Telling it like it is
In support of Dan Bloom, (Letters, March 26, page 8), I would like to add the following comments. Yesterday I received an e-mail from the BBC Global Minds asking me to join its viewers’ panel. While completing the survey I came across a perturbing part and sent the BBC the following e-mail.
“I have just completed your online questionnaire and have found one part extremely disturbing which I am going to report to the British Trade and Cultural Office, Taipei. Under the section ‘which country do you live in,’ you have listed Taiwan as ‘Taiwan, Province of China.’ I have previously written to you about this on two occasions but you still persist with this title. Once again, TAIWAN HAS NEVER BEEN A PROVINCE OF CHINA and, for the sake of all Taiwanese people in general and my wife in particular, I hope it never will be. Yours sincerely, Michael Wise, Taiwan, ROC.”
I have also found this to be the case in most UK government Web sites and also the Halifax, Plc Web site.
It is getting harder to know what the name of this beautiful island is and what its people are called, not only for anyone living abroad, but also for those of us who have chosen to live here and call it home. Especially when we read the following quotation from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九): “Let’s begin today and work toward ethnic and social harmony, and peace in the Taiwan Strait,” he said. “Let’s work together so the Chinese people can pursue progress and world peace in an amicable atmosphere” (“Kuo’s articles discriminatory, Ma says,” March 25, page 1).
I’m happy that Ma is preaching to the Chinese people about world peace or anything else, but I’m also confused, so my question to him is: “Do only Chinese people live in the Taiwan Strait?”
MICHAEL WISE
Tamsui
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