Sushil Seth is right on the mark by saying that China lives in a “make-believe” world (“Tibet: China’s make-believe world,” page 8, April 8).
Two key words to come to mind: engineering and brainwashing. Looking through the communist party’s lens, one cannot fail to see why the year 2001 was a fabulous year for the Chinese government, seeing as they look at things in such a devious way.
It was in 2001 that China gained access to the WTO, thus gaining world recognition and a big nod from world leaders. And it came as no surprise that it was also in 2001 that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave Beijing the Olympic Games — the ultimate handshake.
That very same year, allegations spread that Falun Gong practitioners were being butchered for their organs, with some citing as many as 40,000 unexplained organ transplants from practitioners kept as livestock and killed on demand, their organs sold to the elite.
Although there is a new set of regulations to gloss things over, it is suspected that this macabre practice is continuing unabated.
Beijing has repeatedly ordered police to crush the Falun Gong spiritual group and last but not least, in February an order was issued to evict 43 categories of “undesirables” before the Games.
Sadly enough, very little has been said in media reports about China’s disappeared, along with the persecution of Falun Gong which is one of the worst atrocities happening inside China today.
Outside China, many glitches are surfacing — there is Beijing’s past and recent attack on Tibet, its support of the murderous regimes in Sudan and Myanmar, along with constant threats of war against Taiwan and its “colonization” of Africa.
But now that things have reached a boiling point over the crackdown on Tibet, one would think that politicos — and especially the IOC — could no longer ignore that there is something really wrong with China. Or can they?
As Beijing shows its true face through its propaganda, there is still cause for alarm: We are running out of time.
I’m afraid that if the free world doesn’t take action now, we will take a step backward for humanity and one forward for Beijing’s dictatorship. Can we let this happen? It’s not too late for people of conscience to do the right thing before August and give the people of China more than just a dream of human rights — let’s give them the real thing.
Marie Beaulieu
Victoria, Canada
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),
To counter the CCP’s escalating threats, Taiwan must build a national consensus and demonstrate the capability and the will to fight. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) often leans on a seductive mantra to soften its threats, such as “Chinese do not kill Chinese.” The slogan is designed to frame territorial conquest (annexation) as a domestic family matter. A look at the historical ledger reveals a different truth. For the CCP, being labeled “family” has never been a guarantee of safety; it has been the primary prerequisite for state-sanctioned slaughter. From the forced starvation of 150,000 civilians at the Siege of Changchun
The two major opposition parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), jointly announced on Tuesday last week that former TPP lawmaker Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) would be their joint candidate for Chiayi mayor, following polling conducted earlier this month. It is the first case of blue-white (KMT-TPP) cooperation in selecting a joint candidate under an agreement signed by their chairpersons last month. KMT and TPP supporters have blamed their 2024 presidential election loss on failing to decide on a joint candidate, which ended in a dramatic breakdown with participants pointing fingers, calling polls unfair, sobbing and walking
In the opening remarks of her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) framed her visit as a historic occasion. In his own remarks, Xi had also emphasized the history of the relationship between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Where they differed was that Cheng’s account, while flawed by its omissions, at least partially corresponded to reality. The meeting was certainly historic, albeit not in the way that Cheng and Xi were signaling, and not from the perspective