debate about what a peaceful China means.
This concept, however, differs from the lesson that history teaches us.
Slogans about peace can themselves never bring about peace. World peace can only be achieved on the basis of democracy, and the rise of democracy is the best guarantee for peace.
Only when China rises democratically can it become a responsible stakeholder.
In 2000, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was elected president, completing the transition of power in Taiwan.
In 2004, Chen was re-elected, which allowed the DPP to continue with its efforts to consolidate and deepen Taiwan's democracy.
Although the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is no longer in power, it and other old forces and groups still enjoy a legislative majority. Therefore, the DPP government has yet to secure full power.
If the KMT wins the 2008 presidential election, I venture to predict that the influence of Chinese nationalism will cause the KMT leadership to move toward a more centered position between China and the US, and weaken the relationship between Taiwan and Japan.
This would not only mean that Taiwan will move toward China politically, but also and more importantly that democracy in Taiwan would regress in the same way it has regressed in Hong Kong, leading people to start doubting their faith in democracy.
The international community has always hoped to engage with China and transform the country into a mature market economy and a democracy. China has now opened up economically. But it is also attacking democracy.
It has even intensified its attacks and wantonly interferes with Taiwan's domestic political affairs and attempts to destroy the functioning of Taiwan's democracy. There is an abundance of examples that attest to this situation.
Taiwan's experience shows that a growing, undemocratic and authoritarian China will wield economic power to damage the democratic system of another country.
If it can hurt Taiwan, it can of course do the same to other nations. I believe that China is working to gradually erode the foundations of the alliance of democratic nations established by the US.
Let me reiterate that Taiwan's hard-won democratic achievements are now facing a serious threat.
Taiwan is the most important base for promoting democracy in China. The consolidation of democracy in Taiwan is crucial to enlarging the Asian democratic community.
The international community should therefore consider Taiwan an asset for democratic enlargement and give it firm support against China's threats and the crisis China is creating in Taiwan.
Yu Shyi-kun is the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party. Translated by Daniel Cheng
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS