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
The US Senate’s passage of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which urges Taiwan’s inclusion in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise and allocates US$1 billion in military aid, marks yet another milestone in Washington’s growing support for Taipei. On paper, it reflects the steadiness of US commitment, but beneath this show of solidarity lies contradiction. While the US Congress builds a stable, bipartisan architecture of deterrence, US President Donald Trump repeatedly undercuts it through erratic decisions and transactional diplomacy. This dissonance not only weakens the US’ credibility abroad — it also fractures public trust within Taiwan. For decades,
In 1976, the Gang of Four was ousted. The Gang of Four was a leftist political group comprising Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members: Jiang Qing (江青), its leading figure and Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) last wife; Zhang Chunqiao (張春橋); Yao Wenyuan (姚文元); and Wang Hongwen (王洪文). The four wielded supreme power during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), but when Mao died, they were overthrown and charged with crimes against China in what was in essence a political coup of the right against the left. The same type of thing might be happening again as the CCP has expelled nine top generals. Rather than a
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on Saturday won the party’s chairperson election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes, becoming the second woman in the seat and the first to have switched allegiance from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to the KMT. Cheng, running for the top KMT position for the first time, had been termed a “dark horse,” while the biggest contender was former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), considered by many to represent the party’s establishment elite. Hau also has substantial experience in government and in the KMT. Cheng joined the Wild Lily Student
Taipei stands as one of the safest capital cities the world. Taiwan has exceptionally low crime rates — lower than many European nations — and is one of Asia’s leading democracies, respected for its rule of law and commitment to human rights. It is among the few Asian countries to have given legal effect to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant of Social Economic and Cultural Rights. Yet Taiwan continues to uphold the death penalty. This year, the government has taken a number of regressive steps: Executions have resumed, proposals for harsher prison sentences
RSS