South Korea's snub of President Chen Shui-bian's (
National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) were turned away from the ceremony at the last minute after China threatened to withdraw its envoy and boycott the inauguration.
Reports have said that leaks from Taiwan about the "secret deal" regarding the duo's attendance enabled Beijing to pressure Seoul, while Mark Chen's sensitive position was also said to have been behind the rejection. The NSC chief's background as a prominent member of the independence movement would certainly not have helped matters.
More interesting was China's rejection of Wang, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) figure. The fact that China was prepared to so publicly disrespect a member of the KMT -- which has, we must remember, a shady cooperation pact with the Chinese Communist Party -- speaks volumes about Beijing's intolerance of anything Taiwanese on the diplomatic front, and would seemingly discredit KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) plans, should he be elected president next month, to strike a "modus vivendi" to solve the cross-strait impasse and expand Taiwan's international space.
With everything that has happened in the past eight years, it would be easy to forget that Chen Shui-bian struck an equally conciliatory note with Beijing prior to and following his election in 2000.
Indeed, in his 2001 New Year speech, Chen offered to "seek permanent peace and build a new mechanism for political assimilation between the two sides" through "cross-strait trade, economic and cultural integration."
Back then, the president even said the "one China" concept would not present a problem as "the ROC [Republic of China] Constitution already delineated the nature of `one China.'" His only caveats were that Beijing respect the "ROC's survival space and its international dignity, and publicly renounce the use of force."
It would seem that Ma's novel cross-strait solution, now that he has promised not to talk about unification, is like old wine in a new bottle. Ma's Democratic Progressive Party rival Frank Hsieh (
The reaction here to China's latest act of suppression was also interesting, as it once again demonstrated the split personality of the KMT, with presentable figurehead Ma seemingly at odds with the party's pro-China core.
On the one hand, Ma, as he has done on several occasions, slammed China for marginalizing Taiwan, while on the other KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (
Not a word of criticism for Beijing from the patriotic Lin, but what should we expect when all Lin and his cronies have done in reaction to every diplomatic setback over the last eight years is snipe from the galleries?
Lin's gloating should serve as a timely reminder to all of the dangerous, pro-China baggage that will accompany Ma should he win the presidency, while China's behavior proves that, contrary to what it says on his campaign posters, a Ma victory next month would not -- diplomatically and internationally at least -- result in any substantive breakthrough.
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
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