"We don't always have to be well-behaved. Sometimes we must be bad," National Security Council Secretary-General Mark Chen (
The US has faulted Taiwan's behavior again. One day after President Chen proposed that a referendum on the nation's bid to join the UN under the name "Taiwan" be held simultaneously with next year's presidential election, the US State Department said it was opposed to the proposal and urged the president to drop it.
Back in March, Mark Chen also said: "We must sometimes say `no' to the United States."
Indeed.
Before anyone in the US State Department again points to Taiwan as being a "troublemaker," it's worth contemplating if being bad is really bad.
If bad means Taiwan exercising its democratic rights and letting the voice of its people be heard, then, yes, let Taiwan be bad in the eyes of the US State Department.
Taiwan is an independent state with its own government, a freely elected head of state and representatives, its own currency and national territory. It need not be told by the US -- nor anyone else for that matter -- what it can or cannot do. The Taiwanese government is answerable only to Taiwanese -- not the US, China or anybody else who does not have the right to vote in Taiwan.
Taiwan has behaved like a good child for too long, dutifully fulfilling its role as a global citizen, carrying out humanitarian relief work, combating terrorism and cracking down on international money laundering despite the unjust treatment it receives from the international community.
Enough is enough. Taiwan needs to step out and start making some noise to grab the world's attention. Doing so exercises the universal right to self-determination that is a hallmark of democracy.
Silence is not golden in terms of Taiwan's plight. Just because a majority of the international community does not have the guts to stand up to China's despotism does not mean that Taiwan has to quietly accept this continuing injustice.
What is there to fear in having the people of Taiwan raise their collective voice and make themselves heard?
Former US congressman and recipient of the US' 1981 Presidential Medal of Freedom award Walter Judd once said: "People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing."
This is something that the US -- which has long trumpeted the message of democracy -- needs to think about.
Taiwan values and appreciates the US' friendship. But at times, the US also has to know what being a friend means, and when to respect a friend's point of view.
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