The sight and sound of British Foreign Secretary David Miliband bowing and scraping to Beijing this week on the issue of cross-strait tensions and the relationship between the Olympics and human rights was disgusting, though expected.
But Miliband's parroting of Chinese slogans -- instead of sober reference to the complicated problems of the region -- reminds us that there is a more complex relationship waiting to develop between Taiwan and China.
Close Taiwanese engagement with China is inevitable; equitable engagement is not. But on the assumption that Taiwan can engage with China from a position of strength, it is clear that the Taiwanese government can express this strength through many means -- not just defensiveness.
Taiwanese-Chinese links are largely limited to the commercial sector, but this will eventually change as the two governments become more comfortable with each others' civic and political groups.
It is easy to overstate a potential Taiwanese contribution to a liberalizing China; certainly, considerations of face dictate that Beijing should never need assistance from Taiwanese on matters that would point to deficiencies in governance.
But provincial and lower governments may take a different attitude. It is therefore also easy to underestimate the good that could come of a Taiwanese presence in China on any number of issues.
Eventually, if Taiwan is to fully enter the diplomatic network and enjoy international recognition and membership of world bodies, it must have a long-term strategy of adaptation to a deepening relationship with China and the complex range of links with Chinese society that this requires.
Cultivating goodwill with scrupulous Chinese individuals and organizations wishing to strengthen civic society and democratic institutions should be embraced, and the sooner the better.
Taiwan must retain its sovereignty and its democracy. This is non-negotiable. But sovereignty and democracy do not equal isolationism and parochialism. Neither do these remove the need to project a more virtuous picture of Taiwanese as constructive, humane and concerned for their closest neighbors.
How to deal with the enemy is the dominant discourse in cross-strait relations. But ordinary, struggling Chinese have never been the enemy; it is the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) ultranationalism and system of exploitation and suppression that threatens Taiwan, though nowhere near as much as its own people and future.
The Democratic Progressive Party government has not been able to explore this issue adequately lest it weaken the party's support base. And the build-up to the presidential election is not the time to expect level-headed discussion of this problem.
Yet it is also too early to say that a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government would be any more level-headed. With so many abysmal legislators in the game to rake in the dollars -- regardless of the consequences for Taiwan -- the idea that a Ma Ying-jeou (
Most of the opportunities outside the commercial sector that China offers to Taiwan, and vice versa, rely on the foundation of a democratic political mechanism, or at the very least, a massive loosening of restrictions on speech and political activity.
May that day come soon. But until then, when Taiwanese can contribute to a healthier and wiser China, they should feel no guilt at being remote from the wretchedness of so many Chinese. This burden belongs to the CCP, which promised the world to the peasantry but consistently delivers to urban dwellers and party hacks at the peasants' expense.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under