Dear Chairperson Tsai,
Just before the Lunar New Year break, the Philippine authorities took it upon themselves to extradite 14 Taiwanese suspected of criminal activities in their country to China, disregarding Taiwanese sovereignty. The move was widely seen as showing a lack of respect to our country. It was also a turn of events that enraged a lot of people here in Taiwan.
We believe that this was not simply a result of the Philippines’ adherence to the “one China” policy. We feel that it reveals something decidedly more sinister happening stage left. We suggest that Beijing had a hand in writing the script of this particular play, a collaborative effort with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the government he heads. How does the expression go? Thick as thieves.
We note that on Feb. 7, Ma called on all government departments to henceforth avoid referring to China by that name in all official documents, using instead “mainland China” or simply “the mainland.” This was a deliberate denial of Taiwanese sovereignty, providing the perfect backdrop against which to perform the play they have penned. We cannot overlook the possibility that this extradition of suspected Taiwanese felons to China was yet another effort scripted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party to wipe Taiwan from the face of the earth.
Taiwanese sovereignty has never been in as much danger as it finds itself in at this moment. The message the Ma administration and China are sending to the international community is that “Taiwan is a part of China” and that “Taiwanese sovereignty belongs to China.” At present, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is the largest opposition party, the party that represents Taiwan’s interests. As such, it needs to stand up and be counted, lead the public out onto the streets in protest against this noxious collaboration between Ma and China, who are working together to sell Taiwanese sovereignty down the river.
Ma wields much power and yet deigns to allow our sovereignty to fall by the wayside. This government can no longer be trusted. We can no longer expect anything of them. Precarious times are upon us. The DPP is the last hope for Taiwanese and this is certainly no time for the party leadership to be dilly-dallying about who they are going to nominate as their presidential candidate. Now is the time for action, time for them to show their mettle, to spearhead protests against the government, to show the international community the rage of Taiwanese, their resolve to safeguard the sovereignty of their nation.
Yes, now is the time. Stand up, DPP, for the defense of Taiwanese sovereignty, with the people of Taiwan. We believe that if you do, you will have the vast majority of the public behind you, pledging their support and allegiance to the cause. It is our hope that you, Tsai, as DPP chairperson, will hear the urgency of our call and heed our plea.
Written by the Central Taiwan Society and the Greater Taichung office of the Taiwan Solidarity Union.
TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER
Having lived through former British prime minister Boris Johnson’s tumultuous and scandal-ridden administration, the last place I had expected to come face-to-face with “Mr Brexit” was in a hotel ballroom in Taipei. Should I have been so surprised? Over the past few years, Taiwan has unfortunately become the destination of choice for washed-up Western politicians to turn up long after their political careers have ended, making grandiose speeches in exchange for extraordinarily large paychecks far exceeding the annual salary of all but the wealthiest of Taiwan’s business tycoons. Taiwan’s pursuit of bygone politicians with little to no influence in their home
In a recent essay, “How Taiwan Lost Trump,” a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, Christian Whiton, accuses Taiwan of diplomatic incompetence — claiming Taipei failed to reach out to Trump, botched trade negotiations and mishandled its defense posture. Whiton’s narrative overlooks a fundamental truth: Taiwan was never in a position to “win” Trump’s favor in the first place. The playing field was asymmetrical from the outset, dominated by a transactional US president on one side and the looming threat of Chinese coercion on the other. From the outset of his second term, which began in January, Trump reaffirmed his
Despite calls to the contrary from their respective powerful neighbors, Taiwan and Somaliland continue to expand their relationship, endowing it with important new prospects. Fitting into this bigger picture is the historic Coast Guard Cooperation Agreement signed last month. The common goal is to move the already strong bilateral relationship toward operational cooperation, with significant and tangible mutual benefits to be observed. Essentially, the new agreement commits the parties to a course of conduct that is expressed in three fundamental activities: cooperation, intelligence sharing and technology transfer. This reflects the desire — shared by both nations — to achieve strategic results within
It is difficult not to agree with a few points stated by Christian Whiton in his article, “How Taiwan Lost Trump,” and yet the main idea is flawed. I am a Polish journalist who considers Taiwan her second home. I am conservative, and I might disagree with some social changes being promoted in Taiwan right now, especially the push for progressiveness backed by leftists from the West — we need to clean up our mess before blaming the Taiwanese. However, I would never think that those issues should dominate the West’s judgement of Taiwan’s geopolitical importance. The question is not whether
RSS