China has been acting strangely lately in terms of developing religious ties with Taiwan.
Whenever a country acts against its staunch beliefs, we must be alert and wonder whether its government is up to something.
Over the past few years, China has zealously held annual celebrations for divinities that are mostly worshipped by Taiwanese.
Beijing has launched religious pilgrimages with the goal of attracting Taiwanese worshipers to visit shrines in China. China's motivation for such religious practices is multifaceted.
On the one hand, attracting Taiwanese tourists means bringing in cash.
On the other hand, this sort of religious exchange between average people in Taiwan and China is laced with political incentive.
China is trying to forge a religious bond it can use to argue that China and Taiwan are one and must be unified as a nation.
China's enthusiastic support of religious activities runs counter to Communism. Since its establishment in 1949, the People's Republic of China has consistently trampled on freedom of religion.
It has upheld the belief that religion is "the opium of the masses," and to this day only allows religion in a strictly state-controlled form and ruthlessly cracks down on religious groups.
While China continues to oppress the right to personal religious beliefs, it is also suddenly encouraging celebrations of Matsu, the God of Medicine and, more recently, the Birth-Registry Lady.
It is clear that this sudden change must benefit them and it would seem to be specifically targeted at making an argument for unification with Taiwan. The divinities on the state-sponsored list happen to be highly respected among Taiwanese.
Regardless of religious similarities between China and Taiwan, nationality and religious beliefs are not the same thing.
Before China continues wasting its time on manipulating religious issues for political purposes, China might consider one hard fact; Muslims who travel abroad to make the pilgrimage to Mecca don't think that makes them Saudi Arabians.
Cheng Yong-rui
Tamsui, Taipei County
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is leading a delegation to China through Sunday. She is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing tomorrow. That date coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which marked a cornerstone of Taiwan-US relations. Staging their meeting on this date makes it clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to challenge the US and demonstrate its “authority” over Taiwan. Since the US severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, it has relied on the TRA as a legal basis for all
Taiwan ranks second globally in terms of share of population with a higher-education degree, with about 60 percent of Taiwanese holding a post-secondary or graduate degree, a survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed. The findings are consistent with Ministry of the Interior data, which showed that as of the end of last year, 10.602 million Taiwanese had completed post-secondary education or higher. Among them, the number of women with graduate degrees was 786,000, an increase of 48.1 percent over the past decade and a faster rate of growth than among men. A highly educated population brings clear advantages.
RSS