In supporting his proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has often claimed that failure to liberalize cross-strait economic relations would result in Taiwan being marginalized like North Korea. Following suit, the Mainland Affairs Council has published half-page ads in local newspapers making the same point.
However, no matter how often it is repeated, this analogy is not only wrong, but it is also insulting to the 23 million Taiwanese — and their many supporters abroad — who fought to turn this nation from an authoritarian regime under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) into a democracy. It is also insulting to the 23 million North Koreans who are crushed under the heel of the Kim Jong-il apparatchik.
North Korea is isolated for many more reasons than its national policy of juche, or “self-reliance.” Far more importantly, its isolation is a direct result of its long list of Cold War-style policies, among them: Pyongyang’s starvation of its citizens, the thousands of ballistic missiles it aims at Seoul, belligerent behavior in the Korean Peninsula (including the seizure of the USS Pueblo in 1968), its kidnapping of Japanese nationals, its development of nuclear weapons and proliferation of internationally banned material.
Taiwan hasn’t been isolated by choice; rather, its isolation stems from Beijing’s efforts at undermining Taipei’s international space. Through education abroad and a vast global business network, Taiwanese have demonstrated without doubt that they do not seek a domestic version of North Korea’s failed juche policy.
Furthermore, it shed the characteristics of a “rogue state” alongside North Korea decades ago, when it abandoned its secret nuclear weapons program, stopped harassing Taiwanese dissidents in the US and ended the systematic terrorizing of its citizens — all activities that took place under the KMT.
No one in Taiwan wants the country to be compared to North Korea, not even those who oppose an ECFA.
Ironically, the very president who would prevent Taiwan from turning into another North Korea is heading an administration that is showing increasing signs of roguishness. Chief among them were the executions on Friday night, after a four-and-a-half year moratorium under “troublemaker” former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), of four inmates on death row. Granted, executions are matters of national policy and continue to have strong support among Taiwanese, but Friday night’s development went against international norms and brought the country back to the ranks of a shrinking list of countries that continue to use the death penalty — among them China, the US, Iran, Saudi Arabia and North Korea.
This is also an administration that has grown silent on human rights violations in China at a time when it is intensifying cross-strait exchanges and at all levels, from economic to cultural. Alleged Taiwanese spies are executed by China without so much as an official complaint from Taipei. Beijing cracks down on Tibetans and Uighurs in Xinjiang and again the Ma administration remains mum, ostensibly for the sake of better relations between the two countries. And for two consecutive years under Ma’s rule, press freedom in Taiwan has also declined, as shown in a recent report by Freedom House.
Deepening ties with an international pariah and choosing to remain silent, however self-servingly, when the economic giant crushes dissent and threatens ethnic minorities in its midst does not cast Taiwan in a good light. In fact, it gives the impression that the nation is siding with repression.
If only the Ma administration limited itself to false analogies, we wouldn’t have too much cause for concern. However, when this government’s actions threaten to turn Taiwan into a pariah state, then we should worry.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) has long wielded influence through the power of words. Her articles once served as a moral compass for a society in transition. However, as her April 1 guest article in the New York Times, “The Clock Is Ticking for Taiwan,” makes all too clear, even celebrated prose can mislead when romanticism clouds political judgement. Lung crafts a narrative that is less an analysis of Taiwan’s geopolitical reality than an exercise in wistful nostalgia. As political scientists and international relations academics, we believe it is crucial to correct the misconceptions embedded in her article,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
RSS