Last week, Beijing lashed out over the US Congressional Gold Medal awarded to exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, calling the award "interference in China's internal affairs."
The state-run press in China also published a series of articles condemning the Dalai Lama for his pro-Tibet activities. The anger of the Chinese government was to be expected, as the recognition granted the Dalai Lama hit a sore spot in Beijing's relationship with the West.
The Congressional Gold Medal is not just any medal. It is the highest honor awarded to civilians by Congress. Past recipients include George Washington, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Winston Churchill, which underscores the weight and significance of the award.
That both the US Senate and House of Representatives approved the bill on giving the award with an overwhelming majority also demonstrates Congress' attitude toward China's handling of the Tibet issue and, on a more general level, human rights.
Congress has voiced much more disapproval of Beijing on human rights issues than any other branch of the US government, which has often put Congress at odds with the US Department of State. Congress is also a better, more intimate reflection of the popular will of Americans, which makes its views something Beijing cannot afford to ignore.
What makes the situation even more awkward for Beijing is that US President George W. Bush will attend the award ceremony on Wednesday, marking Bush's first-ever public meeting with the Dalai Lama.
In recent months, the Dalai Lama has met a number of Western leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
Then as now, Beijing explicitly objected to such meetings.
To Beijing, such events highlight the fact that while the West is wiling to do business with China -- even as the latter gains more internationally -- there is a growing aversion to the manner in which it handles certain problems, especially Tibet and human rights.
While Beijing has constantly condemned the West for "interfering" in its internal affairs, respect for human rights has gained universal appeal and it is unlikely the West will relent on this matter.
With China so focused on preparing for the Olympic Games next year, these public condemnations are insufficient, in and of themselves, to make it change its ways overnight. But they are nevertheless construed by Beijing as a collective slap in the face.
Some have argued that China's reaction to recent criticism and to the award given the Dalai Lama has been surprisingly mild -- a result, perhaps, of the coming Olympics, which forces it to moderate its response to such sensitive issues, slap notwithstanding.
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
It is being said every second day: The ongoing recall campaign in Taiwan — where citizens are trying to collect enough signatures to trigger re-elections for a number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators — is orchestrated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), or even President William Lai (賴清德) himself. The KMT makes the claim, and foreign media and analysts repeat it. However, they never show any proof — because there is not any. It is alarming how easily academics, journalists and experts toss around claims that amount to accusing a democratic government of conspiracy — without a shred of evidence. These
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
RSS